Hooton Visit 2014….

We had another amazing visit from our good friends the Hooton's.  It is always great to have visitors and even greater when it's your BFF from high school and her cute family.  We did the typical Helena summer activities, the lake, the carousel, chatting on the deck, kids running around the yard, family kickball, etc.  This year though they were here over the 4th of July and Andy was off work so it was awesome!!  The first day of their visit was our lake day.  It was perfect weather, the kids had a blast playing in the sand and on the kayaks.  We even braved taking the wave runner and it worked about half the time until Summer and I got on it and it died.  Andy paddled out to rescue us on the little pink kayak, it was really one of the funniest moments of my life!  I was steering the runner, Summer was facing backwards holding onto the back of the kayak as Andy pulled us in.  He was giving us such a hard time for not jumping in and swimming back, but the water was too cold for me!

The next morning was the 4th of July.  My friend Shay and I were in charge of the 4th of july breakfast at the church so I had to get up and get ready to go set up.  Summer and I had made this amazing french toast casserole that was to die for!  The breakfast was a fun way to start the holiday for sure.  After it was over the men went to shoot bows at the outdoor shooting range while Summer and I drove around, I showed her a little more of Helena.  We eventually met up with the guys at the carousel for some ice cream and a few rides.  When we got home it was all about the fireworks.  Andy even put a firecracker under the chair I was sitting in on the deck trying to scare me!  The most popular of all the fireworks were the parachute ones.  They were a little scary because the kids would just run after them and not really be looking where they were going!  Andy and JD did a great job putting on a show for us that night.  It went on and on, but was oh so fun.  Eventually when our goods were gone we went onto the back deck and watched all of Helena's fireworks.  That is one of the perks of where we live, we can see the whole city, the fireworks were amazing that night, coolest show ever!

We were so sad to see our friends leave the next morning, but we really had the best visit.  I am so grateful for them taking the time to come and see us and for the fun they bring here to Montana.  My abs always feel sore after a visit with the Hooton's and it's not from a workout but from laughing so hard!!  Casserole!!!

The cast is off….

Carlee got her cast off yesterday!!  Again, a huge relief and again, I am so proud of her.  She is amazing through the whole process, never complaining and very independent.  I told Andy that I wanted to surprise her and take her for a pedicure after the cast came off.  She has been asking for so long to go and have one, and I figured this would be the perfect time, she deserved it!  Before we went to the salon we stopped and got vanilla steamers, which I still cannot believe sometimes that she doesn't like chocolate!  Carlee loved having them rub her legs and scrub her feet, especially the one that had been covered in a cast, they even did her nails!  This was a a fun thing for us girls to do and I am just relieved that we can move on from the broken bones.  I am just hoping Carlee has a great summer, cast free!