The Country Life ...

  Summer is finally here, and it's always a little reminder of how lucky we are to live where we do. Not just our location in terms of attractions (which is pretty much ideal in my book), but how sucluded we are from the rest of the world. During the summer months you can find us outside doing something all day long. The T.V. rarely is on and we make multiple trips to the river to swim, ride quads, bikes, play in the sprinklers, take walks, or just play outside doing country stuff. I feel so fortunate to be able to raise our kids in the country. It teaches them so much and makes them a more rounded individual. Just the other day we were hanging out at home and the kids were running around in their undies and swim suites playing in the slew and building a camp fire to make popcorn over, and it just really hit me that there is no better place on Earth than where are right now. It's God's country, as my Aunt would say. Life is perfect and we are so thankful for it.

Jordan made the kids a dock with a water slide! 

We found this little guy while we were riding quads one evening

Summer camp fire 

Proof of a fun filled day!

  Our annual Memorial Day camping trip was again the best trip ever. It was actually HOT during our stay. There were 12 kids in camp this year and it was a complete blast. The kids played all day long and rode quads. Not one fit or fight was had the whole time. It was warm enough that the kids were in their undies and played in the ocean everyday. 

The kids found a log and demanded Jordan drag it up to camp

Every year they are out before we hit the highway. 

  While we were camping we got the call that hay season had begun. So when we got back home it was time to get hot and heavy in the field. We look forward to hay season all year. The kids loved it this year. 

Quade got new boots and this is the outfit he wore for about three days

The kids are finally big enough to ride in the bale wagon 

  Quade finally got his MRI and blood work done and all is well. We are so thankful for the great results. He is the bravest 3 year old there is. He let them attempt an IV two times and didn't even cry. He's amazing. 

He is very very excited about his special bracelet 

He thought the warm air was under the blanket was such special treatment

A cookie for the good boy afterwards. And of course all the nurses wanted to keep him. 

  Jordan has his second test this coming week, so he is hitting the books even harder. We are getting ready for our trip to Cabo in about a week. I'm getting really excited. It's going to be so much fun. We have swim lessons, Scandinavian dance, numerous camping trips, and camping out in the tent to look forward to this summer. Hope everyone's summer is started of as good as our. 

Our Latest ...

  It seems like forever since my little man cub turned 3. But it was just two short months ago. And as usual we have been busy with all parts of life. We've had diets, testing, sickness, deaths, surprise births, birthdays, a couple quick trips, baseball, an early summer break, and much more I'm sure. 

  We had our annual Sweethearts Ball with Jordan's volunteer station in Junction. It is always one of those functions that is way too much fun and you're glad it's once a year. 

  This was the suit Jordan wore in high school when we were prince and princess of the Valentines dance. 

And I had to make sure I could still squeeze into my old dress👍🏻

  One thing Jordan and I got to do recently that was super amazing was going to Seattle and participate in the annual firefighter stairclimb. Jordan participated, I cheered for him. The stairclimb was amazing to experience and Jordan did outstanding. He got 78th out of 1900 participants. Like always he rocked it. The city was a different story though. Everyone was extremely rude, we've never had such bad service everywhere we went, no parking, super expensive, and a bit sketchy walking the streets at night. But it was an experience and I'm glad we got to go. 

Resting at the top of the tallest building this side of the Mississippi (no joke). 69 flights of stairs in full turnouts with his air mask on breathing from his tank. He made it in just over 15 minutes. 

  

This year for St. Patricks Day I was in charge of crafts for Austyns school. It was so cute and I loved it. 

  We were able to make a quick camping trip to the coast over spring break. It was a perfect family trip. We stayed in Honeyman where we could ride our quads out of the campground onto the dunes. They had a nice playground, hiking trails, and endless roads for bike riding. I remember camping there when I was Austyns age. It was so fun to take our kids there now. Weather was great and Quade decided he wanted to ride ALL by himself on his quad. Best trip ever!! Besides the fact that Austyn had pink eye, strep throat, and a fever of 103 the whole time. She was an absolute trooper though. 

Looking back on these pictures and it seems like we are super bundled up. I guess it was pretty chilly, but I'm not picky about the weather I guess. As long as it's not pouring I'm game. We also got first hand experience of a real sneaker wave. It was so crazy. It was about a foot high and traumatized poor Quade. 

  Easter was our next event. This year was a bit out of the ordinary. We had to skip our family Easter because Austyn was still contagious and didn't want to spread our nasty germs. But we were able to get together a couple weeks later for Easter with Jordan's family. 

 And now for the biggest surprise, 5 baby goats. Unbeknownst to us two of our mama goats were pregnant. I won't get into the WHOLE story, but if you'd like a little reminder of why I did not want to bred our goats again refer to my post one year ago and refresh yourselves. So we had a set of twins and a set of triplets. The first set were born on their own. But the mama rejected one of the babies so I had to tube feed it for awhile. And we had to go hold the mama every time the baby needed to eat when it got strong enough to eat from the mama. She has to stay chained up in the field so the babies can actually get to her. Those babies are now one month old and super healthy. 

  The second set were triplets. They were from our oldest and dearest goat Fern. A couple days before she had the babies her hips gave out and she couldn't get around at all. She needed a little help during birthing. But they all came out fine and healthy. Unfortunately Fern took a turn for the worst and we had to tube her and have the vet out for numerous shots. We babied her and her babies for about a week and they finally all came around. We now have 11 goats! 

This one stayed in the house one day because I found it pretty much dead. I tubed it all day long and gave her medicine after medicine. She finally pulled out of it. 

These guys were about on hour old here in this picture. 

I do have to say that it was an absolute mind blowing experience to watch the entire birthing process. I know I was around the cattle doing this as I grew up, but I don't remember everything. And it's so much different since having my own children. The way the instincts just kick in is so neat. 

On a lighter note, Austyn tried out for a play and got the cutest part. Every year the Missoula Children's theater comes to the High School and puts on a play for a week. They travel all over the world doing this for schools. This year the play was Peter and Wendy. Austyn and her cousins were the clouds. It was the cutest thing I've seen. Of course I liked it more than the kids did, but she enjoyed herself and did super good (for a cloud).  

   It's been 3 years since we moved into our house. And like always we have an on going list of to-dos. Randomly Jordan and his brother Josh decided to do the shelving in our master closet. I've been wanting them since we moved in, but it was never really a priority or super pressing. What a wonderful thing to have done. I love just walking into the closet and looking at everything so neat and tidy. Those boys are so talented. 

Before and after

Right now Jordan is hot and heavy in his Officers Development Program. His next test is coming up in June. Every spare minute he gets he has his nose stuck in a book. His team won the Firefighter Fitness challenge we were doing. Each of the 5 team members got $500!!!!!! Can you believe that?! They did so good. Jordan turned 30 in April. He wasn't too excited for 30 to roll around but he has gotten use to it. 

Austyn has turned over a new leaf lately. She has suddenly gotten this strange bust of courage. She took the training wheels of her bike and has never been so proud of herself. She hasn't ever been passionate about anything like riding her bike without training wheels. She learned so fast it was amazing. Of course we had to take her to town and big parking lots for her to practice. One of the downfalls of country living. No concrete! That's all she wants to do now is ride her bike. And another suprise we got was an early summer break!!! Her teacher had some terrible back issues and was forced to quit teaching. She will be one of those teachers that will never be able to top.  I'm so bummed Quade won't be able to have her as a teacher. But maybe she faked it so she could dodge the Quade bullet😉 We are loving our extended summer break. All the other parents were so upset about school being over. But Austyn and I were jumping with joy! Austyn is also playing T-ball now. It is so much fun to watch. They are beginning to get the concept and work together. She absolutely loves baseball too. I'm so surprised at her. She usually goes to a practice or two and wants to be done. But she is always looking forward and excited about the next game. 

She also has gotten this weird interest in animals. Before she was terrified of even the smallest dog or cat. And now she is cleaning and filling KODAs water and giving her treats, and I caught her on her knees loving all over KODA one day. I'm not sure what caused this switch but I'll take it. As always she's so thoughtful and kind. But recently she has been testing us with a few little lies here and there. It's usually over food and if she's washed behind her ears in the bathtub😂😂😂. The things a 5 year old has to lie about. Cracks me up. She is learning and learning fast that consequences aren't a fun thing. As much as it hurts to disapline her, I love to watch how fast she learns from her mistakes. She has always been one of those kids that you just tell one time ans she gets it. She's simply amazing. 

Quade thought he would be big and brave too and take his training wheels off. But it lasted a day and then they went right back on. Not quite ready. But very very soon. He has become a very good quad rider. He rides all by himself and is super controlled and listens to all the rules. Completely different kid on his quad. He must know that mistakes on a quad will hurt. And he also has been having some major issues with his right leg. He started complaint about his leg back in December. It was just every morning and I past it off as growing pains. Then it was every morning and when he got up from his nap. He slowly began to limp on it after he got up. Then he would complain during the day. And now it so bad he can't walk after he does any kind of exercise like riding his bike or jumping on the trampoline. He's had X-rays and nothing was found. So we are now going to a specialist to see what's going on. It breaks my heart to see his leg give out. Hopefully it's something very commen and simple to fix. Cross your fingers for him please! Quade starts his T-ball tomorrow. He is super excited to have his own team and have his cousin Luke play with him. He's going to love it. 

And as for me, I'm still keeping strong on my diet and workouts. I've started going to physical therapy twice a week now. I've started lifting and have progressed pretty quickly. It's basically like a personal trainer twice a week. I love it. And I try to either go to the gym or walk with my Mom on the other days. I have really found the exercise to be helpful in all aspects of my life. I'm really looking to make it a lifestyle change for myself. I had an amazing Mothers Day. Jordan got me a spa day on Friday and then today I was able to chose what we did. I find it funny that my one desire for today was to stay home and trim up all of trees around the house, clean the house, and plant my flowers. My ideal day is for all of us to be home doing little projects and for the kids to be running around playing. It was the perfect day. I'm so thankful for being a Mom to the two best kids. And really I could go up the line thanking parents and Grandparents for being the ones who are responsible for making everything possible. The incredible family values we have on both sides is truely amazing and I'm so fortunate to be the product of that. I just hope I can continue in foots steps before me. 

We have a very exciting trip coming up, CABO!!!!!!!!!!! Jordan and I are going to Cabo in June for 5 days. We are going with 6 other couples from his fire department. I'm getting really excited. It's going to be soooooo much fun. We don't have anything planned but relaxing. It's all inclusive so that part is going to be pretty cool. Can't wait to see what Cano is all about. And I'm super excited to be able to spend so much time with Jordan. 

On a much much sadder note, Jordan's Grandpa passed away. He had been battling cancer for a few years. He was able to be at home with all his loved ones when he decided to move on. He was an amazing man and taught Jordan so much. He will be forever missed. 

That might be a record breaking blog post for length. And that's just two months worth. We  have baseball, Memorial Day camping trip, and Cabo to look forward to. Hope all is well with everyone. 

  

Look At Me I'm 3 ...

  Holy smokes I can't believe Quade is 3 now! It went by so so fast. As I scrolled back through his last years Birthday blog I quickly remembered how painfully SLOW some of the stages had actually passed by. I can happily report that Quade's temper and fit problems have substantially improved. He has replaced those less than desirable traits with an amazing amount of BOY traits. Rough, tough, LOUD, fast, clever, independent, loves anything with a motor, loves hunting and guns, knives, working on rigs with Jordan, getting dirty, being naked, eating a ton, determined, and anything else that screams boy he is it. He's my last baby and to be completely honest I miss those baby days sometimes. Both kids were incredibly easy babies which always has left me with a sweet spot in my heart for more babies. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT having anymore kids. But if someone were to give me a baby I would accept in a heartbeat. 

  On a normal day you can expect to find Quade in nothing but his undies, with either a gun, knife, or some sort of rig in his hand. He will most definitely go on numerous "hunting" trips a day, whether it be bear, cougar, wolf, elk, deer, or buffalo. And you can be sure that some how you'll get at least one bruise from him within a 24 hour period (one bruise is a good day:) ). The second his feet hit the floor he is asking for breakfast and if he had his way, he would have Coco Puffs for every meal. Most mornings while eating breakfast he gets attacked by his imaginary friend Judy the baby bear. Judy is a boy bear that randomly tackles Quade to the ground and wrestles him. Judy also bites and does all the naughty things that a certain 3 year old might normally do. Me: "Please pick up all the toys before we leave?" Quade:"I didn't get them out, Judy did!" It's hysterical. He has the biggest imagination and it is very impressive to watch. Quade is also a non-stop chatter box. If you ever get the pleasure of being confined in a car with him, you can be sure that you will not be able to get a word in. And on that note, with his entertainment from the backseat you can be sure to miss a few turns on the errands you were suppose to be running. Quade has a very very very high energy level (thank you Jordan). With that said, he goes non-stop from morning until bedtime. With a brief nap in the middle. He still has a small amount of cuddle left in him. And I try to soak up every tiny second of cuddles I can, because in one more blink he won't want me to cuddle with him at all. He has one more year left with me at home before he starts preschool. I can't imagine my days without him home with me. I signed him up for Tiny Tigers baseball this spring. He is so excited. I'm sure he will have no trouble playing any kind of sports. Quade is adamit about being a boy. He's not pretty, he's not cute, HE IS AWESOME!!!! If he draws a picture and I say it's pretty, he quickly corrects me with "No Mommy, it's awesome!" Or if he gets a haircut it looks "AWESOME", not cute. Gotta love him!

  It's been a real eye opener to watch the second kid grow up. Quade has always had a built in best friend, teacher, victim of his "Quade Ways", and competitor. Even though he relentlessly tortures her, he adores her every breath. He looks to her for guidance, explainations, and reassurance. When they play together it makes my heart so happy. I hope that they will have a very close and comfortable relationship like my brother and I had and still do to this day. 

  I'm so thankful for the way Quade has completed our crazy little family. He adds a sort of spark and flare wherever he goes. My biggest wish for Quade is for him to be as successful, knowledgable, honest, helpful, and strong as his Daddy (amoung many other wonderful traits). With that said, I think he has the determination, drive, foresight, and potential to do just that and even more.

  Thank you for being you, and being my little man. I love you so much. Keep doing what you're doing. Life wouldn't be the same without you. 

His hunting gear

His personal seat on the quad

His summer attire

Fell asleep with a ball in his and a mouth full of food

Happy boy on 4th of July

Mini Chainsaw Man

He was Austyns soccer teams mascot 

Just like Daddy

Mommy a little angel 

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