More hooligans

Yesterday Michael was on call and in and out all day, so we cut out and then decorated halloween sugar cookies.  The kids had a blast.  I ate too many cookies.

Halloween hooligans

I always put this stuff off til the end and I knew I wanted to do it when Michael was home, but he was on call so as soon as he got home from work Friday night, we started carving pumpkins!  I'll never forget the enthusiasm I had for this when Stetson had his first Halloween as a 10 month old.  He really wanted little to nothing to do with it all but it was still fun.  So this year, I cut the tops off, the kids drew faces on their pumpkins and Michael and I cut them out.  I love the look on Stahle's face here.  Its a look I get from all my kids.

Janelle's Halloween party/farm

Last Thursday was Janelle's preschool halloween party which was fun for her.  Michael was at the farm during the festivities and was supposed to pick her up but called right before pick up time and asked that I pick her up and then head to the farm to get him and take him to his pickup.  We had to take some pics of Stay-bay on the tractor and our spooky witch!

4th annual Halloween feast

On the menu for the Asay annual halloween feast was: vampire blood punch, spider egges, spider pizza, candy corn jellow, ghost pudding and..I think thats it.  The kids think this is super fun and gets us all in the Halloween spirit!

Sheep mountain

Last Saturday I wanted to take the kids swimming from 1-3.  Michael wanted to go to the farm.  Michael won.  Sometimes it happens that way.  We got picnic food  to eat at sheep mountain which always consists of healthy food, like greasy fried chicken, chips, cookies, pops, and potato salad.  The kids love riding in the "back back" of the pickup so they all hopped in as we took the treacherous road up to sheep mountain, and treacherous is no joke.  Kandace actually cried on the way up there and asked to sit in the pickup on the way back.  I remember sitting in the suburban (I think) and going up there for the first time and hearing Jan talk about how scary it was, and it was since there's parts where the road is like slanted, and there's cliffs on both sides of you, but with Stan driving I had no fear.  Now Michael drives and I have fear. HA!  I also remember going up there for one of our annual labor day picnics with the Asays and Janelle was a newborn and she cried the whole way there.  So Stahle fell asleep on the way up, so we had our lunch and Michael took the kids on a hike while I stayed with sleeping beauty.  After they got back from the hike and Stahle woke up, we headed a different direction for another hike to get some fossils which the kids thought was super cool.

Sheep mountain

Last Saturday I wanted to take the kids swimming from 1-3.  Michael wanted to go to the farm.  Michael won.  Sometimes it happens that way.  We got picnic food  to eat at sheep mountain which always consists of healthy food, like greasy fried chicken, chips, cookies, pops, and potato salad.  The kids loving riding in the "back back" of the pickup so they all hopped in as we took the treacherous road up to sheep mountain, and treacherous is no joke.  Kandace actually cried on the way up there and asked to sit in the pickup on the way back.  I remember I sitting in the suburban (I think) and going up there for the first time and hearing Jan talk about how scary it was, and it was since there's parts where the road is like slanted, and there's cliffs on both sides of you, but with Stan driving I had no fear.  Now Michael drives and I have fear. HA!  I also remember going up there for one of our annual labor day picnics with the Asays and Janelle was a newborn and she cried the whole way there.  So Stahle fell asleep on the way up, so we had our lunch and Michael took the kids on a hike while I stayed with sleeping beauty.  After they got back from the hike and Stahle woke up, we headed a different direction for another hike to get some fossils which the kids thought was super cool.

Painting

You could say I've wasted a lot of my life away painting since I went through so many color choices.  Since I loved revere pewter which I used downstairs, I assumed I would love my "amazing gray" I chose for the dining room and entry way.  Well amazing gray turned out more like amazing purple, but I'd done like all the trim work and then some before I decided I didn't like it.  Next up was "intellectual gray" which had a green hue, so back to the paint store (this time in Lovell, not Powell) for dovetail which was bold but good enough!  Michael joked that we couldn't let painting ruin our lives!  It was all I did for a while because I was so anxious to get it done.  I'm still not done, but we're making progress.  Dad and Brenda helped me do the entry way which was tricky with high ceilings.  The middle color is now revere pewter, not green.  Next up is paint kitchen walls, kitchen cabinets, backsplash and finish paining the hallway.  Then no more projects for a little while.

Beet harvest2016

If the title of this post leads you to believe that we actually helped with the beet harvest of this year, I will clear that up right now, even though the kids actually did pick up a few beets that didn't make it into the truck.  This is always an exciting and stressful time for the Asays and Michael always wants to help and go check on things if he has the time, so we went out there a couple weeks ago to get in on the "action."  Its fun to drive around the farm.  Its almost like time stands still for a little bit and we can forget about regular life.

Hike to 5 springs

Stetson was supposed to do a mile hike to get his bear for cubscouts and even though we definitely did some  1 mile hikes this year, we never had him record signs of life like he was supposed to, and since 5 springs is close and it was a beautiful day (and I love to hike) we did it and it was beautiful and great to do something as a family.

Fall in Wyoming

So a couple weeks back we got totally dumped on! It was beautiful but I wish I'd gotten the garage cleaned out ahead of time so the expedition could have been parked in there.  People kept saying it was going to be back in the 60s and 70s by the end of the week and they were right, almost all the snow was melted the next day and we were building snowmen in short sleeved shirts.  We've had fun in our new house!  I'm always thinking too much about projects and improvements instead of enjoying the moment, but it really has been nice.  The first Monday in our new house we had FHE and had our first "real" dinner and for FHE we walked around the outside and did some exploring and the sun was just going down and it was a special and exciting time to look around at everything knowing that it was ours!

Janelle at vip

Janelle and I were coloring her police car from VIP today when she told me that a policeman came to her preschool today and she learned that they keep people safe and eat donuts.  Sounds like a great job!  Janelle is absolutely loving preschool.  She loves having somewhere to go and playing with friends.  I'm in love with her preschool teachers, Carol Fink and Lori Scheffler.  They go above and beyond to make it a great experience for moms and kids and I love them!

Dryhead 2016

Braces and moving day

So on Friday, September 23, Stetson had his appointment to get his braces on at the BennionLambourne Cody location.  Michael and I were supposed to go finish packing the condo that day so Brenda took him thankfully.  Some friends from our ward and dad came to help us and we appreciated it so much!  I sometimes complain when Michael goes to help people move but I shouldn't because I know there's no words to say how much we've appreciated people who have helped us.  The next day we had to take the trailor back to Michael's friend who loaned it to us, finish packing/cleaning the last few things and sign closing papers. I would say it was bitter sweet but it was mostly sad for me.  I don't know why it was so emotional/nostalgic for me to leave the condo.  Maybe it was the first house we ever actually owned, I don't know.  Every time we went back whether stopping in on the way to choir practice or going to pack stuff, I couldn't stop thinking about seeing the kids running through the house, or me and the kids sitting on the piano bench together practicing/arguing over piano lessons.  I couldn't stop picturing the kids running around on the grassy area or walking to school or the park or the pool.  AHhh!!  I hope I love it here just as much and that we can make more great memories.   Billings was hard to leave for me.  And I am a boob.  Amen

Goodbye 1656 Roadrunner pl :(

Rain gutter rigotta

For the first month ish that we were back in the Big horn basin, we were really in limbo, not knowing what ward or even what town we would end up in but as things started looking like we would in fact get the house in Lovell, I called that ward to see if Stetson could start going with their cubscouts so he wouldn't have to miss out on anything.  I was glad I did, we made it just in time to get a boat and participate in the raingutter rigotta.  Stetson had a great time and it was fun to see him with his boat, especially when he would win!

Happy 2nd birthday stahle!

I went back and forth about having a birthday party for Stahle since we hadn't closed on our house yet, but I of course chose the most illogical choice, which was to have a party when we didn't even have furniture or anything in our house.  

At 2 years Stahle is all sorts of fun!  She loves to suck her thumb and play with HAIR!  She rubs it, twists, it, whatever she feels like but she loves the feel of it and it is definitely her happy place.  She is talking more and more, saying no, uh oh, yuck, mom, dad, ok, yeah, bananna, apple, yummy, buh bye and more.  She loves to go!  If we use the word in any context, she starts to cry and ask for her "boobie" which is what she calls her boots.  Not sure how we go those words mixed up.  She LOVES to ride in the pickup with dad and go to the farm to ride on the tractor, see the cows, whatever.  She loves to go with dad.  She loves to eat yogurt, cheese sticks, really anything.  She is a great eater really and eats almost anything we give her.  I am such a different mom with Stahle than I was with the others in some ways.  I never wish time away with Stahle.  I look at her sometimes, thinking that in any second I'm going to blink and she's going to be driving away to college and all my babies will be gone.  She is a pure joy and we are grateful for her.

Staying at GPA and Brenda's

Here's a couple pics of us while we were staying at dad's. We went to church at Cowley 1st ward, which is the same ward my brother Michael is bishop of, so it was fun to see him as bishop.  The top pic is after we walked home from church one day.  Stahle loved the nursery there and was happy to go every time.

Here is Janelle on her first day of school at the VIP.  She started on Sept 13 I think and has loved it ever since.

Selling corn at Gpa simmons

We decided to sell some sweet corn while we were staying at grandpa Simmons' house!  He lives in a great location (Right on main street) and it went really well both times we did it!  And surprisingly it was a lot of fun.  Stetson and Kandace proved they might have a future in advertisement of some sort as they stood on chairs on main enthusiastically yelling "sweet corn!"  Their signs were great, too.  Kandace made the sign that says "I like corn."  It was fun to watch the kids' excitement when they sold the corn and fun to earn some money for them to put in their accounts for college and missions.

Cousins

I don't even remember which day this was but these cousin pictures remind me of pictures I have of me and my cousins when we all lived in California.  My best childhood memories are with my cousins.  I hope my kids make great memories with their cousins, too!

prayer

I went to the school district office this week to do some paperwork for substitute teaching and when they asked for my driver's license and I went to get it from my wallet, it was gone.
 I remember I'd had it the previous week at the police station when I got finger printed. I remember handing it to the lady there and her handing it back to me,  but I couldn't remember where I'd put it after that.  I was shuffling girls and had finger print cards in my hands.  I re-traced my every move the following days, calling the police station, going over there  in person, calling the high school where I dropped off my application, the school district office, checking at  the condo in Billings, and I prayed about it a lot.  It seems like a trivial thing to pray about, and I felt sort of silly/selfish praying for Heavenly Father to help me find it when I know there are bigger problems in the world than my driver's license, but its been hectic this last month and there's a lot going on the it would have been a huge hassle to get a new one.  I felt like prayer was my last resort since I'd checked everywhere.  A few days went by and I was driving to Lovell to get my hair cut and I heard a clunk between the driver's seat and the console.  it was my cell phone that had fallen out of my pocket, but when I reached down to get my phone, I felt a hard plastic thing and it was my driver's license!!  I was so happy and was  thinking today how Heavenly Father is mindful of each and every prayer offered up and that its such an amazing privilege to get to pray to him whenever I want and for however long I want.

fishing at Willow Basin

 Last Saturday we took the expedition up to the Big Horns for a fishing trip!  Stetson said he wanted to do do 2 things this summer: go fishing and see the Angry Birds movie  I guess my kids have been in the city too long because they are all practically deathly afraid to hold the fish but had fun catching.  Stetson probably did the best of us all.  Grandpa is super patient and wants everyone to catch a fish.  On the way home we stopped Bear Lodge for lunch

1st day of school 2016!!

So here we are in my dad's basement in Cowley.  Yesterday marks 2 weeks we've been here.  In spring of this year, Michael started hearing word of a possibility of a job for him in Lovell covering ER and walk-clinic.  At first I was excited for a couple reasons, one being that change is always kind of appealing and exciting, and it means moving out of our little condo and buying a HOUSE!  We started looking at houses pretty quick and found one on Zillow that was on Lane 11 1/2.  Michael said one of his brothers said it was sold, so we kind of forgot about it then I thought I'd call the realtor to find out for sure and it actually was available, so we went and looked at it along with a couple of other homes and decided it was our best option.  4 bedrooms, 2 baths, almost 3000 sq ft, beautiful, large landscaped yard and a minute from the hospital.  We made an offer and were under contract to close August 23rd and then about a week prior to that, the appraisal came back 23k below market value, so unless the seller dropped their price, we couldn't get it.  After weeks of the realtor sending comps to the lender to amend the appraisal and nothing coming of it, Michael and I scheduled an appt with the realtor and said we needed to make a plan and move on.  We proposed that the seller pay for another appraisal and we would pay the appraised value up to the dollar amount we were under contract to pay.  That afternoon the realtor called us and said no deal, they didn't want to pay for an appraisal so deal was off.  We started looking for rentals and the night we were pulling into a house to look at in Cowley, the realtor called and said they seller did want to pay for another appraisal after all.  UGH.  We weren't sure what we were going to do and are feeling really stressed at this point.  After lots of thinking though, we feel like even though we feel like we've been dragged along here, this house would be the best option for our family.  So the 2nd appraisal is supposed to take place today or tomorrow and we should get a report back 3 days following that.
We're grateful to dad and Brenda for letting us stay with them while we get this figured out.  It definitely isn't an ideal situation but life is like that sometimes!

It was hard to leave Billings.  Hard to leave our ward family that really does feel like family.  Hard to leave the YMCA where I got the best workout classes I've ever and had childwatch so that I could workout, the temple, the Billings Symphony Chorale, which I'm still going to do but will have to drive 1 1/2 hr every week but its worth it to me.  Hard to be used to living so close to everything and then being back out here.  The kids are loving school, they both seem to have great teachers, Stetson has Mrs. Newton and Kandace has Mrs. Hinckley.  Girls are supposed to be doing gymnastics and hopefully Stetson can do flag football soon.

Bon voyage

Here we are in front of our T & E realty sign.  When we listed our condo with a realtor, we sold it in about 2 weeks.  This was the day we took off, but all we took was our clothes because we still hadn't closed on our house.

Good-bye Billings

Goodbyes are the worst!  The Larsens hosted a little farewell on our last Sunday in Billings.  Our ward was the greatest!  I have such a strong testimony of ward families and the role they play in Heavenly Father's plan of happiness.  Every ward I've been in I've loved and West Park ward was no exception.  The Steiners were our main babysitters and Janelle and Kandace would go sit by them almost every Sunday in sacrament.  Living away from family really makes you rely on friends, especially ward members.

Bonnie Haerberee and her husband Miles and son Clay moved into the ward right before we moved,  Miles was in the PA program.  Their son Clay was friends with Kandace.  Norm and Margie would visit us every month, even thought they weren't our home teachers or visiting teachers.  Margie was a little piece of heaven on earth and I love her to pieces.