Random

This was taken last Sunday (April 10).  Michael is great at wrestling with the kids and making them laugh.

Last weekend was our big Mahler performance with the Billings Symphony Orchestra that we've been practicing for months and months.  It was in German so the music was hard to learn and not very enjoyable to learn, but it was fun to finally sing it with the orchestra and have it come together.  They brought in 2 guests solists as well, it was fun to hear them.  That was probably my favorite part.  To be able to sing like that is pretty much my dream.  Michael went home that weekend with the oldest 3 to help his parents spring clean, so it was just Stahle-bay and me.  It was fun to have just her but hard to find babysitters!  She went through 3 different babysitters in just 2 days.  She didn't love that.

This is my view.  We only sang for 15 minutes at the end but how great to have a front row seat to the orchestra?  And I loved watching Anne Harrigan, the conductor.  She was so graceful and dramatic to watch.

Easter 2016

My favorite part of Easter this year was the Monday before Easter when we had our FHE on Easter.  I like using the FHE resource book the church published years ago, and they had a lesson on Easter which I used.  We talked about how the atonement consists of Christ suffering for our sins and being resurrected.  I told a story from the lesson about a family who lost their baby brother and how they found comfort in the plan of salvation and their knowledge that because of Christ, families can be together forever.  We ended with the easter church video which is SO beautiful.  I felt the spirit and I hope the kids did.  I remember it saying "find him."  I want to find Christ and be closer to him.  

We died easter eggs on I think the Thur before Easter.  It was chaos.  Always glad to check that obligatory duty of my to do list.  Saturday Michael had to work so I took the kids to a Billings egg hunt at Lewis and Clark middle school which was madness.  I don't know why I do it.  It was supposed to start at 11, so we got there about 10 til, only to find out the newborn-3 yrs olds didn't start til 11:20, so half hour later, Stahle gets to hunt for her 3 eggs she got (all the parents kept picking up the eggs instead of letting the kids do it) then Janelle's age group was next (she cried because of all the kids) and by Stetson and Kandace's turn we'd found some friends from the Y and went over to where they were (way less crowded) and Stetson and Kandace got a pretty good haul.  I wish we'd found our friends sooner.  But oh well. It is always fun watching toddlers do their first egg hunt.

Red Lodge 2016

A few weeks ago I took the oldest two to Red Lodge.  I'd heard on the Radio that it was closing March 27, so we went the 26, which was Saturday.  Michael had heard from co-workers that they were closing even sooner because of the lack of snow this year, but I called to make sure they were open and they were.  They actually stayed open another weekend because they got dumped on the day we were there.  So besides a couple spills Kandace had, it was a great day.  Kandace had a private lesson right when we got there, which gave Stetson and I to ski together for an hour and a half, then we all 3 went.  I was so impressed watching Kandace skiing with her instructor that I felt like she could be pretty independent. and the first time down just the two of us, she did great. She seemed really in control and then the 2nd time and every time after, she seemed to lose control at the end when she picked up speed and didn't know quite how to stop.  We'll have to work on that.  I wonder if I should get one of those things to hook her to me with a long rope so I can stop her if I need to.
For a break we headed to the lodge for hot chocolate which was a hit with the kids then did a couple more runs then called it a day.

I think these skiiers will be getting goggles and ski masks for Christmas this year (and maybe helmets)

Michaels 33rd birthday

My Michael Monk Asay turned 33 March 10.  I love birthdays because it gives us an excuse to do something a little out of the ordinary.  Michael wouldn't tell his co-workers when his birthday was, but no worries, I told them. :)  Well they wanted to have a party for him, but tricked him and didn't have it until the Monday after his birthday.  Me, Janelle and Stahle got to go.  Everyone brought a potluck and it was fun to meet his co-workers and visit.  So on Michael's actual birthday, we (me, Michael, Stahle and Janelle) went to Burger Dive down town which is a really well known burger joint thats been featured on cooking shows and had won lots of prestigious awards.  Michael has what I call a sophisticated pallet and a real appreciation for burgers like these and their garlic fries and milkshakes are pretty yum, so we did that and then went to the park and pushed Stahle on the swing and watched Janelle play.  It was fun to get to spend some time with him.  It was a beautiful day.  Later that night we had pizza and then Michael and I went to the temple.

Janelle's thumb

In February, on a Monday, Janelle wasn't feeling so hot so she stayed home from preschool.  She had a really hoarse cough and  wheezy breathing which got bad enough around afternoon that I called Michael and told him I thought he should come look at her.  He ended up taking her to the ER and discovered she had croup and respiratory influenza.  They did some breathing treatments and that was about all they could do and then Michael brought her home that evening, which was the same night as my concert with the chorale, which was at First United Methodist church this year and it was great.  Dad and Brenda came, and since Michael had to stay home with Stahle and Janelle, Dad and Brenda brought Kandace (Stetson didn't want to go).  I was glad they could come.  It feels great to have support and get to share our beautiful music with others.  Anyway, back to the thumb.  So Janelle stayed home all week and then about a week later we discovered that her thumb looked infected.  We tried soaking it for a week hoping it would heal on its own but after that didn't work, we took her in.  The pic was actually taken at the waiting room to go see Dr. Collette at the children't clinic.  So this is the 3rd time Janelle has had her thumb look like this.  When she was about 18 months she got what we thought was hand foot and mouth, and after most of her symptoms cleared, her thumb got infected.  I remember thinking it was because she sucked her thumb and the sores in her mouth must have infected her thumb.  So fast forward to when she's 2, we're living in Billings and the same thing happens to her thumb (she must have had some upper respiratory thing prior to) and we take her to the Dr. to get it cultured and lanced.  Each time we had a culture of it there was nothing, so the consensus is that whenever she gets some sort of upper respirator virus, it manifests itself in her thumb.  Thankfully, her thumb cleared up with antibiotoics and soakings every day 3 times for 15 minutes.  If you want a more intelligent version of the story, ask Michael, but this has been so bizarre.  Every 2 years, same hand, and only her thumb.

Shiver my timbers/ward lip sync

Michael just LOVES it when I make him do embarrassing things in front of large groups of people, so I put together a little lip sync for our family to perform at the ward lip sync and dinner/fundraiser for the youth to go to trek.  A family in Lovell did this for the follies a few years ago so I found it on youtube and copied them.  The kids LOVED pulling the piano bench into the living room and rehearsing it as a family in our tiny living room.  It was a special thing to see our family work together and do something together.  Families are so important and its important to do things together and feel unified.   Janelle was our fearless leader.

It turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself, and ironically, Michael makes the best pirate I have ever seen.

Goodbye van

I kind of wanted to cry when we sold our van about a month ago after we bought an expedition on Craig's list.  We'd been wanting to get something newer with less miles (and Michael was embarrassed of our van) and found an expedition in our price range.  The day I posted the van on Craig's list we got lots of interest, including a guy who wanted to buy it on the spot but I was out with Jan and sisters in-law having lunch and couldn't sign the title.  So long story short, that guy never did get back to us and we sold it to another guy a couple weeks later.  It was a great van and took our family lots of places, including to the hospital in Powell when my water broke on half way there IN the van.  Goodbye van.

New stairs/carpet

Well this is a long, boring story but we finally got our stairs looking the way we'd hoped from the beginning.  All our projects have been slow, here a little, there a little but we're glad we finally go this one done.  Rick Dvorak did the job, he actually let me help a ton, when I found out there was so much I could do, I called Melinda and had her come get Stahle  so I could help more.  I think that cut cost down a lot.

The stairs actually looked like the above pic for about 5 months because we got it done in Nov but didn't carpet until about March.  It was fun to have it done.  Not we're trying to get the deck stained.

Kandace's 6th birthday

Oh my beautiful Kandace.  Kandace is a joy and I love her to peices.  She is full of drama and mischief, but we love her to the moon and back and always will.  We decided to do friend parties every other year so since she did a friend frozen party last year, it was time for a family party.  We gave her several options of what we could do as a family, but she is like her mom and can't decide on anything to save her life, so we said we'd surprise her.  On the big day Michael took her to lunch and I brought dirt/pudding/worm cups for her to share with her class.  They don't like the moms to come in and make it a big deal so parents can send treats with their student or just drop them off, which is what I did.  After school, I took Kandace to In Good Glazes which is a DIY art place here where you can do canvas paintings, ceramics, pottery, mosaics and more. Its really pricey but I thought Kandace would like it and she did.  We still need to hang it up in her room,  After that we did Red Robin for dinner then home for her fruit pizza dessert since she's such a fruit fanatic.  The kids ate the fruit off their peice and didn't really care for the cookie or frosting, so I ate it for them. :)  She got a girl lego kit and some snow gear, none of which impressed her so that was a downer but oh well.  I struggle with knowing what to get my kids each year--I know what they "want" but because of tight living quarters and too much crap in our house, I'm always looking for practical things which definitely doesn't win me the coolest mom award.