Spring 2015

Spring Break

Since we got to go to Washington in February and since we hadn’t gone in three years, we decided it was about time to go to Arizona for spring break this year. We left on Saturday morning and drove all the way through…17 hours. That’s much better than the 26 hours it used to be from Washington.

On Sunday we enjoyed our cousin time! And later the girls played in pool and hung with Mike while my sister, mom, and I went shopping.

My sister is CRAZY!

Enjoying Gramma’s pool!

On Monday we went to Gigi and Papa’s house to relax and swim. He heated the pool to 90 degrees, so the girls were in heaven.

In the evening we enjoyed a nice marshmallow roast by the fire.

Next day…

Out to breakfast…

Adorable Gigi and Papa…

Delicious food…

Then back to the house to pick some citrus!

Then we went down to Maricopa to drop off the kids, then Mike and I went back near Peoria to take a hot air balloon ride over the dessert! We watched and waited for awhile because it was a bit too windy and they almost didn’t let us go up.

There was very little sensation of moving. It was such a smooth ride. The sunset was beautiful from the balloon.

Then we enjoyed a little picnic with our new balloon friends. It was an amazing bucket-list kind of thing to do!

The next morning the girls got a great surprise. Grampa got  up and took them on a trail ride!

But first, breakfast.

He is a good looking cowboy!

And, as if that weren’t enough, after that we settled into two hotel rooms with Mom and Dad and later, Andrea and the kids, at a resort and enjoyed the water park for the rest of the day.

They loved the waterslides and the lazy river!

Then, after the park shut down, they swam some more near the rooms!

The next morning we had Denny’s for breakfast, then headed back down to Maricopa…before heading home straight through to Montana.

Erica’s Wedding

Later in March, Mom made her way up to Montana and we all went to my cousin’s wedding in Big Sky. That was a beautiful and fun wedding. It was so great to see so much family and reconnect with my cousin Michelle and her daughters!

Lovin’ their second cousin!

Easter

Then it was time for Easter! Yes, we still decorate eggs!

On Easter Sunday our church had one huge service at the MSU Strand Union building. It was completely amazing and packed! After that we enjoyed a yummy Easter dinner with seven college student guests!

Then a couple days later..a big snow!

End of the School Year

Somewhere in this spring we had a major sickness move through the house. Anika, Kelby and I all got a fever for a full week (at different times). Lots of school and work was missed, but I still made it to the Veritas Forum at MSU where John Lennox, a scientist and philosopher, spoke along with an atheist professor. It was a packed house and an interesting dialogue!

Then we started heading toward the end of the school year. Tegan’s middle school had a talent show and she and two friends sang a song a capella. It was beautiful!

Yeah…here comes May! The students were heading out of town, so Bobcat Fest downtown Bozeman!

I love this new bus (taco truck) that set up shop down there!

Tegan ran track this year. She didn’t like the running so much, but loved the social part of it!

We are still doing stuff for college students through our church. We had a BBQ on the Sunday before finals week and 30 kids came! We were so excited.

Though, there almost wasn’t enough food.

Tegan Turns 14

Tegan turned 14! She had some friends over and had a good time.

Mother’s Day was the same weekend. Fun!

Later in May, Kelby and Tegan had a weekend training preparing to work at the church for the summer!

Kelby’s end-of-the year concert was fun (though very log). She even got to play the ukulele during one of the songs!

We got a trip into Yellowstone Park at the end of May! Still didn’t see any bears.

Mike was taking a photography class, so we were scavenger hunting for good photos.

I got to go on Anika’s last fieldtrip of the year and we even got to zipline!

We had some friends from Washington stop in and stay the night! Love visitors!

And then there was June. Tegan had a Pop Concert and she did another solo in Livin’ on a Prayer. It was amazing!

The weekend before school got out we camped in Grand Teton National Park so Mike could do a half marathon there.

We had a great time. Love camping!

The Grand Tetons are magnificent!

Anika had one last concert before the end of the year. She does a great job playing the violin!

Then we finished up the school year. Here is Anika “graduating” from 5th grade. Now she is heading to middle school!

She had two teachers this year. Mrs. Weirs…

and Mrs. Wemple.

On the day before the last day of school, Tegan broke her foot while running an obstacle course. She fractured a tiny bone in the bottom of her foot. What a bummer for starting summer! She couldn’t even work for the first couple weeks. She “graduated” 8th grade and now she’ll be a freshman!

Of course, we were back at Bozeman Beach for swimming and kayaking fun for an end-of-the-school-year celebration!

Then, the girls wanted to burn their old school work! Silly girls!

Throughout all this time, I was still taking classes. Busy, busy, busy! It was nice that they were able to find someone to replace me at the church so I don’t have to work this summer!

That finally get’s me caught up to the end of the school year. I’ll try to get the first part of summer up soon.