Little Miss Sunshine

Liv's current obsession: her new swimsuits!  Nana & Papa bought her a pink surfer girl one & Daddy has always wanted her to have a yellow polka dot bikini.  She literally went for 2 days alternating which suit she was wearing...I had to finally hide them...literally! :)

(Nana said she would help alter the bottoms & tighten them up a bit! :))

Fun Billings Weekend

We headed to Billings last weekend to help Jane celebrate her 6th birthday!  It was so much fun to go to her bowling party & spend her special weekend with her.  She is such a sweet girl & we love her very much!

{yes, I did have to ask her little buddy about his Griz jersey...he assured me he was a Bobcat fan & was just wearing it that day...:) }

The ball was just about bigger than her!

Yes, this really reminded me of Molly Shannon from SNL...had to post it.

Grammy & Grampy joined us for a pizza party later!

The big kids got to go skiing with the dads on Saturday at Red Lodge.  It was the first time they had skied together and they had so much fun!!  Brady told me he really wanted to beat Jane down the mountain but I don't think that happened! :) They are such good little buddies.

I made such a big deal out of how cool his harness was because it looked like the expert skiers with their backpacks that even though he doesn't need the harness anymore, he still likes to wear it! :)

Livvy, Lez and I had a fantastic Girls Day in Billings!  Complete with a coffee shop/hot chocolate stop, shopping & lunch!  She loved all the attention & she & Lez became even closer little buddies from the quality time!

Jane practicing her reading with Liv

Building forts in the bathtub!

Ski Day!

Here are a couple videos of Brady skiing without his harness! :)  Nana & Papa took Brady & his mama up to ski at Big Sky a couple weeks ago (Jeff and Liv had a fun Daddy/Livvy day at home swimming & going to lunch!)  It was just so much fun to watch the major strides he makes every time he skis & it was even better to see how much he truly ENJOYS it!  Melted our hearts to watch & I loved every minute sharing my favorite thing with my little boy.  I swear I skied backwards probably 80% of the time just so I could take it all in!  

As it was really starting to click he literally said to me "Mama I am just so happy about myself!"  and later as we're skiing side by side "I am never gonna stop skiing...it's so fun!" :)  Love that he's building confidence & having fun...can't wait to get little Liv up there hopefully later this winter!

Lessons Learned At Grammy & Grampy's

Our Nebraska Family is sure to love this!!  Brady & Liv spent a few days with Grammy & Grampy in Cody while Jeff & I were in Scottsdale & they had such a  blast.  We totally appreciate them taking the kids while we're gone & the kids love every minute with them!!


GO BIG RED!

Promise Yourself

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.

--Christian D. Larson

*I turn 32 today and I thought I would post my favorite quote...My sweet & dear friend, Em, printed and framed it for me our freshman year at WSU (we were roommies!) and I look at it almost daily.  Not that I'm always great about following every one of these things, but it's always a good reminder to BE BETTER.  I am so thankful for my life and can't wait to see what's in store for my 33rd year.*

Happy Friday!!

We've had dress up day around this house today so I snapped a couple pictures of the kids playing together!  After deriving some inspiration from Jenny's blog, I am trying to get better at editing so played around a little with these below.  Oh, and I finally changed things up a bit with our blog layout...it's only been 5 years!  Amazing what things you can tinker with when you have all your work done for the day & the kiddos are napping...

(she originally had PB&J all over her mouth in this one...:))

Family Pictures by Anna Vancleeve

Earlier this fall we had our good friend, Anna Vancleeve, take our family pictures.  She is so talented & we were very happy with how they turned out!  It's not easy to get a bunch of good group shots with two little ones but she did & we were so happy with them!  

If you look closely Brady is holding up the "M" on the mountain

One of my favorites!  Grammy had it made into a canvas for Jeff's birthday

She also edited them all with this vintage look--I love it!

If Brady had been smiling this would have been my all time favorite!