Christmas day

Christmas cookie making

Tha

They Got Moves

These boys love to dance!

Artic Living

I know i've said that's it's cold here, but I thought maybe I should really decribe it to give a better picture of what I now think cold is. Saturday was the first real snowy day, so the boys and I were so excited about going and playing in the snow. David was out plowing snow on the base, and so I began. 4 boys - it goes like this - thermals, long pants, long sleeve shirt, sweat shirt, 2 pairs of socks, snow pants, jacket, hat, gloves, scarf, and boots. total time from start to finish - 40 minutes!! we got outside and the first thing one of the boys (who's name will remain a secret) says: "mommy, I have to pee!" are you kidding me? It was like I was back in the episode of the Cosby's.
so, since Sat, the high temperature has been 0. That's right, you read that correctly, the high has been 0. sunday night actually hit -24. So I have learned that a sippy cup can actually freeze in your car while you're in Costco shopping. Storing stuff in the garage thinking it will serve as a fridge, not the best idea. Items frozen: one loaf of the bread, 2 gallons of milk, one large bunch of banannas, a bottle of lotion, and who knows what else at this point.
I thought that I could just pump gas w/out my gloves, I mean, it will only be a few minutes: well, my fingers actually started to get a little frost bitten in the time it took to put 15 gallons of gas in the car. Which, another new piece of info: gas can actually freeze in your car if there's less than 1/2 a tank. So, David and I finally broke down and bought us both snow boots this weekend, which are just ulgy, but I guess I just have to deal with it. All my fun pairs of clogs are just not going to cut it for the next few month. So that's what i've learned so far about what cold really is. It's painfully cold and I'm hoping that it warms up soon. People say that it rarely gets this cold for very long. It's even too cold to snow. I actually have been getting a headache walking from our house to the cafeteria b/c of the temp. It's a good thing the people are so great here to keep me enjoying it. But the lake is freezing and it's amazing. It looks all smoky b/c the water is warmer then the air, it's literally breathtaking. Hopefully we can go ice skate on the lake soon.

Christmas Programs and Snow

it's snowing!!!!

Thanksgiving

house pictures take 2

Moving Day!!!!

We have finally moved into our new home!! We are so excited. We had a lot of help which made it go very fast. There was one sad part to the day, Flint bumped into a big trailer hitch extension which weighed about 50 lbs, and it fell and crushed his little finger. I took him to the doctor, and it did break it, and turns out he had an ear infection too. But it hasn't seemed to slow him down yet. ignore the mess in the pictures, I just wanted to get some pictures out of our house.

Our visit with the Seidels in CO

We had a lot of fun seeing Chad, Erynn and Karstan for a few days. It's always a good time when we get to see them.

Some halloween pictures

Here are a few pictures from Halloween, I know it's a little late, but better late then never. Why are there no pictures of Peter you ask? well, that's because he refused to dress up. He was wearing his lion costume running around the house, then right before we left, he decided he just wanted to be Peter. so that was that.

More pictures from GA

Trip to GA

Pumpkin Patch

We've made it to the Southeast!!!

After 4 long days of driving, we made it to Kentucky. I apparently forgot to pack the adapter to download pictures, so i'll have to get another one. We left Montana Monday around 1:00 and made it all of 4 hours. The next morning involved a trip to Urgent Care, 2 with ear infections, 1 asthma attack. We then endured through Wyoming, what a long, dark, not so exciting drive. we made it CO to spend the day with Chad and Erynn, what a treat.
From CO, we spent a very long day in the truck, til 2:30 am and made it past Kansas City. Wow!
So, we're in Kentucky, and leaving tom. for B'ham. We're so excited about seeing family and friends, although we're really missing the base and the people there. I'll hopfully post pictures soon.

Flint Frankenstein

here's some footage of Flint walking all the way across the camper.  Ok, so it's not really that far.  He'll walk if you tease him with food.

See where we will be. YWAM Montana video

Promo Video from YWAM Montana on Vimeo.

David turns 32!!!

David's birthday was on Wednesday of this past week.  It was work as usual, but I had gotten a babysitter so we could go out.  Right before we were leaving, the cook came over and said that he had fixed dinner for us.  so, we went to the cafeteria and they had set up a table for us with steak, baked potatoes, with all the fixin's, sweet tea, corn, salad, and bread.  What a feast.  It was a little embarrassing to be sitting and eating all this yummy food while everyone else was eating chicken sandwiches.  Then, someone else gave us tickets to a Jeremy Camp concert at the Northwestern Fair.  So we went and had a great time.  It was my first trip to a fair.  we were walking around looking at all the animals and there was a whole poultry barn.  I thought they must be selling fried chicken in there, but no, they were showing chickens!! just for people to look at.  It was a whole new experience for me. We ended the day with some good chocolate cake.  We even had our first Huckleberry milkshake.  It tasted a lot like blueberry to me, but people here are nutso about huckleberries. 

    There was a team from Pennsylvania here this past week and they got so much work done it was unreal.  they finished building the pole barn, put siding on the dorm and student center, painted the dorm, and painted the student center.  There's a team of 22 here this week from Washington state so they are starting on one of the other buildings tom.   We are still trying to figure out how to fit our little family in 2 dorm rooms.  We've yet to come up with a solution.  I've been scraping paint in the bathroom. someone painted over the tile in there and it was peeling off and just ulgy, so I thought I needed another little project.  I'll get some pictures up tom. but the olympics are just calling my name right now.

Glacier

We went to Glacier Nat'l Park for the day. It's about an hour drive from where we are. What an amazing place. It was breathtaking. The water was so clear. There was still some snow on the ground which was fun. It was a little scary looking over the edge and realizing just how high up you are. But it was beautiful.

Peter's 3rd birthday

weekend of fun

I took the boys on Friday out to a horse event.  It was at this beautiful place called Rebecca Farms.  We had a lot of fun watching the horses and just running around.

On Saturday we went back up to Whitefish for the annual North West Fly fishing expo.  David actually ran into a guy from the fly fishing shop in Birmingham, what are the chances of that? 

Sunday was a great day.  David kept all the boys all day and I just spent the day by myself exploring town.  Usually after about an hour, i'm bored and ready to go back, but yesterday I didn't come home until right before dinner. It was much needed time by myself.

we ended the weekend with a nice little visit to the ER.  After dinner Luke came and told us that something black came out of his ear and it was bleeding.  Well, after a couple of hours of it bleeding we took him to the ER.  it was crazy.  The doctor thinks that there was so much wax built up that it attached to the ear canal and for some reason it came off causing the bleeding.  He's better today and says he can hear better which is nice.  We were so close to going a whole month without any dr's visits. oh well, maybe next month.

A weekend of fun

Whitefish ski resort

Yesterday, Saturday, we packed some lunches and headed north about 30 miles to Whitefish Ski Resort.  It's alot like Highlands' of the South.  Very swanky ski resort.  But, in the summer you can ride the ski lift to the top and hike all over.  It is breathtaking.  You can see the Canadian Rockies on one side, Glacier National Park on one side, and the Flathead Valley (where we are).  We ate lunch at the top and just wandered around.  We had big plans to do the "wildflower hike" which is a 3 mile hike.  But the boys were already tired and the first 1/2 mile was straight down hill, so we thought about it and decided that the 1/2 mile straight up hill was going to be ulgy at the end of the day.  So we just hung out and enjoyed the views.

There was a lady there with a big newfoundland lab and Peter saw it and freaked out yelling, "get that gorilla face dog away from me!" it was pretty funny. 

Meet Frankie

This is Frankie - our newest family member, but only for 3 weeks. We are dog sitting for some friends while they're out of town. As you can see, David loves him some Frankie, yes, Frankie is licking David's ear. We just decided, we had so much space, why not take in a dog.

The other day the boys were running around down on the field and they came running up to me and Peter said, "I saw a grizzly deer!" and Luke said, "and it wasn't even in a cage!!" they were so excited. Peter now carries a stick around with him because apparently he's going to bam the grizzly deer when he sees it again. Luke thought he saw a mountain lion, but turns out when he ran up closer, it was just a man standing by the creek. I suppose we should go over the whole- if you see a mountain lion, run away, not towards the animal. There haven't been anymore grizzly deer spottings, but we're sure keeping our eyes for them.

Longing for BBQ

So we've been here a month now, and that is by far the longest i've gone without eating BBQ in many years.  We've been invited 3 different times now to different places for a bbq.  Each time my first thought is sweet Jesus that sounds good.  Each time, however, we arrive to find hamburgers, sausage, and this last time, chicken - not bbqed, just grilled.  I don't get it, can't we get a pig around here? Where's the ribs, or pulled pork? So, I went to Costco on wed. and asked the butcher for a boston butt.  He looked at me a little strange, and went and asked another butcher if they had boston butt.  The other man came out and said he didn't know what a boston butt was.  are you kidding me? are there no pigs around here?  So I explained, you know, to make some pulled pork bbq.  He said, oh, yeah, we have some pork shoulder you could use.  Finally, we're getting somewhere.  So it's been cooking since last night and this morning I was adding some sweet baby rays, which thank goodness I stocked up on before we came here and the boys were hovering over me like I had a pile of gold.  Barrett actually told me that he was going to go to the playground because he just couldn't smell it any longer unless I would let him eat some.  

  So, we're having some friends from CO and CA over for dinner.  I wanted to make a proper meal with some fried okra, but you can imagine, I can't find any.  Our friends from CA didn't even know what okra is.  We're definitely going to have to shed some southern comfort foods on these people.  We haven't had one fried thing yet in the cafeteria.  I think there would have been a riot by now if for one whole month there was no fried food. Well, that's my bbq story for the day.  I sure hope it taste good.

4th of July fun.

We went to a waterpark in town yesterday for the 4th. It was a blast. There were a lot of families from the base that went. The water was pretty cold, but the boys didn't seem to mind. After the waterpark, we came home and cooked out. Then, the boys, big boys included, did fireworks. It's a little strange to do fireworks when it's still light out. Barrett was still up at 11, when they did the "real" fireworks. So, he and I went outside to watch them. It was pretty cold, so we we're wrapped up in blankets. How funny is that? wearing a jacket on the 4th of July.

Peter definitely did not enjoy the fireworks. He freaked out and wore some little winter ear muffs the whole time. He kept calling them ear puffs.

Life in "the big sky"

I have been so bad at taking pictures since we've been here.  I know i'll regret it later.  But I wanted to give a little update.  We are doing great.  The boys are all better, Flint actually slept through the night last night, yippee!! Barrett and Luke went with a friend today into town to go to the park, the library, and then the circus.  They had such a great time. They thought the circus was so great.  I guess they had the dirtbikes that ride in the big cage, Luke was fascinated by that.  I'm a little afraid that I might find them trying to ride their bikes in such a contraption.  I'm sure Barrett could build it, and Luke wouldn't think twice about riding his bike in it. We've made some friends that we've been hanging out with a good bit.  David has a little project of putting a new clutch in the truck.  There's a waterpark nearby that we're going to go to on the 4th, and then a barbeque here at the base.  When they said they were having a bbq, Barrett and I were so excited, I've been craving some good old bbq since we left the south.  And then, I realized that to them a bbq is just hot dogs and hamburgers, no brisket or pork.  Barrett was totally confused by that.  It's been record temperatures the past few days.  I think the other day it was 99, but no humidity, I didn't even break a sweat.  Flint is still not walking, but boy does he get so dirty.  The playground is grass everywhere except under the swings, so of course, he just plays in the dirt.  He has the funniest little personality.  And Peter, well, we're trying the potty training thing.  Not going so well yet, but I'm trying to stick it out.  I mean, it's only been a day, but i'm ready to quit. That's about it from here.  We're still enjoying it, and still welcome visitors anytime.

"The dark side"

I've joked with a couple people about doing a section on our blog about "the dark side" a.k.a real life.  I know it seems like we're living this dream life, so I thought I'd put all your jealousy to rest.   Over the past few days we've all had a bit of a stomach bug.  So just try to picture this:  Peter is sitting in my lap, and all of a sudden he is throwing up all over me.  Now, those of you who know me, know that I then threw up.  So I now have even more vomit to clean up.  Well, David came by for something, Peter and I looking a little rough, Flint doing who knows what, and thanks to my non-existent gag reflex, I can't stop throwing up!  Anyway, we get over that, we put Flint to bed, and the poor thing has thrown up and his whole face and hair is covered in vomit.  I wish I had the presence of mind to take a picture, 'cause it was the saddest, funniest thing i've ever seen.  Well, then Luke, and then Barrett. 

So, I thought we were done, but no, Flint, again!  He's had a little trouble to put it nicely with the whole sleeping at night thing, trouble being that he just doesn't.  So, as he was sitting in bed with David and I at 11:30 watching Semi-Pro, which I wouldn't recommend, he throws up, in our bed!! yuck! I guess the up side is that the boys have had more baths in the past few days then they've had in a long time.   Turns out Flint has an upper respiratory infection. We took him to the dr. today and he started some meds.  I'm not real hopeful that i'll sleep tonight, but maybe some day.  

So there's the dark side.  I can't do this often as it may put me in the looney bin, but I thought some of you would enjoy it.  So i'll just leave you with the thought of what a camper smells like when multiple people have thrown up and then you spray lysol spray all over.  Not very pleasant is it???? I'm pleased to report that after having the windows open all day, the smell is gone, and it doesn't make me want to vomit every time I sit at the table.  Yeah! 

Sometimes I think God goes to extreme measures to keep me humble.  I mean, is so much vomit necessary?  At least I can look out the camper at the beauty that's surrounding us. 

YWAM base pictures

Here are some pictures of where we live.  

Mt. Rushmore

Here are a few pictures from Mt. Rushmore.  We're having a little trouble downloading from our camera so there's not a lot of pictures.  Mt. Rushmore was pretty amazing.  Barrett, Luke, and Peter all got their Jr. Ranger badges which was pretty exciting for them.

We've arrived!!!

After weeks of traveling, and a mere 3500  miles of driving, we have finally arrived here at the YWAM base in Lakeside, MT.  It is a beautiful place.  As we were driving into town, along the Flathead lake, the water was the color of the ocean in the Caribbean and behind the lake we were surrounded by the snow capped rocky mountains.

We went over to the directors of Mission builders, Donna and John's house tonight and roasted marshmallows.  They have a creek that runs through their back yard and boys love it to say the least.  Barrett was so excited when we went to bed because he had already made so many friends.  There's another family with 4 boys. I think they said there are about 55 kids here on the base. 

I'm going to try to get some pictures tom. to post so everyone can see how beautiful it is here. The craziest thing is that at 10:00 tonight the sun was finally setting.  And it rises around 5 am.

Kansas City

Pictures with Grandparents

i wanted to post these pictures of the boys with their grammy and poppie, and mimi and pop-pop. I forgot to put them in the albums, so i'll put them by themselves.

Another birthday Flint

We had another birthday party for Flint while we were in Kentucky.  And Flint decided to just go ahead and stand up in the middle of the yard! We was so proud of himself he would stand up then sit and clap for himself.

Flint's birthday

While we were FL we had Flint's birthday and Peter's too since we'd be gone for his real birthday.  Peter was lovin the fishing pole as you can see.  Flint got to taste cake for the first time, and boy did he like it.

New Album 6/8/08 7:24 AM

Kansas City

We've made it to Kansas City. We left FL and drove to B'ham, which took a long 13 1/2 hours, slept in the ice lodge parking lot, woke up and headed to Madsionville, KY.  We did get to stop in Nashville and see old Mr. Peters.  We did sure miss Danielle, but it was fun to see Eric. We spent a couple of days in Madisonville, seeing family and the headed to Kansas City, MO.  The Stalcup's and Armistead's are here so we've hanging out with them.  David, Beau and Jeff left yesterday morning (Fri) and went to a music festival.  the boys have had the best time, and so have I.  I can't put any pictures up cause david's got the other part to the camera. But when gets i'll upload some pictures.

More fun in the sun

We went and visited Grandma Bassitt one morning.  My favorite part from the day was Luke telling me that when he hugged her, he "didn't squeeze her hard cause she's old. 
Lauren and Flint were having their own little pool party together.
We got to spend yesterday afternoon with Michelle and Jeff over at the Bank's house.  It was such a blast.  Barrett was the only boy who would go on the wave runner. Even Lauren went. David went for a nice little ride by himself which ended up being really long. We were all starting to wonder if he was ok.  Well, it turns out he not only has issues with driving fast on land, but apparently on water too.  He got his first speeding ticket on water for going to fast in a no-wake zone.  And he learned your supposed to have a whistle with you, not quite sure the reason for that one, but thankfully the sheriff didn't ticket him for that too.  

We are heading north tomorrow morning.  We are going to Madisonville, Ky next to see David's grandparents before we head west.  Then we will stop in Kansas City to see the Stalcup's and Armistead's and then it's just west til we loose our minds.

10 years and still going!!

David and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary Friday. We had such a great time. We went to dinner, and I got to enjoy some yummy crab legs dipped in melted butter, yum! After dinner we went out to the beach for sunset.  David went all out, he had brought a blanket, candles, wine, dessert. We had a great time just hanging out.  It's amazing how fast time goes. It sure has been a great 10 years.  I can't even imagine what adventures will happen over the next 10.

Peter's so big!!!

Peter has decided that he want's to ride a big bike. So, he took the "maining" wheels off, and away he went. 

Fun in Florida

Michelle and I took the kids to Great Explorations this morning. They had a blast. It was the first day of the Arthur exhibit.

















David, well, he had to stay and work, still putting in the doors.








My mom and I took the boys to Lowry Park Zoo one day. Peter loved the snake and the manatees. Barrett and I rode the skyride over the zoo which was really fun. Flint's favorite part was playing in the water fountains. Of course it may have been his favorite because it was the only time he got out of the stroller. Peter thinks he likes the water, but as you can tell, he's not wet!!