Meeting Senator Max Baucus

(Not sure who the older boy is)

Back in February, my boys and I had the great opportunity to meet Max Baucus. Since moving to Montana, I have heard about Sen. Baucus and always thought he was doing a good job. I voted for him at election times, and agreed with a lot of the things he did. Including starting the CHIP program here in Montana.

For those who don't know about CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Plan) helps children whose family makes too much for medicaid, but not enough to be able to afford insurance themselves. My boys are recipients, 7 years for Patterson, and since Corbin was born, almost 5 years ago.

Sen. Baucus wanted to meet and talk with a family CHIP had helped and wanted to use us as an example in his address to the Montana Congress, asking them to continue to fund the CHIP program and to increase the budget to help more kids.

While we were there we also got to meet the Lt. Governor (the kids were invited by him to raid his candy jar after the address, which they readily agreed to do.)

It was a really good opportunity to introduce the kids to politics and the important (yet annoying) role they play in our country.


(Boys with their hands in the candy jar)

All About Me!

No, I am not conceited. Much. Ha, ha! I just visited a blog site set up for a bunch of wonderful women (and I am glad to be counted among them) who for the past 5 months have been working diligently to improve our physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing. The blog was set up as a private blog as a way for us to stay connected and communicate quickly. Among the many great posts, there is currently a spolight series going on each woman involved. My spotlight was just posted (I was asked to write out as many things I could think of about me, up to 20. That was hard) and I thought I would include it over here on my blog for those of you who would like to know more about me, but are not able to visit the other blog.



1) I was born in Cardston AB Canada on April 15th, 1980.

2) I am the middle child of five, with one older brother and sister and two younger sisters. Somewhere along the way my family also adopted (not officially) a neighbor girl into our home. We have called her our sister since.

3) I was the first one in my family, aside from my mother, to get my American citizenship. (I got it in 2001) We moved down to the states in 1990.

4) Travis and I have been married for almost 11 years. We married a month after I graduated High school. He stole my heart with his bad boy bull riding/car wrestling ways.

5) I have been running my daycare for over 7 years and I am still sane (although not according to Travis)

6) I have written a children's book and I am in the process of getting it published.

7) I have written numerous articles for children's magazines, but am currently waiting on answers to my multiple submissions.

8) I am trying to self teach myself to play the guitar. I can play Amazing Grace and I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane, and of course Old MacDonald and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

9) I love music and enjoy the opportunities I get, to share my love for music through singing and playing my flute during Sacrament Meeting. In high school I had the wonderful opportunity to go to SLC with my Acapella choir and sing with around 20 other high school choirs from Idaho and Utah in the Tabernacle. It was an awe-some experience (emphasis on awe). It is something that will stay with me forever.

10) I love to challenge myself to new extremes (my current extreme is training for the Queen City Triathalon on May 30th)

11) I enjoy doing things with my boys and I am sooo looking forward to this summer when we can go on hikes, go camping and just have fun outdoors.

12) My favorite scripture is Matthew 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God." Since reading that as a youth I have strived to be that, a peacemaker. I am still working on it, but I have seen improvement, little by little.

13) I especially love all of the women who support me in my life. You are all awe inspiring women and I am grateful to know you and call you each friends. (Oh, and my lucky number is 13)

The Prodigal Returns

Wow! Time has flown by since my last entry. I am still alive, I just have not been kicking much. I have had some motivation issues in a lot a areas (pretty much everything) but I have returned. Thanksgiving and Christmas were both wonderful.

At Thanksgiving, we surprised Travis's sister by showing up on her doorstep in Seattle WA without here knowing we were coming. Here husband was in on it, though. It had been almost five years since Travis and Liz had seen each other, and when she opened the door, she burst into tears, and then just held onto him for a while. I don't know how many times she said "Oh my goodness," but it had to have been over 50. We had a great time with them.

For Christmas, we stayed home and had a very easy going Christmas. Travis got me a Guitar Hero which I love a lot more than I thought I would. I have wanted one for years, but could never justify the cost, but hey it was Christmas and some things can be frivolous. Patterson got an electric guitar from Santa and is now in his fourth month of lessons and doing awesome. Corbin got a lot of coloring and drawing stuff along with his own Guitar Hero Air Guitar. Travis didn't get anything guitar related, but he did get some aviation stuff he'd been wanting.

I am currently training for a Triathalon scheduled for the end of May, and I am very excited to see how I do. I love to challenge myself and do difficult things. The biggest challenge will be the swimming portion. It is only a sprint distance triathalon (500 yds of swimming, a 5K run, and a 12.4 mile bike segment) Cheer me on, on May 30th.

Ouch! That Hurt!

Well, last Wednesday I went to the dentist. Yes, the dentist. I really like my dentist, but I still hate going to the dentist. I do not have the best set of teeth. I inherited problem teeth thanks to my mother (I still love ya mom) and they only got worse with my two pregnancies.

Since before I was pregnant with Patterson, I have had a tooth that really should have been fixed. It was almost at needing a root canal at that point. Almost nine years later, I still have not had anything done with it. It has not pained me too much, and I have just learned not to eat sweet things on that side. But recently it has started to hurt, so I asked Dr. Bennett to pull it out. (Root canals are way too expensive, plus the tooth above it had already been pulled.)

First they fixed a cavity by the tooth to be pulled and then they took xrays. The xrays showed two of my roots curling away from each other and one root connected to my bone (another trait from my mother and her dad). It hurt soo bad and it took forever to pull out. My jaw still hurts, and my "hole". I do not suggest pulling teeth.

But I got my revenge. Not really, though. As I was leaving the parking lot, I backed right into Dr. Bennett's car. Ouch, that hurt even more.

Playing Tag

I may be weird, (actually I know I am) but I like these cute little tags. You really do learn a lot about other people with them and I even learn a few things about myself, because I take the time to reflect on myself. Don't think too poorly of me for my cluttered home.

The instructions state to take pictures of the following:

Activity I was doing before I got tagged. (Finishing Halloween Costumes)


Kitchen Sink (Oh, what a mess, and I already did dishes twice today)


Closet


Laundry Room


Fridge


Bathroom


Favorite Room (Daycare Playroom - It's fun and colorful)


Favorite Shoes (They've been in a few races)


What Your Kids Are Doing


Self Portrait (Sexy Mama, ha, ha)


THE RULES - NO CLEANING
NO STRAIGHTENING
NO WIPING KIDS NOSES
TAKE PICS RIGHT NOW
AND HAVE FUN!

Travis's Fly In To Three Forks.

To hear music that goes along with slideshow, pause other music at bottom of page.
(The song is one of Travis's new favorites cause he's a tree top flyer.)

First picture shown is our airplane, a 1946 Stinson. Isn't she beautiful? Corbin's dubbed her Snoopy because she has Snoopy decals on her. We purchased two plush Red Baron Aviator Snoopy dogs for in the plane. Corbin and Patterson slept with them every night for two weeks before we could get them away from them.

Yeah! It's October!

Last years Halloween, 2007.

I am just finishing up Halloween costumes for my boys. They both wanted to be army guys, but Patterson added a twist. He is a vampire army dude. The costumes were fairly simple to sew, but the collar on the shirt has definitely given me some problems. Its a good thing they're just costumes. But still, I don't think I have done that bad. I've enjoyed sewing them sew (so punny) much, that I went out and bought 20 patterns for making various clothes for myself and family. I may be overly ambitious, but the patterns were on sale for 99 cents. What a great deal.

We are looking forward to our neighbors annual Halloween party. We have been going for the past 6 years, and have a blast. They go all out, putting together a spook house for all their grandkids and friends kids. They are such wonderful people. They insist on our kids calling them grandma and papa. We really appreciate having such good neighbors and hope we can be half as good of neighbors to them, as they are to us.

Check back to see pictures of my boys all decked out in their army gear.