The first week

We explored the mountains......

 We explored the rivers.....

 And we spent lots of time on our own little piece of the valley.

The Big Move

 Our last week in Utah was crazy.  We had lots of last minute play dates, girls night outs, family time, and played with Kristi and her kids lots in hopes that baby Phillip would join us before we left.  During all of this Huntley even lost her very first tooth!

 Bright and early Saturday May 2 I had so many friends and family show up to help load our trailer.  It went so fast and I am so thankful to everyone who helped us.  The following Monday we left, me and the girls pulling our trailer and my dad and grandpa pulling the big trailer we borrowed from my Uncle.  Chris was the lucky guy who had to work and met us there to unload all of our stuff, which took a million times longer than loading it.  Of course as we got to our house my mom called to let me know that Phillip had finally made his entrance into the world, little stinker.

After a few days in Montana we realized we forgot a few things and we needed to buy some stuff for the new place.  Since the only shopping we have is a True Value we had to come back to Utah to get stuff and say hello to Phillip.

It was the quickest trip of my life! I slept in the same house as Ta'Merra and didn't even see her.  We met Phillip, went grocery shopping, bought a bunch of stuff at IKEA, and headed back home.  The drive out of Salt Lake took forever due to crazy thunderstorms and traffic.  Chris was gong crazy the entire time.  When we got closer to home we got stopped in traffic again.  Although this kind of traffic was the four legged kind and is extremely entertaining to my kids and relaxing to my husband.  I love being back in the mountains!

Montana

It's been 4 weeks (time flies!!!) since we were finally able to move to our new home in Montana.  We love it!  Like really really love it.  Four weeks later I still wake up and catch myself saying "I can't believe I live her" five million times a day.  Since our view is amazing I don't think I'll ever stop saying it.

 It's not a joke when they call Montana Big Sky Country, the sky does just go on forever even though there are still mountains everywhere.  

 

As for the girls, they are adjusting quite nicely.  Who wouldn't when you have a lots of room to 

roam and a giant manure pile to play in.  Life is good!

My Princess

Like everyone else that is anyone else, our family has spent way too much time watching Frozen over and over and over again this past month.  The movie watching is finally starting to die off but everything else, the songs, pretend, hair-do's, is still going strong.  Which must be why Hunt and I had the following conversation the other day:

Huntley "Do I look beautiful?"
Me " Yes, you look gorgeous."
Huntley then turns around to leave and mutters to herself "that's good, it's coronation day."

The random things my girls say referring to this movie is never going to get old.

Hunting....

......for Easter eggs that is.

This year was kind of lame on the egg hunting.  Usually I find as many as I possibly can to drag my kids too.  All we did this year was throw a last minute egg hunt and hot dog roast together with Kristi and her kids.

 Chris tried to liven things up by offering four wheeler rides but that didn't go over so well.

We did have candy though.  Except now that I'm thinking about it Russell and Huntley told me I bought yucky candy.  Oh well, at least it won't be hard to impress them next year.

Easter Temple Trip

 Three years ago we started our annual Easter tradition of going to Temple Square over Easter weekend and it is probably my most favorite thing we do as a family.  I'm really going to miss being able to do this after we move.  I have loved seeing the girls change from year 1 to year 2 to now.  Although getting our annual Easter picture is sure becoming a lot more difficult each year.

Especially considering the fact I'm trying to get in the perfect picture and Chris is taking his annual Easter nap.

 Although this excursion was just all around difficult getting a decent picture of Paisley.

 Except when I trapped her in a corner and she couldn't escape.

 Proof that I was actually there and more proof that I'm attempting to stick to my goal of being 30 and wearing makeup on a semi-regular basis. 

 Good-bye Temple Square.  We'll really miss you but promise we'll come back and visit.

Things to Be Happy About

A month ago when Chris was home he had made grand plans to spoil me for two days on my birthday but instead we spent a lot of the time at home with him being sick.  Something completely out of anyone's control and I knew that but was upset about it and frustrated that nothing was going as planned.  We ended up having a lovely discussion about my frustrations with life and being in limbo and how if we can just move on from this stage I'd be happy.  Chris lovingly pointed out that I could be happy in any situation and that it was a choice I had to make on a daily basis.  Apparently he isn't the only one who has this view because the next week during our church's General Conference Elder Uchtdorf gave a talk about being Grateful in Any Circumstances.  It was another good wake up call to me to enjoy every day and be glad for every blessing I had.  So I've been doing my best to try and spend my day enjoying all of the little things that make me happy.  I have a lot of them.

 Sunshiny days and making new friends.

 the fear of trying a new slide at the park and the happiness that follows when you reach the end unscathed, playing on the toys at the grocery store

 water and mud puddles

 your baby hitting your dog with a stick and yelling "look at me, I'm a goober!"

(probably not the nicest thing but I laughed a lot)

 picnics and finding your keys you lost with your pregnant brain, yes that was three years ago

 (miracles happen)

 watching your children share

 waking up to homemade cinnamon rolls

 telling your kid to get dressed and have them come out in a swim suit

watching your oldest find something she HAD to have and then work her little hiney off to earn the money to buy it

and last but not least no cavities at the dentist

Which leads to a funny story.  During the girls dentist appointment our dentist asked which city we lived in wondering if we had flouride in our water.  I told him we were actually moving next month and found out he had a cabin in the area we are moving and that yes they do have flouride in their water.  I came home so excited and told Chris the great news and went off for a long time about how wonderful it was going to be for the girls and how awesome their teeth would be.  I finally stopped talking when I realized he was laughing really hard and had to ask what was so funny about having flouride in our water.  He then pointed out to me that our water will come from our own well and that unless he is mistaken and the city drives around and adds flouride to every individuals well that we won't have flouride in our water.  Yes I'm sure this will be the first story of many as I adjust to this new way of life.  One more week to go!!!