Our family is all far away . . .

It means that we spend most of our special occassions and holidays with just the two of us - and that can be a little lonely.

On the up side, it means we have been able to take the opportunity to travel to fun and wonderful places to visit them. In May, I was able to visit Mom and my sisters in White Rock and then to visit Sunni in Seattle and travel out to Orcas in the San Juan Islands together. We went whale watching and saw most of the members of the local pod of Orcas.

While we were there, Chris called to let us know that Asher Benjamin had arrived in their family. Mother and baby are doing well. We can't wait to snuggle him. He is so lucky to be in Chris and Rachel's special family:)

Here Today, Gone to Maui

dan did alot of research on restaurants and we had some amazing food.

did some snorkeling

fell in love with the Plumeria Tree

did ALOT of body and boogie boarding.

and paddle boarding, that was alot of fun, maybe we'll be brave enough to try it in the surf next time

drove the road to Hana and went on a few hikes in the rain forest

3 Bears Falls

love the chickens that were everywhere

snorkeling trip to Molikini Bay

the beach we were staying on

our view

coconut juice

Maui in May, LOVED IT! that's all I can say. Thanks Jen and Tomy and Curt for watching our kids. 12 years together. Greatest anniversary trip ever.

Random pictures from this winter

I have spent this LOOOONG, gray, cold winter painting my house, not all red of course, but painting. only the tall entry way left, not sure how to reach those high corners-; I love the way Jace and Jaxon talk. they swinged on the swings and swanged on the swangs that day and we drank hot lockit (hot chocholate)

I guess we had some static electricity in the house that day. We got our rec room insulated and heated. getting closer to finished. just some framing and drywall left. we put a swing up there and it has been very popular.

The snow fort that the kids made after ski lessons one day.

Spring Break

Komodo Dragon. That was so cool to see one for reals. Amazing.

Los Angeles in January-It just doesn't get any better!

For Martin Luther King weekend, we headed south for a weekend with Chris and Rachel and the boys. We had a marvelous time. We visited the science museum and went to the beach, shopped in the "Alley" downtown (Earings for $1 and the boy's favorite - pellet guns!) and ate at In and Out Burger with dessert at Diddy Riese (made to order cookies ice cream sandwiches for $1.50!). We enjoyed family movie night, playing at the park, opening belated birthday presents with Jackson and attending church at their ward. The grand finale was Monday at Disneyland - the happiest place on earth! As you can see, we arrived early and stayed late - until we were all worn out! But it was worth it. (The picture below is us waiting for the fireworks and night show to begine;))

We had so much fun. Many thanks to our wonderful hosts:)

Inaugural Festivities - January 7th & 8th

We helped Governor Otter and the other state wide officers celebrate all weekend. Gavin attended Mass and then the swearing in - sat on the steps of the Capital! Friday night we attended a Jo Dee Messina concert with our good friends the McFarlands. Saturday, we got all "glammed" up (for me that means even polishing my nails!) and attended two balls - one at the State Capital and the other at the BSU ballroom. It was fun but I wouldn't want that lifestyle all the time!

It's been 38 years since this day - January 2, 1973

The faces (and figures) have changed a bit but the love is even stronger! I'm so grateful to Gavin - for his humor, his kindness, his integrity and most of all, his love for me:)

Here's to 38 more years and then on to eternity!

Libby

it's been a while

thanksgiving in Eastern Montana and the snow was already deep, we spent hours sledding, especially Will and Payson who spent two entire days on the hill, we made them come in to eat lunch and use the bathroom and then they were right back at it until dark. we had two tobagons and had a blast being pulled by the four-wheelers and the pick-ups, especially entertaining watching the Chevy get stuck twice and getting pulled out twice by the Ford, funny family joke. our camera ran out of batteries so i had to use my moms and i still haven't gotten those pictures from her. Tana got engaged to Don Mark. so exciting for them.

we have so much snow in our yard now that i can't get my trash out to the street. it just keeps coming down, it's a winter wonderland.

we built the snowman family right after the first snow, we've had about two feet since then, you can barely see the snow family any more, i need to take another picture, it's kinda funny and they are all tilting.

Brookie is 10 years old today. she's been with us for a decade, just a great kid. can't really imagine life without her, i'm not sure who i was before she came along. we don't really do cakes, #1 because i can't decorate them worth a darn and i don't find it fun, #2 noone eats them even if i make one or buy one, so we just do favorite desserts for birthdays. Brookie picked Cream Puffs this year. Huge hit, we haven't had those for a while so it was fun to make them and then watch the kids devour them with chocolate goo and vanilla pudding running through their fingers. had to get creative with the candles, hard to fit 10 candles on an eclair.

love this new thing Will does. he likes to catch me off guard and WINK at me. i love it, it is so cute, he makes me laugh. that's a Christmas Eve pajama picture with a great WINK going on.

Big Sky a couple weeks ago
Me and my girls


me and my man.

me and Melissa.

Will and Luke, they cracked me up, they would just bomb down the hill, it was all about competition, boys are funny. Will went so hard he had leg cramps that night and growing pains, kept us up. such a funny kid.

Corbin and Brookie in the lodge taking a lunch break.


Paige getting brave. she's doing so good now.

our favorite thing about living in mt has been skiing alot as a family, we love it and we go every chance we get. lately it's been especially fun that Curt and Tomy moved closer. we've gone 3 times with them and it's only jan.2 so we are really excited that they are into it too, because we have loved having someone to do it with.