Look what I made today!

So, I finally gave myself some time to get crafty today. There is still so much to be done around the house, but I found some fabric flower patterns on etsy and I couldn't wait to try them. I had seen these fabric flowers and I had tried to just copy them, but they weren't quite right. So I broke down and bought the patterns. I ended up changing things up a little bit, but I am so glad I forked out the money. The headband Jenna is wearing was my second try. The first try ended up in the garbage. Then I had the idea of letting my sizzix do the cutting and it turned out great, and it was sooooooo much easier than cutting them out myself. I am going to make a smaller one for Kelsey and take their pictures tomorrow after my new camera comes from Amazon! I am soooooo excited for it to get here and I only ordered it yesterday. Hopefully I will love my new camera. It will mean lots more posts on here which I know 2 certain Grandmas will appreciate!

Singin' in the rain...

It's a rainy and much cooler day on the Gulf Coast today. It's in the low 80Fs outside which is actually quite pleasant. The rain has been falling since about 11 this morning. The girls and I went to lunch with Dad today and, afterwards ran to get a few things in Wal-Mart. They had all their kids' rainboots on sale and I couldn't resist. I had also found out, as I headed into the store that my umbrella was all bent up (thanks to my lovely children) so we bought another one, too. When we got home Jenna wanted to try them both out. She had so much fun running around and stomping and jumping. I called her in when the thunder started. I'm not so sure about the umbrella though...she was soaked through by the time she had to come in! Wink! Wink!

Kelsey, by Henry

Henry took this photo of Kelsey this past weekend and asked me to post it on the blog. Of course, I will! The photo marks the occasion of officially being caught-up! Yay! We are finally getting settled in...just a few more boxes in the living room and stuff to hang on the walls. Mississippi is great and we are so happy to be here. Tonight for FHE we're going to hang all our hurricane boards over the windows, label them ( I don't know why they aren't labelled already) and make sure we have all the screws handy. Fun, fun!

Cub Scouts!

On August 13th, Henry went to his first Cub Scout Pack meeting! He was so excited to wear his uniform. That night we received his council patches and troop patches. He's the only boy in the ward his age, but there are about 12 scouts total so there's lots of fun to be had at their combined Den meetings. What's even better is that Dustin has been called into Cub Scouting so he'll get to do it all with Henry. Our first Den meeting is September 1st and Henry has already finished all his Bobcat requirements, his first rank in Scouting! Way to go, Henry!

Moving In

Our household goods showed up on the same day as Tropical Depression 5! What a crazy day. I am so glad there is no carpet in my house or I would already be having the carpets cleaned. The move-in went fairly well, although the men unloading didn't care much about my furniture or my wood floors. We'll be sending in a claim on a few different items. It's nice to not be sleeping on an airmattress after 3 weeks! Now we just have to get it all unpacked, put away, curtains hung, and pictures hung. Once it's all up, hopefully this week, I'll take some photos. We've done a lot in the last month to it! We've painted, fixed the wood floors, repaired the roof, ripped out our closet and replaced the shelves and rods, repaired the ceiling in the bathroom and laundry room, and ordered blinds for the whole house. They are being installed tomorrow. Oh, I can't wait for it to be done, for now at least!

The First Day of School at North Woolmarket Elementary!

Back to school time comes a lot quicker in Mississippi than it does in Montana. The boys went back to school on August 11th. It's been a tough transition for us all. Mississippi isn't ranked 49th out of 50 for nothin'! The boys are settling in, but boy do I have a fight ahead of me. Right now, the children get one recess A WEEK, and that's only if they earn it and it's dry out (not gonna happen). They get 50 minutes of gym class a day, but 0 minutes of unstructured time. Even lunch time is time to eat and get back to class. They also still "paddle" children here, like with a wooden board on their rears. I had to sign a form to say "no way" to that one. The boys come home with their brains fried everyday. They walk in the door and lay on the couch. I have more tears than I thought possible at homework time and I wait until after dinner to even mention it! They also do not have art or music and that's another battle waiting for me. Henry's teacher told me they don't have time for that, end of story. So once, I get my own life in order and get rid of all these boxes once and for all, into the fray I will go. One mom, from across the street already came by to enlist my help in the fight she started last year. Let's see if we can get Mississippi out of 49th place and into 48th!

We ♥ Elder Kelley!

Since we were going to be driving right through Bradly's mission we called and asked the mission home if we could stop in for a quick visit. We didn't know what the answer would be, but considering Elder Kelley would be going back to Montana at the end of his mission, and that we weren't going to be there, we thought we'd ask as see what happened. They said YES, after talking with Bradly. We were so excited. He lives in a tiny little town about 20 minutes from the freeway. We met up with him and his companion for lunch, under the guidelines that our meeting be short and not distracting. We had so much fun! The time went by way too quickly! Right now they are in an area where they are the only Melchizedek priesthood holders in the Branch. A family drives in from a neighboring ward and the father is the Branch President. Bradly's companion's name is Elder Evans and they seem to work really well together. They are serving the people of this small town well and it shows...all over Elder Evan's arms! He recently got poison ivy while pulling weeds at a local church. Elder Kelley dodged that bullet by riding the lawnmower instead. We had such a nice visit with Bradley and wished him the best for the rest of his mission! If any of my Great Falls friends are reading this...please have your families write to Elder Kelley! He would LOVE it!

Our Looney Tow Truck Driver!

On Monday, we drove around Kansas City, MO and as we were about to head East across the state the truck decided to blow up. Ok, maybe not blow up, but all of a sudden is put out this huge, and I mean huge, plume of white smoke. It was so big that I could not see the truck at all. I didn't know if I was about to run right into the back of it. I hit the brakes and pulled into the median on the left, just in case. The people in both lanes behind me had to hit the brakes, too. Once the cloud cleared we could all see Dustin pulling across all 3 lanes and onto the far side of the road. When it was safe, I headed over there, too.

Now, this week just happened to be the week of a record breaking heat wave in this area and it was stinkin' hot on the side of the road. Dustin got on the cell phone and we put all the kids and the dog in the van with the AC and a movie on. Could you image us all sitting out there in the heat? While Dustin was on the phone with USAA, a truck driver happened by and helped us out...for much cheaper than I thought it would be! I entitled this entry, Our Looney Tow Truck Driver, because that was really his name! T.A. Looney! He took it to a shop nearby and the rest of us went to find a hotel. We had no idea how long we were going to be stuck in Missouri. It turns out we decided to turn in our tow dolly for a small trailer, tow the new trailer with the Ranger, and ship Dustin's truck to Mississippi. We were able to get on the road the next day. Here it is 21 days later and the truck is just arriving today. Hopefully Dustin will be able to fix it fairly inexpensively!

South Dakota and Mt. Rushmore

We spent our whole first day of driving to make it to South Dakota. We arrived in Spearfish, SD very late at night. I was surprised in the morning to find that South Dakota is actually quite beautiful. I had never been there before so I was excited to add another state to my list. We drove to Mount Rushmore that morning and crossed another "must see" off the list. We told the kids we were going to do something fun that day. As we were leaving the park they asked what fun thing we were going to do. Goofy kids! We drove on from there and made it across the state. We went to church in Sioux Falls, SD and then had a short day of driving to just outside Kansas City, MO.

And a chorus of angels sang from above...

...the day the moving truck pulled up in front of 6511 Cypress Drive!

The Douberlys officially pulled chocks and hit the road to Mississippi on July 30th 2010. It was a beautiful day. The sky was big, as it always is in Big Sky Country and the farmers were out in the fields harvesting the wheat. I was pretty emotional as we pulled out of the base for the last time. I teared up a little bit in relief, I think, that it was finally over. I had made it. It had not been an easy 4 years, but now we were moving on to something new, something hopefully better. The coolest thing was, as we pulled onto the highway headed East and out of town, the song

Lover, Lover came on the radio...

Well the truth, well it hurts to say,
I'm gonna pack up my bags and I'm gonna go away

I'm gonna split, I can't stand it
I'm gonna give it up and quit, ain't never comin' back

Girl but before I get to goin' I got to say

I know you used to love me, but that was yesterday

And the truth, I won't fight it

When the love starts burning you got to do what's right

Wo-Oh, lover, lover, lover

You don't treat me no good no more.

No good no more, more, more, more.

Lover, lover, lover you don't treat me no good no more

Anyways, the song goes on to say how she treats him so COLD and he's outta there...just like we are outta Montana. So it get's even better. Right was we passed the "Welcome to Mississippi" sign one week later...guess what song started on the radio....You got it "Lover, Lover"! Too funny! So we're here now. It's been three weeks, but I am getting ahead of myself. There's lots of other catching up to do before we talk about our new digs.

Henry's Baptism

Henry Joseph Douberly was baptized on the 24th of July 2010, Pioneer Day. It was a great evening and we are so proud of Henry. Henry was baptized in the Great Falls 2nd Ward of the Great Falls East Stake with two of his Primary classmates, Karissa Heyward and Sarah Rice. He was baptized and confirmed by his Dad. Our Bishop, Bishop Harris and my Dad acted as witnesses. Several people from the ward and my dad stood in for the confirmation. His Grandma Pat and I were the choristers. Afterwards he chose Applebee's for dinner. It's so amazing that my baby boy is old enough to be baptized. Before we know he'll be heading off on his mission!

Our Cousin Sam

Sam is my sister's little girl. It was fun getting to know her a little bit better on our recent trip home. I am sad that my kids will be getting less cousin time now that we live so far away. Hopefully they can come out here soon so the girls can play again. DeAnne chose these cute outfits for the girls to wear together. It was super tough getting all three girls to look at the camera, but I think these a pretty cute even if they're not perfect shots.

What on Earth?

Everytime, and I mean, everytime I look at this photo I laugh.

It was taken at my parent's anniversary dinner, and my mom is opening the card my dad got her, but other than that I have no idea what is going on. I think that's the beauty of it!

50 YEARS!

CONGRATULATIONS MOM & DAD!

50 years! That's how long my parents have been married. Wow! They were married in the Los Angeles Temple on July 2, 1960. I tried to look up some reliable data on marriage statistics and the closest I could find was the fact that less than 5% of all marriages in the US make it to 50 years. I am so proud of my parents. All of my siblings and I had a wonderful dinner party at JPs in Cannon Beach (if you haven't been, you should go!) on the night of July 17th. It was a great evening with awesome food, lots of laughs, and a slide show created by my sister. It was really wonderful to have all the kids together again. And to top it off we had great weather the whole weekend at the Oregon Coast. I don't know when we'll make it back to the Oregon Coast. I was so happy to get to go again before we headed to Mississippi.

Crabbing, Part 2

After lunch we followed the ambulance driver's advice and tried another pier a little ways around the bay. It was super crowded, but for good reason...people we catching crabs here! We pulled up lots and lots of crabs, quite possible the same ones over and over again, but none of them were big enough to keep. I was happy about that because I really didn't know what we were going to do with any that were legal to take. They can really stink up a house when you cook them and you drop them in the boiling water live, which I think it just plain awful. Anyways, while it was a little cold out in the wind on the pier, the kids had a great time trying something new.

Crabbing on the Oregon Coast

I have wanted to take the kids crabbing the last couple of times we've visited the Oregon Coast and this time we were finally able to try it. The weather conditions wouldn't allow us to take a boat out into the bay, so we rented the equipment and tried it off of the pier at the Marina. We pulled up lots of nets but couldn't catch a thing. Others on the peir were having better luck than we were, but even though they caught a few none of them were large enough to keep. After a little while, a local ambulance driver came out and dropped his nets. After little luck, he suggested another place for us to try. We headed off for lunch at Dairy Queen to fuel up for an afternoon of pulling up crab nets.