Jeffrey's 4! (I can't believe it either!)

Jeff is our big boy now. Last Thursday he turned the big 4! I hadn't added the photos yet because that evening he, Henry, and Dustin hit the road for Salt Lake City, Utah for Dustin's cousin's wedding and took the camera with them. For Jeff's big day he woke up to having his bed decorated with crepe paper and balloons all over the floor. He got to have Cheesy noodles for lunch and we had cake and icecream for dinner! His friends Katie Bree, Tyson and Sarah dropped in for visits throughout the day. As I mentioned before, that same evening they hit the road. The wedding was Friday and then on Saturday, Grandma Pamela, cousin Pamela, and Aunt Linda took the boys to a place even I have yet to enjoy... Lagoon! I've heard they had a GREAT time. (I've been told photos of the fun will be coming soon)I have to admit I am a little jealous! :) Man, my kids are spoiled!

Alright, alright, alright...I don't hate Montana! (A Happy Father's Day message)

Alright, I admit it. I don't actually hate Montana. It's not Montana's fault that things kinda stink here. Oh, no, I am not going there again! I think there is some "rule" out there about not writing when you're mad. Maybe not, maybe it's don't write when you're cold. Either way, the weather has warmed up CONSIDERABLY and that makes me a much happier military wife asked to live somewhere, well, less than desireable. Yes, technically we accepted this assignment when we could have stayed in the warmth of the Georgia sunshine but one thing about this job made it one we could not turn down: Right now, Dustin is Non-Deployable. No Iraq, no Korea, no Afghanistan, no Kuwait, etc, etc, etc. Three more husbands from the Ward will be leaving soon for even less desireable assignments than we have. Therefore, I must stop complaining. Dustin is staying right here. While I hate (there's that word again) to admit it, I would rather take Montana's wicked weather for the rest of my life than think of my sweetheart, and the Father of my children being far away at war, especially at Father's Day. And while that won't be an option and eventually this assignment will end, and eventually it will be our turn again to deploy, right now I am happy that he will be home tonight on Father's Day and not in the Desert. So I send a tribute out there to all the Dads who are somewhere out there so that I can be here, even though it's Montana. Happy Father's Day to Dads everywhere. God Speed.

My Mom taught us never to say hate...

...but I hate Montana!

Here is Henry, last Friday, on his last day of school. June 6, 2008

Here are my same beautiful flowers this morning. June 11, 2008

I had to run outside before 7am and attempt to save them in the garage with a hair dryer. It was taking forever so now I am just hoping for the best. So, yeah, this place stinks! As I was seething in the shower after my early morning snow adventure I tried to think of reasons that just might make someone want to live here. Here are my ideas....

1. If you want to dress entirely in camouflage clothing and then cover it with a flourescent orange vest and hat, go out and kill innocent wildlife, and gut it while someone stands watch so that a bear doesn't come rip you to pieces and steal your goods then you'd fit right in here.

2. If you'd like to ride your four-wheeler on city streets with regular traffic without a helmet, then come on over.

3. If you like snow so much that having it fall, on a normal year for 9 months and have the possiblity of falling all year 'round, then move here!

4. If you want to run the risk of hitting a deer within the city limits of where you live, then awesome!

5. If you wanna grow wheat, this is your kinda place.

6. If you want to have a Meth problem or be offended by the nasty "Don't Use Meth" billboards, move to Montana.

7. If you want to drive 3 hours to the nearest Olive Garden, Great Falls is your town.

8. If you want your kids to play outside at school until it hits 0F and know that they will never get a snow day because if they did they'd only go to school in July and August, then fabulous.

9. If your life's passion is to study the life cycle and mating habits of mosquitos, heaven awaits you in Montana.

10. If you like the idea that nothing in town is more than 14 miles away and you like saving gas, then move to Great Falls. Oh yeah, that one is mine! (My one and only!)

I cannot believe that I woke up to snow today. So much for Henry having his last T-Ball game of the season tonight. Now I don't have any excuse for not staying home and cleaning my house. After 2 weeks of company I guess that's probably a good thing!

Hope you're enjoying better weather than we are!

Shannon

ANOTHER 5 YEARS!

Since Dustin's Mom and family were here, Dustin decided to do his re-enlistement ceremony a little early. June 23rd marks Dustin's 10 year mark in the Air Force and an end to the 6 year enlistment we began when Henry was born. We could either get out and join the civilian world or stick it out and make a career of it. We chose to stick it out and on Saturday, May 31st Dustin re-enlisted for 5 more years. Our friend from church, Lt. Greg Lotz conducted the ceremony. An officer (and a flag) must be present as Dustin made the Oath of Enlistment. So here we go- another 5 years! Then we'll only have 5 more until retirement! Yahoo. We were so proud of Dustin!

The Gates of the Mountains

What a busy week! Dustin rented a boat at Outdoor Rec and we all headed out to the Gates of the Mountains! It's an area of the Missouri River that Lewis and Clark explored. It is remarkably beautiful. There are camping and picnicing grounds along the river that are only accessible by boat. Meriweather is our spot of choice. We took the crew and a picnic lunch and headed out. It was a much nicer day than I expected. We needed our sweatshirts but not our coats. Missy must have thought it was pretty nice because as we pulled into the dock she leaped out of the boat. Luckily someone else was nearby and helped pull her our of the river. Crazy dog. We had a great lunch and enjoyed the great outdoors before we raced home for Henry's TBall game. We would have missed it- I had called the coach ahead of time but as we were coming back to the marina I remembered I was the snack mom! Good grief!

Spoiled by Grandma, again!

Grandma Pamela's visits always include a little spoiling. This time she brought along this way cool John Deere tractor. Her employer used to offer an incentive program that involved earning points. The points could then buy things from their special catalog. Well, they decided to end the program. So Pamela asked all her friends for their unused points and 100,000 points later we have a tractor! Thank You Albertsons! The kids love it!

Lewis and Clark Caverns

Dustin's Mom, Aunt Rosalie, and cousin Tara came to visit this past week. We drove down to visit the Lewis and Clark Caverns near Whitehall, MT. The State Park offers guided tours of the caverns. It's pretty amazing. You take a short hike uphill in the beginning to the entrance and then travel down, down, down, throught the caverns. There were long eared bats sleeping inside which was super cool but we couldn't take their pictures as they were sleeping and we didn't want to disturb them! Sleeping bats are one thing- flying bats, I don't think so. The coolest part for me was when our guide killed the lights and showed us how the tours used to be guided -by candlelight. It was very creepy. She also cut out all the lights and allowed us to get a little nervous in the COMPLETE darkness. You could not see anything. She told a story of someone being stuck in the caverns for 3 days with no light. I could not imagine! But then she flicked the switch and all was bright again! There is a reason I was born in this day and age! We would defintely recommend this to anyone visiting Montana.

Our little Mommy

It is just amazing to me to watch Jenna and her babies. The boys did not play with babies...tractors? trucks? balls? YES! Babies? NO! She has one tucked under one arm just about all of the time. I just thought she looked so cute loving her babies that I had to take her picture!