Giant Springs...one last time

My mom's sister came up from Wyoming with my cousins for a visit and to help me out about two weeks after I had Emma. They were such a wonderful help with cooking, cleaning, playing with Ben, and making me laugh until I cried! We visited Giant Springs and the Hutterite Colony while they were with me.

Cousin Nick, Ricko, and BenOk, NOT the best picture of me! But this is me and my favorite puppy of all time, little Ricko Aunt Jae and Ben doing something silly, I'm sure!Playing "Poo Stick" at Giant Springs Nick and Ricko Cousins Russell, Ben, Aunt Jae and cousin Nick

Ben, me and little Emma, who was only 2 weeks old!!

The boys

One of my favorites

I wonder what Ben was saying?!

No, this one is my FAVORITE!!! Beautiful picture of Aunt

Jae and her boys!!

Sweet one....I'm glad my family LOVED this park!!

Hutterite Colony

Let me just preface this by saying that we had always wanted to tour one of the Hutterite Colonies in Montana and it was one of the last things we did before we left....which was kind of nice, actually. We went to the Fairhaven Colony in Ulm. The tour opened our eyes to how different our lives are from the Hutterites. It was pretty apparent that they are extremely hard working and very meticulous. On the tour, we got to see their church, the dairy cows (where we learned all about how they feed the calves), the garden where they grow all the vegetables, the kitchen and food storage areas, the area where they process their eggs from the henhouse, and the pigpen. We were even allowed to see one of their private homes, which showed how simple they live.

My aunt and my cousin in front of their garden
In the dairy area
I thought this was sweet....the girls would hold Ben's hand
on our walks to different areas

The hen house -- Ben petting a little chick

A Hutterite boy and Ben.....they all played so well together

The community laundromat

He totally looks like he belongs!!!!

Mario got this one of me running to the sign for

a picture

My cousin Nick, my Aunt Jae, me, and my cousin Russell

The GORGEOUS wheat field outside the colony

us getting INTO the wheat field!

It was so cool to be in there! It felt like you were in

a field of feathers!!

Ryan's Dam & Emma's birth

Ryan's Dam and Emma's birth was like one really long day!! I was originally supposed to be induced on Friday, June 25th. But I changed my mind and decided that we would enjoy one last weekend together and would go be induced on June 29th instead. Well, Emma had other plans I guess! But we did enjoy that last weekend.....up until the very last minute! We did our usual and went to Quizno's to pick up our sandwhiches with Mario's mom and then headed out there in the afternoon. When we realized it was already 7 p.m., we decided to head back home. We got home around 7:30 or so and got Ben into bed around 8. I thought giving myself a face mask was a great idea, so I proceeded with that. With the mask still on my face and not 15 minutes after getting Ben into bed, my water broke! So we headed off to the hospital about 9 o'clock that night and Emma Grace was born on June 28th at 3:52 a.m. weighing in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 20.5 inches long. Wow! What a day! She's beautiful and we're so blessed to have her in our lives.

Playing airplane
Mama and Ben taking a little rest

Ben took this picture as I was goofing around

The three of us in this little tree nook that I love

I finally got the picture of Ben walking across the bridge

I had been trying to get this but there were always lots of people around.

A room with a view! This is Benefis' new birthing center

She's here!

First bath

Ben taking his first look at his little sister

He wanted to touch her....so sweet

Now it's the 4 of us!

Lyla taking her security bands off before we left the hospital

Lyla and Ben - she was the labor and delivery nurse

when I had Ben! So it was nice to see her again.

She almost was there for the delivery of Emma too

and only missed it by a few hours!

Ready to leave the hospital

Ben and I flying a kite a couple days after we got home

Ryan's Dam

I'd have to say that we spent a majority of our summer weekends at Ryan's Dam this summer. Our routine was the same every weekend. We would go pick up sandwhiches at Quizno's (because I was too tired to make them!) and we'd head up to the Dam and have a picnic. Such good memories right before Emma was born!

9 babies - whew! Glad I'm only having one!! Ben getting out all that energy!

Still going!!

The three of us....when there were still 3!

Playing Outside

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately so we have been spending lots of time outside. We are really taking advantage of it because we know it will most likely snow a few more times! That's Montana for you {insert sigh here}. Ben is a busy boy....he loves school and makes all kinds of art projects for me.

He talks my ear off most days, but I secretly love it....

The most recent thing he told me (when we were in the car) that melted my heart was "Mama, smile" and so I do and then after seeing the reflection of my smile in the mirror, he simply says, "you have a good smile." Where do they learn these things?!!