Catching up!

As you can see I had a bit of catching up to do. I guess adding number six did throw off my "groove" just a bit. Luke has been such a joy! Winter has set in here in Montana. We have had the first few snowfalls and the kids are loving it as usual! Ethan will be turning 8 this month and he gets to celebrate with his Honey Grandma here this year. We have her and Marks brother Michael and his wife Joy coming for Christmas this year and we are so excited to have them. Michael and Joy have not yet been to Montana to see us. The kids hope to be able to give Uncle Michael a true MT. winter welcome & introduce him to "brokeback" Mt. ( our sled run) Here's hoping the weather cooperates. It is Montana afterall...if you dont like the weather just wait a few minutes, it will change!

Happy Thanksgiving.

We hosted Thanksgiving this year, even with the house not quite completely done. It was great to have 25 of us together up here. It was our first big get together in the new space and it sure was nice! The turkeys ( there were 3) were unbelievable! The kids had so many places to be that one would hardly know that there were 15 of them! I just want to say that I have so very much to be thankful for! First and foremost... my salvation! My AMAZING husband, my beautiful healthy children, my new and improved "dream" home on this great property, My country...where I am still free to worship God, all my loving family and friends, my own health, and sooo much more. Praise God for his blessings!

Construction wraps up!

The house is nearly complete and it is trully a blessing to live in the new added space! Construction ran about a month past schedule, but isn't that what it is supposed to do?!? ;) We feel blessed to have had a nice Christian man as our contractor/builder and enjoyed the process.... minus the mess. (at times) God is good!

Church Costume Carnival

We do not celebrate Halloween, instead we allow our kids to dress up and attend the carnival at church in celebration of harvest time. They play games,win prizes, make crafts, eat....all the things that kiddo's love to do. The boys ( and Daddy) dressed up alike this year. They went as Team Jensen, Hockey players and coach. The girlies just dolled themsleves up in thier favorite dress-up outfits. It was a fun night.

Oct. 28th... Madeline turns 4!

Maddie had her "princess" party at home with just our family. The girls loved having the play clothes out and changed between princess and fairy costumes most of the afternoon.( The boys enjoyed dressing up also, tho not in the same attire!) It is hard to believe that our baby girl is 4! Where does the time go?

Construction progress

Well things are still moving forward with construction up here. We now have some siding, some sheetrocked walls, some in floor heat....get the main point yet? We have alot of unfinished projects, but they are all progressing and that is what matters! =) Here are a few pics of the latest and greatest.

09-09-09

Luke is here and his birthday will be easy for everyone to remember. He arrived at 11:38 on 09-09-09. He weighed 7lbs 13 oz and was 19 1/2 in long. I went in for induction at 5 a.m. At 6 a.m.I was all hooked up with pitocin. At 7 ish they had to turn pitocin down because I was progressing too fast for thier liking. Just before 8 the dr. ruptured my bag of water. They turned the pitocin off as I was contracting too close together on even the lowest dose. I labored on my own from that point, a little bit slower then previous labors...but easier on my body and the baby. The nurses joked for a bit that maybe he would arrive at 9:09. We welcomed him into the world with Daddy and both of my sisters there to greet him. The rest of the crew was already on thier way and showed up in the L&D room shortly after to meet little Luke for the first time. It was a nice delivery and a sweet time getting to know him together. He is the sweetest baby, hardly ever cries and is very content. He looks a little like each of the kids, more and more like Zach though. ( who happens to be totally taken with him!!!) He is the perfect addition to our family!

Behind on blogging.

Wow...guess I have not updated this in awhile. So it is now Sept. and Luke will join our family this week. Construction is moving forward and get's more and more exciting each week. Mark is home for most of the month and we are all thankful for that! Uncle Chuck and Aunt Doris stopped by yesterday while on thier vacation (which included Montana....Yay!) It was very nice to have that time with them and to show them our neck of the woods. The kids are excited about starting thier new school year. Zach will be doing 6th grade this year, Ethan 2nd and Andrew starts his Kindergarden books. Madeline will join in with some of Andrew's schooling. Samantha gets to enjoy a bit more time running around playing during school time. We had a semi- productive garden in pots this year. We have recieved loads of peppers, squash and pumpkins. ( still are) Our tomatos, green beans and peas didn't fair so well though. We also have potatos to harvest soon. Fall is approaching quickly here in Montana which means that winter is around the corner.We aren't quite ready for it yet.... but when it arrives the kids will be ready to play in it I'm sure!

Splash park fun!!!

Yesterday we met up with some friends in Missoula to enjoy some water fun at a splash park. There are several around town and they are all free. The kids had a great time cooling off and it was a perfect day for it. Temps near 90 and construction loud and messy at home. We all enjoyed the break!

Construction as of July 16th

Forms went up for the basement walls. Cement arrived and managed to stay in the foam like lego type forms...it is amazing what they held! The walls are solid and level and gravel has been poured for under the foundation. Pipes are beginning to be laid for plumbing and tomorrow they will blast thru the basement wall to put in the connecting door.


The Front of the house was covered in uncut stone with heavy grout. It was really poorly put together. It all came down...with much sweat from the men and much NOISE! They had to demolish it with sledge hammers and drills. Here is the front house the next day. Window cut out for the new entry to be readied. The more they tore out the more they found wrong with the existing wall. By the time they left this hole had extended even further north on the wall. It is still currently only boarded up. They will be framing in the new window and then giving us some new drywall inside, hopefully tomorrow. The new entry will remain baorded up until the exterior is built up some more.

It is so awesome to see each step come togther. Minus the construction dust...I could do without that all together. It will all be worth it in the end! God has been so good to all of us...no injuries to the crew and no real setbacks at this point! We have even had a few things come in under budget already!

Our 5th 4th of July party on the property.

The 4th of July was a blast again this year. We had 65 in attendance, our largest crowd yet. We added a new attraction this year....the 55 ft. adult sized slip n slide. It was a hit with the kids for sure. Mark gave a demonstration of how well the adults could slide on it as well. He also won the mens potato sack relay! I opted out of both events this year. =) We enjoyed a great BBQ and all the sides were delicious! ( o.k.... so I didn't try them all, but they all looked great!) We had the construction "crater" and somehow managed to not have any accidents involving any part of it... the kids were very well behaved! There were over 30 of them! We played some games like sack races and soggy jog relay and the kids enjoyed some squirt gun action. This year they managed to not soak any of the adults, a good thing! Our crowd was smaller for fireworks but those who stayed got to enjoy over an hour of the colorful display. We did have 3 small spot fires, but the men were able to put them out and no one was injured in the process. Though, I'm told that someone sacrificed a good pair of crocs in the big water ditch. Next year we hope to start something new with a 4th of July grand prix!!!! The boys are quite excited already. Hope you all enoyed a wonderful holiday as well. God bless the USA!!!!

I'm in love with a Master Chief!

My hubby that is!!!! Today I was able to (partially) witness the ceremony of Mark's advancement on Skype. Though it was hard to make out everyone at times and I could not hear his speech, it was very special to be some part of it! I am told that there will be pictures and video to follow for our family to enjoy as well. We were unable to be there due to construction up here. I am so very thankful for my devoted, hard-working husband and the blessing he is to our family. His accomplishments in his Coast Guard career have been amazing and I am so proud of him!

Construction progress

Today was only the 3rd day into the construction up here and lots has happpened already. Here are some pics of the progress so far. Madeline has not been happy about the contruction. She was really upset with the demolition and I had to try to come up with something to tell her to ease her concerns. I tried to let her know that "does mens" were "breaking" her house to make it bigger and better. That didn't do the trick. I tried to tell her we were going to have new rooms and bathrooms. That didn't work either. Then I told her they were building her a princess room. That worked! The next day when they packed up to leave she quickly announced..." does mens didn't make my princess room!" Now I have just been working on explaining 3 months waiting to her. =)

Groundbreaking

After over a month of hurry up and wait with the bank, etc... we have broke ground on our construction project! It is so very exciting! They arrived this morning bright and early at 6 a.m. and have hardly taken breaks since. Here are a few pics of the progress in the last several hours.

5th Annual 4th of July Family Fun Celebration

It is time for us to remind everyone that we have our 4th of July celebration around the corner again! We love this time with family and friends on our property. The views will amaze you as you can see every fireworks show in the valley, not to mention our own! We fill the afternoon and evening with water games, relays, horseshoes, sack races, and more. Toss the football or just relax in the shade visiting. Hamburgers and hot dogs are provided for the BBQ and everyone brings delicious sides to share. It is a good old fashioned family picnic time and we would love to see you there! Contact us if you would like to attend, so we can count you in the meat purchase. Bring your family and friends with you... all are welcome. Come for just a few hours, for the whole thing, or even to camp for the night! The fun starts at 4 p.m., on the 4th of July, of course!!! Extra chairs, canopies and fireworks are always welcome! ( but don't worry... we have lots available.) Come join us!

Construction update

So we have chosen our contractor and the bid has gone to the bank. The appraiser was up this last week for the bank, the last step before they cut the construction loan and things really get rolling up here. Tuesday the health department is coming up along with our excavator to do a perk test before the replacement septic system can go in. We are growing this house from a 2 bedroom (that it is considered right now) to a 7 bedroom house...for some reason they thought it might be a good idea to put in a larger system. Mark had an appointment with the bank to sign a power of attorney allowing me to sign papers without him having to be here, as one week a month might slow things down considerably otherwise. We are excited with each step and looking forward to actually breaking ground in the next few weeks. Pictures will follow soon.

A Day in Darby!

We took a trip to Darby as a family yesterday. The weather was perfect for us, in the upper 80's. We went to lunch at a small cafe in town. Andrew informed us that he "loved" the food there. His happened to be chicken nuggets and french fries. The highlight of lunch were the ice creams that came with the kids lunches. After lunch we took them to the park in the middle of town and played there for awhile. New playgrounds are great entertainment! We walked just down the small main street, hit the candy shop and walked through the antique stores and gift stores. It was a nice time. The drive was pretty as well, everything is very green right now and the river is quite full. The kids were great and I am glad we went.