The much anticipated....eagerly awaited debut of...Hannah Montana

My very favorite in-laws bought a real life...no kiddin...official ranch in Montana. They've been spending quite a bit of time over there lately. I don't want to say that they've officially "moved" over there cause I'm still a bit selfishly sad about the whole purchase. You see, I truly do enjoy my in-laws. The simple fact that they usually live up the street from my very own home has been a wonderful blessing. My kids adore their grandparents and I love the influence they are in all of our lives. With that said...they love Montana..or as we in the Kyle Thomas family affectionately refer to it as, "Hannah Montana."

It all went down like this: they invited Jack to come stay a week alone with them and we planned a trip to the ranch to go pick him up.

The looooong ride consisted of treats like the coveted 'ring pop', occasional cat naps by the little lady who despises her car seat, a quick visit to the Montana Antique mall in Missoula, and one too many "Chicken in a Bisquit" crackers which really are way too stinky and greasy for any extended amount of car travel. I digress.


We finally arrived and I found my first born city boy had magically transformed into a small cowboy ....happy as a clam in his big 'ole hat!

Within 20 minutes of arrival we decided to stretch our legs and take the city kids on a little walk around grandpa's lake. It sure was a good thing I still had my flip flops on and Kyle was packing heat (a 22 rifle) cause we stumbled upon this glorious creature slithering and rattling amongst the grass. TOTALLy GROSS!! It still gives me the eebie jeebies thinking that my baby's bare, darling, chubby loaves of bread feet were dangling happily from her stroller as we walked the lake. My city self was wearing FLIP FLOPS for heaven's sake. I know flip flops and Montana don't mix but I had literally just gotten out from the car and was just going on a little nature walk . I'll just say that Kyle saved the day and is a darn good shot.

-Uncle Mark was totally impressed by our rattle snake encounter...

Sweet Kate who is on the verge of full on walking, became one with the grass.... could the ranch house get any more delicious? Inside it's filled with bead board, hand made quilts, thick white molding, original door knobs, pedestal sinks and built in cabinets in the living room. Truly a beautiful home. Their hard work has really paid off!

The 4 wheeling was SO MUCH FUN!

We even went to a real rodeo. Can you tell who the city folk are? Brody was thrilled to FINALLY eat a hot dog after waiting for the rodeo to finish.Then, if the hot dog wasn't enough... all of his 3 year old dreams came true upon meeting this friendly pup named......Brody!

Uncle Mark and cousin Sidney fishing in grandpa's back yard, literally.

And the "Favorite picture from the Trip" award belongs to:

cute Mr. Cole and handsome grandpa with the most fantastic red barn. Quite a trio!

The big boys and their "catch of the day."

Kate's favorite past time.....knocking pop bottles over. It was SO fun!






Kyle's favorite past time: watching elk by the hundreds in the foothills above the ranch house. It really was beautiful, like a western safari if you will!

And finally just to prove that I really was on this trip...the front porch shot!

We seriously had a great time. It was the best having Uncle Mark, Aunt Lorri, Courtney and Sid join us for a week in the wild west! Great company, great conversation, delicious food, beautiful scenery (minus the snake) and fun memories!

Thanks grandpa and grandma for making Hannah Montana a huge hit!!

And now...the Birthday Boy....

Jack and Kate are pretty much BFFs. It's pretty cute. In his calculation which he loves to repeat, he's exactly 7 years and 3 days older than her. They share the glorious month of June for their birthdays. And this year they each had biggies.....

Jack finally turned 8...he's been waiting with baited breath for months.


*The lovely "paprika cake" or birthday cake that the birthday boy decorated all by his 8 year old self questionably choosing a lot of orangey red sugar sprinkles which deceptively take on the appearance of paprika.

He had a "CrAzy 8 birthday breakfast" with buddies from his class before the school year ended. We had a breakfast menu and everyone selected what they wanted for their breakfast dinner...big hit.

Lots of smelly boys...lots of super soakers!


His literal birthday was on a Sunday which is pretty much a kid bummer!! I was flyin solo that week so I tried to make up for that.

Stacked Pancakes with strawberries and cream....

Favorite present: Lego Star Wars encyclopedia. After opening tie after tie the kid was really hoping for a toy, book, candy...something!

Favorite shot of the day before we left for church....surprise Mr. yellow shoes! Can you see the slightly mortified surprise on his face?

Next up for the birthday boy who just happened to turn 8...

getting baptized!


Jack and 2 of his cousins, Bergen and Sidney, were all baptized on the same day..the 3rd of July....How cool is that?

Madsen cousins a plenty...






My most very favorite sister and her crew drove the long haul from Utah to attend and spend the week in my neck of the woods...

Handsome cousin Blain working his "manny" magic with Kate.

Love this 8 year old.....

Jack is such a good kid. He truly wants to do what's right and has a strong testimony of his Savior Jesus Christ. He chose to be baptized and is so excited to be an "official" member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is the perfect big brother for our family and we love love love him!





I love this picture for so many reasons. I love that we tried our coordinated best to all display our red, white, and blue patriotic spirit. I love that Cole, once again was not looking at the camera but trying to smile. I love that Brody was in between tie sizes and either wears a shorty mcshorty tie that looks like it shrunk in the wash or a tie that is a bit on the l-o-n-g side. Kate will smile on cue some day and I should have kicked up my leg and shown off my favorite red shoes...and then the ensemble would have been complete. Oh well, this was our family on Jack's big day. He was all smiles, we were all together, and all was right with the world!

The birthday girl.....

So blogging in the summertime is such a chore for me. Big BIG events have happened around these parts and shame on me for not properly documenting them. For posterity sake I will play catch up so bear with me.....let me begin with 'ma lady turning ONE .......

Hard to believe she arrived ONE year ago and so so so tiny. I never knew I could love pink.....hot/FUN sassy pink so much! Aunt Kirsten hooked the birthday up with a (couture I might add) tutu with matching fancy fun flower for her darling head of curly hair, right in time for the big party!!

Party treats!

The handsome

party attendees...

Party entertainment:

tutu spinning on the table holding Jessie.....

We absolutely

ADORE this girl!

Happy Birthday darling Kate~!

Here at the homefront......

* Mr. Thomas being a totally cool dad with the fellas having a squirt gun fight in the rain....cause it's summer you know.


Kyle is out of town.....again. This week's adventure finds him salmon fishing in Alaska on his favorite river with his brother and dad...wind/water blistered and happy as a clam. I'm happy for him, he deserves a break.

Hey, speaking of "deserves a break......."

A photo montage of our week so far:

...I'm just sayin...

The 3 year old who runs the place. First one up, last one to bed.....

Some bright spots:


I wish I could clone Cole.....man, would you stop reading to your spastic little brother and playing Operation Buzz Lightyear with such quiet concentration......

Tooth fairy made a $1 visit to Jack. Seriously the tooth was only the slightest bit loose at dinner and by bedtime the kid had yanked it out. Grody!


So we're almost 3 days in with 4 days to go. I HATE being by myself. TV watching just isn't as good, the DVR isn't even tempting me. I'm a completely capable mom who just really enjoys having her husband around, I quite like the guy. I never sleep good and for some odd reason my temper is just a tad bit short. All will be right with the world when my freezer is full of fresh salmon next week. Until then, Lucky Charms or Frosted Flakes?

It was a long one.....a long weekend that is....

This is the face of my teething 11 month old I have endured with complete love, patience, and looooong suffering this ENTIRE weekend....

These are the faces of 2 pooped runners who completed a 5K together!!

And finally, these are the faces of little boys whose mother had been flyin solo for 3 days and finally gave in to their pathetic whiney whines and let them eat their own authentic...not some Safeway knock off....."Drumstick!" -Yes, they gave a "Cheers" to that!

And cheers to the fact that my co-PARENT will be returning home sometime tonight!

Hole-y Birthday lunch Batman....

Jack has a June birthday along with 7 other classmates. Just to make things quick and easy and not have 175 cupcakes over a 1 week period his smarty pants teacher had a pizza lunch for all the June birthday kids...brilliant! We were all invited and quite excited.

Can you spy what 3 year old found some random scissors, cut a hole in his shirt and then proceeded to cover it up with his arm....just for kicks?! Grrrrrrrrr. Totally NOT COOL!

Can't we all just drink a Capri Sun, maybe eat a carrot stick or two and put the scissors down?!!