Celebrating Samantha!

It's hard to believe that it has been this long since I became a mommy, but on June 22nd Samantha turned seven! It was a great day and she had so much fun.

She and I went to a party store here in town and we found some fun Disney Little Mermaid decorations and games to set the party theme. Here she is posing after her turn in the"Stick the flower crown on Ariel's head" game.

Her cousin Esther just happened to be visiting from Utah and we were so excited she got to come to the party! Especially because her cousin Maryann, who lives here, was in Utah visiting her Grandma. (We missed you, Maryann!) Here are her party guests (left to right): Esther, cousin Caleb, Carlin from school, Samantha the birthday girl, cousin Jacob (making an AWESOME face), Tyler from school, and her brothers Logan and Luke.

We have really tried to help her look at the camera when we take her picture. I was very happy she did so well with that on her big day! (Also, notice her cutie cousin Stevie Denny in this picture!)

This is the shot I got of the decorations in our living room. Note the "seaweed" and ocean life. We were going for "Under the Sea" and I think it turned out well! I was especially proud of the sea horses I drew! ;o)

This is Samantha's fun cake. I am so unorganized that it was decorated just moments before the kids ate it! My mom whipped the blue color into the white frosting and we put the fabric applique of Ariel gently on top. Then we used brown sugar for "sand" (great idea I found online) and put the jewels, starfish, and seashells that I made out of clay I baked around the cake for decoration. I really love that it turned out so cute for how easy it was to throw together!

See how happy she is?

This is another idea I got from the internet, but it didn't turn out quite like I meant it to. I forgot to put the fish into the jell-o before it set up too much, so they just got put on top. Unfortunately when Samantha held the bowl up for pictures all the fish slid off. It didn't matter to the kids though! They loved it!

Ross had two softball games that night so we all went to Dairy Queen before he left and celebrated Samantha as a family. I love her funny face!

We drove out to Grandma and Grandpa Lay's house next to spend a little more time with our visiting family. We had a great Family Home Evening with them. (Thanks again, Celina! I keep using the "I LOVE TO OBEY!" phrase on my kids!) Samantha opened the rest of her presents because I forgot earlier in the day to give her the stuff from Mommy and Daddy. Some of the things she got were an Ariel doll for the bath and some princess paper dolls which I was so excited about because I really loved paper dolls when I was little.

Ross and I love this beautiful girl so much. It has been such an amazing journey with her. There have been lots of twists and turns and we continue to learn things about her that make us love her even more. She has had her share of struggles in her short life and we're always so thrilled to see her progress and strive to do new things that some people take for granted in their children. Her imagination is the best and I love to see her dream. I love that she loves the gospel already and how she gets excited when she feels that special spirit.
I'm also glad she feels love for her family. One of my favorite moments with her that has actually been repeated is when I sing her a song at bedtime called "Angel on my Shoulder" that my daddy used to sing to me. The very end of it says, "I'm gonna cross my fingers that I'll find a guy to love me true and I'm gonna love him too." Samantha stopped me one night after I said "find a guy to love me true" and she said, "Daddy?" It makes me smile every time she says that.
Happy Birthday to my beautiful girl Samantha!

Helena History

We've had some fun adventures here in our town of Helena, Montana. I grew up here and have an obvious love for it, but it is really fun to share it with my California Boy husband and my children.

We started in the month of May by going to the Vigilante Parade. It's a high school parade here in town that was started in 1924 to keep students from other "traditions" like a senior-junior fight and other pranks. It's mostly historical floats about area history. There's also classic cars, the high school bands, and riders on horses dressed up like cowboys and Native Americans (which some actually are, of course) among other things. It's fun to see what the students come up with every year and it's a fun tradition that me and my siblings, and parents, and many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins have all participated in.

We weren't going to go, but suddenly made a last minute decision to and we caught the tail end of the parade. It was still worth it. The kids enjoyed it and it was just the right amount of time to be there for our little family.

The boys in their coonskin caps and Samantha in her cowgirl hat and braids.

Watching the floats go by

A float about the Wickes Mine which is not too far from my parents' house now

Daddy and Luke with the Civic Center tower in the background. (The building used to be a Shrine temple and used to have two towers before a 1935 earthquake.)

Our four cute kiddoes

Mommy and Rebecca


On the 30th of May we went to a History Fair on the walking mall in historic downtown Helena. There were lots of booths set up with demonstrations like panning for gold and blacksmithing. Many people were dressed up in old fashioned clothing and there were tons of things to look at and feel and try out. The kids had fun and we got some cute pictures.

Sitting on the trolley

"Mr. and Mrs. Dunphy" They said they'd just come over from the local cemetery and were telling the crowd all about their lives before and during their time in Helena. The building behind them is named after Mr. Dunphy. That's about all I heard...

Logan and Samantha next to a Civil War cannon. The men in the background were dressed Civil War uniforms too.

I just had to snap a picture of one of my favorite places in the world. The Parrot Confectionery has been around since 1922 and in this location since the 30's. It was the 1950's local teen place to be. The look of it inside never seems to change. They have really fabulous hand-dipped chocolates and a homemade chili that is so yummy. It's a place I always planned to bring the man I was going to marry to. Thankfully Ross loves it too! My dream would be to do more research on this place and put it in a book or something.

(Side note: My mom and aunt worked as teenagers in Rogene's, a fancy dress shop next to the Parrot, and said the town madame "Big Dorothy" used to come in with her girls and a huge roll of cash. Interesting, but sad to think where that money came from!)


My sweet girl being the angel she always is.

The kids wanted to meet every dog they saw, but this dog, named Lad, was part of a booth and the lady was very nice to let my children pet him.

Not sure what to call this other than the "Prospector's Fountain". Its made out of metal and has been around for as long as I can remember (but that probably means only since the 70's). I used to play on it when we waited for my mom to pick us up from watching summer movies at the nearby theater. I wasn't that giving to my kids. I made them stay away from the little pool that the water flows into. Great fountain though.


On the 9th of June we went to Smith School and watched Samantha in her end-of-school talent show. We didn't feel like going back home when it was over so I called Ross to find out where he was. He and my brother Ryan were up on the hill behind Raleigh Street here in Helena working on a survey, so we decided to go and visit! It was lots of fun to climb up above the town even though I was in a pair of chunky-heeled sandals. I had my camera with me because of the talent show and Ry was so excited because he'd been enjoying the view and wishing for pictures. Lucky! (Another historical side note for those that don't know: :o) Legendary actor Gary Cooper lived on Raleigh Street for part of his childhood!)

Ross hard at work at the total station sighting in Ryan at the rod. And Rebecca being good even when she's sitting in the weeds.

Cocking her head and looking cute!

The Sleeping Giant Mountain north of Helena. I LOVE THAT MOUNTAIN!

Sunlight hitting the Helena Cathedral just right

Here's the hill we climbed. Ryan has Luke on his shoulders and Logan next to him. Ross is the little short thing on top of the hill. This is actually looking up from State Street.

My little "Rodmen" Luke and Logan


Here's a silly little video I took from the top of the hill

Happy 1st Birthday Rebecca!

Our beautiful Rebecca Michelle turned 1 year old on April 19th! She is our little Angel Baby and we have felt so extremely blessed to have her in our family. We celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa Lay and the Lay cousins in town. She looked gorgeous in her new pink birthday dress (I know it's a shocker that I didn't put her in purple!) and got many compliments at church on her cute pigtails!

Checking our the new pink duckie from her siblings

More presents!

Pretty Girl

Rebecca's new Giggle Baby. She loves to laugh with this and give it big hugs!

Looking pretty in her dress

Rebecca's First birthday cake

Before the cake

Taking the first bite

It's gettin' good!

Ahh! That was tasty!

Party!

Cleaning up

All clean and playing with the new present

The loot!

What a cute tongue! (And by the way, Mom, I am SO done with pictures!)

To my cousin, Luke Adam Sanburg

I've been thinking about you all day and I can't believe today marks 17 years since you were born. I'm still amazed at how you and I were such kindred spirits from day one despite the nearly 15 year age difference. We just loved each other and had a bond. You were such a cute baby and I begged your mom to let me baby-sit you. Even when I came home visiting from college I told her I needed to get some "Sanburg kid time" in.

I was always impressed with what a little smarty pants you were and what a funny little boy you were too. I will forever remember what positive, negative, and neutral buoyancy are thanks to you. And I remember being shocked when you started explaining how if you have two X's you're a girl and one X and one Y means you're a boy. I didn't learn that until high school!
You made me laugh when you showed off your "8 minute abs" and the story of you getting your head stuck in the rocking chair is still told today.

I remember once when you wanted to share with me what you'd written in your journal. I really loved that. I also remember thinking how you were writing things beyond your 9 years.

My mom told me once about how you told your mom and her the name of the man who held baby Jesus out of a Bible story they were having trouble remembering. You knew it because it came from the Book of Luke! How good you were!

I have wished that I'd seen you more before you left this world, but I was living far away and newly married and having babies of my own. I was taking things in life for granted on some level, I guess. But, as I shared with your parents once, I found comfort in a passage from the book Anne of the Island that I picked up one night around the time of your memorial service. Anne is reunited with an old student whom she loved and it says:

"Paul was almost grown up, too. He was sixteen, his chesnut curls had given place to close-cropped locks, and he was more interested in football than fairies. But the bond between him and his old teacher still held. Kindred spirits alone do not change with changing years."

Kindred spirits alone do not change with changing years. Isn't that beautiful? I know that you still loved me the same way I loved you. I know that is how it remains. What an awesome thing to think of the work you must be doing in heaven now. The Lord needed someone as special as you to do it.

I continue to keep in a drawer the poems that you wrote that I was priveleged to read at your memorial. My favorite is "Where do I fit?" because it shows what a mature, righteous young man you were, again wise beyond your years.

Where do I fit?
Where do I go?
Should I do this?
I just don't know!
I'm good right here
I'm good right there
Where should I be?
Oh, where, where, where?
It's all going forward, and no turning back
I'll go where life leads me and stay on the track.

Thank you for being all you were to me and for meaning so much to your parents and siblings, Aunt Vonnie, and so many others that you touched in your 13 years here. I have missed you these past four years and I so look forward to giving you a great big hug when I see you again. I hope and pray I can raise my own little Luke to be as wonderful as you.

Love, Janet

"Oh, you young mothers...You have no idea!"

These are the words I heard author Dean Hughes say at a Time Out for Women conference that I went to in Spokane a few years ago. He was relating a story from his book of reflections, "All Moms Go to Heaven" and telling us about the summer he spent as a mom in 1973. When he got to the part about having to change his baby boy's cloth diapers the above subject is basically what he said. In his book it's written as, "You young mothers don't know what we used to go through." I am here to say...HOORAY FOR DISPOSABLE DIAPERS!

Rebecca has been struggling with diaper rash recently and a few weeks ago it was really bad. No matter what I did or what remedy I tried it just wasn't clearing up. The expensive diaper rash cream wasn't doing it's job. Letting her little bum "air out" was only resulting in accidents on the carpet. So I tried something I'd done with Samantha before.

Samantha had a horrible case of diaper rash once as a toddler and my mom recommended trying some cloth diapers to let her skin "breathe" a little better. We were visiting Montana at the time and figured anything was worth a shot to help our visit go better. We bought the cloth diapers, put one on Samantha, and then it came time to change her. AAUUUUUUUGGHH! I about died when my mother helped me get my squirmy girl out of the soiled one and then proceeded to tell me that what happens next is taking it over to the toilet and swirling it around in the water to clean it off! WHAT?! You mean you don't just fold it up and get rid of it? You've got to rinse it and flush multiple times to get it all off so you can wash it? Eeeeew. Gross.

Anyway, as you can see by the pictures, Rebecca also got the cloth diaper treatment. I had to remember how to get it on her so it would stay securely and without poking her with the safety pins. She peed through that one in no time and the process was repeated. I had to get the icky diapers into the next wash load I could before they got yuckier than they already were. Not fun.

It helped a little and Rebecca's cute little behind is doing much better thanks to time, perseverence, and plenty of baby powder, which seemed to help the most this time. (Cures always vary for my kids...)

In his book Dean Hughes talks about all this in greater detail. He mentions dealing with the smell of ammonia that builds up from the wet diapers, the times his other kids flushed a soiled diaper down the toilet before he could finish putting a clean one on the baby, having to decide whether to drag all the kids out or not to the clothes line to hang the clean diapers up to dry, forgetting the soiled diaper on the floor before he got it rinsed out and the unfortunate mess that happened as a result, and more. Blech.

So, I'm sorry if it's bad for the environment to use the disposable diapers nowadays and that all the diapers I've used on my kids could stretch to the moon and back hundreds of times. Just the same, it's a beautiful thing now to take care of the diapers "quick and dirty." ;o)

And to all the mothers of the former generation, including my own, bless you for doing that. Sainthood is deserved.



Isn't she adorable?