A Special Celebration

Last weekend we celebrated Mindy's 50th birthday! Her birthday was actually on June 28th but Chris and Aubrey wanted to join us in the festivities so we waited until they could come to Helena before we had a party. We started the day by going to the lake and swimming and boating until the afternoon then later in the evening we had a party for her at our house. It was a nice time and it was fun getting to celebrate this special occasion with someone who plays a special role in our lives. We are thankful for the life God has given her and look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with her.

Happy 50th Mindy!

Yes, these were trick candles and boy were they stubborn!

Ben helped try to blow them out.

Christian watching the fun with great enthusiasm!

Brent & Andrea

Aubrey

Chris

The fascinating "Gurgling Water Pot" given to Mindy by Chris & Aubrey. Simply by the way it's made it gurgles when you pour the water. Quite entertaining!

The boys got rather preoccupied by this bubble wrap and continually jumped on it to hear the popping sounds. It was a little comical.

Devon enjoying some ice in his cup.

Aunt Cathy (Mindy's sister) came over from Twin Bridges to celebrate with us.

The Surprise

As stated in the last post, Brian had been working on a surprise for the boys (& me) while we were out of town. Well, here it is:

He worked his tail end off to get the play set finished for the boys. This is a picture of them all thoroughly enjoying it not 5 minutes after we got home from our trip. They were very excited to say the least and I was completely and pleasantly surprised! What a great Papa our boys have!

Taking the Kids Home

This last weekend the kids and I went with Dad and Mindy back to Absarokee and Columbus where I spent much of my childhood and where both of them were born and raised. It's the first time I've been back in a really long time and it was fun having the kids with us. Brian had to stay home for work and kept busy completing a surprise for the kids (will show pictures later).

Although the main reason for our trip was to attend a funeral for my Grandpa, Eward Roy Heifrin, it was still enjoyable catching up with family I hadn't seen in way too long. The day after the funeral Dad took the kids and I to the family farm to pick up a tractor. Ben got to drive the tractor and both boys were all eyes watching the cattle and horses that came up close to inspect what we were doing. Afterwards we went to the "Dew Drop In" (an old restaurant I went to a lot as a kid) and ate lunch and had ice cream. It was a fun walk down memory lane!

We went to the Pickle Barrel for dinner one night and discovered that Cedric loves pickles. We couldn't hardly make him eat anything else on his plate!

Have you ever seen anything cuter in a store window?

Driving the tractor with Grandpa.

And by himself, too!

Ricky's turn!

The Initiation

A few weeks ago our house got initiated... we held our very first Brew Day! It was a great occasion that had long been anticipated by Brian and Dad. We had quite a few people come to hang out with us for the day and enjoyment was had by all. They made an IPA that has turned out quite well and we are all excited to finally have some home-brew on tap again. Brian has repeatedly expressed his gratitude to God for the glories and blessings of beer. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

Here's to many more Brew Days... Cheers!

A Bit of Catching Up

We've been busy this summer with all kinds of randomness so I haven't had much opportunity to post. In fact, I should probably be getting stuff done around the house right now instead of messing around on the computer because the kids and I are leaving tomorrow for a quick weekend trip and the house is a wreck... but oh well! Here are some photos capturing some of the things that have been keeping us busy lately. Hope you all are having a splendid summer!

We celebrated Mom Schultz's birthday this last week by traveling to Butte and having a delicious meal of grilled kabobs and various salads. It was a great time!

The grill master at work... Dad's kabobs were WONDERFUL!

Mom and Dad took us all to the the carnival and we all had a great time... especially Ben. He loved riding in these little cars!

Ricky mostly watched all the fun and wasn't quite sure what to think of everything. Here he is waving at Ben as he rides by on the cars.

"This place is a Mad House!"

Grandpa helped Ben on nearly all the rides... they had fun if you can't tell!

Ricky rode the Ferris Wheel also but refused to sit on the horse and didn't crack a smile the entire time. He didn't know what to think!

Brian has been working on building the kids a rather extensive play set. He has worked very hard on it and Ben likes to help. Here they are hard at work.

A little rest and time to visit.

Here's a great shot of the boys one afternoon after playing quite hard in the water, dirt, and heat. Still happy as clams but quite ready for naps. I sure love these boys!