Memorial Day

 

Have a blessed Memorial Day.

Happy Mother's Day

I just LOVE this photo! I wish that Michaela was in it with us...maybe I should Photoshop her in?
Anyhow, we kind of ditched church today. Actually I had a headache (it's still there...but masked by drugs) and the kids were just exhausted. Between track for Michaela and late night performances, Caleb was pooped too. Sometimes a Mom's just gotta make the call for everyone to sleep in. Today was one of those days. Even though it is Mother's Day...I made them a yummy breakfast!

 Bacon & Corn Griddle Cakes!! They were yummy! Another great recipe find on Pinterest.
Check it out HERE.

Hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Meet "Ollie"

 He is the newest addition to the Claar Family! An eraly birthday gift for Len...the best gift ever he said!

Ollie is a 130# Blue Merle Great Dane....and is only a year and half old! We think he's the best!

On this day in history....

 Wyatte Chancey Claar was born!
May 9, 2009
...and today he turns 3...yippee!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WYATTE!!!

Easter

We had a lovely Easter. Started off with church, then we dyed some eggs, had a little egg hunt and then a nice dinner with Julie and her family. I didn't get any pictures of our family...darn it. They wont stay "church" dressed for too long....and I was taking too long! But I did get a great family photo of Julie's family.

And Julie snapped a quick photo of Len and I. Not too bad.

We all had a little giggle at Michaela's eggs. She wanted to make a statement....

All in all it was lovely spring day in Montana...chilly, but sunny...and of course here in L-town, WINDY!

Rewind: March 3 2012

The evening sky on March 3 2012 had the oddest tint of "yellow" to it. It was an interesting sight to see. It looked as though you were seeing things thru yellow tinted glasses. It reminded me of vintage photographs.
In it's own right it was rather beautiful. The coolest part was when looking down the street towards the northeast...the little bit of sky you could see was BRIGHT blue.
Anyone know what was going on?

Time Flies

A month? I don't know where the time has gone...a whole month with no blogging....ugh!

Well I would like to say that a lot has been going on, and I suppose it seems that way to me everyday, but when I sit down to write about it...there's not much!

Adam and I had good birthdays. I had lunch with a couple of friends....got lots of cards and well wishes. 

My mom came for a 2 week visit...that was great. We started off her visit with a weekend get-away. A friend let us "rent" her vacation rental for the weekend...it was divine! Here is our view

This was taken our first morning there...it was cool how the for was just hanging out over the top of the river and at the bottom of the mountains..which yiou can't see because of the fog. We had fun except for the bout with a little flu bug. Not sure what happened bet the next day both Julie and I were down for the count with some kinf of little virus. It sucked! Althiough I was able to get a view pictures of mom and Julie scrapping:

 Can you belive it...no pictures of myself? Darn. We had a great time playing a few rounds of Ticket to Ride with Robyn and her mom Wendy, dined on delicious homemade salsas and apple pie made by Vicki and a delicious breakfast by Diane. Even Jamie came out for a quick visit. And we let the girls come too. Michaela and Katie...and Vicki's daughter Hannah also had a relaxing weekend doing NOTHING!!!

Michaela and Katie enjoyed the deck and the view, too! You can see the fog is finally beginning to lift in the background. It was beautiful out the whole time and we just loved crafting together like old times!

 

There is the view ...still a little cloudy but still beautiful. Mom was impressed at how unseasonably warm it was and yet how beautiful it was.

Well there is part of what was happening around the Claar house the past month. Of course Easter is next...but I will have to share that later. This girl has got to get to work!

Happy Birthday...to you & me

It's my birthday....and Adam's too! We had a great day hanging out with the family. We dined on a yummy dinner of corned beef and cabbage and finished the evening off with some cake and ice cream. It was an enjoyable evening. 

I got lots of well wishes from friends and my little girls from church even gave flowers, 

My flowers from Hailey and Lydia (2 of my little girls from church)

a surprise party, and handmade jewelry (that they made!) I had a lovely lunch date with Jessi and Robyn and I'm looking forward to another lunch date with the girls from work!

As my gift from Len and the kids they are having the truck detailed. Sounds like a "vacuum" type gift, but it really isn't...I really wanted the car detailed!

Of course the BEST gift hasn't arrived yet...but SHE will be here on Friday....and I can't wait. MY MOM IS COMING TO VISIT!! I am so excited. I am looking forward to our girl's weekend...of lounging around, scrapbooking and just plain hangin' out! She will be here for 2 whole weeks so I know there will be lots of fun to be had!

Here are a few photos to enjoy from Adam and I's birthday bash:

 Rub-dub-dub-4-crazy-guys-in-a-tub

 The BIRTHDAY boy!

 I will post more photos later of the beautiful CUTE cards from my "little girls" and also the jewelry they made me! Thanks to all for the well wishes! I hope this year is a good one!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

May the luck of the Irish be with you today!

Still here....

Where has the time gone? It seems just like yesterday it was Christmas, and heck it's already March! I can't believe that my birthday is yet again right around the corner...and that my cutie-pie-son (yes, I called him a cutie-pie) is going to be 19 on Sunday as well as me turning the big 43.

A lot has been going on around here..as usual. Been having some female issues, which I am hoping are now corrected...or at least will be completely fixed in the very near future!
We finally got our truck up and running! Len did a great job of replacing the engine...all by himself...well with a little help from the boys and a few friends here and there. I am so glad to have my own car again, but the replacing of said engine took our train trip money! We still have some saved and we are hoping that we will just drive to TN in June.

Michaela has started Track...and is super excited! She will be doing sprints, hurdles and high jump. I'm proud of her and that she has decided to do something she has never done before. She's pretty fast so I think she will do great!

Caleb auditioned for Phantom of The Opera...and got in! He is so excited. He loves the theater and his such a good actor! Who knows maybe he will be famous some day!

I've been working like crazy. Have taken on a lot more responsibilities at work...and I'm super excited about what I'm getting to do. I love the whole social media aspect of things and getting to be in charge of all that at work is right up my alley. Finally have a job that is so "me" and loving it.

Len is doing well...bored as heck...but good. His eye is healing well and it looks beter and better everyday! He's been working hard to get the truck back on the road...and even did some yard work yesterday!

Well thats the happenings here....more to come after the big birthday weekend!

I LOVE a guy with a tatoo!!

Just for fun...

I found this fun personality test on a blogging-friend's blog. Check it out: 

Visual Personality Test

You answer a series of questions by choosing the "photo" that best represents your answer. I really enjoyed it. The results were fairly accurate, too!

You should check it out.
You can read my results here:
I'm a HARMONIZER

So what are you? Go take the quiz...and then comeback and let me know what you are!

Planning a trip

I am just tickled to know that I will be a Grandma, again...in late June. Matthew and Amanda are having another little boy, aka: Wade Thomas. I can't believe that Wyatte is going to be 3 soon...and that he is going to be a big brother! Time just flies by!

We are hoping to visit when baby Wade makes his appearance. We have been thinking about taking the Amtrak to Tennessee. It just sounds so fun! I have a lot of planning to do but I think it would be a great adventure. 

We would depart from Salt Lake City.......and then change trains in Chicago

Chicago's Union Station

....and then head south to Fulton, Kentucky.

Fulton, KY (artist rendition from 1900's)

 Fulton is about 100 miles from Clarksville, but it's the closest station. We would then rent a car while in Clarksville so we can check things out. Now the fun begins....finding "stuff" to see and do.

Happy Valentine's Day!

All I want for Christmas...

is for you to get a haircut!  That was my Christmas wish from Adam when he asked me what I wanted. So after much deliberation (on his part:) he finally said "OK, Mom, for you I will get a haircut." I was so excited.

BEFORE

DURING

And the best photo of all:

AFTER
There is my handsome guy! I just love how cute he is...and those dreamy green eyes of his!
Thanks Adam for the BEST Christmas present a Mom could ask for! 

Christmas...finally!

We kicked off the holiday fun with some "secret sister" love! I had a great time with my Activity Day girls! We had a great little party that included a "secret sister" gift exchange. We had to make our "secret sister" a homemade gift....and the girls were so creative! Izzi, received some fun hair accessories and a cute necklace from Hailey. Addie loved her handmade beaded necklace and earrings from Sarah. Sarah was tickled withe the beautiful quilt that Izzi made. Hailey was beyond excited with her personalized pillow cases that I had made. And I just LOVED my handmade felt owls and sugar scrub from Addie. We had yummy treats and a fun time making Christmas candy necklaces. I was so proud to see the wonderful gifts the girls had made.

 

Then we celebrated with family! It is so delightful to have my family (at least some of them) right here with us. I love spending the holidays with family and this year was no different! I just wish Nana & Papa, and Matt, Amanda & Wyatte could have been with us...they were surely missed!

Claar/Hill Christmas 2011

Big Boy!

I really need to update what's been happening at Casa Claar....but just haven't had the time to sit down and dedicate the time to doing it! I promise to get to it soon!! I still have Christmas photos to share, Len's 2 surgeries.....and so much more! Meanwhile, here is a quick photo of my 'lil man, Wyatte! He is such a big boy now....even in his footie pj's! Man, he looks sooooo much like his Daddy!!

Check back for an update...soon...I promise. 

Also on my craft/scrapbook blog (All Things Creative)...it's been so neglected! I'm sorry!

Merry Christmas from Montana

Sir C-U-T-E-N-E-S-S himself!

(Wyatte Chancey in the tub, Clarksville, TN)
This here little man makes me smile! I just love him to death! He is the cutest boy in the world!
And we are so excited to announce that he will be a BIG BROTHER in June!! We are all hoping for a girl!
I can't wait!

Our crazy busy-ness....

I just had to take a photo of the "harvest" moon earlier this month. It was so beautiful and I'm sad to say the photo just doesn't do it justice. it was so bright and big...it was like you could just reach out and grab it!

Because we just aren't busy enough...both Caleb and Michaela were in the play Annie.  They had a great time performing and they both did a fantastic job.

(Sorry this is sideways, I was just too darn lazy to go back in and flip it around)

Here is a shot of Caleb. He was the police officer... the one that catches Annie when she escapes/runs away from Ms Hannigan. He also played a few other background people. He did a great job...and if I don't say so myself...He looks mighty darn good in a uniform!

Michaela was one of the orphans. She even ahad a small solo and did fantastic....even though she had a rough opening weekend. (In the opening scene on opening night, someone stepped down onto the top of her foot and smashed it pretty good. Then on the 3rd day she was accidentally pushed off stage...HEAD FIRST!! She recovered pretty darn well! She was able to get herself together and get back on stage...even though she was hurt pretty good. She had a MASSIVE bruise on her thigh, and some other scrapes and bumps...but the show must go on!)

She did a fabulous job and so did Caleb. I love that they both have such a natural talent for the performing arts. Who knows...maybe they'll be famous some day!

(Michaela is the orphan in the top R corner)

Last week:

Christopher Paolini was at our local library for a book signing event. He is a Livingston resident and the kids think it's pretty cool that he not only has written an awesome series of books 

(Inheritance Cycle: Eragon, Eldest, Brisinger, and Inheritance)

but also that he wrote Eragon at 15 years old...right here in Park County Montana.

The kids enjoyed the evening listening to Christopher read a excerpts from the books, answer questions and share how he came to write the series. Of course they were tickled to get their copies signed.

So that's whats been happenign here. We have had a lot of craziness...but it just wouldn't be outr lives without the crazy. Christmas is less than a week away and I am really looking forward to just being with the family. We have a few more things going on this week...and I will try and be a bit better about blogging. It's hard with so much going on ...and working full time too! 

Lunch with Lilly-bean

This is Lilly. 

My little Lilly-bean! My sweet neice Brandi's little girl!

It is amazing to me just how much she looks like her mama!

It was a nice change of scenery to have lunch with the Girls! It was a nice break from all the sadness of Mack's service.

(L-R: Marci & Ezra, Brandi & Lilly Sarah & Alice)

I just LOVE this photo of all the girls and their babies! These are Brandi's best friends and it's so awesome to see them all grown up and Mama's.

And here I am with my 2 special girls. Brandi has grown up to be such a great mama and I am so proud of her. She has always been my "first daughter" and I love her so darn much!

(L-R: Rebecca, Brandi, Lilly, Nana...and ME in the back)

We had a great lunch and a great time visiting. I miss them so darn much and I just hate that we are so far apart. Thanks for a good day girls!