#5 of 5 - Ensign Ranch - Getting Ready to Leave

This is a lane close to where we were camped. I just thought it was awesome to look down, so snapped a pic just before we left. Aug. 28th, 2010.

David, Cody, & Leo bein' themselves! At least how they are whenever they get together! :) It's always a comedy show. I love it! It's great to see them all together a lot more often than used to happen. Aug. 28th, 2010.

Can anyone else tell these three yayhoos are brothers?!? :) They are usually even dressed alike as well-Cody threw that image off in this one a little bit but I think you get the picture! We had everything packed and ready to go, but these three just had to throw in one last comedy act! Aug. 28th, 2010.

I missed getting Leo in his stance in this one, but it's still pretty funny! Silly boys! Aug. 28th, 2010.

Trudy found this great old Ensign Ranch sign that we stopped at and took pics by. Xander was great at posing but I couldn't get a good one of Emy-by herself anyway. Aug. 28th, 2010.

I did get this one of Emy and David. She loves him like crazy and she loves his craziness too! They get along great. Aug. 28th, 2010.

David & Tracy Montgomery - August 28th, 2010.

Cody & Melissa Montgomery - August 28th, 2010.

Leo & Trudy Montgomery - August 28th, 2010.

Mom & Dad Hansen Come To Visit!!

This was the first day Mom & Dad H were with us. It was Xander's 5th Birthday and this is going over on the smaller ferry to the water fountain park to play. Aug. 13th, 2010.

This is Caleb & Brionna playing in the fountains. Aug. 13th, 2010.

Brionna & Emily posing for this pic. They had tons of fun together and they both LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the water! Aug. 13th, 2010.

Dad finally talked me into getting wet. It was a very hot day: around 98-100 degrees and there isn't much shade in this park-especially this time of day. It felt wonderful! Aug. 13th, 2010.

Brionna being cute on our way down the walkway to the ferry to head back to our place for birthday cake and presents. Aug. 13th, 2010.

Mom, Dad, Brionna, Xander and Caleb on the ferry back to Port Orchard. Aug. 13th, 2010.

Xander opening this Ironman Game Set from Grandma and Grandpa Hansen and Caleb & Brionna. He has had so much fun with this! Aug. 13th, 2010.

Brionna & Emily having fun on a rocker-ride at the Spinny Park in Port Orchard down by the water front. It is near where you get on the foot ferries. We came here for a while to cool off after all the birthday stuff and dinner and it being so hot. Aug. 13th, 2010.

Caleb playing on the boat at the Spinny Park. Evening of Aug. 13th, 2010.

Xander & Caleb showing off their matching shirts. Aug. 14th, 2010.

Brionna, Xander, and Grandpa Hansen taking a ride on the little trains at Jackson-Lund Park. They loved the trains! We had so much fun! Aug 14th, 2010.

Caleb, Emily, Grandma Hansen with Brionna, Xander-hiding-and Grandpa in the background. Aug. 14th, 2010.

Here's all of us-minus me-almost ready to go on our 2nd train ride. The kids love it. Aug. 14th, 2010.

Caleb (7), Xander (5), Emily (almost 3), & Brionna (5). After train rides-waiting while Grandma & Grandpa Hansen are buying train souveniors. Aug. 14th, 2010.

Cody, Emily, Grandma & Grandpa Hansen all trying out the very cool water at Scenic Beach on Saturday afternoon. It was another very hot day and the water felt pretty good-at least it did once you were numb enough not to feel it anymore! :) Aug. 14th, 2010.

Xander, Brionna, & Caleb trying to decide whether or not to get in. :) Scenic Beach. Aug. 14th, 2010.

Grandpa & Grandma Hansen looking for little crabs with Xander, Caleb, & Emily down in the rocks after done swimming at Scenic Beach. Aug. 14th, 2010.

Brionna & Xander playing in the water in one of the fountains in the upper fountain park while Caleb is contemplating it. He wasn't sure about it-mostly he just wanted to try running around the edge without falling in. :) Aug. 15th, 2010.

Brionna Faires at the upper fountain park in Bremerton, WA. Aug. 15th, 2010.

Caleb doing some silly thing while I was trying to take his picture. Xander was also in the middle of some move when he came running into the middle of this pic. Aug. 15th, 2010.

Grandma Hansen, Caleb, Xander, Grandpa Hansen, and Brionna stopped to look at the Destroyer Ship, the Turner Joy that is behind them. Aug. 15th, 2010.

A lot closer to the Turner Joy. The kids and Mom & Dad all thought it was pretty neat to see. Aug. 15th, 2010.

Xander and Grandma looking for shells on the Silverdale, WA. beach with Brionna in the background wading in the water. We tried to hit this beach at low tide several times, but never managed it. But we had fun looking for shells and sanddollars here. Aug. 16th, 2010.

Emily, Melissa (me), Xander and Grandma all looking for shells. Silverdale beach. Aug. 16th, 2010.

Xander swimming in Long Lake at Long Lake State Park right here close to Port Orchard. Was really hot the whole time M & D were here so we played in the water a lot. This place was fun cause the water went out a long ways before it finally started to get deep so it was good for the kids. Aug. 17th, 2010.

Caleb and Emily at Long Lake. They didn't play as much in the water as everyone else, but they had fun too. Aug. 17th, 2010.

Grandpa Hansen and Emily sharing some time together in the shade at the Silverdale Beach Park again. Believe this was the day before they left to go home if I remember right. She loves her Grandpa! Isn't this the cutest? We had so much fun while they were in town. We did so many things that we were all exhausted by the time they were ready to go home but it was a BLAST! Can't wait for you guys to come back! Thanks for coming! We love you! Aug. 18th, 2010.

Catch-Up Time!

Man! Time sure flies when you are havin fun! :) We have been doing lots of fun things since I was last on here. Things have gotten so busy that I haven't been on here in ages but I am hoping to be able to catch up some on all the things that have happened in the past 2 or 3 months. So, bear with me while I get back into the groove of this stuff.
Love to you all!

Sorry About The Craziness On Our Blog!

I have not been doing this for very long and have not figured out the best way to do all of this. So, sorry for all the weirdness that I have had on here. Hopefully I will get it right soon. =o) Thought I was doing ok, then, BAM! Feel like I am starting over on learning how to do this! Bear with me! If anyone has some good advice for me please let me know! Love & miss you all! Hope to see and/or talk to you soon!

Love, Melissa

My Chair Project With Nita

The 'Before' chair. Really didn't look too bad--just not a great color to deal with for kids. They were starting to look pretty dirty. This is one of the better ones. Plus they were just covered with fabric-hard to clean. I wanted to put plastic on them so they would be easy to clean.

August 11th, 2010

The 'before' chair seat up close. Yuck! We got them from Goodwill for like $5 a piece. They really weren't too bad. We used them this way for months before doing this project.

August 11th, 2010

Using the old material off the chair seat as a pattern for the new material. Worked pretty well. Then we cut it out and started attatching the new material.

August 11th, 2010

Working on stapeling the corners first. Then we worked our way around the edges.

August 11th, 2010

Pulling the fabric and plastic tight around all the edges to staple it securely.

August 11th, 2010

The bottom of the seat once we got both the material and the plastic layers attatched with staples.

August 11th, 2010

Looking at the bottom once we got the soft cotton cover back on to hide all the staples.

August 11th, 2010

Nita working on putting the screws back into the bottom that hold the seat in securely.

August 11th, 2010

The seat after just putting it in. Looks so much better than they did before!

August 11th, 2010

All done! We did 4 of them and they look great!

We have really been enjoying them!

August 11th, 2010

The Finished product! They turned out AWESOME and we have been loving them!

Thanks again, Nita, for all your help!

August 11th, 2010

Our Visit with Cody's Mom

Nita came up for a visit that started with Zachary's 11th birthday (I think it was 11). We went to the church to do the party stuff since it was raining and we couldn't go to the beach.
August 7th, 2010










All of us: Cody & our family, Leo & his kids, David & his family, & Devin & Natasha and Nita & Grant. They all came up for Zachary's birthday and then Nita & Grant stayed long enough to be to Xander's birthday too. This is at the church near David & Tracy's house in Lake Stevens.
August 7th, 2010

Nita & Grant at Long Lake. We went and met Cody there after he was done with Scouts the last night Nita was here with us. It was a fun place to go!

August 12th, 2010

Nita & Tracy at the fountain park. We all got together there for Xander's 5th birthday.

August 13th, 2010

Nita, Cody, & Leo on the foot ferry going back to our house for Xander's birthday stuff. Sorry the ferry made you sick! We had a great time having here and hope you come again soon! We love you!

August 13th, 2010