Yey for early Christmas gifts.

Our old camera died a week ago and so my Christmas gift came early!
I forgot how much fun taking pictures can be.

Dearest blog,

Carving pumpkins is always a big hit. Katie chose a cat and Dan carved it to perfection. Sharon chose a bat and I carved it almost to perfection. Thank goodness four year olds are so accepting.








So guess who wanted to be Dorothy for Halloween? She doesn't have red hair but seriously "have you ever seen a cuter Dorothy?"

Oh how I've missed you. Please forgive me for being so neglectful. It's been so long since I last posted and it's easy to let life run its busy course without taking time for things that really matter. You really matter. You remind me of all the things that truly count like family, friends, celebrations, trivialities of every day life and love. I promise to do better at blogging about these things.

Love..

It's a simple word but means everything. It's the essence of being and living.
Today I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to LOVE and feel Love in return.


Some things to love: Having our family come and visit. My mom stayed for 10 days. I feel so lucky to have parents that sacrifice to make sure they see their grandchildren. It's expensive to fly from California to Missoula because there are no direct flights, but they make the effort and never complain. In fact they seem to think it's worth every penny. Katie and Sharon adore them. Even Kyle is warming-up and my dad has become his 2'nd favorite person next to "dada."
My brother (Unc) and Jess were able to spend the weekend with us as well. Man I love them and have a special place for them in my heart. Garreth is in his 3'rd year of law school and Jess is busy finishing her schooling as well. They take time out of their hectic lives to be with us. Katie cried bitter tears when they had to go home.

2'nd thing to love: Soccer! First time our girls are playing soccer and they ROCK! Some of Katie's teammates have been playing soccer since they were 3 and so they have some advantage over her. However, her coaches were impressed by her aggressiveness and so I am sure she will soon hold her own. She definitely gave it her all and we're so proud of her for that. I could tell she was loving it which is the most important thing. Also (I'm biased) but I honestly think she and Sharon are the most beautiful soccer players I've ever seen.
Sharon...well her talents really show in soccer. She's fast but she's little. Being small could be a disadvantage but she uses it. She looks for her opportunity to squeeze through the players and kick the ball. She even scored a goal for her team. We're so proud of our soccer players.
It's so fund to see your children do new things.

3'rd thing to love: Sharon riding her bike without training wheels. Her cousin started doing this about 2 weeks ago and so I asked her if she wanted to do it. Of course she said yes, but I was skeptical but Dan was up for the challenge. He is amazing at challenging them to do difficult things. Well sure enough she's riding her bike like a pro. We took her to the Clark Fork River and she just rode the trail while we walked with Kyle in the stroller.

4'th thing to love: MY BOYS! Dan and Kyle. I'm so in love.

news...

No I'm not preggo! Please no... but I've decided to make my blog private. If you are one of the four readers who are so kind to still read my blog feel free to shoot me an email and I will gladly send you and invite. My email address is melissa.combs2003@yahoo.com.
Thanks

Missoula love...

So many of you may know that I've done a lot of complaining about the freezing dark and long winters here in Missoula. But let me just say right now, in Summer, I can't think of a better place to live. It's paradise! I may even come to agree with my fellow Montanans that going through the winter is almost worth it to enjoy the most amazing summers.

Huckleberry picking!

First summer in Missoula

Summer in Missoula is HEAVEN ON EARTH. The sun only sets at 10pm (what a change from Winter when it's dark at 5pm). We've had a great time exploring the rivers and trails and swimming at Splash Montana.
Katie participated in a cheer camp for the Osprey Baseball team.
My dad surprised us with a visit on Sunday! I wish I had taken some pictures because the girls and Kyle were in heaven with him here. He's the world's greatest oupa for driving 8 hours just so he could spend a few hours with his grandchildren.

How to play chicken.

We now have 3 adorable chickens. Katie's is called Annabelle and Sharon's is Jemma and Kyle's is Beatrix. Let's hope they survive to give us some fresh yummy eggs.