The Big Chop!

Today was the day for the "Big Chop," aka the girls' hair cuts. About 2 weeks ago I finally gave in and told the girls they could get their hair cut short after national dance competition. Makenna always wants to get her hair cut short and Alanna has been after me for about 6 months or so to get hers cut short. I have to say I really didn't want to see Alanna get her long, beautiful hair cut short, but I told her if that was what she really wanted, she would at least have to donate her hair. So, a couple weeks ago we started researching Locks of Love (www.locksoflove.org). After doing some research, I decided I would be okay with her cutting her hair as long as she donated it to such a good cause like Locks of Love. As it turns out, I didn't even cry when she got it chopped off like I thought I might. She ended up donating 12 inches of hair, which, by the way, doesn't look like much. Makenna also cut her hair short but did not have quite enough to donate.



So happy after the first big chop!








My sweet, cute girls!

Beautiful Big Horns

This past weekend we went to the Big Horn Mountains and camped for 2 nights. It was our first camping trip of the season. We had a lot of fun and rode over 115 miles on our 4 wheelers. As you can see from the pictures, it was kind of cold up there, especially while riding. I'm glad we brought our winter gear. On Friday night it rained; on Saturday it rained, hailed, snowed and was thundering and lightning. But during the day on Saturday and Sunday it was nice. We found some new trails that we really like and can't wait to get back there again! It was really nice because it felt like we had the mountains to ourselves; we had our choice of campsites and we had most of the trails to ourselves.

Deadwood Mickelson Trail Half Marathon

On Sunday, Brad and I ran the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Half Marathon with Matt and Kristen. The good news is we all finished, the bad news is we all hurt. It was a lot of fun and I highly recommend running a half marathon if you ever get the chance. Training is a lot of work, but rewarding yourself with finishing a race is well worth every bit of work it takes to get there! I NEVER thought I would run a mile or two without walking and/or complaining let alone 13 miles. However, once I started running I got addicted, and now I look forward to it. Thanks Matt and Kristen for inviting us to run the half marathon with you guys way back in January. If it weren't for you guys I would have never fell in love with running!

June 2009 Dance Recital

The girls had dance recital June 5th and 6th. They were awesome! I love watching everything come together at recital; it always looks so good. However, I am always a little nervous when I'm watching because I am hoping that they will: 1) make it to the stage for each of their dances, 2) have the right costume on, 3) have the right shoes, accessories, and tights on. And it seems every year it turns out all right. This year Makenna had 8 costume changes and Alanna had 7 costume changes! That's a lot of dancing for them and a lot of worrying for me!

David Foy Scholar Athlete

On Thursday, the girls had their school awards assembly. The principal had told me several weeks before that both of the girls had been nominated for the David Foy Scholar Athlete Award. This is a special award that they first gave out to one student last year in honor of a kindergarten teacher that had passed away in the Spring of 2008. It is a very special award because classroom teachers can only nominate one student from their class if they choose to. This year there were 10 nominees out of approximately 350 students. It means a lot for the girls to be nominated because they both knew Mr. Foy and liked him a lot.

So, at the awards assembly the principal anounced 9 nominees and read why their teacher had nominated them. Alanna had already been called up and after the 9th nominee was up there I thought maybe I had misunderstood the principal when he had told me "both" girls had been nominated. But then he said, "And this years Scholar Athlete is Makenna Massman!" I almost cried I was so happy for her. I looked around and saw her standing in the back of the room with some of her friends and teachers. She was shaking her head no and saying, "no it can't be me because I wasn't nominated." Her teachers and friends were nudging her forward and she finally went all the way up to the front to receive her award. I think she finally believed it was her award when she read her own name on the paper (even if it was spelled wrong; which none of us caught until the next day).

It was a great honor for both of the girls and we are so proud of them.

Matt's Graduation from Dental School and Estes Park Trip

Well, Matt finally graduated from Dental School! (Not that you can tell by the pics I have posted. I'm hoping that my mom and Kristen will email me some pics from graduation!) His graduation was May 22nd. We stayed in Aurora from the 21st to the 24th and then drove to Estes Park. We stayed at the Silver Moon Inn in EP and shared a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom suite with my parents. It was a very nice place and we look forward to staying there again. While in Estes Park, I got another massage at the Riverspointe Spa; it was amazing. I told Brad it was the best birthday present he ever let me buy myself! Anyways here are the few pics I did take over the weekend.

Okay, so I'm not posting any pics right now because blogger is not letting me move them within the post the right way. Maybe I will try again later.

Brad's New Big Boy Toy

This is Brad's new big boy toy. It's a red Polaris 800 Touring ATV. He went to Riverside Marine and Cycle in Miles City to get it last Saturday.