December update

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to give you an update as to what has been going on at the Siggins house this month!

All of us kids have been very busy all month finishing up with school for the semester! Carol and I have midterms due this week and the rest of the girls are finishing some last assignments before the next semester starts.

Dad and Colby have been busy working. My brother actually works for my dad now! He's basically like my dad's assistant, which is awesome.

My mom has been busy taking care of our family... 9 people! Yes, it's as crazy as it sounds sometimes! =) She does an incredible job though, and none of us can figure out how she does it! 

We have been preparing for Christmas; lights, ornaments, decorations, goodies, parties, and more! We are planning on having Christmas here which hasn't happened in years, so we are looking forward to just being at the house during the holidays. 

Hope you all are doing well!

Merry Christmas!

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." ~Isaiah 9:6

Red Belt

The last taekwondo test in November Charity and I both passed! Charity now has her bumblebee belt (Yellow with a black stripe) and I have my red! That's the second red belt we have in the family... Hopefully one day we will all have black! 

Here is a picture of the new red belt!

Christmas Tree Hunting

This past week we went up to the Big Horns to cut down a tree! This is the first real tree we've had in years. Normally we just take our tree out of the box and put it all together but now that the younger girls are getting big enough to bear the freezing cold to go get one we decided to cut our own this year! Here are a few pictures from our adventure =)

These girls were ready to go!

Trudging through the snow. It was 3 feet deep in some places!

The spectacular view from the top.

Dragging the trees back! (One for the grandparents and one for us!)

Tada!

Mission accomplished.

This is what most people call red neck, but it totally worked! =)

Family Pictures

We recently had our family pictures taken by a good friend of ours here in Powell who is a photography major. This is just one, but be expecting a Christmas card over the holidays with more! =)
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." ~Psalm 118:1~

Hey everyone! Just wanted to apologize for the lack of updates recently! I took a trip to Georgia to visit a friend of mine for 10 days, and things have been crazy around here since I got back. I will be writing a post about my trip soon, but I don't have all the pictures yet, so I'm going to wait till then. I included the most recent picture of the girls and I in this post just because though (sorry the quality is bad, it was taken on my computer!). Also, we have some exciting news! No, there's no baby coming haha =) We got our family pictures taken earlier this week, so we will be posting those very very soon! And the plan is, to send out some Christmas cards this year too... But we'll have to wait and see on that one. =)
Hope you are all doing well!

Cori

The New Belt

Here's a picture of Charity with her new belt and certificate she received a few weeks ago! =) So proud of that girl... she did great!

Labor Day Weekend!

We spent Labor day at the lake this year! Big Horn lake is about 45 minutes away and we all love spending the day there! We also went to Big Horn canyon afterwards, which is gorgeous! Here are a few pictures from that day! =)

Optimist Camp

One of the best parts of my summer was this camp I helped at for a week. Its the third year I've been a counselor there and I absolutely LOVE it!
The Optimist Special Children's Camp takes place at the Lions Club facility near Red Lodge, MT. The camp is available to children with special needs ages 8-21, and approximately 50 campers attend each summer. The Optimist Camp is offered at no cost the the children and their families.
This really an incredible life changing experience. Its a lot of work, and by the end of the week all of us counselors are completely exhausted but it is SO worth it! The kids look forward to this camp all year... for one week they are loved, and excepted by everyone. We do activities with them, play games, have a carnival, a dance, and pretty much just spend the whole week making sure these kids have the time of their lives. Here is a 2 pictures from my week there. One of them is of my campers and other counselors in my cabin that week. There are about 3 counselors to every cabin and each cabin has about 5 kids. The other picture is with one of the kids who called me his girlfriend all week! The whole week he followed me around like a shadow, so someone snapped this picture for me at the dance we had during the week =)

California

Carol and I (Cori) went to Cali in June with a bunch of kids from our church for a youth conference there. It was the second time I had been to the conference, but Carol's first time. We absolutely loved it! We drove down there in our van with 9 other people. We left on a Thursday, got there Friday morning, spent Friday Saturday and Sunday there, and then Monday at the beach, then drove home Monday night and ended up back in Powell Tuesday evening! It's quite a drive but totally worth it! Here are a few pictures from our trip. We didn't take as many as I would have liked to but some is better then none I guess!
The pictures are of the beach on Monday, me at lunch with 2 of my friends I had met there, and Carol and I at the beach! =)

Swimming Lessons!

Swimming lessons has begun for Carol, Callie, Cianna, Cassidy, and Charity! My sisters make up almost half the class! =) This is a picture from their first lesson for the semester with 2 of their friends in the picture on the right. Carol isn't in this picture because she is still in Kansas, but she will start her lessons when she gets back! The girls absolutely LOVE swimming!

Charity's Test

Charity tested for her yellow belt in July. She passed! She was the only one of our girls to take it, and the only girl testing! Most of the other girls will be testing later on in the fall for their next belts =)
Here's a few pictures of Charity! 

Phew! Summer is almost over! It's been a crazy one that's for sure! Haven't been on in awhile so I will try to update you all on the lives of the Siggins Crew over the Summer. =)

Doug and Lisa celebrated their 25th anniversary about a week ago! Praise God for awesome parents who are there to support us and encourage us! We are incredibly blessed =) They are planning on taking a vacation (without the kids of course) to California in less then a week! It'll be a good time for them to get away and spend some time just enjoying each others company after a long summer... They deserve it!

Colby, is now back in Powell! He spent a few months in Denver but ended up coming back after things not going quite as scheduled. He is currently working at The Cody, a hotel in Cody (obviously) and is loving it! He really enjoys what he does and the people he works with!

I (Cori) had an excellent summer! =) I was a bridesmaid in my best friends wedding in July, so that took up most of my time. Other then that I stayed busy with babysitting all the time, friends, and my awesome family! I'm really looking forward to flying to see my friend (that just got married) in October! Also, starting my junior year of high school next week, and actually kinda looking forward to it! =)

Carol, just flew out this morning for Kansas to visit relatives for 2 weeks. She hasn't been super close with them over the years so it will be good for her to re-connect with them! She's been working extra hard on her school work over the summer to get caught up after falling a tad bit behind when her mom got sick. She's excited to go into her freshman year of high school after she gets back!

Callie, Cianna, Cassidy, and Charity... I decided to just write about all of them at once since their summer was pretty much the same as each others =) They spent most the summer playing with kids on our block... our house seems to be the central location so we end up having kids at our house pretty much constantly! We all love it though =) Other then that they occupied their time with playing at the park, baseball, football, soccer, jump roping, bike riding, rollerblading, riding scooters, and pretty much anything else that was outside!
 They are all starting school next week... Callie in 5th grade, Cianna in 4th, Cassidy in 3rd, and Charity in Kindergarten! =) I'm still blown away at how my mom does it all without going completely crazy!


Well! I think that about covers it =) I apologize for not being on here more during the summer... I really really am hoping to be on more throughout the school year, and also get some pictures of everyone!
Hope you all had a fantastic summer!
The 'Siggins Crew'

2012 Spring Gala





The Gala is a formal event that serves as a prom for all the home schoolers in the area. The only difference from the public school proms is that the parents are welcome to come! The pictures above are of Cori, Colby, Carol, Doug, and Lisa! :)

Billings Taekwondo Tournament (April)

We all ended up taking 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in all of our divisions!!!

2012 Lone Wolf Taekwondo Tournament