Shelley Beatty

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Sapphires

December 29, 2017 by shelley

Sapphire hunt!

Gem Mountain near Philipsburg Montana

One of our favorite activities for the grandkids is to hunt for sapphires!  Real sapphires hidden in gravel dirt.  It is of course, special dirt from Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine near Philipsburg, Montana.  When our children were small we went there and they hunted for “pretty rocks” in the gravel.  We now have to settle by ordering gravel from Gem Mountain to sift through.

Hunting for sapphires

Hunting for sapphires

Hunting for sapphires

Hunting for sapphires

Hunting for sapphires

The Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine is one of the largest, oldest, and best Sapphire Mines in the World.  You could call it the “Quiet Giant” of sapphire mines because it has produced over 180 million carats of sapphire for over 120 years without receiving much “press”.  Mining first started in 1892 with large stones exhibiting good color and clarity faceted as finished gemstones.  The small and fractured stones were sold by the ounce for industrial purposes.  The vast majority of early production targeted the uniform round small sapphires which were shipped to Switzerland for use as watch bearings.  The invention of synthetic sapphire curtailed the large scale mining operations but did not halt sapphire mining altogether.  Following WW II an active business developed for rock hounds to visit Gem Mountain and dig for sapphires by hand.  In the mid 1960’s the owner formally opened the Chausee Sapphire Mine and began bringing sapphire gravel to the store.  The name was changed to Gem Mountain in the early 1980’s.  Today we continue over 50 years of sharing the excitement of allowing you to find genuine Montana Sapphires in a bucket of Gem Mountain Sapphire Gravel.

Filed Under: Christmas, Family Tagged With: Gem Mountain, hunting sapphires, Sapphire Mine

Sapphire Hunting

February 25, 2017 by shelley

Hunting for Sapphires

Tucked away in Montana is a small town called Philipsburg.  Bob’s mother lived in Anaconda not far from Philipsburg.  So whenever we visited Anaconda, when my children were small we would drive to Philipsburg.  We would then drive about 22 miles out of Philipsburg to a mountain called Gem Mountain.  At Gem Mountain  we could hunt sapphires by paying for bucketfuls of gravel from Gem Mountain.  Gravel by the bucketful would be washed, screened then dumped out on wooden tables where my kids would hunt for the treasure of sapphires.  They have wonderful memories of doing this as children.  Today sapphire hunters just have to go to Philipsburg to the storefront of Gem Mountain (Montana Sapphire Company) where they do all the work for you.  You can still look through the dirt at the store…or you can do like we did.  We ordered sapphire gravel and we go hunting for sapphires in the comfort of our home…the grandkids love doing it.

Hunting for sapphires

Hunting for sapphires

Hunting for sapphires

Hunting for sapphires

Hunting for sapphires

Hunting for sapphires

Hunting for sapphires

Hunting for sapphires

Filed Under: Christmas, Family Tagged With: Gem Mountain, Sapphire Hunting, Sapphires

More Christmas Family Activities!

February 13, 2016 by shelley

CHRISTMAS FUN, CHRISTMAS FUN, CHRISTMAS FUN

More Christmas Family Activities!  We tried to do something everyday!  We went to the Coterie Theatre, Build a Bear, made play dough, went sapphire hunting (yes real sapphires), and got yogurt.  Even getting a haircut ended up being quite an outing.

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

The Coterie Theatre

The Peanuts holiday mood is set with a live jazz trio playing the original Vince Guaraldi arrangements! As Christmas approaches, Charlie Brown sees displays of overwhelming materialism everywhere, even by his own dog, Snoopy. Dispensing psychiatric help, Lucy suggests he become director of the school Christmas pageant.  Charlie Brown accepts, but it proves frustrating to corral the attention of his peers. When an attempt to restore the proper spirit with a forlorn little fir Christmas tree fails, he needs Linus’ help to learn the real meaning of the season.

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

 

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

Charlie Brown Christmas at the Coterie

Crown Center

Crown Center

Crown Center

Crown Center

Build a Bear at Oak Park Mall

Little did we know all of Kansas City would be there too….after waiting about 1 1/2 hours in a slow moving line we finally got to build our bears…actually we did not build one bear…we had minions, cats, dogs, peek-a-chu…but no bears.

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Build A Bear

Play Dough (homemade of course) Play Time

Becca and Caroline set up a Play Dough Bakery Shop

IMG_0881 IMG_0883 IMG_0885 IMG_0886 IMG_0887 IMG_0888 IMG_0889 IMG_0890 IMG_0891 IMG_0892 IMG_0893 IMG_0894 IMG_0896 IMG_0899

Here’s the recipe for homemade Play-Doh

Homemade Play Dough recipe

Homemade Play Dough recipe

Homemade Playdough (.doc format)

Homemade PlayDoh recipe (.pdf format)

Sapphire Hunting

Something new we did this year was sapphire hunting…real sapphires!  Very special dirt/gravel is used to search for the sapphires.  When my children were growing up we would visit Bob’s mom in Anaconda, Montana.  We would travel to Gem Mountain (near Philipsburg, Montana) to go “prospecting” for sapphires.  My kids loved it and looked forward to it every year.  For my grandkids I ordered  a mega jug of gravel from Gem Mountain to let them have the sapphire hunting experience.  It was definitely a hit!

Special sapphire gravel from Gem Mountain

Special sapphire gravel from Gem Mountain

Special sapphire gravel from Gem Mountain

Special sapphire gravel from Gem Mountain

Sapphire hunting

Sapphire hunting

Sapphire hunting

Sapphire hunting

Sapphire hunting

Sapphire hunting

Sapphire hunting

Sapphire hunting

Sapphire hunting

sapphires and gravel

sapphires and gravel

Sapphire Gravel with a few of the found sapphires on top.

Even haircuts and getting yogurt was a fun activity.

Caroline getting a trim

Caroline getting a trim

Fancy hair do after the trim

Fancy hair do after the trim

Fancy hair do after the trim

Fancy hair do after the trim

Loving the hairdo

Loving the hairdo

Getting yogurt

Yogurt fun!

Yogurt fun!

Yogurt fun!

Yogurt fun!

Yogurt fun!

Yogurt fun!

Yogurt fun!

Yogurt fun!

Yogurt fun!

Yogurt fun!

Yogurt fun!

Yogurt fun!

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Build-a-Bear, Charlie Brown Christmas, Coterie, Gem Mountain, Play-Doh, Sapphire Hunting, Yogurt

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I'm Shelley. Mom of three and grandma of eight... living right in the middle of the country, Kansas City! I'm happy to be alive and enjoy sharing exciting goodies that I find and make. Here you will find ideas for LDS Young Women's activities, family updates, and a compilation of all things wonderful.

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