Ali is a 3rd Grader!

So my boo is a big 3rd grader this year and I am having the hardest time with that. Third grade is such a huge year it really is the turning point from little kid to big kid!! She has Mrs. Weber for a teacher (which she is so excited about) and when we walked into the classroom on the first day, her best friend Emily Siddoway was sitting there! It was so cute to see how excited they got when they saw each other, even though at that point mom and dad were completely nonexistent! Ali loves school and I hope that this year is just as fun for her as the past three have been!

Ali called nama at 7:00 this morning to remind her to come and watch her get on the bus for the first time! Good thing Nama is a such a good sport!

Dad's Birthday!

This is the last time we were ever at the lodge with my Dad.

This year my dad would have turned 52. We celebrated his birthday at Red Canyon Lodge .... Dad loved it up there he loved to go fishing, ride our bikes, and just be together! Mom got his favorite, chocolate cake with white frosting, and we let the kids sing" Happy Birthday "and blow out Papas candles! It was so sad not to have him there with us, but it is so important to all of us to keep doing the things that dad loved so that we can always keep his memory alive. Every time we go to the lodge, there is a huge red tailed hawk that comes and sits in the top of one of the huge pine trees while we are eating, and this year watching him fly away reminded me of a saying that I love:" When God leads you to the edge of the cliff, trust him fully and let go. Only one of two things will happen, either he will catch you when you fall or he will give you wings to fly!" I love and miss you so much dad, Love Spike

This is the Place

We had never been to "This is the place"... it is so amazing, my kids absolutely loved every bit of it! They got to ride horses, pet baby sheep, rode on a little train, bought candy from the old ZCMI store, Morgan even got an old fashioned shaving, and they got to see all of the neat old pioneer homes! Ali loved the hat shop so much...the little old lady made each of us try on a hat, which Ali loved so she ended up talking her dad into buying her one. Ashton's favorite part was petting the baby sheep and goats. Gray just rode around in the stroller the entire time and ate treats....poor little guy! Anyway it was lots of fun, I am sure we will be making that a new tradition every year!

Mammy and Pappy's house

We all woke up today and just felt like going to the farm to hang out, so we loaded up the kids and headed to Jensen. The kids had fun playing in the hose and eating peas out of the garden! I treasure my memories of Mammy and Pappy's house growing up. We always had so much fun gathering eggs in the hay stacks, playing in our treehouse that Pappy built us, swimming in the canal, and pretending that we were baby birds, while Pappy and Mammy fed us raspberries and strawberries out of their garden! We always woke up to Mammy's yummy waffles with whipped cream and raspberry jam, we had the best childhood ever, and I want my kids to have their own memories of the farm!

Gray eating his first pea from Mam and Pap's garden

We wanted to see what Tiff's little girls will look like...pretty cute huh?!

"My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it."

I Love and Miss you Dad!

Love Spike