July Memories

Just wanted to post a few pictures to remember, since there were lots of events all month long. Not a lot of narrative, but there are LOTS of pictures!

4th of July Freedom Parade:

Emily and Justin

It started to sprinkle, so some of the gang got really creative:

Stephanie Garrison, Justin, Caitlin, Ben Jolley

Aunt Jen, Heather, & Emily hanging out on the side line

Caitlin and Ben Jolley get engaged:

Wedding date is set for September 19th in the Manti Temple

Scottish Festival:

Emily and her good friend, Sara Hatch

Emily getting ready for the swordfight

Emily wins the battle!

Puppy Emily:

For several weeks Emily kept pretending to be a doggy. It was pretty funny to watch!

Playing dead

Breakdown on I-80:

Waiting for AAA to come tow the car

Our tire had a chunk come out of it about six miles from the nearest town in Wyoming. We limped along on the side of the road till we got to the town of Point of Rocks. The only thing in the town was the gas station/small convenience store and a few trailers. But lo and behold, there was even a post office right in the store! I was really glad I had Caitlin with me.

Point of Rocks Post Office

Kathy's sister retreat in Washington:

After dropping Emily off at Nicia's in Wyoming, I got to head for Washington state to be with my sisters for a week. I joined Karen in Salt Lake, and we met up with Annette in Twin Falls. We stopped at Mom & Dad's home for the night. Our visits to Kuna are never quite complete unless we go to our favorite Mexican restaurant in town:

Annette, Mom, Kathy, Karen, Dad

The next morning we went to pick green beans with my brother, Jim. When we came home, Dad had set the table and was fixing breakfast! We had waffles with strawberries & whipped cream, and eggs. It was awesome to see my Dad well enough to be up and around, and cooking breakfast!

We also stopped to visit my brother, Aaron before heading up to Washington. He has started a plumbing repair business, and has the most awesome looking truck. His business card says Owner/Hero on it. Really creative! Gotta love it.

Aaron's Rescue Plumbing

(notice the plunger on the right side of the truck in the dark blue star)

We traveled up to LaNita's the next day and just had a marvelous week together. All her kids were farmed out except for Allison, and none of us brought our children, so it really was a relaxed vacation for all of us. We completed some projects, sewed, watched a movie, played a game, visited, went shopping, went out to dinner, went to our favorite town, Leavinworth, and just had an awesome week! Definitely ended too soon. Thanks girls, for such a great time together! I love you all!

LaNita & Kathy painting the office

Annette, LaNita, Karen, Kathy

Trip to Wyoming to visit Nicia, Joe, & Alyssa:

We feel so fortunate to have Joe & Nicia close enough to visit easily. We spent a little over a week there and just had a great time. Thanks, guys, for a great time!

AWESOME FIREWORKS - WYOMING STYLE! (the big illegal kind) :)

GEOCACHING

GUESSTURES

LEARNING TO PLAY THE FLUTE

BOWLING!

Talise Dubois, Caitlin, Nicia

LOTS OF TICKET TO RIDE GAMES

(Dave - black, Kathy - red.....sorry Dave!)

TERRY BISON RANCH

We took a train ride that wound through the ranch. At one point, the train stopped and a whole herd of buffalo came right up to the train so we could feed them. Very cool!

Cowgirl Emily

Issy and Boo riding the train

Michael's Garden/Michael's Tree

It has been a little over a year, near the 1-year mark of Michael's passing, that my sisters came and spent a weekend with us, purchasing plants and planting a memory garden. I thought I'd share how well the plants are blooming. I love seeing their beauty each time I step out my door or drive up to our home, and the daisies are my favorite! Thank you again, Karen and Annette (and my cousin Allison) for your labor of love in honor of Michael.

Here's a picture of the memorial tree (a flowering tulip tree) we planted for Michael last year as well. It was planted in the park behind our home, with a beautiful view of it out our kitchen window.

The pictures don't do the tree justice. It really is so pretty almost right in the middle of what many believe is the nicest park in Springville and will be even prettier when it starts flowering in a few years. The bare spot is for the memorial stone that we plan to have in place within the next few months. Thanks again to all our loved ones who helped with this very special project. We hope the garden and tree bring a smile to Michael's face and remind him of our love.

June Happenings

Children's Art Festival:
Each year for Springville City Days, they hold an awesome children's art festival. We usually invite a friend to come along with Emily, more fun for her. They have around 20 booths, all with a different craft for the children to make. Each craft is made with a different form of art, so they're learning while they have fun.

Olivia and Emily showing off their face painting

Parade fun:

Since I marched in parades for 8 years while growing up, it wouldn't be summer without parades. It's tradition to attend our little city parade each year. Even when we're few in numbers, it's still fun: the excitement, the patriotism, the floats, the bands, the horses, watching the children run to gather candy that's thrown, getting cheap hot dogs at the Chevron station, and more. Just love it! And being held in June, it's just the right weather.

Emily's school always makes an appearance in the parade. Last year she wanted to be on the "float", but decided to wait because Caitlin wasn't here to see her. So this year, with Caitlin home, she chose to be a part of the parade instead of sit with us. She was SO excited! Here she is on the Reagan Academy "float". She has just spotted us as they go by.

Check out a closeup of this picture. Love her expression - pure joy!

No kiddies watching the parade with us, so strange!!

9th Wedding Anniversary!

That's right, June 16 Dave and I celebrated 9 years of marriage. Oh, where has the time gone? First thing in the morning, my sweet Dave surprised me with this:

A beautiful fresh bouquet of flowers from our garden!

To celebrate, we wanted to do a little shopping and go to dinner. Caitlin was my personal beauty consultant. She lent me her clothes, shoes, earrings, and did both my hair and makeup. She was amazing, and I loved being pampered!

Happy Anniversary! Love you forever!!

Pictures with more of my favorite people:

Swim lessons:

Our own little fish

Father's Day:
It was wonderful to have all our children who live nearby, come for dinner for some of Dave's favorites: Enchilada stacks, corn on the cob, and strawberry shortcake. Nicia and Jordan - we missed you!! And Dave, you are an amazing husband and father! We love you!

The kids always come up with great cards, sometimes pretty funny ones - this one had Homer Simpson, need I say more? :)

Birthday Surprise

Happy Belated Birthday to Emily who turned 7 on May 30! First she received this:

Then the big surprise:

And was she ever surprised:

A pretty happy child I'd say!

Air Show

A couple of weeks ago Caitlin, Emily, and I drove up to Hill Air Force base for the air show. When we arrived, the Thunderbirds were doing their show in the air - hard to get pictures of, but very cool.

We took a tour inside a plane - that was fun:

ready for take-off

When the performance in the air was over, we went inside a hangar to see the famous "Tops in Blue" show. Outstanding talent - a carefully selected 30 or so air force people who learn a 1 1/2 hour show with music, singing, and dancing from every type of music from easy listening, to jazz, to country, all kinds. Very impressive, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.

It was fun to spend some time with just the girls!