Sarah's Day

I think only a Mother's love can remember the exact date of her baby girl's 

Born into Heaven Day.

I think only a Mother's love can remember the exact feelings of a broken heart that feels like it will last forever. Knowing that it really won't. It just feels that way. I knew that years from that moment I would be able to look back and know that I made it through the most sorrowful time in my life.

It felt like I was the only one feeling that way as the rest of the family went on about their days. At first it made me mad that they didn't feel the same way but then I couldn't be that upset. It was a Mother's love for her tiny baby that was making me feel that way. It was me who connected with her sweet little soul before she was born and it was me who felt the world stop spinning when I didn't hear her little heart beating any longer. 

15 years. My sweet Sarah would have been 15 years old yesterday.

I purchased the most sunny yellow sunflowers I could find and placed them on the table.

Kaleb knew what they were for....bless his heart. 

The vivid vision that our Lord in heaven placed before me that horrible day when I wasn't dealing with my grief is still perfect in my mind. I can still see her playing ring around the rosies in a a sunlit field with another little girl, barefoot, wavy red hair, wearing a sundress, backlit with sun...absorbing the sunshine to it's fullest, in slow motion, with wildflowers speckled here and there.

It was that vision that God showed me that she was okay. 

That I was okay.

And I know that the day I die, I will get to see her again. 

15 years....it feels like yesterday.

Chimney Soot!

Kirk had the brillant idea at 8pm at night to take the cap off the chimney pipe to see what was inside.

We have been planning on doing the very thing but for some reason, he decided to do it when I was at a meeting and pretty late in the night to be starting a project....

though at the time, he didn't know it would turn into a four day project!

I arrived home at 10 pm and saw all the lights on in the house, all the windows and doors open and black dogs run past me. What? Black dogs?

When I pulled into the garage, Kirk bolts into the garage completely black!

I was like....What the Heck Happened to YOU!?

He just shook his head and said they are doing their best to clean it up as best they can and that I should have seen it two hours ago!!!

 Jared's first words were....Dad decided to look in the chimney pipe at 8 pm instead of just going to bed!!!! He doesn't look very happy. Six feet of soot poured out of the pipe into the entire house.
Thankfully, they moved Alex (the desert tortoise) out of the room and into the bathroom asap.
Everyone needed a shower, the dogs were being bathed at midnight because they had run through the soot and it poured on to them. We spent the next two days cleaning. We are still finding soot. Everything had to be washed. Curtains, walls, dishes.....A few things were destroyed. The air was so bad two hours after you could taste it!

 They were actually dirtier than what the picture shows.

 I had Mary Poppins running through my head constantly.

It took my Dad 4 Hours washing the floor!

YES! 4 hours! My Mom spent 2 hours cleaning the bathroom of all the soot!

It was horrible.

It even made it through the floor and into the basement.

So we found out why the chimney pipes don't draft. Both of them are plugged. Jared has since scaled the roof and removed one chimney pipe so we can replace it with a double wall insulated new pipe...soon to come. And unplugged another in the other chimney. Both chimney's have two chambers so you can run 4 stoves. Remember....the house is 112 years old. They didn't have a furnace until the 50's. Hopefully we can get the wood stove running and heating the house.

We have a big To-Do list!

Chillin'

Popcorn!

Kathy popped in unexpectedly for the night!

I love it when she comes to visit. We always have an improntu visit!

We made popcorn so we sent her brother Rich a picture of us eating popcorn!

He was bummed that he missed out.

Oven Cleaner

I love that I have a son willing to clean! He was waiting to pour 

concrete one day so he started cleaning the stove and oven. 

How AWESOME is that?!

Summer Visitors

We had the best visit this past summer from Kirk's highschool friend Steve and his family. Unfortunately the rest of the pictures that I took with our good camera was destroyed when T-Rex bit my hard drive. We stopped in Bear Lake to have a Raspberry shake on the way home!

 They also had their two children with them. We had a wonderful visit.

Chugga Chug

It isn't everyday that you see a tractor driving down the street.

Usually by the time I get my phone out to take a picture of the giant columbines driving down the street they are already passed. They drive pretty fast. This tractor, I am sure was at top speed chugging down the street. It gave me plenty of time to get out my phone to take a picture.

Cat Lover!

Jared claims to not be an "animal Person", yet I always catch the kitties laying in his lap or licking his bowl. He is usually the first one that they seek out if he is sitting down outside.

And Lightning still likes to ride in his hood first thing in the morning.

Overnighter

Kaleb and Jared squeezed in an overnighter. We dropped them off at Franklin Basin. They hiked over the mountain, spent the night at White Pine lake and ran into a family they know through scouts. Then hiked over another mountain into Smithfield Canyon.

I love that these guys can just pick up and go.

They told us to pick them up at 3pm at the Smithfield Canyon Campground. When we drove up they were sitting there waiting for us. They had only been waiting for about 10 minutes.

They said we were late even though we arrived at 3pm on the dot!

This has to be the most enormous Cottonwood tree I have ever seen.

Nana

I turned around and caught my mother on this ladder in Smith's Marketplace.

She is an accident waiting to happen. Of course she dropped something that bounced and made a bunch of racket. I had to practically pull her down before any of the employees arrived to catch this crazy woman on their ladder.

We were enjoying In-and-Out enjoying hamburgers. One of our favorite stops when we go to Ogden.

One of Nana's favorite places....Bear Lake on the beach "frying her brain" as she calls it.

Nana looking for me. 

ATV driving lessons

Nana gave Victoria a driving lesson.

I remember riding these as a kid. 

Nana drove over for a short visit.

You never know when she will just pop in.

Movie in the Park!

Part of living in a small town is having a movie in the park.

There is just something about walking to the park at dusk to watch a movie on a screen. 

You kind of forget where you are as the movie is played until you see headlights coming up the road.

It's actually important to get there early enough to stake your spot.

All the little kids come in their PJ's. They are so cute.

My phone doesn't take very good pictures. They are a little grainy.

School Pictures

Victoria

Bike the Bear!

Kaleb and Jared rode mountain bikes 50 miles around Bear Lake with a couple hundred other people.
I keep telling Jared he needs to get his own bike. He has been riding my Giant the past couple years. He says he doesn't need a bike when he can just use mine! Kaleb biked 50 miles in 4 hours and 5 minutes. He has a really cool watch that records incline, speed, distance....and more. Jared almost got a ride half way through because his knee gave him grief. Either way, they made it. It cracks me up how even tempered Jared is and how all over the place Kaleb is. There is never a dull moment!

Utah State Dog Show

Victoria and Jasper placed Grand Champion in both Obedience and Showmanship in Intermediate.

Victoria is in the process of Stacking Jasper.

In the Senior division, Kaleb and Samson won Grand Champion in Showmanship and 

First place in Obedience!

This was Samson's last Dog Show. He is officially retired. 

He whined through both events the entire time! Poor Sammy!

The second day was a fun event in agility. Sam in previous years has loved agility. I think because of his age he had had enough. In the middle of the agility course, he made a beeline back to his crate with Kaleb running after him.

He said "I'm Done!"

School Dog

Victoria was working on a writing assignment and snacking on pretzels.
Jasper's favorite treat!

Oktoberfest Figure Skating Competition

Victoria, practicing before her last performance of the Beast skating to Evermore. She has legs of steel. Her practice ice was in the morning but wasn't skating in her competition of Dramatic Showcase until 6pm. It's always good to get a practice ice in to get a feel for the ice at the ice rink. This rink was in Cottonwood Heights which is 2 hours from home.

 It took me an hour and 15 minutes to do her hair and makeup. We used 28 bobby pins to keep her horns in place. This is the last time that we will be doing Beast make-up. It should be a good competition.

Daphne always gets worn out and will just curl up like a cat and fall asleep.

We never tire of watching Victoria skate. It gets really crazy and expensive at times paying for the ice time, the coach fees, the costume, the driving to the competitions, competition fees, and then the skates! Holy Moly! Her last pair of arm-and-a-leg skates killed her feet. We finally just gave up on them and tossed them a side and ordered her a different brand. It was the best choice made. Not only were they a couple hundred dollars cheaper but they don't hurt her feet!

Like I said, Figure Skating can be very expensive if you let it!

She landed her flip, sow cow, and her toe loop perfectly......

the very disappointing part is that the music messed up horribly.

Obviously, the MP3 file got contorted and skipped a couple parts and then ended abruptly.

So after Nailing her performance for weeks in practice, she would have nailed it if the music hadn't gotten messed up.

She still managed to win 2nd place.

It was very heart breaking after all those hours spent preparing.

But.....I guess that's life for ya.

Victoria with her new coach Julie who is very pregnant with her 4th boy!

Julie has breathed life back into Victoria's skating experience. 

We are looking forward to a new year and new experiences!

This skater, skated as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She asked Victoria if she could get a picture with the Beast! It was cute.

Crazy Kids

The big kid still getting his kid sister to push him in the wagon.

Praying Mantis

We watched this Praying Mantis Mama make her egg case. I always wondered how they did it. To think that when it warms up to 80 degrees, little praying mantis babies will come pouring out! I told Kaleb he is not allowed to bring it into the house. After our last experience of him doing so, we don't want them hatching on the shelf.

Dog Agility

 Victoria and Jasper were training for the State Dog Show. Jasper is jumping with perfect form. It is so fun to watch him develop into his grown up body from puppy hood.

His back end still acts like Johnny Depp at times as he swaggers side to side.

 Henry has been retired at the age of 12, because his hips and back are slowing him down a little. He saw the equipment out and boy did he just want to get out there and run.

 Henry was trained on the equipment for 4 years so Victoria could just run along side him and yell tunnel, jump or up and he would run to that piece of equipment and do whatever he was supposed to do. That dog loves agility!

 Here, Jasper is loving the tunnel. At the County Fair, he wouldn't do a single tunnel! I think he was too nervous.

 It was hilarious to watch all three of them zoom through the tunnel at once. 

Sam is being retired at the old age of 11 after the State Dog Show in September.

It's time.

The Glory of Morning!

I've been trying to get morning glory's to grow at the corner of the garden for a couple years. The first year, they didn't get enough water. The second year, one of the goats ate the seedlings.

This year, I made sure they were protected AND they got water.

The key to an ever blooming yard of flowering plants is to figure out which ones bloom early, in the middle of the summer and then late summer. I have found several that bloom non-stop.

I can't wait until next spring when all the plants are filling in.

 I love Cosmos!

I plan on spreading them further into the yard. The bees love them too!