Update

Well the last month has gone by fast. The kids and I took a vacation with my family to Yellowstone and Alpine. We had such a great time. We went to Bear World and the kids loved the petting zoo. Especially the baby goat...

We spent two days in Yellowstone. I just love it there. We saw ALOT of buffalo which seemed to be more exciting to all the other drivers since they always stopped in the middle of the road to take a picture of them. We were lucky to see a bear just as we left Yellowstone. I was sure traffic was stopped because of another buffalo, so when we actaully saw the bear walking down the mountain, we were quite happy!
After Yellowstone we drove to Alpine and just relaxed at the cabin there. It had been way too long since we had taken a long vacation, we just wished Bart would have been able to enjoy it with us!

The Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. Hannah's birthday was on the 3rd and for some odd reason Logan has there fireworks that day every year. So, we always tell Hannah that they are for her birthday. I am so grateful to live in this blessed land and have the freedoms that I have...and for all the men and women who have given so much for it. We went to Bear Lake for the 4th and had a great time. Funny story...while we were there, Bart found the kids some tadpoles. We put them in water bottles(the only containers we had) and brought them home with us. Bart always finds some type of critter for them when we are there. Well, later that day after we got home, we were sitting outside and Hannah ran inside to get a drink. She came outside with a bottle of water and began to drink. I notice that there is something large coming towards her mouth and in an instant knew it was one of the tadpoles. I hit the bottle out of her hand and the poor little tadpole died after hitting the cement. Thank goodness it didn't go in her mouth or I really would have been sick. Turns out that Casey had taken his tadpole in the house and set his bottle right next to the bottle of water Hannah had been drinking out of for dinner.

Last weekend we went to Evanston for the Relay for Life Cancer Walk. We had such a great time with the family and stayed up way too late!

So that brings me to today...this day is always a little harder for me than most since it was on this day that Melissa, my cousin, passed away. It has been nine short years since that day, yet I can remember the day like it was yesterday. I remember sitting in my parents room waiting while they went up to my aunt and uncles house. I was watching CMT and a song came on called "Holes in the Floor of Heaven." I just had this overwhelming feeling that she was gone. We have all lost loved ones in this life. And you hope that with each day things will get easier, but every time something reminds me of her, or if I am going through hard times or good times, just times where I wish I could share them with her, hear her contagious laugh, or see her beautiful smile, those feelings come back as fresh as they were the day she passed on. What a blessing it is to know that there is a plan of happiness and that I will see her again.