Memory lane

I am blessed, truly blessed especially when it comes to the mom department. 

Between my mom and Cam's mom my family is surrounded and in 

abundance of love and support.

When I started planning our trip "home" it didn't 

take long for my mom to decide she wanted to come

up from Texas and spend the entire month bumming

around Utah and Idaho with the boys and I. 

And my Dad was gracious enough to hand her over. ;)

It was such a great time for all of us and memories

we will cherish for a lifetime.

One of our many road trips was from Ogden to Boise and along

the way we we were able to stop on the border and see

 where my mom was raised.

I don't have a single memory of ever seeing their family Ranch.

So this was really special to hear her stories and get the 

whole tour, town and all with my boys.

The main house (built by my grandfather) seemed to be abandoned 

(however, we were told someone owns it) 

but the fact that it is still there I thought was quite amazing. 

My boys got a kick out of seeing how she grew up,

they were jealous of her horses, pastures,

creek and endless hills for exploring.

I truly have farm boys at heart,

too bad they have always lived a fairly

city slicker life.

To add more onto our trip down memory lane, after Boise we went to 

Rexburg where I was born and raised and we saw our

old family house. The only one I ever knew until I got married and 

then of course I have had MANY MANY others. 

Seeing "our" sidewalk brought me back. I had forgotten this was even there. My siblings and even our
family dog were all marked in the newly poured cement back in 1988. 

 In many ways the house hasn't changed much in the 8 years since my parents sold it,
but that is also the problem. It could use an update for sure.  Unfortunately though,  no one can take care of this property as meticulously as my parents did.  

The back of the house.
Isn't it cute.
I miss it like it was a family member.
Is that weird??

Back in Utah now, I really wanted to go to the cemetery where my grandparents are buried.
I was pretty sad last summer when right after we moved to Hungary

my Grandpa died and I couldn't attend

the funeral. Again it was great getting to share these moments with my parents and brother.

No memory lane trip is complete without a big ol' family reunion.

Because the memories and the stories truly fly when all

the cousins and aunts and uncles are around to tell them.

If any of my cousins read this blog and have any great photos

from this day that they would like to email me, 

I would love you even more for it.

Clearly, I was too busy having fun to actually 

stop and take pictures. 

Uncle Spence rowing with the boys

kickin it with Felicia

Mack and Aunt Bev using good ol' fashioned team work.

Some of my very lovely cousins.