Summer catch up post #1 (Chalk Art Festival)

Okay, I have been away from the blog world long enough!! I am going to try and get back into the swing of things. I used to be very good and now I have gotten used to not blogging as much because of being busy. I really miss it! I am going to make a goal to do at least 2 post a week, for the next 2 weeks. I am going to sum up some of our summer in these posts. I am going to call them Summer catch up posts, just like I called this one. This one being the first. I need to get these posted or I will never post them. This is my journal and I don't want to miss documenting these things.

Anyway, this post is about the Chalk Festival. This festival is at the Gateway mall. They have it every summer. We went to this in June. It is a festival where people draw on the sidewalks with chalk. Then people come and vote on the picture they like the most. The art work is pretty amazing!

Kurt has a friend named, Doug who always enters and draws one. That is how we knew about it. We went to support him and vote for him.

I took some pictures of my favorites.

An Island.

This one was Napoleon.

It was so awesome! It looked almost 3D! They made it look like it was a sheet of burned paper and it looked like you could pick up.

I had to take a picture of this one!

I loved how they have armed forces raising the flag and firefighters raising a flag as well! I appreciate all the heroes of this nation! I so love my country!

Such a cute one of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell!

I was so impressed with the umbrella on this one, not to mention the lady.

A tiger.

This one was so impressive because it was so big!

She also used shells and stones in certain areas to make it sparkle.

The water on this one around the mermaid looked real.

Avatar.

Haven't seen this movie yet but I thought they did a good job on it!

Einstein.

I love how is tongue is tied!

A Calvin and Hobbs one.

I was so impressed that even kids were drawing these works of art.

This is Doug.

Last year he did a self portrait. People would stop and look at his picture and then look at him, then back at the picture. Kurt said it was pretty impressive. I didn't get to see it because I didn't go last year.

This year he drew a bottle of salt tipped over. I was so impressed because this is what it looked like when you looked at it but if you looked through a camera and took a picture of it at the right angle...

...you would get this!

Pretty awesome huh? He drew it to promote his web site.

This one was pretty impressive and I think Kurt liked this one the best!

This was my favorite," Alice in Wonderland!"

Too bad I didn't get to see it finished but it was pretty amazing just seeing what they had gotten done.

The pictures I took don't do the art justice!

We did vote for Doug by the way. You only get one vote and we went there to support him. He did a great job!

Ayla had a good time there too!

She got to meet Snow White and get a balloon from her!

She was a really cute Snow White!

And of course Ayla ran around in the fountain there!

She had a blast getting soaked!!

This is her on the way home, in her change of clothes.

She also got a big fuzzy ball that we bought her.

We didn't stay home long. We got there and out the door Ayla and I went. We went to one of Kurt's cousin's little boy's 1st birthday party.

Ayla got to swim with her cousins there!

Notice how Morganne is wearing the outfit Ayla was wearing earlier? If Ayla wouldn't have gotten it soaked they would have been wearing the same outfit.

They had a bouncy house there! It was Ayla's first time in a bouncy house. She had a great time!

I wish I would have gotten a picture of her jumping! I got video though.

After we were done with the birthday party, Ayla and I went back to the house to meet up with my sister, Marion so we could go out towards Grantsville to meet our Dad at his best friend's ranch for a BBQ.

Ayla got to ride a horse for her first time!! We had a good time!

Notice in the picture Ayla is back into the top part of the outfit she had on earlier? Ya, her second outfit was drying out from swimming and by the time I would get home, I would be out the door again. So I had to use the extra pants I had in the diaper bag. We went from on event to the other but we had a lot of fun!!

Stay tuned for more Summer catch up post!!

Today is mine and my wonderful husband's 5th anniversary!

It has been a wonderful 6 years with my husband! I say 6 because 6 years ago I met my husband this very week. We went on our first date. Then didn't go on our second until a month later but we have been together ever since. We were married today, 5 years ago, marking the week we met and the same week I got my endowments out.

We were married in the Salt Lake Temple at 10:45 a.m.

Here we are coming outside the first time as a married couple!

I want to share five things that I love about my husband and why it has been a wonderful 6 years.

#1- He works really hard so I can stay home with our little girl and I love it!

#2- He is so patient with me and is an example of patience. I'm not so patient but he loves me anyway.

#3- He is easy to communicate with. We always can resolve things and do it without fighting.

#4- He is a wonderful father to Ayla. They always play together and have a good time. He takes good care of her and me.

#5- He is so unselfish and loves me despite my imperfections.

I really am truly in love with my husband! I couldn't ask for a better spouse to share life and all eternity with!

I love you honey!

To celebrate, we are going to the Temple tonight and tomorrow we are going to dinner and a movie! So excited to spend some alone time with my handsome hubby!

Aunt Ruth

I have been missing from the blog world for about 3 weeks now and this is why:

My sweet Aunt Ruth passed away from cancer on August 20th. I spent a lot of the last week of her life with her and her family. It was so heartbreaking to watch her decline so fast. It was a relief to see her out of pain once she finally passed. This has been one of the hardest deaths I have had to go through. I was really close to my aunt. I miss her terribly.

I spent the next week helping my cousin, Shaun prepare a memorial service for her. We had a lot to put together. And this past week I have been trying to get the house back in order. I still haven't accomplished that.

This is the picture we used for the obituary, program and large picture at the services.

You can see the obituary here.

Now I just want to share some pictures of Ruth.

Aunt Alice, my Dad, Robert, Uncle Ernie and Aunt Ruth.

She was the baby of the family and those are only 3 of her siblings. There are 7 kids total in her family.

I had never seen this picture. My dad hadn't either for that matter, until we were viewing her at the cremation place. My Aunt Alice brought it with her.

I was so glad that we could go see her one last time before she was cremated. It was last minute too; we didn't think we would be able to see her one last time. We were informed the day of the viewing and we had to get my dad out of work. I was glad I got to see the beautiful dress Ruth had picked out for herself to be viewed in.

My Mom, my Dad, Aunt Ruth, Uncle Ruel and my Aunt Shirley is in the back.
This was my mom's graduation. This was before my parents were married. Ruth and my mom are really good friends.

One of her in a photo booth.

I love this one of her laughing!

I think she looks really pretty in this one. The little boy in the picture is my brother, Robert.

Here she is pregnant with my cousin, Shaun.
Shaun and I are the same age. The kids in the picture are my brother, Robert, once again and my sister, Marion is in the bottom left hand corner.

Here she is with Shaun.

One of her, my Uncle Cliff and Shaun.

This is a picture of my second birthday.
My Aunt is holding my cousin Levi and she is looking at Shaun. Shaun is also looking at her in the picture. That is what I love about this picture!

This one was on my brother, Robert's 4th birthday.
Once again, Ruth is holding Levi. I am in the front in the bottom left corner.

Here is one of her and my brother, Robert.
This was taken a little bit before her and her family moved to Alabama. We were all heartbroken to see them leave. We were a close family. We did everything together. I still to this day look at that house they lived in as I pass it on 3500 South.

This was taken on the 4th of July a year after we found out she had breast cancer. And a year after they moved back from Alabama. We all are so happy they moved back! When they got here it was like no time had passed. We just picked up were we left off.

Here is one of her on the 4th of July last year.
At this time she was in remission of the breast cancer. She looked fantastic.
A few months later, they found cancer in her bones.

Here is one of my Dad and her two Christmases ago.
My Dad and her were very close.

One of her and my Uncle Cliff.
It is so hard to see my Uncle Cliff in so much pain from her passing.

As for her memorial service, we ended up having it in her backyard. My Uncle Cliff is keeping her ashes until he goes.

My sister, Marion, my cousin Shaun and I put it all together. My sweet husband Kurt helped out too. He did the sound and the programs. And my sweet sister-in-law, Suzanne and her family bought most of the flowers. My other two cousins, Levi and Jed, also helped put up chairs and tables.

My Aunt has three boys: Shaun, Levi and Jed. I just don't have any pictures of Ruth with Jed, so I didn't post any.

It was a nice service and dinner.

Of course we had a few problems, one mainly being the wind. We had to put my Aunt Ruth up against the house, instead of having some pretty bushes as the background. The wind kept blowing things over. That is why her picture is so low to the ground. Notice the water spill in front of the picture? Yeah, the wind kept blowing the flowers over, so we had to move one of the vases of flowers next to the other. Every thing would have been balanced but what can you do? I was just happy it wasn't raining!

It still turned out very nice. And it seemed to give everyone a little closure. We had an open invite for people to say a few words. My Dad even got up (something he would never do). He said it was the hardest things he ever had to do but he had to for his baby sister and that he loved her. I am so proud of him. I know he needed that.

My Aunt is a beautiful person and I will miss her terribly!

Some of the things I will miss:

*Her laugh. (That is one my sister always mentions.)*

*Spending time with her.*

*Her being up for anything at the spur of the moment.*

*Her love for all her family. She is big on family.*

*And most of all, her hugs and her telling you she loves you.*

Like I said, this is one of the hardest deaths I have had to go through but I have a lot of peace in knowing she is on the other side of the veil. I know I will see her again.!

I know this because I know that my redeemer lives. I know that when she passed, she faced her maker, our Heavenly Father and brother Jesus Christ. They will keep her safe until we meet again.

Ruth, God be with you until we meet again! I love and miss you!

I want to thank a few people through this trial.

*My husband for being there to hold me when I need a hug.*

*My sister-in-law, Krista for watching Ayla on a drop of a dime and cooking some of the funeral potatoes.*

*My other sister-in-law, Suzanne and her family for the beautiful flowers.*

*My sister, Marion for helping me and Shaun bring the services together.*

*My Heavenly Father, for giving me my sweet little girl to bring a smile to my face.*

*To all of you that have been praying for us. I have felt your prayers hold me up.*