4th of July

Magical Midway

June

Recap time...
Ty graduated from Ms Susan's

Tyler Cheesing it, and check out Kylie's fierce pose!

Welch family reunion in Star Valley. Clean air, beautiful scenery, the kids living outside, staying up into the wee hours playing games, wonderful family, good eats and did I mention horses? Such a great fam reunion.

Bree meeting the horses for the first time...

Dad & Tink Tyler & the 3 week old colt

Tired Tink

Horseback riding

Oh, hey, there's Ashlyn on a horse. What do you know!

Oh, and on another horse!

Hailey & Ty

Hey--there she is again!

And again! We had to pry this girl off the horses. A love affair has developed--poor, poor city girl!

The family Dairy Farm

Trish's Crew. Can't say enough how much we love this entire family.

We've done lots of hiking too...

Tyler always has to lead, so he's always WAY ahead of the crew...

I think we lost a kid or two to get this shot...

I really tear up when I think about my sisters...just can't beat 'em! And THIS one...

Is on study abroad here...lucky little duck! She's down there painting and waxing poetic and flipping gets college credit for it! Lindsay...she's a smart one, that gilr! So I nabbed her for a hike the night before...

The day she left, we all went out to breakfast, hiked Dog Lake, then relaxed in the pool and hot tub with a barbeque in the backyard. It's only been a few days and we already miss her!

BAM Trail Run

The kids ran their first race along with this cool family....

and then enjoyed this...

While I hit this...

So, this was so stinking beautiful! Ahh Midway is always a slice of heaven. The kids had a good time and already want to run more races, now that they know the bounty they get at the end of the race! And I think I'll bring them and the Peterson crew along for every race--they are the best cheerleaders ever!

Grandma Trish

It's been four years today since Casey's mom, Trish's passing. We got to go down to her headstone--brought flowers and some of her favorite treats. The kids colored messages with chalk, Jeannee made special little Grandma Trish coloring books for each of the kids (seriously--we could not love her more), and she and LaRon had us over for dinner, games and to thumb through some photos. It was absolutely wonderful.

I'm surprised that when I see pictures of her, that it still hurts a little and I just plain & simple miss her. I don't know very many girls who have felt like their mother-in-law was ALWAYS in their corner, but I most definitely could be the first in line with my hand raised high for that award! She was fun, thoughtful, beautiful, easy to chat on the phone with, always up for a good time, endearingly quirky, and always serving everyone around her. This woman didn't know how to sit still, I just don't think her body got the memo!
But of all the traits that made Trish so great, hands down, being a grandma was her calling in life. Hands on, down on the ground, playing, loving every square inch of these kids and them ADORING her right back. The outside world stopped when they were at "grandma Twish's" house and they became the center of hers. She particularly had a special bond with Ash that she still feels so tangibly now. In fact, I see so many little things in Ash that remind me so much of Trish and it makes her not feel so far away.

So grateful to have a husband raised by such a great mom, for kids to know how it feels to be unconditionally loved by their grandma (and still feeling that love today from my mom, Kathlene & Jeannee), and to have a true friend.