Layla...our little princess

You are 1. That is so hard for me to believe as the time has gone by so very fast. I think it's because I am your grandma and I want you to stay little for a long time. We absolutely adore you little girl! Is it because you are the first granddaughter? Probably so. But we love to kiss and hug you.

This year we have watched you eat your first baby food, watched you as you learned how to crawl, watched you take your first wobbly steps. Thank you for letting us be part of your life.

These are some memories I have of you this first year. I was there to watch you be born and it was so incredible, you were small, but you had attitude. The first few months were rough for mom and dad, especially on your dad, because you liked your mom so much. He lovingly referred to you as the "banshee queen". You let your voice be heard. That's our girl.

Even though you are little, you are a tough cookie. You can get bonked, fall down, hair pulled, and you never make a whimper. But if you want something special, you let us know just what it is that you want.

You love Elmo. Oh and Yo Gabba Gabba. You like to dance and you love your big brother, Gabe.

You also love your Aunt KayKay and boy does she love you. You guys are going to be besties for life I am sure.

Happy birthday little girl...

A Letter to Dash

Happy Birthday to you. You are one year old. This year has gone by so fast little man. I have adored watching you grow and spending time with you. These are my favorite memories of you this year! Watching you be born was the best. How incredible it was to see you for the first time. Your mom and dad were silly goofy about you. They still are. Your dad just adores you and your mom is the best mom ever. She takes such good care of you. I think your dad just likes having a little buddy around.

At first, you were pretty grumpy about taking naps. Your mom would do her Indian dance to get you to sleep. That was a tough time.

You liked to spit up too....a lot! But mom and dad figured you out and now you are a big boy.

You have like 6 binkies that you like to rotate in your mouth when you are going to sleep. You are very smart too! You figure things out....like how to go down the stairs, and you turn yourself around and keep going down even until you are on the floor, you just keep going making sure you are finally on the floor. It makes me smile to watch you do that.

You totally hate baby food and like to do things "all by yourself." You have no fear in anything you do, but still like to be cuddled and kiss when you get an "owie."

If I don't see you at least once a week, I go through withdrawals! You love Grandma Julie and I love you!

Happy Birthday Dashy! Love you to pieces.....Grandma

April 3, 1982

Happy Birthday sweetie! 28 years ago, our lives changed forever. We took that next step of being parents and never turned back. It has been a totally fun ride!

Rob, you didn't come with an instruction booklet or a "how to" manual, but I think we did ok, don't you? We learned lots of things with our first born child. Now I can use all that stuff on my grandkids. So from now on, they will get cardboard boxes for presents, since that's what they play with most. Dirt washes off! Weird. I thought you would surely die if you got dirty or heaven forbid your Osh Gosh overalls got dirty. But guess what....they wash up pretty nice too!

You didn't grow any weird warts from holding worms, frogs or snakes. Even though you didn't like them much. You did grow lots of facial hair though...probably from all that cheese.

I've always said that you are our gentle one, our tenderheart. That's why you got a Tenderheart CareBear. You hated to do the insect collection because you just couldn't bring yourself to stick a pin through the insects-even though they were already dead. You still don't kill things. You catch and release. You've got the kindest soul around.

The things you have taught me are too immeasurable to count. But here's some that I can think about-patience, Lord of the Rings x 3, geo-caching, frugality, sacrifice, humility, unconditional love, and Joe Polka.

I know we aren't supposed to be prideful, and I try not to be. But my heart swells just a little bit when I see the good job you are doing in your life, in your family's lives. You are a good provider, a good husband, a great dad, a terrific brother and an amazing son. How we love you!

Thanks for your love and always being there for our family. Happy Birthday son!

We Are Orphans.....

This is my brother, Andy. My sister, Shauna and me!
This was taken after Dad's funeral...we were all a mess
as our hearts were broken. Shauna---hang in there!

One thing is for sure...We were very lucky children
to have had Dad as our dad. We love him like a
rainbow....as he used to tell us all the time!

My Dad....

Passed away on Saturday, Feb 27, 2010. How I will miss this man! My heart hurts...

You can't recover......

The time after it's gone...he is my hero!