Summer so far...

Sadee and Aidan were so excited to take swimming lessons. Aidan was very shy at first but then realized how much he enjoyed the water. Sadee did really great too. She's never been able to go underwater out of fear. These lessons helped her overcome that.

Cole will be doing the Bair Gutsman in August. So him and his friends, Nick and Heather, decided they'd go check it out before the actual day of the race. Of course i thought it would be fun and so my mom and I joined them. 13 miles!!! 6.5 miles up a steep trail. The view was breathtaking! For the race you hike up the 6-7 miles to the radio tours and then you run 5 miles across. Instead of doing this we hiked up and then came back down the same trail. NOT FUN COMING DOWN! I fell on my butt a whole bunch of times and encountered a rattle snake! We did have a great time though.

In June, our older brother, Carlos, came to visit with his two sons. We had such a fun time. We went to Boondocks and went on a couple of hikes. He even started running with me. What a great sport!! Him and his wife decided to move out here so we can't wait for that!

Ogden Waterfalls Trail

McKay-Dee Hospital 5k

I love it that my family have all become so excited about staying healthy. All my brothers did this 5k in June. The weather was crappy but we had so much fun encouraging each other. Even Sadee joined us! She walked all 3.1 miles! Tracy, my sister-in-law has started running as well. I'm excited because i never thought i'd be able to talk her into ever running. But she has and it has been a great experience for her. That first race always feels like a great accomplishment. Keep it up trace!

Hopefully we'll get to post future races of other family members. Cody got running shoes from Jessica for father's day. So hopefully very soon he'll be sharing his experiences as well.

Bear Lake 2010

This year we were able to go to bear lake for 5 days! First, the kids and I ( and brothers, and Melody and niece and nephew) went to Fish Haven, Idaho. My mom and her husband have a RV lot where they go and enjoy Bear Lake! . Sadee and Aidan love their time with my mom. Aidan is finally able to go just him and Sadee now that he is older. It was so fun to spend time with my mom and brothers. Antonio and Maia also had a lot of fun. They have been staying with Cole and I for the last two weeks while my brother, Carlos and wife Melissa, get ready to move to Utah. We are ways excited!

After staying with my mom, we headed to Rendezvous beach to meet Cole and the rest of the Meldrum Family. Mark has always been so kind to take the family every summer to Bear lake. Once summer comes, we start the countdown. We love to be together as a family and especially Mark's dutch oven dinner and peach cobbler.... Yumm! Bear Lake was really cold and windy this year though. None of the kids dared to go in the water! It was ice cold! We still had a great time. Thanks grandpa for loving us so much!

Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy my time with the family. Sometimes it's so easy to get caught up with work and other stuff in our daily lives. So this vacation helped me to appreciate my kids and husband and all those that I love. I want to build memories and enjoy them while they happen. Not think about struggles or hardships. I want to enjoy my kids... while they ARE kids. So i am grateful for this trip. It did just that.

Happy Father's Day

We didn't get to really treat daddy like a king today because 1- he had to sleep in since he got home from work at 7 am and 2- when he woke up we had to go over to grandpa's for family home evening and then go to work. So the kids ran in the room, woke him up, and gave him the cards they had made for him and he loved them.

I feel like there will never be enough words to express how lucky I am to have Cole in my life. Not only that but he is the father of MY children. I can always remember being a little girl and wondering who I was going to marry and who was going to father my kids. I always knew I wanted him to be special. I knew he would be. So I am really grateful that i was put in his path at a time where he was serving the Lord. It's been great to have shared a lot of missionary work together. One of the many reasons i think so highly of Cole is because he always had a way of making investigators feel like they could trust him. They were drawn to how kind and polite he always was. Always willing to help even if it meant getting sweaty and his nice shoes all muddy. I got to see a side of him that made him so special before i even knew i'd eventually marry him.

When I was in NYC, the missionaries focused a lot on trying to keep the youth out of trouble by getting them to go to sacrament meeting, church activities and even playing sports with them. A lot of the young women in my ward were inactive and so I went to visit them with "Elder Meldrum" and his companion. They felt the girls would be more comfortable if they had me there to encourage them to attend church. I remember thinking that he was such a great missionary. I have always felt that he was the perfect example of what a missionary should be like. Where i grew up it was not very often you saw men looking so confident in their clean white shirts and tie. They for sure stood out. They always had a glow and I'm sure Heavenly Father blessed them with the tools needed to touch people's hearts. Because where I'm from, people are very set in their ways. So I know it would take very special messengers to preach Heavenly Father's plan.

I'm not going to lie, " Elder Meldrum" glowed a little extra in my eyes. I am just glad that everything fell into place the way it did. Look at us now.

I asked him once, when he was a missionary, about his family and his eyes lit up when he talked about them... especially about his mom, sister and especially his dad. Now I know why. Cole is who he is because of his dad's love and great example. So i celebrate Mark as much as i do Cole because Mark is the reason why his sons have become such great fathers and husbands. I want Cole to grow up to be just like his dad. I want Aidan to grow up to be just like the great men in his family.

I am so grateful to Heavenly Father that my kids will always such a great example in their lives. It makes me so happy to know that he loves his kids and loves being a dad. Thank you for all you do babe. So happy to have you in our lives.

CHRISTMAS 2009

Christmas with the Meldrums

The kids always enjoy the yummy rich treats their aunts make for them every year (so do I). 

Poor Jacob was not doing too great. He was throwing up and couldn't even participate in any of the fun games the kids played. I guess he was contagious because for the next week EVERYONE, but Jared and his family, were doing the same.

 

In this picture: Jared, Tracy,

Hunter, Alyssa and baby Jackson
Bud and his Mama cuddling

                      The girls love Grandpa. 

I always enjoy spending time with the Meldrum side of our family. I can always feel the spirit and feel so much love when  I go to Mark's home. Christmas is always so fun at their house!

 
Christmas with the Vicente Family

On Christmas Day we usually wake up really early to open presents but this year Cole had to work until six in the morning! The kids were such good sports and agreed that we couldn't open presents until daddy had slept for a couple of hours. So we waited and waited and finally, daddy was up and ready to open presents!

 As you can tell from my cheesy smile, I was very excited to receive this purse I couldn't stop bragging about. It's cute and practical. My husband is a good listener. He also got me an ipod dock station for my kitchen and I love it. For Christmas he upgraded to a nicer X-box. 

Tio Justin also spoiled the kids with some cute toys that the kids were very excited to get. The big moment came when Sadee opened her gift from Grandma Ana and it was a Nintendo DS. What a spoiled little girl! The deal is she gets to play it as long as she is nice to it and shows responsibility in taking care of it. Can you tell how excited she was to get that thing??

Aidan also got a lot of fun stuff. My favorite was his big boy backpack with his name engraved on it. He is excited to know that now he'll have a backpack for when he starts preschool.

My mom, brothers and brother-in-law, Wyatt, made Christmas Day a very happy one for me, Cole and the kids. This is the first time in a long time where we remembered the true meaning of Christmas and remembered Christ as we spent our time together as a family.

We also got to know  more about Justin's girlfriend , Melody,  and had a good time eating some latin food!!

To end our wonderful day, Rob, his wife Jeramie, Justin,Melody, Cole and I, went to see "Avatar" in 3D. By far one of the best movies we've seen in years. It was amazing.

We hope you all enjoyed the holidays like we have and always remember how much we love you all. Have a happy new year and may the Lord always bless you and those who are dearest to you.

Cole and Dixie Meldrum