HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE!!

I was going to write dave a personal letter, but I felt that I would put it on the blog, because if I put it on a simple piece of paper it gets lost and I want my kids to remember why I love ther daddy so much.

Dear Dave,
Happy 34th Birthday according to Brianna. I wasn't sure how old you were. Seriously though I know you have to work all day today, but I want you to know how much I love you and why. There are many reasons why but I this last year the word strong comes into my head. You are strong in many ways. You are a strong in the gospel. I love that you have a testimony and love of the savior. I love that you honor your priesthood and give our children and myself blessings. I love that you always fufill your church callings. You are physically strong. You definately can do all the man work around here and I love it. You are always fixing things, lifting things, taking care of things and etc. Love it. I disagree with my dad I know you can lift the snow blower into the attic. J/K you know he was kidding and loves you tons. While these Strengths are awesome, there is a different Strength that I have seen from you this year. Dave the kids are throwing your birthday balloons at my head, maybe to make me laugh because as I write this I am tearing up a little. I have to say that I always knew you were amazing and that you could do anything you put your mind to, but this last year I learned so much more about the qualities, abilities and strength you really have been blessed with. Dave at a very young age you were faced with things that most do not have to face in a lifetime. You loved your mom and dad so much and have endless memories with them. But when your dad passed away it was no question in your mind that you would care for your mother. Dave I know you have heard this many times but again I want the kids to know this. You were so selfless and mature during this time. While it was hard you still balanced work, church, your mom and each one of us. You tried to take care of all of these things and gave all you had to these categories. Your concerns were towards making sure we all were ok and that your dad would know that we loved your mom and would do anything we could for them. I think you thought little of yourself during that time. You were suffering from losing your father, but put all of your energy into what needed to be done. Dave those few months taught me so much about you. You are a selfless giant. Thank you for your example. You have an incredible amount of inner strength and abilities. My love for you is deep and I am grateful that I have the privelage of calling you my husband and father of my children, besides you make me laugh almost everyday. Love you tons hun. Happy Birthday Love always Melanie

Kam trying to hit a baseball hilarious

This is pretty good. He's a little delayed on the reaction, but after each swing he yells "Dangit". Sorry you might have to turn your computer screen sideways, this was taken from my phone

Doing well I think? after a year

I wasn't going to post anything on the year mark of Dad's passing, but it was really good and fun to read Mark and Dan's, and Shalee's blogs today-and it made me happy-thanks guys

I do miss mom and dad terribly but in a happy way. Dad was my hero and one of my best friends, I am sured we all feel that way. He was the awesomest awesome guy I know. Dan and Shalee had a great idea to get together tonight and have some of dad's favorite foods-I am looking forward to it and what a great way to remember him-to get together and hang out!!

Most of the severe, deep hurt for me has left. It comes from time to time but it is more mild and less frequently. I think I am transitioning into remembering and memories as Shalee mentioned. It is so fun to think about all the fun things associated with dad and it makes me laugh. Just last night Jason and I were talking about the hell-o-mighty box and dad's scrabble playing and trying to count tum as a word. Jason said that dad's argument was that if you have a bottle of tums that is plural. But if you just need one tum, you call it a tum because there is only one, not a tums. Anyway it was hilarious.

I think I drive my brothers crazy cause I want to hang out and spend time with them. I think it makes me feel comforted because I get to see more of dad's qualities in them, so I guess I like to try and hold on to that as much as possible-and I just like hanging out with them in general. (and Mark I have enjoyed our long distance texting relationship). Just know that I love you guys and I appreciate your brotherhood more than you will ever know-it gives me strenght. I know we are brother's but I also believe and hope we can be good/best friends-that is very important to me.

I have appreciated Melanie's strenght, love, and support over the past year. Over the past year she did some incredible things that I can't even believe sometimes. This year was defnitely the most trying year of our marriage and that is my issue. I was kind of a mess there for a few months and Melanie supported me in everyway possible even when she was having a hard time too. I love you. Our kids and my wife's needs were put a little low on the priority list due to the situation and I do wish I could have handled things better. I certainly wouldn't change anything related to the experience with mom because we had some very neat experiences and grew a lot, other than I wish I could have been a little stronger. I think we are getting back to a good place now. At any rate, back to dad.

Today hasn't been that bad for me. Joe (my father in law) invited me to lunch and when I got there my other two brother in laws were there too. That was cool, they asked how everything is and all that. I am glad to remember dad. I listen to the funerals often and for some wierd reason they give me strenght. What a guy. I run into people who will say how good of a person he was. I am glad they are together-that makes me happy. I know at times they are able to check in on us, I just wish I could feel it more, or just be able to chat with them or something. Anyway, dad is the man, I can't think of a time where he wasn't able to support, help, fix, or whatever, he was always there!! I just want him to know that I love him and miss him and think about him daily.

What happened to Memory Hoard Monday?

Holy cow time is flying. But I have to say that our life feels peaceful. It is such an amazing feeling. We moved August 22nd into a rental since our home sold in 2 days. We needed some temporary housing. The ward we moved into is incredible. Within the first week neighbors stopped by to say hello, and invite us to the ward party. We went to the party and there was tons of kids. My kids found friends immediatly. Sunday a couple stopped by and invited us to dinner. It has just been awesome to be so welcomed. I know the stay here is temporary but we feel so blessed to have it be good. It was so hard to say goodbye to the house on Circle Drive. There was a lot of memory in those walls. The hell-o-mighty box was created there. Dennis stopping in with a bag of chips while I am still in my garments, or a half eaten pizza after Chemo, or Lauries left over steak because I love steak. Moving the wall a foot back and forth. Having Dennis drop by almost nightly to see the kids. The playhouse and many upgrades. When we look at the house on circle drive we see so much of Dennis and Laurie. We also see my parents involvement and so much more, but like Brianna said about the playhouse it is hard to leave it because grandpa can never build us another one. So leaving the house felt that way. We all cried some the Friday before we had to leave. Like Brianna said it was hard to leave because Dennis & Laurie won't be able to be a part of our next home in an earthly way, but I told Dave that I

Kam- Flush it away captatin, somebody stole our house, preschool slept throw sunbeams
Naomi- beats up kameron, plays in sink, rips out hair, loves babies
Kyle- idea sled behind 4 wheeler, flag football, trailer with bike
Brianna- memorized church part Mistress mom, making friends