my old kentucky home

with many thanks to my sweet grandma keller and my saintly mother-in-law geraldine, i was able to fly to Kentucky and spend some time with my family and dear friends (alone). geraldine watched the boys for me, dillon stayed home and worked and my grandma paid for my ticket. am i spoiled or what? but at least i'm a grateful spoiled brat. it was such a fun, relaxing trip that i will always treasure. thanks to everyone for making it possible for me to go. here's some pix from the trip...
my cute grandma and i in her front yard the day i left

mom and i at the Louisville, KY temple

mom, grandma and i at one of my favorite restaurants in louisville, the Old Stone Inn

my cute cousins, hallie, olivia, abby, and maggie

the cousins singing "my old ky home" at Old Stone Inn (my mom worked her magic to get them to sing for us all)

aunt val accompanying the girls

just one of the pretty places in ky

growing up in ky i lived in 2 homes that are very special to me. both were built by my dad and this was the first one that he built for us. the land was bought from my grandparents who lived just a few skips and a jump away and i lived there from ages 5-10. it was paradise. grandpas huge garden was in between our houses and you couldn't go visit without tasting some of his yummy blackberries, grapes, snap peas or raspberries on the way. life was bliss.

this is the lane we lived on: maxey lane. we were at the very end of the lane and i would run so fast to the end to catch the bus for school. imagine that, i was late then too. ben and i would play cops and robbers on our bikes and give each other leaves for tickets and money. we had not a care in the world.

this was my grandparent's house, surrounded by huge trees. grandma used to have a big flower garden with a picket fence all around it right in front of the house. i remember helping her often in the garden. although, having children now, i'm not sure how much help i was. but great memories, nonetheless. they moved from here about 15 years ago and my dad built them a smaller house on a smaller lot.

this is one of my good friends cindy hicks. she was my young womens leader when i was 14 and we've stayed close ever since. she probably hates me for posting this picture cause i caught her in her jammies. oh well, i just love her!

these were some "knock-out" roses from my grandma's yard. we were trying to save them from the frost, so we brought a bunch of them inside. aren't they pretty?

on the morning that i left, i stole away for a drive to my second childhood home which was on bowen circle in crestwood. this was taken as i was driving! it's a beautiful farm called Waldeck that I passed by almost everyday.

this was the second home i grew up in: bowen circle. this is where most of my memories were made. we moved here after the maxey lane house, so i was about 10 or 11 and we lived there until my parents moved to montana in 2003. i loved this home and treasure all the memories that were made in it.

another view of the bowen circle home


a few more thanks...to kirsten and steve for taking me to the airport and picking me up! thanks so much. thanks to sarah cotton ripperdan for picking me up from the airport in KY and letting me stay the night with her and her cute family. thanks for the "sit long, talk mo" session. sure love you! thanks to Jenner, Kennedi and Zac for coming and visitng with me-if only for a few hours. it was so fun! Thanks to Amber Rae and Maya-Moo for a fun rendevous to Panera (sp?) Bread in Minneapolis while i had a 3 hour lay-over! So fun! And thanks again to my sweet grandma who came up with the whole idea in the first place.

just a side note...while i was in ky i had a dream. in my dream i was at badger creek (tetonia, idaho) with my boys and dillon. the only word that can describe what i felt being there with them was JOY. i woke up and knew that i was living my dream. although i love KY with all my heart and it will always be home, i love living my dream in idaho with my 2 monkey boys, a baby on the way and my sweet husband dillon.