Planting Trees

As a part of the Riding Family Reunion, we wanted the do some acts of service, since Grandpa Riding was such a service oriented person.  The following day after the reunion in the park, we reconvened at the same park, South Fork Park in Provo Canyon and planted four trees in his honor.  Almost everyone was able to participate this day and everyone was working hard.  It was fun to see even Aunt Mary who is in her seventies out there shoveling dirt and sweating hard.  Everyone was committed to the project.  The kids were getting dirt too and they were taking some of the larger rocks and throwing them into the river so we could dig further.  in the process we learned how to properly plant trees, but cutting the roots a bit so the roots would spread out and help the tree grow.  After we were done, the trees looked great.  They were such a neat sight to see standing tall in honor of Alma Joseph Riding.  I look forward to returning to the park in many years to come to see how our trees have grown and to remember my grandfather.

Riding Family Reunion

The Riding Family Reunion was held  honoring Alma Joseph Riding, my grandfather and the kids' great grandfather's 100th birthday.  Almost everyone was able to come.  Aunt Mary was there with her son Scott.  Aunt Carole was there with Tracey and their daughters Laura and her husband, and Christina and her son Corbin.  Corbin is our kids 2nd cousin.  He is almost 7 and he and Jaxton got along vey well.  It was fun to see them make friends!  Uncle Ken and Marilyn came from California and brought with them their son Jim, and their daughter Kendall and her fiancé.  Uncle Mike and Jane came from California too.  And my mom, Doreen was there wi all three of her daughters, Melissa, Tara and Becky.  Melissa had her family there, Marcos, Amanda, Dillon, Spencer, andBaby Bella. And we were there too with our four,Jaxton, Cooper, Kaylee, and Dawson.  This reunion resembled the ones we did every Christmas with Grandma Riding, so for me, she was there in spirit.  I thought about her a lot and imagined that she was there.  Uncle Ells also was missed and maybe he was watching.  Of course, in honor of Grandpa Joe, I imagine that he also was there in spirit.  

We held the reunion at South Fork Park inside Provo Canyon.  It was a beautiful park. The temperature was forecast to be 102 that day, but up in the canyon it was only about 82, which was perfect!  The park had a shallow but wide stream that the kids could play in and they had a blast!  There was lots of shade and lots of trees and few people other than our group.  

The reunion started off with Aunt Mary sharing some of the highlights of Grandpa Joe's life as he was growing up.  She shared about him as a child and some of the things he did as a kid.  Then she shared about all the different jobs he had and emphasized what a hard worker he was.  The kids got to go up and hold props or wear a hat to symbolize the thing that grandpa Joe did.  There were many things that I learned that I did not know about my grandpa and it was fun to learn.  Aunt Mary wrote a biography of Grandma and Grandpa Riding for all of us to have, which is a prized book.  I am very excited to read it and learn all about my grandparents!  

Mom put together a fun craft for the kids.  She helped them to make small picture frames out of big Popsicle sticks and the kids painted them.  Then they put a picture of Grandpa Joe in the picture frames to remember the reunion in his honor.  

About 6 months ago, each family was encouraged to do 100 acts of some kind of service in honor of Grandpa Riding's 100 birthday by the time the reunion came. Our family kept a running list of acts of service, big and small that we did. We did all sorts things.  We took meals and treats to families.  One time Jaxton invited a lonely boy to come eat lunch with him. One time Nate graver a ride to a lady who was walking down a busy road with a bike and lots of grocery bags.  We had a family come over to our house on a stormy night to wait out the tornado warnings.  We did all sorts of things and by the time we got to the reunion, we were at 96.   It was a great family goal.  Mary painted 100 rocks red and numbered them and hid them all over the park.  The kids got to go search for all of them and lined them up till all were found!

After Mary's presentation, we ate a big barbecue and visited with everyone. The kids played in the creek and had so much fun.  I enjoyed catching up with family members and playing with the kids.  It felt like one of our old traditional Riding family gatherings at Christmas from years ago.  I'm grateful that we could all get together like old times to reunite!

Following the park festivities, we congregated at Aunt Mary's house and watched a sideshow presentation that my cousin Laura made of old photographs of Grandma and Grandpa Riding, beginning as little children and following their lives all the way up to the present time.  She is giving everyone a copy of this and I am so grateful for her hard work and effort to put this together.  It will be a special thing to have to remember our ancestry.

Lehi Roundup Rodeo

We went to see the Lehi Roundup Rodeo. Grandma fashioned the kids up in rodeo shirts that she stencilled and rodeo cowboy hats.  They fit right in with all the other cowboys and cowgirls at the event!   We saw horse races,  bucking, lassoing, bull bucking, and bull fighting.  During halftime there were dirt bikers doing flips in the air and this was one of the highlights for the boys.  Cooper even remembers the motorcycles at the rodeo from two years ago.  They were loud and fast and high!  Jaxton liked that we got to stay out late at night.  After the rodeo was officially over, they invited everyone out onto the dirt and played loud music to dance too.  The kids loved it! They enjoyed being out on the same dirt as all the animals had been on. It really was late when we got home.  It was about 11:30 or so when we finally got everyone in bed, which is really about 1:30 in the kids' Indiana minds.  It's become a tradition for us to go to the Lehi rodeo whenever we come out to visit!

A few days later the kids started to act out the rodeo.  They pretended to be the bulls and the riders and were bucking each other off of their backs.  Cooper was on a toy rocking horse waving a small American flag and riding around in a circle like the sponsor girls did at the rodeo.  It was really hilarious watching them!  What a fun memory!

Dinosaur Train

Grandma got us tickets to ride the Heber Creeper Train through Heber Valley.  It was a theme train ride, the Dinosaur Train.  There wasn't a whole lot of dinosaur adventure, but it was still a really fun ride with cousins and family.  The kids loved not having to wear seat belts!  And the thought of actually riding on this real old fashioned train was pretty neat.  Cooper clung to Amanda.  He loved her.  And Jaxton bonded with Dillon.  Grandma got to feed Dawson his bottle, and Kaylee enjoyed the ride, but was fearful of the loud train horn.  Fun fun adventure!!

Utah Trip

I am so grateful that we have family in Utah.  I'm grateful that we have a tie to this wonderful place.  It is such a different culture than Indiana, so much busier and newer and richer than our humble little Fort Wayne.  And Utah has such great memories too, that it is such a fun place to visit.  

The plane trip was exciting traveling with four little ones.  Luckily, the boys are old enough and mature enough to sit and play a game on the phone or ipad or watch a movie.  Even Kaylee did well sitting and watching a movie with big ear phones over her ears.  She really thought that was neat.  Dawson was the busy one, the wiggle worm that couldn't sit still for more than one minute at a time.  But we made it!  The pilot let the boys push all the buttons in the cock pit before the ride.  Apparently they didn't push anything totally off limits because we did make it safely to Utah!  

I am so grateful for my family in Utah.  I love them all so very much and am grateful for the opportunity to be around them for 2 weeks.  Every morning as a service to Grandma and Grandpa, the kids and I Pulled weeds in their backyard, just like we do in our own garden at home.  Over the time we have been here, we prepared the side yard for landscaping rocks and shrubs.  It was one way to give back to them for all their kind hospitality towards us.  

We spent a lunch with Becky too that was a lot of fun.  It was fun to catch up and be together for a few hours.  I miss her and am glad we could spend some time together and share our true thoughts and feelings together.  There are many things that I look up to in her and I am grateful that she is my sister. 

Elder Routsong

Jared Routsong, the kids cousin and our nephew, is the first grandchild in the Routsong family to go on a mission.  He got called to Russia and leaves in a couple of weeks.  This was our last goodbyes until we see him 2 years from now.  He is a wonderful example to our children and they look up to him so very much.  We wish him the very best!  It will be fun to write to him and send him packages from his very favorite fans back in Indiana!

Simplx Security Spring Party

We have made an effort to have quarterly Simplx gatherings to get our small group of employees together with spouses, families, and friends of employees.  It is a much needed break from work with these individuals and fun to get to know their families.  Danita planned a catered BBQ at our house from Shigs 'N Pit.  It was yummy BBQ meat, baked beans, and yummy sides.  We had outdoor lawn games going and everyone just played and spent casual time talking and spending time in this great summer weather.  A paintball company is a recent new customer of Simplx.  So Nate surprised his service manager with his very own paintball gun.  We tried it out in the backyard and had a lot of fun aiming and splattering paint.  The kids thought it was great fun to see the paint splatter all over.  Fun times!

Strawberry Picking 2013

As a tradition with the kiddos, we went strawberry picking again this year.  However, this year was a big strawberry year.  We went picking three times!  Plus, we had strawberries in our garden.  Our garden strawberries we would pick in the mornings and use them right up in our breakfast smoothies.  Some of them we froze.  Our first and second big strawberry patch picking we made over 50 jars of jam with some of our friends!  The boys were really great helpers this year, as they are actually old enough and capable enough to fill 1 or 2 full buckets!!  Kaylee was filling her bucket and eating them just as fast, and Dawson was going for the red juicy ones on the plants, picking and eating and crawling through the dirt.  Yum!  The last time we went picking, we froze many, and made strawberry rhubarb pies together with the Button family.  We really had a lot of messy, red juicy, sticky and tasty fun!  

Last Day of Kindergarten

Today was Jaxtons last day of kindergarten!! Wow! I can't believe it! Since I was the room parent I got to help come up with a special gift for his teacher. Mrs. Hensch is retiring this year after being a kindergarten teacher for 29 years!!! So it was a bittersweet afternoon! One of the moms in her class generously donated a beautiful rosewood box with engravings on it especially for Mrs. Hensch. It stated "love your final kindergarten class" and specified 29 years in her career. It brought her to tears. She has been a wonderful teacher for Jaxton and he has learned so much in just one year. He brought home an art paper with a drawing of himself on the first day of school. It was a simple stick figure with a face. Than there was a drawing of himself on the last day of kindergarten. It was such a drastic change with detail and color. He is reading at a late 1st grade level. He reads so well. It makes learning fun when you can actually read things. He loves that he can read!! Well, life moves on. We have ourselves a little first grader! Congrats Jax! Welcome to summertime!

Jaxton and his good friend Joel