Friendship!

We are reading Charlotte's Web for Literature. Today, Wilbur (the pig - think back to grade school :) ) made a wonderful discovery! "...he realized that friendship is one of the most satisfying things in the world." It's great to read an "older" children's book and read something that makes me stop, ponder, and smile. I agree with Wilbur! This past weekend I visited my childhood best friend and another friend that was like a mentor to me in high school. It was fun to catch up with friends that will always be dear to my heart. I'm so thankful for friendship. I love you, all my dear friends out there!

More Race for the Cure pictures

Here's Gracie with
her cousins Ivy and Sunny. She adores them! And here she is conked out on the way home. She was quite the trooper being the youngest great grand daughter! She walked most of the 1 mile. I think she hitched a piggyback from Ivy for the very end. I was proud of her. She and I had a fun weekend together.

Race for the Cure!

This past weekend Gracie and I got to be apart of an amazing event. We got to honor my Gram. She was the Race for the Cure's Honorary Survivor in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. She was diagnosed with breast cancer 50 years ago when she was 29. She had 4 small children, the youngest (my mom) was 4. She underwent major surgery which left her with a hole in her chest and a scar the size of a piece of bread on her upper thigh where they took skin to cover the hole. They didn't have the modern technology back then that we do now. She went through the disease alone because they also didn't talk about it. I'm so proud of my Gram. I think the most moving thing was watching the husbands tear up when my Gram was introduced. Some were standing next to their wife's who were recently diagnosed or who had just undergone chemo. To see my Gram not only standing with her children, her grandchildren, but her great-grandchildren gave them hope to hold onto. We met 1 young mom who had a 2 year old and had just undergone her first chemo treatment. Her husband was walking with her and my Gram was such an inspiration to them. They sought her out to meet her because they heard there was a 50 year survivor at the walk! It was truly amazing. They are aware of 1 other survivor in the United States who has survived longer. So many memories of my childhood have my Gram in them. I can't imagine my life without her!

Camping cont'd.

The last of the camping pictures (that I'm going to post). There was a beautiful hike from our campsite to the beach. The kids had a blast and we got some exercise to work off ALL those SMORES!!!

More camping pics...

Our first morning we saw this baby owl in the bushes off the trail. Isn't he adorable?! Hudson was our little 007 in the trees. He lived in the trees next to our tent and was constantly asking for us to take pictures of him. One of our adventures was trying new camp foods. This night we had Banana Boats. It was bananas with chocolate and marshmallows, wrapped in aluminum foil and cooked over the fire. They will go down in history as an experience, but not a "keeper" for the Potts family! The kids scooped out the chocolate and marshmallow and threw the banana out!

Camping!

We went camping! I didn't grow up camping so I was a little nervous going on our own. The kids loved it! By the end of our trip they were filthy and proud of it! Here they are setting up the tent with Dad; Gracie posing in her new "house"; and enjoying Hot Cocoa on our first morning. I'll be posting more pics of our big adventure. They'll probably all be in the wrong order - oh well!