The happiest place on earth . . .

is my Grandma and Grandpa Sharp's house.

I realized while I was in Oregon that every square inch of that house, yard and garage held some kind of memory for me.  Memories that aroused feelings of only pure love, complete happiness, undying support, and total comfort.  I don't think that there is any other place on this earth that would make me feel that way in every room and around every corner. 

Though my own parents' house holds many memories and so much love for me, it's not the same as Grandma's.

 I had such an enjoyable time walking around and just letting the millions of memories flood into my mind.  Things I hadn't thought of in years and years.  Things that would have only come to mind because I was standing right in that spot again.

This time, being there was even more fun as I watched my own children start to discover the amazing-ness of Grandma's house.  All the same things that had filled my childhood, all the same fun (dumb) stuff that had entertained my cousins and I for days and days.

Of course, there was the hot tub.  The first night in, Ansen kept trying to keep the kids from splashing (or having fun) until I finally explained that the hot tub had held 18+ kids at once and believe me, there was water EVERYWHERE . . . what with all the baptisms we had to preform and the "swimming." 

Olivia found the cat door and wanted to know if Grandma had any cats . . . not anymore, but that should not stop the kids from crawling through the door themselves.  I think it's like a right of passage anyway.  I had to tell them, that you're suppose to crawl through it at least once every year until the fateful year that you get stuck.  Like really stuck, where you think you'll never get out.  Then it's the last time you ever try that again.  Addison got stuck this year, so it looks like her time is up when it barely began.

The creek . . . hours and hours of fun.  Water or no water, there is fun to be had.  We had a couple of really, really cool forts down there.  We can't forget the family service project that we did in the creek bed where Ryan and I got in a huge fight in front of everyone (my mom and dad loved that one - obviously) and I could go on.  There was a little water while we were there this year and no one fell in, so we were all happy campers.

"Exploring" in the backyard.  This year Addie was out and a couple of deer came through not 10 feet from her.  Of course, Drew's excitement sent them running, but still really cool.

And the baby bears . . . this actually wasn't an addition until much later, like when I took Addison there.  But see, there's the exciting part . . . there's new things and new memories!

So much more to discover . . . they barely touched the tip of the ice berg but still loved every second (and I actually only got a few pictures of the "good stuff").

Ahh, Grandma . . . Thanks for the fun and ALL the years and years of memories!  We love you!  We love Grandpa and being there, without him, made me miss him more.