The Van Dyke's est. 1997

I Love This Man!!!

I feel so lucky and blessed to be married to my

best friend- Today is our 13th Anniversary,

and even though we have had a lot of ups and downs-

I wouldn't change a thing!!

And here's where we are 13 years later....

3 of the greatest kids ever, some amazing memories

and a home filled with more love than

could ever be imagined!!

Happy Anniversary Boo!!

I love you more than the mostest!!!

Ireland's 5th Grade Graduation!!

Ireland graduated from elementary on June 2nd-

she is now a big time middle schooler-

she is very ready for the change,

I, on the other hand, am not sure that I'm ready ;)

It was a really nice ceremony- each student

did a power point page for themselves that

listed what their favorite memory of school was,

who inspired them, what college they want to go to

and what they want to be when they grow up-

Ireland's favorite memory was Sky Ranch Camp,

she said her parents are her inspiration (so sweet),

she wants to attend the University of Texas...

(sorry to all of my Utah and BYU fans)-

and she wants to be an architect.

All of her teachers, principals and counselor

told me that Ireland will succeed at

whatever she does in life.

We are so proud of her!!

In celebration for her graduation,

we let her pick where to go for dinner-

she chose Kobe, a Japanese restaurant.

It was a great way to end a great night.

Congratulations Ireland!!

We love you!!

SNOW??? IN TEXAS??? You betcha!!!

A week ago we had a record breaking snow storm

and the kids loved every second of it! On Thursday

morning we woke up to a beautiful, white

neighborhood. It continued to snow all day but

the kids went to school anyways-which, to me,

seemed like a totally normal thing to do,

but some of the native Texans were

a little freaked out about sending their

kids to school with this scary

white stuff taking over the city.

Just before it was time for the kids to come home

from school, the principal announced that

school was cancelled on Friday...

SNOW DAY!!! WOO HOO!! the kids were stoked!!

We ended up getting 10 to 12 inches through out the metroplex.

It was a fantastic snow storm, I would be happy if that

happened at least a couple of times each winter.

Kaston was having some fun making a snow angel

When it was time to come in, Ireland's clothes
were as wet as if she jumped in a pool-
She was so happy about being able to play in the snow
that she didn't even care about how cold she was.



Most of the neighbor kids came to our house to play

in the snow- they had snow ball fights, built snow men,

and made snow angels.
When it was time to come in, I was a little sad

that the picture perfect blanket of snow that was

once in our yard had been turned

into what looked like a war zone,

but the kids had a blast so it was worth it.