Maybe it's because I have been working on family history, but lately I have been feeling a little nostalgic for my childhood days. I miss the innocence of childhood, the feeling that as long as I was with my parents I was safe and sound, the long days of playing outside and riding my bike wherever I went. I had a great childhood. I grew up on a ranch in a small town, but I was a city girl at heart. I longed to shop at the mall on Saturdays instead of having to help my dad move the cows. (That means move them to a different field to graze) I thought I was so picked on having to work so hard! Now, looking back, I am so thankful for those experiences that taught me to work, and I realize now that it wasn't hard work at all! 
My dad was a forest ranger as well as a rancher. I thought he was a superstar because when we rode with him in his forest service truck, people would wave at him like they knew who he was. I had the coolest dad in the world!
I had the best sister too. We were opposite in so many ways, but she was my best friend and still is.
Our mom hung our clothes on the clothes line in the back yard to dry. You didn't use the dryer in the summertime because that was a waste of electricity. 
We lived next door to the elementary school, and when I would be playing outside at recess, I would always look to see if I could see my mom out working in the yard. If I did, I would yell and wave until she waved back. Yep, I was (and still am) a big-time mama's girl.
I had the best mom in the world too! She came all the way from England to marry my dad, only seeing her family every 10 years or so. I never realized how big a sacrifice that was for her until I became a mother, and realized I would have never made it without her help. But my dad's parents lived next door, and they helped my parents raise us. My grandma took us to church every week and made sure we did what was right. I am feeling very blessed today to have been born into such a wonderful, loving family.
