Just a Harley???

The guy that bought my brothers Harley just came to pick it up. Well in my head I was thinking "This is just a bike, this is NOT my brother, this is just a bike, this is NOT my brother". When that man started that bike up and I heard that rumble I seriously wanted to chase him down the road. Like a little kid chasing his parents in a car. My heart told me "THIS IS NOT JUST A BIKE". The man that bought it was so nice. He told me he understood and was HONORED to have it and he knew he would always have a guardian angel when he road this bike. So I have had my Meltdown for this week.
We are paking to head to Redfish and I hope all the memories of Mike and I around that lake does not have the same "melt down" effects on me. However, I think that a good melt down is good for me!!! Happy Riding!!! :-)

Five Days.

Ya know when you go on a "family" trip and you think. "This is going to be great to see everyone, and get to meet some of Sam's cousins, see family we hadn't seen in almost 3 years, and just enjoy some quality family time". Well that is kinda what I thought about this Louisville, Kentucky trip. I knew it would be great to see everyone and etc. etc. etc.. but I had NO idea how much fun we were going to have. We had a RIOT. Brock was charming, and so fun to have on this trip with us. We might as well taken him half way around the World, He was so excited to see, explore and was A BLAST.
Here is our trip in pictures, minus all the wonderful moments we didn't capture by picture.


This is Sam's sister Coye ann, and his Aunt Shirley (Shirley is married to Norma's brother, David and they live in Louisville). Shirley has always been so good to us. She treats us just like her own and is such a sweet woman. Shirley came to our wedding so I had met her before and I had forgotten how much I love her.

Brock getting ready to head to Louisville. I can not say enough wonderful things about Brock this trip. He was SO MUCH FUN! He brought life to everyone that spent this five days with us. Most of the trip Brock was the youngest by far, but he made the best of it and was spoiled ROTTEN the entire trip.

Brock and Sam at the Louisville slugger museum in the batting cages there.

We went to David and Shirley house on Sunday for a bbq. We got to see a bunch of the cousins from that side, they were so good to us. I ate an ENTIRE pint of Pimento Cheese at their house, and I made Sam go to the grocery store and buy us some Pimento Cheese to bring home with us. I gain 4 pounds on this trip.. Way to go Debbie!!!

I have the best husband on Earth. The more I get to know his family and extended family etc.... I realize how lucky I am. They love me, they treat me like I am their own, and truly have raised such a great man that I am lucky enough to call my husband. Sam and I have so much fun and I LOVE his family!

We went to Mammoth Cave. It's the World's largest cave. We went on a hike that seemed to have steps to the center of the Earth. It was so much fun. Sam's Mom even went with us. on Saturday Brock, Sam and I went into downtown Louisville alone. We had worn out Sam's Mom and Dad the previous 2 days. So we went on a paddle boat ride down the Ohio River.

left is Sam's Uncle David (Sam's Mom's brother) he lives in Louisville, Sam's cousin Gary he lives in New York, and Sam's Dad. Sam had not seen Gary since 1981. It was great to get to know him and spend some time with him.

More Mammoth Cave pictures.

We went to the Louisville Slugger museum. It was very interesting and a fun day!

Sam's Mom, Norma, and Sams cousin Samantha (that lives in Louisville). I had met Samantha, she came to Sam and I's wedding. Brock LOVED the way Samantha talks, she has a HUGE southern belle accent! Sam's Mom again, with Sam's Aunt Norma and Uncle Dickson, they also live in New York. Brock LOVED Dickson, he kept saying that "Dickson is my buddy". This was the first time I met this side of the family. Norma is Coy's Sister. Brock and I filled up water balloons and had everyone come out and play a tossing game with them. I sure if anyone looked out the window they would have thunk we had an old folk home playing a game. As simple as a water balloon game is it is one of my favorite memories of this trip. We all laughed so hard!

more Mammoth Cave pictures. This is Brock and I and Sam's sister Coye ann. Coye Ann spent a lot of time with us this trip and I love being around her. We laughed and cried and got to know each other a lot better. I miss them all and wish we didn't live across the country from one another!

Brock was SO excited to see fireflies. It was so much fun to catch them and every single night we were there I couldn't wait for it to get dusk so I could go watch them. I LOVED those little things. Brock caught them in a jar and we played with them for hours.

Sam's Dad makes and plays Dulcimer. He played it one night and it was so fun to watch.

Sam and I go a LOT of places, and see a lot of things, and have a lot of fun, however this truly was one of my most memorable trips EVER and we had a BLAST. Thank you so much to Mom and Dad Campbell and I can't wait to see you guys again!!! HUGS!

Can you guess?

Well it's official summer vacation has begun here at the Campbell house and now let the dash to get everything in before summer ends begin. (left, Brock and I even set up a tent in the backyard.)

We have been running like crazy people the last cpl weeks. Mostly adult stuff, Brock has been gone to his Dad's the last few weekends so Sam and I have played hard. Mostly on the bike. We went to Park City on the bike last Saturday and we had a GREAT time and by the post below ya already know we did our first "overnighter" on the bike to Idaho Falls and that was SO FUN! We really have a great group of friends. (right. one of our biker stops on the way to Park City, we stop about every half hour or so if we don't our legs cramp)

So now its time for the family vacations to start. The end of this week you will find us in Louisville, Kentucky with Sam's parents and then the week after that off to my favorite place on Earth...any guesses where that is?

SIMPLIFY???

What a week, month, hell what a year so far. Its like we can't get and keep our feet under us. We live this busy complicated life with kids, dogs, house, deaths, friends, sickness, etc.. etc... etc... AND I AM NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT MY LIFE, our vacations, my home or kids, I just miss a few things and wanted to share the things I miss.

• MY BROTHER!!!


• Sam not working 12 - 14 hours a day. ( I am so proud of Sam and his career accomplishments but sometimes its hard to share every minute of our life. Sometimes I am selfish and want him all to myself)


• Little kids in my house. We have all these grown kids and the pitter patter of little feet sound so fun right now. *disclaimer...this does not mean Sam and I are having any ideas about a baby or does not mean we want grandkids right now.


• A clean house. (I don't really need to say much more about this other than the word REMODELING)


• home cooked meals. (we have been going full blast since January I don't cook like I use to, I cook a meal here and there but we are never home so the chef in me is GONE.)


• ignorance. Sometimes the things you don't know are the best things!!!


• sleep. (What is that?)

well now I have to go because Sam should be rolling in any second and we are taking off to a bbq at Sam's boss's house. ...

Adult Weekend.....

For the past week or so we have been packing and painting and trying to get our house back to normal. As projects go, it always takes longer than expected so we had a MESS of a house this past weekend. We had an opportunity to take our bike on a road trip with a bunch of friends on their bikes to Idaho Falls and the 2011 Beer Fest. We had an absolute BLAST. We got into town, checked into the Hotel and took a shuttle to the place and WOW there were a lot of people. I thought the lines would be so long there would be no way to get a taste. We got in the place and there were so many different vendors we could have all the drinks we wanted at any time... if you could just get through the crowd... hah.
While we were there we learned that a friend of ours, Tim Barns, earned a couple of awards with his brews. Its Black Tooth Brewing from Sheridan Wyoming!! Congrats Timmay!!!!

Anyway.. Here are a few pictures from our adventure. What a great time with the buds.. and the frothy buds as well!!!!!

We Finally Get to Paint!!!!

Well I say "We" loosely because "We" are not painting.. we are hiring it done because there is SO much to do.....and we want our lines straight hah. I think our worst fault with both of us is we are not patient at ALL. So when we start painting a room we get the first few strokes done and say "I HATE PAINTING... WHAT THE HECK ARE WE DOING THIS FOR" ... so we hired this job.

Monday we de-decorated and packed up just like we were moving. Talk about a chore... but it wasn't as bad as we had anticipated. We packed in shifts and hauled things to the basement. The painters came in yesterday and started mudding and taping. They will get after it today and hopefully be done by Friday. As expected when we get into a project like this, we say to ourselves "while we have this apart lets do this... and lets do this... and lets do this" so we are going to replace our front door, re-tile the fireplace, replace our ceiling fan, bathroom lights etc...

Debbie why do we do this to ourselves... lol.. it will be so nice when done though. We will post more pics of the finished job soon.

Mourning.

I know I am not suppose to say things like this, that it does not "help" or make people have warm fuzzies, etc., etc., etc., blah, blah, blah.

However, I AM NOT DOING VERY WELL.

So I ask??? Is there a correct way to mourn? Am I suppose to be doing something I am not, and not feeling Angry, lonely, lost, emotionally unstable, withdrawn, and questioning almost EVERYTHING in my life? Am I not suppose to be doing that? Because that is right where I am.

So this girl is getting an "F" in the mourning department of life. A big, Fat, Hairy F, and franky I don't really care!!

Congratulations Sarah!!!

On Saturday May 7th our daughter, Sarah, graduated from the University of Wyoming in Laramie with a Bachelors Degree in Special Education. We are so very proud of this woman... so driven, focused, fun, loving and loves life. After she finished everything she needed for her degree she decided to move forward towards her graduate degree in the same field so she decided she was not going to walk for this graduation since she was not done with school yet. We wanted her to walk SO bad to celebrate her accomplishment so we bribed her. We said we will give you a laptop if you walk.... she said YES. hah.. I love bribes..

So in the middle of crazy sadness (as you see in the below blogs) we attended a well deserved celebration and had a great time being with Sarah. We went to dinner in Fort Collins, Colorado and we all decided we want to live there. Absolutely beautiful place.

We love you Sarah and are so proud of you. Debbie ALWAYS says "Education buys you freedom" so keep plugging away your almost there!!!!!

a blur....

The last three weeks is a complete whirlwind to me. I stayed with Mike's ALOT the last month and most of the last two weeks of his life with him, . . It was a precious, bitter, unforgettable time and I can't even begin to write what it was like. I would never take that time back. Sam and my kids haven't had a home cooked meal or had anything that resembled a "normal" life for almost a month but they were so supportive of me being up there with Mike. I love them even more for it. Mike had a HUGE turn out to his funeral, HUGE!

I wanted to share a few pictures of Mikes funeral with you

These are Mikes riding boots, jacket etc. We had several of his "personal" stuff around the funeral home. This is the flowers Mike's sisters got him. Its a wheel with a missing spoke (meaning someone is missing) These are Mikes gloves and goggles and bandanna he use to ride with. after the funeral we walked outside and there were a bunch of Harley's parked in front of the Hearst, they were there to escort Mike to the cemetery. It was one of my favorite parts. We were right behind the harley and the hearst and pulled into the cemetary and there were a line of cars so far that we could not see the end. It still gives me goosebumps. We walked out and all the Harley riders were standing there with hats off and waiting for their fallen brother.
The flower's at Mikes funeral were GORGEOUS. The day before he died my Mom, Michelle and I went out and found his gold panning pan in his shed with his horns and his pheasant feathers, we gathered them and had them put in the spray that layed on top of his casket.
This is the only (bad) picture we have of all of Mike's sister during the viewing.
Mike's kids, Jack and Janae, with Brock and Taylor.
The flowers from Mike's nieces and nephews. That is Mikes fishing pole in the flowers.
My cousin, Sally, made a video of Mike with 100's of pictures. This is Brock watching the video remembering his Uncle Mike.
This is the first time I have lost someone this close to me and boy, what a heart wrenching experience. Mike and I planned his funeral the week before he died, we tweaked it a little here and there but I know Mike would have LOVED it. I am home now and I go places and can't believe life is just going on, I kinda want to stand in the grocery store line and scream at the top of my lung.. 'HOW ARE ALL OF YOU GUYS GOING ON, MY BROTHER JUST DIED'...

So if your calling me and I don't answer, or if you are emailing me and I don't reply, I am just trying to get back amongst the living.... I am getting there a little bit each day.

Love you Mike!

Michael Dean Dahle

Michael Dean Dahle

February 16, 1962 - May 6, 2011

After a heroic 5 year battle with Multiple Myeloma (cancer) my brother passed away surrounded by family and friends. I was lucky enough to spend most of the last 2 weeks of his life with him. I will miss him. This picture was taken about 5 days before he returned to his heavenly home. I LOVE YOU MIKE!!

I hope the fishing is good, and I will see you on the flip side Mike, LOVE YOU!

Surreal...

In Jcpenny and over the loud speaker you hear. There is a severe thunderstorm outside right now, you can get a flashlight at the front counter in case we lose poser.

(thought to self) "Wow it must be bad"

my phone is going off like CRAZY in my bag.

(thought to self) "let me just buy these few things I have for Sam and I will get my phone, where am I going to go if it is raining like crazy and SEVERE thunder storm"

Phone still going off like crazy. It's my sister Michelle.

(Michelle) "I just heard from Mike (our brother). His cancer has won they give him less than thirty days if his calcium does not drop, and zero - six months if it does. It's spreading fast and they are not giving him any more chemo. They are getting hospice in to start working with him to die."

(thought to self) I can hear the hail hitting the roof now and the lights just went out in JcPenny and I can't see a foot in front of me, my brother is dying and I just bought $86 worth of stuff for Sam and I have no idea what I got him.

Looking out the front window of JcPenny I start running to my car as tree's are getting knocked down, my ear is full of water, and I am in heals and trying not to cry because I just got the news I knew was coming any second.

(thought to self) What do I do? Do I go to Preston, Do I sit here and cry, or do I try to get the hell out of the storm that is hitting Layton like the plague.

Tears start falling down my face, like gracefully falling, not like the ugly cry I usually cry, just pouring off my chin. A piece of cardboard from the storm of the century is stuck on my windshield so I am trying to get it off.

on the radio...
"Now I’m feelin so fly like a G6, like a G6"

Call my Mom. Trying to drive in this storm from hell, process everything and avoid tree branches that are falling down.
say to my Mom crying "I am just so sad, Mom, I have to get home, I will call ya later."

Have an overwhelming feeling I HAVE to talk to Mike right this second, I mean not in 10 minutes when I get home but right this second. Call him... no answer. Sitting on the freeway between Layton and home because there is a traffic jam from this storm. It's hailing again now. BAD!

radio:
"Poppin bottles in the ice, like a blizzard
When we drink we do it right gettin slizzard
Sippin sizzurp in my ride, like Three 6
Now I’m feelin so fly like a G6
Like a G6, Like a G6
Now I’m feelin so fly like a G6"

Get home, let the dogs outside and our shed door is on the patio, shed is blowing over, neighbor ladies garbage cans have blown all over, go try to help her get the garbage cans in. Still gracefully crying tears off my chin.

from her daughters car I can hear. "Like a G6, like a G6."

Today is a shitty day!

tip tuesday!

I owe this tip to my Mom.

Ya, know the junk you get in your liquid laundry detergent cup. The coagulated junk that dries and coats that nice little plastic number you pour your detergent into your washer with. Just fill it up and place the entire thing in your washer with your dirty clothes and wash away and it comes out sparkling clean and no funk around your cup.

OOOOO.. simple pleasures!

funnel cake or fornicate?

Sam and I were at the hockey game with some of our friends on Saturday night and there is nothing better @ the Maverik Center than their funnel cakes.. I am a fan. Here is how our conversation went.

Debbie: "Sam, will you PLEASE go get me a funnel cake???? PLEASE?"

Sam: "Yes" and than he stands up to get past people ya know how ya dowhen you are sitting in a crowd, making EVERYONE stand up so you can slip by.

Alison: "Sam, Where are you going?"

Sam: "Debbie, Wants a funnel cake?"

Alison "You are going alone" raised eyebrows and giggle.

Debbie: "Yes, he can go alone, I can't go my feet are KILLING me!"

Alison: Well, that should be fun for you Sam, have a good time?" sam walks past everyone else..

Sally to Alison: "Where did Sam go?"

Alison: "He said Debbie wanted to fornicate, so he is going somewhere?"

Debbie: Laughing HARD... "He did NOT say Debbie wants to Fornicate he said Debbie wants a funnel cake.."

well I got my funnel cake and it was about as good as fornicating!

Family!

There are times in my adult life that a lot of time goes by and I don't see my Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother or Nieces and Nephews etc. etc. etc. and it's not that I don't think of them every single day, and that I don't want to see them it's just that life happens. I have been very very lucky lately to be able to spend some time with them. I have forgotten how wonderful it can be and how amazing these people I call my family are. Here are a few highlights of my last couple of weeks. I truly was handed a pretty damn good deck of cards with my family cards. It was Nolan's 75th Birthday. My Mom had a party for him. It was fun to get to see and meet Nolans family again. Nolan is recovery slowly but surely and he is so good for my Mom.. We love him! He also had the cutes centerpieces EVER for his party!

Cassidi and I rocking the juicy red lip trend going on right now! This is a TERRIBLE picture of Nick and Brock at the Jazz game. Nick sporting his new jersey and Brock sporting his new mouth full of braces.

Grandma and grand daughter and cute little Grand puppy, winnie!

Three generations.. This is my Mom, who I am her child 100%. I can go in her kitchen and open a drawer and know exactly what will be there because my kitchen is the same way, I worry about the same stuff she worries about and let me tell you my Mom and I NEVER leave our house with out our dishes done or our bed made because that's what my Great Grandma Taylor always use to tell my Mom.. I love this lady and I love who she has made me. Cassidi has no idea that she is also going to be JUST like the other two women in this photo with her.

*side note. look at these cute centerpieces that my Mom and myself made for Nolans 75th birthday party. I KNOW THEY ARE SO CUTE!