Two Men and a Little Laney: September 2011

My grandma passed away on August 28th after a bad fall that was too much for her weakened body to recover from. My mom, along with her brothers and sisters, flew up to Colorado Springs to be with her after her fall. My mom literally made it to my grandma's bedside just minutes before she passed away. We are so grateful that she got to spend those moments with Grandma. Kevin, Jess and I flew up to CO on Wednesday. It was incredibly emotional to get together with my whole huge crazy family. My mom has seven brothers and sisters. We have 19 first cousins and most of them have lots of children of their own now. I have such amazing memories of my family growing up. We got together every other year for week long family reunions. I distinctly remember feeling such pride about our reunions as a child. Friends would talk about their reunions that would last a day or about how there would be tons of people that they didnt' even know. I remember feeling so special and so lucky that I had this sensational family full of crazy fun loving people that made me feel so loved!

My Grandma and Grandpa were always acting silly right along with everyone else. My Grandpa called me and my sisters, the Golden Girls, and I always felt so beautiful around them. I remember my grandfather being so obviously crazy in love with my grandmother. Once, when they drove their RV in to visit us, I commented on how they looked like, "twinkies" in their matching pink polos! My grandpa was so confused at my terminology! He said, "Your grandma is much too beautiful to be called a twinkie!!" He loves her like that to this very day. One of their caretakers recently wrote them both a letter telling my Grandpa that she learned what it means to be devoted and to love whole heartedly by watching his relationship with my Grandma. I feel really blessed to have a heritage of that kind of steadfast love in my family.

Spending these days in Colorado with my entire family was such a whirlwind of emotions! I absolutely loved seeing cousins and Aunts and Uncles that I haven't seen in years. I was actually borderline crazy stalker-girl way more than once as I raved to several cousins over and over how much I loved them and how incredible I thought they were. I kept catching myself and tried to reign it in a bit!!

Jess, Kev and I flew in together and we got a surprise travel companion in my cousin Sean who walked up at DFW to board our same plane! Everyone converged at my Aunt Maureen and Uncle Jim's house where my Grandma and Grandpa have lived for the past year. They moved from South Carolina last year when things got too difficult for them to live on their own. Aunt Maureen had her entire house renovated to make it accessible and comfortable for her mom and dad. She and my Uncle Jim gave up their master bedroom and bath and basically adjusted their entire lifestyle to care for Grandma and Grandpa. They are also fully raising their 13 year old granddaughter along with her step sister who is not biologically related to them at all. Jessica and I were touring their house and choking back tears as we were reminded again and again of their selfless spirits. It was truly inspiring!
Here we are with Aunt Maureen and my Uncle Mark!

My Uncle Michael and cousin Zac live way out in California and we hardly ever get to see them. They are awesome with such a servant's hearts. They both cooked like crazy the whole time that we were there. YUM!

My hilarious Uncle Dan! I was so excited when their whole branch of the family arrived.

Two of my cousins. Roy, a recent West Point grad now serving in Germany, and my super fun cousin Kat!!

Reed and Kelsey (siblings) on either side of my sweet cousin Beth!

On our way to the Wake, we all stood outside waiting on some car arrangements to get figured out. This line up was our attempt at beating the "heat" and standing in the shade!

Kat, Beth and Kelly demonstrating some of the silly antics that my family so much fun!

My Aunt Pat, Aunt Barb, Mom, and Aunt Beth cozied up for a chat in the basement!

Two of my Austin cousins, Sean and Ross. We spent so much time with them growing up, I absolutely love getting to hang out with them!! They are so fun to be around!

It happened to be my birthday, and my family suprised me with a surround sound Happy Birthday song! I even got an angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream, the birthday cake of choice at our house growing up! I was completely caught off guard when everyone started to circle around me in the kitchen. People were just streaming up from the basement and in from the living room. We were joking that the stairs were like a clown car with a steady flow of people, and then I realized that they were all coming up to celebrate with me!! So sweet!!!

Scott and Kelly, some other Texas cousins that I have countless memories with.

Gotta include a rare picture that includes our photographer, Kevin enjoying the Colorado gorgeousness on the back porch with my Uncle Michael!

Most of my cousins that were able to make it!

The Jordan girls verses the dishes!! We conquered!

The day of Grandma's funeral.

Cait and Johnny got in late the night before. We were so glad to have them there. This is a shot at the church right before the service. The service was everything that it should have been. A celebration of my Grandma's spectacular life and achievements. My Aunts and uncles shared funny and heartfelt memories. My grandmother was very devoted to her Catholic faith and my Aunt Maureen has followed closely in her footsteps. She planned a beautiful ceremony and even told me afterwards that she had made an effort to make sure that the Protestants that were there would be familiar with songs and passsages that were shared.

The military aspect of Grandma's funeral was incredibly emotional. Once those bugles started to play, there wasn't a dry eye to be found. The soldiers did a beautiful job of honoring my grandma and presenting the flag to my grandpa.

My grandpa with each of his 8 children. My Aunt Beth, next to my mom, had such a difficult time at the funeral. She lost her son, Christopher, tragically when he was a child and this day of mourning took her right back in time to those horrible days. She told me later that she couldn't stop thinking about how lucky my grandma was that she finally got to see Chris again.

After a yummy luncheon hosted for us at my Aunt Maureen's church, we took lots of pictures with Grandpa and our families!
Grandchildren

Grand and Great-Grand Children

Our little branch of the family tree. (minus my mom, who was feeling seriously puny due to a terrible reaction to the altitude)

I had to be out of town on the brothers' very first day of school. My grandmother passed away and her funeral was in Colorado on the same day. I called the brothers in the morning before they left and got to talk to them about their big day! Todd got them all dressed and ready and even took the pictures that I asked him to take!

Backpacks and napmats and ready to go!

This might have been what the brothers were the most pumped about in relationship to starting school!!! Laney got to ride the golf cart every T/TH last year from Todd's office over to the main campus and she talked it way up to Sam and Miles, so they were super excited about it!!

Walking in to the building.

They bounced on in to their class ready for fun with the toys that they remembered from Meet the Teacher! They are loving school so far. Always happy to go in and participate!!! YAY!