Saying Goodbye

We finally got our acts together and all made it to California to have Grandma's memorial service. Mom organized everything and it was very nice, just family, exactly what would have been important to Grandma. This picture was at the service and I had never seen it before. It is now my favorite and I am looking to do something special with it in our house. Despite the 100 degree heat, we all had a good time laughing and crying, crying, and then crying some more, especially me. Thanks to Dave for bring a little humor to the afternoon with stories of Grandma's fierce family protectiveness. I would summarize my speech but since I had to have Bill read it I don't think anyone wants to cry again. Sorry about that everyone!

After our service that was in the Riverside National Cemetery, Uncle Bobby suggested we take Kyle back to the Medal of Honor Memorial. Good call! Every medal awarded is listed on the walls from every type of conflict the United States has ever been involved in, big or small. It took Kyle a while to make his way through but he loved all of it. We all learned about things in history we didn't know about.

Thanks mom for taking us all to dinner, following in Grandma's footsteps and getting everyone together and treating. The only thing that wasn't right about that was Grandma was missing.

I love this picture because it has our reflections in it, Kyle, me, Dave, Mom, and Jeannie.

Whitney at the kid table keeping things under control.

Lindy, Erin, and Kiarra deep in coloring.

Looking at this picture makes me a little sad because Grandma never saw all of her great- grandchildren together and didn't even get to meet all of mine.

These two are best buddies!