The celebration of Life

Last Saturday morning, I posted two blogs before my husband even got out of bed. There were also promises of new abandonment photos, and I did go out and get new shots of an awesome abandoned house right near my home that I just happened to find when coming home one day.  Here is a quick preview:

and I will share more of that with you later, I promise.

This was the same Saturday that I got the call that my great grandmother passed away.  Friday my mom sent me a message telling me that she wasn't doing good, so my husband and I made the decision not to go to the boat to be home in case something happened.   When we visited the medical care on Friday night I never expected the call Saturday morning.

So, this is my great grandmother, and all I can think of is how this is affecting my grandmother, The two of them were best friends.  They did everything together and grandma took care of great grandma for almost two years up to this point.

 What I want to share with you is some of my memories to celebrate the wonderful life of this woman, my great grandmother, who had an impact on so many peoples lives.


These photos I took for her 96th birthday, which was in March. It was so funny because she was ready to have her photo taken, she got her hair combed and what not, and as soon as I put the camera away, she started laughing and putting out big ol smiles--and I missed them.

Though I have a lot of photos of her, I won't be able to share them here because they have been moved to storage, here is one that I found that we took for the birthday party the family threw for her:

This one is my favorite.

Many people don't get to have a this much of a life time with their great grandparents, I always brag that my son had the ability to spend quite a bit of time with his great great grandma, and she was just tickled by him all the time. Truly I hope that Jaden can have the sort of relationship with his grandmother's that I had with Granny Armstrong and that I have with my grandma Blake.

Last night I was trying really hard to get this blog out so that people could understand where I have been, because I haven't been very active anywhere, then I decided that I want to make this blog a "celebration of life". Many people were reminising yesteray at the dinner gathering after the funeral, and some of my favorite memories were brought back.

When I was like five or six, Granny and Gramp still had quite a few animals on the farm, and I was always so happy to stay the night there with them and get up early in the morning and go feed the animals with grandpa, one particular time, it was rainy and super muddy (much like our current weather)and I got stuck in the mud, and gramps had to pull me out of my boots and set me up on the hill to go back and get my boots out. Another time I fell and scraped my shin up (I still have a scar) on the back stairs and I remember Granny cleaning it up and getting band aids out. There was a cherry tree we used to pick cherries from. There was a strawberry patch behind the big barn. Every Saturday for many years, I would go down there and mow the lawn because Granny had asthma, when I got to old my cousin Jason took over that job.

There are so many great memories that I have and I could go on and on, and I am sure that my family has many great memories as well. Yesterday, I took my camera but I couldn't bring myself to get it out. Everything was wonderful and there was a great turn out. Thanks to everyone.  Oh and sorry if this is rambling and unorganized.

The birthday.

So Saturday, we had a pretty good day. Chuck and I went over and looked at a couple boats, we are thinking of moving up. Then when we came back and everyone was down at Herb's boat chatting so I said if you are all ready for cake, let's have cake! They were, of course, who doesn't love cake? It turned out to be the best cake I have ever bought from Wal-Mart! It was really delicious!

And it was super cute! I didn't make any plans, but we had a good turn out. These are the ones who stood still for the shot, except they all looked down? There was more people on the other side, but they dispersed when I turned around to take a photo!

Of course I didn't have 31 candles, so we just made them worth 10 + 1, which was actually aunt Sarah's idea!


Bob and Leeann got Chuck a pretty cool card, and gave him some of Bobs beer!

After all this, we ate dinner that Chuck made at home and brought with him. We were so full with cake and stuffed noodles! Aunt Sarah made a comment about walking the pier. I am still not sure how we managed to get the guys going but we did! It was the first time I had ever walked out there! I have rode by it on the boat, but never walked it. It looks really far, but it's really not so bad!

Even though it was kind of crowded, it was really peaceful.


At the end of the pier, the waves crash up against the wall and it's pretty awesome!

They are pretty strong and can drag you right in. It's pretty rough at the mouth of the river and the lake, not a place I would like to fall in! That is my son Jaden, he kept saying he was going to get wet, but he kept moving back! Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day!