Grammy Honey

Saying goodbye from far away is hard. Especially when you can't really "say" goodbye…only begin to process the loss of someone you love. 

We have been planning our summer vacation for the past month. The kids have begged all year to go back to TN to see Grammy Honey and play in her 20 acre wood. They have sweet memories and were thrilled when we announced that we would camp our way there this summer. We are all having a difficult time imagining TN without her. 

Of course, my own memories of Grammy Honey go back to my childhood. One day soon, I will sit and write them all out. They are rattling around in my brain for now. But, over the past 8 years, many memories have been made that include my own kids. Grammy Honey loved children. She loved spoiling them and feeding them pancakes. She loved that they loved her dogs and her kitty and her room full of stuffed creatures. She loved watching them play at the children's museum and splash in the fountains. She insisted on taking them out for Clumpie's ice cream and took EJ on his first carousel ride. She loved walking with them all over her property, always looking for branches to drag to the burn pile. She climbed stairs to outfit the kids from her dress up closet. Yup, a whole walk-in closet devoted to dress up clothes…many of which had adorned her own spunky self on one occasion or another! There were african safari hats to be worn, hand-painted parasols from china to be toted, and an array of other fancies to be tried on. She even trekked, practically crawled, through the cobwebs, dust, and long corridors of the attic to retrieve boxes of toys. If I hadn't been intent on catching her if she stumbled, I would have been totally paralyzed by the number of spiders. She was determined!

Grammy Honey will be missed by many. We all were blessed to have a relationship with this feisty, generous, and adventurous woman. She saw much of the world, made her way into hearts all around the world, and left the world a sweeter place. 

She loved the Lord her God with all her heart, mind, and soul. What comfort to know that she is in His presence and free of pain..ready to begin her most exciting adventure yet! Thank you, Jesus, for your grace that gives us unshakable hope. 

Emerson's dedication 2006

Spring 2007 in TN

first pancake

Summer 2007

EJ's first Clumpie's

branch hauling...putting my hubby to work

CO visit 2008...meeting Clara 

four generations

Grammy Honey's visit to CO in 2009

patty cake with Clara

Clumpie's ice cream Spring 2011

so playful

carousel

she was truly beautiful

walking the river trail to the veteran's memorial.
She liked that Tilly was precocious and independent...

Summer 2013

She met Oliver for the first and only time last summer

I often caught her beaming smile from a nearby bench as she watched the kids play

walker/stroller? 

And...another carousel adventure...Ollie's first

watching them play in the fountains

her escort into Clumpie's

2 beauties

The kids fed the ducks...or chased them...
Then the rain came down! She loved every second.

It is Well

(Her favorite Hymn)

1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
   When sorrows like sea billows roll;
   Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
   It is well, it is well with my soul.
   • Refrain:
     It is well with my soul,
     It is well, it is well with my soul.
2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
   Let this blest assurance control,
   That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
   And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
3. My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
   My sin, not in part but the whole,
   Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
   Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
4. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
   If Jordan above me shall roll,
   No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
   Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
5. But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
   The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
   Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
   Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!
6. And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
   The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
   The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
   Even so, it is well with my soul.

Dinosaur

The last weekend of September sent us back in time at warp speed. To begin, we packed two cars with all the belongings you might possibly need for four adults and four kids. Two of the adults were extremely pleased to see the other two adults following closely in a car behind...toting one of the four small people. A one-to-one ratio of adult to child is nothing less than fantastic. Even still, it seemed we could have benefited from a few extra hands at times! And, the ratio was not even the best part. Having grandparents come along that are loved to pieces just added to the fun factor. We left around 7am in a drizzle...headed north and then southwest into snow flurries. We passed through the moose capital of the world (where we have never seen a moose), over a flurried mountain pass with trees from a winter wonderland, then down into a very soggy Steamboat Springs. Leaving Steamboat brought us through sleet, sunshine, hail, and gusting wind. Thankfully, we ended in Vernal with sunshine and didn't experience any tornadoes or blizzards during our 6 hour journey. Driving through the city of Dinosaur and Vernal got the kids pretty excited. They don't capitalize on anything there...

So, if you asked the kids what they MOST enjoyed about our vacation, the first words would be, in unison, SWIMMING. Our Holiday Inn was complete with an indoor pool and hot tub, and was our first stop after unloading the luggage cart that may or may not have slightly resembled the Leaning Tower of Pisa. 

There are NO pictures of the famed hotel room. Too much excitement...trying to keep monkeys from flying off the bed...convincing toilet traumatized toddlers that the hotel bathroom is "just like the one at home"...undressing four small people and redressing them in swimsuits...maintaining a steady flow of snacks...family discussions about avoiding complaints from neighbors 10 minutes after arriving...unsuccessfully quieting the small but vocally talented velociraptor that seems to have adopted our family (we call him Ollie)...locating sanity. Oh, maybe not the last part. So, there are no pictures of the hotel room part, or the pool part, or the 8 people bombarding the continental breakfast room part...where the children were ONLY interested in eating the sugar cereal and the cinnamon rolls and the chocolate muffins. 

I must say, this was the most vacationy (that SHOULD be a word) vacation that I can remember having as a family. Staying in a hotel, NOT making breakfast or dinner (we did have enough packed food for picnic lunches), not cleaning up from breakfast or dinner, not setting alarms, not making beds, not sleeping...oh wait...that happens at home too.

After a full afternoon of swimming and eating dinner at a favorite restaurant, we tucked the kids in with a movie, set up the baby monitor, and hung out across the hall in my parents room. Their room was clean...and sooooo quiet. I didn't trip over anything or anyone and I did enjoy a cup of hot chocolate...while it was still hot. We played some intense Farkle. We decided to let my dad win since it was his first time. ;-) When I went to bed, I snuggled up with Tilly in one of the queen beds and Elijah and EJ shared the other. It wasn't long before I was sure it was actually a twin bed. Her future husband might want to join two king size beds together in their future home. I almost switched sides of the bed but was too tired to make the effort, so I pulled the covers up to keep her warm...only to realize I had just covered her head and her feet were now resting softly on the pillow. There were a few times that I woke up with a start, only to realize that Emerson was defending himself and blaming someone else for who knows what IN HIS SLEEP! We're not talking little mumbles. This was passionate, "I didn't do it!" "It wasn't me!", with all the tones you would expect form a wide awake and unfairly accused big brother. I hope he survives his childhood. Night number two had husband and wife together in one bed again!

We spent all day Saturday at Dinosaur National Monument. What a great place. As a Christian, who believes in the literal 6 day creation of the world, and who believes in the worldwide flood and the crazy reality that every kind of living creature and one obedient family was rescued on a big boat, seeing this place was really cool. The evidence of a flood was everywhere we turned and even printed on all the signs we read (I'm sure they didn't MEAN to do it). Things like finding fossils from tropical ocean creatures and sharks. Huh. The wall of dinosaur fossils was incredible to see and touch.

touching a fossilized dinosaur bone that is bigger than you are is pretty cool stuff.

there's a femur for ya!

We ventured on several shorter hikes to see petroglyphs and more dinosaur fossils. The sunshine was perfect. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Considering the day before had been full of every type of weather imaginable, we were VERY thankful for clear skies and sunshine.

Gramma Jo and Clara Jo

Handsome explorer

love this picture of the kids next to a bunch of alien looking petroglyphs. Crazy to think those were etched in that rock 1000 years ago. Not too far fetched to think it was a bunch of kids like mine that drew them!

Green River

How many lizards can you spot?

Clara's got this all under control

Little Miss Independent

best ride around

This is how you hike 1/4 mile with little girls. The "20 minute" hike lasts for 45. :-) Love it!  Found every bug, blossom, stick, rock, hiding place, and drawing canvas.

We drove back through Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. This view was from the visitor center...3000 feet above the gorge...built very much on the cliffs edge. 

This is about as close as we let them get to the edge outside of the visitor center. 

This must be how they felt about my lack of trust.

Looking forward to our next vacation weekend. Where should we go next?