The Bunch Say Goodbye to Memaw and Start to Bring Summer to a Close

We said goodbye last week to our beloved Memaw. She was my husband's grandmother, but I have always felt like his grandparents were more like my own grandparents. I saw them way more frequently than my own grandparents and just really enjoyed our time spent together with each set. All of his wonderful grandparents have now passed on and I only hope we have as long of life with as much love as they all had. Memaw was quite a wonderful little old lady. She loved her tex-mex (El Fenix on Thursdays for many years), finding a good deal (even if she never took the tags off of it and it made it to her big pile of other "great" deals), and talking with family (sometimes it was just her telling you how you could do it better). She was quite a character. Her quick wit and sass surprised many a shop worker and waiter. She always enjoyed sharing her favorite places with those she loved. Granted I only knew her for about 2 decades, but she was a wonderful surrogate grandma. She was laid to rest with her husband at DFW National Cemetery. I didn't even know servicemen's spouses could be buried in the National Service Cemetery, but apparently they can just sans the big military send off. I am happy that she has been reunited with her loved ones, but she will be missed. It seems we have had a lot of funerals lately so the thought of making the most of the time you have is always in my thoughts. I really have been trying not to put stuff on my Someday list, but instead try to prioritize what I really want and do it now. Time with your family (kids especially) is so short that you really need to cherish every moment, which can be a challenge with kids sometimes.

The funeral

We had to wait for a bit before we could get in our car line up. The place is huge so you drive together to the ceremony.

D and K look good all dolled up.

See I am in a picture!

We arrived at the place for the ceremony.

Everyone got set up.

There was a large turn out.

It was a nice ceremony.

The only time I almost cried was looking at this pic. It was just so her. I have seen this so many times in actual life. She loved that dog.

She is now happily at her final resting place.

They had cute baby birds on the ceiling. I wonder if they know?

Yep, they know.

The girls finished their volleyball season and T has basketball playoffs next week. Summer is drawing to a close and school starts back the 2nd week of August. It is hard to believe it has been 12 weeks almost, but apparently it has. We have had the horses now for a full month and I have calmed down considerably about their care. D threatened to get rid of them because he thought I might give myself a heart attack with all my fussing. I just was so worried about if they had enough to eat, too much to eat, were they limping, did they look ill, do their hoofs need trimming, and pretty much any little thing, but basically they look good, poop an insane amount, and are still walking about so I guess were good. We actually got a saddle on the horse this week and hope to try riding her very soon. She did really well with us putting a saddle on. I actually expected a bigger fuss, but she was really patient while we fiddled around with trying to put the saddle on. It feels really cool to have a horse we can ride. I hope the kids have as fond of memories as I do with riding and horse care because I really enjoyed that part of my childhood.

Cute, right?

Memaw would have approved of the Mexican dinner.

At the girls last practice it was parents (and J since he was here) vs girls

Everyone had so much fun...even the adorable little grandma in pink.

L made us some brownie cupcakes. She always has to be so fancy. I would have just slathered some frosting on top and called it good.

He made a whole log cabin village. It kept him occupied for about 3 hours!

We have a horse that wears a saddle! So exciting!

We have a fat horse whose back cinch is 2 ft too small!

We also took the camper for a few days to the nearby lake. We enjoyed the super short travel days, but we stayed close so we could check on the animals everyday. The chickens sometimes try to stay in their box when it is hot outside and we have to take them out before they overheat. We also wanted to see how the horses did. The horses did great (as expected) and I think as long as we had plenty of hay out they would be fine for a couple of days. We had a wonderful time at the lake and plan to go back in a couple of weeks. We swam, watched movies, and played games. It really was just a time for us to get away and just relax, except for the daily animal care trips.

It was about a billion degrees outside so the fire felt nice.

We had to make smores though....before going in to enjoy a movie and some a/c. I love camping!

The morning of "the hike". I call this the before shot. We were happy.

No they are not conducting an invisible band with sticks. There were spider webs EVERYWHERE and they were trying to knock them down before we ran into them. Maybe should have the kids watch arachnophobia?