We sure do love it when GJ is in town – even better when she gets to go to games!
And there’s LOTS of games to go to these days!
Hendrix
On Saturday after baseball, we made the 6.5 hour drive to Conway, Arkansas to celebrate my dad. He passed away 1 year ago and I think it took us a full year to be ready to lay him to rest but it all turned out to be just perfect. The drive was long and we were tired but Robert was awesome as always and got us there safe and sound!
Hendrix College has always been a big part of my family. Many of my relatives are graduates of Hendrix including my brother and both GJ and Daddo. I even spent a summer living on campus at Governor’s School. Daddo also served on the Board of Trustees at Hendrix for many years, was the commencement speaker at Keath’s graduation ceremony, and he received the Distinguished Alumni award in 2005. He’d probably also like me to add that he got the Freshman Math Award in 1969!
Most importantly, Hendrix is where GJ and Daddo met…going to a funeral no less! They were both students and Susu and Grandmother somehow made the connection that GJ needed a ride to the funeral of a mutual friend and Daddo was going and the rest is history! Even though Daddo was one year older, he did a 3/2 plan with Columbia so they both graduated from Hendrix in 1973. So, this year is the 50th anniversary of their graduation! My mom had learned earlier this year that Hendrix put in a columbarium in a new memorial garden right by Greene Chapel. It just seemed like the right place for Daddy to be forever. My mom will join him there eventually many, many, MANY years from now! This was alumni weekend at Hendrix and that included a service on Sunday morning where they recognize all of the alumni that passed away in the previous year. Once we learned of the service and found out that Rock Jones was going to be in town, it all came together to be the perfect opportunity to lay Daddy to rest. Rock worked at Hendrix for many years and was someone Daddy always thought very highly of. He agreed to meet us there that morning to say a few words in the memorial garden. The entire family ended up being able to come and it was a wonderful – albeit chilly! – time spent honoring Daddy.
The campus really is so pretty and we enjoyed checking it out.
In case you didn’t know it, GJ is the best.
We followed the service up with a burger at Purple Cow and Daddo would have loved that too! It all felt so right and we are at peace knowing he’s back at Hendrix on the beautiful campus forever.
Easter
Sunday morning we were happy to see the Easter Bunny had brought some goodies! He also hid some eggs inside the house. Fun for all.
We then put on our Easter best and started the process of trying to get a good photo! ha! The kids love this part of Easter.
Family timer selfie!
This one never has an issue posing for photos!
We got to church plenty early – just more time for more photos!
Maxwell acolyted during the very busy and long 9:00 service and did a great job!
We put flowers on the cross…
and then made the drive to Montgomery for more pictures!
To me this was the winning family photo of the day!
We didn’t just take pictures in Montgomery, we also saw Lulu and Granddaddy and all of the cousins! But we took pictures with them too!
We then had a nice visit and the kids learned to play Old Maid.
A very happy Easter all around!
Daddy
Daddy died one year ago today. It’s still incredibly unfair.
One of the things that Daddy did best was fully enjoy the things he loved, like his hobbies. I’d also like to think he fully enjoyed his trips with us (despite me and Keath’s – I’m sure frustrating – fighting. It was always him that started it by the way!). As I’ve said before, I always knew that with us was the place he wanted to be most. Trips were no exception. My parents never went on vacations without us. When we were kids we went to Disney…a lot. So much that we got annual passes at one point. When Daddy got his picture taken for his annual pass he was smiling the very biggest, happiest smile ever. A true zip-a-dee-doo-da smile! You could tell he was REALLY happy to be at Disney World with all of us! We all got a lot of laughs out of that picture. He was just so happy to be with us. He loved us so much that there was no place he wanted to be more than on that trip with his family.
Last week we were on a fantastic ski trip for spring break. The entire time I was honestly overwhelmed with gratitude and joy watching the kids zoom down the mountain. I love them so much and am so thankful to have 3 active, healthy kids. We all just had so much fun together and I’m pretty sure I had the very biggest, happiest smile ever on my face for much of the trip (except when I got stuck on that black run!). There was no place I wanted to be more than on that trip with my family.
It’s just nice to go full circle and experience things as a parent and be able to look back and realize that’s how he probably felt too. As always, I’m going to continue to try and be more like him and, in this case, that means continuing to fully enjoy the things I love and soak up the good times. I’m going to make sure my kids know that with them is where I love to be most. Daddy gave me that gift and I am forever grateful to know how much he loved me.
Now I need GJ to go find that annual pass because I know it’s still around somewhere!!
OOTD
Another OOTD round up!
This morning we had a special guest for our daily photos!
We love it when GJ is here!