Family roots/ Grands time

Nora and I went to Chicago to visit Grands Ellen. She has recently moved there to be closer to Uncle John and family. She lives in a nice retirement home and her apartment is exactly "her" and covered with photos and nick-naks. Grands had only met Nora one other time, almost a year ago. It was a brief, hurried visit so I wanted them to have more time together.
We flew up and stayed with my uncle John and Joanne and had the best time with them and my girl cousins. It was a "Johnson girl" weekend! I love that part of my family and hardly ever get to see them. They welcomed us so wonderfully and took care of our every need.
I love my Grands Ellen and miss her SO much that laying my head on her shoulder while she scratched my head was the highlight of the trip for me. Loving on her was the whole reason I flew to Chicago. When I was little I can remember crying when we would leave her house. It was like a movie scene- I would hold my hands up on the back window of our minivan in tears as we drove away. Well, I'm 32 years old and am still crying when I tell her goodbye! She is one in a BILLION and makes me feel so loved and adored when I am with her that it makes it hard to leave her. With her, I feel safe and like I'm 8 years old again. I love that she is bold and unafraid to be herself and standout all the while having the most loving spirit.
Nora got to be loved and adored by the Chicago Johnsons and her Great Grands too which was fun for me to experience.
We missed DFB and Franklin but they had an adventure of their own. His first over night camp out with 3 other dads and boys his age at the farm in Glenwood!
Family roots, heritage, and history from all sides, all perspectives, is important to Franklin and me and we love sharing that with our children.

James, Ashton, Avery, and David F all in the Caddo River on their first campout with their dads!

The county fair and the Razorbacks

We went to the county fair on Wednesday night and I didn't get many pictures because we were busy, busy! We got to see Mrs. De Witt and her cow and goat at the fair. She is DF's teacher this year so he was excited to see her! David F wanted to ride every ride, and play every game, and see every animal. Really every.one. We ran all over that place and had a late night (for us) and he still didn't get to do it all. It was really fun and got me very excited about taking him to Disneyland in Oct! It was a harder night for little sister though, she wasn't tall enough to do anything and there weren't many options for us to go with her but I did take her down the fun slide on a potato sack and that helped her spirits.

We also went to Fayetteville this weekend and I have even less pictures of that unfortunately. The one of DF shows the highs and lows of Razorback football!! There weren't many highs this game at all, in fact the cheering pic is basically when they took the field.
We got to see so many friends and do so many things! It was a sad game but we enjoyed being with Meme and Grandpa and going to my dads farm on the way home on Sunday.

We are all pretty worn out today. I'm enjoying the rain, a cup of pumpkin spice coffee and loads of laundry on this lazy Monday!

David's birthday party

We had a pool party at the lake this afternoon and we sent a cupcake in flight to Heaven! We wrote messages on the balloons and sang happy birthday and let them go...It was a particularly windy day today and it landed in a tree, so don't tell David Franklin... Hopefully it broke loose! ;)

I'm not sure if they celebrate their Earthly birthdays in heaven, in fact, I don't think they do. But, we love celebrating David and it sure brought joy and comfort to us.
I had this sweet poem sent to me today and loved it...
"I thought of you with love today but that is nothing new. I thought about you yesterday and days before that too. I think of you in silence I often speak your name. All I have are memories and your picture in a frame. Your memory is my keepsake with which I'll never part. God has you in His keeping I have you in my heart."

DRJ's 30th

Today would be David's 30th Birthday. We love and miss him very much. We have monkey cupcakes that David Franklin wants to send to heaven this afternoon. He actually asked to send 3; one for uncle David, one for Jesus, and one for God. (Sorry, Holy Spirit). I love this precious boy of mine.

Fish Camp

We went to Fish Camp with the Herndons last weekend and had fun family time together. We all caught fish, the men dove hunted, and we watched the Hogs play. We also spotted a gator right out from that dock- scary!

Getting away, even if for only one night was so nice!