Pinch'm..They're Cute

Happy Birthday Dear TRACI....

Happy Birthday to YOU!! If you haven't met my sister Traci, you should. I have looked up to her my whole life, in fact I am still doing it! So I have posted the top 10 reasons why you would want to meet my big sister Traci....here it goes.

#1 She loves my kids just as much or at least dang close to as much as she does her own.
#2 She always had the coolest clothes and hair....still does. She gets prettier every year!
#3 She can cook/bake anything.
#4 She is the best hostest ever.
#5 She is always up for getting a treat..DQ,Sonic, whatever.
#6 She always remembers my birthday.
#7 She always decorates her homes so cute, just the right amount of new, antique,and nostalgic. You instantly feel right at home when you visit.
#8 She likes to shop.
#9 She makes my girls homemade play-dough, they are convinced she has the only recipe in the world. (I'm going to keep it that way)
#10, number 10 already...I"m just getting started.
#11 She loves and appreciates old things.
#12 She is laid back and wants to make others happy, I think Traci of all of us siblings got the perfect mix of mom and dad's characteristics.
#13 She has let me be in charge of canned corn at Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember!
#14 She just plain has it together!
#15 She lets her kids do stuff, pet rats, horses, chickens, cows, cats, dogs, baseball, football, basketball, igloo forts made out of snow, sledding behind a four wheeler on a deer skin, leather crafts and long bows. She allows them to explore their interests even if it isn't hers.
#16 Which brings me to the obvious she and Mark made some awesome kids.
#17 She taught me and Connie how to head bang when were about 8 years old! In case you don't know how to head bang...her instructions were these....pretend you have a pony tail on top of you head, and then pretend you are pulling that pony tail forward with your fist. Got it?
#18 She will stay up late and just visit.
#19 She made me a washer and dryer out of card board boxes so I could play house with them when I was little. I have never forgotten that, I thought that was the coolest thing.
#20 She is the best sister and friend I could ever ask for.

Happy Birthday! Love ya, Tra

Together Again...Forever..........

Look at these two sweethearts. My grandma writes "I was in the eighth grade and Marcel was a Sophmore. He started writing comical little notes just for a joke and putting them in my desk, also all of his scrap paper was stuffed down the ink well in my desk. I would pull it all out of my desk and stuff it in his. We exchanged scrap paper all that school year."..."We started sitting by each other in the shows. I remember he ask me if he could sit by me and I told him he could. However he did not come and sit down until the show was almost half over. He was so bashful. There I had saved a seat for him all that time."
My grandma passed away yesterday, just one week after her sweetheart. To them it must have seemed like an eternity before they could see each other again. This time it was my grandpa saving a seat for her.
I love them and will miss them, but they have left me and family a righteous legacy, and an example for us to pattern our lives.


Dating




Married December 9, 1943 (grandpa's 20th birthday)


(taking their own picture, notice that he is holding the button to the camera in his hand, you can see the cord)

Grandpa

My grandpa passed away last night. Words, especially my words, cannot fully explain the love and respect I have for him. In my eyes he was perfect, everything you would want a grandpa to be. He was a tease, he would always let you sit on his lap, and before he would let you go you had to give him a kiss on the cheek. (that is what I loved about him the most) he loved to slap your hand every time you walked by his chair, he loved to "milk your mouse", he loved to twist your fingers and toes. He was righteous and loving and charitable. He made you feel special, he loved his family. He worked hard, he loved his cabin, and shared it unselfishly with us. Ultimately I think he built if for us, he once asked Marley, he said "Marley, do you know who's cabin this is? She said "yours?", and he said "nope, its everybody's." That cabin has provided his entire family with some of our best memories. I will miss him, but I happy to know where he is.