And there went the month of July

Hi everyone! I'm back again. Sorry that I wasn't here last week. I didn't really have access to a computer with a decent internet connection and I was slightly distracted as I was in Indiana and Kentucky. Needless to say the past few weeks have been busy, busy. Let me try to tell you a little about them.

So, you all know that my husbands Grandmother passed away on July 13. Here is the picture I wanted to post of her:

I had to resize it before blogger would accept it. She was a beautiful woman who we will forever hold dearly in our hearts.

At the same time, her passing meant a mini reunion (mini because not everyone could be here) and we had (including Chad and I) nine people in our house. Now, keep in mind, that my family was in town on 7/8 when I posted and had brought two vehicles with them so they could leave in a two step departure (my dad went home to work on 7/8 while the rest of my family went home on 7/10). That put three more vehicles in the vicinity of my house during nighttime hours and even more during daytime hours as the rest of the family came over for meals. Our neighbors (as it was later reported to me) though we were having on heck of a party. I'm just waiting to see if the homeowners association has anything to say about it - I'd love to give them a piece of my mind about the rule of "no parking in the street at any time" when we have single car driveways...

But I digress.

I did get a few pictures of the brothers together (the first of that type in years) and a few of them "talking shop" around vehicles. Seeing as one is a mechanic for the military and the others are extremely interested in vehicles (so much so that we are planning a trip to Detroit this January for the auto-show... and I know what your thinking but Chad's coming with me to Fletcher, NC for the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair in October and I think I'm getting the better end of the deal - at least I can entertain myself at the auto-show with my camera...)

Chip, Chad, Andrew, and Nicolas... what a group!

Looking at their father's(on the left) engine discussing the fine points of some mysterious mechanical thing I have no desire to understand.


Gathered around the big, shiny, new truck.

It's so rare to see this much of a smile on Andrews face.

So, life had to resume back to usual activities on Tuesday the 17th. Well, usual for most. Chip was here for awhile longer, which took Chad and him to Anderson, on an entirely different schedule than I was.

That's right, Tuesday I ended up in Anderson and then Greenville for that Josh Groban concert with my sisters.

(pause while I think about it)

Josh was wonderful.

(another pause while I immerse myself in the thoughts of the concert once again)

Simply wonderful. The audience, being very diverse was not as energetic as I wanted them to be, but I didn't let that rain on my expirience. His opening act (who I have got to find out the name of) was from Africa and just as amazing. It was wonderful that you could tell he was really singing and that his voice was just as wonderful as it is on the albums meaning that he has true talent that doesn't have to be messed with to much. I would definitely see him again. Tameeka and Sarah even enjoyed more than they thought they would (this was their first concert outside of Freedom Weekend Aloft).

I headed back home Wednesday evening (as Chad arrived in Anderson) so that I could work Thursday and immediately (meaning leave from the parking lot) drive back to Anderson to leave with parents for my family reunion (Paoli, IN) Friday while Chad came back home Friday.

The start to my family reunion was an approximately 8 hour car drive with seven people (again including me) and their luggage in one mini-van. (I'll wait while you laugh.) Actually it wasn't horrible. My parents had the front seats (should be obvious to all that would be the case, but it was switched around a little on the way back due to my stupid ears...) They then could pop in DVD's to entertain the three capable of watching them in a moving vehicle without getting sick (guess what, I'm not one of them... stupid ears)

The DVD situation is interesting in and of it's self as James and Tameeka usually watch no problem with the headphones on and if they are not interested they take the headphones off and go back to doing something else, but Kelly. Well, now Kelly has a mind all her own and will tell you she's watching the DVD with no way to hear it. Then Sarah and I avoid trying to look at it so that we don't get sick and then try no to get sick from the mountains as they whiz by the windows... Doesn't always work so we revert to sleeping. Or even taking pictures of those sleeping:
I don't believe Sarah is aware that I have taken this and once she does find out I'd better watch my back... I just enjoyed the position that she was in with that one finger pointed out and her legs crossed.

Sometimes though, just figuring out what Kelly was doing could keep us entertained. At one point I looked back at her and the next thing my parents heard coming out of my mouth was "Give me the bear. Just give me that bear!" Thinking surely this was a catastrophe in the making my parents enjoyed what I had found once I passed the bear up to them. (Pictures taken after the ride once we were at the reunion site):


Yes, in lieu of being able to make tables, chairs, microphone stands, kangaroos and other oddities out of K-nex she resorted to making a jacket (notice the turned down collar) out of notebook paper for the bear to have... Later she made it a lab coat. I wish we could figure out just what exactly goes on in that head of hers...

The usual chaos ensued at the reunion as something like 53 people (I think that's my parents estimate) got together to act crazy. Yes, that is exactly what we do and I know that I missed some of it but was involved with other aspects of it. (Don't put intoxicated females of a family in a small room together, you don't want to know what happens.)

And here are some pictures of that chaos (don't worry, I have no pictures to be ashamed of in here) in no particular order:





















This is not all of the pictures but they are what I see as the best upon first inspection. We even tried to do a group picture:

This one is not so good as you can see me arguing with my camera to cooperate which greatly amused all there.

This to me is the best one even though I'm covering the faces of Jenny and Jessi's friend (I'm sorry, I didn't get her name).


We had a good time and I then spent a few more days with my parents in Louisville, KY visiting. And then we packed up and drove back Tuesday. I came all the way home (so seven/eight hours in a van with seven people and more luggage/items than we started with and then a solo drive here) and had dinner with Chad who was exhausted in his own right as he had his brother, mom and stepfather back at our place who had gone home Sunday and then he spent time with Grandpa.

After Chad fell asleep I started reading the final installment of Harry Potter and finished roughly 12 hours later (that time includes a break for a snack and a trip to Wal-Mart for groceries). Chad and I both returned to work for night shifts Wednesday and I came off of my three days Saturday morning allowing me to return to karate. I'm just a little sore now. Chad is now in the middle of his rotation.

As if that wasn't enough we had breakfast with a friend of mine from nursing school and his fiance this morning and have breakfast plans tomorrow as well...

This week I'm trying to do all that organizing I talked about at the beginning of the month. Plus I'll be finishing my shawl and starting something else for my knit-a-long.

That does it for me this week (bet you thought I'd never stop writing). Later all. I'll leave you with a picture of the tree that Chad's coworkers got for us in sympathy. I've got to go find a pot for it as I fear I would be clutsy and run over it with the lawn-mower if I planted it in it's current state:










(I would like to send my condolences to a special family who I have met. I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for letting me be a part of your lives.)