Summertime Continued...

We had such big plans for Blair's birthday. I was so looking forward to spending some time with just the two of us, going shooting and then out to dinner. It was a lot of fun! But in the course of the evening we heard the news of his Grandpa O'Banion's passing. I cannot even tell you how much I adore Blair's grandparents. They are the sweetest couple. Grandpa, from day one, reminded me so much of my dad. It was so very, very hard to know that he had gone. Blair has so many wonderful memories of him, he taught him so many things.

That night Blair and I were up very late talking, laughing, and crying over memories. Mine are few, but very special to me. 

The first time I met him was during the snowmobiling trip in 2008. I had such a bad cold and decided to just lie down. Grandpa came over to ask how I was doing and to see if I would be interested in some "medicine stuff" and I said I would be, and he went to search. He came back and said 

"Now, you have many options. This here is a more...natural approach that Sarah had called Eccanoosha - Eccaniarsha - some foreign word. This other one, has a side effect that'll make ya sleepy. But I believe this one, is the one for you." 

He got me a glass of water and made sure I took it, told me to "lie down darlin and for heaven sakes get better! How can you enjoy a trip if you're sick??"

He was so genuinely concerned and interested in me, he made me feel so welcome. I loved that he called snowmobiles "snow machines" and I love the way he said garbage can "gar-bah-sh can." He rocked at  Catch Phrase! He loved his great-grandkids. I am so, so sad that he never met our Lucy. Here are just a few more pictures. 

Meeting Gavin -

We had a very quick trip to plan, very quickly. We decided to rent a car seeing as how ours probably wouldn't have made it to Ogden :-) I'm so glad we did, it made the trip so much more comfortable for us and the kids especially. We left at 4:30 am Friday morning and were really really hoping that the kids would go back to sleep, but they didn't. After 5 stops, an 8 hour trip turned into an 11 and a half hour trip..It was such a relief to finally get there and it was so so wonderful to see the whole family gathered together. The funeral was Saturday and it was an incredible tribute to Grandpa. He was so loved and the spirit there was so strong. Blair had the opportunity to say the dedicatory prayer over the grave sight. It was a very spiritual experience for him and he did an amazing job. We are so grateful that he was asked to do that for Grandpa, it was an honor. 

After the funeral and afternoon naps, Michelle and Bruce had everyone over for a BBQ. It was delicious and it was a great way to get to know relatives that we hadn't met before. We left about 9:30 and drove through the night to get home and it was a much more successful trip. I am so glad we could go.

Gavin loved this little wooden bike Grandpa made. 

Grandma O'Banion with both kiddo's. I love that she was able to spend some time with them both.

 Whenever I ask Gavin what he'd like to visit about he almost always, without fail, will ask to visit about Great Grandpa O'Banion. One conversation went like this -

Me: "What should we visit about Gavin?"

Gavin: "Great Grandpa O'Banion!!"

Me: "Okay, do you know that he likes to ride motorcycles? He used to fly a plane too! What else do you think he liked to do?"

Gavin: "He loves to jump on the bed, like this!!"

We love you Grandpa and miss you so much.