Funny how time slips away!

Last post was Aug of 2010. Since then, we have moved into our new house, traded our big motor home in for a smaller one, and purchased a small truck to haul our necessities. We've had lots of changes this past year.

We visited our children and friends in Texas from mid-March to mid-April of 2011. Shortly after we arrived back home, tragedy struck, and Gary's oldest grandchild passed away as a result of a traffic accident, leaving a wife and 6 year old daughter, grieving mother, grandparents, aunts, uncles. He was only 28 years old. How our lives can change in a heartbeat. We never know what's around the bend, do we?

Granddaughter Jordan visited us in June, and also Gary's daughter Lesley came up for a week in June. It was such a joy to have both of them in our house, and we hated to say goodbye. Lesley was able to visit with a lot of relatives that she hadn't seen in years. We were so proud to show her Michael & Courtney's restaurant, Evolution Grille. Cousin Larry Barbiaux and wife Diane, invited us over and treated us to a delicious meal, and it was great because Lesley and her mom had stayed with Larry's parents, Uncle Bob (now deceased) and Aunt Mae. Lesley hadn't seen them since she was very young. Lesley and Jordan also had fun swimming in their pool. Also, many thanks to Dave and Sherry Barbiaux for hosting a family gathering for Lesley.

Also, my first granddaughter, Caitlin, got married this summer. We were unable to go since she lives in Lubbock, TX. The pictures were beautiful. She received a Master's Degree from Texas Tech and is now a county agent for Crosby County, TX. She sponsors and teaches 4-H children and is really loving her work. It's rare to find someone who enjoys their work, and she has worked hard to get where she is today. We're looking forward to meeting her husband, Sloan, on Thanksgiving this year.

We took Jordan to Kennywood and she had a great time. We wised up this year and got one of her friends from up here to go with us, so she'd have someone to ride with...Gary and I are getting way too old for that sort of thing.

We're sitting here now in our RV listening to rain on the roof. It sounds so good. Due to the insulation in our house, we can't hear it rain at all, unless it's really raining hard. Tomorrow we'll take off for Texas, to stay ?don't know how long. What a job it was getting the house ready to sit vacant during the winter. We just hope we didn't make any mistakes. We have a "freeze alarm" that will call us if the temperature in the basement falls to below 45 degrees. We hope that doesn't happen. We'll have to rely on Paul to go out and check it, should that happen. We do have nice neighbors who will keep an eye on our place, too.

I really hope the states on the route were able to fix their roads. We do miss the big, comfy motorhome that we had, but we don't miss the payments that went along with it. It's been hard to get used to a smaller Class C motorhome, but it's still nice to have your own bed, bathroom, fridge, kitchen with you wherever you go. We took it camping three times this year locally and it was very nice.

We made the decision this year to join Grace Community Presbyterian Church in Lower Burrell. It's about 30 miles from our house, but we enjoy going there so much that we felt we should join. Gary's parents went to that church for years. I will miss them badly but I need to see my (OUR) kids and grandkids. We have 6 children between us and lots of grandchildren. I will get to see Matt's little boy, Henry, now 1 1/2 years old, for the first time at Thanksgiving!

I will write more and try to put some pictures on the blog. We're taking off early in the morning! At least, that's the plan!