Celebrations:

Saturday evening, April and Mike went with us to Sybil's in St. James to celebrate their engagement. Their fillet Mignon is the best!! It seemed to be the evening for several celebrations. Some friends of ours were there celebrating their 42nd Anniversary and my cousin's family were in the next room for her wedding dinner. We were going to their reception later that evening but it was nice to get a sneak peak of everyone. And of course, the triplets!! We always make such a big deal out of seeing them, I'm sure they get tired of it. Especially now that they are 18 and graduating this year. So hard to believe!! I remember going to see them for the first time, my kids thought it was so neat they each had a baby to hold.
We had time to kill before the reception started so we drove around town for awhile. I think we're getting too old for that, not as much fun as it used to be. lol Even with extra time, we barely made it to the reception on time!! Well, we did make it to one reception on time, but it was the wrong one!! We went in, looked around and didn't see anyone we knew. Then I saw a guy and his wife come in that used to work with my Dad and knew my cousin. They brought their gift in, set it down and went and sat down. Well, I knew them, but still didn't see anyone else we knew. Dwayne asked a lady if this was the Spencer reception-whoops! No, but they were very gracious about it. Talk about wedding crashers!! That's us!! lol
The reception we were going to was at the Sports Club at the other end of the park, but you had to go out of the park area to get there.
We were joking to Paul that we had went to the wrong reception. I told him we did see John over there and I thought he knew the people. Paul is like, "He's suppose to be over here". I wanted Dwayne to go over and tell John but Paul said he would figure it out. lol Later, John and his wife and another couple we had saw over there came in. We all had a good laugh about it.
We had a good time visiting with family and friends. Especially, Pat, the nurse that worked for Dr. John for years. She was so surprised to see us there and couldn't figure out how we knew the family. Small world! Even smaller world was Pat and Mike talking about people they know, etc. She lives in St. James and he lives in St. Elizabeth. Comes to find out, Mike works with her brother and his distant cousin dates her niece. She told Mike they have to definitely invite her to the wedding.
It seems most of our stories about our kids always refers to Todd as he was so goofy and just memorable. Or with April, her curly hair, her constant talking and playing pranks. But with Pat, it was, "How is my Chaddy? He's my favorite. April, I just loved Chad, he was the prettiest baby, I would just take him every time your Mom came to the office. Yeah, Chaddy is my favorite. Be sure and tell Chad I said hi!!" Funny!! I think Chad would have enjoyed hearing that if he had been there. I will have to tell him about it.
April and I stayed up and watched Grey's Anatomy as it wasn't on Thursday evening.
Sunday morning, Dwayne and I fixed a huge breakfast and then April and I went to church.
We went to Mom's for Sunday dinner. She fixed chicken 'n dumplings for MacKensie's birthday. Hard to believe MacKensie turned 14 on the 12th of February. Also, hard to believe my Mom still continues to fix Sunday dinner at least once a month. It is great in keeping all of us connected. The great nieces and nephews really look forward to it.
Our church has flower dedications each Sunday. Dwayne and I sponsored January 15th in honor of April and Mike's engagement. Grandma Dodie would have so loved being there. She loved any type of celebration and would have loved the planning of the upcoming wedding. In her honor, later in the week, I took the flowers over and put on her and Grandpa Andy's grave. I know their spirits are in heaven but for me, I feel close to them in decorating their graves. It's also something I grew up doing each year on Memorial Day. I know it makes some people feel uncomfortable and I understand that. Grandma Dodie and I used to go to cemeteries throughout the year when and if time permitted for her to "connect" and remember relatives. For me, this is a time of honoring Dodie and her memory and sharing April's joy.
Grandma Dodie:

Sharing with Grandma:



Don't get me wrong, Grandpa Andy would have been just as proud of this moment and time to follow as Grandma Dodie, but this is a special girl bond of rite.

I am so grateful for our children, our future son-in-law, (wow, that is a new one to type, lol) our wonderful parents and grandparents and the legacy they have passed on.