Thursday, April 7, 2016

St. Patrick's Day

We don't do a whole lot for St. Patrick's Day. I don't love this holiday, in fact I find it be kind of weird. We still dress in green and decorate a bit and of course the dang leprechaun has to come and do a scavenger hunt because that's what he does every year. Ugh, some of these holidays are just exhausting. Well here are a few pics from our day. It started with green spinach/banana muffins and then the leprechaun came after the kids got home from school. They did a scavenger hunt that lead them to the pot of gold that was filled with yummy treats.

















And that's it. Simple yet fun.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

James LeGrand Bradley

On February 23, 2016 my sweet Grandfather passed away. He was 94 and only a few weeks shy of his 95th birthday. His funeral was held on March 5th and was really a special service. Considering the circumstances it was actually a pretty great day. We had 150 family members there, some of which I haven't seen in years and many traveled very far distances to be there.

The program was very spiritual and different from any other I have been to. My Grandpa was the choir director for The Sounds of Zion and they had all members who could attend come and sing at the funeral. Many of his 12 children were in this choir and got to participate as well. All of his great-grandchildren sang I am a Child of God and the program closed with the choir singing God Be With You Till We Meet Again. There wasn't a dry eye in the room.

The graveside service was remarkable. My grandfather served In WWII and received military honors. My uncle Paul served many years in the military as well and got to participate and returned the flag to the oldest son in the family, Jim. That was such an emotional moment for everyone and I was glad to capture it on camera. 

My grandpa left behind a huge legacy with 12 children and countless grand children/ great-grandchildren. The thing that kept everyone together throughout this whole thing is knowing how happy James must have been to be reunited with his wife who passed away 15 years earlier. My grandpa wasn't one who could be alone. Following his wife's death he remarried 3 more times just have some companionship. For many years now he has been saying he is ready to move on and be with his wife. The sweetest moment of the whole day was at the luncheon when my Dad got up and made all 150 of us toast to his mom and dad, finally together again.

These pictures are a mixture of the ones I took and the ones my cousin Amber took. I love every one of them and am so thankful for the memory I will have of this day.























Monday, March 14, 2016

Tatums Birthday

Well my Tatum is officially 9 years old! We had such a fun day celebrating with him. We spent the morning getting ready for his party. For his party he wanted to have a nerf war...such a boy! This party was actually so much fun! We reserved our church building for it and set up a ton of boxes and tables as obstacles. We divided the kids into 2 teams and they played capture the flag the whole time. At times Eric would turn off the lights and have black lights going to make it more interesting. It was so much fun that Eric and I each joined a team and got in on the fun....seriously so fun!














After his party he got to open some presents from us.







and took his new long board for a ride.










We ended the night with dinner at Chilies with Grandma and Grandpa Larsen. He felt pretty special all day and said it was the best birthday ever!