The photo was taken the day of my grandfather's memorial and funeral service over Labor Day weekend.

We all reflect and remember different things in our own way and I thought that I would share a few thoughts and memories that I have my Grandpa.
You may need to know a little back ground about my family to understand the history behind a few of the things that I remember most and why.
For example a Car ride: as a child I would sing or hum about anything. My sisters would get so annoyed or so they say... I'd sing about nothing and everything "oh look at the pretty fence..." little did they know that grandpa is the one that taught me to hum or sing about anything. Grandpa would sing the same little tune while cooking, while working in the yard or just sitting in his chair. It was always "Oh my sweetheart... my love..."

As all of you know he was a kind, caring and giving man that sought out the best and good in all people. He loved the playing cards with Auntie and Uncle Butchie, playing the lottery, watching wheel of fortune, reading western books, and making sure that each and every one of us knew just how much he loved us.

Who and what is a grandfather: A grandfather to me is the sweet smell of his pipe as we would enter the garage/service door I would know that "I'm home. "
The tastes of the wonderful foods that he would make to show us just how much he loved us. "Grandpa we are still very full!"

The brandy old fashion that was made the minute we walked in the door always making sure that my mom had more than one olive in her glass.

The Easter egg hunts with more coins than we could count, hidden in the eggs, the special holidays when bunny or reindeer tracks traveled through the kitchen a mess that grandma was always stuck cleaning up!
To the nicknames of Miss Laura, Miss Kate, Miss Paula, Miss Maia, Miss Sonja, and "sveedie" (even though his Swedish heritage was only through the loving marriage of 56 years to my grandmother Sarah Ann).

A final thought that I wanted to leave you with is that we are all here for one reason... to share in the joy, the stories, the songs, the laughter and the memories that we hold in celebration of his life. Bring the people in your life these same joys!

Fall is definitely underway and am really wishing that summer didn't fly by as fast as it seemed to. It's has now become harder and harder to wake the boys up in the morning to get ready for the day. I feel like the meanest mom in the world when having to uncover the snuggled slumbering boys that are now shivering saying "not yet mommy!" My thought is that the best is yet to come! We celebrated Jay's 30th Birthday at the MN Twins Baseball game watching them win against the Detroit Tigers. Several of our friends and family joined in the festivities and had a lot of fun! Andrew's birthday party followed the next day with a Spiderman Fiesta! He choose Spiderman as the theme however he wanted tacos to be served. So a fiesta it was and it was fun! We kept it small this year hosting to family and a couple of friends. Andrew was spoiled with many wonderful toys and clothes. His favorite present was either the scooter from grandpa Mark and grandma Mel or the Build-a-Bear outing with grandma Kathy and grandpa Rick. Monty the monkey has been welcomed into our family and is now included in all bedtime prayers. We feel like there were so many thing that we wanted to do yet this summer that just ran out of time for - another camping weekend, the state fair, a girls day out and even the opportunity to celebrate my grandfathers birthday. On August 30, 2006 we lost my grandfather to a battle with cancer. We all celebrated his life over Labor Day weekend with tears, family and loving memories that we shared together. I see the strength in my grandmothers eyes and the lonesome ache that she now has in her heart for a man she spent more than 56 years of marriage and love with. I now know what it like to wish the moments that I shared with my grandpa could be shared with my own children. As I watch my parents and in-laws celebrate the littlest of moments with my own children I am thankful that we live so close. It was great to have the boys each spend some alone time with each of their grandparents last weekend so that Jay and I could have an evening of adult time. We joined some friends for dinner out and an attempt at a bon fire, however the wind picked up and brought flames, sparks and ash going wild and choose the smarter option of heading indoors to toast to great new friendships.