Labor Day 2011

For the past 7 or 8 years, every Labor Day we say good-bye to Summer (officially only because we do live in Texas and Summer can continue for a good two months) by heading up to our mountains, either camping or staying in a cabin.  It's a trip I really look forward to and love.

This year, my husband proposed a different trip.  Spurred by his recent interest in family ancestry, he thought we should visit his grandmother and when we realized it had been 3 years since we'd traveled that way, it became a plan.

Photo by Grandpa

So...the mountains and cool air we look forward to...well, they took on a different look but were still there for us all the same.  And, it was a wonderful trip.  We had such a good time with Grandma Dovie ("Lovie Dovie" as Ava affectionately was calling her by the end of the day) and Grandpa was there too.

My husband's family farm, where his dad grew up

We drove out to the cemetery and finally recorded names and dates and who belongs with whom.  It was amazing to me to connect the dots and to hear the hardships and amazing stories of these families.  Dovie is incredible in her knowledge of both sides of that family.

We also got to see some of our extended family...we felt privileged that Aunt Jana & Uncle Danny took time to drive 30 min just to come see us for a bit.  And, Uncle Dan (my husband's great uncle) stopped in as well.  It was hard to leave that evening, heading out we wished we would have planned differently and stayed another day. But, we packed a lot into the day and look forward to going back.