In Loving Memory

In Loving Memory of Gary Ray Aaron

June 20, 1956 - July 26, 2008

It feels too soon to think about him as a memory, but he will be remembered always as the wonderful, funny, loving man he was.

More Beach Days!

Actually, all these pics are mostly from the same day. My baby sis, Sandrina, is here visiting for a couple weeks, and she LOVES the beach. Joey is still growing up so fast and I'm still pretty sure he's a genius. :-) He tries so hard with complete sentences, with no coaxing from me at all. He used to say "kitchen" or "ice cream" or "drink" and now, if he starts off like that, he just corrects himself and says "I want drink" or "come in kitchen" and he does it with such a thoughtful look on his face like he's trying so hard! This little boy just amazes me everyday, still! Life with him will NEVER be dull. He learns so much so fast!
He's never really taken to a stuffed animal or been attached to a blanket or any other thing like that. But a couple weeks ago, Earl mailed a couple boxes of gifts for Joey, and in one was a stuffed green monkey from a base in Iraq. Joey talks about "daddy gave me green monkey" "box outside" (we came home one day to find the mailman had left the box at the door). And he has a special place in bed for the monkey, and when he wakes up in the mornings and yells "Mama" for me to come get him out of the crib, he always has that cute monkey in his arms (usually upside down for some reason) like he just grabs it instintively. He carries it around for a little while before letting it sit someplace to wait for bedtime again. It's precious.

My little showboat.


Sandrina and Joey at the beach.
I'm pretty sure those are his mommy's kisses he's giving to Aunt Drina.

Sandrina is the queen of self-picture-taking

I love his hair cut, I really do. But after looking back at some of his past photos with the long hair, I really miss that hair! I want it back!

Me and Josiah looking for clams the way Uncle Bubba taught us.

She thinks she's so cute. (okay, she is)
We dug this hole for Joey to play in.
"Cheese"




Also, this past sunday was Joey's first time in the 2 year old room at Church. Turns out, the teacher is an old friend of mine from the first time we were stationed here (before we moved to CA). He brought home his first church artwork: a tracing of his hands with the words "God Gave Me Hands to Help!" and Joey's precious color marks all over. It's on the fridge. I"m too lazy to scan it for this blog. Maybe some other day.

Work is keeping me very busy. I can't believe we only have 2 months till Earl gets home. I hope these 2 months go as fast as the past 4 1/2 have!

Today, I impressed myself. My dishwasher has been broken every since my friends Merritt and Jenny left (Thanks alot guys!). My brother had pulled it out for me, so my neighbor Garry could have a look. But me and Garry could never meet up and get it fixed. So today, I finally got tired of handwashing (you know, the old-timey way of doing it) and fixed it myself. Basically, in case you care, the problem was that the dishwasher wasn't draining all of the water. My brother scooped most of the water out before he left, but there was still a tiny bit at the bottom with all kinds of disgusting dishwasher food residue in it. You can imagine the smell. I got the shop vac (another Christmas presesnt from Dad that has proved invaluable) and sucked out the drain and put all the parts back in. That was the hard part, since I had taken those parts out a month or two ago and just jerked them out without paying attention to how or in what order. Anyhow, I finally figured out how to put them back in, and gave it a go, and viola! It worked! yay!

Feel free to congratulate me. :-) It felt good. Now if I only had the ability to lay my own laminate, build my own back fence, apply some vinyl siding, install new doors and doggie doors, paint my garage walls, cut down my massive pine trees, and fix Earl's camaro while he's gone, I'd be in tip top shape.

Sorry to ramble on and on, it's past my bedtime. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Party Time!

So Angie's Surprise Welcome Home Party and Joey's 2nd Birthday Party was on Aug 2. Here are just some of the pics from the party. I am hoping to see more from Faye's camera (hint hint) soon.
It was so extremely hot that day. I'm sorry to have put everyone through that, but thank you so much for coming and making their day special!

Beautiful little Evie Mae is helping with the presents.

Apparently I thought these PJ's were amazing! Thanks Nan!
Angie and her best bud Kirk.

Thanks Yearwoods for the Elmo--it's very entertaining!

Not a clue what I'm laughing at.

He truly loved every present he got. He did NOT want to put them away to open a new one, he wanted to play with each of them as soon as he saw them.

Nan and baby Brianna.
Dad got Joey a wedding gift bag instead of a birthday one. Hmmmm.

My big bro, Ray, lil sis Angie, me, and baby sis Sandrina.

My mom and her good-looking kids!

Very enthralled with Diego's Rescue Pack.

Aunt Di!


Kiara is trying to figure out how to take the Dora track home with her, instead of letting Joey keep it.

Ray and Angie
Joey in the bounce house. (Thanks Pat for providing the bounce house!)

Angie and her tiara and lei (sp?)
Ashley and Evie Mae, Katie, Me and Joey and Paige in the bounce house.

Merrit and Mikey, and Paige at the front table and the Foulkrods in the background.

My dad and aunt Pat.
Joey hangs onto Paige's every word.
Angie and Pat.
Time to blow out the candles. (As soon as I lit one, he blew it out--couldn't get both lit at the same time)

Joey and my cousin's daughter, Kalyn, at the After Party.

Welcome Home Angie!
Ooops, Mom put the words on upside down (see the upside down balloons?) He he, it was still delicious mom!

Party guests: Wanda, Sheila, Bobby, Scotty, and Sandrina.

Books!


Getting tangled.
Me and my sister!

We had a blast, so glad for everyone that came! Thank you all for the presents and for your presence! Joey couldn't have his daddy there, so thanks for pitching in and making his day as special as it could be without Daddy.

Wish you were here to see him blow the candles out, Earl. But we thought of you all day--you were in our hearts! Come home soon and see your little 2 year old in action. I swear, he's a genius! :-)