Texas trip and first snow

The weekend before last my sister and I flew to Texas to see our grandma. When I got back I realized this was the only picture I took the whole trip. At the Las Vegas airport we parked on level 4 in a corner. As Liz said there are only four of them (corners) we are bound to find the truck eventually. I still took a picture.

My grandma has Alzheimer's and or Dementia. Fortunately for her she is going down hill fast. I can only imagine how hard it is if you realize that you can't or don't remember things. Having just watched Winnie go through this with her dad I know it will not be easy.

Between Liz and my schedules our trip was the only available time for us to go. We had hoped to make it in time to have "one last visit". We were to late, she didn't know us. To her we were nice young women that were there to visit her. There was no mention of our kids her great grand children or our husbands, nothing personal about us at all.

To say this was hard is an understatement.

 Liz and I were able to go see the assisted living center we are trying to get her into. I was so happy to see that its a very nice place. I'm so thankful that assisted living centers have vastly improved since I was a child.  Grandma was initially her normal grumpy self and complained about everything. Me "look grandma its like a cruise they have activities planned all day everyday" Grandma "what do I need activities for I don't want to do any of those things" me "well just like on a cruise you don't have to, but you have the choice". But right before we left she softened a little and started talking like it would be a good idea to move there. So hopefully we helped.

Being a happy clappy traveler (I swear I'm like a dog that gets to go for a ride hanging its head out the window) I still enjoyed and made the best of the trip. The weather was warm and perfect. We had fun visiting with family. My brother who is going to college a few hours away from Houston came home for the weekend to spend time with us. We had some great family meals together. (even if the Cajun restaurant guy looked at me like I had two heads when I said I was a vegetarian and would not like to have any fish on my salad) We spent a few hours shopping at the mall, where my other brother is a manager at the Nike store. Living in a small town means mall shopping is a big deal for me :)

It was fun spending time with liz. Things like at the airport where everything cost $21. Two waters and two magazines for the plane $21. Evey thing we did came to $21 or close to. We decided the airport is an alternate universe that goes by its own currency. We laughed about being sardines on a plane and had plenty of time to talk. Which does'nt happen all that often with our busy lives.

I know this journey only gets harder from here, but I'm thankful for the weekend we had.

On a happier note....

Kolby reaching for the moon

Love these pics!

I woke up Saturday morning to Luke yelling "MOM it snowed last night" into my ear. He bounced on the bed to wake Dew up and then ran back to his room to wake Kolby up. I barely had time to get breakfast into them before they were dressed and out the door to play.

There is something magical about the first snow of the year, just look at the smiles it brings.

They were so bummed that by the time we went into town to run errands and then come home the snow had melted. We had to reassure them that more will be coming.... we promise.