Family

My Dad's side of the family

cousins

my handsome brother

My beautiful Grammy passed away on February 28th. I was able to go home to PA for the funeral and spend some great time with my wonderful family. It was great going thru lots of pictures and remembering my awesome childhood. My Grammy and Poppy would always take us to the Jersey Shore every summer. We would stay at their camper at Tip Tam and go swimming in the ocean, go to the boardwalk, go deep blue sea fishing, and so much more. They made every summer so memorable for me. Pop passed away about 12 years ago and now Gram is gone as well. My uncles were so wonderful and let us grandkids go thru Grams stuff and pick out whatever we wanted to remember her by. I picked out a few of her rings, a cross necklace, some pewter figurines for my kids, and her pasta machine. I remember her making fresh pasta and letting us kids cut it off when it got long enough. I am excited to try it out with my kids and continue the memory. She will be missed greatly. I think the hardest part of the trip for me was going to her house and walking thru the door to her not being there. The funeral was also very moving. My dad, Poppy and now Grammy all had their funerals in the same room at the same funeral home. It was tough. Uncle Kenny read a beautiful written eulogy which had us all in tears.

I was also able to spend a lot of good quality time with my mom and Tim and brother and his wife, Erika, which was awesome! Whenever I come home, I am usually really busy running all over the place visiting everyone but this trip was much more relaxed and I loved it! Mom got me hooked on the gym:) We did lots of shopping and eating at all the yummy places of my childhood! And we were able to have some good conversations. Love her so much!

It was also great being able to reconnect with my step-siblings, Cindi, Sandi and Jake, and all my nieces and nephews who are growing by leaps and bounds! Wish we all lived closer- it would be fun with so many kiddos running around-15 kiddos total.

I am so thankful for my wonderful husband who watched all 4 kiddos for 7 days! He did have help from Grandma and Grandpa and our church family for which we were both so grateful... We are so blessed. It was absolutely wonderful seeing the kids when I got back:) hey talked my ear off for a long time and kept hugging me- its great to be missed!

I am now happy to be home and back into the swing of things. The house is cleaned, the fridge is stocked, the laundry is done and my to-do list is full again:) Its an awesome privilege and responsibility to take care of my family and to love on my community. After a week break from the norm, that love is renewed and the excitement and passion is rekindled!