Grandpa Gregory's Funeral

My Grandpa Gregory passed away at the end of July after a long struggle with pulmonary fibrosis.

There was a service on Friday in Florida at his church there and then the next Tuesday there was a burial and service in PA where he grew up.

My family was only able to attend the service in PA but it was truly lovely.

The night before the service (Monday) there was a time when people from the church could come and talk to the family.

There were a lot of people there.

There were a lot of large flower arrangements as well.

Grandpa was very loved and will be very missed.

The next day there was a graveside service for the family only.

It was a precious time but this was definitely the saddest part of our time together.

The kids started out pretty quiet and respectful then got restless.

So Jimmy took them over to this grassy hill and we could see them all rolling down the hill in their suit coats... what's great is that if grandpa was here, he'd probably rather have been over there rolling down the hill with his great grand kids :)

Uncle Rick said a few words, Rich prayed and a bunch of people just shared memories of grandpa, things that made him special to them... including his stinky feet. :)

My grandpa not only knew Christ, but was also known BY Christ... I love that that is what is written on the box!

We got a picture with Grandma and all the grandchildren.

My mom saying goodbye before they put him in the ground.

Although sad and difficult it is wonderful to know that those are only his earthly ashes and that my grandpa is in heaven, worshiping his glorious Savior.

My Uncle Rick preached at the funeral and it was a magnificent sermon!  The best part was at the end, he told us that it was one of Grandpa's sermons that he had preached in the 80's!!!  :)  It truly was wonderful to be reminded of what a faithful, godly, and loving man he was.

Here are some photos of me and my grandpa through the years... a little tribute lets say :)

I have been terrible keeping this up! I'm sorry...

Just some photos from August!

Connor devouring a cupcake... well the icing part... :)

My little one year old stud... shirt open, hair crazy, steel blue eyes, toothy grin... yeah he's a lady killer. :)

This is Connor's Zoolander blue steel look... :) ha

I love this kid...

... and this one... :)  What a cheezer.

This is Connor's speed cap and wearing it (cause it's a checkered flag) makes him faster, apparently... Go Connor Go!!

Vale loves this toy because he plays a little song and he loves to sit and dance to it... :)  He's like, 'you hear that mom?  It's my jam!' :)

Vale likes to take the bowls out of the cabinets and wear them on his head as hats... :)

I'm not sure what Connor is doing but he looks tough...

Teaching Vale to 'bite the bullet'...

Vale's always happy as can be to be like Connor! He could have a worse roll model...

Everyday life is a joy with these little ones.

Daddy Time!

Tickle fight with the boys! :)

July of 2013 009 from Courtney Mahon on Vimeo.

Cowboy Connor

 Jimmy bought Connor some little plastic cap guns which Connor thinks are the greatest things since underoos... :)

On his trusty steed he will save the day!

Hats off to a job well done... 

Dressed in Sunday best, chompin' on a biscuit hot off the griddle... :)

Food won't slow down this quick draw... 

But he does get the occasional post kool-aid blues... notice the mustache... 

He has such an imagination!!! :) I love it!

The Rest of the East Coast Crawl...

 I wish we had more pictures of our visit to Wilmington but well... we don't...

We went to the beach during a rain storm which Connor thought was AWESOME!  Vale was a bit cold but he had fun too... :)

Then we met some friends at chick-fil-a but I only had clothes for one kid... so Vale got the shirt and Connor got the pants... not used to having redneck looking kids in public... but yeah it was all good! :)

We couldn't miss out on a chance to go to Nikki's and Boombalatti's!

Vale liked being at Grandma's house and looking at the fish!

Connor just loves to run in circles... :)

Then we went up to VA Beach and stayed for a couple nights with Nona!

We got to celebrate some birthday's too!!!  Uncle Chris and Super Chris share the same birthday!!  WHEWW WHOOO!!

Uncle Chris was turning the big '50'!  :)  He got off lucky... I was gonna make him wear a feather boa... :)

He wanted pineapple upside down cake!!  YUMMM!!!! :)

Vale was singing 'Happy ... to you!'  For the next week!  I think it's still his favorite song... he just kinda skips the birthday part... :)

The boys got rice crispy treats instead of cake... they were ok with that! :)

Rachel and her dad! :)

Vale wanted to be like Uncle Chris... :)

On the plane ride home Vale refused the sleep the whole first flight and then slept our entire 2 hour layover... sigh... I love children...

The boys cuddling on the plane :)

My boys entertaining an entire group of foreign junior highers... they didn't speak English but thought the boys were hilarious! :)

We made it home!!  WHEWW WHOOO!!!  Rough flights with restless boys but we made it!