Albuquerque

Bailey and I spent the past 3 1/2 weeks in Albuquerque, which was such a blessing. We headed off to Albuquerque while Thomas headed off to Houston to do a wedding for a sweet couple who recently graduated from Pepperdine. Jenny and Addy also flew in so the cousins could spend a long weekend together. We started out with a trip to the zoo...

and then the girls spent a lot of time in the pool!

Papa was their buddy because he would give them cereal every morning and snacks any chance they could get.

At this point of our trip, Thomas flew from Houston to Albuquerque to meet up with us and my Grammie went into the hospital on Monday with a GI tract bleed.

This is my attempt to take a picture before Jenny and Addy headed back to the airport. This is how most of our pictures look now that we have a toddler, but I thought it was such a great picture of Jenny--such a beautiful woman on the inside and out!

Playing in the pool with Auntie Katie--so fun!

At this point, Grammie had been in the hospital for a few days and was going to come home. She started feeling really hot and they decided to keep her in the hospital overnight. The next morning, she had a heart attack and her heart was only functioning at 20%. My family started coming into town to help out my mom and to see Grammie.

Bailey decided on this trip to really start feeding herself. She is pretty good at getting the food in her mouth. She loves to do yogurt and applesauce!

Bailey and Addy LOVED Christian and were following him around everywhere! They played peek-a-boo and he read them stories. It was so cute to hear them say his name.

One of the other reasons we were in Albuquerque was because Shayla and Chase asked Thomas to perform their wedding. We knew Shayla from Pepperdine and Thomas knew Chase from camp. It was so fun to see our Albuquerque world collide with our Pepperdine world! This was one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been to. Thanks, Shayla and Chase for letting us share in your special day!

Sweet friends--Garrett and Jessie

At this point, my mom and uncles decided to move Grammie into hospice care. They weren't sure how much longer her body would hold on. On Sunday afternoon they moved her and the nurses took such good care of her.

Happy 4th of July!

Grammie passed away on Wednesday evening. She had slept all Sunday afternoon and evening and all day Monday. Tuesday she was awake, more alert, tried talking to us, and even laughed at our jokes. She had lots of visitors that day and her family surrounded her. She knew who we were and she could hear what we were saying. She slept all day on Wednesday and then passed so peacefully that evening.

Matt had flown in on Monday and Jenny and Addy came on Thursday (They had to fly from Nashville to San Diego to Albuquerque--crazy!). We went to Explora on Friday with Grandma, Katie and Skyler. I think we all had so much fun!

Bubbles!

Our friends, Art and Ada invited us over for a wonderful dinner one evening. It was especially fun because they have turtles that live in their backyard! This turtle was hiding under the grass.

Over the weekend all of our family came to Albuquerque for Grammie's memorial service on Monday.

Aunt Lisa, Mom, Aunt Margie, Uncle Mick, Dad, and Uncle Rick

"Cheese!"

Leslie, Becca, Bailey, Andrea, Richelle, Jenny and Addy

Playing peek-a-boo around the apple tree

We had a tradition of climbing up in the tree in Grammie's backyard and taking pictures. I think we will continue this tradition in Nana and Papa's tree!

Thomas flew back to Malibu on Monday after Grammie's memorial service. Bailey and I stayed another week to help out and not leave my parents with an empty house. We wrapped up our stay with a wonderful weekend. On Friday, Bailey and I went over to Great Grandma's house to swim in the pool with Grandma, Auntie Katie, Skyler, Aunt Jet, and Great Grandma.

On Saturday, we went to the zoo with Nana and Papa.

The elephants were so fun to watch and we got to see the new baby elephant (although this is not a picture of the baby)!

A peacock walked right by us while we were eating lunch.

Feeding the fish and ducks with our leftover bread.

On Sunday, we drove up to Ponderosa Christian Camp to deliver the recreation equipment. It was Bailey's first time at camp and she loved it! Playing with our buddies, Shane and Ethan.

Playing frisbee golf with Papa.

Getting our feet wet in the creek with Nana.

It was an amazing blessing to get to be with Grammie in her final days. She was such an incredible woman (more to come about her). It was wonderful to get to be with the Crump side of the family--we hadn't all been together since Thomas and I got married 7 years ago! I appreciate the Fitzpatrick family for being so understanding and for taking such good care of Thomas and Bailey so I could be with my family. It was great to get to spend time with friends and to be a part of 3 weddings--congrats to Andy and Trudy, Breck and Lindsay, and Chase and Shayla!

We'll be back in October for Katie and Skyler's wedding!