an honorable farewell…

Friday August 31, Heather and I traveled to Miramar Air Fore Base to say farewell to our very honorable Uncle and Marine. It was amazing! The amount of respect and honor that you feel just driving onto the cemetery is just overwhelming. Heather was very excited to see all the American Flags and said “HI” to every Marine she saw, it was really cute and made them smile. Although words cant explain how much we miss our Uncle but are grateful for the time we did have together, it was quiet the experience to be part of this honorable farewell to such a great man.

this is the avenue of flags(the entrance)

Heather and I went to check out a POW statue they had just put added to the location

the statue is a POW that is expressing his liberation. Heather and I met a lady that was a nurse during WWII and told us that inside the statue are the time capsules from POW’s..her’s and her late husbands were inside there and in 2045 they are going to open them to ready.. I would love to be there for that! The sweet lady and her friend gave Heather a dollar for ice cream since it was her birthday too.. she made them smile and when they asked how old she was she announced it was her bday and she was 3! The ladies said they really needed her bright smile and were so happy we met each other. I felt very honored to meet them too

the final farewell is in a horse drawn carriage.. the Marines are just amazing with the amount of respect they have in each move

all the flags

the Marine that played the bugle stayed back from the rest to play TAPS

I lost it here! the flag folding ceremony is .. speechless..

The Marines stepping away after the 21 gun salute

look in the crowd.. this General is a very decorated General and a good friend of my Uncle.

When ever you see a white dove flying they are on their way to send love to our loved ones

the shadow box on the left is one my Aunt made for my cousin.. its of my Uncle’s western wear he had as a child. The box on the right is of my Uncles many medals

this 1972 Ford Galaxy was my Grandmas! My cousin has restored it and drove it that day.. it was so fun talking about the fun we had in that car. The back seat is so long we could slide from one end to the other

Here is Heather patiently waiting for the ice cream man to come =) thanks to the lady we had met earlier

Heather and her little neighbor friend Alice.. they were running around being silly!

It may seem strange that I took pics of the service but there were a few reasons I did. My Mom and Sister were not able to make it because they live out of state and also it was to remember the amount of respect and honor others showed for my Uncle. I had explained to Heather that the “box” was just a place an Angel keeps their things in case they need them later. We put them in a safe place for them because now they are angels with God looking over us. Heather liked that a lot! I did not attend the viewing simply because there was no way I was going to have Heather see something like that at a young age. It was hard to explain but she  believe in angels and likes that she can send hugs and loves on the wings of the white doves to say HI to our angels above that always look over us.

We all Love and Respect Uncle Jimmy D Vandever and now he continues to look over us from above. Semper Fi! Amen!

a tough marine = a tough angel

Jimmy D Vandever is an amazing Uncle and one tough Marine. He loved being a Marine and loved his family, friends and his wife more then words can say. Thankfully his last battle was a short one and he didnt have to suffer long, August 22 @ 10:42 our hero became an angel and will continue to protect us and look over us from above. After months of battle with cancer caused from Agent Orange my favorite Uncle  can now rest and be with our loved ones that guide our path from above.

Here is a plaque that is at Mt Soledad in LaJolla Ca. It is a place to honors those that serve our great country. Its an amazing feeling when you look around at some of the plaques.. there are a lot of strong people that protect our country.

Here's a group shot from that day.

There are so many things I can say about my favorite Uncle I dont know where to begin.We cry  because we miss him but Im so glad he's not suffering anymore.

Always in our hearts.. RIP Uncle Jimmy

Semper Fi!!

Enjoying summer

I cant believe how fast July went by.. didn’t it just start yesterday? Usually July is pretty hot but we havent had any scorching temps yet.. well a few days but not that bad. One day it rained for about an hour and we had to dust off the umbrellas and go play.. a little rain doesn’t stop us from having fun haha! Our friends told us about Industry Speedway on wed’s too.. we went last wed to watch the flat track races, it was fun! very fast paced too and it was ugly hawaiian shirt day so we even pulled out the hawaiian shirts and got dressed up for the races LOL

a little fun in the very humid rain

Finally we made it to the park Kev and I grew up at! it certainly has changed a bunch from when we were kids

I thought this was so sweet.. these two elderly ladies were pushing each other on the swings.. youre never to old for swings  

Me and Heather in the helicopter

My prince charming..

Heather and Kev racing down the slides…like Kev even had a chance hahaha!

Heather thought she could wear her costume from halloween 2010..

these little kiddos were amazing.. better than the pros!

my two favorite race fans

Heather loves wearing her very stylish pink earmuffs.. she loves that they are pink!

There has been so much going on this month I cant wait to find out what next month holds! This month we found out our dear friends are going to have a little one too!! so exciting ..and they arent going to find out the sex.. yeah!! I love surprises!!

Happy Birthday America!

 

Happy 4th of July! I love watching fireworks, bbq’n and hanging out with some friends! We hung up our flag and made a nice pole for it too.. Heather gets very excited to see “our flag” so we decided the 4th was the prefect day to get our permanently set up =)    Jackie and baby Jenna helping keep an eye on the grill.

Heather and the kiddos were playing frisbee golf.. Heather thought it made more sense to just put the frisbee in the net so it wouldn’t fall out

she loved this scooter thing!! she took to it really quick too.. she watched how the older kids were moving on it and decided she could do it too

what do you think.. good cupcake?? LOL the kids looked like they ate smurfs!

of course she had to take the bike for a spin too

her best buddy Aaron tried to ride with her.. the buddy system is always good

duck, duck, goose…

best buddies patiently waiting for the fireworks to begin

took a break from waiting to dance a bit..

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. Every day is a good day to celebrate our freedom..

Summer lovin…

as you know if the sun is out so are the Hannah’s! Swim class was a success! Despite the freezing cold water on a few days Heather is a happy little swimmer and is very excited to have a little pool to swim in.. once the water warms up we will be enjoying it.. no more freezing temps for us! =) Here are a few more pics of our summer enjoyment..

she’s just like me.. loves taking pics =)

we were waiting for swim class to begin so Heather picked a flower for Daddy

a nice little treat once in awhile.. this ice cream guy has a HUGE selection and is always so sweet to Heather because she always remembers to say thank you!

Here’s my crazy girls playing around

best friends!

doesn’t this face just scream I LOVE SUMMER!!

Dingo was about to sneeze.. I thought it was pretty funny

this is one very good pup that doesn’t mind being tackled, sat on, jumped on, snuggled up with and anything else our little girl likes to do with her

hope your summer is staring off awesome too..

Summer time is here

I LOVE summer time!! we have been so busy already but its been tons of fun! We went and had some family pics done last month, its so amazing to see how much Heather changes, she's such an amazing little girl! She can be such a ham in front of the camera too! Heather and I started a little swim class, its only 2 weeks and we are 1/2 way through  and she is doing so good! For Father's Day weekend we spent the day bbq'n and swimming it was great

our happy little family

in swim class she doesnt use floaties or anything but when we are just having fun in the pool we use them..well.. Heather uses them Kevin on the other had thinks the duck floatie is a hat hahaha!

time for a little concert. I am in the process of moving and re-arranging furniture so dont look in the background =)

a little time in the pool on a hot day is always good!

I have more pics and videos that I'll post later but its just been so busy I havent had time to get them all together

Hope you are enjoying summer so far too...