Lovely Long Weekend

I took the day off work today, so Autumn & I got to sleep in (until 7:30 instead of 6:30). We got packed and cleaned up and headed over to Uncle Curt’s to see the baby puppies. His dogs just had some puppies, and their eyes aren’t even open yet. Autumn wasn’t too sure what to think about the puppies, but she was brave enough to give one a little kiss. The puppies were SO CUTE and sweet and little!

After that, we went over to Mom & Dad’s. They were getting ready to go over to the church for Matt Courtois’ memorial service. Mom & Autumn both looked so nice, so we decided to get a picture. They both look so pretty. Autumn & I went over to a sale that a lady was having on adorable bows and headbands and accessories for little girls. Click HERE for more info.

Then we drove past the church (where the funeral was being held) on our way to the highway. They had lots and lots of American flags and driving down this row of them brought tears to my eyes! I was so touched and grateful for Matt’s (and all the other soldiers fighting for our country) sacrifice.

You can’t see it very well in this picture, b/c I took this picture as I was driving by the church, but in the front row of the parking lot there was a row of about 15-20 motorcycles. I asked my Dad why they were there (b/c Matt wasn’t a Harley Davidson type guy as far as I know). My Dad said it’s a group of people called The Patriot Guard Riders. They attend funerals of fallen heroes to show respect but also to act as a shield for the mourning families. I guess some horrible people will show up to the funerals of some service people that have died and protest and say how horrible that person was for being in the military. I was SHOCKED when my Dad told me that people would show up to a funeral of a serviceman/woman to protest!!! I don’t care if you agree w/ a war or not, that is just totally unacceptable that you would come to someone’s funeral uninvited just to cause problems! I had tears streaming down my face as I drove past and saw how many motorcycles were there from the Patriot Guard Riders. What a neat and amazing thing for them to do. Thankfully, there were no protestors at Matt’s funeral.

Anyways, on to a lighter subject…Autumn & I drove for 3 hours to spend the weekend w/ some of Tara’s loved ones. We went over to Michael’s apartment and spent the majority of the day there just hanging out and watching movies. Autumn watched…you guessed it…Pocahontas about 6 times. Then for dinner we wanted to go to one of Tara’s favorite places, so we went to Olive Garden. We were teasing Jacob that he couldn’t eat very much b/c he’s so skinny, but he CHOWED DOWN on the never ending pasta bowl. I wish I had his metabolism.

This is Meagan & Steven. Steven & Michael work together and they came w/ us. They are SO FUN and I had such a good time getting to know them. Steven showed up to the restaurant wearing a big old cowboy hat, which was awesome.

We all just sat and talked and ate and enjoyed being together. I can’t even express how grateful I am to have such great people to be around, not to mention the food was pretty dang good, too.

Krystina is awesome and I am so glad that we get along so well. I love how she just keeps things real and says things the way they are. I also love her sense of style. We spent the weekend enjoying watching Dexter together (and Michael too).