Though it’s not a final goodbye, we’ll miss Grandma and her spunky stories. Stephen’s Grandma Moody passed away on a Friday morning this August. She was 87 years old. I’m thankful Silas and Cooper both had the chance to meet their great grandma.

We thought it was important for Mom and Dad to have their grandbabies with them, so we flew to Indiana for a few days and attended Grandma’s memorial service. After the burial, Dad showed us where Stephen’s great grandparents Lobb are buried.

Five of Stephen’s siblings were able to be there, and we stayed with Stephanie and Jason in their cozy little apartment in Lapel. Lapel, Indiana is a sweet little town. Cooper and I enjoyed exploring it together one morning.

The morning of Grandma’s funeral, the Moody’s beloved golden retriever, Sadie died. For as long as I can remember, Sadie’s been part of the family. She was a loyal companion and had always been so excited to see Stephen. This is one of the last pictures we took of her.

Even though the circumstances were sad, it was good to be with family. Grampy let Silas and Cooper explore his garden and even eat produce they picked right from the stalks. Both boys rode on Grampy’s new lawn mower, and Stephen tried his hand at Jon’s bow. Grammy had some special gifts for some special boys.

We hit the area highlights–Sno-Castle, Dad’s IMI office with its own taxidermy zoo, and King Gyros. How could we go back to Anderson and not have some of that greasy goodness?The following day we took a trip to the Indy Children’s Museum, which is such an amazing place! This is the first time Stephen and I brought the boys, so it was fun to discover it again with them. There were water tables, sand boxes, musical instruments, a mirror maze, dinosaur dig, trains and blocks (just to name a few of the fun things). Because the museum was hosting some of China’s Terracotta Warriors, we took a “trip to China” where Silas tried some calligraphy and Cooper fed the baby panda. Too much cuteness!

There’s nothing like family, and I’m so thankful we could be together again.