Family Time

After making Mom's funeral arrangements, we went to the Smokehouse in Gainesville for a bite to eat.

Sisters 

(Outside the Smokehouse)

The entire crew!

(l-r) Lexus, Randy, Sue, Me, George, 

Linda, David, Jeanne

I thought this was a good photo of 

Lexus, Triston & Preston.  

It was taken at Applebee's

after Mom's visitation.

Some of us stopped by the VFW after Mom's funeral since that was one of her favorite places. While there, a fellow took some of us to tour a nearby ranch. This was taken on that ranch next to the Red River.

Me, Sue, and our friend Karen

It was great to see Karen that day. She has lots of funny memories of Mom. I don't see Karen often enough these days but life happens. Hopefully, that'll change one day.

The day after Mom's funeral, a Monday, some of the family got together at Linda and David's house.

Just pooling around!

Pool Pals

Pool Sisters

There was grilling, and texting...

 and visiting and high fiving...

As well as corn hole playing 

and observing corn hole playing.

A family photo was in order so

George set the camera up on the tripod.

Then, he ran to get into the pic.

As you can see, he didn't make it!

I moved to the other end so he 

wouldn't have to run quite so 

far but he still didn't make it!

Third time truly is a charm.

He made it!

 (Front l-r~Triston, Lexi, Preston, 

Back~Geo, me, Michael, Jeanne, 

Randy, Sue, Tracy, Brandy, Linda, David)

Last, but not least, our traditional 

"Make a Face" picture!

It was nice that we could all be together but, of course, the circumstances were not as we wished. 

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful and extra special time together and that's definitely the way Mom would want it!

Smiles Always,

D~~~~

Photo Memories of Mom

On July 9th, Mom went home to be with the Lord. She was 85. She always said she was going to live to be 100 but the Lord apparently had other plans. I think living to 85 is pretty darn good though!

I wanted to share some photos of Mom and the family through the years.  

 As a teenager

Late teens or early 20's

Mom and Dad

(We all think Daddy looks a bit 

like James Dean in this photo.)

Mom and Dad headed to the 

1951 Texas/OU football game.

Wedding Day

with 

Grandma and Grandpa Richter (left) and

Grandma and Grandpa DuPell (right)

January 26, 1952

Pregnant with the first of us five kiddos!

February, 1953

Jeanne is missing from these next four pics.  

She wasn't born until 1966. 

This was taken around '57.

Love Chuck's big smile!

Our House

Deptford, NJ

In front of 

Grandma & Grandpa Richter's House

Collingswood, NJ

1964

Headed for church on Easter

Deptford, NJ

1965

There's Jeanne!  I'm holding her.
Pine Acres, NJ
1967

Pine Acres again

1967

Chuck is missing here

Gainesville, TX

Late 70's

Daddy passed away in May, 1983. 

Several years later, Mom started going with Don and they were together almost 25 years.

Mom & Don at Sue & Randy's wedding

on the Ohio River in Mt. Vernon, IN

1993

Germanfest 
Muenster, TX 
Late 1980's

Making gravy on Thanksgiving 

Chuck & Gwen's house

Gainesville, TX

Probably the mid to late 80's

Mom's living room

Gainesville, TX
Late 80's

Becoming an honorary Texan!

Late 80's

Mom with the Big Hair Gang  
(except for Chuck and Jeanne)! 

Gainesville, TX
May, 2008

Same day as the pic above

Granddaughter Brandy is in this one too.
Fredericksburg, TX 
May, 2008

Mom with her dog Daisy Mae.
Daisy is our dog now.
Mt. Vernon, IN

January, 2009

Make a Face!

Sue & Randy's House

Same day as the previous picture.

In the shop at Sue & Randy's house

July, 2009

Our House
Krugerville, TX

Christmas, 2009

Pilot Point, TX

July, 2011

Pilot Point

November, 2011

The best photo of Mom in the last few years.

One of my favorites too!

Christmas, 2013

I'm sad that she's gone and I miss her!  

I'm comforted, however, in knowing that she left behind a lot of wonderful times and special memories, as well as lots of family and friends who all loved her dearly!  She certainly did lots of living, loving and laughing in her good, long life, and knowing that, my friends, really makes me smile!

Smiles for Mom,
D~~~~

Out With The Old and In With The New

THE OLD

We thought it might be nice to have a smaller RV.  Plus, our current RV, a 2005 Fleetwood Southwind, is 10 years old. In four or five years when we're ready to take off for longer periods of time, she'll be 15, so on a bit of a whim, we decided to sell her. We didn't think she'd go quickly, if at all. 

We listed on RV Trader and a few other sites. As soon as we did, it started raining, and it rained for over a month. I don't know if the rain had anything to do with it but as soon as the rain stopped, we received two calls. 

Southwest Sarah

The first person to look made the purchase!

We were a little sad to see her go and a bit surprised that she sold so fast but we knew it would pass once we got another one.  I admit that even writing this post and seeing these two pictures makes me sentimental.

Bye Bye, dear friend!

THE NEW

We started looking at smaller Class C's but somehow, someway, something went awry. Everything we looked at didn't fit the bill. A couple units came close but didn't work for one reason or another so we decided to expand our search and look at some Class A's too.  Still no dice.

The longer we looked, the more we were beginning to wonder if we should have sold ours! We also began to consider our future needs like storage for one. When Geo retires, we will want to take off for months at a time which means taking more stuff.   

After a couple weeks of looking almost every other day, and a lot of disappointment, Geo came home from work talking about a 2015 Thor Motor Coach, Challenger 37 GT that he saw on the internet. He watched an hour long video about it and wanted to check it out live and in person so we did.   

Guess what we ended up with? 

Yep, you guessed it!

Below is a video of it 

that we found on YouTube.  

Our coach has different colors on the outside and inside. Also, there's a bunk above the driver's and passenger's seats that comes down electronically.  So we went from 32' to 37'. 

We pick it up Friday and have nowhere to go. Our 4th of July plans were cancelled because of flooding so we'll camp in it with our grandsons in the backyard.  

Needless to say, but I will of course, we are very excited!

Smiles,

D~~~~