The Mo Family: Trip to Cali and a few Randoms

A few randoms before I get to my trip to Cali...

A short trip to the park after school one day. I just LOVE the sky in this picture, SO many different types of clouds, and 6 cute little {crazy} kids as well.

I was sitting in the drop-off lane waiting to drop off Tyler at school one day and for some reason the flags blowing in the wind captured my attention. Love seeing the flags flying high and proud.

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend Time Out for Women with a few ladies from church. I learned and grew so much. More on that to come later. This was me with my sisters good friend, Chrislyn, who is now the director for TOFW.

NOW, for my trip to California!

This trip was WAY overdue. I am SO glad that I had the opportunity to spend a few days with my dad's family in Livermore, CA in mid-October. I stayed with my Uncle Stephen and Aunt Kathy. Katy was a bit shy at first, warmed up pretty quick to Steve and slowly but surely to Kathy as well. She wasn't sure what to think of their dog Izzy, and stayed very close to me at first, but slowly warmed up to Izzy as well and was soon following her around (at a distance) very curious what she was up to.

I loved seeing this at their house in the backyard- it is the hand prints of my two oldest sisters and my two cousins, Matthew and Christopher, many years ago.

It was so nice to see my Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Robert as well. It was fun to be able to have them meet Katy for the first time. My Grandma is amazing at making quilts. I will forever cherish the quilt she made us when we got married, and each of the quilts my kids have received when they were born. I'm hoping I inherited some of these skills, but since I just know that this is not the season in my life to be making quilts we'll have to wait and see.

My Uncle is an amazing chef, I wish we lived near him so I could learn a thing or two about cooking...I've got baking down, just not the cooking part....and have a LONG way to go in that department.

Katy hadn't quite warmed up to Grandma yet...as you can see by her face haha.

It was so nice to see my Grandpa as well, though hard. My Grandpa has Alzheimer's. The last time I saw him was about 2 years before at my brothers wedding. He has gotten a lot worse since then. When we went to see him he was pretty out of it and had an extremely hard time staying awake. At first it was hard to keep the tears down, missing his old self so much, but once I can to terms with it I really enjoyed my time with him. Every time he would wake up and open his eyes he'd instantly look at Katy and his face would LIGHT up and try to get her to come to him. The next day my grandma went to see him and asked if he remembered his granddaughter and great-granddaughter coming to visit the day before, he didn't remember me, but he did remember Katy and said she was so cute and little. It meant so much to me that he remembered seeing her, that she was able to bring a little sunshine to his day that day. I really miss him and am so sad and ashamed that I have not visited more often and stayed in touch with them better. I will always remember him for his silly jokes and never ending love and kindness, just like my dad. I pray everyday that the research for finding a cure, or at least a better slowing agent, continues toward success one day. It is such a heartbreaking thing to have to watch and be a part of. I can only imagine how hard it is on my grandma to see her love drifting away, but still be there. She is a strong woman and a great example to me.