We love you, grandpa

As most of you know, my grandpa butch (dad's dad) passed away a few weeks ago. The funeral was a huge swing of emotions for me - and I have been heavily relying on Christ and His perfect plan these past few weeks. It's amazing the peace you can find in trusting in your Savior.

Wanted to blog about some of the memories I had with Grandpa to make sure they don't go forgotten.

When grandma and grandpa lived in Ankeny I loved going to their place - Grandpa would often bring out this huge bowl of pennies and let the grand kids go through them and keep any that were made on the year we were born. This kept us busy for hours -Grandpa was one smart cookie :)

You also couldn't visit grandma and grandpa without a friendly game of pass the ace - we always looked forward to that when we visited.

When grandma and grandpa lived in South Dakota it was always the best feeling after a long car ride to run into their house and give them hugs.

When our family moved back to Ankeny from Pennsylvania I remember getting to ride back with grandpa and grandma. Josh also rode with us. Grandpa gave us a huge cup full of m&ms to munch on during the 20 hour car ride that never went empty :) what was he thinking?!

When I was about 12 years old I remember staying with grandma and grandpa over the 4th of July. Terri was there, too! Terri had some fireworks to shoot off and one batch of them got a little crazy. One shot right towards grandpa who dove off the steps and another flew towards grandma who was walking the dog along the side of the house :) there was quite a bit of screaming, jumping and laughing going on.

Grandpa always seemed to be there for the important things while his health permitted. He never wanted to miss out on a thing! He always knew exactly what was going on in each of our lives an every year at Christmas would write a Christmas story that incorporates each of our names several times along with the major things that happened that year - always something to look forward to!

There are a million little things that were so great about him, too. When we were little grandpa was always singing to us, he loved a mean card game, you could always find him taking an afternoon nap in his recliner with a good sports game on - but of course, don't change the channel! :)