Planning a Trip

I love getting in the car and driving somewhere. There are so many fun things you see along the way when traveling. I plan on taking many vacations in my lifetime. The key to a great vacation is to be organized. You don't want to get to your vacation spot and have no clue where to eat, where to stay, or what to do. Due to our upcoming vacation in September, I decided I wanted to create my own printable pages to help me stay organized. Here is the first document I created for my Trip Planning Binder. Once I get the rest of the pages created, I will post them for everyone to use. Stay tuned! 

~ Amanda Danielle

It's Been Awhile!

Holy smokes! I have not posted in what seems like forever. A lot has happened since I last posted. We spent our summer hanging out with some great friends. Went four-wheeling. But, the hardest of all, was when we lost a wonderful man in November 2014. We spent so many nights visiting Grandpa Tom in the hospital and in the nursing home. Things seemed to be going so great and then one day everything changed. Grandpa Tom had an abdomen aortic anuyrism rupture in late October. It was such a scary experience! Not many people survive through that, but Grandpa Tom did. He was one tough cookie! His recovery was going okay after that, but then he had problems with his colon, part of it died. So, then he had to have surgery to remove part of his colon. After that, recovery was tough. We spent many nights visiting him. Then on November 21st, 2014, we found out that Grandpa Tom was put on hospice. We made plans to visit him the next morning, and we are glad we did. On the morning of November 22, 2014, we went to visit Grandpa. It was so tough seeing him in that condition, so we spent some of our time there and then left, making plans to come back later that day. Not 5 minutes after we left, I received a text message from Brendan's aunt saying that Grandpa Tom was passing away. We rushed back to the nursing home, but by the time we got there he had already passed. Every day I thank God that we made the choice to visit him that morning. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas were not the same without Grandpa Tom. He sure did bring a lot of cheer into the conversation. He may have not been there with us physically, but he was in our hearts. 

Grandpa Tom built this picnic table for me in August, 2014. He had been going through chemo and still managed to build this beauty in 2 days! I am forever grateful for this gift. 

"God gained another beautiful angel today. Grandpa Tom was an amazing man and I am so happy that I got to have him as a part of my life for the past 7 1/2 years. I will always remember the long conversations we had about the airplanes he built and flew, the roads he used to take when he was out trucking, and his favorite companions, Astro, Frankie, and Buster. This past year was tough on him and even though we will miss him in every moment of our lives, we will be at peace knowing that he is no longer in any pain. Every time we sit at our new picnic table this spring we will know that Grandpa Tom is sitting there with us. Rest in peace Grandpa Tom. Thank you for being a grandpa to me as well."