GRANDPARENTS, AUNTS, UNCLES & COUSINS!!! (Part IV)

After visiting with Uncle Mike, Aunt Amy, and their two sons Brandon and Hayden, it was off to see Grandma and Grandpa Parker and my Aunt Lana and Uncle Wayne and my cousins. To the left is a picture of Grandma and Vaughn meeting for the first time. Vaughn was meeting so many new people that he didn't know exactly what to do!







Here's a better picture of Grandma, and also Grandpa. You can see in the background part of a dark black stove. This is the old wood-burning stove I remember Grandma always having and always cooking on. I loved the idea that Grandma didn't need electricity or gas to cook on it! I think it's more of a decoration now, but it sure does bring back lots of fond memories!










Once we got to Grandma's, she called my Aunt Lana and Uncle Wayne, and they in turn called all their kids. Within a few minutes, everyone had showed up at Grandma's, and we had a party! All of a sudden there were 6 kids and 8 adults packed into a tiny living room! To the left is a picture of my cousin Wayne Jr. and his four children. They are from the top left: Austin, Wayne, Alex, Jacob and Mackenzie. Aren't they a cute family?!?!





This is my other cousin Donnie, and his wife Mandy and their Daughter Elana. Now I have to explain something about little Elana. She looks almost exactly like my sister Laura did when she was a little girl. When I first saw her, I felt myself gasp and I stopped dead in my tracks. I immediately wanted to grab her and hug her. I felt my heart melt in my chest, and I wanted to take her home with me. It was like stepping back into the past about 15 years or so. Momma had the same reaction when she saw her. I still get tender inside just looking at this picture of her.









Cousin Wayne is naturally good with kids. I think Vaughn can sense that about people, because he was quite comfortable with Wayne. He sat on his lap for a while and just hung out with little Jacob.









(I didn't get a picture of my cousin Heather, and her daughter Callie.) To the right is my Uncle Wayne and my Aunt Lana. They are some of my favorite people. Uncle Wayne served in Iraq, and was injured when a missile hit his camp. It took many months for him to recover, and Aunt Lana has been there through all of it. Uncle Wayne is a very kind man. Vaughn also warmed up to him very quickly. And Aunt Lana always seems to have a smile on her face. My memories of her always have her laughing at something. She is so fun to be around!



That evening we spent the night at Uncle Wayne's and Aunt Lana's home. This is their home in Arkansas. To the left it only shows part of their sun room. It is so beautiful in there! It has tons of windows, and it's fun for the kids to play in.







The next morning, April 30th, it was off to Cousin Wayne's house for a motorcycle ride! He has a very nice motorcycle. I have to admit I was a little nervous to go for a ride. But Wayne was very nice, and when I said I didn't want to go up to 60 m.p.h. (like Wayne wanted to) he respected that. He commented after the ride that I must have been scared, because I held him so tight he couldn't breathe!






Uncle Wayne was very nice to play with Vaughn while I was gone. Vaughn really enjoyed himself! He loves to play ball!








After the ride, we went inside and Wayne entertained us with his guitar. He is an excellent guitar player, and a very good singer as well. I've noticed that all of my relatives on my Mom's side seems to have great musical ability. Wayne played and sang to a song he wrote. It was wonderful.








We stayed for quite a while and just talked. Wayne showed us a gun that Grandpa Pennington had given him. (He is Momma's father). He also showed us one of Grandpa's old pipes that he used to smoke his tobacco in. Momma was in tears when she saw it. I smelled it's aroma, and it was exactly like I remember Grandpa smelling. It brought back many sweet memories of him, one of which was him sitting in his chair in the front room, smoking his pipe and shelling pistachio nuts. He always had a bowl of green pistachio nuts and a pipe next to that chair. Just before we left Wayne's house, he took a few minutes with Vaughn. It was so sweet to watch them together.






Wayne reminds me so much of my brother Ben when he was younger. Wayne has a lot of the same mannerisms that Ben had when he was young. And Wayne was so kind to me. It was like stepping back into the past and hanging out with Ben again! It brought back many fond memories of when Bubby and I were quite close in high school. It was a nice reminder of the past.

After visiting with Wayne and his kids, and Uncle Wayne and Aunt Lana, we went back to Grandma Parker's house. We took time to just visit and talk about things. Grandma has a little old dog named Taffy. This funny dog was so cranky! She loved to be wrapped up in blankets...totally covered in them so she couldn't get out! Poor Vaughn couldn't help himself. He wanted so badly to play with Taffy, that he got bit a few times. Taffy wanted nothing to do with him! I think it's because when Taffy was wrapped up in the blanket, Vaughn accidentally sat on her! Momma though was able to get on Taffy's good side, and she let Momma hold her. It was so cute!






Later that afternoon, Aunt Lana and Uncle Wayne came over. We talked for a while, and somewhere in the conversation, Aunt Lana mentioned that Wayne Jr.'s little boy desperately needed a haircut. She had asked me the day before who cut Vaughn's hair, and I told her I did. Aunt Lana asked me if I would cut little Jacob's hair, and I said, "Sure!" So we headed over to cousin Wayne's house again, and Momma and I gave little Jacob a haircut. His hair is much more fine than Vaughn's, so it was quite a trick cutting it! But I think we did okay. Poor little Jacob was crying so hard because the clippers we used were so loud! But he was very brave, and he looked pretty good afterwards!





When it was all over, little Jacob was quite calm, and he looked very handsome! Aunt Lana said he didn't look like a little baby any more! And he didn't, but like I said, he sure looked handsome!











We went back to Grandma Parker's after that, and spent the rest of the night just relaxing. It was so sad for me to think that the next morning, May 1st, we had to head back to Iowa! So, the next entry will be about our exciting trip "home" to Iowa. Until next time.....

Love, Lisa