Potter Times- it's all about faith, family & friends.: TeXaS! (Part One)

Our Texas trip was an amazing, fun, memorable and healing journey. We were crazy busy each day that we were there and made a lot of unforgettable memories. I know the kids will remember it always, as will I.

We spent just about every day in the water. We swam at Balmorhea State Park. It is a really neat place to swim. It is the world’s largest spring-fed swimming pool, which covers 1.75 acres and stays at 72–76 degrees year round. The HUGE pool is fed by San Solomon Springs, 22 – 28 million gallons of water flow through it each day. It is 25 feet deep in some areas. You swim with different types of fish and turtles. It is so cool. I use to swim there when I was a kid, so it's always neat to take my kids there.

Lilly and I enjoyed the "lazy days" of summer and floated the day away...

Alec spent a lot of time "towing" us around. He got in a good work-out!

He also got to hang with Doo! They became good friends over this trip. They are both sweet, sweet kids.

Silly Lilly...

Mac and Mason were feeding the fish, even though your not suppose too. Oh well.

I am sure the fish didn't mind...

We were able to meet up with John, Kelsey and Maddox on one of our swimming days! It was the first chance we have had to meet Maddox. We clicked immediately and love her to pieces! She is going to be a great Big Sis!

It didn't take long for the boys to strut their stuff on the diving board...

Go Alec!

Go Mac!

Go John!

Go Mac...I think this one hurt when he hit the water!

Here is Lilly...she wasn't about to let the boys show her up! She requested that Uncle John wait in the water below...so he did. After 2 jumps, she had it all figured out and was on her own. I am not sure how high the board is, but it's pretty darn high!

Go Lilly!

Here comes Mason! He was pretty terrified at first and refused to try it...but after he watched Lilly do it, he decided to brave it and go. Doo waited for him in the water below. He jumped a few more times after the first one. I was so proud of him!

Yeah Mason!!

The 3 Musketeers...Doo, Alec and Mac-

LOL!!!

The water felt amazing and refreshing. I think the temperature each day was close to 100 degrees!

We loved it (0:

We spent our first weekend in Pecos with our family there. It was nice to visit and hang-out with all of them. We stayed at Aunt Myrt's and went to church on Sunday and were able to see a lot of great friends. The kids love Aunt Myrt's backyard. She has a neat pond, lots of flowers everywhere, 5 little dogs (yes, 5) and best of all...TURTLES! The kids loved feeding them and holding them. She had Clay and Taren (her grand-babies) staying with her and we enjoyed playing with them too! The boys were thrilled to go 4-wheeling with Uncle Doug too one evening.

We also hit the park that I use to play at when I was little. It had this really tall rocket that we loved climbing up and yelling really loud from the top! The only problem was that all our play structures were made out of metal/iron and well, it's Pecos Texas and it gets VERY, VERY HOT there! We would burn our butts if we went down the slide...I never could figure out why all the play areas were made out of metal? Luckily there is another park that has wood play structures. LOL...they didn't have it there when I was growing up!

Alec could barely hold onto the bars because they were so hot and it was only 10:00 am!

We also made a stop at the cemetery to see Mema and Big John's resting place. Ironically, we got there on the same date that Big John passed away on- June 23rd, 2008. I find it hard to believe that he has been gone for 4 years and Mema for 6.5 years. We miss them still every day.

We headed back to Ft. Davis on Monday. I knew we needed the rest of the week to get ready for the big celebration that was coming up on Saturday! It gave us a lot of quality time with Nonna, Pe-Paw, Mason, Doo, Sam, Baby Stephen, Velvet, Tim, Bevin, Keith, Martha, James, Jamie, Sandy, Dave, Momma-lene...the list goes on and on! It is non-stop around there! The kids love the cook shed, Grandpa Tex's house and the salt water swimming pool that Nonna and Pe-Paw have between the two houses. They lived in it!

Mason, Lilly and Nonna out front of the drug store...

Alec and Mac out front of the drug store...

I finally got to meet Baby Stephen. He is so sweet! I loved holding and rocking him.

I look really tired in this picture- I did not sleep much over the trip and it was catching up with me! I think we had just gotten back from Pecos and I had a bit of a migraine from the heat...but I still had to post it because he is so CUTE!!

It didn't take long before the flags were up and flying and reminding us of the importance of the days coming up. We all had a lot to get done and get ready for it! This flag pole is in-between my Dad's house and Nonna and Pe-Paw's house. In fact...the cemetery that dad is buried in is in the background, close to the highest mountain you see. I spent most mornings sitting on Dad's front porch watching the sunrise and wishing him a good morning. It's a peaceful place to be.

The boys being goofy...they swam until about 11:30 that night...

...as did the rest of the Klan!

I swam a lot too!

Sydney and Alec had a great time too! I was so glad to have some of my Oregon family there with me, especially because I was missing my main man! I really missed Pat and I know he really wanted to be there with us, but he needed to stay home and work. He works so hard for us...for me to be able to stay home with our kids. I am a lucky gal to have him and his amazing family in my life. It meant a lot to me that those who were able to make the trip, were there. They all miss Grandpa Tex a lot and have many great memories of him.

I made sure to cruise in the Corvette! I was nervous when I first drove it, but soon got over it and drove it quite a few times! It rocked! Sydney loved it too...

We went out to the cemetery and put up flags for Dad and some stones that the kids made for him.

It is a very quiet, calm, peaceful place. It is extremely difficult to be there, but you can feel the quiet and the calm...it definitely helps. I had John remove his VA stone because I knew Dad would be having a lot of visitors in the days to come and it just really bothered me that they had his name spelled wrong and his DOB wrong. We are in the process of having it corrected.

The kids' stones look amazing there. Sadly, the post office broke them during shipping, but I glued them together as best as I could. Griff and Lilly's hand-prints survived, but I am planning to have Mac make another one.

Sydney put a picture of her and my Dad out there. It was from my wedding day...11 years ago. It brought back a lot of great memories from that special day. I know that we all miss him terribly.

Before I knew it, it was time for the big celebration! Saturday was a crazy-fun day. It sort of went by in a blur, but we enjoyed it immensely!

I got up early and John and I put up all of Dad's flags on his porch. I knew at that moment it was "go-time".

The house looked nice. We had cleaned a lot of stuff up, weeded, etc. It felt good to get some things accomplished that needed to be done.

The morning started off with the parade. We were going to ride in my Dad's restored military jeep, with John, Kelsey, Maddox, Jamie and Uncle Johnny. Nonna was driving her "dolled-up" golf cart, Sydney was riding with Velvet in the Corvette and Bryce and Wyatt were driving their cart. We were all ready to go and the kids were ready to throw candy!

Unfortunately, Nonna's darling cart got a flat tire just before it was time for the parade to start! We were so bummed for her...and for those of us that helped put all those tissue flowers on that thing! She handled it with ease and grace (cuz she rocks) and was all smiles anyway!

Dad's Jeep looked nice with the flags and the banners that Kelly made for me. (Thank You Kelly)

It brought many people to tears...but helped us remember and honor him.

John and I.

Uncle Johnny, my Dad's brother, drove Dad's jeep for the parade.

Nonna and I

Uncle Johnny and Tommy Smith

Bryce and Wyatt

The parade was great and the kids loved throwing candy...the most amazing part was- as we passed spectators, they all took of their hats and saluted or bowed their heads as Dad's jeep passed by. It was definitely an "awe" moment/experience and a great tribute to him.

Lilly summed it up when she said "all of these people love Grandpa too". I said, "Yes, Sweetie...they sure do!"

We will never forget it.

After the parade was over, we made a mad dash to the center of town so the kids could watch The Shoot-Out at the bank and I could shop all the booths! Every year, as part of the holiday, they carry off a Fourth of July "Bank Robbery," enacted by cowboys on horseback. The cowboys always get apprehended, naturally, and the towns "crime rate" returns to the lowest in the country.

They used a wagon that my Dad gave to Nonna for the staging area, so a part of him was there with us.

The role of the Sheriff was played by Pastor Gregory Meads. He preaches at The Church of Christ there and was a friend to my Dad. He too is a Vietnam Veteran. He did a great job of being "Sheriff" for a day!

All of the booths/vendors were set up all around the courthouse. I have very happy memories of this place...it is where Pat and I were married! Right on the front steps, under the huge pillars. Nonna still works there and the Honorable County Judge Grubb is still there too. He married us and also married John and Kelsey in a private ceremony while we were there this trip! We are so happy for them!

After some shopping and watching the festivities, we had to make another mad dash to the house. I had a cake to make for Kelsey's first baby shower that we were having for her. I had attempted to make it the night before, but it was almost 2:00 a.m. by the time I had a chance to get to it and I was just too tired. It all worked out fine and I made strawberry shortcake just in time for the fun to begin!

Aunt Myrt and Aunt Bev had brought up everything else for it, so it was smooth sailing. They had the cutest corsage made for her out of blue baby socks! It was adorable.