sanders family old blog

enjoying a beautiful sunday afternoon.

van and i have a little secret hiding place. it's a place we like to go and pretend that we're stranded on a deserted island and no one knows where we are. all we have to eat are the snacks we brought with us, and there's nobody around for miles. to get to it, you have to walk underneath a viaduct (that makes it more exciting. part of the fun is the "treacherous" walk down the steep rocks)

after the scary climb, we can see our little stream.

dang, i guess this place isn't secret after all...the "butcher" has already been here. we'd better be on the lookout for him (this adventure is getting scarier by the minute) van climbs down the dirt hill and across the rocks to his "spot"...a rock in the middle of the stream (that's the best place for snack eating)although we are a little worried that we might be stranded here for weeks, we decide to make the best of it and take off our shoes to wade in the stream and eat our snacks.we stay there for a while and talk and throw rocks in the water and pretend to fish and stuff. after an hour or so, we decide we should try to find our way back to civilization. so we start the 10 mile journey home (it's really only 1 block:)so long secret hiding place. we'll be back next week.

on our way back, we found a deadly snake that was trying to eat us. but van wrestled him to the ground and saved the day.

i'll never forget these adventures with my little 5 year old.
i'm so lucky to be a mom.

pizza with the cousins, jasmine distorting van's handsome face, working on cars with dad, and climbing on the roof/in trees, pretty much filled up the rest of our spring break. freddy and i finished up tiling the kitchen floor and other around-the-house jobs. it was a good mix, we worked hard and we played hard.

you can't get any more ghetto than this. eating crunch berries in the backyard on a dirty card table sitting on lawn chairs, with overgrown weeds and an over turned wading pool in the background. not to mention the garbage can and random bricks laying around. and if that wasn't enough, both of the boys are wearing sleeveless t-shirts!

i promise it's not always like this. we just got done tiling the kitchen floor and the table isn't accessible right now...i don't have an excuse for the sleeveless t-shirts though (hey, at least they're not wearing wife beaters), or the jacked up back yard. AND...van lost his first tooth yesterday! which was actually pretty traumatic for him. it freaked him out when he realized it was loose. he didn't understand that baby teeth just fall out by themselves. i guess i should have prepped him for that one, i thought i had a couple more years though...he's only 5, i can't remember if that's the normal age to start losing teeth. anyways, pretty big milestone for mr. van:)

ok this is random, but i was eating a hot dog today and pulled out my fry sauce (this stuff is good on anything) and i was thinking...i heard that fry sauce is just a utah thing. is that true?
well being a utah girl myself, i can't imagine eating french fries without fry sauce. i mean just ketchup? yuck. i always get a packet of mayo to mix with my ketchup to make my own fry sauce. and then i dip my hamburger in it, and anything else that is close by. i thought everyone put it on their fries and hamburgers and such. i never realized it wasn't available everywhere. but it has been brough to my attention, that fry sauce is only a utah thing. (??)
so a while back, my hubby ordered for me online my own 36 ounce bottle of the most amazing fry sauce ever...only available in utah. "some dude's fry sauce" they call it. they put some other ingredients in it to make it extra good. and although it's treated like gold around here...i do share it with my family now and then.
anyways, i was just wondering if i'm the only texan to own a bottle of this stuff, or if anyone can confirm the absurd rumors that the rest of the world doesn't share my love of fry sauce...

i absolutely love sundays. not because it's the last day of the weekend to get everything done that i need to do before monday, or because i'm able to get caught up on all the tv shows that i missed during the week, or get my grocery shopping done while my husband is home. actually it's just the opposite. in fact on sunday if the tv gets turned on at all, it's to watch extreme home makeover from 7 to 8 (that's a good family show right?), and we make sure all our shopping and stuff is done by saturday. we pretty much just chill when it comes to sunday. we do things like play board games, and read, and make cookies, and of course take the precious "sunday nap".
but i just love the feel of sunday. we go to church in the morning, and everything that we would normally do gets put on hold until monday...and i have the whole day to hang out with my wonderful family. i know alot of you do the same thing with your families. don't you love it!

since the weather was so nice we had to get outside! we hadn't been to the duck park for a while, so off we went to feed the ducks...

do a little swinging...

and throw around the football...

and of course jasmine found the perfect reading tree, while we all enjoyed the beautiful weather on this beautiful sunday day.

this is my grandpa (handsome devil). he was such a good man. it's hard to even know where to start, there were so many wonderful things about him. but i'd have to say that above all, this great man had such a loving heart. he would do anything for anyone, he was so kind and patient. his loving way made him liked by everyone he met.
it was always exciting to go to grandma and grandpa's house because he was always happy to see us and made us feel special. as a little girl, he would sing me songs and bounce me on his knee. i feel so lucky, because i actually got to live with my grandparents my senior year of high school. that was such a fun time for me. playing scrabble and card games, listening to childhood stories, and watching lawrence welk every saturday night with grandpa, are things i will never forget.
he taught by his quiet example. always working hard, his sincere kindness, and a joy for life, were some of the things i admired about him. i was able to fly out to utah for his funeral, and celebrate his life with my wonderful family. the service was beautiful and the theme was unanimous...he was such a good man who lived a good full life, leaving behind him a posterity that will forever be changed by who he was. it's amazing what a difference one man can make.
my sweet grandpa, i love you.

look how cute those two are! my sweet grandma (who is just as wonderful as he was) is doing well, just really missing her companion of 62 years.

i'm so grateful to be a part of the posterity that came from Cecil and Ava Losee!
8 children, 49 grandchildren, 51 great grandchildren...and still growing!

well over 200 people attended the funeral, which was an amazing tribute to his life. my grandpa loved to play the harmonica, and out of all the grandchildren, my cousin john was the only one to pick it up. he played "going home" at the graveside ceremony. i'm sure that made grandpa smile.

He served in World War II, a nose gunner in the B-24 bomber airplane. A tribute from one of his crew members was read at the funeral and his fellow Veterans were there to honor him, waving the Airforce flag.

it was a gorgeous day. i could just imagine grandpa looking down on us with a smile on his face, free from pain, content as can be...in paradise.

i love knowing that he ran right into Jesus' arms, just like this picture. what joy grandpa must have felt to finally see his Savior.

"Come to me"
God saw you getting tired
when a cure was not to be,
So He wrapped his arms around you
and whispered, "come to me".

You lived your life so fully
and surely passed your test,
a valiant son of God
who did nothing but his best.

We're grateful for the comfort
that keeps sadness far away...
knowing that we'll see your face
in Heaven one fine day.

-author unknown