Baby, Life, and Grandpa Dowdle

Well, I found out Friday that we are having another little boy. Crazy! Growing up I always imagined my self having little girls. Oh well, little boys really aren't that different from little girls. As far as I can tell, the only real differences are that little boys get pee everywhere in the bathroom and you're options on what to dress them in for, especially for church, are extremely limited and boring. They still need the same amount of love and support and need to be taught the same things. At least I don't have to buy anything. Ty is really happy about that part.

I promised that I was going to blog more, so here it goes. Life has been crazy lately. Last week we were all sick. Ty was the worst off with some sort of strep throat/flu/cold combo. He was sick enough to stay home from work for a few days, and that's saying something. Grady and I both got a cold and ear infections. Yes, you heard me right. I had an ear infection. I probably haven't had one of those since the '80's! I've been rehearsing for the musical Oklahoma!, playing my violin in the pit, every night these past two weeks, and let me tell you it is not an easy task to play in a musical when you can barely hear because your ears are full of fluid! I have really enjoyed playing in the musical. I've been the happiest I've been in a long time playing that music and watching the actors up on stage. It brings back lots of good memories- memories from my time at EA and memories from my childhood. My dad grew up in Oklahoma, and I lived there til I was two. I have lots of great memories of my dad singing all the songs, and acting out the parts with my mom. When I was 14 we went on a trip back to Oklahoma, and I got to watch a performance of Oklahoma! outside in an amazing open air theatre. It is fun going back to EA and watching all these "kids" perform. I remember having crushes on all the super cute leading men! I was playing in a musical there only 7 years ago as a student, but already I feel a lifetime older than all the actors. As always, there is a lot of talent up on stage, and I've recognized some of the exact same costumes that they used for performances while I was at EAC. Ah, the glory days! Even though the musical has taking up 3.5 hours of my time every night, I'm so glad I'm doing it. Tonight is the first performance, and it will run through Saturday night. I owe my husband a special thanks for allowing me to do this and picking up the slack while I'm gone!

Okay, time for catch-up. Back in February Ty's grandpa, Earl Dowdle, died. He was 90, and it was his time to go, but it is still always a little sad to see such a good man leave this earth. He lived a pretty amazing life as a test pilot for the US Air Force traveling with his family all around the world. He had 6 daughters. Ty's mom was number 4. He actually joined the church and was baptized on the same day as Ty's mom when she was 8.  Grady was adorable in his little suite, and we got lots of offers from people that wanted to take him home with them. For some strange reason though, he still ended up going home with us! :) Right after the family prayer when they were wheeling Ty's grandpa out of the room, Grady was so cute. He watched so intently and said "Bye-Bye Grandpa!" while waving goodbye too him. That was hands down the cutest thing I have ever seen him do! Well, it was great seeing a lot of family we hadn't seen for a long time. Here's a few pictures from that day.

It was raining when the funeral got out.

He was burried with full military honors. Which meant that there was a really cool firing squad. From the time they fired off the first shots until the end of the graveside service Luke had his hands like this ready to cover his ears at a moments notice! When the graveside service was over and we were driving to the luncheon Luke proclaimed "I want to play with guns!"

The service man giving Ty's grandma the flag that draped over his coffin.

That's my little niece Anne. It was so touching to see all of the little great-grandkids crying. They really loved their great-grandpa and he loved them! I actually saw a lot more little kids crying than adults.

 They let the little kids choose a flower to help them remember the day by. Grady and Luke did not want to be left out of that.

 Grady's flower.

 Luke's flower.