Remembering Grandpa Carlos

Today would have been my grandpa's 78th birthday, but instead, he was buried this morning. My heart is heavy today as I remember him and prepare to join other family and friends at a memorial to honor him this weekend.

It's hard for me to sum up my grandfather's life, and I certainly cannot do it justice by trying.  I will remember many sweet things about his being a part of my childhood.

He lovingly called me 'stink pot' for many years when I was little.
He would say 'hello beautiful' every time he saw me, as well as his wife (although grandma also got 'hello lover' which I always thought was sweet), daughter, cousins, and many other women, but it always made me feel special.
He would always boast about making really good fried eggs.  He loved them with cayenne pepper.
He would talk anyone's ear off about anything, especially football, Stanford, real estate, or sports.
He absolutely loved invention and innovation.  He would always talk about how cool the latest technology was and how the way to 'make it' in the world was to invent the next big thing.  "You know...what you gotta do is...."

I have many other memories like this too, and I will think about them fondly as life reminds me of him.  But what strikes me about him was how much he loved his family and friends.  I said this on Facebook, but i think it sums up an important part of who he was.  My grandpa Carlos has always been one of my number one fans. Always proud of me and cheering me on. He loved his family, friends, kids, grandkids, and great grandkids so much. I'm so grateful for how he has supported me and my family over the years. So glad my girls had a chance to meet him and bask in his pride as well. 

I have very few old pictures of he and I when I was little at my house right now, but this is one I took a snapshot of at a recent visit to my Dad's house.  I will try to add more later.  But here I am with my dear grandpa.  I think I was 5 or 6.

And here are some more recent ones.

May 2005, at my MA Graduation

August 2005, Giving at toast at he and my grandma's 50th Wedding Anniversary Party

 January 2007, Stanford Reunion

September 2007, Our Wedding

June 2010, celebrating Wes' MS Graduation

August 2012, with his two great granddaughters

May 2013, with family after Kate's baby dedicaton

Love you and miss you grandpa!

Thirteen months

Kate is 13 months today!  She sure is a sweetie.  Her theme for this month have been walking and talking. Her few steps have turned into much more confident walking.  She still will crawl around a lot too, but her walking has really taken off.  Here's a sweet video.

Kate's first word was officially 'no'.  She says 'nah' with a little head shake.  It's very cute and most often comes after she has bit you or done something else we tell her not to do.  She's also said 'aga' for agua/water, 'hi', and 'a da' for 'all done'.  She can sign 'more', 'all done', and she tries to sign for 'water' though it doesn't look quite right.  She will also wave hello and goodbye.

It's amazing how much she has learned just in the past month.  Here are some pictures of the sweetie.

Family Photos in Corbett

Oregon is beautiful in the summer, so we really enjoyed nature out at my dad's property in Corbett.  I loved some photos we got of Emeline during one visit, so we tried to get some good photos of the girls and family photos during the beautiful weather.  Enjoy!

Sweet Kate.

 

 

The girls.

With Papa.

 

And Mama.

 

A family shot.

And Grandpa and his granddaughters.

 

 

Family time downtown Portland

Between spending time with our family, going to Veronica and Jason's wedding, and seeing a couple friends, our trip to Oregon felt packed.  We stayed in downtown Portland a couple nights to be central to Wes' parent's house and the wedding venue, but we hardly got to enjoy the city at all.  So before we spent the rest of our time on the east side with my dad, we took an extra night downtown to have some family time with the girls doing some fun things around Portland.

Walking around downtown.  Emeline had lots of fun pushing Kate.

 

Enjoying Pioneer Square.

The umbrella man!

Our best shot from an attempted family photo.

Kate loved taking steps around the square.

 

Emeline's first light rail ride on the MAX!

 

Enjoying the waterfront.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keepin Cool

Our visit to Oregon was over a hot weekend, so we spent lots of time with family trying to keep cool.  Here are some photos from one of the local park's splash pad.