Family Celebration in Southern Oregon

On April 3rd, 2015, Grandpa Doug Lamb (Brant's side), was set free from the pain of this world, and went home to be with Jesus!  He lived a magnificent 94 years and left an amazing legacy, filled to the brim with family and faith.  As anyone knows, losing a loved one is never easy, but when you know they lived a wonderful, full life, and you are comforted by the fact that they are in Heaven, you can more easily choose to celebrate!  And that is what we did...

Our family took a day to drive the length of California state, armed with snacks, music, books, toys, and an i-pad for movies.  Much to our shock, our kids were outstanding, with no arguments, lots of naps, giggles, conversation and zero screen time.  Say what??  You heard me. None.  They never asked for it, and we never felt the deep need to give it to them; it was glorious!  And our day of driving was enjoyable as a family of four, which was a big blessing, considering how last minute this lengthy drive had come together.  

We arrived in Medford, Oregon 12 hours after we had left our home in Southern California, just in time for dinner with Brant's family.  We enjoyed reconnecting with family members, some of whom we haven't seen in years, and others who we haven't been with since last summer.  It was a happy reunion, despite the circumstances of our gathering.  We were in Southern Oregon for 3 nights, where we enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool, bonding with cousins, venturing to special places, and of course, celebrating Grandpa Doug's life.  

A small capture of the life of a great man.

Dawn, Brant, Martha and Dale.  Celebrating and reflecting.

Brant eloquently said some closing remarks and a final prayer. 

The bagpiper who played Amazing Grace, and walked off while still playing, letting the song fade away into the distance. 

Brant and Jason, flying one of Grandpa's favorite kites, from when he worked at the kite shop at the beach.  It was a pretty cool moment.

Cousins: Seth, Brant, Amber and Jason.  Flying the kite and celebrating Grandpa Doug!

My partner-in-crime, and amazing sister-in-law, April.  Always so good to reconnect.

A group shot of any family member we could flag down to get into the picture!

Later on that evening, after a nice dinner, and a little hotel pool time, a group of us walked down the road from our hotel to the local frozen yogurt place.  It was a fun time of relaxing, laughing and hanging out -- and of course, enjoying fro-yo!

Happy people. 

Frozen yogurt is ALWAYS a reason to smile!

April, with 15 month-old Leilani.

The following day, we made a special trip up to Union Creek and Crater Lake, two places which hold special memories and deep roots for the family, which originated from Grandpa Doug and Grandma Faye. My two kids were particularly excited for this adventure, because it meant they would be able to wear the winter coats and gear that my sister let us borrow for this trip!  Well, the thing of it was, they didn't need to wear the gear the whole time because it wasn't that cold!  But, because they are from California, this was too much of a novelty to pass up!

California license plate with gloves and mittens. :)

The three amigos, who were attached at the hip for the entire trip!

Daddy/son selfie at Daddy's favorite place on earth. 

Check out this sweet girl!  She just oozes happiness and joy!

Union Creek.

My sweet mother-in-law, Martha, and me.

Seth and Kylia 

He caught on real quick: walk on logs over the water, turn, and smile for the camera. 

My boys.

Little family.

Cousin love.

Explorers. 

Good lookin' group, together at Union Creek!

Girly-love: Kylia, Zoie, Maddie, April and Adalie

The log next to the Himes' favorite campsite.

Re-enacting the ceremonial jump into the creek! 

No joke.  Every single log that went out into the creek, Geoffrey would ask to go out on with Brant.  Like father like son.

This kid put on a dance show for everyone.  Check out those crazy moves!

He ditched the hat, started head-banging and Leilani thoroughly enjoyed the show.

We concluded our time at Union Creek with a yummy lunch at Beckie's -- a Himes' favorite!

Crater Lake brought an abundance of snow and delighted the senses of all the children!  Snow creatures were built, snowballs were thrown, fingers got cold and we all had a great time!

Love these two lovebirds!

Geoffrey immediately jumped in on the picture action. 

Brant followed in his son's footsteps and jumped in on the action, too!

I had to get one couple selfie in this post!

The Himes clan at Crater Lake.

Extended clan with the Lamb family, too! 

Snow-crazy kids! 

Mommy and Geoffrey 

This was a sad goodbye the next morning!  Special cousin bond! 

One final snowball fight for good measure!

We made our drive back home to California the following day, and had a repeat performance of our drive from the first day.  We couldn't have asked for a better road-trip experience!  In one way, it makes us eager to do it again.  And in another, it makes us not want to jinx it because we had such a perfect drive!  All in all, it was a wonderful trip from start to finish, one we will cherish for many reasons, for years to come.