The Louis Family: Trip to Texas

(I'm going to back track a bit)

Tom's last living grandparent, Jimmy Beth Herndon, passed away in January.

We decided that we would all drive to Texas to celebrate her life.

The morning we were to leave, Henry woke up with a weird stomach bug.

I say weird, because it wasn't full force.

So we decided to keep on keeping on and just bring a bucket.

Well, good thing we brought the bucket...

Poor fellow.

He was so uncomfortable.

And it wasn't so easy turning my 36 week pregnant self around to help him.

And poor Margaret, who was sitting right next to him

What were we thinking??

Oh yeah, that by the time we got to Texas, he would be better. ha ;)

We were to stop in Shreveport to spent the night. My parents were out of town, so we thought we could just stay there, so Henry wouldn't get his cousins sick.

Well, no one had a key to their house.

So Sarah sucked it up and let us stay there ;)

Once we got in around 10, Henry hadn't thrown up for several hours... and continued to stay well.

Larkin.
Glad Sarah risked our germs so that we could play with these sweeties.

Boxes are super fun.

Liam whipped Henry

Elizabeth brought her girls over the next morning too so we had breakfast and playtime with most of the Lagersen cousins before heading off to Arlington.

Stopped in Tyler for some BBQ.

Tom was so happy.

Got into Arlington. All of Tom's sibs were there.

Saturday morning.

Immediate family at the burial site.

Memories of Tom's grandmother were shared.

Laughter and tears.

We knew our kids wouldn't last through the memorial service,

so I dropped Tom off at the church and met up with Rocky and Amy (who were in town for a getaway) at a nearby mall.

Good to see them (and got to get my bouncy seat back!)

My poor children.

They had had it.

Not only had none of them had a real nap in a couple of days,

it was 12:30 and they hadn't eaten lunch and were exhausted.

Simon had reached his limit.

Left the mall and all 3 fell asleep before I even got out of the parking lot.

Went back to the church for lunch.

Finally got to visit with family members.

Grandmother Herndon left quite the legacy.

She had 6 children, 28 grandchildren, and 31 great-grandchildren.. so far! ;)

From her obituary:

Life was full for Mom as she navigated the challenges of managing a large family. There were many years of school projects, elaborate birthday cakes, homemade doll clothes, unique gift wrapping, Easter dresses, prom dresses, gardening, picking & arranging wildflowers, wedding dresses, the list is endless. She was woman of many talents.

Wherever they found themselves, Mom & Dad always made finding a church home a priority and the church was always the center of our family life. Studying the Bible was important to Mom and she made it a part of her daily routine. She tried to live what she learned. We, as well as countless others, are the beneficiaries of her relationship with Jesus.

I will always be grateful for the Christmas present she gave us... a day of the week she committed to pray for us.

George and Camille.

3 out of 4 of my pregnancies have been shared with Mary Pat.

She laughs how I somehow squeezed MG in there too. ha.

So glad we were able to be there.

Since we were staying with the Woods, we took a peek at good ol' Briarwood.

She looked good!

After leaving the Woods on Sunday morning,

we stopped by the Warminskis to say hello to our dear friends.

Henry really misses Luke.
So does Margaret... she wants to marry him.
But since he didn't want to kiss her, she said "I think I'll marry Witt, because Luke didn't want to kiss me"... Oh dear. What in the world.

Finally, before leaving DFW, we stopped by my grandparents'.