Timley passing

Oh, where has this month gone?! Heck, where has the year gone?! Does anyone else feel like they're really back somewhere earlier in the year, but time decided to keep on moving forward? This last month just seems like it hardly happened. November didn't really have a lot going on until Thanksgiving and that was justifiably insane.

I'll go back a little bit before that though to recap. Our office decided to do yet another "Off", which started off as a "Bread Off", and last minute changed to "Baked Goods Off". The requirement was that you had to have it come out of the oven. It was such a busy day that I didn't get a chance to take pictures of anything, but here's a picture of what mine looked like.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

I was really excited to make this because I had tried at a bakery a couple of years ago and it was DELICIOUS!!! Needless to say, mine actually turned out pretty good. I was confident, until.........Daniele popped in with her Raspberry Cheesecake Bites. I know what you're thinking, and believe me I was quite skeptical myself. Apparently though, her crust was baked. I wouldn't have come out first anyway, but it was definitely not a fair fight. Oh well, mine was still pretty dang good!

The next week, Ty's mom called us and let us know that our dear Grandpa Robbins had finally passed and the funeral would be the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Which meant a lot of family was coming. If you would like, you can read Grandpa Lovell Robbins' obituary here.

Thanksgiving weekend was crazy, but so much fun. I actually made my Pumpkin bread and the kids gobbled (no pun intended....hehe, okay maybe a little bit) it up. The whole day was full of making food, eating it, and enjoying each others company.

The next day was kind of a laze about day for us ladies. The menfolk however, headed out to the Royal Camp cemetery to dig the grave that Grandpa would be placed in. The person who would normally take care of it was out of town for the holiday and Rex (Ty's dad) took the opportunity to take all of those who were willing and dig with shovels as far as they could (a good two to three feet) and finished the rest with the backhoe. Don't worry, we had warm and steamy hot chocolate waiting for them. Their cousins from Oregon met them out there just in time to help and I think they all enjoyed the task.

Saturday was an early morning for us all. The viewing was at 9AM until 9:30AM. Getting everyone showered and cleaned up took some organization, but we managed to work it out.

Lovell B. Robbins

The funeral services were wonderful. Music and memories were shared and given. Tears were shed and hearts were filled. The spirit was present in all those who participated and it was felt by everyone present. Grandpa Robbins was just shy of 91 and I'm awed at all the things he's seen and done. The only thing that made me sad during it all was that I couldn't have gotten to know him better while he was with us. I so look forward to the day when I'm able to do that. He really was an amazing man in his own right. He was hardworking, ingenuitive, loving, patient, kind. A man of few words, though he was, never without a kind thought or deed to those he loved.

Well, now that Thanksgiving is over and the turkey has had its day, D-day soon approaches. That's right. We're in the final month of waiting until we leave to Germany. It's unbelievable that Christmas is that close. There's so much to do and so little time in which we are given to do it all. However, I firmly believe that with some ingenuity of my own, we can pull this off without forgetting something back home in the bathroom.