Grandpa Houck

Last week Emily and I flew to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to be with my entire dad's side of the family. My sweet Grandpa Houck passed away early in the morning on March 20th. He was 80 years old, and lived a full, happy life. Grandpa always seemed to be in a good mood, and loved playing cards. I can remember countless evenings on family beach trips or in his home when we came to visit, where he would be keeping the score of a hearts or osha card game. He loved to fish. On our yearly beach trips, grandpa would always have his fishing pole stuck deep into the sand with his line cast out in ocean hoping to catch something. He was a golfer and loved talking about the weather. He was married to my grandma (who passed almost 4 years ago) for almost 60 years. I am sad that grandpa is gone and I will no longer get to enjoy his company, but am happy to know that he is with his sweet Helen (my grandma) and they are reunited again.

Death and funerals are always sad, not matter how hard you try to make it a celebration of life, it is still sad for the family left behind. But in spite of the sadness, it was wonderful to have my whole dad;s side of the family together...every single one of them! Josh even flew in from Saudi Arabia! I know that made grandpa and grandma happy to have their family gathered together. This was the first time most of them had met Emily, so it was fun to show her off.

Aunt Kathy meets Emily

Grammy and Emily

Me and the Gross girls

Amanda and Mike

Bob and Peggy are my grandparent's longest friends. Bob and grandpa attended Duke together, and have been friends ever since.

Uncle Steve, Aunt Kathy, and Dad

Uncle Mike (Kathy's husband), Ali, and Daniel

Matt loving on Emily

All the cousins (minus Megan and Seth)

Emily playing at Grandpa's house

A few of dad and Emmie

Watching the BYU and then Duke games...neither went in our favor

We had to connect through Detroit to get back to Chicago, and we saw Josh trying to get on a flight to Omaha. He had taken an earlier flight than Emily and I, but then missed the flight from Detroit to Omaha, so we got to hang out with him for an hour before we left for Chicago. Emily fell right asleep on his shoulder. So sweet.