"Let it rip"

My Grandpa Graves died last week. He would have been 98 in June. He lived a long, full life. I was not able to visit with him as much as I would of liked to but I do have very fond memories of him. One of his favorite sayings was, "Let it rip". This would be a response to almost anything. The thing that makes me most sad is that we had a trip planned in June to go see him. My whole family would have been there.   I am grateful for the knowledge that I have that I will be able to see him and my grandmother again one day. If you would like to know how I know that, you can visit here.  

My great grandparents

Despite the circumstances and the reason we went to Alabama we had a really good time. We had some really yummy southern food, walked down memory lane with my parents, and made some new memories ourselves. I LOVE my family. I am lucky!

This made Tara and I laugh so hard. We were taking selfies and Becka's rear end photo bombed our picture.

The court house in Marion, Alabama

In front of Grandpa Graves house

In you look really close you can see a house through all the trees. My great grandmother use to live there. We called her Big Mama. There are so many tree's, shrubs, and vines that have grown up around this house. I have so many memories of coming here. The house is just about to fall over.

This is where my Grandpa and Grandma Martin lived. We so wanted to go up to the house but the caretaker would not allow us too. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2004.  There are also stories of it being haunted.  When I was a little girl I thought this was so cool. It was published in a book called, 13 Ghost of Alabama.  To find out more info on it you can visit here.  

My parent's High School

We ate dinner at this little 50's diner. It use to be a theater. My parents had their first date here.

Did I mention how much I LOVE these people?