Aunt Vanda

This is my Great aunt Vanda Lee Starr. Isn't she gorgeous?

She passed away this last Tuesday and it was a very sad day for the Markham family. She has had Parkinsons for awhile now so it wasn't a surprise but its still different without her around. She was such a cool lady. I loved everything about her, and our whole family will miss her sweet personality around. We made our way up to Ontario, Oregon where her and her husband have lived on their farm for the last 50+ years to be with our family and go to her funeral.

Brons couldnt get off work because he's taking so many days off for our trip next month, Rory just moved to Chicago, and my dad is stuck in Europe right now because of the volcano ash cloud....crazy huh? He was supposed to be on a plane back yesterday morning and now wont even start his journey back to the US til saturday. Theres no place to stay over there....no cars to rent....and the French Rail system went on strike so he is seriously stuck right now. He was so close to Vanda so I know he is pretty bummed out right now. We're all missing him a lot.

Soooo, we piled into the car and started our all girls road trip to Idaho and Oregon. I was REALLY nervous about driving 8 hours with Zuri, but she did pretty dang good.....minus the fact that she didnt sleep once.

This is us about 5 hours in.

...and then this started....

I think I hate car rides more than my 22 month old daughter.....I was going crazy as you can see, But we finally made it and absolutely love seeing my wonderful Nanny and Papa and auntie Brandi. They're so good with all us grandkids....I still feel like a little kid everytime we go there and I loooove it. Its fun getting back to your roots every once in awhile.