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Our niece, Angie, was diagnosed with cancer two years ago--brain tumors from melanoma. We got the sad news that she passed away on September 11. We drove home for her funeral, leaving our 5th wheel at Pacific City. It was a very untimely death because she was only 39 years old. She left her husband, Aaron, and 16-year-old son, Brandon. She will be missed by all of us. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of her family. This is a picture Angie's brother and sisters and some cousins she grew up with. The back row is our daughter Sarah, our son Travis, cousin Teresa, Angie's brother Matt, and our sons Shay and Ryan. Bottom row is Angie's sister Sherry, our daughter Jill, and Angie's sister Michele. One good thing that comes out of funerals is the family time we get to spend together.

All five of our married kids came home for Angie's funeral, without any spouses. Sarah brought her four kids and Jill brought her daughter Kamber. Sarah's boys, Luke and JT thought Aunt Lorrie's foosball game was lots of fun. I think it survived all the playing on it!
Jill's daughter, Kamber, spent a lot of her time playing with her new little cousin, Sarah's baby, Lyndee.

Sarah's daughter, Jenna, came with a skinned nose. She is a sweetie.
Baby Lyndee is now 4 1/2 months old. She laughs and goos a lot now. It was so much fun having some of the grandkids with us again.
As usual, some of the biggest kids were the most entertaining! It was pretty crazy having all of our kids together, especially without their spouses to keep them out of trouble. And, they always have to make a run to Roe-Ann's fastfood drive-in for a Wimpie burger and a scotch and soda. It's funny how they turn into kids again. Some more than others! Lorrie has this "wiggle car" that is so much fun to ride on, even the "big' kids like it. It is a wonder it is still in one piece. I told the kids that if it got broken, we would all have to pitch in and buy her a new one. I admit, I even rode it a few times!

The Howards cannot ever get together without playing pinochle, even if it has been a long day. And, we have to play until at least midnight! All of our kids knew how to play pinochle by the time they were about six years old. It always made them mad when we got together with relatives and all of the adults got to play, but everyone thought they were too young. We usually played pinochle with the kids on Sunday evenings, sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, summer and winter.

We took a more formal picture of our kids, just before we left for the funeral, but I think this one is more like them. Travis isn't wearing a tie because he loaned his to his Dad because we didn't bring one with us. We thought we left some at the house, but they were no where to be found.
What a great group of kids. They all turned out terrific, despite the way they were raised by their parents!