Bonnie Lou is 91 years young today!

This little one is 91 years young today!

This picture was the day little Bonnie Lou turned 1 year old...

 That little sweetheart...look what she turned into!

Fishing and shooting guns...

such a sweet lady?

This is 1946...

Aunt Jane, Mimi, and Mom

 Little Jane Lee was her little sister...

8 years and 355 days younger.

Yep, Aunt Jane would have been 82 years old yesterday.

 Aunt Terry was her best friend...

they remained friends through the years.

Fortunately, she met my dad...

and they were married on October 16, 1950.

Today would also be my dad's birthday...he would be 96!

 Here's my parents with their moms.

This was taken in Austin, where my dad's mom, who I called 'Mammaw' lived.

I came along about 5 years later.

John David came along after another 5+ years.

Here is 1965

Mom, Mimi, Aunt Jane

John David & Patti

Mom and Aunt Jane were both in a bowling league.

Fast forward to 1977...

Now we have Joshua!

We were over at Aunt Jane's house.  On the right side is Zella, who was Mom's best friend in Dallas.

 We moved to Oregon, but came back in August of 1977.

This is so my dad!

Legs crossed with his pipe in his pocket...

well, usually the pipe was being held to his mouth!

Mom came to visit us in Oregon in May of 1978.  Joshua was turning 2 years old.  We were on our way to visit Crater Lake, but stopped here at Mammoth Pines, an area along highway 62.

 Crater Lake...

Joshua was always crazy about his 'Sad Sack'...

and the feeling was mutual.

 We lived in the little town of Prospect.

This was the general store...and it was wonderful.

You can see Mom's reflection in the mirror.  This bar was gorgeous.

Unfortunately, not too many years after this, the store was vandalized and burned down.

This was typical...digging his pipe into his tobacco pouch.

These top three pictures were Christmas, 1978.

 We were back in March, 1979.

And then back again in August of 1979.

This was for my 25th birthday.

 We had Gabrial...he would have been 10 months old.

He must have been asleep when we took these pictures!

Look at those cute boys with their Sad Sack!

Everything changed in 1980.
We lost my dad on June 13.

We were living in California now.  Mom, Aunt Jane, and my cousin Ray, were on their way to visit us. We flew back to Texas, and Ray stayed in Weaverville with my boys and Ron.  John David flew back to California with me and Mom.  We spent some time at the river before starting our drive back to Texas.

 It looks like Sad Sack had just changed a diaper on Gabrial!

He was a lot more comfortable now!

 As we left to head to Texas, we stopped in San Francisco.

Mom rode the Merry Go Round at Pier 39.

This picture above and below were in the summer of 1981.

Lindsey was with us by this time!

 

These next pictures were either in 1981 or 1982...not sure.  

 Aunt Terry and Mom

 Aunt Jane and Mom

 Mom was sitting at Mimi's desk.

 Aunt Terry and Mom

 Mom and Aunt Jane sitting in Mimi's living room.

 Becky and Mom

I'm assuming Becky and John David were married by now?

Aunt Jane was ready to start her day!

 We came back for Christmas in December, 1983.

 Uncle Buddy was there with Aunt Terry.

Lindsey doesn't look like she feels great?

 In April, 1983, Sad Sack, as Mom was still called, came to California.

Joshua and Gabrial wanted to give her an "E.T." party for her birthday.

We did!

Mom and I had driven to California with the boys.

Ron had flown back with Lindsey.

 The boys both had chicken pox.

Gabrial was covered in them!  It didn't seem to bother him, though!

 You can really see the pox on Gabe in this picture...

plus you may notice his ET shirt!

 You might notice that thing in mom's hand.

We're so glad she finally quit!

 Aunt Jane and Mom rode the train out to California.

We went to San Francisco, too.

I don't remember the year, though.

 Hanging out at Mom's...

Again, I don't know the year.

 I've always known we were blessed that our families got along so well.

Here's Jo visiting at my mom's.

This must have been September 28, 1990!  

Aunt Jane, Aunt Terry, and Mom

 I'm not sure what year this was.

We were in San Antonio for Ray's wedding.

While we were in San Antonio,

Mom, Lindsey, and I went to the Alamo.

This must have been 1993 or 1994?

 This was Christmas, 1997, I think.  

We had an exchange student from Japan, Misuzu Fukui.  She was a senior and Lindsey was a junior.  I remember Mom showed Misuzu how to hold a gun!  Oh my!

 Mom and Gabe

This has always been one of her favorite pictures!

This looks like it was a team effort of Joshua and Mom to carve the turkey.

 This picture is a classic!

 My own kids grew up and married.

Great-grandkids started coming for Mom.

Thalia was #1!

On one of Mom's trips here, we had a girls lunch to eat sushi.

Thalia got a kick out of the little helper thing that was on Mom's chopsticks!

This was such a fun day.  

Mom, Thalia, Emily, Erica, Lindsey, and me

'the girls!

 Christmas, 2010

This was definitely a great time!

We were spread out over 3 homes..

ours, Marvin's, and the Collart's.

Mom had 2 more great grandkids by now.

Emerson and Benjamin

 Mom and Joshua

 This was the great grandkids with their great grandmothers!

Jo "Grammy" with Emerson,

Thalia,

Mom "Saddie" with Benjamin

I love this!

Saddie with  3 of her grandkids:

Joshua, Gabrial, and Lindsey

 Life is full of changes.

First, John David and Becky moved to Colorado.

Next, Mom moved there.

I go back often, and Ron goes some of the time.

Here, in February, 2015, we toured the Coors Brewery in Golden.

Now Mom is grandmother to 5:
Joshua, Gabrial, Lindsey, Addison, and Samantha.
She's great-grandmother to 9:
Thalia, Emerson, Benjamin, William, Brody, Remy, Walt, Yuna, and Sullivan.

Happy 91st birthday, Mom!
I wish I was there with you now to celebrate...
but ... till next year,
Happy happy birthday!

I love you!