Ralph Thomas Meadows

Last Sunday Eric's grandfather passed away. He had a great southern accent, and always had a smile on his face. I wish I could have gotten to know him better. Here is his obituary.

Ralph Thomas Meadows, 82, was born November 8, 1925, in El Dorado and passed away Sunday, August 10, 2008 at the Medical Center of South Arkansas.

He was the son of Claude & Evelee Meadows; a veteran in the United States Marine Corp, serving during World War II; and was a unit and shift supervisor for American Oil Co., where he retired after 37 years of service.

He was a longtime member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, where he served as Branch President and two times as Bishop. He and his wife Dee served three missions for the church.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his first wife of 46 years, Eddie Rae Meadows.

He is survived by his wife, Dolores "Dee" Meadows of El Dorado; three sons, Mike Meadows and wife Mary of El Dorado, Larry Meadows and wife Debbie of Loveland, CO and Randy Meadows and wife Donna of Loveland, CO; and one daughter, Marsha Hunter and husband Jack of California.

Also surviving him are two step-sons, Rick Charon and wife, Dorris of Missouri and Paul Charon and wife Diane of Chino Valley, AZ; two step-daughters, Laura Kalinski of Washington and Rebecca Sherwood and husband, James of Missouri; 25 grandchildren; and 50 great-grandchildren.

The funeral service will be at 10am Thursday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with Bishop Spencer Singleton and Counselor Richard Lowden officiating. Interment will follow at Rest Haven Memorial Park under the direction of Young's Funeral Directors.

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

We recently took Emma to a train museum close to us. She loves trains and always notices when there are tracks near us or when a train passes us or blows it's whistle... anything to do with trains. She loves playing with her trains, and always enjoys seeing her cousin who also loves trains (probably more than she does). So we were really excited to see what her reaction would be to the museum. She loved it. She was able to get on several different types of trains and other vehicles made for traveling along the tracks. There were small trains she could watch up close, and a model of a Kaboose she could climb in. She already wants to go back!

Airplane Museum

A couple days ago Eric took Emma to an airplane museum not far from us. Emma loves planes, and so needless to say she was very excited. She loved them! It was funny to see the pictures of how small she is next to these huge planes.

Moving Again

Okay, so we're moving again. I know, I know, we just barely moved!! It just hasn't worked out like we had planned to live up here. We will be out by the end of August. I don't have any idea where we will be moving to exactly, but I hope to soon. Oh boy, I can't wait to start packing again. Can you feel the sarcasm? It won't be as hard as last time though simply because half of our stuff is still in boxes. We have never had enough room here for all of our belongings (a lot was left by the owners). It will be nice to know where all my things are again. Wish us luck in finding a place we like really fast. Uggh!