Honored to have known Jean N. Landale

I am very lucky to have known my great grandparents. Many people don't know their grand parents, let alone their great grand parents. 

Granny at her 50th Wedding Anniversary!

On July 21st, 2012, my Great Grand Mother, Jean N. Landale, passed away at the age of 88. Granny was born on Jan. 18th, 1924 in London, Ontario, Canada as Jean N. Munro. She lived an amazing life, including serving in the Canadian Navy. Granny married her sweetheart (married for 67 years), Hugh Landale, and they eventually moved to MI. Jean and Hugh had two children, Nancy and Lanny. Lanny married Mary Chittenden and they had 4 daughters: Lori, Kim, Kristy, and Heather. Lanny & Mary have since divorced. Lanny is married to Carole and Mary married Bill Gillard. Nancy married Bob Roossien and they had 1 daughter, Robyn Roossien. Lori married her high school sweet heart, Sam Smith, and they had 4 children: Amanda Jo, Alyssa Lynn, Kara Anne, and Jared Leonard. Lori & Sam divorced and Lori is now married to Rod Ackerman of Twin Lake, MI. Amanda married her high school sweetheart, Luke Steffes of Coopersville, MI, and they are expecting their first child, a son named Alexander Anthony, in Aug. 2012. Alyssa married Benjamin Thomas of Grand Rapids, MI and they just had their first child, a daughter named Grace Lynn. Kara married Joel Genaw Jr. of Burtchville, MI. Jared is enjoying life as a single man and working lots of hours. Kim married Jeff Holtrop and had two children: Holly Ray, and Ryan Henry. Kim and Jeff have since divorced. Kristy married Jose Layton and they have 3 sons: Joey, Jesse, and Johnny. Jose has 3 daughters from a previous marriage. Heather had her daughter Shelby Rae Kennedy with Jeremy Kennedy, and her two younger children with her husband Nelson Williams: Nelson Jr. and Amberly.

I know that's a lot of geneaology that you probably don't care about, but I wanted to get it down so I can later write it in my book that I bought for geneaology. Granny has a lot down for her side of the family and I can't wait to get photo copies of it! Back to Granny's life.

Jean and Hugh moved to Texas after Nancy & her family did. They still owned a trailer here in Michigan that they kept at my Grandma and Grandpa Smith's (my dad's parents') campground. They would spend the summers here. I remember going to visit them at the campground and we even traveled to Texas to visit them twice when I was in elementary school. When we visited them in Texas the first time, we drove down in our van and arrived in stormy weather. I remember sitting in their spare bedroom watching lightning and listening to the thunder. Another memory I have of Granny and Gramps is their LOVE of breakfast foods. I think we had Canadian Bacon for breakfast every morning on our visit. Over the last few years, Granny has had dementia that was caused by blockages in her carotid arteries. It has gotten worse as time passed and she spent time in and out of rehabilitation facilities, assisted living homes, and at home with Gramps taking care of her. I'm glad to think that she is no longer in pain. They even believe that she has a silent heart attack and that she went peacefully.

There was a nice funeral to celebrate Granny's life yesterday and a luncheon afterwards. We took the opportunity of having the family together to take pictures. We are very lucky to have 5 generations living at this time. I don't know when we'll all be together again, and it's sad to think that this was probably the last time I'll see my gramps.

Granny's Obituary can be seen here: http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=JEAN-LANDALE&lc=4030&pid=158759548&mid=5183665&locale=en-US

 Gramps, myself, and Joel

Three generations: Gramps with his children and grand children.

 Four generations: Gramps with his children, grand children and great grandchildren.

Five generations: Gramps with his children, grand children, great grand children, and great great grand children.

 I made cupcakes for the luncheon. Topped with Chocolate garnish.

Yummy!

Thoughts of a Cyclist- Or maybe it's just me!

As you know, Joel and I are into biking. I normally ride about 24-24.5 miles while he rides 25. We've discussed and decided that it's not the best choice to listen to music while riding. If you have ear phones in, you won't hear what's going on around you- which can be a problem. So what do I do for 1.5-2 hours on a ride???? I THINK! Rambling thoughts cross through my mind. I thought I would share some of things that go through my mind during a ride- particularly last night's ride:

" Alright, I'm keeping up with Joel. -  Oh, Joel's leaving me in the dust again. - I'm keeping a pretty good pace. - Crap, here comes a hill. - BUNNY! - I'm getting tired - I could ride for 45 minutes, then turn around and ride 45 minutes home. - It's a nice day out, not too hot. - Only 3 more minutes to go and I can start heading home. - Well, I'm this close to Rockford, I might as well ride all the way. - Wow, that girl is toned (At this point I start comparing myself to this girl, not "checking her out". She was blonde, tan, and toned. I wish I was as toned as her! Her stomach was so FLAT! I weigh just under 115 lbs- less than I did when I graduated high school- but I carry my fat right in my mid section. Most of my family has a little pouch in front. My new goal is to flatten my stomach- by next summer!) - Finally, Rockford! There goes Joel on his was back, time for me to turn around. - Stupid geese, don't hiss at me. - We really should enjoy the River Walk one of these days. - Wow, I'm at a great pace! 16-17 mph. I must be going slightly downhill. - Another Bunny! - I can't wait to blog about this. - Firefly! - I'm getting tired. - Only 10 miles to go ( I do a lot of math while riding to figure out how many miles or how much ride time I have left). - Wow! 18 mph! - Rogue River Park, only 9 miles left to go. - I hate when cars slow down in front of the bike trail. I'm already stopped, so keep at your speed and drive by already. - Oh great, I hope these people all move to the side when I get near. "On your left". Awesome, they moved. "Thanks!" - How can you roller blade with 2 dogs and stay untangled? That takes skills. - Here's a slight hill. I covered it with a speed of 15 mph. I kicked that hills butt! - I'm really tired. Can't wait to get home! - No cars, woohoo! - Here comes the bigger hill. I crossed that at 12 mph. That's better than the 9 mph on my way out. - We should try the Toucan Irish Pub, it sounds interesting. - Almost to 5th 3rd ballpark. - Darn it, I forgot there was a game tonight. Weaving through traffic is NOT fun. - At the bill board. Almost back to River Side Park. - Turn my flashlight on to get through the woods. - At the park! There are so many interesting things that go on here. Frisbee golf, band groups, fencing, even Hula dancing in grass skirts! - Only a couple of miles left to go! - I gotta push myself so I can increase my average speed! - Only 1 mile left to go! - Home!!!! Finally! Average speed = 14.7 mph, personal best! Way to go me! - I have to write a blog about my random thoughts."

Can you blame a girl? It gets pretty boring out there! Welcome to the thoughts of Kara!

Babies!

This month my amazing Aunts threw a joint baby shower for my older sisters. They are both new moms! Alyssa had her daughter, Grace Lynn, on June 24th. Amanda is expecting her son, Alexander Anthony, in mid August. Alyssa wasn't going to find out the gender of her baby, so I planned this gender neutral cake months ago. Grace came 5 weeks early, but she's a healthy cutie! She only spent 9 days in the NICU at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. I am happy as can be to be an aunt again! I have nieces and nephews through my step-siblings, but these are the firsts from my real sisters. I love how this cake turned out! It was by first cake that used crafting and construction. Hot glue guns, sanding, and painting was included. The mobile even moved and played music! Fun. Fun. FUN!

June FLEW by!!!

I can't believe that it's already July 1st!!! June went by way too quickly! We were sooooo busy. Here's a recap in a nutshell:

1st week- Joel's youngest sister graduated from high school- we went to the east side to watch her ceremony! I also made cupcakes for a wedding (See earlier blog for pictures)

2nd week- Joel's mom graduated with her Associates from Baker College- we went to the east side to support her!

3rd week- I had a barbie birthday cake for my old neighbor due and then we went to the east side to celebrate Father's Day with Joel's dad. 

4th week- Our family came up with the idea to have cupcakes instead of a cake for Jessica's graduation party, but we wanted an edible image of her. So we decided to make edible images that fit on the top of cupcakes. This turned out to be quite the project. In 13+ hours, we made a cupcake collage of 182 cupcakes for the party. It turned out great!

5th week- I had a baby shower cake due for my best friend from high school. The shower was construction themed. The cake turned out pretty well.

I thought that I would have tons of free time once school was out for summer. That has not been the case. I am just as busy! I can't believe how much work my new business has had. It's great! I'm not sure what I will do in the fall once I'm back in school. I'll be taking 3 classes and still working full time. It'll be a lot to handle. Lucky for me, I've always been good at time management and making time to get everything done. Joel has been such a great support to me! He's the best!

 Jessica Genaw- June 3rd, 2012

 The Graduate!

 Family!

 Kathy Genaw- June 8th, 2012 

 

Mom & Dad!

 Barbie Cake!

Cupcake Collage!

 Close up- See the little pictures? There were 120 different pictures!

Construction cake!