Memories

Ryan and I have been combing through pictures of Allen's life, and if you've been reading here long enough to know about Nita's fond affection for pictures, you know that is no small task. So many pictures from sixty-five years of life. Add to that the offerings sent my way from Ryan's siblings...let's just say we're swimming in memories over here.

Of course let's pause for just a minute to show a throwback I found of someone else you might know...

Ahhh...1997. You were a gem to all of us.

But I've loved some of the pictures I found in my own files of our life together with Allen. He didn't adore pictures like Nita did, so I tried not to Bekah-razzi him too much, but here were some of my favorites. 

This is the first picture we had together with them. This is less than a month before Ryan and I got engaged and we had gone to see them for part of a day while they were visiting the lake. Nita set up the tripod in the living room at the cottage and snapped this picture.

Here's one of my all-time favorites. Clearly it's from our wedding, but I have always thought Allen looked like a bodyguard in this picture. :) 

Another wedding picture. Allen really didn't love traveling much at all, but I heard he had a lot of fun visiting Florida for our wedding!

This is the last family picture we had together, which was taken over a year ago, during Christmas 2019. It was the first and last family picture he would have without Nita. 

One of my favorites that I took of him...at his grandson's birthday party. He did love his grandchildren - so very much.

This was taken the year Nita was sick and we hosted Christmas at our house, so she didn't have to travel as far:

This one is one of Ryan's sister's favorites. I grabbed it on the fly during her surprise 40th birthday party. This was about two days after we found out Ryan's mom was sick, and it had been such a difficult week. We were all emotionally exhausted, but so glad to celebrate Lori that night. She sent this to me the other night and thanked me for taking it. 

The first county fair after Nita's death was a hard one for everyone. It was something the whole family loved enjoying together! Ryan and I went for an evening, as we always did, and we happened to run into Allen while we were there. We stopped for some ice cream with him, and I really love this picture of him with Ryan. 

I took this one the summer after Nita died. The whole family came together to pour the foundation for the grave stone (by hand). After they finished the cement, Allen and all the kids and grandkids made a handprint. He went first, and this was his print. 

And for today, I'll close with this one. We took it last summer when he came to kayak with us. I'm so glad he did that. It's one of those things we'll never have a chance to do again, now, and I'm so glad we had that day. 

So many great memories...and so many more yet to be uncovered as I continue my combing project. I'm so glad we're picture-crazy in this family. We're all enjoying them now!