Hi! So, life lately. It has included joy, sadness, fun, excitement, and lots of animals.
Unfortunately, the sadness comes from my uncle passing away from cancer last week. I miss him, and my heart absolutely aches for my aunt and cousins. It has been an incredibly rough couple of weeks. We are all just bummed. It’s a hard situation, as my cousins are around the same ages as my siblings and I, and one is pregnant with a baby due next month. Needless to say, lots of tears and prayers have been occurring lately.
Jimmy and I headed to New York for the memorial on Tuesday morning, and drove home on Wednesday.
Lots of coffee and energy drinks were consumed along the way.
It was nice to be able to be with my family, even though the circumstances were saddening.
Since Jimmy and I spent 16 hours in the car over the course of two days, I brought along our laptop and worked on my book while he drove.
I managed to get in a few thousand words, which was great!
I’ve been spending lots of time with some cute cats and dogs lately, which makes me one happy gal. I was thinking the other day about pet sitting, and I realized that I literally spend more time with animals than people, haha.
Jimmy and I hosted a picnic for the moms in our life for Mother’s Day. We scrambled around like crazy that morning to get our house in order, clean up the yard, and make food.
We always joke that we like having people over because it forces us to finish little projects and get our house clean–all in record time. There are always little things like trimming bushes, weed wacking, and random cleaning tasks that are usually ignored until we host parties. Is this true for anyone else?!
Hannah and I tried acro yoga when I visited my family recently, which was quite fun. It’s definitely a lot harder than it looks. Hannah’s boyfriend was with us when we were trying to get into different poses, and we were like “Josh! Lift my feet! Now Hannah’s legs!” haha. Poor guy 😉
Lastly, I’ll leave you with this snapshot I took from the police log of our local paper. I thought it was worth sharing 😉
Living My Full Life 
Really sorry you guys had to travel to go to a funeral (that always seems to be the way), but at least you got to spend time together and with family… fueled by coffee and energy drinks. Glad you got a lot of book writing done, too.
Every time my inlaws visit, our house gets cleaned like crazy the few days (and sometimes few hours) before. That’s really the only time! They need to come visit more often, I guess.
Thanks, Amy! It was tough, but we got through it. Now we are just healing and thinking back on the good memories we have.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who goes into hard core cleaning mode when people come to visit, haha!
I’m so sorry to hear about your loss. I truly cannot imagine how hard that has been. Thinking of you, my friend.
Thank you so much, Hollie!
I’m so sorry to hear about your uncle. I know that has to be so hard for all of you! *hugs* I am glad you got to spend time with your family even though it was rough circumstances.
I am totally with you on working on long car rides. I bring my laptop with me and edit photos for a couple of hours! 🙂
Those yoga poses look intense! Go you guys!
Thanks so much, Rach! That means a lot to me 🙂
Amen to getting stuff done on those long rides!! My mom and I are going to be traveling next month and we are trying to decide between flying or driving (I am TERRIFIED of flying… but it’s SO much faster). I am thinking of all the book writing I can get done on a lone car ride, though!!
Haha the yoga was too much fun! I had never done anything like that before, but I hope we do it again!
WOW those yoga poses look awesome!
I’ll be praying for your family with the passing of your Uncle. My own uncle has had prostate cancer and I worry about him when I think about it. My life lately has been blogging, social media-ing and running. I’m loving it!
The weather today was PERFECT!
Haha, thanks Ellie!! We had so much fun trying to get into those crazy poses!
Thank you for your prayers! I am sorry to hear about your uncle. I will pray for him and your family, too. I know how rough and worrisome it can be.
I’m am so happy to hear you are loving life lately! Yay for perfect weather. Speaking of perfect weather… it totally snowed in Pittsburgh today… ugh.
So, so sorry about your loss. Sending my love ❤
Thank you, P. That means so much to me!
I am so sorry about your Uncle, Allie!! Losing a family member is never easy, especially when it involves something as devastating as cancer.
On a lighter note, what brings you to Buffalo!?
Thank you so much, Kaila. I really appreciate it.
I was passing through Buffalo (or shall I call it Buffalove?!) on my way to the memorial for my uncle. I wish I could have stayed longer and met up with you!!
I’m sorry to hear about your uncle, Allie. Thinking of you.
Spending more time with animals than with people? That sounds pretty good to me. 😀
Thank you so much. It means a lot to me!
And yes, I am with animals all day every day and I adore it! It brings a lot of responsibility, but it’s so rewarding!
Sorry to hear about your uncle. What a sad loss for your family. Thoughts and prayers, friend.
Love the yoga pictures! You guys are doing awesome.