Adventures in Life: 10 Favorite Memories

This past weekend my family gathered to celebrate the life of my amazing Grandma DeLores.

As much as the past weekend was filled with tears, it was also filled with wonderful memories of this truly one of a kind woman that I had the honor to call my grandma. Here are 10 memories about my Grandma that I will cherish until I get to see her again in Heaven.

1) Her cooking - She was known for carmel rolls, strawberry pie, chicken and noodles served over mashed potatoes, and people would literally line up to get a box of her Christmas candy. Tastes and smells will forever remind me of her.
2) When my grandparents lived on their farm, there was a bell outside the front door that my grandma would use to call my grandpa for lunch. I loved when she would let me ring the bell. When I was little she would have to hold me up to ring it.
3) Christmas at Grandma's was always a special time. She would make little cakes and we got to decorate "Happy Birthday Jesus" cakes how ever we wanted.
4) Speaking of cakes, she was an excellent cake baker. She would make any shape and flavor we wanted from my "Oscar the Grouch" pickle cake when I was 5 to my Barbie dress cake - she could make anything out of cake - and it always tasted great!
5) I can't remember an important life event that she wasn't there for. Swim meets, graduations, my wedding...she came no matter how far she had to drive.

6) I will always remember hearing her cheer for me at the pool. She LOVED cheering on all of her grandkids in our various activities. And she went all out for us. This is a picture of my Grandma and Grandpa at my NCAA National Swim Meet when I was in college. Can you guess who had the best cheering section?

7) Grandma always encouraged us grandkids to use our imagination. From playing cowgirls "riding" the wooden sticks with horse heads on them, to her famous popsicles (made of only water! Yep, we begged for Grandma's popsicles, she totally had us tricked with her water popsicles!) she was always encouraging and teaching us to use our imagination. 

8) The piano at the farm house - I loved "playing the piano" and making up "songs" for my Grandma. She would always stop and listen to my songs, and clap like she had just listened to Mozart when I was done.

9) Driving the four-wheeler. I have so many  memories of Grandma on the four-wheeler. Picking up cans from the ditch, setting my brother's turtle (Nick) free in the swamp, going back to that same swamp to look for the turtle, driving on Barb's (my grandma's best friend) lawn and having her chase us with the hose, learning to drive! There was nothing better than rides with Grandma - you never knew what kind of adventure there would be!

10) I could go on and on with these different memories, I was very blessed to have 28 years to make memories with her. One thing that we almost alway did each time we were together was to play cards. My grandma loved to play cards and passed that love on to all of her grandchildren. She taught me how to shuffle and how to hold my cards correctly and not to bend them. I think playing card with her is one of the things I will miss most - sitting and chatting about anything and everything while she inevitably kicked my butt in whatever game we were playing. 

I still can't believe that she is gone. I was thinking last night how much I loved talking to her on the phone - in college I would call to chat as I was walking across campus and more recently I would call on my drives to or from work. My head knows she is happier than ever in Heaven, but my heart still feels so heavy. 

I am sharing my list of 10 memories of my Grandma at