Heaven ...

My favorite season is fall. I love the crisp colors of the leaves and the coolness in the air.

My favorite time of the day is dusk. I love the sunset and to watch the day come to such a peaceful end. So I really loved this picture.

I'd like to think that this is something of what heaven may resemble, at least heaven in my mind. It's a place that all your favorite memories, feelings and smells reside. All of those nostalgic moments in life that pass you by. You would now have a moment to linger and hang on to them a little bit longer.

If this is heaven, then it may be a pretty nice place to be afterall.

Angels Together Forever...

Randy, I am so glad you are posting with us. And I am so glad that both Crystal and I could be of some help. I know how painful it is to lose your mom, and now my grandma. We love you too and I am so proud of you and your sweet family.

I scrapped this page to honor the memory of both Debbie and Betty. I found it only fitting that I came across so many pictures of them together in life, and they are forever united in the after life. I hate to call it death because it is so final. I know that we will be forever together again in the great beyond.

I have been trying to keep my head up about the losses of both of these great ladies, and some days are better than others. Each day does get a little better, but also a little harder. It has now been almost three weeks since we lost Grandma and going on five months since we lost Mom.

I found this quote and really liked it:

"Death ends a life, not a relationship."
~Jack Lemmon

I think it really sums it up. We will all be together again someday and in the grace of God.

I love you both, and Randy, welcome to the wonderful world of blogging. :)

I just wanted to say how much i miss my mom.Its been almost 2 weeks sence she has passed and i still feel like i should be home taking care of her. Its so hard to beleave shes gone i just pray shes in a better place. There will be an empty place in my heart now. Im so glad i got to spend as much time with her as i did.Im still having a hard time with the whole thing.it all happend so fast my uncle Frank,my sis Deb and then my mom. As time passes it will get better but it will never be the same. One thing i would like to say is how much i love Janda and Crystal for all thay have done we would be at a loss with out you thank you both. Love Randy

How much you are both missed...

So I just posted this picture on my mom's blog and thought it should be on Grandma's too. I love this picture, thanks Amber for sharing it. I cannot believe that this was just taken just a few years ago. How much time has changed. Now they are both gone, forever. But they are now forever together.

One of my last phone conversations with my mom, about a week before her accident, she was complaining about how Grandma was fighting with her (mom's) counselor over some stupid mis-understanding. They had been both been at the shop. Well, just minutes after this conversation, my mom's counselor came in to the shop. Grandma was already fired up and pulled out the bull - whip and chased her out of the shop. I don't remember the details of the end of the story, but just found it funny that these two women were the best of friends, mother and daughter and constantly aruging.

That is how I imagine them now. Up with Jesus in Heaven, and arguing. I miss them both so much, but I am at peace with the fact that they are together...and arguing... over who got more flowers at their service, who got more attention, who made more people cry... This is how they were.

I would give anything to have them back here with me, but I know that is not going to happen. Just when I think I have healed some, the tears are back. Happy tears in a way... Knowing Grandma is not suffering here on Earth anymore and that they are together, forever and this is how it should be.

Mom's headstone is ordered and will have Grandma's birth date and date of death on it. This will be in place in about 5 - 6 weeks. I will post pictures once it is done. Thanks to Crystal and Kelly for taking care of this.

I love you both! I miss you too. Keep watch over us all. We are hurting and need your blessings.

We are growing

I am so excited! So far, we have four new authors. So all of you start posting. I think this is a really good outlet for all of us to shed a few tears, tell some funny stories and keep in touch. That is something grandma would have wanted. She would be so happy to know that all of her beloved grandchildren were staying in touch, and remembering her for the wonderful woman she was (and is).

Here are some photos I have meant to add from the day of her funeral last week:

One of the greatest ladies I knew

These are some of my favorite photos taken of a trip Jo and I made to Lyman a few years ago. Grandma's shop was in a ran - down old gas station. It was her pride and joy. A friend of hers, who was a self - proclaimed artist, decided to paint her van in some really strange hippy - like design. The funny thing, is that even the van was hideous, Grandma loved it. Someone had done it for her, and therefore, in her eyes, it was beautiful. This is the type of woman she was.

Some of my fondest memories of Grandma stem from the days or being a child. One story that Crystal and I love to laugh about, is the time my mom and dad won a trip to Hawaii. Grandma had been given the duty of looking after Crystal, Shaun and I for an entire week. She dropped our parents off at the airport and drove us home. At the time, of course, she was driving another sort of van. Grandma always needed a van to haul her loot home from the swap meet that weekend. Crystal and I were in the back seat and behind her. While at the airport, we had taken several of the baggage tickets to play with. While driving home, we got bored and found some straws. We got the bright idea of making spit wads with the baggage tickets and the straws. We began shooting them into Grandma’s hair. I am not sure at what point she realized what her two sneaky granddaughters were doing, but she just laughed along with us and never got upset. This is the kind of unconditional love I am talking about. And I am sure that each and every one of her children, grandchildren, and great – grandchildren knows exactly what I mean.

Quinton put it in the perfect words, we loved our pistol-packing, bull whippin' granny. There will never be another Betty Louise Mast Quigley again. We have to make the best to rememberthis amazing soul and ask that God make us nearly the person she was.

Some of my favorite pictures

Final Day Pics

Those are some really great pics you got of my family with grandma....I know how emotionally hard this has been on all of us, I still don't think the realization has completely sunk in. I know how hard it was to visit my moms house when grandma was slowly declining and I should have gone more often. I'm just glad that she was able to spend her final days on this earth with her family and not sitting in a rest home. She loved getting visits from the great grandkids...although I think it wore her out after a visit, she would never say so though. I know how delighted she got when I would bring Kambrin over. She just loved kissing and holding her, always said "she reminds me of you...I remember you when you were this old...I can't believe how much you two look a like....look at her eyes they are just like yours".

But anyhow really good pics; I'm sorry that you were crying the other night....and you are right it truely broke grandmas' heart and sprit to loose her oldest daughter the way she did. I am content knowing that neither one is in pain any longer and they have each other, plus a wonderful man to show them around....Can you see them up there talking about all of us, and whose exit was better....who got the most tears...Grandpa and Aunt Debbie drinking the beers the Boys leave with Grandpa and all three smoking, hoping not to get caught.

It makes me smile anyhow thinking how they could be changing the heavens, I guess they have to if they are perparing for our family to go there throughout the years. Hahaha :)

So tonight I have had way too much to drink and am an emotional train wreck. I have been adding to this blog as well as my mom's, http://debbiegodfrey.blogspot.com and have been bawling for an hour. So a word of advice, don't get drunk with your best friends, only to then go home and mourn the loss of your recently departed mother and grandmother.

Anyhow, here are some pictures of Grandma and the family in her final days. It's amazing how quickly someone can decline in health. Grandmas was diagnosed with cancer just weeks after my mom died. She looked really good and was in (what we thought) relatively good health back in October.

I truly believe that it was not just the cancer that took her, but heart break as well. We all took my mom's death especially hard, but Grandma took it really hard. Her heart was broken, as well as her spirit.

Where ever you two amazing women are tonight, I pray that you can mend our broken hearts and souls as well. We miss you and look to the day that we can all be united again in the heavens.

Grandma's final days

Grandma I love you!

This is a picture of my two girls(Jade and Kambrin) and grandma. We as kids were grandma's heart medicine she always said....it's no wonder she was always so full of life with all the grand&great grandchildren she had. She was more like a kid then she was a grandma. She took the expression of "Well I'm the grandma I can do what ever because they go home afterwards". Most times we never left, we never wanted to go home. I remember spending so much time with her. I was the first offical swat meet girl, and mountain girl..who as she said jumped in her arms and never left. I would go the the swat meet she would give me my own booth of things that I could sell, I always thought her prices were to high and she would still sell things...more often she bought everything there before she would leave. I would buy things too: markers, makeup, jump-ropes, food, and treats. I spent more of her money then she did some weekends. I sold something once when my grandma went to shop/trade around....boy was she mad but not at me the guy who bought it and she marched down there and got the toy gun that I had sold back and some other things....I guess it went without saying no one messed with our grandma...she was the true meaning of a LEO! I wanted to talk at the funeral because I had so much to share with all of us there, like I was the first doll she did of us grandkids and I wanted my doll to have big boobs because mine were so small, and she stuffed the dress we made so full so that she did....and I would have talked about the coffee she used to give me as a kid and my grandpa Jim would yell at her and she would just say "oh hush" and he would. I would tell everyone how at the mountain she took her wicker patio set out side and put it under a tree so we could have tea party's and red ants infested it so we didn't play there often, and the old dolls we used to play with that were as tall as us, and had the pull string on their backs that we would sit and play and play....and although they were her dolls and I'm sure worth a lot of money she didn't mind. She just loved to see us smile. I remember so much silly songs we performed, poker games we were taught, dress up that we played and clothes from the 30's......I could go on and on. And then there is the end which I wish sometimes I didn't remember.

Thank you Janda for putting this together. Apparently I had a lot to say.

Old and shabby

I don't really know where to begin with this blog, other than to begin by saying what a sad place this world is going to be without you in it. I learned so much from this great woman. Including, my love of all things old and shabby. In my family, we grew up at either the swapmeet or yard sale-ing.I attribute my love to shabby sheek to you Grandma.

Yahoo!!

Yeah! We have figured out how to add more than one blogger to this site. So anyone interested in adding thoughts, pictures, memories, etc can do so. Email me at jandastrong@gmail.com. More is to come soon.

This blog is dedicated to Betty Louise Mast Quigley who passed away March 13, 2008. My grandma meant the world to me and all of her grandchildren. This blog is dedicated to her and her enduring legacy. Over the next few days, I will update more photos and scrapbook pages.

I love you Grandma and will miss you.

We are going to miss you