Today, I am giving thanks for our extended family members.
Since Bryan and I married, we have pretty much always lived long distance from our families. For a while we had his parents nearby but overall we have lived long distance from everyone. We are therefore of course thankful for things like email, facebook, and the Internet which helps us connect long distance wise. I shared about that in a previous Gratitude post.
Today, I wanted to share just a little about our families themselves.
My dads parents are from Oklahoma and moved to California when my dad was very young. They moved to Lamont, California, a small town in the Valley of Southern, California. My Grandfather Klase worked as a janitor for a school district his entire life. My grandmother worked as a sales lady in a department store. They didn't have much throughout their lives financially but they worked hard and made a good life for themselves. My grandfather Klase has 4 siblings and my Grandmother Klase has 3 brothers and 1 sister. Most ended up in California though a few stayed in Oklahoma. Growing up I saw my great-aunt and uncles that were in California on a regular basis, especially the Holidays. They were an active part of my childhood in many ways. My dad has two sisters, my Aunt Gayla and Aunt Pat who have 4 children total. I have many memories with my cousins.
My moms parents were also from Oklahoma originally. They moved to Arvin, California before my mom was born. Arvin is another small town close to Lamont, where my dads parents lived. My grandfather died when my mom was a pre-teen. My grandmother remarried when I was a baby and Grandpa Lee is the grandfather I grew up knowing but they lived a few hours from where we did in California. My grandmother raised my mom on her own. My mom has one sister that is 9 years older than her, my Aunt Brenda and my grandmother had twins in between my mom and Aunt that died at birth. My grandmother has 2 sisters and 3 brothers. They all grew up on a farm in Oklahoma and a couple of them moved to California as young adults. One of those sisters was my Aunt Lil. My grandmother and my Aunt Lil worked in the packing sheds around the farms in the Arvin area to try to make ends meet while my mother and aunt were growing up. It was really hard work. My Aunt Lil was the most active aunt and uncle from my childhood out of all of my aunt and uncles. This was mainly due to the fact that we lived really close to them the entire time I was growing up. Almost all of my childhood memories involve my aunt Lil and Uncle Bruce. They did not have children of their own and treated my brother and I as their own. In other words, they spoiled us! I think we spent as much time at their home as we did our own. I have memories of spending every Friday night at their home. My uncle loved the tv show Dukes of Hazzard and my brother and I watched it with him every Friday night. To this day, I love that show because it reminds me of my Uncle Bruce. My Aunt Lil loved the game Yahtzee and we would play it every Friday night as well. My Aunt Lil made the best biscuits and gravy. When all of my great-aunts and uncles from Oklahoma would come out to visit every year, camping and fishing would always be involved. My Uncle Bruce and Grandpa Lee had a fishing boat and loved to fish. I have many fond memories of everyone sitting around the campfire and every morning my grandmother and great-aunts would make homemade biscuits over the campfire. My brother and I used to love to play in my uncles boat when it was parked in their driveway. They also had a travel trailer and my brother, cousins, and I would sleep out in it when we spent the night at their house. My aunt and uncle also had a small shed in their backyard that was called "The little house". My cousins, brother, and I would pretend it was our grocery store, home, you name it and the "Little house" was probably turned into it at one point and time. My aunt and uncle stored their canned goods out in the little house as well as paper bags and other things so it made the perfect place to set up as a pretend grocery store. And one fun piece of information- I mentioned that my grandmother remarried when I was a baby. She married my Uncle Bruces brother. Have I lost you yet? LOL! My Uncle Bruce was married to my grandmothers sister, my Aunt Lil. I always thought that was kind of cool that two sisters both married two brothers.
This picture was taken in 2000 during one of my visits to California. That is me in the middle front in between my Aunt Lil and my cousin Bridgett. On the back row from left to right is my mom, Granny, my Aunt Brenda (moms sister), and my cousin Belinda who is holding our Annie girl.
My granny, this past September on her birthday.
My mom on her birthday in October.
My moms sister, Aunt Brenda, last month.
My dad grew up right there in the Arvin/Lamont area as did my mom. They met in highschool. My dad is 4 years older than my mom. My dad went off to fight in the Vietnam War and wrote to my mom often while away at war. A few months after my mom graduated from highschool my dad returned from the war and they were married. That was November of 1969. Another fun tidbit- my dads younger sister, my Aunt Gayla, and my mom, were best friends in highschool.
My parents on Thanksgiving
I was born a couple of years after my parents married and 4 years after me came my one and only brother, Erik. My parents are still in California in the same house that we lived in from my middle school through high school years. My brother is also in California. He works on an oil rig over on the coast in California but has a home in Arvin. He is married and has three children. My dad has always worked in the oil industry. My mom was a stay at home mom and during my gradeschool years she opened up a daycare in our home. She is still running a daycare center to this day. She teaches a preschool program in it and really enjoys teaching. We lived in two locations during my childhood, Bakersfield, and Tehachapi, California. Both places are only 45 minutes apart from one another. One is in the "Valley". A place that is dry, rarely gets rain, and is known for it's farming and oil industry. The other (Tehachapi) is a small town in the mountains that surround the Valley. Tehachapi got 4 seasons a year. My favorite childhood memories are from our mountain home in Tehachapi. I loved that place, especially the snow that we got every Winter.
Bryans dads parents are also from Oklahoma. He has 6 siblings total. Bryans dad spent most of his life working in the oil industry as well and for 7 years he owned and ran his own business. Bryans dad currently lives here in Alabama, not far from us, with his wife, Halyna who is from the Ukraine.
Our family with Bryans dad, earlier this year.
Our children with Bryans dad and his wife Halyna, earlier this year.
Bryans grandmother (his moms mom) was born in Lockwood, Missouri which is a small town outside of Springfield. She has 8 siblings. Bryans moms dad, (grandpa Lasater) was also from Missouri and he worked in the oil industry as well (so yes, Bryan and I both come from oil families). Bryans mom has one older brother. Their family moved around a lot when Bryans mom was growing up, living in Texas, Missouri, California, and I believe Oklahoma. Their may have been another state in their that I am forgetting. They eventually settled down on a horse ranch in California. Bryans grandfather left the oil industry and began managing the Ranch.
Bryans mom, grandmother, and uncle Charles last year.
Bryans mom and her husband Larry with our kiddos during one of their trips down to see us a few years back.
Bryans mom with our Camden a few years ago on one of our trips to Missouri to see them.
Bryans grandparents with our kiddos- a couple of years ago, in Missouri.
Bryans grandfather, taking the kids for a spin around their Missouri farm- a few years back.
Bryans uncle Charles taking the kids for a spin around the Missouri farm last year.
During Bryans childhood his family moved around a lot with his dads job in the oil industry. They lived in New Mexico, Colorado, and California. Bryan has two older brothers, Danny and David who both currently live in California. Bryans mom and her husband as well as his grandmother are back in Missouri now. His grandfather passed away last year.
Bryans oldest brother Danny with his wife Victoria and their sons.
Bryan with his older brothers Danny and David and their great-uncle.
Bryans older brother David cooking breakfast on the grill for all of us. David has two grown sons and one grandson.
We are thankful for all of our extended family members. Those far away and those close by. Those that we see often and those that we do not get to see often. We love them all.
If you would like to see what others are giving thanks for today, check out
Garden of Learning. Only 2 more days left in the Gratitude Challenge. I was feeling sad that it was coming to an end. I have so enjoyed and been so encouraged by reading what others are thankful for. I feel like I have gotten to know many of my TOS sisters much better through the challenge. I just wanted to say thank-you to Brenda for hosting it all month from her blog. I am super excited that Brenda will be hosting another meme during the month of December for the Holidays. It will start December 1st and go through December 31st. It's called Holiday Bliss and will be a meme where we can all share our favorite Christmas traditions, recipes, crafts we make, parties or events we participate in, pictures from throughout the month, thoughts on Christmas. Whatever you want to share about. So plan on joining in if you desire too. It will be a fun and encouraging way to connect and see what others are up to for the Holidays. You can read more about the Holiday Bliss on a post Brenda made yesterday over at
Garden of Learning.
