Grandma's Funeral

I got a call from my dad on Monday that my Grandma passed away. I was so happy. I have been waiting for that phone call for years. She was 98 years old and has wanted to be dead since 2003 when my grandpa passed away. What a happy reunion that was! My grandma was the best! I love her so much. She was a very big part of my childhood. My grandparents lived about a mile and a half from my house and she saved our childhood. Ha. Just kidding mom. But seriously my mom never had any treats in the house so it was always so great whenever we got the chance to go up to grandmas house and have some cookies and red vine licorice. Like I said, saved my childhood. My sister and I spent the night every Friday night at their house for years. We would get there and immediately put on our large matching t-shirts that we would sleep in and then we would get into the hide a way bed in the den and watched recorded cartoons all night. In the morning my grandma would make us bacon and eggs (we never had bacon either) or Corn Bran cereal (still my favorite cereal). These are probably some of my favorite childhood memories. My grandma and grandpa would always do cross word puzzles while we were there and they would also play games with us. 

My grandma was a hard worker! She would work all day everyday. She loved to garden. She would go out in the heat of the day and weed or some other kind of nonsense. She loved to quilt, hand stitch, do cross word puzzles, and bake. She was super opinionated. She hated long hair on girls and just LOVED short hair. She LOVED the color red. She LOVED snow and Christmas. If it wasn't snowing on Christmas day she was practically in a state of depression. She had a strong testimony of the gospel. She would fast every Tuesday for her family members that had gone inactive. She was a wonderful lady and I feel blessed to come from such great stock.

We got up early Saturday morning and drove to Arco for the funeral. I saw a lot of cousins and aunts and uncles I haven't seen in many, many years. All of my siblings came even Chase and Rachel from Portland and Kelsey from Seattle.  I loved the funeral so much. My aunt Karen did my grandma's life sketch and it was funny and sentimental. She did a great job. My dad gave a good talk including the story about the time my grandma heeded a prompting at great risk to her life. After the birth of her third baby she hemorrhaged so badly that the doctor couldn't stop the bleeding and thought she was going to die. She survived but the doctor suggested that my grandpa get a vasectomy because any future pregnancies would be risky. They scheduled the appointment and while they were waiting in the doctor's office my grandma felt like they needed to leave. They left and my grandma had 5 more children including my dad. That resulted in an additional 30 grandchildren and 82 great grandchildren and counting. Amazing! I'm so glad she followed that prompting.

After the funeral my family all gathered at my parent's house. We ate and chatted all night long. Trisha's family and Lance's family left after an hour or so. Everyone else found a bed, cot, air mattress, or floor spot for the night. Most people in the house were able to hear Ryan while he rocked, rocked, rocked, throughout the night. He rocks super loud in his sleep in his pack in play. It's unbelievable and possibly clinical. Ha. We went to Sacrament meeting and came home to my favorite meal in all the land, my mom's Sunday dinner and then we drove home. Kelsey rode back to Boise with us which was good time to get some one on one time with her.

I wish I would have taken some more pictures, especially a picture of all of her things on display at the funeral. Darn it.

This is what my grandma looked like while I was growing up.

Cute Grandma and Grandpa

My grandparents with their 8 children.

A picture with my grandma and my mom and Gabby as a baby.

Visiting my grandma at the nursing home when I was pregnant with Ryan.