Grandpa Loren

A week after returning home from vacation, while I was still recovering from that trip and still suffering with a broken AC, my mom called with bad news about Grandpa Loren. The next morning, I was not in the best of moods because of it, and while we were getting ready to go to a funeral of a friend, Sal called Grandma to find out how Grandpa was only to find out he'd passed during the night. It was not a good day for me. I really wanted to go to Grandpa's funeral, but it was looking bleak. My wonderful husband ended up taking the whole day off work to be with me through my heartache and worry. My family also pulled together to get me there. And my friends lent a big hand too.

On Thursday, July 22, I left with my brother Jo and his wife Melissa for California. The 10 hour drive seemed to go by quickly without children. In California, I stayed in my sister Beth's hotel room. Another rock hard mattress, but what are you going to do?

Grandpa's funeral was Friday morning. It was lovely and the grandkids sang a primary song. I'm glad I got to be part of that. After the graveside service and luncheon, I spent the rest of the day at Grandma's house with the family. It was so nice to be able to spend time with my family and share memories of Grandpa without worrying about how my children were behaving. I love my kids, but this was a nice break. I spent Saturday morning at Grandma's too before we headed back to Utah.

I'm going to miss Grandpa. He was a great example of love and service. He was a real gentleman. I guess Matt has decided he needed to take after this example and as we arrived at Grandma's on Saturday, he ran out of the car making me wonder what the problem was. Cari was already getting out of the car when he ran around and pushed her back in and closed the door. It was really funny. Then he opened the door for her and then for me. It was great!

I wanted some pictures of us all together. So Grandma called her neighbor over to be the photographer so we could all be in the picture. From the left: Melissa and Jordan, Mom, Grandma, Dad, Aunt Melinda, Uncle Ted, Matt. Seated: Beth with Cassie and Aaron, Cari with Christian, and me.

Then later, I wanted some of my siblings and I. We had to goof and and make a little fun of Beth. Sadly, only Cari and I needed prosthetic bellies.

The serious (nice) one

With Grandma

And then we added the spouses that were there.

While I was gone, my friends and counselors Diane and Lori took care of the kids. And our landlord's wife, Geneve brought dinner over and made sure the AC got fixed. I arrived home after 1am on Sunday morning and the kids were asleep. Then I was up at 8 and off to a meeting before most of the kids got up so the first they got to see of me was up on the stand playing the organ. After church, we went to Gramma Berta's for a BBQ. As tired as I was, I'm not about to pass up time with family. So Monday was pretty much spent in a haze while I recovered.