Grandpa's Funeral and My Birthday

Emmy and I had the opportunity to fly back home to Utah, this month, to attend my grandfather's funeral. He had been living with my mom for the last few months of his life and passed away peacefully with his loving family cheering him on. We know he was really looking forward to being with my grandma again and we were excited for him. He is loved by so many and we will all miss him. There is definitely a difference here on earth without the both of them. It was amazing to see, however, the enormous legacy they left behind. With a posterity of over 200, we filled the church and basically made a scene wherever we went. We should have made a movie called my Big, Fat, Mormon Funeral. I love my family! The funeral was a true celebration of my grandpa's life. From his intellectual contributions to his spiritual strength,  my grandfather was a truly brilliant man. Thanks so much to all the family members that helped us come out there and took care of Emmy so that I could attend the funeral.

My favorite part was when all of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren, ages 8 and up, stood on the stand and sang We'll Bring the World His Truth, or Army of Helaman. There was not a dry eye in the place and it was so special. We sang the same song for their missionary farewell when they went to London and I will never forget it.



I love this photo of my grandparents! It is unique in the fact that it is one of the only pictures I have seen that shows my grandmother pregnant. This is significant in the fact that she had 11 children!

               



I was particularly excited to go to Utah to see the progress on the building of the Payson Temple. David is hoping to apply for the Grounds Supervisor job when it becomes available and we having been following it closely. IT IS GORGEOUS! All LDS temples are beautiful but I think this one is one of my favorites already. It will be hard to wait until January to apply. I miss those mountains something fierce. I practically share a birthday with my cousin Donna, and she kindly sent me a book of Willie Holdman's photographs of Timpanogos Mountain for my birthday. I cried. :) There is nothing quite like getting mountains in the mail for your birthday!


So speaking of my birthday, I turned 32 while in Utah. I was sad not to be with my boys but David sent me flowers and my family got me a "Bruce Bogtrotter" cake (Mathilda reference) and took me out to dinner. That night was my grandpa's viewing so I was able to see all my extended family and visit with my lovely cousins. We were able to celebrate with David's family a bit too and then added the excitement of David's sister, Nicole's, engagement to Juan. We are incredibly excited for the wedding this summer!!!

Well, after all the excitement of returning home and getting life back to normal, the kids went on Spring Break. We didn't do a whole lot but we were able to relax in the mornings and go to the zoo. The sunshine was a welcome rarity and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. The hippos were a hit!
 


Things are finally starting to warm up here and Caleb and David have started running again. We signed Caleb up with the St. Louis Blazers, a city track club. He is really excited to start that next week. Tonight, Jacob's Karate is supporting a local fundraising effort for Cancer by doing a Board-break-athon. It should be fun!

I did another post for the Projectsconnect2014 blog. Read it. Be inspired. Haa!