We said goodbye to my grandma today. I love her. I miss her. I wish my kids could have known her like I did. Full of life and love and always going, going, going. Even though she was mostly confined to a couch the last ten years of her life, my kids adored her. Rightly so. We had a viewing before the funeral. The grandkids were asked to carry flowers from the viewing room to the chapel. It was heartbreaking watching my grandpa say goodbye to my grandma before they closed the casket. They asked if anyone else wanted to say a last goodbye. Of course I wanted to, but I thought if everyone that loved my grandma as much as I did comes up now we will be here forever! My grandma was loved that much. Preston did go up to see her one last time. He started walking and then turned around a little nervous. I nodded to him that it was okay. He walked over to her casket and looked at her. He nodded to grandma and then came back to me. I don't know if I should have come up with him or not, but it was so sweet to watch him from where I was. Knowing that he wanted to say goodbye because he wanted to, not because I wanted him to. Bubs also went up with one of his kids, but I can't remember which one. My Uncle Mark gave a nice prayer before her casket was closed.
Preston, Stockton, Stephanie
John, Brett
Grandma's funeral was lovely. Uncle John did a great job officiating. Jackie did her life sketch and Steve gave a talk. All of the grandkids, great-grandkids and great-great-grandkids sang I Am a Child of God and Families Can Be Together Forever. That was probably half the audience and the chapel was full! My Grandpa also talked, which I was impressed with. I want to put down more details, but there were so many moments that touched me I don't know where to begin.
After the funeral we travelled to the cemetery in Ririe. My grandma grew up in Ririe. Sue and Chuck are buried there. So are her parents. We didn't want to take the motorhome there, so we farmed out our family to different cars. Maysen and Jorja went with Matt & Sam. Stockton and Preston went with John and Cassie. My dad, Brett, Mike and I went with my brother Mike. My dad was a pallbearer. Everyone of my Grandma's kids were represented. Terry, Frank and Brad represented Sue. My dad represented my mom. Glade represented Kris. Mark represented Jackie and John and Steve represented themselves.
Terry, Mark, Brad, Frank
John, Steve, Glade, Ron
Glade, Ron, Brad, Ella, Frank, Mark, Steve, John
My dad putting his flower on my grandma's casket
Grandpa putting his flower on Grandma's casket
After her grave was dedicated they told us that the dinner at the church would start at 2:00. I really liked how they let us know the exact time. We didn't have to hurry back. We were able to look around the cemetery. I love cemeteries, and there were so many graves I wanted to see! Plus, the weather was so perfect today.
Stephanie
Grandchildren flowers
My Uncle Steve took us to Joseph Hyrum Lovell's grave. He was the first child born after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. He is my great-great grandpa. It is crazy to think he was born right after the martyrdom. My grandma had great-great grandchildren. That makes Joseph Smith's time not seem so far away!
My Great-Great Grandpa's Grave
Steve also took us to my Grandma's parents grave. I was hoping I would be able to see it today.
My Great Grandparents Grave
He also showed us Uncle George's grave which was super awesome! Uncle George is my grandma's brother. He has a cabin we would go to once a year. On his grave you can see the slide that goes down the mountain, the barn with the twisty slide out of it, the swing set, the cabin, the flagpole and even the trampoline! I love it! We couldn't find the zip line, the waterside or the golf course. How fun! We were looking at it with Jackson and Chelsea. I told Chelsea she needed to design my grave. How fun would it be to have frogs and dragons everywhere! Haha! Well, frogs and dragons don't represent me. I wonder what does?
Uncle George's Grave
It was nice to see so many family members at the chapel. I collected e-mail addresses and hopefully I'll be able to put together a Parry Post for my grandma. I feel so bad that I let that slip away. I wish I could have kept doing it, for some reason I couldn't. I don't know why. Even though we were all together, there were so many people I meant to talk to that I didn't get a chance. Funny how that happens.
Steve, Grandpa, Jackie, John
Mike pointed out to me that it is exactly half of my mom's family in this picture. Four people living, four who have already died. It is nice that each of the children have a parent now, and nice that each parent has three children they are with who love them completely.
We got a picture of my family as well. I wish we could get together more often. I love it when I get to be with all of them.
Brett, Mike, John, Dad, Stephanie, Spencer, Matt
Grandma
Grandma, Sue and Chuck - right next to each other
We watched the BYU game after the funeral. My grandpa's tv had been cancelled since he hasn't lived here for a few months. We watched the first part of the game gathered around Brett's cell phone. I finally woke Mike up and he was able to get the game so we could watch it on a laptop. It was fun to watch a game with my brothers again. Especially since BYU won! My dad, Mike, Skye and Larkin all went back to Utah after the game. The rest of us stayed and played Dominion. It was perfect weather, so we set up a table outside on my grandparents front lawn. After awhile we put chairs by the tv outside and Mallory and Trevor watched a movie.
Dominion at Grandma's
Right as we were cleaning up we saw the Fuller parade. Jackie, Mark, Courtney, Markell and their families were all taking a walk. I walked home with them and stayed and chatted a bit before I headed back for more Dominion with my brothers. For such a sad occasion, today was a wonderful day.
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