October 2012: Week Three

My sister & I have an app on our phones that track where we are so if for some reason she's not answering her phone, I can see that she's at work or she's at my Mom's & they're ignoring me.  Early this week, Alicia text me & asked if I could figure out where she was & sure enough, I saw she was hiking the "M" so it motivated me to go on my own hike.

 

Not only does my phone have cool apps that track my sister down, it takes great pix!
Twin Falls is pretty amazing in certain places.

This is basically in the center of town. 
Way cool.

Almost immediately after my hike, Grammie showed up with her sister, Auntie Patty to watch Cashe while Shad & I went out of town. 

 

Cashe-man was still a bit out of sorts recovering from his surgery the week before & he hadn't eaten much or pooped at all in a whole week.  Praise the Lord, he was 100% recovered by the time Shad & I left town.

 

It certainly helps the recovery when Grammie wants to snuggle all day long.

Initially, I was headed to Phoenix for my Grandfather's memorial service & Shad had a training in Indianapolis; however his training was cancelled & it just happened to be the same week Shad's friends were golfing in the ESPN Golf Tournament in Las Vegas, so he decided to join them instead since his Mom & Aunt were already headed down to watch Cashe.

 

My sister & I met in Salt Lake City on our way to Phoenix & my Dad was already there with my Aunt & Uncle & one of my cousins, KJ.  Our other cousin, Kylie was scheduled to arrive in Phoenix from Norfolk, VA where she is currently stationed in the Navy.

 



Alicia & Dad.
Fuh-reaks.

 

After Kylie arrived on Thursday, we went through Grandma's jewelry & some of Grandpa's things too.  

"I pity the fool who puts on my jewelry." - Mr. T.
I put almost all of their jewelry on, including some of Grandpa's nametags.

Grandpa had the largest hat collection EVER & each hat had a story. 
He would always wear his hats high on his head & never bend the bills.
We all put one on in honor of Grandpa. 
Awe.

Thursday, we spent putting together the centerpieces for the luncheon after the memorial.
We took each hat & put it on a hat stand & the story for each hat was underneath each hat.
What a cool way to remember Grandpa.

We had 19 hat centerpieces to put together & this wasn't even half of his hat collection.

Then, Thursday night we decided to play the game where you blow out your lips (like a horse) & someone catches your face on camera.  We laughed so hard, I was crying ...

See my tears?

Group shot: me, Dad, Uncle Peek, Kylie & Aunt Shauna.
(I saved us all a little embarrassment by not posting our individual shots, so this will have to do.)

Friday morning, we woke up & loaded up the car & headed to clubhouse at the community where my Grandparents used to live to set up for the luncheon.  Then we headed to the church for the service.

 

Grandpa was an incredible man with an incredible life story.  He & my Grandmother were very, very social people & very active in their community & very active physically.  It was such a neat time with family to remember them both & what an impact they had on all those who knew them & loved them.



 

Our two models: Granddaughters, Kylie & Alicia.

All three Granddaughters posing with Grandpa's telephone he used when he worked for the telephone company, his guest book & his hard hat he wore for the telephone company.

Kylie, Alicia, April, Patty & me in front of the story boards we made.

When we got home from the service, we went through Grandma & Grandpa's things & divvied them up amongst us all.
Dad & I found these giant gold plates that looked like shields, so we did a little sword fighting with a staple gun & a remote control.

Alicia didn't approve of my earlier 'horse faces', so I had to try again. 
This turned out a little better.

Then we played a game where you had to put your head against the wall at a 90-degree angle
& try to stand up straight while lifting a chair. 
Apparently, women can do it because of the way their hips are designed & men can't. 
Alicia could do it, but Uncle Peek could not. 
Dad wouldn't even try.

Saturday morning, Alicia & I jumped on our plane back to Salt Lake & then headed our separate ways back to our little families.  We had a fabulous time goofing off & making more silly memories while remembering those we loved & lost. 

In the meantime, Shad broke even in Las Vegas & had a great time with friends & lounging at the pool. 

And Cashe got some great quality time with Grammie & Auntie!  He seems like a whole new child now that he can hear properly.  He's forming sentences & talking non-stop.  He's more of a riot than before, if that's possible.