Farewell Grandpa Graham

An unplanned trip to Utah. A wonderful funeral. One that made me cry. A man I grew to love.

I will never forget the way my grandma first reacted when she saw her beloved husband laying in the coffin for the first time.

She cried. She put her aged arms lovingly around his neck and held him. I heard her whisper, "I love you Lloyd." I cried. So grateful I could witness their love one last time. The love that I will always and continue to try to emulate.

I drove to pick up my kids after the viewing, turning the radio trying to find sappy love songs at a time I was really missing my husband.

A feeling of disgust came over me. None of these people even knew what love was. How can I turn to this music to make me feel the way I felt at the funeral home just hours before.

I turned it off.

I wanted to remember the feeling of true love.

I wanted to be in the arms of my husband.

Thank you grandpa. Thank you for loving the way I wish to love.

choosing a flower to leave on the grave.


The Original 5. Lindsey, David, Sam, Jessica and Joseph

p.s. I am not pregnant. I just look it. My dad told me I could use a few sit-ups.

Maybe tomorrow.


...and then we all got married. Joey and I were the only one's spouse-less. So sad.


after the funeral...

William is loosening his tie...trying to talk adult with the bog boys.

my sister and I

Until we meet again...I love you, grandpa.

SLC continued...

grandma and grandpa's backyard

p.s. the Ford is the shoeless one. none of us wear them. ever. well, sometimes we do.

grandpa geoff's favorite thing. trying to make the kids "trow up" on the hammock. luckily, he was never successful

sharing lots of popsicles

some of the grandkids being crazy

cute cousin buddies

grandma Cheryl's trampoline with cousin Ben

surrounding the laptop. entertained with pbskids.org

even grandpa's get into pbs kids. at least ours does.

FISHING! p.s. William and Jake LOVED eating their fish. "this is delicious"

boys eating a banana split from a "pig trough" $15 is a small price to pay for community ice cream

Only in Utah...parade floats with the Book of Mormon and a temple. Good to be back...

trying on grandma's reading glasses

enjoying William's homemade ice pops. literally. frozen ice in a cup with a stick.

ahhhh...the arms of a good friend. one of the best. Katie and I haven't seen each other for two years. We both FINALLY happened to be visiting family in Utah for the first time! Divine Intervention. We started our friendship in Des Moines, IA. We started with 2 kids each. I ended our Des Moines experience with 3 kids. Katie totally beat me. She left with 5. (twins!) She wins.

These guys were all best friends in Des Moines. William and Hallie were getting married. Jake and Maggers would never make the marriage thing work. They were both way to strong willed for each other. We were happy to see Lainey and Nomers play so well together. Best friends in the womb. Thier moms ate the same food, laughed together, cried together, and gained 50 pounds together. They had to have been friends in Heaven. We just know it.

Can you tell? We're Mormon.

swimming with the Fords. Cute Nomers and Maggers.

Baseball game.

this sums up my experience at the ballgame

at least the sno cones were good

swimming with my high school soccer buddy Laura and her kids. so cute. I love her.

she looks hot, me...not. But, oh well. We're still friends.

at church. Jake brought his pet crab, Maddie is posing, and Naomi just might be drunk. We're not quite sure. Suffice it to say, not one of our 6 children made it through the whole meeting. Naomi and Ty are well...two, Josh and Will started yelling at each other in the middle of the meeting over a spiral bound notebook, and Jake kept kissing Maddie all over...a little innapropriate. They are best friends, though.

the FINALE! Fireworks with great grandma's, cousins, fire, shirtless boys, and grandpa lighting matches with his teeth. Good Bye SLC. Until later...

Flying home to daddy. I paid for four seats. Unfortunately, we only used three.

YORK

My brother Joey, his wife and new baby just moved last weekend to York, PA. Now that three of my parents five kids live in the Midwest/East, how could we not make a vacation out of it? Pictures are self explanatory. Have I ever mentioned that I love my family? Well, I really, really LOVE my family.