Grandma's Funeral

We headed to Sevier County last night for Grandma Brown's funeral. There were SO many cousins there. Many I haven't seen for years. They had to section off the entire chapel for family to set in the front. All the other people there were in the overflow. It was great to remember and pay tribute to a seriously amazing woman! I had to put a few pictures of Grandma's house and the shed out back that we played in. There is also a picture of my dad with all his brothers and sisters on the porch of the home they were raised in. My dad wrote this poem that I thought was so insightful and said everything so perfectly.

The Welcoming
by Dahl Brown

We'd all been called to her bedside
As she took her final breath
Our hearts were torn by grief and pain
To lose our mother in death.

As we stood there in our selfishness
Wishing she hadn't passed
The spirit manifest to me
That she was home at last.

It said, "Listen, can't you hear it?
There is a might roar
It's cheers of joy and welcoming
From loved ones gone before."

Then gospel truths laid rest my pain
And joy swept over me
As I realized She'd merely gone
To where she'd rather be.

With her beloved husband
Whose parting brought such pain
She's happy now that she's returned
To be with him again.

And with parents she had missed so much
And longed to see once more
Brothers and sisters that she loved
Who'd passed long before.

There are so many glad to see her
I felt selfish in my grief
She'd suffered long without their love
And now she's found relief.

I bowed my head in selfish shame
And said a silent prayer
And thanked my Heavenly Father
That my mother could be there.

Great-Grandma Brown

My dad's mom passed away this weekend. It was very bitter sweet. I haven't been to Koosharem to see her in quite a while so I felt so bad about that. The good part is that for about 29 years she has been missing her sweetheart terribly. Her health hasn't been the best for years and so it is good to know she is no longer in pain.
My grandma was so incredibly amazing. She had 10 kids and raising them in Koosharem is not the easiest life. Because there wasn't a close high school the kids would go live in Richfield during their high school years. I can't even begin to think about letting my kids leave me at that age. She could do anything including feed people. I remember every time we went to visit her mind wouldn't be eased until we accepted her invitation to eat something; a meal, a slice of bread, a cookie, or ice cream.
As a young child I have fond memories of Grandmas house:

• We always played house under her huge kitchen table. It's legs made sections on the floor and so my cousins and I would each have our own 'room.'
• Another fond memory was playing in the corals behind her house. We would set on the old wood fences and pretend to watch rodeos.
• I also loved her matchbox car village. She had a huge canvas cloth that she had drawn a town on. We would spread it out and play cars for hours.
• Another fun thing we'd do with the cousins was pretend we were singers. Grandma's closet curtains were sheer fabric and we'd go behind them and come out when it was our turn to sing. "Elvira", "Counting Flowers on the Wall," or anything from the Oakridge Boys were the common songs.
• My mom wouldn't buy SpaghettiOs very often but Grandma always had them in her pantry. I think it drove my mom crazy but I'm sure every time I weaseled my way into getting SpaghettiOs with a slice of bread and butter. Grandma made sure I was taken care of-- even if it was spoiling me.

The last memory has lasted throughout my life. Grandma has created a HUGE legacy of family love. Everyone tries to go to any family get-together we have. There are tons of people but we all genuinely love each other. I have cousins that I consider some of my best friends. I'm sure Grandma had a huge effect on that. I'll miss her tons but I know our family will always stay connected even though she's not here with us.

This picture was taken at our annual Easterin' trip in 2007. Grandma loved to eat 'squirrel surprise' and share it with the great-grandkids.

Two Miny Chefs. . .

There are 'Too many chefs in the kitchen' at our house with a twist. We have two miny chefs plus one head chef. : ) My boys love to drag out my pots. I would have expected them to do this and then proceed to make a ruckus banging them like drums. Instead they choose to cook. Today they were making German Pancakes, their favorite thing to make with Darryl on the nights I'm gone to Young Womens.

Memory Lane

This weekend has been full of reconnecting with old friends. My high school Jr. Prom date, Tyler Sanders, just moved to Midway so we had him over for dinner on Friday. It has been over 10 years since I have seen Tyler. It was so great to meet his wonderful wife and play with his cute baby. Then on Saturday our friends Jill and Jeremy Ison, from Price, were in Heber so we went to dinner with them and spent some time catching up. Great friends just make life so much better don't they.

Birch Orderville Hike

We spent Friday hiking Birch Hallow Canyon, Orderville Canyon, and the end of the Zion's Narrows. This trip will strike many feelings in many ways: excitement, embarrassment, pain, apprehension, exhilaration, freezing, sweating, awe, and extreme FUN! We went with some friends from St. George, Mike and his daughter Kirsten; a college friend of Darryl's, Nate; and our neighbors Gary and Wendy. The Spencer's had thought about doing a will before we left and I think there were times on the hike that they really wish they would have taken care of that. All said and done, I think everyone had a great time. I think this will be an annual trip for us so if 12 hours of repelling off huge cliffs, hiking through mud, swimming through icky water, seeing amazing sights, and acquiring euphoria is up your alley leave a comment and we'll put you on the list for next year!
Disclaimer: It is likely that you will obtain bruises, scratches, and overall soreness-- all of which will be gone in less than a week. : )

We're Buddies

Kade and Clint have been playing together so well lately. They're both at an age that they can play pretend together and have tons of fun with it. Today while they were playing in Kade's room I heard Kade say so sentimentally to Clint, "We're buddies." I had to go see what memories the two little buddies were making. They were playing fix it shop and it looks like the door jam needed some repairs. Once they saw the camera they wanted to show off a little so they switched to a game of jumping on Kade's bed. I love my boys!

Call Me George

We had our own version of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree with a hatchet today. As you can see the chainsaw got to rest on the lawn while Darryl attacked the roots of our Choke Cherry tree. The chainsaw did get in on the fun. Darryl used it to cut the tree into small pieces. We found an awesome caterpillar while we were hauling the tree away. I hope it survives to become a butterfly. Kade and Clint love watching it. It's a Tiger Swallowtail. It's bright green with a few blue spots. It's very retro looking. Back to the choke cherry tree--I would highly suggest you never plant one! Unfortunately ours came with the house. They send up a TON of suckers and if they are fruit bearing there are billions of little berries that are terribly bitter but kids enjoy squishing them all over the house, patio, lawn, etc. Thus the reason we no longer have one growing in our yard. It had a sick spot on it too-- which makes me feel better about it. I hate loosing the little shade we got from it but in a few years we'll have the shade from another tree. Now it's just hurry up and wait for it to grow!

A 3 Day Tour

So what do you do when gas is $4.25? You take a tour of the state of Utah. It was our Youth Conference last weekend. We headed out Thursday morning with 17 teenagers to discover Utah. We started the trip playing at the wave pool in Price, then that night we went to the Castle Valley Pageant,










and camped in Huntington Canyon (where we froze all night-- seriously I was so cold I never slept).










The next morning we got up and got dressed to go to the temple to do baptisms. What an odd sight to see a group of people in dress clothes breaking camp. I wish I would have gotten my camera out earlier to get some better pictures of that. We then drove over the mountain to Manti to the temple. After we were done there we headed back to Ephraim to the Institute for a short fireside. Then it was off to Fremont Indian State Park where we spent the night. We spent the last day at Cove Fort and then headed back to Heber. What a great trip. The kids were awesome the whole time-- thankfully. A great bonus of the trip was every place we stopped I saw someone I knew-- I love seeing old friends!