So, I have been MIA because my grandmother passed away 2 weeks ago Sunday. It wasn't sudden or unexpected, but nonetheless, difficult. I left for the funeral Thursday, January 24th. I took Hallie and Avery with me, and we drove to my parents house and picked up my dad and sister Hannah, my mom was already in Utah. We arrived in St. George on Friday, just in time to go to the viewing. I had not cried until I walked into that room. It was such a mix of emotions.
The funeral was the next day. Two of my sisters (Hannah and Kristine) and I sang one of my grandma's favorite songs, "How Great Thou Art." The first three verses were beautiful and we kept our composure quite well, considering we had all been crying all morning. Then we hit the fourth verse, and Kristine lost her composure. Then Hannah and I lost ours as well. Have you every tried singing while you are crying? It is really quite difficult. I am really glad that I had the opportunity to sing and honor her.
My sister Katie gave a really great talk representing the grandkids. She did such an awesome job. My grandma has been sick for a long time. Most of the grandkids are younger than me, and do not have many memories of how much fun she was. One of my cousins said, "wow, I wish I had known that grandma."
The funeral was the next day. Two of my sisters (Hannah and Kristine) and I sang one of my grandma's favorite songs, "How Great Thou Art." The first three verses were beautiful and we kept our composure quite well, considering we had all been crying all morning. Then we hit the fourth verse, and Kristine lost her composure. Then Hannah and I lost ours as well. Have you every tried singing while you are crying? It is really quite difficult. I am really glad that I had the opportunity to sing and honor her.
My sister Katie gave a really great talk representing the grandkids. She did such an awesome job. My grandma has been sick for a long time. Most of the grandkids are younger than me, and do not have many memories of how much fun she was. One of my cousins said, "wow, I wish I had known that grandma."
These are the things that were great about my grandma:
1. She loved holidays and made them a huge deal. She had a huge backyard, I think it was a whole acre landscaped. When we were at her house for Easter, she would have my grandpa grow the grass really long so that we could have an Easter Egg hunt. It was the world's best Eater Egg hunt. She filled half of the eggs with money, we would make a killing. I always went for the eggs with money, being the cheapskate that I am. Christmas was her favorite holiday. She had a huge house and it was always decorated beautifully. One year for Christmas, she sent our family a huge box marked "The 25 days of Christmas." In it were 25 packages so that someone would have something to open everyday of December. It was the most exciting way to count down to Christmas.
2. Going to her house was like going to Disneyland. She had the huge yard with a huge swimming pool with a slide, and a huge swing set. Then behind that there was a fish pond, and a pig pen. She had the world's coolest bathroom. It had plush blue carpet and all of the faucets were gold swan's. There were huge crystal chaneliers. She had a huge bathtub that all of my sisters would get in and she would fill to the top with bubbles. The best part of the bathroom was the mini fridge stocked with bottles of Caffiene Free Diet Pepsi's.
She gave us free reign of the food storage. We could open anything we wanted. Trust me, this is cooler than it sounds when you are six years old. She had a balcony off of her bedroom and we used to go out there and watch the planes take off and land at the Las Vegas airport.
3. She was so fun. She just loved to have fun with us. She would take us on donut runs in the middle of the night. She would sneak into our room after my parents were asleep and take us to pick out our favorite kind. She lived outside of Las Vegas out in a rural desert area. There were these huge hills by her house and she would drive as fast as she could over them so that the car would catch a little air at the end. It was so much fun, and she would turn around and drive over them over and over again. It was a blast.
4. She loved us and was so proud of us. The first thing she wanted us to do when she saw us was listen to what we were doing in school, or listen to us play the piano or sing. She loved for us to put on plays and dance shows for her. She would clap and tell us how much better we were then the last time she saw us.
1. She loved holidays and made them a huge deal. She had a huge backyard, I think it was a whole acre landscaped. When we were at her house for Easter, she would have my grandpa grow the grass really long so that we could have an Easter Egg hunt. It was the world's best Eater Egg hunt. She filled half of the eggs with money, we would make a killing. I always went for the eggs with money, being the cheapskate that I am. Christmas was her favorite holiday. She had a huge house and it was always decorated beautifully. One year for Christmas, she sent our family a huge box marked "The 25 days of Christmas." In it were 25 packages so that someone would have something to open everyday of December. It was the most exciting way to count down to Christmas.
2. Going to her house was like going to Disneyland. She had the huge yard with a huge swimming pool with a slide, and a huge swing set. Then behind that there was a fish pond, and a pig pen. She had the world's coolest bathroom. It had plush blue carpet and all of the faucets were gold swan's. There were huge crystal chaneliers. She had a huge bathtub that all of my sisters would get in and she would fill to the top with bubbles. The best part of the bathroom was the mini fridge stocked with bottles of Caffiene Free Diet Pepsi's.
She gave us free reign of the food storage. We could open anything we wanted. Trust me, this is cooler than it sounds when you are six years old. She had a balcony off of her bedroom and we used to go out there and watch the planes take off and land at the Las Vegas airport.
3. She was so fun. She just loved to have fun with us. She would take us on donut runs in the middle of the night. She would sneak into our room after my parents were asleep and take us to pick out our favorite kind. She lived outside of Las Vegas out in a rural desert area. There were these huge hills by her house and she would drive as fast as she could over them so that the car would catch a little air at the end. It was so much fun, and she would turn around and drive over them over and over again. It was a blast.
4. She loved us and was so proud of us. The first thing she wanted us to do when she saw us was listen to what we were doing in school, or listen to us play the piano or sing. She loved for us to put on plays and dance shows for her. She would clap and tell us how much better we were then the last time she saw us.
She will be greatly missed. I am blessed with the comfort that she is in a better place, and she is free from her earthly challenges. Love you grandma!
.JPG)
8 comments:
I'm so sorry about your grandma. I have such good memories of mine as well. I don't think many realize how lucky they are to have those close relationships with their grandparents.
I'm glad you got to attend the services and equally proud of you for singing. It's a tough gig and not one all can do. What a wonderful way to honor her!
If you need anything or just want to laugh about our grandmas and tell stories,I'm here for you!
Love you Nicole!
What great memories you have! Your grandma sounds like she was so much fun. That is so great that you were able to go to the funeral and I am quite impressed that you lasted three verses without crying! :) I am sure it sounded awesome.
Your grandma really sounded like a blast. I want to be like that! That was a very nice tribute to her and I am sorry you had to sing. That is so hard. It's impossible to even sound half way decent when you are crying.
Loved the post, I started crying when I read it though. I am gonna miss her a lot. Love ya.
Thanks for writing that all down, this was the first time I cried since I heard the news. I had just been so happy for her, but seeing her picture and letting my minds eye take me back to those days was wonderful. It is really my dream and has been for a long time to build an exact replica of that house, it really was magical there. I can't wait to see her like she was in those days again some day.
Nat, ditto on the house thing. I could talk for hours about the cool things about that house. It is the coolest house ever built. The game room alone was a masterful work of art. I forgot to mention the laundry shoot and the time that we sent you down it. I also forgot to mention the time that we started grandpa's truck, that didn't require a key, and drove it up against the house so that we could climb on top of the roof and knock on the window, so Kate could let us in. And the doorbell. . .I could go on and on. Those are some good memories.
Wow, I got teary reading your tribute to your wonderful Grandma. I am blessed with a Grandma who sounds so much like yours- just loving and fun and amazing. I don't know how much time she has left, but I do cherish every moment I have with her.
Thanks for your great tribute to mom. She loved being a grandma so much and loved you all more than you will ever know. She was so proud of all of you and she loved to hear stories about your lives now and was so proud of the great women you have become.
love you all MOM
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