Grandma Jean's Funeral

Wednesday was our Girl’s Camp kick-off! The YCLs worked hard to get their assignments completed in time. The girls planned the theme, activities, and desserts. We made PJ shirts for an activity. Everyone brought white shirts and we helped the girls print their hands on the shirts with paint. Then the girls signed their hand prints on each shirt. It was quite a production but so fun. Amelia, Cassie, and Hailey all led their favorite camp song and prepared a table showing off the 3 camps themes of friendship, faith, and fun. The little girls joined in the fun. For dessert we had “walking pretzels” (pretzels, pudding, strawberries, and whipped cream), popcorn with toppings, and chips with salsa. I am very excited about camp. 

On top of the stress of organizing the Camp Kick off, the music situation for Suo Gan went all dramatic. Essentially, I got the impression that folks were upset because my family was doing the music at the graveside. Jeremy spent a good chunk of time on Sunday making an accompaniment arrangement for guitar and soprano voice. He suggested it would sound better with an alto, and tenor. No one wanted to help, so I asked mom to sing harmony. Tuesday night I got a slue of texts asking if this person could play guitar, that person could sing in Welsh, another was ready to sing alto, and on and on. I got the impression that maybe a family sing would work better. I texted out the idea with the tracks Jeremy put together. Suddenly there was an explosion. Jeremy’s efforts were called useless trash. I called for peace. Then folks were texting me on the side, Jana telling me Mom’s (poem) lyrics were strange, that the normal words were better. Just drama, drama. It was stressful BUT amusing. Adults acting like squabbling children over an inch of territory. Now Jeremy is sick and most likely won’t be at the funeral. I have the useless guitar track to blast over the Bluetooth speaker while Amelia Jean sings solo to her Great-Grandma. 

My flipping shoulder is killing me with a deep ache inside my shoulder. Dr Stan (chiropractor) scraped all those muscles until I can barely lift my arm. My shoulder is feeling a bit better after two adjustments. I got a muscle scraper and a percussion massager to keep those muscles loose. Justin managed to pull a muscle in his calf, the massage gun came in quite handy. What a pair of old fogies. Evelyn had two very late nights, Thursday she was awake until 1 am. She is worried about all the things like testing, Laila moving, and struggles with who knows what. 

I saw a vintage yard sale advertised down the road from Ronald Reagan starting Thursday. I was especially interested to go because the gal advertised photos of tea sets. I enjoyed a quick 20 minutes picking up a darling tea set, a tea pot with a cute bird’s nest on top, a vintage iron, a fun crochet table cloth, a mini ladder, a cute basket AND a window frame. Ooooo, that was fun. 

Off to Utah again! We smashed stuff into the van after school on Friday. The kids came home and packed up two Sunday outfits, a PJ set, and a casual outfit plus the usual device bags, toiletries, and of course stuffies. Justin did not have to work until 6-7 like he originally thought. I did not cancel Evelyn’s ukulele lesson since Justin planned to stay late at work. Most everything was packed when she and I got home. We were able to leave around 5:30, the drive still took us until midnight after all. We stayed in a hotel in Heber instead of making the hour drive early the next morning. Phillip and Everett did not sleep well in the couch bed, it creaked at their every movement. Evelyn was staring at Mia more and a couple times, Mia reported feeling quite unsettled. Josie, had a splendid night on the couch cushions next to me. Jeremy and family caught croup so did not attend the funeral. Jeremy sounded terrible and Yulia sounded even worse just a few days post tonsil surgery. 

We arrived before the main crush, got to spend a chunk of time without most of the family. Everett and Evelyn were beside themselves. I recall attending my first funeral, how devastating it felt. Grandma was holding her temple recommend, she had Lynn’s recommend in her pocket! Justin might need to keep mine since I am terribly unreliable. Aunt Laura reported that a group of missionaries accidentally took the bag of scarves Mom brought for the kids. Aunt Alice spent an hour on the phone while Justin and Mia checked all the local chapels. The scarves were located just in time! Phew. Jeremy sent me a new accompaniment track for Mia to sing Sun Gan solo at the graveside. It was fun to greet family members some I’ve not seen in many years. We pulled the kids aside to choose a scarf and practice The Miracle once before the Family Prayer. They just amazed me! Those kids practiced hard and sang with their hearts. Miekka and Courtenay helped organize the kids and briefly review the scarf actions. We had a family prayer and a last chance to see Grandma. Sally covered Grandma’s legs with a fluffy pink blanket. The funeral was so nice. All the siblings had a chance to speak about Jean. Laura waxed eloquent after the eulogy was delivered. Jon attempted a poem he wrote…not too bad! Fred delighted us with some of Jean’s mischievous side. Grandma was always serving! Jana said in her recent Stake RS meeting Jean was mentioned for faithfully writing letters to the missionaries each week! Grandma had her 60+ year book club members in attendance. She also had her music groupies, her institute friends, her exercise ladies, and on and on. Grandma spent a lifetime being part of the doings and learning all she could. She played organ for 45 plus years. My kids were delighted over the story painting a butcher knife with ketchup then scaring her mother into a dead faint on the toilet. The great-grands musical number went off beautifully! I think the scarves worked well, I could hear the lovely singing. We headed to Heber Cemetery for the graveside service. There were two groups of pall bearers, the grandsons carried the casket from the chapel to the hearse and then her boys plus other grands took her from the hearse to the cemetery. We could see Harold, Helen, and Clarisse’s headstone propped up ready for install just a few rows away. Johnny Miner eloquently played the bagpipes. Sun Gan sounded angelic! Amelia sang with her heart right into the mic with Jeremy’s arrangement playing from our bluetooth speaker. Anyone who wanted joined in for verses 3-4. Scott dedicated the grave. I wanted to go place my hand on his shoulder but had the thought that Grandma was already there at his side. Those who could returned to the chapel for a luncheon my parent’s ward helped put together. I was thrilled that Esther brought Clare and Fallon! The luncheon is the best part. We visited until the Colonel “tapped our heels” by extinguishing the lights. 

Justin caught a nap during the luncheon, I requested we all rest for the hour drive to Jana’s home. Evelyn threw a hessy fit, yelling and crying, hitting Everett and being a general stinker. After 15 minutes of Disney KNO music she was out, sprawled on Everett’s lap. That’s tired. I convinced Jeremy and family to meet us at Jana’s for family photos. Rachel was also sick the night before so what the heck. We were all in attendance, the last time was 7 years ago at Jeremy’s wedding. I really miss Joe and Kat. They are good people. I fried up 10 lbs of hamburger, that was an experience! Jana was serving a nachos dinner. Family photos went perfectly. On the way back I told Rudy there was a weed in his lawn. He was horrified, kidding! No weeds. We listened in on boot camp stories from John, Jared, Joe, Jeff, and Dad. John not quite halfway through boot camp. The kids were running all around having the time of their lives. Baby Natalya seems to have a permanent frown, so I drew her some appropriate eyebrows. We stayed the night at Mom and Dad’s since they had a real bed available. The kids also upgraded to fancy foam camp mattresses. Jared watched Puss in Boots with us, knowing how tired we all were, not the best decision. He was keen to experience that with us. Evelyn was suddenly not sleepy at all, she kept Everett awake kicking his mattress like a stinker head.  

We went to church with Dad, Mom, and Jared. I was almost late, jokingly I asked the Colonel to forgive me tardiness as last time he said folks often apologized as they walked in late. Their ward got a new bishop! I stayed with Mom for RS, the lesson was about the yoke being easy and light. The sister from Portugal taught the lesson. She borrowed a real yoke as a visual. It was much bigger and heavier in person, the point was clearly made that the Lord makes it light. 

Now we are driving back home for the 4th or 5th time this year already. Justin wanted to check out the Golden Spike National Park. That was a fun diversion, in spite of my grouchy response. The kids earned Jr Ranger badges after filling out the booklets. The Ranger's 10 year old daughter gave the kids their oaths, she was hilarious! The kids promised not to pet any fluffy animals, to not throw their siblings to the bears, and to not feed or eat the squirrels. We saw replicas of Jupiter and Engine 119 in the ginormous garage for winter shelter. Several engineers were polishing and readying the engines for the anniversary celebration in May. Next week is staring me in the eyes…it is a busy one. Crazy busy at that with Da Vinci/Great Brain night, Mia’s 16th birthday, dress rehearsal, MCO concert, and Mia’s tea party. The crazy continues.