My dad's house, my grandma's house was much prettier and cleaner. They don't take as good of care of it as she did.
Today we went to Spring City to remember grandma. It was a great day. We had expected snow but thankfully it didn't come until we got home. It was a long day, we left home early in the morning and got home about 6:30, it was exhausting mentally, emotionally and physically, I fell asleep that night at 7:30, when has that EVER happened? I don't think it has. It was a difficult day but it was nice to hear the tributes to grandma. Speakers were: Lynette read the obituary and then gave some nice thoughts, then Greg and Jeff (my cousins) both spoke about their memories of grandma. Then I spoke:
Grandma Ethel was the only grandparent I ever knew. I was her only granddaughter. If I was only going to have 1 how lucky was I to have her. She was the best grandma ever. She loved her grandkids and great grandkids more than anything in the world. She wanted me to know what Greg’s kids – Alexis and Jackson were doing in Seattle. She never wanted the distance to separate her family. She loved to have us all to her home; Easter was always at Grandma’s. When she lived down here, her last question as she walked you out to the car - was always “when you coming back down?” It was always fun to come visit grandma; she always made a fuss over you. There was always treats, pop and the fridge was stocked. When our kids were little and not involved in so many activities, Lynette and I would gather them up when they were off track and come spend a few days at grandmas. She looked forward to us coming each time. And we all loved to visit her. We had fun, watching movies, relaxing and just visiting with grandma.
When I was young I would come spend a week each summer at grandma’s house. I loved to come and many summers I would bring a friend, sometimes Teresa or Kristi would come with me and she loved my friends too. Sometimes Jeff would come stay too. When I was young she worked but I had cousins to entertain me during the day and every night she would find things for us to do, we would go to the demolition derby, the pageant, the rodeo, or the drive-in. She used to love to tell the story of the one time I got home sick and I was excited to get home and the long stretch from Centerville to Farmington I kept telling Bill to drive faster and she got such a kick out of it, she reminded me of it often. Just before grandma moved up to Kaysville, I bought my friend, Lori and her entire family and we went to see the pageant and she loved to have us all. She loved Lori and when grandma came to my house, if Lori didn’t come over, she wondered where she was.
Christmas- She loved Christmas…I got my love of Christmas from her. She loved to decorate her house and yard. When she lived here, she would string hundreds of lights all the way around her fence and decorate the entire yard and I think she had about an acre. She loved to come to my street where it’s known as Christmas Lane. This is when she started to put out her milk jugs with lights and her ice skating Christmas scene. Once she moved to Kaysville, my family and I would help her set it up, Ron and Kathy would do her tree and the lights on her house, but she never would have gone a year without putting everything up.
She love to Christmas shop and she was the first one done buying gifts and she would plan for months what she was giving everyone. She was so excited about every gift she gave, even the Lava lamps she bought everyone one year. She was always so generous. Her favorite day of the year to work at Wal-mart was Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. She got the biggest kick out of all the shoppers. She loved her job. She was the most dedicated employee Wal-mart ever had. She loved the people she worked with and the loyal customers, she made friends with the people coming in and out of Wal-mart. I bowl every Thursday morning and some of the older ladies I bowl with always went to Wal-mart shopping after bowling and if they missed a Thursday, she would ask if they were at bowling and wondered why they didn’t come in. We always told her to cut back her hours but she never would, she loved Wal-mart, even when she was getting hit by someone stealing or getting run over by the carts it didn’t matter she couldn’t wait to get back to work. With the holiday season coming up, it will be especially difficult this year without her.
Another special time in my life when she was there to help me and nobody else could is when I got married, she was my escort. She was so happy to be with me when I received my endowments and for our marriage. She was in the Bride’s room with me and helped me get ready. She was my support in the temple for the first few times I went, and I will always be grateful for her and her example. She loved the temple. At one time many years ago, she was so happy because she had been to every temple in the United States. When she was healthy, before her car accident and her broken hip, she would go to the temple on her day off and do 2 sessions. She loved to go and went often. I remember being so nervous and I was so glad she was with me to explain things and help me through everything.
Flowers- she loved flowers, she loved snap dragons, peonies, roses, irises, daffodils and every other kind of flower. She worked hours every night throughout the summer in her yard. In the summer, we never called her until after dark because we would never reach her – she was in her yard. - When I first moved into my home she came up in the fall and planted my bulbs for me. She told me that it would take patients – they weren’t coming up until spring and it would take years for them to fill in. She taught me to love flowers and she wanted me to have a pretty yard like her, although my yard still doesn’t look as pretty as hers.
And canning – she taught me how to can tomatoes and peaches from my garden, if I didn’t have enough then we would go pick some from Day’s farm in Layton. She would stand on her feet for hours helping me with my canning. I would sit on the bar stool and waste time but she never did. She worked harder than anyone I knew. This year she wasn’t able to pick tomatoes so Brad and I went and pick tomatoes for her while she stayed in the car. Then she would just bottle a little each day, because it was too hard to stand. I am glad that we were able to help her, because in the nursing home, she craved her bottled tomatoes, so Alaina took some down for her and she loved them.
I loved it when she came to stay with me and my family. She always stayed in Stockton’s bedroom, he was always kind to sleep on floor somewhere. We had the opportunity of caring for her when she was recovering from hip surgery. I am glad that she was with us and we could serve her. My kids loved to play with her walker and her cane. She liked to come to my house, because I am always cold like she was and we would sit in front of the fireplace for hours just visiting.
Gordon B Hinckley said, “Now absent is the pain of mortal life. Gone is the suffering of long sickness and much of loneliness. She is again in the association of loved ones, the parents who gave her mortal life and others of her family who loved her while they lived. Her spirit has gone to join theirs, and there will come that promised morning of the first resurrection, when they shall again take up their bodies and live in that sociality which bound them with the bonds of love while they were mortal beings.”
"Since the creation of man, no fact of life has been so certain as death with the close of mortality. When the last of life’s breath is drawn, there is a finality comparable to no other finality. When a father and mother lay the remains of a beloved child in the cold of the grave, there is grief almost inconsolable. When a husband buries the companion of his life, there is a loneliness that is poignant and unrelieved. When a wife closes the casket on the remains of her beloved husband, there are wounds that seem never to heal. When children are bereft of parents who loved and nurtured them, there is an abject destitution comparable to none other. Life is sacred, and death is somber. Life is buoyant and hopeful. Death is solemn and dark. It is awesome in its silence and certainty. But death is not final. Though it seems so when its dark shroud overshadows mortal life, to those who accept the Christ and His eternal mission there is light and comfort, there is assurance, there is certainty."
In closing I have a scripture to share: In D & C - The Lord said: “Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that have not hope of a glorious resurrection.“And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them” (D&C 42:45–46).
Through Christ and our knowledge of the gospel we can feel peace. We did live in love with grandma and I hope grandma has found rest and peace, her body has been feeble and weak for the past few years, but that’s not how I will remember her. I am grateful she is my grandma and I have the knowledge and comfort that I will see her again. I love her and I am going to miss her.
I am going to include my talk but only so I have it in my book. Krista said a few words then my mom spoke. The grandchildren and great grandchildren all sang and Egan did a solo. It really was a great service and there wasn't a dry eye in the chapel. I will miss my grandma, she really meant a lot to me and my kids. It was difficult to say goodbye, but I know I will see her again.
Us and the turkey...Love my booty pop?
KyAnn in the starting gates...
Rockin' the race.
Stockton took this picture of us at the starting line, we are barely in the picture??
Stockton, praying he will do well.. and he DID. He was 7th overall and 2nd in his division! He has NEVER ran in his life. He had to stop twice to tie his shoes, they are his dad's shoes, that didn't even fit. Imagine how well he'd do if he had the right equipment??
I was trying to take our picture and totally cut KyAnn out? So like mother, like son on the photography skills.
My rolls after the race....Yes they are raising.
My race shirt, my shirt was the correct size Med, KyAnn got an XL? She is unaware of how little she really is. Stockton got a Youth Med?
Brad looking over the ads for the big shopping day!! Yes, he goes with me. He loves to pick things out for the kids!
Gangsta signs? WTH?
Me and my girls...aaaawww. 
The traditional family photo.
Brad's screwed up smile, tradition too.
Ian, he brought chips to share with green stuff on them.
The little kids. Ian, Jera, Kate, Grace and Sara. We had a small crowd but the best food! Thanks Scott.
Have you ever thought to yourself...Life is going to smooth, something bad is just around the corner? I feel that way some times and on an occasion I have said it to Brad. He always tells me not to think like that and to enjoy each minute of life and don't wait for something bad to happen, because it will find us when we need a lesson taught to us. He is such a great person for me, he keeps things real and finds pleasure and joy in everything he does, currently he is washing the car and he loves it?!? It is Thanksgiving weekend and as a family we have had a great time. Brad did work on Thanksgiving night but we had a great time with family. Stockton and I went with some of my newest BFF's to do a 5K!! Don't faint, I really did one, the first, possibly my last? But it was fun. I love to do things with Theresa and KyAnn. They make me laugh ALL the time. I don't care what we are doing, Zumba, swimming, pole dancing, and even a 5K, I want to go with these ladies. 
