Family

After the funeral and the luncheon we all headed back to grandma and grandpa's house to enjoy some family time.  The afternoon was filled with visiting, sharing stories about grandpa, and letting the cousins play.  Late in the afternoon the kids hurried me outside to show me a fort they had built out in the yard with their cousins.  It made my heart hurt since all throughout my childhood this was one of our favorite things to do as cousins was build forts in the yard.  Now here were my children passing on the tradition.  It is so interesting to me the way certain things in life continue passing on through the generations.  

Lots of time to hold each other and love on all these sweet little ones we have running around.  

We enjoyed the time together and the next day before we headed home we stopped by the cemetery one more time.  Miss you papa, love you.

Papa

After we took the kids to see grandpa on Sunday his health continued to quickly decline.  By Thursday they moved him to a really nice hospice center.  Thursday night Deke and I went alone without the kids to see him.  The spirit there was so peaceful and calm.  We were able to go in and be alone with him together.  Deke sat on the couch and let me sit by grandpa and say my goodbyes.  I was able to thank him for a lifetime of wonderful memories, tell him how much I loved him and ask him to kiss our babies when he sees them.  It was so hard to say goodbye and as we left I knew it was the last time I would see him before he passed.  The next afternoon he passed away very peacefully with my mom and Eden in the room with him.  It has been very emotional and hard for our entire family.  When we sat the kids down and told them, they all cried and cried.  We know where grandpa is and have peace in that but it is so strange without him here and I miss him so much.  

His funeral was the weekend after Thanksgiving.  A friend of theirs had made him a beautiful casket that was exactly what he would have wanted.  It had horseshoe handles, an elk and elk tracks imprinted on the side, Trailor his nickname on the bottom and even some camo fabric inside.  There was a beautiful flower arrangement on top that they had placed a trap in the middle of since he trapped all of his life.  The funeral was nice, all of his kids did his life sketch and the grandkids sang.  Soon it was time to head over to the cemetery.  Both Deke and Hunter had been asked to be pallbearers.  As I watched my husband and son alongside all my cousins helping to carry grandpa to his resting place it was so tender. Watching Deke do this service for my grandpa I felt so much love and gratitude for him.  I feel so blessed.  Hunter has had a hard time with the loss, he has had some very special times with papa.

Kendon played guitar and the grand and great grandkids sang.  Then the boys each placed their flowers on top of the casket.

They lowered him down and each of us took turns helping shovel some of the dirt and tossing our flowers into the grave. As we all worked together as a family, serving grandpa in this way the spirit was so strong and I couldn't stop the tears.  We are all so grateful for grandpa, the things he taught us and the life that he lived.  We look forward to the day we get to see you again grandpa, we love you.

Leaves

 When we walked out of the museum the kids found a strip of sidewalk that was covered with leaves and instantly started working together to pile them up.

They held the pile together counted to three, then jumped and tossed them as high as they could.  Leaves came down everywhere followed with girly squealing and laughing.  "That was awesome!! Let's do it again" and off they went gathering again. 

I love the joy that our kids find in the simple things.  They spent all day at the museum and then walked outside, found some leaves and had more fun in the twenty minutes they had playing in them.  Being a kid is magical.

idea museum

A lot of the museums in town do free days the first of the month for people to be able to come and visit with their families.  It is so nice and we have taken our family to almost all of the museums to spend an afternoon together.  We decided to check out the idea museum in Mesa since we had never been there.  They had a really fun insect exhibit going on with all sorts of activities having to do with bugs.  They had an area about bees where the kids dressed up as bees and then on the ground they had to follow dotted lines that mimicked the flight pattern of a bee.  The costumes were hilarious and then watching them running around in them was hysterical.  

They had a puppet theater area, an awesome black light room set up with tents, fishing poles and other camping fun.

Lost of arts and crafts stations for the kids to create different projects.  This particular one they designed their own glasses.

A theater with a stage where they could dress up in costume and put on different plays for the audience...

Artville a play area for the smaller kids to play farm, house, blocks and be able to play and climb.

Out front they had some really cool musical instruments for the kids to play. Love these days together as a fam.