Our Trip to California

Last week we got to make a quick trip down to California for my Grandma Haney's funeral.  Grandma hasn't been feeling well for quite some time and it was her time to go, although it did take us by a little bit of surprise.  She died 8 days before her 90th birthday.  We had her funeral on her birthday. 

We left on Wednesday morning and met up with my parents in Twin. We had my brother ride with us since our vehicle fits adults better, and Taylor and Lindsey took turns riding with my parents.  We made it to Las Vegas the first night.  My car met up with some friends in Vegas for dinner.  They made a Mexican meal for us with lots of leftovers for us to take to the other car who went to the hotel and vegged out.  My friends also sent us with muffins and yogurt for breakfast, which was greatly appreciated. 

Thursday we made it to California, checked into the hotel, and then started getting ready for the viewing.  A whole bunch of family all made reservations at the same hotel so it was nice to mingle with aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings.  The viewing was nice.  I had spent some time living with my grandparents in high school so it was nice that some of my friends and people I remember from the ward came.  I got to visit with a dear friend who I haven't seen in person for about 8 years.  My aunt had put together some picture collages of my grandma and it was so fun to look at the pictures and see resemblances between her and my mom and me and my kids.

Friday was a little bit backwards.  Early in the morning we had Grandma's burial.  Grandma had been in the Navy during WWII so she got military rights, which was very touching to see.  I think Taps is just about the saddest song ever.  Then, we had a little bit of time before the funeral/memorial service so we stopped by the house that my Mom grew up in.  It was fun showing my kids the house that I remember from when I was a kid.  Grandma had a lemon tree and an avocado tree in the backyard and the kids went out and picked some lemons.  They thought that was especially cool.  We also showed them some more of the pictures that Grandma had hanging up in her house.  Then, we went to the church for the service.  I loved hearing more of the stories about my Grandma that I didn't know.  There weren't a lot of people there because Grandma had outlived most of her friends and the last few years she didn't get out much, but it was so touching to see the people that did remember her, and I ran into more people that I remembered who hadn't made it to the viewing the night before.

After the service we went back to the hotel and lots of the family went down to the swimming pool.  I was tired to I laid down to rest, and then went with my dad to the store for a few things.  That night we went to the beach and had a bonfire.  The kids loved the beach.  The only ones who had been before were Taylor and Lindsey and that was 8 years ago so they don't remember it.  Lindsey is our little fish and she LOVED the water, but Taylor and Michael thought it was too cold.  We didn't let Rachel in the water because of her stitches.  Elizabeth's favorite part was picking up wet sand and throwing it in the water.  She seemed to like the beach.  There was a lot more visiting with family at the beach.  Our family is so spread out so it was nice to all get together, but sad that it takes a funeral for that to happen.

 My niece wasn't feeling well and Friday night and Saturday she started getting a fever so it took us a little longer to get on the road than we originally planned on.  We also didn't get as far as we wanted to that night before we stopped.  On Sunday we finished the drive home. We got to Twin about 10 that night where we dropped my brother off and got Lindsey back from my parents.  My niece was taken to the ER where they found out she had RSV.  We finally got home about 11:30 that night.  It was a whirlwind trip, and there were quite a few tears shed, but there were also happy memories made.  I was grateful for the opportunity we had to celebrate the life of my Grandma Haney and to show my kids how amazing family is.