I will miss you Grandpa!!!

(taken on my birthday May of 2008)


My grandpa (my mom's dad) returned home to heaven on Feb 6th 2009. I was not able to be there when he passed away but my grandma and mom were and they said it was a very special moment full of peace. They knew that grandpa was still close by. I was able to travel home to Utah for the funeral, which was held on February 14th, which was also grandpa's birthday and Valentine's day. It was so good to be able to see my family again and be there for grandma, but once I got there it really hit me that my grandpa was gone. It broke my heart. Grandpa had a beautiful funeral. So many people came to say their goodbyes and express their sympathy to the family. I got the opportunity to speak with my cousins, Chelsey and Tabatha, at the funeral and to share some of the grandkids memories. I also got to play the piano while the grandkids sang, "I am a Child of God", and "Families Can Be Together Forever". I was very nervous but it turned out not too bad. Mom gave the first talk during the funeral and did an amazing job. I was very proud of her. I am amazed at how strong my grandma is and how well she is holding on without her sweetheart. This is the first time she has been without him for almost 59 years. She is just amazing. And she is still thinking about everyone else before herself. I am very proud also at how well my mom is holding up. She takes after her mother and is strong just like grandma. I hope I can learn to be as strong as my mom and grandma one day. I hope that I one day have a relationship and marriage as strong and amazing as my grandparents marriage. They had the perfect marriage. They are both hard examples to live up too because they were as close to perfect as two people could get here on earth. My grandpa was the greatest guy. He was so unselfish, giving, kind, strong, very hardworker, and grew the best corn around. He used to love telling me stories about meeting my grandma and how important it is to not fight or be mad at one another in a marriage. He could never understand why people got married and then just fought all the time. He said you got married because you loved someone and you don't want to fight with someone you love. He also always told me to make sure I kept myself out of trouble and did what I was suppose to. He was just so great! It is so hard knowing he is gone and I won't be seeing him anytime soon. I am grateful for having had him in my life for 22 years though and learning as much as I did from him. I love you grandpa and miss you!!!


Jordan and I at Grandpa's viewing


Chayse and I at Grandpa's Viewing

Vermont

Jamie and I took a little trip for a few days up to Killington, Vermont. Vermont is known for the best skiing in the east coast and Jamie wanted to check it out. I was finally able to use my timeshare for the first time and we got to stay in a one bedroom suite that had a living room and kitchen and a gas fireplace. It took us 5 hours to get there from New Jersey. For most of the ride we were traveling in upstate New York. There was an outdoor heated swimming pool that felt so nice to relax in until you got out of it into the cold air. We arrived there on Sunday, the day of the superbowl. Jamie and I had to go to the store and get a bunch of food and goodies so we could have our own little superbowl party. The next day, Jamie went snowboarding. I choose not to go cuz it wasn't worth the money to me when I don't really care to snowboard. I had decided to just go do some exploring on my own. It was fun driving around Vermont. There are so many trees and mountains. Definitely not like the mountains in Utah though. Vermont mountains are more rounded and not as tall. But there are so many more trees out there than in Utah. While I was out exploring, I was very surprise to find out just how close New Hampshire was to where I was and then I was even more surprised to find out that my cousin Shaunie and her family lived just right there in NH where I was going. So I stopped by and saw them for awhile while Jamie snowboarded. At night time there wasn't too much to do in Killington. All the shops closed before 8 o clock. All that was open was a bunch of bars. Then that night both Jamie and I weren't feeling too good. We just stayed inside and chilled. Neither of us wanted to leave the next day, cuz it felt like we had just got there. We got up early and left though. After we had been on our way for like 15 mins I realized I forgot my bathing suit and so we had to drive back. And by the time I was able to get back inside the room the maid had already been in there and had taken my bathing suit to the lost and found. That wasted about 20 mins of our time because of my own stupidity lol. We did have lots of fun though, except neither of us felt very good because of the colds we had. Oh, and Jamie did say that the snowboarding is still better in Utah!