Grandma's Funeral

So remember my sweet little 91 year old grandma that I blogged about 2 times ago? Well she passed away a week ago Friday on April 1, 2011. She has been in so much pain the last month because of her fall and broken hip, that I feel like it was the right time and it was a blessing for her to pass away. It is still sad of course, and I have had a hard time seeing my mom and her siblings so sad, but it was her time and she lived an amazing life and I am so happy for her to finally be reunited with my grandpa after 25 long years. My sister and I had to put together a life sketch of my grandma for the funeral, and it was so fun to sit and talk about all of our memories of her and to hear all of my mom's memories of her. My mom also found a bunch of really old pictures of my grandma and it was so fun to see her in her 20s and see what a beautiful woman she was. I truly feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful and loving grandma. She moved to Richfield shortly after I was born and lived across the street from us clear until I had moved away to college. So I always had the opportunity to be close to my grandma and to spend lots of time with her and I am so thankful for that. She loved to come and watch me dance and even when I was in high school and it was harder for her to walk, she still always wanted to come to every game that I danced at. One of my grandma's brothers, my great uncle Ellis spoke at her funeral and it was so fun to hear all about her childhood and all the memories he has of her as young kids. She was a second mom to him because he was 7 years younger than her, and she was a second mom to me too. My mom started working when I started 1st grade and so my grandma filled in a lot. I use to go to her house every day after school when I would get home and stay there until my mom came home from work. She always had cookies and ice cream for us (maybe that is where my ice cream and oreo addiction come from? ha) and she always made us mac and cheese and green beans for dinner if my mom had to work late. I could go on and on with memories but for the sake of the 2 people that read this blog I won't. ha! But the thing about having a loved one pass away that always comforts me, is knowing that the plan of salvation is true! It really is God's plan for us, and I know that there is a journey for all of us after we leave this life. I know that my grandma has been reunited with my grandpa and I know that we have an eternal family and that I will get to see them both again someday:) The church really is true and I love that as members of the church, funerals are more of a celebration of the person's life rather than some sad event focused on death. My grandma's funeral was wonderful and I will miss her sweet smile and the love she showed to me, but I am so happy that she isn't suffering and in pain anymore. I love you grandma:)

Here are my cute nieces Kaylee, Gilly, and Alli, at the luncheon after the funeral was over.

Steve and I surviving the blizzard at the cemetery.

Grandma's casket

My brothers carrying the casket. (They are the 4 closest to the front of the casket) I am so grateful to have such wonderful big brothers. It is funny how I couldn't stand them when I was little because they were constantly teasing me and fighting with me, but now I look up to them so much and love them all so much:)

Me, Heidi, and baby Ty. I think Ty was about the only one who wasn't freezing at the cemetery because we had him so bundled up!

The snow just stuck to the bottoms of Jeter's shoes so he couldn't even walk. haha he really had like 5 inches of snow just caked on the bottom of each shoe!
Even though I cried a lot that day, and we had to drive home in a blizzard, it really was such a wonderful day! It was so good to be with all of my family and to hear so many wonderful memories of my grandma. I love my family so much and I am so grateful that we are sealed together forever:)