Saying Goodbye

On January 25th my Grandma passed away. Zara and I had called a day or so before to say goodbye and tell Grandma that we loved her, she told us that she loved us too. I'm grateful that we called even though it was hard because I knew it would be the last time I talked with my Grandma. I'm glad I finally called though. I was grateful for my Aunts who were there and answered the phone and held the phone for my Grandma so that we could have that last moment with her. The funeral service was January 30th. We had breakfast as a family at the hotel. We were all wearing emerald green, my Grandma's favorite color. Zara had an emerald green bow in her hair. My Grandma had asked that all the grand-kids sing Because I Have Been Given Much so we practiced with all the cousins a few times before and we were doing pretty good, emotionally, we were making it through. When it came time to sing the song at the service we all took turns crying. My dad said that a few of us would start crying and then as soon as we pulled ourselves together and started singing another group would start crying. It was amazing to see all of the people that came out to say goodbye to our Grandma. She had an affect on so many peoples life's. The service was beautiful, the words, the flowers, the music. We were all passing the tissue box around. My Grandma was amazing, she had many gifts and talents. I learned a lot of things about my Grandma at her funeral which was neat but also made me feel sad that I didn't know those things before. I was grateful to my Dad who told me that it's "OK" to learn things about people at their funerals.  I was able to say goodbye to my Grandma and hold her hand one last time. She looked beautiful and peaceful and her had was soft. Uncle Justin said a beautiful prayer when we were all in the room with Grandma. At the grave we all laid a rose on the casket and spent some time hanging around before we left, it was a cold and wet day or else I think we would have all liked to stay a little longer. It was hard to walk away. We had a wonderful lunch at the church provided by the Relief Society. There were beautiful centerpieces and emerald napkins. We watched a slide show with pictures of Grandma with our family and quotes from all the grand-kids. I think we watched it at least twice. We also were able to take a huge family photo together. There are of course some things about this day that I chose to keep for myself but I wanted to write at least a little summary of this day. I know we are an eternal family but it was still extremely hard to say goodbye.
The next few days the mood was still a little heavy but we were able to have fun and enjoy our time with each other, it had been awhile since we'd all been together! Grandma really liked to have everyone together. We went to Iver's for some yummy fish and chips and chowder. We went to a session at the Seattle Temple with my Grandpa which was great. After the session my parents reenacted some of their favorite poses from their wedding day outside the temple, silly newlyweds. We loved it.

One of my favorite memories with Grandma was when we went on a long car ride with the whole family. I was about 8 or 9 and she sat in the back with us and taught me how to whistle with my hands. She would show me how to place my hands and where to put my mouth to make the sounds, she even explained why it works. It took me forever, hours maybe, to learn but she kept helping me, she was so patient. I was so excited when I finally learned how to make the whistling sound!

Grandpa with the grand-kids and their spouses

  We were wondering what they were all looking at...the flowers? No. Zara! Hahaha!

 Sitting around at Grandma and Grandpas house chatting and laughing, Zara was getting some love from Aunt Cryste.

Pueblo Magico and Goodbye Breakfast

One day for fun we headed out to see a Pueblo Magico, a Magic Town . These are towns that Mexico has deemed enchanting, extra traditional and just sort of special. They can receive extra funding from the government to make improvements, encourage tourism and that sort of thing. Some of my family had gone paragliding there before and had a great time so we decided to give it a go!

Zara had fun being pushed all around town by Isaac, she was so happy. We passed this brightly painted shrine to Mary while walking down the road.

Getting ready to jump off the runway! We each had our own person that went with us and controlled the whole thing, we were just sort of along for the ride and it was awesome. I almost didn't go because I knew Dusty would really want to go too and I didn't want to hurt his feelings, he and Kasey were already home in the states so that they could get back to work. In the end I decided to go ahead and go with the idea that we could go again together next time we were there. It was fun to go with Sarah, Doug and Isaac. Isaac had already done it before so he was telling us what to expect.

The view from the air. Towards the end the guides ask if you want them to do some tricks or twirl around and I said sure, it was sort crazy and I almost puked but was able to keep it all together and land without anything happening, thank goodness! It was pretty neat and I always thought it would go pretty fast but we were up there for what felt like 10-15 minutes and you just sort of glide around as you make your way down to the ground.

My mom was great and stayed with Zara down on the ground while we were up in the mountain, I think they had fun together.

Thanks Mom for showing us all around the little town, we had so much fun! 

On our last morning we went downtown to have breakfast together at a hotel that makes really good breakfasts. On the way there we passed this building that had a huge spider outside, we had the same sort of thing in Nashville at Cheekwood at the time so I thought that was neat.

The hotel itself was really cool. It had a huge stain glass ceiling, old elevators and huge bird cages scattered around with birds in them. Breakfast was on an open terrace that looked over the main center of town where they have lots of festive decorations and ice skating. It reminded me of the hunger games sometimes because once in a while a women would just start talking over a loud speaker to everyone in the square reporting a lost child or some other news.

Sarah enjoying her gluten free finds...and my plate of non-gluten free finds, I guess Sarah's looks a little bit healthier :) Everything was yummy and Zara loved the beans.

A final group picture after breakfast. Thanks Oversons for a great time and the late nights, we had so much fun celebrating the New Year with you!

Isaac and Zara were really good friends by the end of the trip. Getting a few more hugs and pictures with Abuelita before we go through security. Sarah and Doug flew out at the same time and I was so glad to have their help and company. 

And finally, ya know,  just some artwork in a parking garage downtown. It was a very diverse collection.

 

Dusty welcomed us home to Nashville with a balloon for Zara, we were so glad to see him!