a funeral weekend.

the weekend started with nice sunny day. thank goodness, knowing a funeral lay ahead in the weekend, i needed some sunshine. brooklyn has been obsessed with playing in the leaves, thanks to her daddy. we spent a good hour friday morning just enjoying the beautiful day, and playing in those leaves.

we had lunch with jeremy and chelsea (ellie was there too), and the rest of most of the day was spent shopping. some fun purchases were made, but more on that later.

brooklyn was in love with this santa. she walked right up to him, shook his hand, and said, "nice to eetcha santa!" sooo cute. i never want to forget that sweet little moment. we'll see how she does with the real santa this year. could be interesting.

the other great moment that happened that night happened at the drive-thru. my MIL has started a tradition of getting all of us the frequent sonic sticker for christmas. we love it, especially in the summertime. in order to get the great price on drinks for the sticker, you have to let the person who is taking your order know that you have a sonic sticker. so as we were pulling through the drive-thru, not the sonic drive-thru, brooklyn shouted loudly from the backseat, "and we have a sonic sticker!" james, my MIL, and i were rolling off our seats. we got such a kick out of that. 

saturday morning started bright and early. we were trying to make it to cokeville, wy by 10:30. james and i got up and showered first. then brooklyn got up and her nana got her bathed. my MIL was soaking up every last second she could with brooklyn. she flew out that day. a LONG flight back to hawaii, with some nice long layovers. ugh. brooklyn loved having her nana here. she always wanted to know where she was. all the time. we'll miss having her around.

the visitation and funeral were beautiful. so many people came to support our family and pay tribute to our cute little grandma that we love so much. my heart was so full seeing so many people i love, coming to put their arms around us and comfort us, and cry with us because they'll miss grandma jackie too. i blubbered my way through co-reading the life sketch with two of my cousins and sharing a memory about grandma, and my dad gave an awesome tribute to his mother. it made me miss so many things about her. i just can't imagine life without her here. 

it was a brisk chilly day up in cokeville. everyone was wrapped up in coats and whatever else they could find. but the sun was out. grandma would have appreciated that. 

i loved being able to see this cousin of mine who lives in iowa right now (becoming a doctor). we used to be bff's. i miss him, but am so proud of his cute little family and where his life is going. grandma jackie was so proud of him too. 

//grandma's 6 grandsons = the pallbearers//

we were greeted back at the church with a nice hot meal provided by the relief society. i've never had better funeral potatoes and that's no lie. they fed us well and we appreciated it so much.

after a change of clothes, we all met back up at grandma's house. there were dishes to be divided, memories to share, and we all just really needed a good long nap.

brooklyn asked her uncle dev to tickle her back because she was so tired... and she was out in thirty seconds.

we said our goodbyes. 

we admired grandma's jewelry, and then we made our way over to my other grandparents' home for dinner.

brooklyn loved having addie there to play with her. they get along so well. 

we stayed up talking and eating sliced apples and caramel until midnight and then called it a night. we were all up early for church and ready for naps immediately afterward. brooklyn took a good two hour nap (and then slept part of the way home. this weekend wore her right out!). as soon as she was up, she was ready to play some more. my cute cousins took the littles outside to get some fresh air, take a wagon ride, see the new baby colt, and just have fun being toddlers together!

the women put together a wonderful traditional sunday dinner. something that should always be a part of sundays. so good. 

after the clean up, we said goodbyes and hit the road. we are all exhausted from this weekend. good thing monday is laundry day and we can just relax at home tomorrow. i definitely need a day to recoup. 

oh, and brooklyn got her first 'head shot' taken by a talented girl in our ward. this picture is 100% brooklyn. grandma would have loved it, and probably giggled a little when she saw it.

h a p p y  m o n d a y