Goodbye for now

After we found out that grandma passed away we looked into flights, they were so expensive, so Tiff, Mel and I decided to drive down together.  Tiff was nice enough to drive her van and drove the whole way there and back!  We left early Friday morning.  There was a lot of rain so it really slowed down our drive.  We were so happy to finally get there!  It was a long drive, but we had a great time laughing and visiting.  If I have to drive 24 hours in a 72 hour period, I'm really glad it was with my sisters!

Matt and Lori flew in on Friday and they stayed at the same hotel that we did.  We met up with them and drove over to the church together where the family was meeting up for pizza and to go through pictures.  We stopped by grandma's house first.  I sure love this house, I have so many wonderful memories at this house.  They rented it out when grandma went into assisted living.  I didn't like seeing other people's stuff in the front yard!  I wished I could have at least went in the back yard and seen that one last time.  It was fun to go to the 7-11 down the street where we always went as kids. We visited at the church for a while and then we headed back to our hotel.  The five of us had fun visiting for a while.  I was so tired, I had only slept 3-4 hours the night before and hadn't slept well all week because I was sick.  I had no voice by the time we got to Antioch on Friday.  It was great to spend time visiting with Matt and Lori.  We finally all went to bed and luckily I slept really good that night.  We met Matt and Lori downstairs for breakfast the next morning before we headed over to the church for the viewing and funeral. 

The viewing was a little rough.  Grandma looked so frail and thin.  I'm sad I haven't seen her for a while, but the advantage to that is all of my memories are of her healthy.  I hate that she was in so much pain in her last days.  I'm so glad that she is free of pain now. 

Mom gave a beautiful family prayer before we went into the funeral.  The funeral was perfect.  Jenna started out by playing "I'm Trying to be like Jesus" on the piano.  She talked first and said that she played the same song at grandpa's funeral 16 years ago. She said the mistakes were a lot cuter when she was 8, but that grandma and grandpa loved hearing her play this and she was glad that they were together this time when she played.  It started the funeral off just perfect.  Pam spoke about grandma's life and did a great job.  I loved hearing stories I have heard for years and learning new things.  Next Jason spoke, he did amazing and was the perfect guy for the job.  I loved all of the memories that he shared from the Gottschalks boxes every Christmas, to the cookies in the freezer and just the overall feeling at grandma's house.  I loved how the funeral was so real just like grandma, she told it like it was!  After Jason, Lori sang, "How Great Thou Art."  She sang it beautifully, I love her voice.  Ron spoke next.  He did a great job talking about grandma while they were young and recently as well as when he was bishop.  I loved the story about grandma calling Ron and telling him that she talked to Betty Crase and Mary Ivie (I always heard a lot about them from grandma) and they didn't think she should have to speak at a funeral and arrange the food for the lunch. Grandma loved being in the same ward as Ron and Diane. Grandma did many, many years of church service supported grandpa in his career, tax business and as bishop, volunteered at the hospital, raised six wonderful children and she loved her family!  She was a great cook, a great housekeeper, she loved to travel and shop and she loved to read.  I gave the closing prayer at the funeral.  I was very nervous because I had no voice, I drank a bunch of water before I went up there and my voice held up for the prayer.

After the funeral we went over to the cemetery.  All of the grandsons did a great job as the pallbearers. 

It was a very windy day.  The flowers started blowing off the casket so they lowered the casket for the rest of us to put our flowers on.

The cemetery is such a beautiful place with a beautiful view.

I loved seeing and visiting with Chris.  It has been way too long since I have seen him. We have so many good memories together.  We were inseparable as kids and I loved having him go to college in Utah.  I am so happy to see him so happy and successful.  He had some rough years and I'm so happy to see him come out on top.  He is hilarious I loved laughing with him again.

I know grandma and grandpa are so proud of their six kids. They are all such good people!

Here is our little family.  We were sad that Gary couldn't make it, but I'm really glad he didn't put that extra pressure on himself at the end of tax season. Grandma, the wife of an accountant, would definitely understand.

We took a picture with the whole group, but I don't have a copy of that one.  I'm sure grandma loved seeing us all together.  After the cemetery we stopped by 7-11 and ran into the Lepak's there.  It such a Hawkins thing to do! 

After the cemetery we went back to the church for a luncheon.  The food tasted so good after our long day.  We had fun visiting with family for a couple of hours and then people started heading home.  Mel, Tiff and I ended up being the last ones there with Ron and Diane.  It was so fun to visit with Jason, Jenna and Diane, they are good people and very fun to talk too.  By the time we left I had a horrible migraine on top of my sinus pressure and pain.  We stopped for some medicine for me and I went back to the hotel and showered and put a cold rag on my head.  I haven't had a headache that bad in a while. I was sad to miss out on going out for burritos with Mel and Tiff, but I was down for the night.  We got up early and left after we ate breakfast at the hotel.  It was another long day of driving, but fun to be with my sisters.  I was happy to be home and in my own bed that night.  I'm grateful that we had such a beautiful celebration of grandma's life.  I'm sure going to miss her.