Grandma Bev's Funeral

Tim's Grandma Bev passed away on December 23, 2008. She was the last Grandparent on Tim's side. We are happy that she will be reunited with Tim's Grandpa Gib (Tricia's dad), but will miss her sweet presence at our family functions. One thing that I will always remember about Beverly was how she accepted me into the family as soon as Tim and I were married. She would sit and talk with me as if she had known me forever. She always made me feel welcomed and comfortable at big family functions. Her Christmas ornament tradition to all the grand kids will be forever cherished as a good reminder of Grandma Bev. Her funeral was up in Show Low on December 29th. We made it a weekend trip to meet up with all of Tim's family (with the exception of Jeremiah and Heidi, who was too pregnant for such a long drive). It was a really well rounded trip with lots of laughter and tears!

We were the first to arrive at Grandma and Grandpa's. Abbey was way excited to go out and play in the snow. Tim bundled her up... it reminds me of the little brother, Randy, in the Christmas Story movie.

The next day Abbey was happy to see her other cousins make it to Grandpa and Grandma's. The kids loved playing in the snow again... the more the merrier. Uncle John was good to pull the Abbey, Megan and Quinn around on the sled.

That evening, after a good home cooked meal, we made some chocolates. Good food, especially if it involves chocolate, is always something I get excited about! Here are my chocolate dipped pretzels...

which I was more than happy to eat a ton of!

Then there were the chocolate covered Oreo truffles (which were nicknamed little balls of heaven). Jill showed us all how to make them... they are so good and rich. It was one of those things, where you can't stop eating them even though they make you feel sick!

Unsurprisingly, Tim was a victim of eating too many.

The next day, Monday the 29th, was Grandma Bev's funeral. It was a really good funeral! I was aware that it might be a little bit touchy, with it being almost a complete year since Mom's funeral. But it was really good and therapeutic for me to attend. I was reminded of our Savior's love for us and his plan of happiness. David gave a really good talk about the plan of salvation, which touched me and of course made me cry... but it was a good cry! Here is all of Bev's family!

Later that day we were hanging out (notice our rock band in the background) and Abbey decided she wanted to get dressed to go back out in the snow. She forgot a few essential clothing items!

Me and Mike hanging out together.

Our last day at Grandma and Grandpa's we made sure to get as much snow time in as possible. We went out to a popular sledding destination. Abbey was excited to go... but the snow was really icy and packed down. So the rocky ride kind of dampened her spirits. Tubing was a lot better ride, smooth and easygoing. We had a lot of fun.

Every once in a while you get lucky and catch someone, like Lee and Megan, totally crash. I laughed so hard looking at these. You can barely see Megan's hands and arms behind Lee.

Abbey wasn't as much of a dare devil as we thought she would be. She enjoyed the fish crackers and water probably more than the sledding.

On our way out, there was a guy who got stuck in the snow. Good thing he had our burly men there to help.

Here is Lee's boyfriend Aaron in the black hat (update: he is now my newest brother-in-law!, I had a feeling he would be at the time)

Look at John's face... such concentration and strength!

Success!

It was a fun trip, as it always is when we go up to Pinetop!