Boise and Remembering Grandpa

The night before we left for Idaho, I got a phone call from my mom. My grandpa had been in a terrible car accident that afternoon and they gave him 12 hours to live. We have gotten phone calls like this in the past after he had strokes and other illnesses, so it took awhile for it to sink in that it was real this time. While I was sad that we couldn't be there to say good bye and wished that we had planned our trip a little bit sooner so we could have seen him one last time, I am so grateful that I was able to be there for the funeral. I'm grateful that my kids were able to be there and have such a positive first experience with death. We were able to have some good discussions about the Spirit World and were able to talk about how Grandpa is now with his parents and other family that have passed on, and that we will get to see him again someday. It was all stuff we had talked about before, but it hit home in a new way this time. The viewing was really special. They spent a long time looking at him and we talked a lot about how our spirits leave our bodies and get to be with Jesus again. I really am grateful for that knowledge. I am grateful to know that Grandpa is free of the ailments and illnesses that have plagued his body for so long. I will miss his hugs, his jokes, and his stories (he had a lot of great stories), and I look forward to that day when I will see him again.

When I first heard about Grandpa's passing, my mind went back to when I was 9 or 10 years old. Grandma and Grandpa had come to visit us in Texas, which was a rare, special treat. I was wearing a blue sweater with several white bows all over it (gotta love those 90's!). Grandpa came up and put his arm around me and said something about me liking boys. Embarrassed, I asked what he meant. He replied, "well, you've got a lot of beaus"....beaus-boyfriends, but it sounds like bows. He had to explain it to me, but thought it was the most clever thing ever! For some reason, that has always stuck with me and is one of the first things I think of when I think of Grandpa. It is just him. :)

There were several displays at the viewing and I learned a lot about Grandpa from them...for example, I had NO idea he played the guitar! I loved learning these little tidbits, both at the viewing and the next day at the funeral.

 

I love this picture of my mom with her mom

It was so great to be able to see so many cousins...all but 2 of Grandma and Grandpa's 50+ grandkids were there! Most of them I hadn't seen in at least 10 years, some of them much longer. 

 They honored Grandpa for his military service and presented Grandma with the flag.

 

After the funeral several of us gathered at my uncle's house for a barbecue. There were a LOT of people crowded into his house and spilling out into the backyard, but it was fun. It's been a long time since I've been to one of those gatherings. 

While in Boise we were able to spend some time with Grandma Lorraine, my dad's mom. For as long as I can remember, she has always had the freezer on her porch stocked full of Schwann's ice cream, particularly the English toffee bars and orange push ups. The kids remembered this from last year and were so excited to visit "the grandma with the orange popsicles".

She also treated them to a few rides on her motorized cart. This was always one of my favorite things to do when I visited her as a child and I loved watching my kids enjoy it with her too.

One last little visit with Grandma Danes before we left town

While in Boise, the kids and I were also able to make it to Jon's grandparent's family reunion (he wasn't able to come to Idaho until the next week). It was a fairly brief stop, with everything else going on, but it wouldn't be a trip to Boise without visiting Nana and Papa.

Those few days in Boise were really good. Family came together, miracles happened, and we saw the Lord's hand in things over and over again. I loved hearing so many stories of tender mercies and miracles that occurred between Grandpa's passing and the funeral. And I left with a renewed determination to focus on those things that are most important.

5K x 2

One of the highlights of our trip to Idaho for me was being able to run my very first 5k. I just got into running a few months ago (better late than never!) and decided to follow a 5k training program to keep me motivated. I had tried to sign up for a couple races in California, but nothing was working out, so I was excited when my mom told me about a 5k in Idaho Falls on the 4th of July AND told me she'd run it with me.

We were both doing really well with our training up until a couple weeks before the race. Everyone at our house got a nasty stomach bug and then we were traveling, and then Grandpa passed away and we were traveling again to Boise and were busy with the funeral and visiting all of the extended family that we could. We each managed to squeeze in a couple small runs, but those couple weeks off really made it more difficult. And on top of the lack of running, I also had to adjust to the elevation change....running at 4700 feet when you're used to running at sea level is HARD!

The day before the race, we convinced Abby to run with us. I'm so glad she did. It was a lot of fun! I loved all the energy at the beginning of the race...and it was amusing to see some of the things people wore. There were lots of red, white, and  blue tutus, a guy with stars shaved into his head, and our favorite- a guy dressed as a penguin following his friend, who had a fishing pole taped to his back with a Twinkie on the end. There were also several families running together. It was so cute to see all the little kids running their hardest....and really, I don't think running that distance wore them out at all- I totally wish I had that kind of energy still! Jon and I decided that we are going to do a 5k as a family soon...I think it'd be so fun!

Mom, Abby, and I stayed together the whole race, so it took a little longer, but we kept up a good pace and didn't come in last.  :)  We ended up coming in right around 46 minutes. I'm so glad we could all share our first 5K experience together!

And just in case one 5k in a week wasn't enough, I decided a week in advance to do another 5k, 3 days after my first one. This time I ran it with Aunt Kathy, while we were down in Utah for a couple days. I knew I wasn't going to get any amazing time, considering my lack of practice and the elevation, but I wanted to see if I could improve over my first 5k. 

I re-learned two things in this race- I can't eat before I run (I already knew this, but I ate anyway...and I paid for it!) and it is HARD to run at high elevations when you're not used to it. I was so lightheaded a mile into it and my stomach was cramping from eating so I ended up walking a lot of it. But I did it and I finished with a time of 37:56....not great, but an improvement. Despite the discomfort, I'm glad I was able to run again and that I could do this race with Aunt Kathy.

Kathy did awesome...she finished first in her age group!

After the race they had all sorts of fun stuff. The kids bounced in the bouncy houses and we also got to go on a short hot air balloon ride....so fun!

My favorite part of my 5k's was the end when Emma and Matthew came up to me and asked if I won my race. Not wanting to let them down, I replied that I won because I did it.  :)  Love my little cheerleaders!

Idaho Part 1

Almost 3 weeks and over 1000 pictures later, we are HOME. We loved our time in Idaho....the lazy mornings, spending time with family, the kids reconnecting with their Idaho cousins (I think they'll FINALLY remember who they are next time we see them), all the good food, jumping on the trampoline....really we loved everything but the heat! I didn't realize how acclimated I was to the temperate Bay Area weather, but the constant 90-100 degree weather was brutal!

There are so many things I want to record and so many pictures I want to post, but I'll never get it done in one post, and really there are so many things that deserve their own post. So, I'll be posting about Idaho for the next little while.

For now, here are a few random pictures...

The kids' first airplane ride that they can remember. They were SO excited! The flight was less than 1 1/2 hours, which was perfect. Emma and Matthew did great. Ellie couldn't sit still. We walked the aisle a few times, read a few books, and then she fell asleep in my arms for the last little bit. All in all, travelling alone with all 3 kids went much smoother than I ever could have hoped.

My brother, Caleb, rented a canoe and we spent a fun afternoon at Rigby Lake. My beach babies were happy to play in the sand and water all day.

Matthew's ride

Emma's ride

We got to meet my nephew, Cole, for the first time. Ellie is fascinated with babies, so naturally she loved having him around. He is such a calm, easy going baby and was good about putting up with her getting in his space.  :)  She LOVED plopping herself in his bouncy seat any time he wasn't in it.

A trip to Idaho wouldn't be complete with a lot of trampoline jumping...

Jumping first thing in the morning

  And just before bed

 Jumping with the hose and a bucket of water

and jumping in the rain

And much to Ellie's dismay, she was too small to jump with any other kids so she often had to sit and watch.

We had one cool(er) day so I took the kids to feed the ducks at the green belt. The rest of my family had gone to Boise early for Grandpa's funeral (we went the next day) so we made a date of it...we spent a couple hours at the green belt, grabbed some dinner at IHOP, and ended the evening with frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf...yum!

More Orange Leaf! This place is that good!

 

Jon's grandma gave the kids some Crayola Color Wonder bubbles so we decided to try them out one Sunday morning before church. They are so pretty...and SO messy! I was surprised at how vibrant the colors were. The kids were really impressed and had a lot of fun...and thankfully, true to their word, the bubbles really are washable.

Going for rides on Grandpa's 4 wheeler was a favorite activity!

And this makes me laugh every time. Abby and I came back from a little ride around the neighborhood and my dad had spread a bunch of pop cans out so she could drive over them and smash them. To quote Abby, "I've never felt so redneck in my life!"

 The trip home....the kids were just as fascinated with the airplane. And it was nice to have Jon along for the ride. We started out with assigned seats 14 rows apart, but were able to do some switching and got rows across from each other.

I buckled Ellie into her own seat and as soon as we took off she fell asleep. She ended up sleeping the whole ride until we landed. It was AWESOME!