We spent Memorial Day at home working on catching up with life and preparing for Rachel's funeral weekends. (Well Derek was working massively long shifts at Folk Life, but the rest of us...). Honestly the weeks at home between being in FL and the funeral were a big blur of grief and work and struggle.
We drove to Utah over 2 days so that we could get there early enough on Friday to have a big dinner with the family, help film the memorial video, and do a rehearsal for the cousins musical number. We had Cafe Rio--one of Rachel's favs. We got a chance to hang out with lots of cousins, aunts and uncles. Rachel would have loved being there with all of us.
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| Cousin song rehearsal |
Because my parents are big into the Hale Theater, they donated 12 seats in the producers box to our family, so we (sadly) then rushed off to see the show. Hello Dolly was AWESOME. Wow, wow. I don't love the story, necessarily, but the show was amazingly well done.
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| Thankful for my other "sisters" who came to help out. |
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| Randall/Harris Family |
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| Egan/Upton/Curtis Family |
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| Upton/Curtis cousins |
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| Jane Batz (a Tolman cousin) was a sweet mentor for me in my teens. |
The day of the funeral was so so healing. I felt like I was wrapped up in so much love. We shared hugs and memories. I had spent so much time planning the funeral and I was so pleased when it ran smoothly.n It was a little hard to hear Devin & Davy's song. But the rest was good. The luncheon was delicious. The ward went all out. I got to catch up with so many cousins. I wish it hasn't been a funeral bringing us together. But it was still so good.
After the funeral & luncheon we went--where Randalls feel at home. Rollerskating! Classic skate for the win. I got to wear Arvae's old skates. They were so great. I feel like the skates make such a huge difference.
Then that night Dave convinced us all to go to Keys on Main. My cousin Wes and his wife Jennifer & all the sibs and spouses went. This ended up leaving Libby, Sarah & Ben watching most of the little cousins. Which was less than ideal. But they weathered the storm. I also realized that I don't like bar food or bar atmosphere. Definitely not the place to catch up and chill. I now have a NO BAR rule. So next time I won't have to decide. I was introduced to some of the most crude music I could have ever imagined. Wow. No thanks.
On Sunday it was my parent's stake conference. We didn't want to sit through stake conference, since we had just done that (and ours was really great--so didn't want to tarnish that...) We decided to go to Music and the Spoken Word on temple square. It was so awesome to be in the tabernacle and feel the spirit there.
We hung out until about 2 and then headed out. We stopped in Boise and had dinner with the Judds. Libby called her friend Quincy to come and see us too. It was so good to see them too. Then we drove on to La Grande (we decided we needed to upgrade from the Super 8 in Baker City.). The Best Western in La Grande OR was much better than the Super 8. We rolled in on Monday in time for me to write up my next sub plans (for the 12th and 13th when I'd be in FL), do laundry and pack for 5th grade camp. Things went horribly awry. But that's a post for another day. I did end up getting to bed by around 12:30am with sub plans mostly done, funeral program & invitation made, and mostly packed for camp.
I'm so thankful for my family.
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