Trip to Idaho to Grandpa Taylor's funeral

My Grandpa, Gail Taylor died on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years. He was 90 years old. Because of his age and condition, and because of our understanding of life after death, his passing wasn't as sad as some others. We are happy in the hope that he is reunited with our grandmother, Jean Carpenter.
The timing of his death was interesting for our family. We live an 8 hour drive from his home in Blackfoot, Idaho, and I had thought that when he passed our whole family could drive down for the funeral. However, as it worked out, the funeral was Monday, April 5th which was right in the middle of our spring break and our previously planned trip to Arizona. We considered many options including cancelling our Arizona trip, but we finally decided that I would fly to Arizona with the family, then fly up to Salt Lake from Phoenix, and catch a ride with my brothers and sister and go up to Idaho to the funeral.
These plans worked perfectly. My brother, John, flew in from NYC about half an hour after me. He and I met up, while Joe and Haylee (and their baby Isabella) were picking up Sarah. They picked us up at the airport, and we drove to Blackfoot together. After checking in at the motel--the 6 of us in one room, we went to Grandpa's house where lots of our cousins were hanging out. Then, we went over to the viewing. All of our aunts and uncles and cousins were there (the only grandchild missing from the funeral was my brother Mike) and we had a great time catching up.
In fact, the whole thing involved the best quality time I've had with my siblings in years. Mom and Dad were there too, and we had a great time with them when they came over to our hotel room Sunday night for Pizza. Dad paid for the pizza and Joe helped order and they were willing to take the blame for breaking the Sabbath. However, we all ate the pizza, even Sarah, so I guess no one is guilt-free. We had plenty of laughs and friendly Prete teasing and silliness, mingled in with some serious discussions as well. John had the short straw and had to sleep on the floor at the hotel, since that was the only remotely appropriate sleeping arrangement we could come up with. On Monday morning before the funeral, I got to work out with Haylee and Sarah at the fitness center by the motel. That was fun too.
The funeral was a really neat experience, one I won't soon forget. First of all, there were probably over 100 family members there. We filled most of the chapel where the funeral was held. It was overwhelming just to be there with all of them and think of the posterity grandpa has. Most of the content of the funeral was grandpa's life, and I learned a lot about him. In particular, I was touched by accounts of when my grandma died (in an accident 23 years ago). I gained a sense of how devastating that was for grandpa, which made me so glad in turn that he is now reunited with my grandma. What was said at the funeral in combination with getting reacquainted with grandma Taylor's siblings reaffirmed to me that my grandma was as amazing a person as I remember her to be.
The most overwhelmingly emotional part of the whole experience was when all of the grandkids and great grandkids sang I am a Child of God and Families Can Be Together Forever. There are a lot of good singers in that group, but it was more the feeling of the truth of messages of those songs, and the affirmation that here I was standing there as part of an eternal family and a child of God. Later, discussing with my siblings, we all were "in and out"--meaning we'd sing for a few lines, then feel the power of it and be overcome for a while, then regain composure and sing. My cousin Brooke and her husband also sang an unbelieveably good rendition of O Divine Redeemer. I didn't know we had talent like that in the family!
Grandpa had a military burial. His casket was covered in the US flag and they played last post and gave him a rifle salute. That was moving too.
It was also neat to be at the cemetery where Grandma and Grandpa Taylor are now buried as are Grandpa's parents, his twin brother, Dale, who died as an infant, His brother Owen and his wife and uncle Ray's wife Jenny. Sometimes living here in Magrath, I feel like a bit of an orphan. Many people here are descended from local pioneer families and are related to most of the town. Some last names are very common. We, however, have no roots in this town. But, when I was in Blackfoot, Idaho, I realized that, though I never lived there, that is a place where I have roots, and many distant (and close) relatives and where our family has a lot of history.
Liz, John and Sarah after the funeral lunch with our cousin Rochelle and her baby Taylor.
Liz and John

The Pretes at the the grave site.

Haylee with Isabella, Joe and John at the gravesite

Uncle Ray holding the US Flag that had covered grandpa's casket.

Granpa and Grandma's tombstone.

Military salute

The Pretes at the viewing, Sunday night, April 4.

Sarah and Dad and I. The funeral home used to be the Blackfoot tabernacle. It was beautiful and huge.

Sarah and I in the car, driving to Blackfoot.

The Suns Game pt.6

Outside the U.S airways center

Posing at half time

Steve Nash ready for the first JUmp Ball (Alyssa's favorite NBA player)

Austin takes a break from cheering to smile

Rob took Alyssa and Austin to the Phoenix Suns game against the San Antonio Spurs. Austin and Alyssa had a blast! Although Alyssa was not on her feet cheering the whole time she fell in love and finally has a favorite NBA team. Austin was on his feet shouting the whole time, but he didn't catch anything.(we were way up high!) It was AWESOME, a great exprience, and we wish we could do it again

Posted by: Alyssa

Arizona, Pt. 5: The Zoo

One day on our trip to Arizona, we went to the Phoenix Zoo, our immediate family, including Mark. Our kids had never been to the zoo, (except when Alyssa was 2 and Austin was a baby), so they really enjoyed it, especially Preston. Mark was happy all day too. I think our favorite animals were the orangutans. The one young orangutan was very active climbing all over and playing with and jumping on a white bucket.

The fountain

Near the park we went to, is a fountain. We had a great time there. Austin ducked his head under several times. Everyone put their feet in. We sprayed each other. Preston ran circles around the outside rim. As we were leaving we noticed a tiny little plaque that basically said, no playing in or around the fountain, and no playing in the water. Oops!

Arizona, pt. 3: Playing at the Park

One morning in Arizona we went to this fun park near Sherylee's house. It was spectacular weather, and fun to be all out playing together.

Arizona trip, Part 2: A couple of pictures from the pageant

I don't have any pictures of the actual pageant. I was bith watching it and holding Preston, asleep on my lap. It was sure neat to have all these cousins together!

Arizona trip, Part 1: Friday April 2 and Saturday, April 3

These pictures are from Saturday, April 3 in Mesa, Arizona. But, before I get to that, I wanted to explain the circumstances leading up to these good times. We booked flights to Mesa from Missoula, MT from Friday, April 2 returning Friday, April 9th. Missoula is 5 hours away from Magrath, but the flights were pretty cheap from there. Before our trip, Mark was acting really strange for almost a week. He was salivating like crazy, gagging, and and acting tired and listless. I took him to emergency on 2 different occasions. He was missing a plastic stopper from his feeding tube which we presume he chewed off and may have swallowed and which could have gotten stuck in his esophogas. We were also worried he might have aspirated it, but he didn't develop a cough or fever and the x-rays didn't show any lung blockages, etc. After spending the evening in emerg on Wednesday (Mar 31), we took Mark back on Thursday for a barium swallow study where they tried to see if there was something trapped in his esophagus. They didn't see anything, but amazingly after the study, he started acting normal again. We decided to go on the trip after all and take him with us, hoping that he had overcome on his own whatever was bothering him. And, as it turned out, he had!

The travel was quite long, but went as well as could be expected. Our van was super loaded down, with our family and luggage and also Karson, Sherylee's son who coming with us to see his parents (He is living in Cardston with Rob's parents, his grandparents, and doing Gr. 12). We were quite a production at the airport. We had to check 2 car seats and one big suitcase, and everyone had a roller suitcase carry-on, in addition. When you consider we had to get Mark and his wheelchair and formula and meds through security and onto the plane, you can imagine that we were quite the sight. Note to self: Next time more checked bags, less carry-on.

Mark travelled pretty well, considering. He got pretty fussy in the airport at Missoula. They had patted him down in security and right after I had to change his poopy diaper on a bathroom floor. He was kind of spooked and got pretty terrified apparently confusing the airport with the hospital. At first on the plane, he was pretty upset, and I drew up the secret weapon, Choral Hydrate (which puts him to sleep almost instantaneously), but then with his ipod and music toy in hand and him seated with his wheelchair seating system and the tray table to bang on, he settled down and did pretty well for the whole flight. When we arrived Monte and Sherylee came to pick us up at the airport with two vehicles! (All week long we borrowed their vehicles to get around--thank you!)

On Saturday morning, Monte and I went for a run. For my half marathon training program, I had to run 8 miles that day, so that's what we did. Monte is a far stronger runner than me, and even though he hadn't run 8 miles anytime recently, when we got back, I was the tired one. We then watched the morning session of conference on the computer and had lunch, courtesy of Sherylee (who incidentally fed us all week long and did an amazing job of it. She had meals planned and the groceries on hand, and made it look easy, though I'm sure it wasn't--Thank you Sherylee).

After lunch, Liz and Christian and their 6 kids and Christian's brother Garth came to Sherylee's house. Liz and Christian and family were down in Phoenix visiting Garth for the Easter weekend and we were very lucky to be able to spend the day with them. We visited out by the pool and had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. At 5, the men went to Priesthood meeting, and we met up with them at the Mesa temple pageant which started at 8:00. The pageant was amazing. There were probably 3-500 cast members, several stages, lights, music, dancing, etc. The pageant told the story of Christ's life, death and resurrection. It was extremely well-done and attended by, I'm guessing, about 10,000 people per night. It was so nice to sit out at night and not be cold, too.

I'm not as smart as this blog system. These pictures are in reverse order

Blogging backlog: Austin's talent show act, Star Wars American Pie

We've just had some amazing adventures, including a trip to Arizona and me going to my Grandpa Taylor's funeral. Before I get to those things, I wanted to post Austin's talent show act which was before our trip. I thought Austin did great. He loves an audience! He is on stage with his friend Sam Jackson. They are performing Weird Al Yankovich's Star Wars American Pie which tells the story of Star Wars Episode 1. Sorry about the video quality. I missed some in the middle.

Blogging Backlog: Preston's birthday and party

On March 22nd, our baby, Preston, turned 5. For a birthday gift, we broke down and bought him a Nintendo DS, hoping that having this portable game system might make it easier for him to agree to accompany Becky for grocery shopping in Lethbridge and to visiting teaching visits, etc. So far, on that count it works like a charm. I just hope we can keep its use under control. I'm not the master of setting limits.

Preston also had a birthday party, the Saturday after his birthday. He had 5 friends over. It was probably the best birthday party I've evern hosted and I give credit for that to Alyssa and Austin who both helped with various segments of the party. Austin kept the kids busy for about half an hour playing trampoline games.

Blogging Backlog: Austin's Final Kub Kar Rally

For the Kub Kar Rally this year, Rob helped Austin build a sports car. Rob wanted to do a bobsled car, but alas the actual Cub prevailed. Austin's car was pretty fast this year. He won 3 of his 4 races, losing only to the kids who was the ultimate winner, but by some fluke, he didn't end up in the final four. Still it felt good to have a fast car and a pretty styling one too. Good work, Austin.

Blog backlog: Alyssa's music festival

A few weeks ago, Alyssa's Gr. 7 band performed at the music festival in Cardston. A couple of weeks later they performed at the school concert, and then the week before spring break, they performed the same pieces at the Lethbridge music festival. They gradually improved in their playing, and when they performed in Lethbridge, they earned a "superior" grade and a right to participate in the province-wide music festival in Red Deer in May.

Alyssa also played the piano at the Cardston music festival. Her first piece was a Fantasia by Teleman. It had some very quiet parts, in contrast to some louder parts. When she went to play, the piano, a Yamaha had a very firm touch and her soft notes didn't play quite like she wanted. She still did really well, but came in 2nd. She was especially nervous because that was her stronger piece, but she practiced really hard all evening and the next morning, and nailed her second piece, The Wild Horseman by Schumann, getting 1st place. Alyssa accomplished all of this while she was fairly sick with a cold.

I did make videos of the band performance, but haven't been able to get them to download.