Grandmother

My sweetest Grandmother passed away.

Even though she was old and lonely without her husband, and

constantly reminding us that this was going to be her last birthday, holiday,

whatever it was here on earth.

It didn't make it any easier when the day arrived.

I had a special bond with both of my grandparents.

I lived down the street from them until I was 12!

We sat next to them in church every Sunday.

When I was sick, she made me a special bed on the couch with

ironed sheets and fluffy pillows.

She gave me a bell to ring when I needed something.

Sprite and homemade soup was served to me on a silver tray in glass dishes.

Spending the night meant bubble baths and a deluxe homemade breakfast the next morning.

She was always prim and proper.

Reminding me to cross my legs and to pull my shoulders back and sit up straight.

We picked blackberries in their yard every spring.

She taught me how to cook.

They let Stephanie and I drive their Chrysler Imperial in high school that we dubbed "QUEENIE".

She let me do her weekly hair- do, or perms and cuts after I graduated beauty school for a couple

of years until I went off to college.

When I met Casey she told me over and over again what a special young man he was

and to not let him go.

Or maybe she was saying, don't screw this up!

So many wonderful memories... too many to count actually.

I had no doubt that they loved me!

This is on the steps of the temple after Casey and I got married.

That man behind them is my Grandpa Jesse.

My parents grew up in the same ward.

I love how both of my grandparents are friends with each other.

We got a text that Grandmother was sick and on the way to the

hospital where she was diagnosed with pneumonia.

A few days after being admitted I was at Lanes baseball game when I got the text

that now was the time to come say goodbye.

I love how Heavenly Father seems to have the timing thing down!

It was a Saturday afternoon so pretty much all of my cousins, aunts and uncles

were in her room all at the same time.

We all got to be together to say our goodbyes to the one woman who we all feel

is the best Grandmother anybody could ever have.

I hate to put this picture on here because these were literally minutes before her passing.

But I love how she is surrounded by the people who loved her most.

The spirit was strong, all of our eyes filled with tears.

We were sad she had to leave us but so happy she was not in pain anymore and in

heaven reunited with my Grandad and her son that passed away and birth.

 Since we are such a big family and Grandmother hadn't been living in her

home for a couple of years, they decided that we would make assignments and supply our own

food for the luncheon after the funeral.

Honestly, it was great that way!

The menu was soft tacos/taco salad and for dessert, a grandmother specialty... FRIED PIES!

I was put on the fried pie committee along with my seesters and Aunt Judy!

She is the pie queen, next to grandmother. of course:)

We went over to Aunt Judy's so she could give us a crash course on how to master

the fried pies. She actually bought my grandparents house so it was fun being back

in Grandmothers kitchen, making one of her staple recipes!

We passed the course and were loaded up with Crisco (6 big cans worth) and apple filling

to go knock out 200 pies at home!

I started making and cutting out the dough that same night.

It only took 3 hours for that part!

The next morning I started filling and pressing.

I got about half way when I ran out of pie filling.

With Grandmothers fried pies you do not use canned filling.

I ran to Safeway and loaded up on apples.

As we were getting in the car Rusty complained that

his side was hurting him.

 I shrugged it off and let him stay home from school.

I started cranking out the filling before I needed to take Lindi to swim lessons.

We got home and Rusty seemed to be getting worse.

He had a high fever and looked really pale.

I knew I had at least a couple more hours filling pies before Grandmothers viewing that night.

Rusty finally fell asleep on the floor for 30 minutes.

All of a sudden he woke up SCREAMING and yelling that it really hurt and that he couldn't breath!

I threw down the spoon and ran over to him.

I tried to lay him flat to see exactly where his pain was but he was flipping out that it hurt.

When I pushed on it, he yelped really loud.

His lips were started to turn blue.

AGH!

I called Casey in a panic. He said to go to the doctor.

I said ok but realized they wouldn't be able to do much.

I decided to scoop him up and take him to the ER.

My kitchen was a mess, Rusty had no shoes on.

Lindi was crying and a hot mess from swim lessons, I had sticky apple filling on my hands,

we were a site for sore eyes!

Oh, and when I was checking him into the ER I looked at the clock and realized Lanes

bus was going to be there in 10 minutes!

Casey was too far away.

Luckily my sweet neighbor Michelle came to the rescue and picked him up for me.

We got taken back quickly.

The doctors ruled out his appendix but wanted to get an x-ray of his chest

to make sure he didn't have pneumonia.

I only started to panic when the doctor told him to hold off on food and drink.

I text Casey to please hurry and get here fast! 

As we waited Casey came about the same time as his parents.

Papa helped Casey give Rusty a blessing.

They took Lindi home with them which was SO NICE.

Lindi was DONE!

Not long after they left the doctor came back saying he had some hazing on his lung

right where his pain was.

It wasn't pneumonia but a virus like pneumonia and it would run its course.

PHEW!

 4 hours later we were out of there!

Casey took Rusty with him in his truck.

On the way home he barfed, nice.

Papa came back to our house and watched the kids so we could go to the last 30 minutes

of Grandmothers viewing. He is the best!

Casey had a church meeting to be to so I got the kids in bed at about 9:30.

Then I got back to work making pies!

Casey got home right as I was starting to fry.

We had ourselves our own little party.

100 pies later at 1:30 am, we were finished!

These things are delicious but definitely a labor of LOVE!

I think we had a total of 400 for the luncheon.

And they got gobbled up!

The next morning we dropped Rusty off at Casey's moms house.

She was so nice to watch him all day for us!

We headed to the cemetery for the family prayer at 8 o'clock.

I like how this funeral had some twists to tradition.

I loved how we went to the cemetery first.

It wasn't hot, the air was crisp and it felt more peaceful and not rushed.

We stood around and chatted while we waited for everybody to get there.

Lucy flew in the night before so I quickly snatched her up and snarfed on her:)

Uncle Jim dedicated the grave and said a family prayer.

We took pictures for about 20 minutes.

Here are all of my dad siblings.

Jim, Karen, Judy, Marcia and my dad.

And their spouses.

I don't know why Uncle Skip isn't in it.

Most of the first cousins.

We couldn't pull away a few from chatting.

It was about 9:15 and the funeral didn't start until 10.

We called in breakfast burritos and had ourselves a little tail gating party

in the parking lot of the church.

Grandmother would not have wanted us to be hungry at her funeral:)

Since we had already had the family prayer, there was no family procession into the chapel.

We arrived and sat down at our leisure, another thing I really liked!

Her service was wonderful!

Full of stories and beautiful music.

Afterwards we walked into the cultural hall for lunch!

It was a feast!

Lindblom's know how to eat right:)

The best part about this all, is that even though both of our Grandparents have passed on,

they were able to form close knit extended family relationships.

I have the best cousins in the world.

We see each other often, and I love it!

In fact, we will all be camping together this July.

I am grateful for forever families and both my Grandad and Grandmother.

So happy they have each other again:)