We already had a California/Disneyland trip planned for mid March but our plans changed a little bit when Chad died. I wanted to be there for the funeral so the kids and I headed south and we bought Brett a plane ticket so we could pick him up in Vegas on the way to Cali.
The kids did SO good on the way there. We went straight to Beaver from Idaho. When we got there we grabbed some subways so that we could eat them later and then we went to change our clothes at Dave's. We looked pretty haggard from being in the car all day. Then we headed over to Greenville for the viewing. While at Dave's, Dalton got into the mud outside and got it all over his church shoes and pants. Fun. The kids were restless at the viewing and I didn't blame them. We stayed for about an hour and then headed for home. Madi and Saige stayed and then went to Cedar with Chance and Kenzie for the night. That was fun for them. When Dalton and Sydney realized they weren't with us they said, "I'm going to spank Chance and Kenzie-they took our girls"!
On the top of Bear Valley, Dalton told me that he had to go pee. I didn't know what to do. It was dark and SO cold outside. There was quite a bit of snow on top so I asked him if he could wait for 10 minutes (we were actually about 30 from home). He said yes and I started driving faster. 2 minutes later he was asleep in the back. I thought for sure he was going to pee in his car seat but he made it! I hauled all of our suitcases into the house, got the kids inside, changed them into their jammies and then tried to make Dalton go to the potty. He threw a crazy fit-he was out of it. I knew he had to go SO bad so I tried to force him onto the potty. He's pretty big and strong and he was winning this fight. Syd said she had to go so I let her on in hopes that he would wake up in a few minutes and go. All of the sudden I looked over and he started peeing. It was spraying EVERYWHERE. It was on every surface in the entire bathroom. By the time I got it cleaned up and him in bed I was beyond exhausted.
Unfortunately, all of this craziness woke Syd up and since she had slept all the way from Greenville to Circleville she was ready to go! She was so hyper. When my mom and dad got home she was being so goofy with them and talking their ears off. I finally got her to bed but it was around midnight. CRAZY DAY!
Here are a few pictures of my Mom's family. Most of us were there!
The funeral was so entertaining, but very different. Chad wasn't a church going guy so his funeral was a little irreverent but it was the perfect funeral for him. I COULD NOT believe how many people came to the viewings and funeral. Chad had SO many friends.
His best friend, Travis Bradshaw, spoke at the funeral and he was hilarious! He told some great stories but he got a little long-winded. At one point he said, "If I'm going too long just say so". Someone made a 'whooping' sound from the back and everyone laughed so hard. Then he went on and on like it never happened. It was awesome! Travis told how Chad was so proud of his family and was always bragging about how cute his sisters were, etc. Then he said, "He even bragged about his niece that sent him a bunch of Christmas gifts".
I was that niece and here is the story:
We always do something for someone at Christmas and a week before this last Christmas I realized that I didn't have ANY IDEA who to do something for. One day the kids and I were driving and it hit me out of the blue-I needed to send some gifts to Chad for Christmas. It seemed perfect because Grandma is gone now and I didn't know if he would have much for Christmas. However, I wanted to do something really cool and creative-like the 12 days of Christmas or something. There was no time for that. Then I realized I didn't even have time to buy the gifts, wrap them up, and mail them. I would have to send something directly from Amazon to get it there in time. At that point I decided to keep that idea and really do something special for him next year. But the thought kept nagging me so I spent some time at the computer trying to figure out what I would even get him. It was a challenge. I finally ordered some work gloves, pistachios, a movie, socks, and a blanket. It was the best I could come up with and as I was ordering I was thinking how lame I was! I shipped them to Dave's house because I didn't even have an address for Chad. Dave later told me that Chad was so excited that he couldn't even wait for Christmas to open the packages. Chad called me on Christmas to thank me. He was so cute on the phone. Little did I know that it would be the last time I would hear his voice. That was the last I thought of it until Travis said something at the funeral. I thought-what if I had waited til this year? I would have missed my chance. Chad is gone now. This was a HUGE teaching experience for my kids and I was reminded of a talk that President Monson gave once. The quote is below. Never postpone a prompting from the Holy Ghost. Lesson learned.
Other pictures from the trip home...
Syd and Zac. She wanted to hold him all of time!
This is the little red chair that my Grandpa gave our family a long time ago for Christmas-I think. They have a green one at their house. I told him that I need him to make one for me and he laughed at me and said no! I asked him a few more times while we were there and got a similar response, but I think I am wearing him down!
Grandpa horsing around with the littles!
