No more Braces! and Mom's birthday

 Nolen got his braces off today!!!  He is so happy!  His teeth look amazing!!  I am so happy with how they turned out.  

 To celebrate my Mom's birthday, we went to get ice cream with  the family.  I miss her every single day.

 

Burial for Mom

 This weekend we drove to Mesa, Arizona to bury my mom.  I feel like the last two weeks have flown by with very little respite.  I was surprised when the funeral home said we could have the burial so quickly.  It is probably for the best.  I am glad that we had he funeral the Saturday after my mom died and I am glad we drove down to Phoenix to bury her now.  It didn't really go as planned but that is OK.  We were all a wreck with out my mom to guide us through this tragedy.  

 

I picked up my dad on Thursday when Stephen got off work and we drove down to Phoenix.  I dropped my dad off at Emma's house and then Stephen and I drove to the airport to pick up Kendra then to Chandler to stay with Chelsea.  I am so grateful for her in my life.  She has been a true help and joy for me during this terrible time.  

I woke up early on Friday and went for a run.  I have been training for a 10 mile trail race in November so I didn't want to skip a training run.  We realized we needed a speaker for our song and had to stop at Walgreens on our way to the cemetery.  Kendra ran in and bought the speaker and I tried to charge it as quickly as possible.  That actually didn't end up working and I had thought to bring a back up battery that I used to play the speaker while we sang.  

We got to the cemetery and it was already 100 degrees! I can't believe how hot it was for an October day.  There were maybe 30 people who came to her burial and I am glad we had some familiar faces in the crowd.  We basically did the same program from the funeral.  I changed a few of the songs and Craig didn't speak.  My dad tried to run the burial but he didn't really know what was going on. HA!  We sang "How great thou art" again and it went fine.  

After the burial we went to a nearby church and had lunch.  My dad's sisters hosted the lunch for us and it was very kind.  I as so grateful to get out of the heat.  We chatted with family for a few hours then went our separate ways.  

 

I picked up dad around 3:00 and we went to Western Memorials.  We had them draw up a beautiful gravestone for mom and dad.  It took a little while to figure out what we wanted but once we got it done it looked great.  Dad will be buried on top of mom so we have to use the grave stone for both of them. 

 

After our meeting we went to dinner and chatted with everyone for a few hours.  Stephen, Kendra, and I went back to Chelsea's and hopped in the pool.  Then we turned on a show and we all fell asleep on the couch.  Chel was so kind and let us stay in her bed! I am not sure I would give up my bed for anyone.  

Saturday, I went for a long run around her neighborhood and then we went golfing.  It was actually very fun to golf together.  We played 9 holes then headed back to Chel's house and got in the pool.  It was a fine weekend, indeed.  Sunday, Kendra went home early and I picked up dad and we drove up to Snowflake to pick up Susan.  She is watching our house while we we are in Hawaii next week.  

 

This was a good weekend and just what I needed to bury my mom.  I am still so extremely sad.  I will miss her forever. 

Funeral for Mom

This week has been a whirlwind.  I am going to try to remember everything that happened but I am sure I will forget something or someone important.  Sharla and Kendra flew in Monday night.  They both barely missed seeing Mom alive.  Kendra was broken into a million different pieces whereas the realness of Mom's death hasn't quite hit her yet.  I spent the entire day with Mom and Dad on Monday, so I dropped them both off at Dad's then went home to cry alone.  I cried all night.  I have never felt such deep pain in my heart.  

Tuesday brought a new host of things we needed to do for Mom.  I am the executor of her will so I had to pull together all the details for her funeral.  First, we had to post on facebook that she had passed.  I read every single message and cried.  I have felt everyone's love and support as they sent public and private messages through out the week.  I had to call the funeral home and set up an appointment to work out all the details (and pay).  So far the funeral costs are at about $20,000!  Yep, you read that right.  

Wednesday, we met with the funeral home. Wednesday was also my Dad's 73 birthday.   We set up an appointment to dress Mom for her funeral on Friday and arranged flowers.  After the funeral home, everyone went to lunch while I headed home to work.  Sharla heard a mouse in her room at Dad's house so she was ready to change homes.  The brightest part of this dark week has been Chelsea.  She flew in on Wednesday and started taking charge of everything.  She fixed my dad's toilet and bought mouse traps.  She pulled together a lot of photos of my mom and made a collage for the funeral.  She talked to the relief society president and pulled together meals and organized a lot of stuff at the funeral.  She also took all the photos! I am so eternally grateful to her for stopping her whole week to help me.  I could not have asked for a better friend. 

 

I tried teaching all of my students during the week to keep my self busy and to make some extra money.  I worked all week and only cancelled one lesson on Friday.  This was also the day we dressed my mom's body.  We had invited Faith and Blair to join us.  Blair took me up on the offer and I picked her up with Sharla and Kendra.  This was a difficult task.  I had thought the funeral home would help us lift her body, but they did not.  They left us completely alone with her body.   We brought her temple outfit and Blair brought her make-up.  We all worked together to lift and dress her.  We cried many tears.  As it turned out, Faith did want to join us but decided to get lunch instead.  So she ended up missing the entire dressing.  Later, all of my extended family arrived on Friday.  We went to the church to practice for the funeral and put together our song for mom.  Afterward, we had a family dinner and then talked and talked. 

 

Today is the day. I woke up early and did my hair.  I put on the tiniest bit of makeup so that when I cried it wouldn't get all over.  I have felt a huge heavy weight on my chest this entire week.  I feel like I can't breathe.  I met the funeral home (all by myself) at the church.  They brought in Mom's body and I barely held it together.  I waited for my siblings to arrive as I sat with Mom's body alone.  

 

Craig and Jared both spoke at the funeral and I sang.  My mom's brother Curtis spoke at the end of the funeral.  It took a lot to sing and not cry.  I wanted to cry through the whole song.  My siblings and dad sang with me on the second verse of "How Great Thou Art".  After the funeral we watched them wheel my mom out into the hearse.  Then we walked in to the church and had a luncheon with our family.  The church set up a microphone and many people got up and shared their favorite memory.  I just sat and listened.  

 

It was a beautiful day.  The weather was warm and I had many friends join in my sorrow.  I am so broken hearted.  My chest hurts.  My head hurts.  And most of all, I miss my Mom.