The Funeral Trip

So I did attend my grandma's funeral. It took place in southern Missouri about 4 hours from my parents' house outside of St. Louis. I took one day to drive to St. Louis (3-1/2 hours), and one day to drive to the farm (about 4 hours). It was perfect, because I was able to pick up my sister (who came sans kids) and my cousin (who just started at BYU) from the airport, and they rode the rest of the way down with us. Thank goodness for more adult hands on car trips!

While we were there, Collin was able to do a few of the things I used to do when I went to the farm as a kid, like feeding the fish at the pond.He also got to splash in the mud-hole behind the workshop, which was good since the heat indexes were well over 100 the whole time we were there.

While inside in the air conditioning, he spent quite a lot of time playing with my cousins while all the adults talked and reminisced.Yes, these particular cousins of mine are closer in age to him than me, but that just comes with being a Mormon, right?

Brennan was also a super champ - at least during the daytime hours - letting anyone and everyone hold him and napping where ever I dropped him. One evening he even fell asleep in my cousin's arms (this one is actually about my age) amidst the chaos. I was so grateful for all the help. Some of the family there I hadn't seen in more than a decade! I also need to make particular mention of my wonderful older sister. She left her kids at home with their dad, and then proceeded to spend all her time helping me with mine - She rode in our car; she slept (when we were lucky) in our hotel room; she took Collin out once during the funeral; she fed Brennan solids multiple times; she got Collin food at meal times; she even rocked Brennan while he screamed at 3am one night! I certainly couldn't have made it through the week without her.

Collin was a real champ too, especially during the nighttime hours. This picture was taken during our goodbyes the last evening, and as you can see Collin had opted to skip sleeping during nap time that day. Other than the last half of the last day though, he was great. He was very cooperative and easy-going. We took two days to drive home - with another stop at the St. Louis airport - and in all we were gone six days. You wouldn't believe my boys' joy that evening when their daddy got home from work. (The above picture was not posed; they all just piled on the couch together!) Quick additional story (I guess I couldn't keep it to just the two in my previous post) - When a new cow was born on my grandparents' farm, my grandma would name the cow after what she hoped to spend the money on at its sale. The story that is told over and over again is of the cow named Microwave. This past week, as the women cleaned a bit before leaving, they came across a plastic bin (no dead mice there) of stuffed animals. I found this little cow, and he is now part of our family. It should come as no surprise that his name is Microwave.

I think it will be quite some time before I venture too far away from home sans Daddy. I'm still recovering from the exhaustion, and it has been 3 days since we got home. It was a great trip, and I am so glad I went to pay my respects to my wonderful grandmother, but there is a reason children are supposed to have a mother AND a father.