Family, Funeral Food, Football

Lexie & Jon & the boys got her yesterday since Jon has a chiropractic conference in Dallas.  Autumn woke me up at 7:15 this morning b/c she was so excited to go over to Papa & Mimi’s so she could spend time w/ her cousins.  We went over & made omelets for breakfast & then the kids snuggled on the couch & watched cartoons.  Autumn will make such a great big sister (someday).

After breakfast, Linda & Rick Taylor have been here all week teaching classes, but they had to leave and go home today.  It has been so fun having them here, and I hope we’ll get the chance to take them up on their offer to come stay at their cabin in WY in the Spring.  They’re such nice people!

When they first got here, Mom told Autumn that we had some famous book authors staying w/ us.  The next day, Autumn asked who wrote & illustrated the Fancy Nancy books & Mom said she didn’t know and asked why Autumn wanted to know.  Autumn said that since Mimi got to have fun famous authors come stay, SHE wanted to have the author of Fancy Nancy come stay with us!  LOL!  I never cease to be amazed at how Autumn’s smart kid brain works.

Mimi loves her blue eyed baby.

I was doing dishes and heard lots of laughing in the back room.  I figured I’d better grab my camera and am glad I did.  I found a bunch of baby birds gathered around Papa bird waiting their turn to be fed a piece of mango.  LOL!  These kids have NO IDEA how good they have it.

I was busy running around & helping Mom get food together to take to the church.  Jackson was fussy b/c it was naptime, so Papa took him and they went and laid on the special bed (just a mattress on the floor in Papa & Mimi’s room) & told Jackson a story.  Dad is famous for making up fun kid stories & they always have a good moral at the end. I snuck in there to get a picture and video.  It was one of my FAVORITE things from childhood when Dad would tell us stories he made up on the fly.

Autumn was supposed to have a game today, but it rained so much the past 2 days that the fields were too soggy & muddy.  Mom considered it a miracle that the game was cancelled, b/c she really needed my help today.  She was asked to be in charge of the food for 150 people coming for their Dad’s funeral.  He & his wife are in Mom & Dad’s ward & they have 10 grown up children, so there were a lot of family members coming.  The usual Relief Society women that are in charge of compassionate service were out of town, so Mom said she’d do it.  We were at the church from 11:30 am to 6:00 pm.

This AMAZING group of women were also there to help w/ set up, food service, and clean up.  People in the ward really helped out w/ bringing salads, desserts, funeral potatoes, etc.  It felt good to serve others, even though the kitchen was REALLY hot & we couldn’t use it for an hour while a baptism was going on at the same time.  It all worked out and it made me have a whole new level of appreciation for the ladies that served us after Grandma Johnson’s funeral b/c there were A LOT of us!!!  It’s truly a labor of love.

It was so nice to come home and relax and be off my feet.  Jon was so nice and gave me an adjustment before they left to go home, b/c I was hurting so bad.  I stayed up to watch the Holy War (Church vs. State) and am sad that BYU lost.  But, I’m just glad it was televised so I could at least watch the game.