an unexpected trip home

We were able to go home for Grandad's funeral last week thanks to Dan's parents (a huge THANKS again for the plane tickets guys!). Here are some pictures from our trip.

At Grandad's viewing:

the funeral:

It was really great to see our new niece Melody again, I only saw her for a few minutes before we left town during our last visit and Dan hadn't ever met her. Holding her makes me excited to have a newborn in the house again. I really think they bring a special sort of spirit with them that always makes me feel closer to heaven with them around. She is really sweet. Sophie loved to talk to Melody and show her her belly. I think that's because Sophie thinks she has a baby in her tummy like me and she thought they could relate??? We also got to see Dan's brother Matt and his wife Cami for the first time since last Christmas. They hadn't seen Sophie since she was 10 months old! She is now almost twice that age, so it was good they could get reacquainted.

I think my favorite thing to watch was Sophie with her cousin Elise, they are 7 months apart in age but that disparity is smaller each time they get together. This trip they were inseparable! They were always together running around the house and playing games. I loved how Elise would hold her cheeks with her hands and exclaim, "Sophers!" over and over again, no matter how long they had been playing. Sophie called out her cousin's name, "Eese" whenever she was out of sight.

Sidenote: When we took the girls swimming Sophie didn't have her nerd suit (the one with floatation built in) but she still thought she could swim. She is so independent that she would be completely submerged with a huge grin and her eyes wide open just kicking her legs and flailing her arms. I would pull her up out of the water and she was mad at me for helping her. She thinks she's a fish I guess. Also notice Elise's HUGE plastic pants about 3 times the size of her swim suit bottoms and Sophie's borrowed (thanks again Ann) swim suit that was too small so it showed a bit too much cleavage! We got some good laughs out of their appearance but they did not care one bit.

It was so great to see my family too, we had dinner with them Saturday night before the priesthood session to celebrate Meg's birthday the day before. Josh and Meg came to pick us up and surprised us with the news that THEY'RE ENGAGED!!! Josh has been through a lot with his divorce and it means so much to me to see him happy again, I had almost forgot what it was like. Meg is a beautiful girl, inside and out and we're so glad to have her join our family. They are tentatively planning on December 30th, pending a sealing clearance. I just hope I can be there... since my baby is due on the 25th, but either way I am sure it will be a happy day. I couldn't be happier for them, congrats you two!

We hung out with some of our friends one night and I didn't take any pictures of the adults... but here's one of the kids. We had so much fun playing a game called Buzz Word, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! Thanks for a good time guys.

Funny story about this picture. When we were packing for our trip I was having a hard time deciding what dress to bring that was weather and funeral appropriate. Here's Dan and my conversation:

Me: Is it okay to wear a bright blue dress to a funeral?

Dan: I guess.

Me: Or would a white and green one be better?

Dan: I like the blue one better... What about this one? (holding a gray/black tweed jumper with black velvet trim)

Me: That's a WINTER dress honey, I would look ridiculous in that, it's 80 degrees outside!

Boy was I wrong!! It snowed Saturday night in Utah. Luckily I had my jogging jacket and a sweater for Sophie (her dress is sleeveless).

A funeral definitely isn't the ideal reason to get together, but we were so glad we could be there and also that we could enjoy the resulting time with family and friends.