Funeral Weekend

This weekend we traveled to St. George for Grandpa Kimball's funeral.  Matt, Nicole, Kristy, Omar, Momma Kimball, Sheena, and I all piled into Momma Kimball's car, bound for St. George, on Friday afternoon.  I was lucky enough to be granted the front seat (due to my car sickness and pregnancy), but the more unlucky people had to smash in the back with Nicole, laptops, dvd players, and the dog.

The traveling itself was fairly uneventful.  Nicole handled it a lot better than I thought she would, sleeping or watching the "mouse show" (Ratatouille) the whole time.  I did not care for sitting in the car for four hours as it is quite painful on my pregnant body to be in one chair for extended periods of time, but we made it. 

We went to a viewing Friday night when we got in, even though we had just spent a lot of time in the car.  Then, around 7pm, we went to Cafe Rio to eat some food.  Unfortunately, I had waited too long to eat and I was quite sick and did not get to enjoy my food.

The hotel we stayed at in St. George was really quite nice, so we had an enjoyable first night.  Nicole had a hard time sleeping in the play pen, but I missed most of it because I just passed out when we got back from eating at Cafe Rio.  Matt stayed up with Nicole until she fell asleep and I was completely oblivious.

Saturday, we went to another viewing in the morning before the funeral.  Nicole, thankfully, fell asleep right before the funeral and slept through most of it.  She woke up near the end and I took her out of the chapel so that she could be wild and free.  Kids and funerals don't always mix well, but Nicole did okay.

The funeral was really nice.  I feel like I got to know more about Grandpa Kimball than I did before the funeral.  He was a quiet man of not many words, but I got to hear stories from his children and friends about who he was throughout his life.  Even though it is sad to attend a funeral, I felt very uplifted by the love that family and friends had for Grandpa and I know that he had a good life.  It is also a comfort to have the gospel and know that Grandpa Kimball is now with his two sons, Ralph and Kelly.

After the funeral the ward provided a lunch for the family.  Then, we all hopped back in the car and drove 2.5 hours up to Richfield, straight to the cemetery for the graveside dedication.  Nicole had just about had it with all the traveling by this point, so she had a freak out during the prayer.  I sat with her in the car until it was over because she just couldn't handle any more standing around.

We all went to Aunt Janet's in Richfield after the graveside service for a meal.  It was good to have a little more casual time with the family, rather than doing something funeral related.  I could tell that everyone felt a little relieved to just be done with it all.  Funerals can be stressful.

We headed to our hotel in Richfield because we opted to stay the night rather than drive the last 2 hours home.  We stayed at a Travelodge that ended up being a little dumpy, but it served our needs in that it provided beds for us to sleep in.  This place had an indoor pool, so Matt and I took Nicole swimming at 8pm at night.  I know, we are just the best parents.  Nicole loved it!  Those swimming lessons last summer really payed off because she is not even a little afraid of the water.  She is our little water baby.  We let her swim for 30 minutes and then we headed back to the room for bed.

I, once again, just passed out and could not be woken, even by Nicole tackling and climbing on me while I slept.  Matt, once again, stayed up with Nicole until she fell asleep.  He is such a good Daddy.  At about 4am, I hear Nicole, "Daddy, need help!  Daddy!"  So, Matt pulled her out of the play pen and put her in bed with us.  Luckily, it was a king size bed, so there was plenty of room for all of us and we slept great after that.  Most of the time, when Nicole wakes up, she says, "Daddy, yere ya you?"  Which of course means, "Daddy, where are you?"  She is such a little Daddy's girl.

Sunday we went to church with Aunt Janet in the afternoon, then we ate some food and headed home.  We got into Provo around 5:30pm.  Of course, we just vegged and did nothing the rest of the day as we were exhausted from all the traveling.

I got two bereavement days off from work, so I decided to use my second one on Monday and just recover from a weekend of travel.  Matt and I actually were able to sleep in until 8am.  This is truly a grand feat as Nicole often likes to wake up at 7am.

We did some shopping, Nicole and I took naps, and Matt did homework.  It was a lovely and not too eventful afternoon.  We went to Anne's house in the evening for her birthday celebration.  Momma Kimball made tacos and DJ made enchiladas.  It was nice not having to worry about making dinner.  Then, we played Just Dance on the Wii.  Carlos got it for Anne for her birthday and she loves it. 

Thus ended my very long funeral weekend.  It would be nice to take days off of work for reasons other than a family member dying.  I guess I will just have to wait until the baby comes.