A quick Trip to Montana

     My family planned a fast trip up to Montana for my Grandpa's funeral. We left early on the 27th of December for our drive up there. We took Lena and her boy friend Jason in the car with us so we were packed to the brim. Its a good thing that we had Lena in the back sitting with Jace because a 12 hour car ride is a loooong time for a toddler to be strapped into the car. We did make some stops along the way, but getting Jace back into the car was always a pain, as well as the next 30 minutes it took him to calm down. We did get a couple of naps out of him through the trek, (which was always nice), but he always seemed to wake up when we would stop for gas, (darn it all). We stopped in Havre for dinner around 7:00 pm and bought ourselves and "Ugly Burger." If you haven't had one, you should totally take the time to go to Havre, Montana. Those burgers are amazing! Seriously! We got to Grandmas probably around 8 ish. She had places all farmed out for us to sleep. Tallus wasn't thrilled about having to go to Aunt Heidi's to sleep, but somehow we made everything work. We were shipped off to one of Grandma's cousins, I think. Some sort of relative anyhow. Paul, Jace, Me, and my little sister Kess all went. Lucky for us though, she lives in town and has nice steady water flow so we could take an actual shower vs turning the water on, getting wet, turning water off, soaping up, turning water back on, rinsing, turning water back off, etc. Its really hard to do a Grandma's house shower in the middle of winter. Its really cold. So having a normal shower was actually a treat.
      The next evening was grandpas Viewing. We had a big fun family dinner at Aunt LeAnna's beforehand. It was actually really fun to have all the cousins that were able to come gather and be there for some family time together. We all slowly left LeAnna's and headed into town for the viewing. Seeing Grandpa for the first time since he passed wasn't as hard on me as I thought it would be. Its hard, but I also looked at him, and knew that he wasn't there. Is body was so different without his spirit inside of him. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation, and to know that Grandpa is still there, he's just not here on earth in the form of a man any more.
     Paul and I made plans to spend the night with Krista and Craig that night. Krista is my cousin who is super close to me in age. We are pretty close. She is seriously so amazing. She had a baby maybe 3 days ago, and we welcomed us into her home with open arms. I just love that girl. We crashed on the floor on a mattress and had Jace in the pack and play in the other room. That morning we got up, cooked some yummy breakfast together, and got ready for the funeral.
     Going to my Grandpa's funeral was actually a really neat experience for me. He lived in Chinook, Montana. Population: not a lot, and most of those people are not LDS or even really religious for that matter. But the effect that he had on his community was truly amazing. They held his funeral in the gym of the high school (mind you this isn't a very big gym), but all the chairs were filled on the floor, and people were sitting in the bleachers above, which also seemed pretty packed. There were people from all walks of life, from child to grandparent that came to the service. We ran into one teenage girl who was covered with tattoos, and sobbing a great deal talking about the amazing impact that my grandpa had had on her. I knew that he was a great man, but I didn't grasp the vastness of it all until that day. I feel so so blessed to have had him in my life not only as passer by, but as my grandfather. As Grumpy as he might've seemed to me as a little kid, he will always hold a tender place in my heart.
     The branch held a family luncheon for us, which was more like a ward party (which is totally okay because most of the branch is family anyway ;) and Grandpa had his heart attack the night of the branch Christmas party so they never got to have their party). And after that most of us split our different directions. We stopped at grandmas house to say goodbye and give her our love, then we left. We traveled a few hours to Helena and stayed in a hotel room that night, then took our journeyings early the next day. It seems like such a waste to only spend a few days up in Chinook when it takes 12 hours each direction to get there, but the few days we had there with family are very precious to me. I know I am going to miss my Grandpa, but I am so so grateful for the legacy that he has left behind.

Just starting out the trip. We are happy because he haven't been in the car that long. Notice Jason in the back, totally passed out. Yeah, he was a little tired :)

I decided I needed Lena to join me for a fun picture too. And there's Jason again, still sleeping. 

Cute little Jace boy is actually happy in this picture. Again though, we had just started the trip, so he really didn't know what he was getting himself into here. 

Great Grandma has a retro Barbie house with lots of Barbies. Jace had a blast playing with them. 

I told my Grandma I wanted to snap a picture of her before I left so that I could have one of just the two of us for memories. 

Good ole' Chinook. Cold, icy, and full of memories. I am so grateful we were able to make the trip to Montana. I know the reasons behind the trip weren't the happiest, but it was really nice to be with family. 

Christmas

     This year Paul and I were really excited about Christmas. Jace has started getting so big, and started understanding so much, that we couldn't wait to see his reaction to things. Our plans for Christmas day were pretty crazy but they all seemed to work out pretty good. We needed to be at the Burnett's by like 8:30 or something crazy early like that. We knew that Jace would wake up pretty early that morning so we could do our little family Christmas before we went to visit the grandparents. Sure enough Jace got up that morning a little earlier than we expected. He was up at 6:45 just bright and early, (he must have known it was Christmas morning)! We had all his presents laid out and ready for him, and it was really so fun to see his reaction. He was a little hesitant at first, but he got into the whole present opening thing pretty quickly. He was enthralled with all the fun little things in his stocking, and his other presents were just as fun. I think the candy was the biggest hit for Jace though, (I tried to not give him a lot, but he made his way into Paul's and my candy as well). Paul and I enjoyed our Christmas, but for us, the most exciting part wasn't the gifts that we gave each other, but watching the magic and excitement that Jace experienced. We can't wait for all the other Christmases to come!!

Christmas Eve PJ presents! Jace was so excited that we let him open up a present. 

He thought his PJs were pretty neat. Cute Paul there with his PJs too. 

I let Jace help me open mine before he went on a rampage and got to the gifts under the tree. 

Ta-da! all dressed in my jam jams. 

All the presents laid out before bed on Christmas Eve. We like to use "recycle-able" wrapping paper, (blankets), for a lot of our wrappings. Especially the gifts that are too huge to use regular paper for. 

All the stocking not hung by the chimney with care, because the hooks aren't strong enough to hold a full stocking, but still looking super cute! 

Jace walking down the hall Christmas morning

Jace's smile of excitement!

Now we are getting to the good stuff! Stocking time!

Candy! He was excited, but also confused because he didn't know exactly what it was.

More presents.

And more presents, 

And snacks! Sorry for the picture overload, but it was too cute to not show the sequence. 

Paul putting on a smile with his stocking

Me pretending to be happy about being up before 7 on Christmas morning

Jace just happy as a clam with all his fun little things

Woah! Slippers! Now Jace can have warm feet in our cold basement apartment. 

Oranges!! Seriously Jace loves oranges! He even knows how to peel them all by himself!

Cars! Jace loves his cars!

Silly Grin

The present from Mom and Dad

He likes regular wrapping paper much better than blankets, but loved the surprise under these blankets!

Mom and Dad's other present. Jace was excited about the actual wrapping paper on this one!

A chair!

A chair and my saw! It doesn't get any better than this!

      After our fun little Christmas, we went to Paul's parents house. It took us just a little bit to get there because it was snowing like crazy, (driving was awful, but it was super magical to have so much snow on Christmas). We opened our family presents, because some of the other siblings needed to leave and go do other things, then we had a super yummy breakfast. We spent the rest of the morning playing games, and helping the kids put their toys together to play with. Paul's mother got us the coolest gift. She bought every person an activity to do with their spouse. Paul got a rock climbing pass for the both of us, and I got a flying trapeze class. We are so excited to go do our activities together. A little bit later into the afternoon we left to go to my parents house.

Jace got his sweet ride from Grandma and Grandpa. By far one of his favorite gifts. He just sits in it and watches TV or chills in it. He is a little too short to scoot himself in it, but it will be fun when he figures that part out too. 

Yeehaw! 

Yup, this is the life I tell you! 

     My family has a tradition of going to a movie on Christmas day, so while Paul and I were at his parents house, my parents and younger siblings went to see the new Star Wars movie. When we got to the parentals house, we opened our presents and played games, then the older kids with babies got to go see Star Wars while Mimi and Papa watched the grandkids. We really enjoyed our little date night at the movies! We had a dinner feast when we got back to my parents.
     Christmas was a crazy busy jam packed day. We had a lot of fun, but it definitely wore us out. This might be one of the last years we drive all over the valley to see both sets of grandparents. We might be just visiting only one. I guess we will have to see how everything plays out these next few years.

This is my quilt this year. Wreck it Ralph. Had fun making this bad boy for Tanner. But he loved it. A lot. So it was worth all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it! Okay, okay, so it was mostly curses under my breath, broken sewing needles, and unpicking seams sessions that made this quilt what it is today.  

Front and back. clearly far from perfect, but I am still proud of it. 

We got mustaches and had to try them on!

Jace wasn't a fan of keeping it on, but thats ok. We also got matchy matchy BYU shirts from Peter and Jessica. We all wore them all day. It was super fun! 

     Despite all of the crazy happenings, Christmas this year has been very dear to me. My grandpa passed away Christmas Eve, and it was really hard for me. It happened so suddenly. No one expected it at all. But it gave me the opportunity to truly love and cherish the family that I have here with me now. I think that the Christmas season will always hold a special place in my heart because of this. I know a lot of people struggle with enjoying life, or the holidays when someone close to them passes. For me its different. It makes me want to cherish the moments and enjoy life even more. I think there will still be tender moments and thoughts around the holidays, but I think I will have more of a desire to make the most of the moments I have with my family now.