Last Visit and more

Of course we couldn't stay that close to East High without visiting the filming location of High School Musical 1, 2, and 3!

James found an old typewriter and was in heaven!

Whenever I saw a picture or statue of Christ I was overwhelmed by a profound feeling of gratitude for everything He did for us...For his atonement and for the very fact that He made it possible for us to be resurrected and together as families in the future.

Salt Lake Temple

At the viewing...

Janet (my mother-in-law in blue) and her sister Nedra


What a handsome group! Tim, John, Carl and James


Before the viewing started...


At the cemetery...


The Disabled American Veterans performed the 21 gun salute and taps. It was very impressive.


Janet is accepting the flag.


All 22 of the grandchildren were in attendance.



I was thinking today about the last real visit I had with my father-in-law. It was last April/May when I went to BYU Women's Conference with a friend. We stopped in to see Mom and Dad on the way home. Dad was already in bed, but was happy (as always) to see us. Although I could tell he was struggling with the Alzheimer's, dad was quite lucid that day and we had a good visit. I stood by his bed holding his hand as he asked about my family and how we were doing. I think that was my chance to really say goodbye to Dad...the time I really felt closure.

Here are a few things from the funeral that I wanted to record.

He got his nickname of Bud because one of the boys in his group of childhood friends said, "I know. We'll call you Bobby Gene." Dad replied with, "Just call me Bud" and it stuck.

Dad's friend Meeks told about a time when 6 of them got together after a football game. Dad was on the team, and after the game he suggested they go to the movie at the Utah Theater. On the way there Dad suggested they stop and get "used" pies. Those were the pies that were stale and hadn't sold at the venders and had been brought back to the bakery. They could buy them for 10 cents each. So each boy bought one pie and they went to the theater. Each boy handed the usher his pie and pretty soon the usher was holding 6 pies stacked one on top of the other. They sat in the balcony and started eating their pies. Suddenly one of the cream pies flew over the railing of the balcony, and then they heard swearing from below. Meeks said to Dad, "Come on, Bud. Here's the door. Let's get out of here." We don't know if Dad was the one who threw the pie. I guess we'll have to remember to ask at some future date.

The next story happened when Dad was coaching a Little League team. They were planning a trip to the Little League World Series (1954) and decided that the two teams of the coaches who were being decided on would play a game. The winning team's coach would coach the world series team. They got right down to the end of the game and one of the other team members came sliding into home. The ump hollared that he was out, but the catcher went to Dad and said, "What do I do? I missed him and the ump didn't see. He was safe." Dad told the boy to tell the ump what had happened which he did. The ump changed his call and the other team won. Dad was an assistant coach to the World Series team instead of being the coach. He was able to film the trip because of that.

Carolyn told a couple stories about how devoted her dad was to her. When she was 11 years old, the two of them went to the county fair together. While they were there they saw the Miss Teen USA riding on a golf cart. Carolyn really wanted to shake hands with the girl, so Dad took off running after the golf cart. He flagged them down and asked if his daughter could shake the girl's hand. He was about 64 years old at the time. I can just see him doing that!

Then when Carolyn was graduating from college, Dad was determined to be there. He fell and cut his head quite badly on the step of Carolyn's house, but wouldn't let them take him to the hospital. So Carolyn's husband and her brother put bandaids on Dad's head and they went to the commencement exercises. After that they still needed to do the smaller graduation ceremony. Carolyn wanted him to go to the hosptial, but he wouldn't. He sat front row and center, wiping blood from his forehead just so he could see her graduate. No one had attended his graduation and so it was very important to him to be at his children's graduations.

That's all I can think of right now. I'm wondering if I needed my boys to hear the story about the pies...

This was the view as we left the family dinner.