Andy's uncle Stacey had passed away suddenly at a young age last week, and we had to head down to Salt Lake for the funeral with little notice. We decided to drive through the night. Sawyer fell asleep pretty quickly. I had some issues. Remember 2 months ago when I realized my tailbone wasn't healed while trying to sleep on the airplane? Same thing. I guess those things never heal! Excruciating pain while trying to sleep in a car where it hurts everywhere else is no fun. Andy was a trooper! He only stopped for a nap once for about an hour at a rest area.
Want to know the worst drive you can take? WA to Salt Lake. It is the most boring, plain, repeating land you can possibly drive though. Idaho just sucks, and as Andy explained it "It is like Utah threw up, and it is Idaho." We finally arrived just inside of WY to the ranch that Andy's cousin Nicole lives on at around 1:00pm. Her sister Elise was there and we got to meet her baby Rowan! He was so cute. Sawyer played with Nicole's kids and had quite a bit of fun (including his first otter pop). He pushed Oaklynn over (she's about 5 months older than him) and she hit him with her otter pop. It was pretty hilarious. It was good to catch up. On the way out the kids started hitting Andy with pillows, it was so funny! We loaded Sawyer up and headed to grandpa and grandma's in West Bountiful, UT.
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Sawyer and I both fell asleep on the way to Salt Lake. We got to grandpa and grandmas and it was so hot, especially after just waking up. The house was chaos. Andy's brothers Davey and Pete were there along with wives, and there were the Grovers/Crusans, and Latours running all over the place trying to get ready. There was a viewing that night that apparently the family was all going to. (We didn't get word until we got there.) Andy had to take a shower, I had to stop and get a new outfit since I only had ONE nice one packed for the next day, and people were running everywhere.
We did make it to the viewing on time. It was very sad, but nice to see the Monson family. I just LOVE them all! I even finally got to meet Uncle Jedd, which was the only one I hadn't been able to meet yet. They had a few flower bouquets, and a table with photos that I enjoyed looking though. My heart just broke seeing Stacey's son James, though. I'm not sure how old he is, but I want to say around 12. The thing I remember most about the first time I met Stacey at our wedding after-party was how he introduced his son. I remember commenting to Andy later about how proud he was of him, I could just tell he meant the world to him. I had never seen anyone so proud. We talked to James for a minute and commented how good he looked in his suit. He said the tie and hat were his dad's. It was all I had in me not to tear up right there. We hung out with family, the entire Monson side was there except for the littlest Crusans, and Iris had to go home early (luckily we caught her in NY a couple months ago.) Sawyer was a handful, but Andy's mom was there and took him for awhile out of everyone's hair. He just loves grandma!
After the viewing, Uncle Jedd planned to take just the siblings of Stacey out to dinner. All of the cousins (and a few significant others of siblings) decided we would all go out to dinner together. Do you know what is open in Utah after 10? Nothing. We found one place which was actually really delicious burritos called Cafe Rio after trying a buffet and a pizza place in the same parking lot. The problem with Cafe Rio is that the tables were bolted to the floor so we had to separate :( We sat at a table with Paige, Lena, Calvin, and Duncan and had fun catching up while eating delicious burritos.
We woke up and headed to the church for the funeral. We got there about 15 minutes before, but noticed there weren't a lot of people in the room. We wandered around and found everyone packed in the relief society room for a last viewing and family prayer. Apparently, everyone forgot to tell us. Andy was really upset that we missed that, and that so many people failed to tell us because apparently everyone else knew. The service itself was very good. All the siblings went up and spoke (well, apart from Andy's dad) and told stories that left us all with as many tears from laughing as sad. I loved hearing the stories, and was glad I got to meet him a few times before he died. We had thanksgiving with him and James and Andy's dad a couple years ago. Afterwards we all went to the cemetery for the dedication, and then grandma and grandpa's church for food. Sawyer ran around the WHOLE time, and Margot and Derek chased him and played with him around the halls. He had so much fun.
Afterwards we went back to grandma and grandpas and played "in the manner of the adverb" and "charades". We played charades as olds vs youngs and I got to be an 'old'. The youngs were certainly playing to win. My first one was a book and it was "5 reasons to punch a dolphin and other useful advice". It was not easy and took 4:30 to guess it. People's favorite of mine was my "sounds like otter" for "other" and I tried to charade an otter...poorly. It was really fun though. Afterwards we all went to Village Inn (which is like Denny's but better) and I ordered the pick 4 like at Denny's, but theirs is wayyyy better. Instead of plain eggs and what not, you could pick things like cheese omelet, strawberry crepe with sweet cream sauce, hashbrowns, and chicken fried steak and gravy. It was sooo good, and we watched the olympics. Sawyer slept on a bench most of the time.
We said our goodbyes and headed back to Megan and Andrews. Andrew was in Dallas and was coming in that night, but we were so tired we couldn't stay awake to even say hello. Luckily we got to talk a little the next morning, but mostly we slept in and packed up. We left around 1:00 on the search for food. Have I mentioned that not only to places close early in Utah, but half the places are closed on Sunday. We found an In n Out and got double doubles with fries (Andy's animal style). It was a long day on the road, miles and miles of nothingness except the occasional burnt field. We caught a pretty sunset and Andy found a $50 bill at a rest stop. We listened to this month's book club book (The Road) and I fell asleep at the end. Sawyer behaved very well for being a 2 year old stuck in a car for 14 hours. We got home at 3:00 and Andy didn't even go to sleep before getting ready for work.
The trip was a bunch of highs and lows. We are so happy to have spent time with family we rarely see, but wish it was under very different circumstances. I'd better go to bed now, it is 11:15 pm and Andy still hasn't slept after skipping last night.
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