2 Funerals and a little Fun

Last Sunday, my mom's step mother (Loretta) passed away. She's had some health problems the last few years but in January her cardiac problems got really bad. Loretta wanted to be cremated so her daughters decided that's what they would do. My mom talked to her Dad and they ended up deciding to have a memorial service for her as well as doing the family dinner.

My aunt, Karl, Guy and I were unable to attend the memorial Friday night but my dad did send us a picture from the service. My sister, Rachel, said that it was a good service and that they all enjoyed seeing the Valentine family.  My mom's dad (Denny) will be coming to stay with my parents for a few weeks. It'll be nice to see him more often. Also most of his siblings live in Colorado so he'll be a little closer to them.

(LtoR): Brain (Katie's fiance), Rachel, my mom Wendy, Denny Valentine, Katie

Lydia Fjeld also passed away recently. Guy's mom was baptized about a month before Lydia was baptized a member of the church, when they lived in Missouri. They were also Visiting Teaching companions. They stayed in touch over the years and had many experiences that they shared. In fact, Guy's sister's middle name came from Lydia. So Lydia was close to the Lasley clan.

Lydia and my great-grandma Frances Taylor were both deans of different home economic programs. In talking with my grandparents, we learned that Lydia and Frances had served on several national home economic boards/projects together.  They use to have dinner together/do something together each time my great grandma came to town. I know my family interacted with her in Ames when she moved here as well.

Guy's parents came up the night before the funeral. It was nice to be able to spend time chatting with them. We also watched Big Hero 6 with them. Jim enjoyed it and Shari enjoyed the parts she was awake for.

 Pete, Emily and family also came up for the funeral. After the funeral we were all able to get lunch before Jim and Shari had to leave. We took them to the new public library for a bit and the kids had fun playing. Afterwards Guy and Pete went to Lowes and Sam's club, while Emily and I took the kids back home for games and a snack.

We went with them to dinner at our favorite resturant (Jethro's BBQ). The take away lesson we learned is that the kids meal portions are HUGE!

While this week was more somber it was nice to have Saturday to relax and spend time with family. We're looking forward to heading to Chillicothe this weekend to celebrate Jim's birthday!

Spring?

The last few weeks the weather has been gorgeous! We tried out the grill we got from the Jensen family. Guy's getting pretty good at it. He said the hard part has been learning where the hotspots are. So far, we've grilled steak and and chicken. Both turned out excellent! 

Grilled Chicken breasts!

This week is spring break for the university and on Monday it was 82!! It was so nice! It was also get a free small ice cream at Dairy Queen. We walked to DQ for our ice cream cone and then spent a relaxing evening at home without homework! 

We've had kind of a laid back last two weeks. Last weekend I went to do a session at the Winter Quarters Temple. I picked up a bike for a coworker since the store was in Council Bluffs and it ended up being 10 miles from the temple. 

The bike I brought back for my coworker, Duane

Another view of the bridge

The sweet bridge I crossed in Council Bluffs

This last weekend for our date, Guy and I went shooting. We learned a few things. First, my arms have gotten stronger so my shot is getting a little better; second my gun is too big for my hands. I shot a few rounds with Guy's carry pistol and I was doing better grip wise. Third, I need more practice. We had fun. Guy did great...and I eventually got a bullseye. Afterwards, we went to a bonfire at the Maughn's. There were several families there and we ended up staying until after midnight chatting. 

The nice weather has been pretty refreshing and has helped provide the little break that we've both needed. 

My bulls eye and other holes. Guy had all the clustered
 looking shots on the plates. 

A little change

The last few weeks I've been feeling kind of cabin fever like and itching to move so yesterday I told Guy that I wanted to change the living room up. He was a really good sport about it and agreed to it, so we sketched our game plan and then we jumped all in. It wasn't a super big change, we mostly flipped everything. We did however, get this fancy rug in the living room for FREE!

Otherwise this week was pretty slow. We had a "snowstorm" that was suppose to dump 8 inches. They cancelled mutual/cub scouts and released everyone from school early. At the end of it, the snow had stopped by 3 and we only had about 4 inches of snow.