Hyperbolic Planes

Did I lose you with the title? No...then, just hold on!

This has been a super hard, super stressful semester for me. It has been, by far, the hardest semester I have ever taken. I know that I am getting close to the end because it just keeps getting harder and harder. It also doesn't help that most of my friends are going to student teach in the spring and they are so much closer to graduating then I am.

As I was signing up for classes, I was required to take a Foundations of Geometry class. I was super de duper nervous for the class because it was another proofing class, and I don't feel like the proofing class I had taken the previous semester truly prepared me for this one. (I took Foundations of Analysis). Another reason why I was nervous for the class was for the professor teaching it. She scares me. And not just like Santa scaring little kids at Christmas, but like waiting-for-your-parents-to-get-home-after-you-broke-the-brand-new-couch-while-wrestling-with-your-brother fear! I had an unfortunate experience with her two semesters prior, and I am still not over it...

Anyways, I convinced The Boy to take the class with me. It was not required for his degree, so really he was only taking it so that we could have another class together. I was so excited to be in a class with him again!! The first day of class Professor Andrist told us that this class was to help us stretch and grow and whatever else...and we were not allowed to work with other students in the class on any of our homework. This broke my heart. That meant that I couldn't work with The Boy on my homework. So many times I wanted to break that rule and just ask for help, but being the amazing man that he is, The Boy always refused to help me. {He didn't even help me when I had a nervous breakdown in the car and started crying uncontrollably because this class exponentially increased the grey hairs on my head!}

As the semester was going along, things got easy, and then hard. And then easy, and then super hard. Then we finished with the part of Geometry that the regular population knows about! We moved on to what is known as Hyperbolic Geometry. In lay man terms, it is the geometry of non-flat surfaces. Like a sphere....or a water slide.

Professor Andrist had this "great" plan to assign us this project. {Yippee!} She handed out the instructions and told us that it wouldn't take very long to get done. She actually said that we should work on it while watching a movie! {Then we all laughed at her and told her that none of us had time to watch a movie!}

The following is what the instructions entailed:

Did you get lost reading those instructions? ME TOO!! Luckily, Dr. Andrist brought in a few examples of what is was supposed to look like, and we kinda went from there. 

Now, I am going to be completely honest with you! I don't want to sound whiny, but as a future educator, when I look back on this post, I want to be able to see what worked and what didn't work. And, if for any reason whatsoever, I decide to ever do this project with a future class of mine, I want the nitty gritty of it all to remind me that that would be a dumb decision!

Instructions #1:

It says to cut out approximately 20 rings. In reality, you need to cut out 29-30 circles. You should know that only ONE circle fits on a regular 8.5"x11" sheet of paper. 

When the instructions say to use good quality bonded paper, what Dr. Andrist really wanted was good ol' regular computer paper. Don't use anything too thick, or too fancy. If you do, you get to deal with the consequences weeks, days, and hours before the dang thing is due. 

Be very accurate should really say: "This project takes upwards of 7 hours. If you want to impress the teacher with your not-even-close-to-being-perfect Model, you need to spend anywhere from 9-15 hours stressing working on it. When you get together with your friends in the class to do non-school related things, this will come up. You will all compare how long it has taken you, and what it looks like. You will get your rulers out and compare how big of a gap is between each ring. {See Instruction #9 to know why this will give you even more grey hairs!} 

If I were to do this with my future classroom, I would make ONE circle, make a gazillion copies (oops...there goes all my print credit...) and then give to the students to have them cut out on their own.

Outside: 10cm
Inside: 8cm

One completed ring. 

Instructions #2: Cut open the rings, make sure you cut a straight line when doing this. Otherwise, you will hate yourself later! 

When taping together....this will take some finesse. What that should really say is: Tape some, and then you will cry. PROMISE! After you finish crying, tape some more. And keep taping! It will never turn out perfect, and it will never fit together "just right!" Accept your losses and move on. 

Use small pieces of tape. Most of the time spent working on this fun project will be cutting tape into little pieces. Since I used scrapbook paper that was a little bit thicker than regular computer paper, I needed to use packaging tape that would hold better. This required cutting strips, to then cut into smaller strips, to then cut into small pieces, to then finessingly tape to your rings. It is ok to cry....more than once. 

Do you see the billion little pieces of tape? I still didn't use enough....

Taping the rows on.

Instructions #3: You will have a flat spot. If you don't have a flat spot, stress! Because you probably did something wrong. If you do have a flat spot, stress! Because you probably did something wrong. If you follow the instructions exactly, stress! Because you probably did something wrong.

Instructions #4: You will need at least 9 rows of rings to start. What do you mean "to start"?!? I have been working on this fun project for 4 days now! I am so sick and tired of cutting little strips of tape into smaller strips of tape into little pieces to attach the thousands of rings I cut out last week.... Once I hit the 9 rows, I am STOPPING!! 

Each row grows exponentially. You will run out of floor space in your tiny apartment bedroom because your little ring has become this massive "thing" that looks weird. And your weird thing will be begged to put on your head...like a hat...

Not quite done growing and expanding and taking over the world...

Starting to curve and grow.

Instructions #5: Draw on your wavy taped together ring sheet at least 4 circles of radius 8.5 cm. What this should say is: Cry. Get it all out, and then try to draw a circle. I will silently sit in my office and laugh as you struggle your way through this. 

It should say that you need more than once person helping you on this step. One person should hold down the waves, and one person should try and draw a circle. It should say that this is the second hardest task of the project. {No, taping is ranked somewhere down by the 8th hardest task....sorry!} It should say that, undoubtedly, you will puncture a hole in your perfect model with your compass end because you are trying to get to circle to line up. It should say that crying is acceptable on this step. It should say that you can cuss, as long as you cuss at the model and not a particular person...or two. 

Being a good student that you are, you should have read ALL the instructions before beginning, and noticed that in Instructions #9, you only need two pentagons to turn in. One pentagon comes from one circle...so therefore, Instructions #5 should say, "carefully cut out 2 circles. If you mess up, then you will need to cut out more circles". 4 circles is way too many... At least 4 circles, is way too many past way too many!

ps: Cutting into my model that has taken years months weeks days to complete was like sending your oldest kid off to kindergarten....

Circle #1

Circle #2

Again, Circle #2

Instructions #6: It is possible to construct a right regular pentagon. You're right, it is possible. However, it is also down right hard. Again, it is completely acceptable to cry on this step. Ask someone for help! Cry as you cut apart even more of your beautiful figure. 

The edges of the pentagon should be between 10.5-11 cm in length. Ok, you can do this! You measure 10.5 cm...not even close. You measure 10.6 cm...not even close. You measure 10.7 cm....not even close. You get frustrated and just jump straight to 11 cm....waaaaay too far off. Then you go back to 10.8 cm....not even close. 10.9....not even close. Then you cry! {I wish you could cry away the grey hairs....then I would have great hair!} You measure...you fudge...you cry....you measure....you give up and cut out. Hopefully it works in your favor...because the important thing is to have regular right pentagons!!

Pretty close.

Instructions #7: Because of the curvature, placing the ruler flat on the model will not yield a straight line. FAIL!

Measuring Fudging!

Instructions #8: Cut out your pentagons. Again, cry about having to cut apart all your sweat and tears we are now calling a hyperbolic plane.... 

5 right angles...only 8 rows needed...

Do you see the hole...

Instructions #9: Tape together two of these pentagons. 

Again...a lot of fudging went into this figure....

Now, this is the most important step of the whole project. This step tells you how you will be graded. It helps you determine how motivated you have to be to get the best grade. This step tells you all that Dr. Andrist is expecting to see when you turn the sucker in! 

Your grade will be determined according to the following: 50 pts for neatness...50 points for accuracy. Feel free to cry at this point. You may think that you have an awesome penatagonal-figure-ish shape, but it will not look like the person's figure sitting on your right...and it won't look like the girl's figure in the front row...and it probably won't pass all your personal goals you have had for this, your new best friend! Many tears...and blood...and sweat...and tape went into this project, and you just don't want to part with it. You want to stand on the nearest corner and show all the passerby's how hard you worked and how almost-perfect your pentagons appear. You want to frame it and hang it in your future classrooms. 

You then find out that Dr. Andrist expects you to draw all over it. *GASP* You are so motivated for the high grade that you do draw on it {whilst silently crying on the inside!}. 

Hyperbolic geometry proofs...

Hyperbolic Geometry proofs.

This is what your remaining model looks like:

A little more than half is left...

Remind me again why we had to construct soooo much of it? Remind me why we didn't just need to construct half a model and use a smaller amount of supplies and time wasted used? Remind me why we didn't get to work in partnerships and share one model? Remind me again why we taped for hours to then throw away {or keep...or donate...} most of a model that is going unused?

ENDING NOTE:

I finally got to turn in this assignment today. But of course, it didn't go without some kind of hitch! I got all the way to school, parked in an amazing spot, got out of the car, went to grab my stuff from the back seat, and realized that my pentagons were still sitting on my kitchen table next to my apple. I had to get back in the car, drive the 4 miles home {luckily I live pretty close!} and grab it. I was then 15 minutes late to class. I still got to turn my pentagons in for a grade though.

Speaking of grades...the assignment sheet clearly says that this fun project is worth 100 points. Dr. Andrist decided at the last minute that it would only be worth 10 {ten, diez, dix, zehn, 열} points...we are still trying to figure that one out. When the math makes sense to you, please feel free to comment below and explain it to all of us!! 

Thank You Dr. Andrist for letting us work on this project. I am so grateful that it is over and done with. I hated it! Love, Gwen

Another sad day in the life of a Longshore

Do you remember how we have a birthday curse? Well, it has hit again!

November 13, 2012 was a sad day. My oldest cousin on my dad's side, Nicholas Major Wells-Longshore, and his sweet, sweet wife Caroline, delivered a perfect little boy who had returned to Heaven too quickly. They were so looking forward to raising their son here on Earth, but Heavenly Father had other plans. Colton Todd Wells-Longshore was born still-born. Nick and Caroline were devastated. Colton was named after Nick's dad, Todd, who passed away in May 2006.

Several months later, Nick and Caroline found out that they were pregnant again, this time expecting in April 2014.

Exactly one year after Colton's passing, November 13, 2013, Nick and Caroline decided to celebrate Colton's 1 year birthday. They went up to Idaho to hang out with several of Caroline's family, and to ride ATV's at the sand dunes.

Nick was riding an ATV and hit a sand dune wrong, and ended up having to jump off the ATV. By freak accident, the ATV ended up landing on him and broke his pelvis instantly. It broke in what is called an "open book" fracture. He broke several ribs, and had more injuries that we are just not too sure about. Nick was rushed to the emergency room, not really too aware of the severity of his injuries. While waiting for a doctor to come, Nick ended up coding. He wasn't breathing for at least 20 minutes.

Complication after complication happened. The next morning, Nick's mom was able to fly in from California, and the rest of the family joined them in the hospital.

Unfortunately, after several attempts, Nick was not able to be saved. Before saying her last goodbye, Caroline was able to get a sonogram and find out that her and Nick were expecting a little girl. They are going to name her Hannah Nicholas Wells-Longshore. (Hannah after our cousin who died as a baby, and obviously Nicholas after her father).

The morning of November 20, 2013, Nicholas Major Wells-Longshore returned to our loving Heavenly Father, and was greeted by the Longshore Men, including our Papa Russ, Nick's dad Todd, and their son Colton. It must have been one of the sweetest reunions ever! I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation, knowing that we get to spend ETERNITY with our families.

As I have been thinking and pondering what has happened in the last week, I realized that I would have loved to write Nick a letter and let him know how much I love and care about him!

So, I am going to write it here.

Dear Nick~
 First of all, I just want to tell you how much I love you. I love your giant bear hugs, and I love your words of advice. I love that you were always concerned about my personal life and all that I was accomplishing.

Thank you so much for being such a great example to all of us. No one better could have led our generation to righteousness! You knew how important the relationship is with our Savior, Jesus Christ, and how important Temple Covenants are. You set the example by marrying in the temple and by going on a mission.

You led all of us cousins! You served others selflessly, and loved unconditionally. You taught us, by example, how to protect our family's name, and how to stand for righteousness at all times.

I am grateful that you are just like your Dad! It was a sad time when Uncle Todd passed away, and the more I got to know you, the more I realized that you were just like him. That made his passing less painful, and our relationship with you more tender. I am grateful that you took on a fatherly role for your siblings. Their lives were blessed immensely because you cared, and were willing to step up to that hard responsibility.

I love that you cared for each of us. I love that you could tease us, just the right amount, so we knew that you loved us deeply. I love that you asked about my life, and took an interest in what I was doing.

Thank you for setting such a great example for us about the relationships we can have with our Mothers. Your relationship with Aunt DeAnn was tender and special, and you let us know how much you care for her through your words and actions.

Thank you for sacrificing a lot so that Caroline could be happy! Thank you for showing love to her, and for supporting your relationship with her.

Thank you for never giving up! Thank you for being there when we needed you, and for being so wonderful.

I will miss you dearly. However, I have a lot of fun memories to look back on and know that you will always protect us and our family.

Love always and forever, Gwen deLynn Marie

Some Quality Family Time

There is this boy....who has red hair...is super tall...and makes my heart soar every time he holds my hand!

But this story is not about him....it is about his Angel of a Mother and her awesome talent.

A few weeks ago, I was with the Adams family, and I noticed that all the girls had super cute skirts on. Being the observant person I was, I commented on the fact that all of their skirts were darling. All 3 sisters commented that their Angel of a Mother had made them. I was super de duper jealous.

These skirts were most definitely of superior quality. If Mama Adams made them for a department store, she could retire with millions of dollars. Being the person that I am, I sidled up to Mama Adams and told her that I needed a skirt too! {I, of course, told her in a nice way that didn't make me seem like I was a moocher and just wanted free things....because that is not how I roll!}

Mama Adams suggested that we get together for a girl's day and sew some skirts. Micah (Daniel's sister) called last Saturday and set up the date for today {Tuesday!}. Since I got the phone call from Micah, I have been beside myself with excitement!

Let me give you some background really fast! The Adams family is amazing. Dan and LuAnn had and raised 6 amazing kids. {However, I have only met 5 of them since the 6th is serving a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Massachusetts}. They are all incredibly nice, and are all respectful. I got to spend a weekend with them about a month ago, and just loved every minute of it. And, of course, they raised an amazing man that may have stolen my heart...

Of the 6 kids...there are 4 girls, and 2 boys. It goes G, G, B, B, G, G. The first "G" is Micah, and she is married and has a baby girl. The first "B" is my Daniel.

Micah and Mama Adams came and picked me up from UVU today around 12:30 so that we could go together and pick out fabric and supplies needed for the skirts. I was so excited to be with them. However, they still make me a little nervous because I feel like I need to impress them all the time, and make them love me. {I know that sounds silly....but it is just how I feel!}

We went to an awesome fabric store and picked out some great fabric. I got two different fabrics. I picked out a yellow on yellow paisley pattern {that was super on sale...YES!} and then this pink on pink that fabric that makes you feel like a girly girl. It is not really something that I would have picked out normally...but it just spoke to me! And I needed to get it for my new skirt.

We headed over to Walmart to pick up zippers for the skirts as well. After that, we headed to Adams Family Headquarters (Dan and LuAnn's beautiful home) and sat down to eat some lunch. Delish!

After lunch was consumed and cleaned-up, it was crunch time!!

Measurements were taken...fabric was spread out...scissors were flying....and thread pieces were piling up! I LOVED every minute of it. Because Mama Adams is super talented, I let her take the reins on everything so that I actually got a skirt out of the process. LOL

We talked...she sewed....we shared stories. Again, Mama Adams is an Angel. She shows her love for you openly, and lets you know that you are important through the little things she does. There were moments of silent adoration on my part. This woman was willing to take me into her home, and her life, and show me that I was cared for. It made me miss my own Mama, who I don't get to see very often. I don't think words can express how much gratitude I have for Mama Adams right now.

One broken needle...5 brads...dinner consumed...and several hours later, I was presented with a beautiful yellow masterpiece. My excitement of my new skirt was brimming! I wanted to take lots of pictures and send it to everyone I knew! I want to wear my skirt everywhere for a week so that everyone I meet can see my masterpiece. I want to shout it from the rooftops that my life was again blessed because I know Mama Adams.

So...here are pictures so you can enjoy a bit of my day too!

Cutting out the pieces of the skirt!

The first stitch! Can you feel my excitement!

The belt for the front of the skirt

Mama Adams serging the edges

Micah measuring and cutting out her own skirt.

Me and Daniel

The finished product! {Excuse my shirt...}

I love love love it!

Grandpa

I have been slacking on my own blog. I am currently keeping up my sister's blog (Trio #3) while she is on a Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My BFF Brenna writes on her blog all.the.time. It makes me feel like even more of a slacker! LOL

I have been living with my Grandpa for the last 6 months. It has definitely had its ups and downs. Trio #1 and I were talking about how old people are very stubborn. The reason why is because they have been in charge for at least 50 years, and have been their own bosses. Then they start to diminish, and then we (their kids, grandkids, care takers, etc) want to start making decisions for them and want to take away that judgement that they have had over their own lives. Then they start to fight it, and then it turns into something ugly.

Now that I am starting to understand that, I am starting to know how best to have a good time with Grandpa. :o]

Yesterday, we were sitting down eating dessert. I had made apple pie! (Don't you just love fall?!) He was eating his with sharp cheddar cheese, and I was eating mine with ice cream. I asked him how long he had been eating his pie with cheese, and that launched stories about his childhood. {Before I tell you about what he shared, let me tell you that he is almost 89 years old, and sharp as a tack!}

He grew up in American Fork, UT. His dad worked at a creamery (that is no longer there...) and so Grandpa started working there when he was 13, only for the summers. {Year 1936}. He was on the milk truck. They drove around to many farms and were in charge of collecting cans of milk. Sometimes they would collect 2 cans from the farmers, but on the larger farms, they would collect up to 10 cans. The truck that they drove could hold about 100 cans of milk. Grandpa said that they would start at 3:30 am and would finish around 1:30 pm. He would do this everyday during the summer. 

After collecting the milk from the famers, they would take it back to the creamery. The creamery workers would test the butter fat of the milk. The higher the butter fat, the more money the farmers would get.

Then when he was about 15, he moved up in his responsibilities, and was moved to CHEESE! He was in charge of making cheese shapes (?) and then wrapping them up to let them cure. He told me that there were three different shapes. One was a three-pound block. One was about 15 pounds, and then the last one was a 50-lb wheel. The wheel was about 12 inches in diameter, and was about 8-10 inches thick. 

The cheese would be shaped, and then wrapped, and then put in a cellar, and Grandpa was in charge of flipping the cheese so that the water wouldn't settle in the bottom and cause the cheese to separate. He said they would flip the wheels every 5-6 weeks. The longer that the cheese cures, the sharper it becomes. He told me that he ate some cheese that had been curing for 45 years! He said it was super sharp!! 

During High School, he still worked in the creamery. They made cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, and butter. His favorite, though, was still working with the cheese. 

Now, most of the farms are not there. Most of the orchards are no longer there, but now the fields are houses. The house that he lived in was right across the street from the creamery. Again, both places are gone. He said that there is a Domino's Pizza where his house used to be. 

I'm so glad that I get to live with him. I really respect him and the life that he has lived. I know that he is lonely since my Grammy passed away about 15 months ago, but I hope that me being there with him makes things a little easier!

OH Man....

I was on my BFF's blog and she has a ticker on the sidelines that says that I haven't posted in 5 months...and it made my heart break a little. I always think about what I am going to write next, and then get distracted, or discouraged.

I am, however, keeping up my little sister's mission blog!! If you want to follow her adventures are she serves a Mission in South Korea...then go HERE!!

MUCH LOVE

Withdrawals!

I am in a crafting withdrawal right now! I want to make something...more specifically, I want to make these!
Pin Wheel Hair Clips

I may make them when I get home...and send them to someone who wants them....or a random stranger....

Birthday Curse

There is a curse in my family! No really..... It is called the Birthday Curse. You would think that birthdays would be a day for celebrations, but when our birthdays come around...we kinda expect something to happen.

And a couple of weeks ago, the curse struck again. But before I go into that, let me show you how the birthday curse has affected our lives.

Our dog Sparky died on our grandpa's birthday: November 10.
My Papa Russ died on his wife's birthday: March 22. The day after is my mom's birthday.
My uncle got in a head-on collision on Trio #3's birthday: December 13. Luckily he survived.

A couple of weeks ago, we were getting ready to celebrate Trio #1's birthday, July 10.

But unfortunately, we were not really in the celebrating mood.

 My Grammy, Sara Jayne Woolsey Meeves, was in the hospital. She started having stomach pains and was admitted to the hospital with a bowel obstruction. They put a tube in her nose that helped remove all of her stomach contents so that they would stop putting unnecessary pressure on her bowels.  As she was in the hospital healing, she was eating ice chips (her favorite) and she aspirated some of the water. It would be fine for anyone else to do that, but Grammy had really bad lungs. She has really bad asthma, and her lungs are not very functioning. Because of the aspiration of the water, she contracted pneumonia. For someone that has bad lungs....pneumonia is a cuss word.

She got moved up to the Adult ICU. They tried to put her on a c-pap machine, but she was extremely uncomfortable and was not wearing it appropriately or long enough. That means that she was not getting any better. While admitted in the ICU, they laid out all the possibilities of her survival. Not something that anyone wants to hear. My mom was in contact with the nurses all week. My mom, actually, worked at that same hospital about 9 years ago, and knew most of the nurses that were taking care of Grammy. My mom asked them to call her if things got really bad, and she needed to fly out to Utah. My mom got that call on THURSDAY, July 7. She booked a flight from Memphis, and was going to be in Utah on Friday, July 8 at about 5:00 pm. My uncle from Birmingham was also flying in on Friday evening.

On Sunday evening, my Grammy asked them in intubate her. After being intubated, if she was not off the ventilator in 4 days, she was most likely not going to be able to breathe on her own after that. On Thursday, things were not looking good. The pneumonia was not getting better. They asked my Grandpa for her living will. That's when it finally hit my Grandpa (and the rest of us) that things were was worse than we could have imagined. My Grammy and Grandpa had decided long ago that they would sign a DNR and stick to it. My Grandpa knew that this was the time that they had dreaded for a long time.

Trio #3 and I were down in Colorado working. Every time we got a phone call from either Mom of Trio #1, we dreaded it. We got a phone call on Friday afternoon from Mom that said that she was flying into Utah, and that they were taking Grammy off life-support on Saturday morning. We shut off our tractors, and rushed home to pack our bags. We left as soon as we could and drove the 6 hours to Provo. We went straight to Grandpa's house.

Everyone got into town on Friday night. They were able to take Grammy off the sedatives so that she could know that my Mom and Uncle Kevin were there. On Saturday morning, we all met for breakfast at Uncle Ricky's and Aunt Dawn's house. Then we all drove over to the hospital. It was a very somber experience. There were several of us there. It was Grammy's brother Perry, Grandpa, Mom, Trio #1, 2, 3, Uncle Kevin, Uncle Rick and Aunt Dawn, Aunt Mary Lynn and Uncle Scott. I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I was to be there, but sad at the same time because the last image I had of my Grammy was in the hospital bed, hooked up to lots of machines, and in pain.

The nurses took her off sedation for a little while so that we could all say goodbye to her. My cousin Robert's fiancee just had a baby boy, so they brought pictures of baby Talon Conrad to show her. We all told her goodbye and kissed her. Then, something spiritual took place. In our church, we believe that men of the church can be given the power to act in God's name. It is called the Priesthood. Through the priesthood, the men can give others a blessing. It is all done in God's name, and according to God's will. My Grandpa was the one to give her a blessing. He blessed her to pass quickly from this life and to rejoice in the world to come. He told her that she had accomplished a great work here on this earth in regards to Genealogy. He told her not to worry about us and to go peacefully. I cried so hard. He then told her he loved her, and closed the blessing. The Spirit of the Lord was soooo strong. I think it was one of the strongest I have ever felt in my life.

The nurses asked us to leave the room for just a moment while they re-sedated her, and took all the tubes out and turned most of the machines off. They told us to expect her to live for about 5 minutes. They told us we could come back in, and then left us to say goodbye. She looked soo much better after all the tubes were removed. We all stood around her bed, and watched her and the monitors. You could tell that she was more comfortable without all the tubes and machines, so she finally fell asleep, and even stated to snore. It was soo her. Her breathing started to slow down and were very slow. My Grammy is kinda stubborn, and showed her true colors those that few moments of her life. She actually lived exactly an hour after they unhooked all the machines. When she took her last breathe, it hits you hard. I have never cried soo incredibly hard in my life. We all just sat there in stunned silence not wanting to believe that she is truly gone. We all just sat in perfect silence that whole hour. Then we all slowly left her room after she was gone.

That was Saturday, July 9, at 12:55 pm. Trio #1's birthday is July 10, so luckily the curse did not hit us on her actual birthday. The next several days were all a blur. Going to bed was the hardest, because then when it was dark, you can just let the tears flow freely. Praying for Grandpa was also hard because you feel bad that he has to now live on his own.


In our church, we actually bury people in their temple clothes. They are all white, and represent the highest of covenants that we make with the Lord here on the earth, and then continue to keep once we have passed from this life, into the next.  Only those who have been through the temple are allowed to see those clothes in their entirety. So, my mom, aunt, Trio #1, and I got to go dress my Grammy. She was already in her white temple dress, so we just added the accessories. My Grandpa was very adamant about her wearing her glasses, because that is what makes her look like her. I was nervous about seeing her, but was kinda willing to help out. I was putting on her knee-highs, and I touched her leg and she was freezing cold. She wasn't the Grammy that was warm and full of love and hugs for you at any time of the day. I totally lost it at that point. (I swear I didn't have full control over my tear ducts...) I wasn't able to help out again. Luckily my mom has done this multiple times, and was able to remain strong. Afterward, Grammy looked as amazing as anyone who is no longer here can.

The funeral was on Thursday, July 14. It was really nice. My dad got to give Grammy's life sketch, and tell about all she was able to accomplish in her lifetime. My mom, Kevin, and Rick all got to share memories and lessons learned from Grammy. We sang a song as a family. I am going to go off here and let you know that I do not enjoy singing at funerals!!!!! My grandpa requested that we all sing, and I tried to get out of it because I cannot physically stand up in front of everyone and sing a song that reminds me that the person we are singing it for. I did not make it through the song at my Papa Russ' funeral, I did not make it through the song at my Grandma Dixie's funeral, and I refused to even attempt it at my Uncle Todd's funeral. I tried my hardest to let everyone know that there was really no way I could make it through the song at Grammy's funeral, but no one was willing to listen. So I stood up there with everyone else, and cried so incredibly hard through the entire song!! The song we sang was "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again".

After the funeral, and a luncheon, we were able to go up to the cemetery. Luckily, her burial place is really close to Trio #1 and Trio #2's apartment, so we can go take her flowers as often as possible. She is actually buried in a WALL, because she did not want to have anyone walk all over her, and she did not want any dirt thrown on her face. :o] It was so sweet because my Grandpa doesn't like standing up in front of people and talking, but he took a few moments to thank us all for coming and for loving her. He told us multiple times that he was hoping that she would live another 4 years. (We don't really know the significance of that amount of time...) He was very sweet and tender when talking about her.

I feel so blessed to have had Grammy in my life. I was very close to her. We spent many summers staying with her. She taught me how to quilt. We even made several quilts together. She taught me how to crochet, and was willing to make several projects together. She taught me how to play games, especially her favorite one "Oh Hell!". I learned how to play many different styles of solitaire, and loved spending many many hours playing games and sharing memories. She was unselfish in her teaching and always loves to give hugs and kisses. She will be missed, but I will keep her in my heart forever!!!