January is OVER!

I am so relieved to be done with a long hard month. January is always tough. The store is still busy (thankfully) but I have to complete my quarterly and end of year books for the accountant. There are also quarterly and end of year forms to turn into the IRS. Which always makes me nervous. One of our employees got married at Val Vista Lakes, beautiful and so happy for him but it left us shorthanded for two weeks In the midst of it all we had three funerals to attend of people we loved. Mrs. Miller and Grandma I wrote about. Sister Keller was the other person we lost. I wasn't super close to her but I was to her children, especially Lucinda. Her kids were in the youth program in Central Ward when I served in the stake and ward Young Women's origination. Those kids were incredible and I wanted my kids to be just like them, musical, smart, kind and strong in the gospel. I watched their family closely as a young mother and many of my parenting decisions were based on those observations. My kids have them to thank for our lack of TV watching. (even though I am pretty sure they are not very grateful for that now, I hope they will be someday.)

The photo above was take after grandma's funeral. This is Ron's parents family. It was so good to see many of Ron's cousins who live out of town. Ron has 36 first cousins. When Tyler read the obituary he was so cute. There are 109 great-grandchildren. Tyler read that out loud and then said "Oh, I thought I was special!"
The funeral was so nice. Grandma had a pretty pink coffin. The stories they told of her in her life history showed off her spunky personality and her kind heart. They had on display a scrap book she had kept of all "her boys" while serving as a scout leader. They mentioned how much she loved those boys. She made them birthday cakes and kept in contact them as they grew up. Amazing for anyone but especially for a mother of six children and an Indian placement program child for seven years. It really inspired me to want to be better about letting the kids I work with know how much I love them by keeping track of them and the important things in their lives.
After the funeral and luncheon, we stopped by the Military Vehicle Club's show/fundraiser for military families at the Papago base. It is down the street from grandma's church. Ron belongs to the club and usually takes his Pinz down and volunteers. I thought this was quite a sight. Michael climbing the rock wall in his church clothes.
Amber and Tyler tried out and made Regional Choir. They found out last night, so that was a happy ending to a sad day.
Our family sang "Love at Home" in sacrament meeting today. So glad we did but more glad it is over! Ironic because during our practice Saturday afternoon Amber was upset that it was infringing on her social life. I think it sounded like we had only practiced it 3 times but that is all we dared because of the crankiness.