Grandma's casket spray
The grandchildren- 11 boys and 1 girl! (Rick was on his mission in Brazil)
My brothers and I
Mom and Lindsay
My Grandma Lavina Jacobs passed away Friday, February 8, 2008. I have been wanting to write down my feelings about her and her passing. I hadn't started my blog when she passed away, and I want to write everything down before I forget! So, Thursday, February 7, I was feeling really depressed. It was SO cold and snowy outside, and I couldn't go anywhere because the roads were so bad. I was 38 weeks pregnant and ready to be done! Josh was at work and he had bowling that night, and he didn't come home between work and bowling because the roads were so bad. So I was just depressed/anxious/bored/lonely. My mom also called and said my grandma was probably going to die either that die or the next day. I hadn't seen her since Christmas, but there was no way I could make it to her. She lived in Gina's house in Shelley- Gina is a CNA that takes care of elderly/handicapped people in her home. John and Gina live way out in the country and there is no way the roads were passable. So, here I sat at home, with nothing I could do about anything. I couldn't stop my grandma from dying, and I could not do anything to get my baby boy here. My mom was going to go see my grandma with Scott and Jennifer, but they couldn't even get there. I hope grandma knows we wanted to see her, but it just wasn't possible.
So, the next morning, Josh gets up and goes to work. My mom called just after eight and let me know that she had passed away. Gina had gotten her up, and had gone to get her breakfast, and when she came back, Grandma was gone. My mom was crying/stressed out because my dad had been on swing shift the night before and had woken up with really low blood sugar. (He is Type 1 diabetic). So she needed to wake him up so they could go meet the people from the mortuary at Gina's house. I didn't know what to do, and I am about 45 minutes away from Shelley, especially in bad weather. I was having a hard time dealing with everything, and didn't really want to deal with Lindsay all day while we were making plans. So, I called Christine, a friend from our ward, and she graciously accepted to watch Lindsay for the day, even though her grandma had just passed away too! (Thank you so much, Christine!). So, I finally got everything together and we headed to her house. Well, the roads were TERRIBLE, and they live on a country road, and of course, the inevitable happened- I got stuck. I was so embarrassed. Christine's husband had to pull me out with some farm equipment. While I was stuck in the car, I called Josh and started crying. He said he could get off work and come and get me. So, I finally got up to Christine's house, gave her Lindsay and exchanged cell phone numbers. Her husband led me out back to the main road. Josh met me at home and we headed to Shelley in his work Suburban. We got to my parents house, and they had already met the mortuary, and the mortuary had taken her body. Well, my parents could not find their address book. My mom keeps everybody's address, and all of her passwords in that book, so she was freaking out, especially since they needed to call family and let them know. Well, they finally found the book, I forgot if it was on the floor of their van or on the driveway- some stuff had fallen out. Anyways, we started getting addresses and my mom was calling people letting them know. Scott and Jennifer, my parents, and Josh and I met with Nalder's mortuary about 2 pm, and made all of the arrangements. We chose her casket and program cover and set up the funeral program.
Josh's mom met Christine and took Lindsay to her house. Lindsay spent the night there, and Josh and I slept at my parents. My mom and I went and bought dresses for the funeral. I had talked to my doctors office and they said it was okay to travel to the funeral, as long as I was okay with having my baby in Utah if everything happened. I was fine with it because I knew nothing would happen. I had been late with Lindsay, and just had a feeling that everything would be fine.
Grandma's viewing was Tuesday night in Shelley. My parents ward had done a luncheon for the family that was really nice. The viewing was nice. The flowers were beautiful and a lot more people came than we were expecting.
Thursday we left for Antimony. It is a teeny tiny town in south-central Utah. My grandpa was buried there, so of course, that's where grandma was to be buried as well. In my parents van was Josh and I, Brian and Scott, and we picked Doug up at the airport in SLC. It was kind of fun to have my brothers all together. That doesn't happen very often. Lindsay traveled great. She loves her uncles so much. My parents were in my moms company van, and they actually hauled grandma in her casket down with them. It saved quite a bit of money compared to having the mortuary take her. It seems kind of weird, but it all worked out great.
We got to Richfield that night (Valentines Day) and ate dinner at a really nice steakhouse. It was my entire family, my uncle Dennis, Cousin Gary, and Dennis's ex-wife Linda. We had a really nice dinner.
The next morning, we left for Antimony, about an hour drive. Linda wasn't feeling well so she stayed at the motel in Richfield. The viewing and funeral went really well. I gave grandma's life-sketch. My cousin Dale played the piano, and cousin's wife Bethany sang, "Come to Jesus" by Kenneth Cope. I could not stop crying through that song. It was great.
At the cemetery, it was so very cold. We didn't stay long. We had to do a rubbing of the headstone to get the font right so they could carve the death date in for Grandma. Usually the mortuary does that, but in this case, it was left to us.
That night, we all had pizza and wings in David and Nedra's hotel room. It was good to spend the time with my dad's side of the family, since we don't get together very often.
Saturday we drove home. We went and saw my Grandpa P, since Doug hadn't seen him in several years. So, we drove to Layton, then back to SLC to drop Doug off at the airport. Jennifer and Hannah had stayed in Idaho Falls because Hannah was sick and in the hospital. So, she was anxious for Scott to get home. We went as fast as possible, but it still seemed to take awhile. Brian had stayed in St. George with our Mark and Bethany that night, and taken a shuttle back to Las Vegas.
When we got home Saturday, I was relieved to have it all over, but also, kind of sad it was over. I love my Grandma and I'm glad she is Home, and can see her eternal companion, 2 daughters, and her brothers and sisters that went before her.
