Oregon Trip for Grandpa's Funeral

While the reason for our trip to Oregon last week was sad, it was still nice to see family. Ethan had a miraculous recovery and was much improved by Wednesday night/Thursday morning, so the two of us drove down Thursday afternoon.

Friday morning, at 10a.m., was the funeral. I was up, showered, dressed, hair and make-up done and had eaten a bowl of cereal by 9a.m. and I was hoping to get the funeral home by about 9:30a.m. Since Ethan had been so sick, I let him sleep in. Big mistake. It was like pulling teeth to get that kid dressed and out the door. After going potty, I went to take his jammies off and get him dressed in nice, church clothes and he gave me a look that said, "what the 'H' do you think you're doing?!" Oh, he wanted to stay in jammies and hang out at grandma Julie's house so bad. I tried nicely talking with him several times and finally resorted to bribes. I am all for a reward system for various tasks, but I have never had to flat-out resort to a bribe. A trip to Target with mommy, popcorn and a slurpee from the concession place and TWO new cars (Hot Wheels size) was the final offer laid out on the table. I gave him a few minutes and then he finally allowed me to get him dressed. Oh, such a battle! We got to the funeral home right at 10a.m. Oh, and did I mention I was on the program for a violin solo?! I had not had a chance to practice or tune my violin since before we left from Washington the day before. I went to a side office to tune and after the opening prayer and song, I was first up, so I went in completely cold and very nervous. I played Nearer My God to Thee and Be Still My Soul - two of my favorite songs. A little shaky, but I think overall it was ok. The rest of the service was very nice and my uncle Gale did a good job with the eulogy. It was nice to hear more about grandpa's youth.

After the service, I took some pictures of the flowers and photos. This table was outside the chapel and by the guest book.And then this was the main table inside the chapel and all the flowers.After the funeral, immediate family members drove up to the cemetery where my Dad dedicated the grave. Then, it was back to my parents' house for a luncheon with the family.This is everyone who was able make it, minus my Dad who had to get back to work. This is pretty much all of the Graham children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We are missing 3 spouses {Sean, Nick's wife Christi and Jeff's wife Shalene}, Christine, Anna and then 4 great-grandchildren. Not too bad, though, considering we had family come from Washington, California, Utah, Nevada and Texas!
This is my grandma Mary with all five of her children. Left to right: Christy, Gale, Gary, my mom and Kay.

And not to change the subject, but this is how I wore my hair that day and I got lots of compliments on it. And then I washed all the product out and had it cut! I was desperate for a cut. I got about 1.5-2 inches off the bottom and long bangs cut into the front. Then this week I was able to have my roots touched up, so I am back to being all blonde. I'll try and post a picture soon.

That evening, Ethan and I went to Target as promised. We skipped the popcorn and slurpee and he opted for a Transformers car and a jet (also Hot Wheels size). And then... then I found the Valentine's Day clearance aisle. Everything marked down 75% off. Wahoo!! I ended up with 4 placemats (.49 each), 4 heart-shaped dinner plates (.74 each), 4 heart-shaped salad plates (.62 each), treat bags, party cups with a cute frog design {really wish they would've had them last year so I could've used them for Ethan's frog prince themed birthday party} and them some M&M's. Love a good deal! :)Don't these plates just look so cute all lined up in the dishwasher?!?

And Ethan was blessed to use them first. Monday morning I made pancakes - Ethan's are free-hand hearts. I won't lie, they took some practice. I made Sean eat the duds!!

The next day, Saturday, was a lazy day. We slept in, stayed in jammies and just hung out at my parents' house. Lizzy set Ethan up playing some of the easier games on the Wii and he was in heaven. Ethan and I stuck around all day and then went to Lizzy's last basketball game of the season. They lost but put up a good fight.
Afterward, we stayed and watched most of the Varsity girls basketball game - they beat the pants off South Eugene and are headed to the state championship tournament! Then it was a rush to load up our stuff and we went out to a late dinner at Dickie Jo's. My parents treated me to dinner. Very nice. :) And then Ethan and I made the long drive back to Washington. The end.