Grandma Verla's Funeral

At the beginning of November we headed down to Glendale,  UT as a family for our sweet Grandma Verla's funeral. Jeremy's parent's reserved a cabin for our family to stay in together and we really enjoyed the time to be all together. It always gets a little tight with 5 little kiddos but it's so worth it.

That night we had the viewing. It was so interesting to watch Ellie process everything. I feel like in the last 3 months she's been asking a lot about heaven, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. It's a sweet experience to watch her learn about the gospel. She loved seeing grandma and loved the Hawaiin flowers Nana brought to decorate.

Later that evening, we got everyone ready for bed and realized that Ellie, Brooklyn, Adalyn and Kendall had matching jammies. Ellie was, of course, enthralled with the idea of matching her cousins. Pictures had to be taken of everyone in their evening wear.

Brooklyn is always the sweestest to put up with Ellie's crazy antics and they decided to have a sleepover together. I didn't think there was any way possible that those 2 would fall asleep together. But lo and behold (after about an hour) they were out and holding hands. Be still my mother heart! I'm so thankful that we get to live close to family. I never got to live by any of my cousins, so watching my kids walk to their cousins house to play is the things dreams are made of.

Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early to get ready for the funeral. Before the funeral began, we all gathered in a room as a family while Jeremy's Uncle Craig gave a family prayer. The spirit was so strong and it brought tears to my eyes. The knowledge of eternal families is something I will never deny or take for granted. 

The funeral service was beautiful. Jeremy had the honor to speak for a few minutes and did such a wonderful job. He has a way with words and he articulated his love for his grandmother perfectly. Verla truly was loved by everyone and it was because of the love she freely gave to anyone who crossed her path. I remember the first time I met her she gave me the biggest hug and thanked me for being there. As I was leaving she gave me another big hug, a kiss on the cheek, and told me she loved me. Her favorite things was watching her family be together. I'm so thankful to be a Ruesch! I don't know how I lucked out.

After the service we drove up to the grave site. It was such a beautiful day! The perfect day for Grandma to be laid to rest next to her sweetheart Burdell. I'm sure he was anxiously awaiting the moment he could hold her in his arms again.

The was a delicious luncheon and after, we headed back to the cabin for naps. Once everyone was up a few canoes were discovered and the girls begged their daddies to take them on rides. Being the good adventures that they are, James and Jeremy happily obliged.

It's sad to think that we won't be traveling down to Glendale very often anymore. Almost the end of an era, I suppose. It was a wonderful few days and we were sad that it ended so quickly. We left late that night so that we could travel while the kids slept. Jeremy and I accidentally missed the main turn off to get to I-15 so we ended up taking the scenic route (which was luckily not much longer). It was fun to talk about his grandparents and how we hope to be like them in so many ways. I love that Jeremy's in with me for the long haul. I don't know what I'd do without him.