The rest of the trip

My Grandma's funeral was beautiful. It was simple, with lots of music. I think she and Grandpa watched from above and were probably laughing when Tim told me in a loud voice that he needed to go potty. I explained to him that there isn't a bathroom at the cemetery and he would have to wait. We had just gotten home from a camping trip and I guess he figured if there wasn't a bathroom he would take care of business where ever he could. He got up and walked over to the cars. My dad was speaking and I didn't really want to walk away in the middle of his talk, but I decided I better go see what Tim was doing. He was hiding behind the cars and taking care of business. The only problem was he didn't hide himself and if anyone wasn't paying attention to my dad speaking they were probably laughing at Tim. So embarrassing.

I loved singing with my family. We sang "Teach me to walk." We used to sing that song as a family when we were young and in a branch. I've always loved the words of that song. It really hit me after Christine was born in the second verse it says, "come little child and together we'll learn..." I love that. Even as parents we are learning and growing all the time. Ever since I have been home the words of the song keep coming back to me over and over. Daniel loves to hear me sing it now and will often request it for his bedtime song. He can sing the first verse pretty well for a 2 year old.

 

My dad chose to have the family sing this song because my grandma was such an example of how to be a righteous teacher and how to teach your children. My grandpa was not a member and after he joined the church there were times that he was inactive. It would have been easy for grandma to let the kids stay home with dad while she went to church. But she didn't take the easy way out, she did what she knew was right. I am very grateful that she did. Because now I have a father that went on a mission, married in the temple, and taught all his children by his example how to live the gospel. After the funeral we went to the church and had a luncheon.

 

The picture above is my niece Berlin trying on my sister Dani's shoes. I think all the nieces tried them on at least once.

It was nice to talk to family I haven't seen in years. We just let the kids play and we talked. All of my siblings were there except for my brother Randall. This summer has been unusual; I got to see all of my siblings and most of them twice.
This picture is of Christine and her cousins Addy, Payton, and Kailey.

After spending some time at Kenzi's house and letting the little ones nap we went to a Mexican restaurant. Matt (my brother) had mentioned that they don't have any good Mexican places to eat in Ohio where he is living. So we had to make sure he got to eat some good Mexican food. It is a Booth thing to eat Mexican food as a family. It was my brother-in-law Todd's birthday the next day so we sang happy birthday to him. I don't think he minded to much.

Saturday we started our journey home.  When I was a kid we used to make the trip to my grandparents in the summer. We didn't always get to go every summer, but when we did we would always stop in Kayenta at a Burger King that has a Navajo talkers display. We would read about how they used Navajo during WWII to keep the Nazi's from understanding them. It seems like every time I go they've added more to the little museum outside. They have all sorts of hogans and things now. The kids thought it was fun to go inside them.

The drive takes us through Monument Valley.  Another place I would like to explore more.  I think because I grew up where it was humid and most of the year quit wet, and spent part of my summer in places that were dry and hot, I have grown to appreciate the beauties of the earth.  I've heard people say they can't see the beauty in places without trees.  I see the beauty no matter where I go.  A cactus flower blooming in the desert is as beautiful as an Indian blanket flower blooming in the grass covered prairie.

We spent the last part of Saturday until Tuesday morning in Hurricane. I got to see my grandparents and lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousin’s kids. It's amazing how much kids grow when you don't see them very often. I hardly recognized most of them. My cousin Katie gave me an amazing hair cut. My head feels so much lighter. I misplaced the camera while we were in Hurricane so I unfortunately didn't get any pictures. We stayed at my Aunt Susan’s since my grandparents AC went out. We ate some amazing food. The first night we were there we had some zucchini casserole that was so good. We ate fresh peaches with every meal (my grandparents and Aunt Susan have peach trees). I also ate the best peach pie I think I have ever had. I am going to have to get the recipe from Aunt Susan. I think even Jer would like it and he's not a big peach pie fan. On Monday night we had a BBQ and all the aunts, uncles, and cousins came. I forgot how much family I have living in that area. It was so fun to see everyone!
WE left early Tuesday and headed back up to Randall and Allison's. In the afternoon Allison was kind enough to haul my kids and all our stuff to the car repair place so we could get our car back. They did a great job of fixing it. I think it drives better than before it got hit. We spent the night with Richard and Kathy again. It was Kathy's 50th birthday so we bought kreamies (something we loved when we lived in UT and ID and they don't sell them here). I wish I could have brought a box home.
Wednesday we drove to Boise and stopped to see an old roommate of mine. It was fun to catch up and see her cute house. Then we went to Great Uncle Leon's to stay the night. The kids love that place, especially the sheep. They have a fun swing set that the kids played on until it was dark. Thursday morning it was hard to get them to want to leave. They were having so much fun petting the sheep and chasing the chickens.

They added a canning room since we were last there and I was envious of it. It has a dish washer to wash and prepare jars, sinks for cleaning produce, lots of cabinet space to put empty jars. They have several camp type propane stoves and lots of pressure cookers and water baths. It would be so nice not to heat up the house and ruin the stove.

We finally made it home on Thursday night. We had a few days with Jer before he left for scout camp. Which was, by the way one of the most memorable scout camps of his life, complete with lots of fish catching, people getting sick, a scout breaking his arm, Jer getting to feel like a pirate (wear an eye patch), and then to top it all off they all came home with...head lice. What a great welcome home present. Luckily, Jer took every precaution to insure that the kids and I didn't get it. And since Jer was in need of a hair cut anyway it made for easy removal for him. He did however get some laughs from the boys on Sunday when he showed up with a shaved head and face (most of them have rarely seen him with a clean shaven face). To top things off, Jer was released that Sunday from the young men (I cried). And that brings us to a topic for another day.