The Tangrens

While we were playing and running around with the Garricks we were also trying to find airline tickets to get back to Michigan for the funeral of my Grandfather. After much searching and calling we found some that were a good price for last minute tickets. So Sunday and Monday (Labor Day) were spent making the necessary preparations to leave town. On Sunday night we had a down pour and I ran out to secure things and get our car that is usually in the carport a free carwash and got soaked. Hyrum of course was begging to go outside so I scooped him up and took him outside to dance in the rain. We twirled around with up turned faces, as the rain came down. Then Derek noticed that Hyrum's teeth were chattering so we went inside and wrapped him in a blanket to warm up. He thought the whole thing was great fun.
The thought of flying with my very active little boy made me want to throw up and we did everything we could think of to prepare for his wanting to run around the plane and get into things. At the end of the day he did pretty good. He flirt with the flight attendants,

it also helped to have other kids around and LOTS of snacks. Hyrum thinks that if he's sitting he needs to be eating.

While we would have preferred to go back to Michigan for a happier occasion it was wonderful to see people we haven't seen in years, be there to remember my grandfather and support family. Hyrum was also able to get reacquainted with grandparents, great grandparents, aunts uncles and cousins. One person I was really excited for him to get to know better is his second cousin Celia Voller who was born two months after him.
Hyrum is not one to sit very long so I was surprised when he sat with her as long as he did. She isn't walking real good yet and was walking around tentatively clinging to her grandma's fingers but when Hyrum took off across the room she kicked it into high gear.


They got along beautifully even though in her exploration of this handsome new blond boy Celia poked Hyrum in the eye. He still let her cling to his chest in order to stand up. I'm sure he remembers almost pulling pants off other boys when he was in this stage. I hope they can spend more time together as the years go by.
The funeral was beautiful and I was given a greater scope of my grandfather that I didn't feel I knew like my grandmother because he was so quiet and when he did speak, soft spoken. All events of that day were fitting tributes to that great and gentle man. My sister Holly wrote an incredible post about that day and did what we all wanted to do in taking pictures of the military funeral which I hadn't expected to affect me the way it did.

Especially on this day that we reverence patriots. I salute my grandfather who served his country his family and his God. My he have his rest.