John's Funeral in Utah

Our weekend started on Thursday when both Taylor and I were able to leave work early to drive down to Utah. I must insert...it started off with a call from Taylor at work, he started the conversation like this..."I locked the keys to the car in the truck, and the truck keys are locked in the house...I'm locked out." GREAT. It really wasn't a big deal, just a comical way to start off our mini trip. Luckily, we loaded up the Camry at lunch, and I put the diaper bag in the car where I have an extra key for the house. It only delayed our trip by 15 minutes or so.

However, we were booking it down to Utah. There was a visitation on Thursday night, from 6-8. See, we had a bit of a vested interest to get there right at 6, so it was pretty imperative that we get on the road no later than 4. Last week, Taylor called Elder L. Tom Perry, long story short, he called to see if he would come to the funeral. (Taylor's mom is cousin's with Elder Perry's wife). Elder and Sister Perry were not able to come to the funeral, but they wanted to come to the visitation and said they would be there close to 6. This was just something Taylor felt like he could do for the family, and it really turned out to be a tender mercy for all. We happened to be standing by the side door that Elder and Sister Perry came in through, so we ended up going through the "line" with them. I believe they said several things that brought a lot of comfort to the family, so it was really neat.

Emily had incredible composure at the visitation. Don't get me wrong, it was still hard. But in comparison, for me, Friday was much harder for me than Thursday. We stayed at the visitation for an hour or so, and then my parents, sister and I went to The Gateway for dinner. Taylor and I parked the car and as we were walking to the restaurant, we ran into his mom, Suzanne, on a DATE! It was the most random, cool thing ever! :-)

Friday morning we drove back to Bountiful for the funeral. Oh what a hard morning. The service was incredible. You know when you can't even find the strength or composure to sing the opening song that it was going to be a wet and emotional service! My dad had the great privilege of giving the "Plan of Salvation" talk and he did a remarkable job.

Following the service, the Hill AFB did a fly-by. These were pictures taken of Isaac while we were waiting for the fly-by. Papa was swinging him and he loved it. (Look how cute he looks in his first bow-tie!)


Then we proceeded to the grave site--definitely the hardest part for me.

It was a full military funeral...forgive me if I do not have all the correct terminology....they did a 21 gun salute, folded the flag and gave it to Emily and said something like "On behalf of the President of the United States we present this flag...." something....and then they also gave one to John's mom. It was just very, very, very hard. The whole morning was hard...BUT...we are EXTREMELY grateful and blessed to KNOW that we will see John again, that the sealing power that has been performed on earth, will remain sealed in heaven. This brings us great COMFORT and great HOPE. While we feel a great loss, we are comforted with the knowledge we have of the Plan of Salvation.

Following the burial, we were able to go back to the church for the family luncheon. Then, my mom wanted to get all of the cadets and their wives together, along with other close friends of John at our hotel. The purpose of doing this was to just talk about all of our fun memories of John. The turnout was unbelievable. I can't even count how many cadets were there, but a few of them have married some pretty special people to me that I knew before, so it's extra fun for me to see them! An even cooler part of this little get together, was that John's sister and brother in law came, and John's wife Emily came. I was just so touched by this--we figured they would have so much going on that they wouldn't be able to come, but they did!! So it was really neat.

All in all, the funeral was hard, and it was hard because we really care for John, Emily, and their families. But we are comforted in the knowledge we have of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

On Saturday, my parents had to fly home in the afternoon, so we grabbed a quick lunch at the Little America. Isaac was on one, because he was F-U-N-N-Y!!!! He was just patting away at the table, babbling, sticking out his tongue, making his old man face, and the list goes on!

Here's my interpretation, "Uh-huh...you aint getting that food in me!"
As we walked back to the Grand America, Taylor and my mom decided it would be funny to grab the flags and wave them as we crossed the street.
Here's my mom doing some sort of can-can...haha!!
And then we put Isaac on the grass...he wasn't too thrilled!

"Get me off of this prickly stuff!"