What a week!!!

{Beware . . . this is a long post!!!}

We have had a very eventful week.  It all began last weekend when I went to Winfield Friday evening after work to visit my family.  My grandpa has been sick for quite some time and on Friday morning they had to move him to a nursing home because my grandma was not able to continue caring for him 24 hours a day.  Hospice has been involved for several weeks as well as a private nurse who they hired to stay during the night.  I’m so glad I made the drive down because on Saturday evening we received the sad news that he had passed away.  The rest of the week has been somewhat of a whirlwind of activities.  Jeff left Sunday morning for Michigan and at that point we still didn’t even know when the funeral was going to be.  One of my uncles who lives in KC unexpectedly lost his mother-in-law on Saturday as well so we were having to try to schedule funeral arrangements around her service. 

Monday night Grant had his school music program.  It was titled {Snow Show}.  The kids all wore scarves and sang winter songs.

Grant is standing in the  back row!!!  He had a special part with a few other students from his class.  They all got to come down to the front of the stage a sing into the microphone.   I don’t think he got his singing ability from me!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday night trying to get all of our stuff packed and my lesson plans written so that we would be ready to hit the road on Thursday morning and head to KC.  Despite the cold weather the drive going up to KC was a breeze.   We arrived at my cousin Mandy’s house a little after 11:00 am and hung out with her and her husband Sean for awhile.  They we did a little shopping and went out to eat at the 810 Zone sports bar and grill over at Town Center Plaza.  Grant enjoyed seeing the broadcasting booth and all of the sports memorabilia that line the walls.  He also had a blast playing the claw machine.

Thursday evening we met up with several of my dad’s cousins for dinner at the Herford House.  It was so much fun to see everyone despite the circumstances for our visit.  I think my grandma also enjoyed catching up with everyone.  My grandma had 10 brothers and sisters so as you can imagine there are tons of cousins.  The majority of the family still lives in the KC area but everyone wasn’t able to make it to dinner on such short notice.  We took a few generational photos.

My dad along with 3 of his cousins {Lauri, Eugenia & Cindy}

The younger generation of Elliott cousins!                                                  {Karen, Hailey, Amanda, Chrissy & me}

The youngest generation of Elliott cousins!                                                {Grant, Bridget & baby Francis}

Here’s my grandma with my dad and her nieces. We called this group the outlaws because they were the lucky ones that married into this crazy family!!!                                           {Sean, Frank, my mom and Matt}

This is my dads oldest cousin.  She and her husband moved to Houston a few years ago and they were in town visiting their kids when they got the news that my grandpa and died.   They ended up changing their flights so they could stay for the funeral.

Grant had a ball hanging out with Cindy and Aunt Karen.

And he loved playing with the little ones!!!

I also thought it was so sweet that my parents good friends Joe & Reggie from Augusta made the drive up for the funeral.  Joe was my dad’s best man when my parents got married.

Here’s one last photo of me and my dad.

We woke up Friday morning to ice cold weather and snowflakes.  We had a visitation at the church from 10-12 for family and friends and then the funeral service began at noon.  Then we had to drive across town for the burial.  We all went to my uncle Ron’s house for a delicious late lunch and then Karen, Grant and I hit the road to head home.  Grant had a birthday party he was really looking forward to and Jeff was flying in at 9:15 pm.  The roads were ok until we got to Emporia.  Then they became snow packed.  Definitely not ideal driving conditions at night!!!  The right hand lane had a path that was somewhat cleared off but we still drove about 40-45 mph the entire way through the Flint Hills.  I didn’t think we were ever going to get to El Dorado.  We only saw one car off the road and it was a state trooper.  We made it back to town around 7:30’ish and got Grant dropped off at his party.  It was such a long day.  My eyes were already puffy and sore from crying so much during the service and then with trying to drive in the dark with blowing snow they were strained even more.  I was so happy after I finally got Jeff picked up at the airport and was home in bed.

My plan for today is to stay in my pj’s, catch up on laundry and my DVR’d shows all day and then cheer for KU tonight when they beat those Wildcats!!!