Playing Catch Up - Jonah

Jonah is getting so tall, thin and grown up looking.  We bought him a new suit for the funeral and he looked so handsome.  His dad Wayne came to the funeral and the cemetary.  He is almost as tall as his dad. 

 

My friend's daughters have a huge crush on Jonah and everytime we get together they want a picture with him.  He gets so embarressed.  It is always a fun teasing moment.

 

Playing Catch Up - Presenting Of The Flag

My dad served in the Army Reserves so he had a beautiful flag draped across his casket. One of my best friends (Kristi) husband (Pete) is a Sergeant in the Army and attended the funeral in his military dress uniform.  My nephew (Stormy) is in the Junior ROTC at his high school and was also in his dress uniform at the funeral.  At the last minute we decided to have the flag folded and presented to my mom.  It was very emotional, and the fact that 2 people that are special to us presented it to my mom made it even more perfect.

 

Playing Catch Up - Funeral

My dad's funeral was on February 11th.  It was a beautiful service. I think he would have been happy.  My talk and a link to the video life sketch I did is on my other blog.

 

I wrote a letter to the Cougar Club president (the booster club for BYU that he has been a member of for over 45 years) about dad dying and how much we wanted to put a Y on his casket.  He was so kind and sent us some stickers, a BYU blanket and a BYU flag.  I was so impressed. 

 

At the cemetery the sun was shining and the snow was melting off the trees so it looked like there was glitter in the air.  It was beautiful.

 

Playing Catch Up - February

My dad died February 4th and all of that is documented on my other blog.  I am not going to repost it here. 

 

We spent 5 days in a hotel.  Not EVER going to do that again with 4 of us in one room.  Emotions were already running high and then being confined to close quarters.  Not a good combination.   There was a pool and we did enjoy spending time there.

  

 

Playing Catch Up - January

The 3rd week of January I took the kids down to my parents to see my dad.  I knew his time was getting short so I wanted them to be able to spend some time with him and say their goodbyes. We rode the Frontrunner down and the kids loved it. It was nice to not have to fight traffic. It has WIFI on it so the kids watched movies and played games.  

 

It was a bittersweet 3 days.  We watched many episodes of Newhart, one of my dad's favorite shows, and just sat in the living room with him.  He wasn't talking much at that point, but knew we were all there.  There were many hugs and tears when we left. 

 

 

The Bomb

On a much lighter note than the last couple of months.....

If Jeremy were a dog this would totally be him

 

He is the KING of the photo bombs.

Dad's Funeral Tribute

You can go to my other blog if you are interested and read the talk I gave at Dad's funeral and link over to the video I made for his life sketch.  (It is a private link so if you try to search for it on youtube it won't show up.)

Endings

John Allan Swenson, 68, from Springville passed away on Monday, February 4, 2013, after a heroic battle with Glioblastoma brain cancer. He was born August 6, 1944 in Payson, Utah to John Lewis and Verlaine Beardall Swenson. He married Alice Edith Hill on August 18, 1967 in the Manti LDS temple. They celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary this past summer.

Allan graduated from Springville High School, served in the Army Reserves and graduated from BYU with a BA in History. He worked as an Insurance Claims Adjuster for 35 years until he retired. He loved to fish, camp and spend time outdoors with his family and friends. He was a dedicated and loyal BYU fan and was a member of the Cougar Club for over 45 years. He was a member of the LDS church and served a mission to Sydney Australia in 1963. He served in many callings for the church such as Bishoprics, Stake Presidencies, Scouts, High Priests and Home Teacher. He was an amazing husband, father, grandfather, uncle and friend.

Allan is survived by his father John; 2 brothers: Gary (Brenda) of Pleasant Grove and Hal (Kathy) of Boise Idaho; his wife Alice; and his three children: Heather (Tony) of Logan, Melissa (Chris) of Boise, Idaho, and Steven (Laura) of Fort Collins, Colorado; and 7 grandchildren: Jeremy, Stormy, Dominic, Jonah, Chase, Rachel and Allan. He was preceded in death by his mother Verlaine and his brother Randy.

The Swenson family would like to thank all of the doctors, nurses, hospice workers, ward members, neighbors, family and friends that have been such a great help and support over the past year.

Funeral Services will be held Monday, February 11th at 11:30 am in the Hobble Creek 14th Ward, 950 South 1700 East, Springville, UT. Viewings will also be held at the church on Sunday, February 10th from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, and prior to services on Monday from 10:00 am to 11:00 am. Interment in Springville Evergreen Cemetery.

Funeral Directors: Utah Valley Mortuary. 
http://www.utahvalleyfuneral.com/obituaries/Allan-Swenson/#/Obituary

Dad Update

There is a new update on my dad on my other blog if you are interested.

Dad Update

There is a new update on my dad on my other blog if you are interested.

Foggy

Gloomy to foggy.  At least it is above 30 degrees.  It's like a heat wave.

Dad Update

There is a new update on my dad on my other blog if you are interested.

Gloomy

Our beautiful little town in northern Utah is not so beautiful right now.  Actually we were ranked with the worst air quality in the nation these past few days.  The average temperature at night is -10 with a high during the day of maybe 12.  This along with everything that is going on with my dad equals a very crabby Heather. 

 

I took this out the window of my car yesterday on the way home with my phone.  This is how bad it is right now.  The picture below it is one someone else took yesterday (with a better camera obviously).

  

This is what it normally looks like from this vantage point.

Ugh....it makes me feel like crap, with a low constant headache.  Rachel has been coughing like crazy, and poor Tony has to work out in it everyday. 

Everyone wish for snow and wind so we can get rid of it.  I am looking forward to a 32 degree day.  It will be like shorts weather.

Dad Update

There is a new update on my dad on my other blog if you are interested.

Winter Wonderland

It snowed for 3 days straight around Christmas.  We didn't have this much snow all of last year I think.  So we bundled Rachel up and let her play while Tony shoveled. 

 

New camera is super awesome.  Has a great zoom.  You can see below how far it zooms.  These are the mountains to the east of our house about 15 miles.

 

I'm ready for spring....