Trip to California

Dixon's cousin Mathew died unexpectedly a few weeks ago and the funeral was this past weekend.  Dix had been planning to go, but I was just going to stay home with the kids.  Grama Hoho talked me into going with him.  I'm so glad I did!  We had a wonderful weekend.  I was babysitting on Friday until about 4:30.  When they got picked up, we were already packed and we left!  We took Turner with us and left the rest of the kids at home to fend for themselves.  We mostly took Turner so that Porter wouldn't end up in prison for murder for the rest of his life.  Haha, but, yeah, really.  The kids at home did fine, I think they mostly just watched TV the whole weekend.  We drove out to LA on Friday evening, arrived at the hotel around midnight.  We shared a room with Grama Hoho.  

On Saturday morning we got up early to get to the church to set up for the funeral.  On the way over, Grama told us that she had volunteered Turner to sing.  He was not too excited about it.  But after we helped set up, we found the primary room and they had a primary hymn book sitting on the piano.  I opened it to the song that he had sung in the primary program the week before, "I'll Walk With You," and we ran through it once.  He agreed to do it, so we went and told the Bishop.  

Dixon's cousin Jenny spoke for a few minutes, and then her older brother Todd gave the Eulogy.  It was very touching.  Mats was a remarkable man. I didn't know him very well, but from the eulogy and from stories from Dixon and his family, I can sense what kind of man he was.  Quirky and weird (which in my book is a compliment!), and a brilliant, good man.  He will be missed.  

After the eulogy, Turner did his song. 

He sang like an angel.  It was beautiful.  And touching.  I was so glad that Turner went with us so that he could share his talent.

(I recorded him after we got back from our trip, sorry for the bad lighting!)

The Bishop spoke after Turner and did a wonderful job of talking about the Plan of Salvation.  The spirit was there.

Later that afternoon we took Turner to the beach.  It was so incredibly fun!  We were planning on heading out to Santa Monica pier, but we got distracted by the beach in Malibu, so we stopped there first.  We played on the beach for a couple of hours, chasing the surf, but more fun, chasing the pelicans!  There were hundreds of them, minding their own business, and then T would run through, yelling and flapping his arms and they would all fly away.  A few minutes later, they would be back and he would do it again.  Once when they were flying back, they were skimming just above our heads, and Turner claims one of them "kicked" him.  I wouldn't be surprised.  They were probably tired of being chased around!  We were too tired, and Turner's swimsuit was too full of sand to go to the pier, so we'll have to do that another time.  We went back to the hotel and Grandma took us out to dinner for my birthday.  We got Turner to bed early then sat out on the patio and visited with Grandma, Aunt Karen and Stewart, Todd and Melissa, Jenny and her daughter Kaitlyn.  It was really nice reconnecting.  It has been many years since we've seen them! They are wonderful people. 

We left LA this morning and got home around 5. My friend Kristy was here helping Regan frost my birthday cupcakes and making sure the house was clean.  That was so sweet of her.  We chatted with the kids for  a bit, did scriptures and prayers, birthday cake and then bed!  I am reading a really good book with the kids, and wanted to catch up for the last two nights of not reading to them!  We read for over an hour tonight.  I love reading to the kids!