A Very Long Drive...Family Time in Utah...

Wednesday, July 29th, was time with family and preparation for Julie's funeral to be held on Thursday, July 30th. We started our morning with a trip to The Pie Dump in Tremonton, Utah. As we drove we came to a railroad track. Please notice the massive train that we waited for on the left side of the car in front of us. We waited for a bit before it showed up. It must be a service vehicle for the railroad that looks like a little bulldozer. After it passed, the arms were still across the track so we waited for a while longer thinking a real train may be coming and watching the little railroad bulldozer slowly go on down the track. After a prolonged time the arms blocking our passage raised and the car two cars in front of us started across the track. Just as they got close, the arms blocking our crossing came down again and almost hit the first car. We waited and still no train. Then the arms raised again and I looked at Claude and said, "If you get your chance, you better gun it as it doesn't seem to know what to do with those arms!" He did!! And we made it!!

We found a car wash and gave my car a nice bath. It was very happy to get it clean again. 

After the car wash we drove to The Pie Dump. This business has been in existence forever. Claude is standing in front of it. The high school is across the street from the left side of this picture. When Claude was in high school he could get a homemade roll with a serving of potatoes and gravy for 15 cents. We were going for this treat from his past. I opted for just the homemade roll. The Pie Dump has remained relatively unchanged over the years. The rolls were so good. I popped mine open and it was full of butter. Oh my goodness. Delicious. When I shared the Pie Dump pictures with our kids, our Nissa reminded us she ate lunch there when she lived in Tremonton and worked at the credit union. And the family tradition continues.

After this tasty start to our day, we went to Thatcher to be with family. The funniest part of the afternoon happened when Lynette left to return to Huntsville. She and Brian hopped in her new Jeep and promptly drove it into a ditch Cordell dug trying to repair a water line. Oops! She finally came back into the living room and confessed she needed help getting out of this hole. Now, to be a Christensen is to have broad shoulders because, if you mess up, it will be remembered. So it took no small amount of courage for this sibling to come back into the living room full of family with cellphones with cameras and confess this major oops and ask for help in correcting said oops. Bless her heart. I was busy picking out hymns to use for prelude and postlude for the funeral and asked Claude to take pictures for me. These pictures were taken by Claude. Lynette is in her Jeep and Eric is looking over the situation. In the second picture Lynette is standing by her Jeep. The last picture is Eric and Lynette surveying the situation. 

Cordell went to get his truck and then had the idea he needed to teach his younger sister a lesson. He came around with his much older Jeep to chain it to Lynette's newer Jeep to get it out of the hole. With cameras rolling, they worked and pulled the newer Jeep out of the hole with the older Jeep. Pictures and videos were posted to Facebook immediately. Then Claude commented on his Facebook post that the next day it would not be wise for Lynette to drive her Jeep as there would be a large hole at the cemetery. Irreverent...yes. But we were all shedding tears of laughter as he did it. Lynette will now enjoy this for years to come. 

Cordell and Julie have three daughters. The girls spent the afternoon at the mortuary dressing their Mother. Arlene, Julie's very dear friend, went and did her nails with French tips per Julie's request. Claude typed his talk on his mother's computer. I picked hymns for prelude and postlude. Kayla, Chris and CJ arrived from Vancouver, Washington. We all enjoyed visiting with each other. Under the circumstances, this was a good day with family.

Thursday, July 30th, was the funeral. The viewing was from 10:00 - 11:30am. This was followed by a time for the mortician to explain death and resurrection to the children. He opens the bottom half of the casket to show that all of Julie is in the casket. It is amazing the number of children that don't understand that an entire person is in the casket. This little explanation is wonderful. By the time it is finished all the kids questions are answered and they have a greater comfort level in the passing of their loved one. After this explanation, little Evan, Julie's little grandson would stand by the casket and pat Julie's hand. Such a tender moment in time. This explanation was followed by the family prayer and a bit of time for anyone who desired to come to the casket and say their final goodbye to Julie prior to the closing of the casket. Then the family joined other close friends and family in the chapel for the funeral service. It was such a nice service. Claude did a wonderful job with his talk. Eric wrote and sang a beautiful song for his mother-in-law. So many sweet moments.

We all followed the hearse to the cemetery. The Valley View Cemetery is a small cemetery on the hill that goes over to the ranch. When they opened the cemetery, Bonnie and Evan purchased a block of plots and then the family members that wanted could purchase from them and be buried there. Claude and I have burial plots in this cemetery. 

Cordell would give the prayer to dedicate the grave. Then the kids were given flowers to place on Julie's casket. Next purple balloons were given to the little kids and they were allowed to set them free. Julie died of pancreatic cancer and purple is the color for that disease. Tami put Cokes by the headstone for Julie. That was her favorite soda pop. It was very sweet with lots of the touches that make up the Christensen family and tradition.

Cordell and Julie purchased this camper. Cordell calls it the Shaggin Waggin. On this day, he loaded all their grandchildren in this camper and drove them to the funeral home, then to the cemetery and then back to the house. Great fun for all those little cousins and for Cordell. Julie would have been happy with this.

Claude happened to catch Cordell standing by the casket as people were beginning to leave the cemetery. He asked Cordell to look at him and he took this picture of Cordell by Julie one more time. I find this picture very tender. They loved each other so much.  

Okay, final pictures for this day. I happened to look up and see Lynette taking pictures of Claude and me. I smiled at her and said, "Are you taking pictures to retaliate?" She grinned and said, "Yes!" Here are Lynette's pictures of Claude and me at the cemetery. Yep, these are definitely usable for retaliation!!

Claude and I left the group and returned to our hotel to get into our comfy clothes. It was to be well over 90 degrees this day and we wanted to be as comfortable as possible. When we arrived at the home in Thatcher, everyone was under the tents at the tables eating. Now, this day was my 70th birthday. Claude told me Happy Birthday in the morning. While driving to Utah, Claude said to me, "You know that the funeral is on your birthday?" I said to Claude, "I can't think of a better person than Julie to share my special day. However, we are not to make any comment about it at all. The day is to remember and celebrate Julie." We agreed. So after my morning birthday greeting we were prepared to not say anything to anyone about it at all. Things went well until we arrived at the house in Thatcher after the funeral for the family meal. We went to get our food and I heard Bonnie in the middle of the yard calling for me to come out there with her. Hmmmm...I didn't go. Then she said in a very loud voice, "Sandi is my daughter-in-law and today is her birthday." After this everyone spontaneously joined in singing Happy Birthday to me. Lynette came up to me with a 9x13 aluminum pan with a piece of every kind of cake that was brought to this dinner. It was a nice surprise. 

Friday, July 31st, we drove out to Thatcher. Sadie and Eric were still there. They spent the week in Cordell and Julie's big trailer with their 4 kids. They would leave that morning. Kayla, Chris and CJ did not come out that morning. They needed to get to Salt Lake to catch their plane home. We visited with the Malizia's for a bit and then headed to Bountiful.

My sister, Junie, and her hubby, Steve, live in Bountiful, Utah. I had things in our home that wouldn't mail well to her. We brought them in our car so we could get them to Junie. Junie and Steve are quarantining big time. Junie had lunch for us. We were to park in her driveway and then climb up the hill on the side of her home to their back porch for our meeting. Junie had the patio set with a table for us on one side and a table for her and Steve on the other side. We had a really good visit and enjoyed homemade soup. I forgot to get a picture of the four of us during this visit. I asked Junie to send me a selfie of her and Steve. I felt very blessed that in the midst of this pandemic, I was able to see each my sisters and get new pictures for Papa of them. I was able to take each of them the things we have been saving in our home for them that were things that belonged to our parents. How good for each of us. 

We would drive back to Thatcher and visit with family that dropped by to check of Cordell and Bonnie. 

Saturday, August 1st, was laundry day. I took our clothes and did laundry while we visited with family. Bonnie has been going through things and cleaning out. She had two big envelopes of pictures and letters that were of our family and from our family. I went through the pictures and sorted them into two piles. One was pictures I was sure I had in my digital files. The other was pictures I was sure or unsure of having in my digital files. Now I can scan and add these pictures to our files. The extra pictures will be divided up for our kids. 

Bonnie, Cordell, Claude and I, John and Joann, Lynette and Rick all met at The Grille in Tremonton and had dinner together. We timed the meal at 3pm and everyone else left as we arrived so we had the restaurant to ourselves. It was a good meal with good company. This was the first time since early March that Claude and I actually sat in a restaurant to eat. 

I only took two pictures this day. The first is the straw harvest. I thought this scene was magical with the lovely yellow color against the mountains. All those bales of straw just popped out.

When Claude and I left for the evening, we stopped by the cemetery. Somebody did a 'heart attack' on Julie's grave. Julie was much loved by many people. While at the cemetery we ran into Robin. Robin is Claude's cousin. Her mother and Claude's father are brother and sister. It was very nice to chat with Robin. I always enjoy a chat with Robin.

Sunday, August 2nd, I asked Claude to slow down as we drove out to Thatcher. I wanted to take pictures of a field of flowers. Claude and I have been married 50 years. In all those years and all those trips to Thatcher I have never seen this growing in any of the fields and farms. When we got to Thatcher, I asked Cordell what in the world this was growing in the fields. He explained that it was safflower. Bonnie said that she and Evan tried to grow safflower on their farm one time. Evan hated it because it is really, really sticky and gums up the farm equipment used to harvest it. Claude does not ever remember them growing it. So there we have the safflower story of Thatcher. 

We would have church services in the home with Cordell, Bonnie, Claude, me and Joann. Joann was scheduled for open heart surgery on the 6th. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the men hold the priesthood. One of the things they can do is give a blessing of healing. Cordell and Claude both hold the priesthood and were able to give their sister as blessing. Cordell anointed and Claude gave the blessing. Such a precious moment in time. Bonnie watching her boys give their sister a priesthood blessing. Such a heartwarming experience.

Bonnie made us a spaghetti dinner. It was delicious. We had spent the week eating all the things that people had graciously brought to keep us all fed. A lot of it was made into sandwiches and the change to spaghetti was a nice change of pace. 

In the evening Bill and Tami came to get the remainder of the tents and things used for the family dinner after the funeral. They stayed and we all gathered in the living room and visited. Later Jo came down to visit again. It was so nice to have this time with family on our last night in town. 

Claude and I are both very happy we were able to make this trip. Claude saw all of his siblings and I saw my siblings. During a pandemic that is a miracle when family is spread across the United States. We enjoyed our three days of driving to get to all these places. We confirmed again that we can travel like this together and have a good time. It was so much fun that we decided to take our time getting back across the country to go home!!