{water for elephants}

I knew I needed a good read, besides my People's magazines, to keep me occupied on my flight to SLC last week.  I have always heard good things about this book--Water for Elephants.  Now, I have to admit, it did make reading it a little easier since I could picture Robert Pattinson as the main character.  Ya, I kinda have a crush on him :)
I read about half the book before I arrived in UT, and then the next few days were spent at the farewell to our grandfather.  When we arrived back at my parents' house, all of the girls (except for Heather, but plus Rita), and EVEN Tom decided to go see the late movie since it has just been released.
I LOVED IT!!!  It was so good, and my boy Robert and darling Reese Whitherspoon did a fantastic job.  I might just have to go see it again.
Oh, and on my way back, I actually did finish the book, unlike many of my paint jobs.  Loved the book & the movie equally as well.

{i love them......like, a lot}

These photos will always mean a lot to me, but especially because we went back to Grandpa's farm to take them.   The sky was blue and those great, big trees were full of singing birds....

{tears, laughter, and plagiarism}

I feel very fortunate that I was able to be there for my grandfather's funeral.  It felt better than ever to be together as a family and I know it must have meant a lot to my father to have all his children there.  I was able to say goodbye to a very special man, someone who held me in his lap many times and gave me those good Garner kisses.   I know he loved me as much as I loved him.  I learned so much about him and the life that he lived and it left me feeling like I wanted to be a better person because of him.  I am thankful that he was such a kind man to everyone around him and I am especially grateful for the father he was to my dad.   I cannot imagine not having the knowledge that we will be together again.
In most cases, plagiarism is bad---very bad, BUT I have to {copy and paste} word-for-word how my sister, Camille, captured our weekend.  So, here it is....with my photos.

I love this picture of my Grandpa

and

I love this last picture of my Dad with his Sibs

There is a lot of love in this Garner family

I love knowing that

I love that all my Sibs were there

I love that we all slept in one big room together

(even though we had our own)

and stayed up until I don't really remember falling asleep

laughing and crying and planning

I loved hanging out and catching up and eating treats

with my cousins

and aunts and uncles

and great aunts and great uncles

Garners love their treats

Leslee always made sure Grandpa had his

I loved hearing the stories

from Jo about the tricks and memories and heartaches

they shared

I loved hearing my Dad say that Grandpa was

the best complete father anyone could hope for

I can agree on that....for him and for me

I loved hearing Blair say that Grandpa taught him

to love his wife

That Grandpa and Grandma had quite the

love affair

with each other

I love that Scott threw out a marshmallow egg

to each of his Sibs

Because they were Grandpa's faves

I love that the funeral home let us give

Grandpa one more ride in his pick up truck

He always loved to drive his pick up truck

Fast

Hunched over the steering wheel

Smiling

I love that all of his Grandsons

rode with him

and his Sons

drove him

I love that he received a 21 gun salute

and the dignity that the honor guard gave him

and that now he is resting next to Grandma

I love that the ward made ham for the luncheon.

Since Grandpa was a butcher

He was a ham snob.

He would have loved that ham.

I love that

we drove down to Grandpa and Grandma's house

one last time

and climbed the box car

to scan the property

and looked over the canals

and stood in front of the cow barn

and listened to the birds in the trees

and listened to each other say

'remember....'

And then,

we all (except me because I had to drive)

jumped in back of Dad's pick up truck

and rode down to Kelly's Market

where Grandpa use to work

and where he and Dad always took us for candy

Oh, we got candy too, one last time.

$28 worth

I love this family.