Two weekends ago, Eli and I flew to Southern California for my uncle B's funeral.
It was a bitter-sweet trip.
The funeral was sad but it was so great to see my family.
My uncle B.Sc was born and raised in Tonga.
He was a great man that I've loved.
He had rheumatic fever as a child and as a result two of his heart valves were bad.
Back at the end of September B had his first valve replacement.
He got an infection and then needed to get them replaced again.
After that pretty much every organ in his body shut down.
All of B's doctors said he was a miracle patient.
After nearly two months in the hospital B came home and was improving greatly.
Then three weeks later he got an infection over all of his body and there was no way to overcome it.
...
Here are a few pictures from my trip.
The weather was so refreshing!
It alone made me want to move there.
It was in the high 70's and low 80's while we were there.
B's Tongan relatives had family gatherings for days before the funeral.
They would wore special clothes and sang and talked (all in Tongan) and did ceremonial things.
I went one night and it was neat to experience a new culture.
After everything they gave everyone lots and lots of food.
Here's a picture of my food (and no I didn't eat it all or even most of it).
Here's a picture of my food (and no I didn't eat it all or even most of it).
Here are a few pictures from the funeral...
B worked for UPS for 24 years.
And he loved it.
And all of his co-workers loved him.
B's boss arranged it so that all of his workers could make it to the funeral.
So there were 34 UPS trucks parked at the church.
And a 1/3 of the chapel pews were reserved for the UPS workers.
It was really neat to see them there in their brown uniforms.
You could really tell that they loved B.
After the service, which was beautifully done, the UPS workers took all the flowers and
put them in B's UPS truck which then followed the hearse to the cemetery.
put them in B's UPS truck which then followed the hearse to the cemetery.
It was really touching.
Below is a picture of my cousins Cassy and Devin.
They wore these traditional Tongan clothes for days.
They also both spoke. That's right, they spoke at their dad's funeral and did a great job too.
And my cousin, Eden, is on a mission in Panama right now.
He gets home next month.
Here's a picture of Devin dedicating the grave.
My aunt Cindy and my aunt Lisa.
These are my moms two sisters.
Look how cute Cindy is with Eli.
Eli touching grass, feeling fresh air and seeing the sun for the first time.
Eli after a nap at the family luncheon.
His hair looks super red against my red stroller in this picture.
To be honest he doesn't look like a red head in person it's just in pictures with a flash.
This was the first time my brother Ryan saw Eli.
Cassy and her husband, Ammon, playing with Eli.
They are going to be such good parents someday.
My mom couldn't get enough of her grandson the whole weekend.
I really didn't see much of Eli the whole time we were there.
Friday after the funeral we all went out to eat
and then went back to Lisa's house and just had some fun family time.
That was the highlight of the trip. I absolutely love my family, they are so fun!
Eli actually took a binkie while we were there.
He hasn't since we've been home.
None of my kids have liked binkies.
Saturday, we came back home to the girls.
It was sad saying goodbye.
