Another Goodbye

It's been over six weeks since Doug's brother Craig passed away. We still don't have the autopsy results, but I'm finally getting around to blogging about the funeral and our trip to Portland.

We left on Saturday, April 4th, and got back Monday night. Doug only had to miss one day of class. Other people came from much farther away. Kate had a birthday party to go to Saturday afternoon, which we thought she would enjoy, so we left right after that. (It was a princess dress-up tea party. She wore her dragon costume.)

We stayed at Brian and Rachel's house, on a futon mattress in their pink room. Kate was very excited about playing with their cats. Both kids had trouble settling down the first night, but the second night I think Andy slept seven hours straight. Whew!

Sunday was the viewing at the funeral home. That was where everyone gathered. It was nice to see everyone again, though the circumstances were rather difficult. Lots of hugging and crying.



Kate liked this fountain in front of the funeral home.



Cute Andy! (When we hold him like this, he's always craning his head way back to look around.)

Afterwards we went out to Shellee's house in St. Helens. Craig's work had sent some food over, and while it was warming up we all went over to a nearby park. (This was nice for the kids to blow off a little steam after the viewing.)



The park had some antiquated playground equipment, including this big old slide which Uncle Brian helped Kate climb up.




The slide proved to be rather anti-climactic. It really wasn't much of a slide at all. More of a scoot.



You don't see these much anymore. I guess they are kind of dangerous.




This is Kate's closest-age cousin, Grayson. He's almost exactly a year older.



There was a lot of this sort of thing going on.



Those are most of Melody's kids, and Al's son Michael in the back.



Grandma and Andy.



Shellee (Craig's wife), Grandma, Al (Jr.), and Melody.



Jarom (Melody's youngest) on the swing.




Uncle Brian.



Getting phlarmped on by Kate. (Huh. Apparently no one uses the word "phlarmp." It was common in my mission, but google brings up absolutely nothing.)



Doug and Al on the teeter-totters. (They were just sitting there, and somebody said, "Take a picture!")



Melody on the grass.



Let's get a family picture! Take off your glasses, Doug!



Kate runs up and tags Doug. "You're it!"



Let's try over on the teeter-totters. (The lighting was kind of patchy. It was hard to find a good spot.)



While we were taking pictures, Kate and Grayson went climbing up the slide by themselves. Whoops!



Andy's had a lot of excitement!



When it was time to go, Kate had to have one last turn on the teeter-totter.



A little lens flare and a big smile!

The next day was the funeral. The service was at the big mega church in Beaverton where Shellee's brother is a pastor.




Shellee's brother shared some stories about Craig, collected from friends and family, and then Craig's daughters Hailey and Sierra and stepson Jordan spoke. Craig was in the Marines for a while, and Jordan is in the Marines now, so Jordan got to present Shellee with a flag.



After the service--food!





A.J. (the oldest grandchild.) He's working at Drew's now, in Grandpa's old job mending boots.



Jarom says cheeeese!



Erika...



... and her socks.



I saw these stairs and thought they would make a great backdrop, so we got a Paskett family picture, and then tried some of our own.





Brian took these. I didn't know Kate was doing that with her arm.



After the funeral we congregated at Mark and Melody's hotel room for a while. Here Kate plays with the Pictionary game.



Grandma with Andy in the puppy-feet outfit that she got for him.

We had to leave so we could get the kids to bed at a reasonable time. As it was we got home at about 10:30, and Kate was just falling-down tired, but still wanted her books and stories before bed.

We hope that next time we can get together for a happier occasion. Maybe a wedding, instead of a funeral?

Brian was just down in Klamath Falls this past week, and went to visit his dad's grave in Dorris.



The greenery arrangement is still there, though somewhat less green now, along with a few other things that some of the grandkids added. Very sweet.