Grandpa

My sweet Grandpa "Dick" Shaw passed away on Dec. 15th after a very courageous and long battle with cancer. He never complained and was always so optimistic. He is an amazing man that taught me so much and gave me the greatest gift in my dad.

I was able to change the first half of my Christmas flight and Ben and I headed to Salt Lake for his funeral. Despite the sad circumstances, it was wonderful to be together...just like Grandpa Shaw would have liked it. All my sisters were there and all my cousins on my dad's side that I rarely get to see. The funeral was an amazing tribute to my grandpa. Full of music, stories, his legacy of faith, and of course corny-i mean funny-jokes & grandpa-isms.

My Grandpa Shaw was buried next to my Grandma Eleanor, who passed away when my dad was just 5, and my brother, Ben, at Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Although SNOWY, it was beautiful and peaceful.

My grandma being presented a folded flag in honor of my grandfather's service in the navy.

It was a blessing to be with ALL my sisters and my parents during this holiday season. In this pic below, Caitlin was freezing and had gone to sit in the car :)

My Ben, with his namesake, my brother, Ben's, grave stone. My big brother would be almost 32!

My dad with his siblings (-Andy who had already left) and my sweet Grandma Lou.

My mom was a tad cold, but we huddled with the girls :)

After the funeral, my dad's cousin who owns some KFC franchise catered a family lunch with the help of my g-parents ward. Anyone who wanted had an opportunity to share their thoughts, feelings, stories about gpa and it was fun to listen and share together. Below is Annie and Benners. Annie, Paige, & Ben crawled all over the floor--so fun for him to play with cousins! Louisville is SO far away!

at the hotel we got stuck in the elevator and of course we had to capture it on the camera ( rach and beck didnt quite make it in the pic) and we were freed quickly:)

In the hotel room saying goodbye to the Uffens. I would have not been able to see them this holiday season and was SO grateful for that, but saying goodbye was hard right before the holidays!

Like Rach said in her blog, we all have so many memories of my Grandpa and he was full of SO many traits that I hope I can try to develop. When people described my grandpa the most common word was LOVE. He NEVER let the opportunity go by without telling me how much he loved me and how proud he was of me. I will miss his Grandpa jokes, his constant singing, his encouragement, and positive outlook on life. But I am so glad he will be "home" for the holiday and so grateful for the knowledge I have that I will see him again.

I love you Grandpa!