..and I shall conquer death..

The title of this post really has so much meaning and is very fitting for what my weekend was like.

As you know my aunt and uncle passed away last week. It was hard on all of us, but especially their family. We ended up going to the funeral in Arizona.

We took off Wednesday night after the girls had young women's at around 10:00pm (I know, that's way past young women's, you know us). My mom was going back and forth trying to decided if she was going to go or not. My cousin was going through the temple on Friday morning; my mom is close to him and was invited, she really wanted to go. She finally decided that she was just going to stay. So me, along with my sisters headed for Arizona. We were in American Fork and got a call from my mom, she was crying and said to come back, and that she was coming. We headed back and got her stuff in the car and left! I have to say, I was pretty grateful, I wasn't too excited about driving for 6 hours straight in the middle of the night. Now that she was coming, we had 3 drivers, which was so much better! Besides that, it wouldn't have been the same without my mom there.

We got in Arizona at about 11am. We couldn't check into our hotel, so we went shopping because my mom had forgotten her swimming suit.

Finally we checked into our hotel, swam a little, then headed to the viewing.

The actual viewing started at 6 but since we were family we came an hour earlier so we could actually see the bodies because they didn't have an open casket for friends.

It was a very moving experience. My mom tells us at every funeral (I don't think that she knows she tells us this every time, but, she does) to look and see how much of a difference the body is without the spirit. It's just not the person. The spirit is what brings our body to life and gives us our "look." It is very true. My aunt didn't look like herself even a little bit. You could tell there was a lot of make-up on her, probably because it had been longer than a week since the accident, and because of the actual accident. My uncle, we actually couldn't even see him. They had a white blanket covering his face and things over his hands. That was the hardest for my family I think. You couldn't help imagining what was, or wasn't underneath. It was probably one of the saddest funerals I have ever been too. All of our family was in the room, just crying. Everyone was hugging and just balling. It was rough. I can't even imagine losing both of my parents or grandparents at the same time. Probably the biggest thing that got me was all of their grandchildren. You could just tell how much they adored their grandparents, and how much their grandparents adored them. A good portion of all the pictures they had up were Karen and Floyd with their grandchildren. We would watch the kids go up and look at their grandparents and just run crying to their parents, burring their heads. It broke my heart. There is nothing that you can say to make that better.

Some people would be mad or turn away from our Father in Heaven. Not us. If anything, it makes us stronger and our faith increases. Of course it's hard to see the big picture of why this would happen to such an amazing family, but we know that trials make us stronger and that everything has reason and purpose. We know that this was their time, and that they were supposed to go together. Sometimes, that knowledge makes to a little easier to get through the day.

As we were driving back to the hotel from the viewing, the song "I know that my Redeemer Lives" came on. As I sat listening to the song I've heard a hundred times a new feeling came over me. The words "and I shall conquer death" stood out to me more than ever. I SHALL conquer death. An immediate feeling of peace and comfort came over me. Not only had Karen and and Floyd conquered death, but my Aunt Laura, Uncle Arlin, Grandpa Calder, Grandpa Cliff, and my Dad have all conquered death. Conquer. It is only through our Redeemer and Brother Jesus Christ that we are able to conquer death and return to live with those who we love more than life itself. I can't even express how much that means to me.

We then had the funeral the next day. I love funerals. Of course not because I like it when people pass away, but I love learning about the lives of the sweet people who are now passed on. No one says anything bad, no one is mad at them, it's all just great things that the people have accomplished and all about the great people they were here, and are now in heaven. I learned so much about Floyd and Karen, it made me wish that I had gotten to know them better, but I know there is time for that later. :) As someone said in the funeral, they were welcomed with open arms and gigantic hugs in heaven and we sure can't wait to see them again :)

We actually drove by the site they were killed at on our way home. I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared of what I was going to see. We pulled over by the side of the road and just sat in silence. I could feel the spirit so strongly. This is where my aunt and uncle had left their bodies and passed on to the other side. We offered a prayer to our Father in Heaven thanking him for everything that he gives us and for the great lives that Karen and Floyd had lived and for the time we got to spend with them. We then continued to pray to protect us on our way home and to be with the Well's family at this trying time.

I am so grateful for prayer and the powerful influence it has on us.

We even had the opportunity to stop and do baptisms at the Mesa temple. It was really fun because all the workers were so nice and you can just feel the spirits of those you are being baptized and confirmed for. I'm grateful that I can help and serve those who cannot be with their families without help from us.

A little more weird stuff about the trip. It took us 11 hours to get to Arizona. 11 long miserable hours. We took our focus to save gas money. Holy cow. Squishy. All 5 of us. Good thing it was in the night or I think we would have killed each other because of the heat and being awake the whole time. We had some good laughs and I think all of us have a couple of bruises, but it was well worth it! We loved the trip!