Sunday afternoon and Monday morning....

Guest photographer for this entry is my mom!!! She took 42 pictures on the trip but these are two places I did not go so she was in charge of the pictures. My mom, Grandma, Aunt Alice, Nancy, Shirley, and Louise went to the Swedona Church on Sunday afternoon after the picnic. This church was designed and built with some help from my Grandma's mother's father. (got that?) so my Great Great grandfather! There is also a cemetary attached to the church and this is where they are buried. My Grandma's Aunt Amanda is also buried here. I did not know much about her Aunt Amanda but Alice gave me a brief run down when we were looking at Nancy's album on Sunday. Aunt Amanda lived by herself even though she was married. She ended up homesteading her own land and when her husband was sick and dying she took care of him and made him comfortable until his death. Alice said she was able to visit them quite often when they were growing up. Aunt Amanda died in 1967.
This is what the church looks like today. It still has services and has a basement kitchen and active parish.
On Monday morning, my mom drove over to ride with Grandma, Nancy and Alice to go visit her Uncle Herbert. He is in a home in Sioux Falls. Grandma has not seen him in quite some time so they took him a piece of her birthday cake from Saturday night. He does not talk and my mom said that some of the other cousins had said that he does not smile much. My mom said he seemed happy and to remember them when they visited. He smiled when he saw the cake and they walked down with him for lunch. He was able to eat the cake before lunch and he was very happy!
Uncle Herbert passed away yesterday, July 21, 2008. My mom had just brought me her camera to post these pictures in the morning but I did not have time before work. We are all happy that my Grandma was able to see her brother while he was still alive and give her a smile. My Grandma is now the oldest living sibling.

Uncle Herbert was a funny man who loved to joke around and work in his corn field. I remember him shucking corn and having lots of tractors when we visited 30 years ago. We were also able to see him when he came out to visit Grandma in Tahoe for her 75th birthday too. Nice to see a man who worked all his life and never asked for much was happy to have a piece of his sister's birthday cake and smile. Even better that that sister lives in California and was so happy to visit him! another reason this trip was taken at the right time and was a better gift then any that we could have purchased for her.