grandma's funeral

This post is way over-due but I was able to fly to San Diego for my grandma's funeral last month.  My grandma LOVED Hawaii - if she was just at home, you could always find her in a muumuu and my grandparents were even planning to go to Hawaii in July before everything happened with their health.  For the closing song, I played Aloha Oe (Farewell to Thee) on the harp while my two cousins sang and then the congregation joined in on the last chorus.  It was gorgeous and I luckily made it through without crying.  After, we had a luau!  The funeral was lovely and it was so nice spending some time with my dad's side of the family.

First we had to make a stop at one of our favorite places - the Oceanside pier.

missing dustin and shayna!

We had the graveside service first.

all of my dad's siblings and spouses

the program - check out her awesome beehive!

aloha oe grandma 

grandma and grandpa hunt

My Grandma and Grandpa Hunt both passed away recently.  My grandpa died and my grandma joined him in heaven 20 days later!  I am so grateful I got to see them and spend time with both of them when I was in Utah last month.  It was such a special experience to be in the temple with them and the rest of my dad's family for my cousin's wedding.  I will never forget that feeling, nor will I forget all the memories I have of them!  I love them and I am so grateful for the amazing plan of salvation.  Families are forever.

the last time i saw my grandparents.  love that me and grandpa kept our sunnies on.

i flew down to california with shayna and my parents when my grandma was first diagnosed with cancer.  

henry "bud" hunt

"to my darling wilmadele, with all my love and eternal devotion" 

-bud

love this pic of my grandma!  she ALWAYS wore muumuus. :)

aren't they so adorable?!

my cousin's wife hannah made this!  

"be loving sweet and kind" was my grandma's mantra.  such a special lady.

a farewell and a funeral

Last week was a pretty crazy one for us.  My sister Shayna left on her mission to Kyiv, Ukraine!  She gave a  thoughtfully composed talk about prayer and I especially loved her sweet testimony of the gospel and why she had decided to serve a mission.  And she was wearing the cutest dress!

I ditched out of my symphony rehearsal early Tuesday night to be there for her setting apart and say goodbye.  It was funny because my mom, Shayna, and I were just sitting at the kitchen table talking and then I told them I should get going since it was late.  I said bye like it was no big deal and started walking to the door. Then I realized "oh yeah, you're saying bye for 18 months!"  So after 20 more minutes, seven more "byes", and a few hugs, I left for real.  It's really bizarre just saying goodbye to someone for a long time.  Like a hug and a goodbye doesn't do justice to how much bigger than that it feels.

I've already had a brother serve a mission, and no offense to him, but I feel like I will miss my sister a little more!  She is my only sister after all, and the one that I am constantly texting for fashion advice, life advice, funny cat photos, snap chats, etc.  I will miss her dearly but know she will be an amazing missionary in Ukraine!  She is one tough cookie and excels in anything she tries so I know this will be no different.

A few days later, we had a funeral service for Dustin's Grandma Harper.  She was 93!  I would love to live to at least 90!  Unfortunately, the last five years of her life she had been living in a rest home, suffering from dementia and other illnesses.  While it's always hard to lose a loved one, it was bittersweet for the whole family.  Everyone was glad that she could finally be freed from her frail body and move on to be with her sweetheart who died 11 years ago.  

They just had a small graveside service and it was lovely.  The weather was perfect and the cemetery was located on a hill in Provo which overlooked the entire valley.  Each of the children (including Dustin's dad) shared some favorite memories of her, the grandkids sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and I played two pieces on the harp - "Over the Rainbow" and "O My Father" (which was her favorite hymn).  After we had a luncheon with the family at Dustin's aunt's home.  I only met Grandma Harper a few times and even though she didn't really know me, or remember me - she always touched me with her sweet smile and her loving spirit.  One of my favorite things shared about her was that her favorite holiday was April Fool's and she always played the best tricks on everyone in the family!  

A picture of us on Easter Sunday.  I am so deeply grateful for our savior Jesus Christ, and his atonement and what it means for our family.  Funerals are a little easier knowing that you will get to be with your loved ones again someday!

the latest and greatest, and not so greatest...

Here's a quick recap of what we've been up to lately!  Just enjoying life as usual, all of the great and not-so-great moments...we'll get to that later.  Oh and did I mention that we are going to Corpus Christi again this summer?  Another Vivint summer in Texas!  It would have been cool to go somewhere else but I really enjoyed south Texas and we are happy about our decision to go back.  Also, my brother Trevor and Dustin's brother Stephen are coming along to sell!  It's gonna be a par-tay!

My little cousin Max was baptized!  Eight is great!  

After the baptism, we headed over to another harp recital.  My students got to participate in another studio's recital.  Sadly, I didn't get any pics but they played beautifully!  My four year old student played Mary Had a Little Lamb and looked oh so adorable in her pink tutu dress.

We finally made it to Scheel's! 

Watch Kitty.

The other day when I pulled up to my parent's house, this is what I saw.  

Our good friends Katie & Jason (who set us up on our blind date, and thus we owe them forever).  Katie threw Jason a surprise birthday party last week.  I love surprise parties!  Happy 24 Jason! 

Shayna and Tanner picked me up from work last week to take me out to lunch!  Yum, fish tacos.  I'm sorry Tanner but if you're gonna make a face like that, you can't expect it not to show up on the internet.

Sister bonding time.  Shayna and I had a craft day while Dustin was out selling.  Who knew celery was so beautiful?

We also had a not-so-great moment last week when Dustin's car was stolen.  Yes, STOLEN!!  It was parked on the street, locked, and the next morning it was GONE.  Such an awful awful feeling!  Even thinking about it now, I just feel sick.  It makes you feel so violated, you know?  Luckily there was nothing valuable in it, although he had a nice stereo system.  We filed a police report and Dustin thinks that it won't turn up, but I am just crossing my fingers and praying that it will show up!  Even if the stereo is ripped out, it would just be nice to have the car back.  Dustin has never not had a car, and I think it is driving him even more crazy than me.  I think it maybe has something to do with his man ego.  

So for now, we are experiencing the one-car life.  We have always had two cars, and even though we both live close to school and work it is kind of a pain and pretty annoying.  We have to go through this talk every day where we have to figure out who needs to be where, when and who needs the car, etc.  I'm still hoping that the car will turn up, but if not we will just make it work until we leave for the summer, and then re-evaluate and possibly buy a car after the summer.  

Anyway - to end a happy note - this week is spring break for Dustin!  I still have to work but it means that we can play every night and stay up late watching movies and he doesn't have to worry about doing homework.  Also, I made these yummy lemon cookies last night.  

shayna aka sister hunt

My sister Shayna got her mission call last week!  Her MISSION CALL!  I don't think my mind has fully wrapped around the fact that she is actually going on a mission.  When they made the announcement in general conference in October that girls could leave at the age of 19, Shayna felt inspired that this was an answer about what she should do next with her life.  She will turn 19 on January 16, 2013.  The Tuesday after conference, she met with her bishop and started filling out her papers!  She turned in her papers and got her call a week later - on Wednesday, November 14th.  She had to wait until Thursday night to open it, and...


she's going to the Kiev, Ukraine mission!  She will be speaking Russian, and leaves March 27th, 2013!


Haha no one guessed Ukraine!  I am so happy, excited, and proud of her!  She is thrilled as you can imagine. Congrats Shayna!

The call.  It sat there a whole day before being opened since Shayna was still up in Logan.

The Kyiv, Ukraine temple - built 2010

the power of kindness

On Sunday, we talked about the power of kindness in a church lesson.
Sometimes I get so caught up in the busyness of everything that I'm doing that I forget to be kind.
I am going to try harder to be kind to my coworkers, customers, strangers, friends, and especially family and husband.  I want to be proactive about it, and go out of my way a little bit each day to be kind to someone.  I believe there is power in being kind.  I know because I have been on the receiving end numberless times.  Whether it's a smile, a compliment, a note, an act of service, a phone call, a text, a prayer, a conversation, a surprise, a treat, or a hug, it can make someone's day a little better.
If we were all a little kinder, the world would be a little better.

Hey Stephen

I finally got to meet my only brother-in-law!  Stephen came home from his mission in Zambia, Africa on Friday night.  We picked him up from the airport around 6:30pm, then came home and ate pizza and he showed us all the cool things he brought home from Africa!  He was released at 11pm that night.  It was a really neat experience being there with Dustin's family & the stake president, and hearing Stephen talk about his mission and bear his testimony about it.

Saturday we hung out with all the family that came up from California for the homecoming.  There were many Cataan games played haha.  The Harpers love Settlers of Cataan!

Sunday was the homecoming.  I ended up doing the musical number (the yw were supposed to sing, but backed out the day before).  I played a medley of three hymns:  I know that my redeemer lives, Our savior's love, and I believe in Christ.  Stephen gave a fantastic talk!  I loved hearing about his experiences in Africa and the people he met.  He bore a strong testimony of the gospel and the spirit was strong.  And at the end, he bore his testimony in this crazy African "click" language.  LEGIT!  After, everyone came over to the Harpers' house and we had homemade Cafe Rio!

It's been so fun getting to know Stephen!  I can definitely tell he is Dustin's brother.  They're similar in a lot of ways - the dark hair, big smile, charismatic sense of humor, and use of sarcasm.  But Stephen still talks like an African.  It was a fun-filled weekend and I'm looking forward to getting to know him better.