Hello/Goodbye

So this week has been kind of a crazy week.  My Grandpa Kerr passed away last Thursday.  My Mom was with him when he died peacefully in his sleep at around 7:05 a.m.  The perfect way to go if you ask me.  She was thankful she was there and was grateful for the way he passed.  After the word got out my siblings immediately went to work on getting to Idaho for the funeral. We are a scattered bunch, but all 5 of my siblings and I were able to make it to the funeral. They came without spouses or kids, but they came.  Here we are at my sister Heather's house on Monday night:

It was a rare occasion. With the absence of some spouses and children it was actually pretty quiet and we were able to just talk and visit and laugh about how funny we think we all are. My brothers hadn't seen each other in about 2 years.  The last time we were all together was in 2008.

The day of the funeral we saw quite a few of our extended family members.  My mom comes from a step family with 9 siblings.  My Grandpa had 54 grandchildren and oodles of Great-Grands. I don't remember the last time we had so many of the cousins together.  We took pictures, but my camera was out of memory on my card so I'll have to get that picture from someone else.  They came from as far away as New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and even China. One son from each of the 9 families served as a pallbearer:

My Grandpa served in the military during WWII so at the graveside he received full military honors.  I always get emotional when it comes to military honors.  The 21 gun salute, the soldiers with their solemn faces and attention to detail.  Their words of honor and respect for their "fallen comrade".  When a soldier played taps on the bugle I lost it. It was beautiful and I was truly appreciative of the time my Grandpa spent serving his country during a turbulent time. He was a hero.

After the burial we had a luncheon at a local church house.  We made sure to get a picture of the entire P clan in attendance:

My kids missed school to come to the funeral so after the luncheon Adam packed them up and headed home so they would be back for school the next day.  Since my siblings were all in town for a few days I headed back to my sister's house so I could spent one more night with them before they all started flying back home.  Since some of them live further from temples we decided to go to a session that night at the nearby temple. It was kind of historic that we were all able to go to the temple together like that.  The only downside was that we didn't realize how incredibly tired we all were until we sat down and they started the session. Yeah, we were pretty tired.

Yesterday we left my sister's house around 11 a.m. and 4 of the 6 kids were riding in the same car.  We were trying to figure out a good place to stop for lunch on the way to my house and my brother McKay said, "I know a place to eat in Chubbock." Um yeah, my brother lives in Pennsylvania and before that he lived in Florida, and before that he lived in Minnesota, and before that he lived in Boston-- you get the picture. The fact he would know anything in Chubbock was hilarious. So we asked him if the place was any good and he replied with, "I don't know I've never eaten there."  We all burst out laughing.  Apparently he is friends with someone whose Dad owns a place called the "Tasty Treet" in Chubbock, Idaho. He remembered his friend talking about how his Dad would get up really early each morning to peel potatoes for the french fries.  So Mckay called his friend to get the location of the Tasty Treet. During their conversation my brother started saying stuff like, "Well, as long as the health department cleared it I'm ok with that ." and "So whose insurance covers that?" We started to get a little nervous at this point and wondered if perhaps we should skip over the Tasty Treet, but when he got off the phone he explained that just last week a 17 year old girl was joy riding in her mother's boyfriend's car and in the parking lot of the Tasty Treet in the middle of the night and got the gas peddle and brake mixed up. She ended up driving the car into the Tasty Treet's eating area.  Apparently no part of the car was left outside of the building when all was said and done.  The eating area was closed for repairs, but the drive-thru was still open. Phew!

We got there and discovered it was the "Home of the Space Burger".  We didn't know what the "Space Burger" was but we knew we had to try it.  It was unlike anything we have ever seen.

In the end we decided it was kind of like a hamburger taco. Definitely original, but we would expect nothing less in Chubbock, of course. The  fries were homemade, and the shakes were very good.  Just for good measure we got out and took a picture next to the place where the car went through the restaurant.

It was a dining adventure we just couldn't pass up.  There really is nothing like eating a "space burger" while looking out across an empty lot and taking in the beauty of a local trailer park. Nothing. It was really "out of this world"

Dah-Dat-Dum

I know, terrible joke, I just couldn't help myself.  I'm back home now and trying to get into the swing of things.  It helps that the weather is beautiful today.  This has been a crazy spring with a lot cold rain and wind. I will definitely take a nice, sunny day.