Spring Break

This year's Spring Break was nice and relaxing....

for the first three days. :) Then it got busy and seemed like we did way 

too much in such a short span of time.

My baby brother Darin asked me if I would come to his college graduation. At first I said no thinking there's no way I was taking my kids to all that plus the drive. Then I realized it was during our Spring Break so Jaime would have it off and his dad always takes that week off so his mom agreed to take the weekend off also so our kids could stay with them. Nice how well it all rolled out, isn't it?

On Thursday we loaded up the car and headed to Sunnyside to say good bye to Jaime's Grandma.

We were told she wasn't expected to make it another 24 hours. It was tough seeing her so lifeless.

It was tough for Jaime to leave as well but he knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything so he decided to come on the road trip with my parents and me.

We got to Boise Thursday evening and checked in to our sweet suite! Next door was Tucanos so where do you think we ate? It was good! So good we had to walk it off going through Lowe's and Walmart next door. We were ready for bed after we walked back to the hotel.

Friday morning, early, Jaime got a call informing him that his Grandma passed away around 4 a.m.

Only 16 hours since we left her. We were grateful to know we'd be home before the funeral.

Friday afternoon we stopped at the Texas Roadhouse steakhouse in Idaho Falls where we met Darin and Brother and Sister Yeager. They've been great to Darin as they only live 10 minutes from Rexburg.

Yeagers were wonderful hosts and let us stay the night at their place.

It was good to see them. They are such amazing people who would do anything for anyone.

After our huge, delicious lunch we drove to Rexburg to wait in line to get in to the BYUI Center,

also known as the BYUIC (Buick). Quite clever. It's amazing to see how much the campus has changed since I attended there. This BYUI Center is amazing.

Looks like a mini Conference Center but by all means,

it is anything but mini! 

Those front seats you see there were for all the graduates. There were over 1,000!

The procession lasted a while. We almost didn't get to see Darin as he walked in.

Waiting for it to start. We were there for an hour prior to the Commencement starting at 6 p.m.

Congratulations Darin!

He was blessed to be able to get a job before he graduated. He's moved to Oregon now.

I'm so proud of you Darin! 

After the commencement we went to the Taylor Chapel where Darin and others in his department went for their convocation at 8 p.m. He was able to listen to President of BYUI, Kim B. Clark and

Elder M. Russell Ballard both at the commencement and convocation!

What a blessing. There were some remarkable talks and advice given. I'm glad I was there.

After the convocation we went to Yeager's for the night.

And the kids during this time...having a blast with their grandparents 

and Aunt Bel and Uncle Marcus. You don't see Aidan in this pic because he's his grandpa's shadow.

Saturday morning we left Yeager's house and headed to my Grandma's for my cousins

wedding reception. It's always fun to see family you haven't seen in a while

and catch up and see how all the kids have now grown!

After the reception we headed to Jerome for a night in a hotel. We got there a little after 9 p.m.

As Jaime came out of the hotel after checking in we saw a large group of people walking toward us.

They looked oddly familiar. Little did we know they were thinking the same thing.

The Bodmer clan (family friends and Gerene was a co-worker of Jaime's) was 

staying at the same hotel. Sometimes the world does seem small. :)

We headed for the drive back to get the kids at Jaime's parents house on Sunday.

Easter. Yes we didn't get to really celebrate Easter but it was good to support 

our family. We did get to enjoy a nice easter dinner at Jaime's aunt's and visit with his family.

 I did enjoyed the drive with my parents. We don't get to sit and visit with them very much anymore so I liked the time we had together.

Monday was the Rosary in honor of Jaime's grandma. It's always hard for me to see people crying for their loved ones. I always cried more whenever I heard my mother in law cry or saw Jaime go up to the casket to see his grandma. They were very close.

Tuesday was the funeral. The grandsons were the pallbearers. 

The funeral was in spanish so I understood about 1% of it. :)

But when family and friends got up to speak about grandma it was good to hear.

Jaime was asked to speak and share a few memories. He did a wonderful job.

Grandma Palacios was 90 years old. She lived a great life and has wonderful children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. I love her family and I'm so blessed to be married to her grandson, Jaime.