Carole's Funeral Weekend

 I had booked a flight to see Liz this weekend and have a girls weekend. I got tickets to the parade of homes to see Paige’s new home in Lehi. I was really looking forward to my weekend!

But sweet Carole passed away so instead of a weekend with Liz, I got tickets for Tanner and my parents to fly with me and attend Carole’s services. At the last minute, Tanner had to cancel his flight because he had team building in San Diego with his boss (boating and such) and felt like maybe he should just stay. His time would have been well spent in Utah, too, but I’m glad he was able to blow off some steam and spend time with co workers because he’s been pretty stressed with work issues this week.

I worked and brought the kids home early and then picked up my parents and we drove to John Wayne. It was a quick, easy Allegiant flight to Provo and our car rental was in the parking lot, unlocked, keys in the cup holder. Welcome to Utah. We were hungry but it was a little late (around 9pm) so we decided to check out a new pizza place at Riverwoods called Slackwater and it was soooo good! We sat outside on the warm summer evening with twinkles lights over head and good music all around. We ordered 2 fancy pizzas: one called the California that had avocado on it and one called the gyro with lamb and cucumbers and onion. They were seriously soooo delicious. We decided to splurge and get the strawberry beignets for dessert and we chowed those down! Little pillows of heaven! So good! We were stoked with our dinner.

We made a quick stop at Harmons and then got up to the Cottage for a very nice night of sleep.

The next morning after a simple breakfast, we headed to the church for Carole’s services. It was so good to see so many dear friends and familiar faces. We were there for family prayer and were honored to hear all 5 kids speak of their memories of their mom. Carole was such an amazing mom. And person! She was generous and frugal. Strong and reserved. She loved shopping, chocolate, the beach, her waterbed, traveling, and her kids. She was my mom’s best friend so she was pretty much just like my mom. It was a sweet and tender tribute and my mom and 3 Arch Bay were talked about many times.

We were invited to the luncheon after and were able to sit down and talk to Sari and Josh and many others. We took a quick break from the family and went to tour Paige’s new house in Lehi which is completely unbelievable. She gave us a private tour (there were hordes of people walking around her house for the tour) and it was so fun to hear about all the special details. She was so cute and kind to show us around and it was really fun!

We then ended the afternoon sitting around at Carole’s house with the Christensen kids catching up and remembering Carole and James. They are going to sell that house some day and it will truly be the end of an epic era. One that I feel so privileged and blessed to be a part of. I had a fun chat with Josh and Sari and Emily, too. Pete and Jen were such gracious hosts and the backbone of the whole affair.

I hope the Christensen’s all come to visit this summer to recreate our precious 3 Arch memories and spend time together. We love them so much. There’s nothing like friendships that span generations. Sari’s kids were running all over the house looking for mine when they saw I was there. How completely cute is that???

It was easy traveling with my mom and dad and fun that we got to sit in the front row on the way home. We always have an easy, good time together and under the circumstances, I feel very blessed to be able to spend this precious time with them. The cottage was a magical respite and the whole weekend was healing and loving and wonderful.

Until we meet again, James and Carole. Love you forever!