Gramps

My Grandpa Smith passed away on Tuesday August 27th. Kind of neat and sweet him and my grandma were only apart for 28 days. I know he needed to be with her and it just really made his personality show because he was so stubborn. He waited until he knew she was OK. I miss him so much though. It's so hard for everyone still here without them. I feel like I'm having an especially hard time just because they both passed away while we are here in North Dakota. I'm so grateful for all the times I was able to spend with my grandparents. Just recently when we were down for my grandma's funeral I was playing solitaire at my grandpa's house. He had been kind of out of it that day but pretty soon after I got the cards out he jumped right in and started helping me play. Then he asked me if I wanted to share a banana with him. That moment meant so much to me, especially now. I have so many memories of my grandpa. He was hilarious and stubborn as hell. I'm pretty positive I get my stubbornness from him. I remember when I was home schooled in 6th grade my mom would have me go to their house sometimes in the morning and do some school work.  My grandpa would always watch "The Price is Right" and we would eat yogurt. If I was ever doing math homework he didn't like me to count with my fingers he wanted me to count in my head. So funny. Both him and my grandma were avid Jazz fans to the point where they would even just listen to the games on the radio if they weren't on TV. Gramps always called to let us know what time and what channel the game would be on so we could watch it. I remember playing Kings in the corner with my grandpa and my grandma would sneak over my shoulder and give me hints and tips. He was passionate about gas mileage and the details on our car. I'll try to do better on keeping track of my gas mileage for you grandpa. One of the many things I got from my grandpa's many stories was to always stand up for yourself.  I think that is so important. He taught me that it isn't ok for others to treat you unfairly. We wont go into the ways he made it known to people who did not treat him fair because thats besides the point. Grandpa was very protective of his grandkids. You didn't mess with us or else he would hunt you down. I'm not kidding...He loved his 3 great granddaughters very much. They new him as grandpa great. 

I miss my grandma and grandpa so very much. I'm so glad they are together and I know I am so lucky to have had them in my life for as long as I did. 

Grandma Smith

My grandma (my mom's mom) passed away on Tuesday July 30th. She passed away in the arms of my dad. Instead of dwelling on the sadness of it all and how much I miss her and how rough it is somedays I just wanted to write down some of my memories of my grandma.My brothers and my sister and I were her only grandkids and so we were very close with her. 

She was an amazing person! She was so much fun! I remember having sleepovers at my grandparents house and watching the Utah Jazz games. My grandma would get all sorts of treats ready for us and put them in bowls. She would hold her hand up like she was covering the basketball hoop when the opposing team tried to make a shot in hopes the ball would "bounce" off her hands. When the score got too close she would go into the other bedroom but then turn the TV in on there because she couldn't stand to watch it. 

She made amazing food. One of my favorites was her maraschino Cherry Salad without the Cherries. It's made with whip cream, jello, and velveeta cheese. Kind of weird sounding I know but its delicious!

Whenever anyone had sickness or an injury like a headache or something she would rub your head in one motion. Like across your forehead pick up her hand and then across your forehead. When it felt better,which it always did, she would then wash her hands to get the pain out of her hands. I loved it. I always knew grandma could make me feel better.  

She loved to fish and be outside. She loved cacti and roadrunners. She loved to garden and always took really great care of her lawn. 

Unfortunately, she suffered from Alzheimers so I am happy that she is out of pain and confusion. Miss you Grams. 

My grandma and I fishing

Grandma and I

Me,my mom, and my grandma

We made it to Bismarck,ND

There may not be a ton of pictures with this post and I apologize. I took some awesome shots on the drive up and unfortunately my phone crashed and I lost them all so sad. Well things sometimes just don't go as planned. We figured it was going to be around a 15-18 hour drive to Bismarck and we wanted to leave really early but we ended up not leaving until about 10am. The drive was gorgeous Ben,Duke, and I drove in the truck and pulled the trailer. My dad drove behind us in the Mazda (yes my dads amazing to have done this drive with us and help move us up here on such short notice.) We had never pulled a trailer before with our truck so we were curious to see what kind of gas mileage we got. Let me tell you it wasn't good. About three hours in we had to fill up the tank. So having to stop that often to fill up kind of put us back a little on time. The good thing was the Mazda was getting great gas mileage and we were only having to fill it up about every other time we filled up the truck. Around 10pm we were on the Eastern side of Montana and we could tell everyone needed a rest so we found a little hotel and crashed. We had to sneak Duke in. I'm so grateful he is such a good dog or else we could have really had some problems. We just slept until we felt rested in the morning and then headed out on the road again. Mind you this whole time we technically don't have a place to live I have 2 places that have said its a possibility but we have nothing set in stone yet. We get to Bismarck and it is just pouring rain. We get to the duplex that we are hoping to rent and I can't get a hold of the landlord. So we go to Walmart and get my dad a hoodie because we hadn't planned on this weather and we get a blow up mattress because we don't have anything to sleep on. Still don't hear back from the landlord so we stop at TacoJohns a little mexican fast food place. Finally, we hear from the landlord go back to the duplex we take a look around sign the lease it stops raining for about an hour we get everything pretty much unpacked and thats it!

The next morning we dropped my dad off at the airport which is literally down the street. We basically live on airport road. There is also an active train track right by our house. That has taken some getting used to. I swear the conductor falls asleep on the horn some nights. Having people above us again has also taken some getting used to. They have a dog and we call him Crazy Old Bruce. He's crazy for real. It rained almost non stop for about the first month we were here and now its just hot and humid. A few things I've learned about North Dakota: Almost everyone wears Underarmor or TheNorthFace clothing. The majority of people are Catholic or Lutheran. They are huge on motorcycles especially Harley Davidsons. They have 2 Walmarts a north and south one. When you tell them you moved up here for work they assume you are working in the oil fields. They don't have enough people for the jobs they have available and they don't have enough housing for the people they need. There is only 3 types of music available on the radio. I like to call them the 3 C's: Country,Christian, and Classic Rock.

I was going to post more pictures of the inside of the house but I will just have to do that later because its taken me over 2 months to get this post up! Also...look up Minnesota accents on youtube. That's kind of how they talk here and some days I really pick up on the accent. Oops!