Uncle Carol

My Uncle Carol passed away last week and we attended the funeral in Mapleton, Utah on Monday. 
Uncle Carol was the 2nd oldest brother in my Dad's family. 2nd oldest brother of 8 kids.

This photo of him as a baby is just so precious.

The middle photo brought back memories from when I was growing up... Uncle Carol loved roosters and chickens and always had them as pets... that is one of my main memories of him when I was young. There was a time when I was young when he kept some of his roosters over at our farm. I remember some of them were really mean and would chase us kids around. They were a little scary sometimes. He sure loves his chickens and roosters though.

He was a school teacher and also an artist. His paintings that are my favorites are of farm / country scenes and roosters. He was very talented. Someday, I would love to own one of his paintings... one can hope. :)

The right photo is a photo I took of him the last time I saw him when he could still walk. Uncle Carol endured many difficult and heart breaking trials in his life, but he always had a testimony of the gospel, was faithful through it all, and had a love for and faith in Jesus Christ.

We love you Uncle Carol. We will miss you.

Aunt Betty

So, because I have been so far behind on my blog, I had not yet added a post about my Aunt Betty. These two photos are a couple of my favorites as I was looking through the photos of her as a child. So cute.

She passed away earlier this year. We attended her funeral up in Washington State back at the beginning of February.

Aunt Betty was a kind soul. She was the oldest sister on my Mom's side of the family. Oldest sister in a family of 11 kids. I remember when Aunt Betty brought her son down to Utah to take a tour of some of the National Parks here and on their way through, they stopped at our house to visit. My sister Lisa and I ended up getting invited to go along and we had a great time with Aunt Betty and our cousin Marty. She made us feel special and important.

She was the sister who lived closest to my Grandpa after he had a stroke and had to live in a care facility... in those 11 or 12 years that he lived there, she visited him every single day, unless she was out of town. She was dedicated to making sure he felt loved and cared for. I am so grateful to her for that.
I also remember when Aunt Betty had lost her husband and as a widow, she came to Salt Lake City, Utah to serve the Lord on a mission. We loved having her so close. She would come and spend the weekends at our house. She was still on her mission there when I left on my mission to England. She had found a second hand plaid blazer somewhere and had bought it for me to take on my mission. I wish I still had that. It was so thoughtful and kind. 

I love my Aunt Betty and I sure miss her.