I love my grandpa

Here I am on my vacation in Las Vegas and all I can think about is my grandpa. Yesterday as Scott and I were walking on the Hoover Dam, I got the phone call that my grandpa had passed away. I've been waiting for this phone call for a few days, as we've known that his time was close. I can't help but be grateful that I had a chance to go and see him on Friday and tell him that I love him and hear that back from him. He wasn't very conscious but I know that he knew I was there.

My grandpa was a good man, filled with integrity, honor, service, love, compassion and unconditional love. I was always jealous growing up of my older cousins. My grandparents lived in Anaheim California until I was 8, and every summer they would drive to Utah in their Winnebego and would take the grandkids (alternating boys a girls every other year) to their home for a few weeks. You had to be 8 to do this, and they moved up here when I was 8. I was always bummed by this, but little did I know that I would be able to have more experiences with them because they had moved here. I loved going to football games with my grandpa. We had season tickets right next to him for few years, until he had his stroke in 1996. His motto was "You never leave a game early" and I don't think we ever have (except for those few times we were losing to the U, but grandpa wasn't there to see.)

My fondest memories of my grandpa were when he and my grandma would come into Su Casa to eat an early dinner. They would come in every other week or so and I really cherished those times. Grandma would tell funny stories about grandpa and he would just laugh and say "That's right!" One of my favorite stories was about when he was a pilot for American Airlines and he and his co-pilot would play jokes on the passengers. One of them would pretend to be blind as they would greet the passengers on the runway before they went up the steps onto the plane.
Since my grandpa had had a stroke, he couldn't feel on his right side, so as he would eat his mexican pizza (which he always had) he wouldn't realize that he would have food hanging down on the right side of his mouth. My grandma would say "Joe, you have food on your mouth." and he would look at me, not being able to communicate well, and he would just roll his eyes and we would both laugh. My grandma didn't think it was as funny.

One of my other fond memories was a couple weeks after Scott and I had been married. My grandpa was having some trouble walking and was in a rehabilitation center up in Sandy. The family had a get together for his birthday up there in the rec room. When we got there, my grandma was wheeling him down a hall so we were talking to them and my grandma kept going on and on about "the deere", a sentimental "line dance" that we did at our open house and reception. She had seen it at the open house but had taken my grandpa home before we had done it at our reception so he didn't get a chance to see it. She wanted Scott to show grandpa how it was done. Having no hesitation, Scott did the dance for grandpa right there in the hall of the hosptial, and grandpa couldn't stop giggling. I'm so glad we had special moments like that.

As I've gone through this process I can't help but be grateful that grandpa decided to join the church 10 years ago. His decision to do that and to be sealed to his family has made this process so much easier. As I was saying goodbye to grandpa, I was sobbing on my grandma's shoulder and she said to me "All you have to say is 'I'll be seeing you.' " And to know that I will is all the comfort I need.

I love you grandpa and I'll be seeing you.