Celebration of Life - Grandma Great Price

Grandma Price's funeral was held in Harrisville, Utah on April 27, 2019. She's buried with Granddad Great Price in the Salt Lake Cemetary. 

The Originals: Left to Right: Back Row: Mike Castellaw, Doug & Suzie Price, Doug Price, Teresa & David Price, Gil Simpson, Lynnette and Roger Shuman. Front Row: Janeal Castellaw, Barbara Price, Arlie Bjorn, Karen Salazar, Kathy Simpson, Glen & Nancy Price

Pall bearers in action - tried to get Kurt in the photo. Pretty casket color too. Near side: Deven Neil, Jayme Castellaw, David Price, Jordan Price. Far side: Kurt Simpson, Justin Shuman

A family scrabble - with the first names of Grandma, Granddad and their 9 kids:  Calvin, Margaret, Glen, Kathleen, Arleen, Barbara, David, Janeal, Douglas, Karen and Lynnette

Hanging out at the cemetery with Michael Price (Doug & Suzie family)

2nd 3rd and 4th generations SIMPSONS

Kneeling: James & Sierra, Lincoln, Jessi & Meta McCalvy

Standing in roughly family groups: 

Kurt, Christy, Carlee, Jake, Rachel & Tyler Simpson

Deven, Kim, Ellie, McKayla, Bree & Carter Davis

Gil & Kathy Simpson

Zoe, Hannah, Aspen Doty, Maria, Stella, Jed & Hallie Simpson

Kristen, Emma & Clay Doty

Thanksgiving - November 21-25, 2012

We weren't planning to go to Idaho for Thanksgiving.  And then Oma Simpson passed away and the funeral was planned for the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We picked up my cousin, Jenny, in Pocatello and drove to Eagle.  Thanksgiving is such a fun time to reconnect with cousins - Carter and Bree pushed Lincoln in Ellie's car - around and around and around. I can't believe this is my only picture from Thanksgiving Day.

On Friday, James and I had a movie and dinner date. Lincoln stayed with Oma and played with cousins.  We met up at the funeral home.  Lincoln and Oma and Oma-Great's casket.

I see Mommy! Where have you been? I am not happy!

Whew! They didn't leave me, I guess I'm okay.

All day Saturday we were involved in events surrounding the funeral.  The funeral program.

The Great Grand Children Choir - by this time, Lincoln and I were out in the lobby trying not to be too noisy, so he didn't participate in this one.

At my Opa Simpson's funeral 10 years ago, the grandsons were pallbearers and the granddaughters each got a flower to place on the casket.  Today, there were two vases of flowers for all the great-grandkids to participate in putting a flower on the casket.  A really nice way to say goodbye.

I just love this picture (thank you Uncle Neil for sharing all your pictures.) of Oma's lap warmers - Christy, Zoe, Hallie and Emma.

After the funeral and graveside service, we had lunch at Uncle Gord's church building. We had some group photos taken - The Simpson Boys - now the oldest generation in our Simpson branch.  Neil, Norm, Gil and Gord.

The Gil Simpsons also wanted a family photo - having everyone in the same place at the same time doesn't happen very often.  So we got a quick just-in-case-the-weather-is-terrible-outside picture in the church. Jed Simpsons, McCalvys, Kurt Simpsons, Oma and Opa, Davis' and Dotys.

And then we climbed a tree. Dotys, McCalvys, Kurt Simpsons, Oma and Opa, Jed Simpsons and Davis'.

Simpson Grandkids - Back row: Emma, McKayla, Hannah, Zoe, Carter, Jake, Tyler, Stella, Hallie, Tucker and Lincoln. Front row: Rachel, Bree, Ellie, Aspen and Christy.

McCalvy family

While we were in Eagle, I made this "frame" out of cardboard, wrapped it in Christmas paper and then Oma tied a pretty bow.  I took about a million pictures of the little cousins in varying poses and combinations in a "present".

We left Saturday night to get my cousin home in time for work on Sunday morning.  Lincoln had only napped between events during the day - 10 minute naps.  So he was asleep before we left the neighborhood and slept the entire drive to Pocatello.

It was around midnight - with a three hour drive still to go.  My uncle had given me some gas money (since we drove his daughter) and we decided to use the money we didn't spend on gas to stay at a hotel in Pocatello.  Lincoln woke up while we got situated in the room and played. But as soon as we got him into the port-a-crib, he went right back to sleep.

And in the morning, he climbed on daddy's face.

This is my favorite picture of Lincoln from the weekend - check out those blue eyes!  He was climbing the stairs to the stage in the gym during lunch. Up and down, up and down.

 I'm really grateful that we were able to go to Idaho for Thanksgiving, to attend my Oma's funeral and especially to visit with so much family. I am grateful for eternal families and have hope for a huge, heavenly family reunion someday.

Oma-Great - November 17, 2012

Oma-Great passed away at age 95. She was an active grandma in Jessi's life and we're grateful that Lincoln and Oma-Great got to meet.  In her honor, I have had honeybutter on my toast. I made my bed so that it even looks pretty. I pulled my hair out of my face. I will hold hands with my husband and I will be an involved mother with my son. I will have dessert with every meal - even if it is fruit preserves. I will use the good china because every meal, every day, is worth our very best... all things I learned from her example.

July 9, 2011 - Simpson Family Reunion - with Lincoln's onesie. I was 7 months pregnant.

November 24, 2011 - Thanksgiving - 4 generations with Oma-Great, Opa, Jessi and Lincoln (2 months).

March 23, 2012 - Idaho Ski Trip - Oma-Great and Lincoln (6 months). I love this picture - Oma's smile!

July 7, 2012 - Simpson Family Reunion - Oma-Great and all the great-grands in their traditional tie-dye. Lincoln was a bit of a Mama's boy on this weekend, but he sat in Oma-Great's lap for the pictures, perfectly happy.

July 7, 2012 - Simpson Family Reunion - Lincoln (9 months) in this year's tie-dye.

Thelma Irene Anderson Simpson
September 4, 1917 - November 17, 2012

Shout outs from Lincoln! - October 25, 2011

These are three short videos of Lincoln saying "Hi!"

Hi Oma and Opa! (:53 sec)

Hi Grandma and Grandpa and Aunti Kathleen! (:31 sec)

Hi Daddy! (:22 sec)

Blog address (in case there isn't a link in the email): jessijamesgang.blogspot.com
PS: My grandparents are Grandma and Granddad Price and Oma and Opa Simpson. (My parents spent time in Holland and the Dutch words for grandma and grandpa are oma and opa.) Then, when Jed and Maria were expecting Tucker, it was easy to bestow "Oma and Opa" onto my own parents and the in-laws could be Grandma and Grandpa (or whatever else they would like to be).  To Lincoln ... Oma and Opa are Gil and Kathy Simpson and Grandma and Grandpa are Dick and Sharon McCalvy. Daddy, of course, is James and I get to be Mommy (and videographer).

Simpson Reunion, Little Blue and Little Bandito...July 2011

Simpson Family Reunion. SISCRA Campground near Cascade, ID. July 6-10, 2011 - Happy Birthday Mom!  Happy Birthday to me! 

A couple months ago, I called home and reserved the back bed in the motorhome for the family reunion.  For my 33rd(!) birthday, Mom and Dad bought me a round-trip plane ticket between SLC and Boise.  THANK YOU! 

Opa and Oma are also hosting Kurt and Carlee's oldest three kids while Kurt and Carlee stayed behind in Boise to give birth to their youngest.  On the drive from Boise to SISCRA, we also brought Carter along.  And then stopped along the highway and collected Hannah, Hallie, Stella and Zoe.  (Jed, Maria, Tucker and Walter drove back home for some TLC for Walter - they came up the next morning).

The first night in the motor home (it rained hard at dinner time and we didn't set up any tents), we had Opa and Oma in the upper bunk, Tyler, Christy and Stella on the couch-bed, Zoe on the floor and Jake and Aunt Jessi in the back bed.  (Hannah, Hallie and Carter found other arrangements).  That is a full load!  Try putting 5 busy kids to bed all at the same time.  Oma did fantastic.  She called everyone in and began telling stories.  Stories about their parents, stories about the kids and stories from the scriptures.  Zoe fell asleep on Oma's lap before too long and all the kids went quietly to bed.  Only Jake was still awake at midnight.  But he was a pretty quiet bed buddy and didn't wiggle too much.

Story time: Zoe, Oma, Christy and Stella

This is how Opa goes to take a shower...

I tagged along to take charge of the wagon once we got to the restrooms.  (Christy, Zoe, Ellie - hidden behind Zoe, Bree, Jake and Opa)

I hauled all the kids back to camp, made everyone change out of their pajamas, added an extra kid and Nacho and we met back up with Opa just as he was coming back to camp.  Then the kids got an 'off-road' wagon ride back through the group site to camp.  Lucky!

The reunion was full of annual favorites - picking up trash along Highway 55 for our service project... Tie-dying clothes... Playing at the beach and in the boat on Cascade Reservoir... Really good food... Cribbage games... Homer the Clown and a pinata... Visiting... and this year we had the added bonus of waiting for news from Kurt and Carlee on the status of their little one.  Carlee went into the hospital on Friday July 8th to be induced and early that evening... A BABY GIRL!  And on Saturday they announced her name: Rachel Kathleen Simpson.


Along with tie-dye t-shirts, an annual photo with Oma-Great is a tradition:  Here she is with all the great-grands that could attend this year:

These are almost all of the Gil Simpson Grands - the only one missing is Rachel and as she is only a day old, she is excused.  Back Row:  Jake, Tucker, McKayla, Bree, Oma-Great, Hannah, Zoe, Stella.
Front Row: Aspen, Hallie, Emma, Carter, Tyler, (Rachel's onsie) Christy and Ellie.

This year, I got to tie-dye a onsie for my Little Bandito.  Next year, he'll be able to sit up on his own for a photo op!  (On my birthday, I am 31 weeks pregnant.)

Kurt and Carlee's big kids -Jake, Christy and Tyler- with Rachel's onsie.  So fun!

The last day of the reunion is a clean-up and mosey down the road sort of day.  But we had a deadline - my flight!  And I really, REALLY, really wanted to have time to meet Rachel before I flew home again.  Mission accomplished - Favorite Aunt Jessi and Rachel (2 days old).  Holding my newborn niece is a fantastic birthday present.

Little Blue.   My subaru has been having some electrical problems.  For a couple months the battery (which is less than a year old) has been dying.  If I drove everyday, driving would recharge the battery enough for a start the next morning.  But if I didn't drive for a couple days, then the battery would be completely dead and I'd have to jumpstart the car.  I finally bought a set of jumper cables so that I could use The Outlaw to jumpstart Little Blue and not have to ask the neighbors for help. For the last month or so, I just left Little Blue parked outside our apartment and drove the XTerra instead.  (My car is FILTHY because there is new apartment construction going on right next to our apartment.)

I didn't think it was the battery - because it was less than a year old.  I didn't think it was the alternator - because when I did drive, it would charge up the battery just fine.  Something else was draining the juice - even when the car was turned off.  The culprit... the radio.  Something was haywire inside the radio and even when power to the radio was off and power to the car was off, it was still draining power from the battery.  Now I have no radio, but at least the car will start in the mornings!

Little Bandito. I had my 32 week appointment on July 18th.  Everything is still perfect and normal.  Great blood pressure, lost one pound in a month, fundal height of about 31 cm, baby's heart rate at about 130-140 bpm.  He kicks around a bit, several times a day, every day and that is reassuring.  He is still finding new places to poke me - recently I have felt him all the way off to each side and sometimes down super low by my hip.  Kid must be growing! But mostly, I feel him right around my belly button.  I don't think I'm having any weird cravings...but I could eat ice cream every single meal.  It must be July.

Idaho Adventure - June 10-13, 2010

We LOVE road trips!  We had plans to go to Idaho for the Sawtooth Relay.  We've been the volunteer support part of a relay team from Eagle for a couple of years.  This year the team didn't enter the race, but we didn't get official notification that we weren't needed until the week before the race.  We already had Friday off of work, so we packed up The Outlaw anyway and headed to Eagle for Eagle Fun Days instead.  And since we had an extra day, we planned to drive through Sun Valley and Stanley (the race route) on our way to Eagle.

Thursday night we planned to camp in the car (the futon mattress fits into the back of the XTerra just perfectly and makes a very comfortable bed) and wanted to camp somewhere on the way to Sun Valley.  We got to Shoshone after dark and thought that the Magic Reservoir was just off the highway and would make a nice campsite.  We were navigating by headlights and couldn't find the water!  We finally parked just off a dirt road in a grassy field and planned to find our way back out in the morning.

Friday morning we woke up to bird noise and ducks - we camped "in" the reservoir after all!

We enjoyed our drive through Sun Valley and along the race route.  Plenty of "Honey Buckets" set up at the different check points for the race - which would be on Saturday.  At Stanley, we forgot to turn and were driving along the Salmon River. James thought the scenery was a bit different and we finally stopped at Sunbeam Hot Springs to check the atlas.  We were only 14 miles out of our way.

This is the old bath house - constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps and now is completely empty.

This is how the water gets from the springs (just above the highway) to the river.

We thought the water would mix right at the bank and be comfortable.  WRONG - the hot water scorched our calves and the cold water froze our toes.  We didn't wade for long.

Our next "wrong" turn was on purpose.  We drove up to Cascade to visit Oma and Uncle Neil.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for dinner.

Uncle Neil suggested we stop by the Cascade Reservoir dam spillway on our way out of town.  It was raging!  The view from a dry distance.

The view from the parking lot at the bottom of the dam.

A rainbow from the spray.

The view from the top of the spillway.

Our final stop on the way home was at Ridgeline Specialty Sports in the Winco shopping center.  Friends from Eagle were having their Grand Opening on Saturday.  Friday night was the pre-grand-opening-party-for-friends.  So we stopped by to see the new shop and inventory and have some chips and salsa.

Saturday was the Eagle Fun Days parade, complete with water fight.

Kurt filling the water guns and kiddie pool.

Carlee selling CJ's Sweets and Treats. YUM!

Lining the street and hoping for candy.

After the parade we ditched the downtown crowds and headed for Gerber Park and the water park there.  Clay and Kristen brought some softball gear and we played a little ball.  Aspen was the ball girl.  We'd throw the ball in her general direction and she'd run to pick it up, and then run right up to Kristen to throw her the ball. 

Kristen

James

We had dinner and watched USA v. England World Cup Soccer at Clay and Kristen's.  Clay had forbidden anyone from telling him anything about the game so he could watch it after dinner.  James and I already knew the score and what time during the game each goal was scored.  We also knew exactly what the sports talk radio guys felt about the score, about the goals, about the referees and the players.  While we watched, James would nudge me, "USA's about to score...." and we'd get to see the goal we'd heard about on the radio.  It was a tie.  1:1.

On Sunday we had a wake up committee.  This is Bree and a battery powered dinosaur.  At one point they were on our bed, McKayla and Carter were on our bed, and Ellie was watching from the doorway.

Before church, we went over to Clay and Kristen's to go to the Veladrome bike park.  I wanted to get pictures of Kristen and Clay and James doing the big jumps, but the battery was super low.  I'm lucky to get these pics...

Emma - love that grin!

Aspen - love those stripey socks!

Kristen pushing Aspen around the dirt jumps

James - wheelie!

We went to church with Kurt and Carlee and family.  Kurt brought a package of skittles and handed it over to James - who was then the favorite uncle.  Christy would sit on my lap to color, but Jake only came over for skittles.  James taught him "Pick-A-Hand."  James would put a skittle or two into his hand, close his hand and then put both hands together and shake.  Then separate his closed hands and offer them to Jake to choose which hand to open for the chance at a skittle.  At first, Jake didn't know what to do.  After watching Tyler and Christy choose - and receive skittles, he finally would touch James' hands.  Both of them.  Every time.  Smart guy.

So sad when it is time to go.  Dinner eaten, car packed, chalk art completed.

The Jessi James Gang Was Here.