Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Grandpa Hunsaker

It has been quite the past week. As many of you may know my Grandpa passed away on Wednesday last week. I think most of the family knew that he was getting close to the end of his life so it wasn't a complete shock. I also think that even though we will miss him, the family was glad to see his suffering end. His health had been failing for the past few years and it was harder and harder for him to get around. I know that was frustrating to him. I'm sure he was ready to go home also. I am sure there was much rejoicing last week on the other side when Grandpa was able to reunite with his his family and friends that had gone before him.

Troy was able to come home a few days early so he could be at the funeral. We went and picked him up at the airport on Wednesday night. It had been almost a year since he had been home so it was really good to see him. We talked for quite a while about his experience so far in the Army.

Friday we headed up to Idaho for the viewing and funeral. I was able to see a lot of the family that we don't see a lot anymore which was good. The funeral was really good, I thought everyone who was involved did an excellent job. It was amazing to hear the stories and experiences that had made Grandpa who he was. A few things that stood out to me and a few of my own observations from my memories of Grandpa. His mother died when he was young and his father was an alcoholic. His father was a very mean drunk and was not sober very often. The story was told about how as a young boy Grandpa at least once had to run and hide in the orchard because his father had been shooting at him. At the age of 10 Grandpa left home and spent the rest of his growing up years living with various relatives. As a young man he was drafted by the Army and spent much of WWII in Italy. I don't really remember him ever talking much about the Army. He was always willing to help anyone and everyone with anything. He was very good at building things. I remember when we were kids we really wanted one of those adjustable basketball hoops. Grandpa decided that he could make one without to much trouble and the next thing we knew there was a hoop at our house. He also made countless toys for his kids, grand kids and great-grand kids. Grandma & Grandpa had a pool and ping pong table in their basement. Like my cousin mentioned I don't ever remember seeing them play on either table but we were always encouraged to bring our friends over as much as we wanted and play. My friends and I spent many nights in the basement playing pool. I don't ever remember Grandpa being angry. One of his motto's was not to cry over spilled milk. Getting angry when bad things happen doesn't really help anything at all. I will always remember the many camping, fishing and hunting trips I was able to take with Grandpa and the many other great memories I have of him. He truly was a light on a hill for all who knew him and I hope I can strive to follow the example he set for me. I look forward to the day that I will see him again.

Because Grandpa was a WWII vet the American Legion was at the cemetery to give the military rights. Troy was able to assist is the present of the flag to my Grandma. It was a very neat thing to watch and made me even more proud of my brother and his service in the Army. Here are a couple photos from the cemetery.








Tuesday, December 23, 2008

LeRoy Hunsaker

LeRoy Hunsaker, 91, of Blackfoot, passed away Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008, at Bingham Memorial Hospital.
He was born Feb. 17, 1917, in Lorenzo, Idaho, the son of John L. and Sarah Theresa Smout Hunsaker. He attended schools in Labelle, Archer, Ririe and Hamer, graduating from high school in 1936.
LeRoy served in the 316th U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II in Italy.
On Feb. 12, 1946, he married Leatrice Nelson in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.
LeRoy was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served two missions for the church with his wife. One to Peoria, Ill., and the other at the Family History Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. He farmed 40 acres in Ririe and operated a 3000 acre dry farm west of Idaho Falls. In 1956, the family moved to Blackfoot where LeRoy continued farming potatoes and sugar beets and later went into dairy farming.
He loved his family and enjoyed building toys for children and grandchildren. He was very creative in building different things. Many friends from the community enjoyed the 200 foot cable swing. He liked hunting and fishing, but especially loved helping people.
He is survived by his wife, Leatrice of Blackfoot; children, ReNae (Tom) Saxton of Blackfoot, JaLene (Kurt) Bingham of Moreland, Roxie (Michael) Gregersen of Moreland, Janis (Hal) Phelps of Groveland and Alan (Maureen) Hunsaker of Springfield, Utah; 28 grandchildren; and 27 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, six brothers and four sisters.
A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008, at the Groveland LDS Chapel, 155 N. 380 West in Blackfoot. The family will meet with friends from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. today at Hawker Funeral Home, 132 S. Shilling Ave., and for one hour Saturday prior to the services at the church. Interment, with Military Rites by the American Legion Stewart Hoover Post No. 23, will be in the Moreland Cemetery. Military rites will be presented by the American Legion Stewart Hoover Post No. 23.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Denver Again

This past weekend was my company's Christmas party. Since the main office and the office of the parent company are in Denver all the Salt Lake employees got flown to Denver for the party. It was really cool because they let us bring out wives and put us up in a hotel for the night. We flew out on Saturday morning which also happened to be the same time a huge snow storm hit us. The two flights before us were delayed because of snow. We were able to get on the plane ontime but then spent an hour at the gate and waiting to be de-iced before we finally took off. It was in the 50's in Denver and really pretty nice for December. We walked around the 16th Street mall for a while. Downtown Denver was pretty nice, a lot of cool buildings and such. We went to the party that night and had dinner and met a bunch of people. Sunday when we woke up there was snow on the ground and the news said it was 4 degrees. Quite the temperature swing. The shuttle to the airport was pretty scary but we made it and after only a 30 minute delay for de-icing we were on our way back to Salt Lake. It was a pretty fun time and nice to go on a little weekend getaway with my wife.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Friends

So yesterday I had a friend come down and do a scentsy party. It was great because I got to hang out with some friends from high school that I haven't seen in about 3 years. It was great to catch up with everyone and see what the others are up to. We all joked that we need to stay in touch because we all have migrated down this way and don't have a lot of girl friends in the area. Hopefully we do. It would be a ton of fun and nice to actually have girl friends to hang out with again. Don't get me wrong, I love my hubby dearly but somethimes you just need girl time. But it was good to see everyone. And today we are going to anne and mike's for dinner and to watch Ironman! Sweet!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Denver

My boss came into some tickets for the Denver Broncos vs. Miami Dolphins game in Denver this past weekend and he offered them to my friend JDee and I. JDee had family pictures on Saturday afternoon so we weren't able to leave for Denver until early early Sunday morning. We ended up hitting the road at about 4 in the morning on Sunday and drove straight through to Denver. We ended up getting there at about 12:30 and the game started at 2 so we parked and walked around the stadium a bit. The game was fun, we were on the 19th row in the end zone so we had a pretty good view. The Bronocos ended up losing so that made it even better. We stayed the night about an hour north of Denver and then started heading back at about 9 Monday morning, arriving back in SLC at around 4:30. So it was a pretty quick trip but hey free NFL tickets. Here are some pics


Invesco Feild at Mile High



JDee

Me - notice neither of us are wearing any Bronco gear. We thought about wearing some Raider stuff but decided it might be a bad idea


The Broncos in action - boo, hiss, boo

And the Dolphins - Wahoo, Go Fish!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

More pics of Boston (And Taigan, Lorin, & Kari)




New Nephew!!!


We now have a new nephew!! His name is Boston Trevor Seamons and he weighed 9 lbs 9 oz and was 22 inches long. He was born on October 11 at 11:49pm (Poor Kari). He is absolutely adorable!!! Too bad we don't get to see him for a long time. :( At least we have pictures and web cams to see him and his sisters.