Bargain shopping is genetic....

Sorry I have been absent for a while....

One of the best people that ever walked this planet 

has passed on, and anything that I would

have blogged about didn't seem 

to make sense, 

and I have been going back and forth to Cheyenne

since hearing the news.

She was a huge bargain and clearance shopper,

between her and my Mom, 

I think they created my bargain hungry mind set.

Therefore, bargain shopping is genetic! (JK)

My beautiful, amazing, super positive Grandma

The last post I had talked about me going to see my Grandma 

in the hospital....well the day after I posted that, Grandma

went to Heaven.

It has been super rough,

especially since we were so close....

we talked on the phone every day,

and she was at every event we had, or went to.

I am grateful she is no longer suffering,

but I am kind of in a state of shock, since she was diagnosed with Lymphoma 

on Christmas Eve....I didnt have a lot of time to brace myself for

this outcome.

This post doesnt have a lot to do with 

anything specific,

but I wanted to post the Eulogy for any family that 

were unable to attend, and I also wanted to

say that during these past few weeks, I have learned a lot...

this life is too short to stress the small stuff,

my Grandma was a great example of that...

she also lived her life to the fullest, 

and at the beggining of 2014 I had not set a 

new years resolution, but after the passing of Grandma I have a 

new resolution for LIFE:

DO WHAT YOU LIKE &

ENJOY THE LITTLE THINGS.

She lived this principle and was one of the happiest people I ever knew!

GRANDMA'S EULOGY:

Today we mark the passing of a very special woman.

My name is Shaun and I am married to Nona's Grand Daughter, Chelsea.

Grandma lived her life to the fullest.

Her positivity and cheerfulness shined thru her speech and actions.

She loved her family, her life and her faith.  She also had a very sweet way with animals.

She had the energy of a 15 year old and was quite the night owl.

I had only known Grandma for 7 years, but her sweet and accepting personality made it very easy to develop a strong bond with her.

Winona June Gipson was born on March 26th, 1933 

in  Smithfield, Nebraska to Doris and Charles Gipson

She was the youngest of 6 kids, and she had the spunk to prove that!

Grandma met Donald Bostron while she was working at the OWL Inn 

As a car hop

They fell in love and got married.....

A few years later they adopted Sandy and than Jenny a few years after that.

They were sealed as a family in the Provo temple in 1975.

They were a very social family that enjoyed hosting parties.

They loved snowmobiling, camping, coney dog night at A&W and visiting friends and family.....

It was not uncommon for Grandpa to decide he wanted to visit friends late in the evening,

and Grandma being the party girl she was, would go get her scarf and tie it around her head to protect her hair from the horrible Cheyenne wind.

They would pull up to the home of the people they wanted to visit (sometimes unannounced)

and Grandma would get out of the car and go knock on the door to see if they wanted company.
Grandma always saw to it that sandy and Jenny had many opportunities in their lives...I think she wanted to make sure they would be able to keep up with her fun times ahead.

Although Grandma never attended college, she had quite the resume!

She worked for the IRS, and she also worked at the Naval Base in Cheyenne.

Grandma had the soul of a teenager!

A few years ago while we were at her house, I noticed a picture of Brad Pitt that she had displayed on her fireplace mantle....Her body may have grown older, but her mind never did.

She was also a HUGE twilight fan.

She very rarely missed seeing the newest twilight movie the week it came to theaters.

And Although she had a hard time understanding what the actors were saying, she said she didn't care because Jacob and Edward were so cute.
Grandma and sandy would always go back and forth as to who was the cuter one, Jacob or Edward......grandma was sure it was Jacob.

She loved music.

Along with playing the piano, and memorizing the "Titanic" theme song by heart..

she also liked to listen to music, sometimes very loud!

One time grandpa came home early from work and grandma was listening to the Beatles.  She had the volume turned up so loud that she couldn't hear him ringing the doorbell....

She also enjoyed going to concerts!

At 80 years old she attended the Luke Bryan concert with her teenage Granddaughters this past Frontier Days.  In fact, my Mother-in-law Sandy didn't quite have the energy to go with them that night, so she dropped them off to party for a while and than picked them up at midnight.

Grandma even bought a concert shirt!

She had also been to more than a couple Taylor Swift Concerts.

Grandma was up for any activities...if you invited her, she was there!

Vacations to the beach, walking the monuments at Washington DC, visiting Jennifer and playing with Nicole when they lived in Virginia , learning how to play Guitar Hero, reading numerous celebrity gossip magazines, concerts until the wee hours of the morning, riding the zip line at snowbird, endless word searches, Shopping, gardening, swimming in the hot springs in Glenwood, taking the grand kids camping near Mount Rushmore.

Grandma was very proud of her grandson tyler when he decided to put in his papers to serve a mission.  He was called to serve in Vladivostok, Russia.  She requested his picture be up by hers at the funeral.  Tyler said in his email this past week that he feels grandma is with him, he feels her strength and that she is very happy!

She loved her family unconditionally.

And she loved spending time with them.

Grandma was constantly teaching my 2 year old son new colors, numbers and words.

Caden loved when he got to go see his great Grandma.  Together they played hard, and he seemed to learn so many new things from her.
 2 weekends ago, my wife and kids went with Sandy and Brian to visit Grandma in the hospital. 

Caden seemed surprised that his Great Grandma was unable to be rambunctious with him, like they always were together.  But they still had a small conversation, and on his way out of the room he turned and said the words "Love you", for the very first time.

Today we are all feeling the loss of Grandma and it's painful.

But I know she is in a better place,

without pain,

without the limitations of the human body.

Her spirit is glowing bright with the love and beauty she possessed in life.

Our loss is truly Heavens gain.

May we all be grateful that we had Grandma in our lives,

and may we all find comfort in knowing that someday we'll all be together again with Grandma

in the presence of the Lord.

 Love you Grandma xoxo