The Espi Family: Trip to Wyoming for Grandpa's Funeral

This was a trip that we knew was coming, but it is never one you look forward to. It was however, a trip I will never forget. It was so fun to be together as a family - with no spouses, no kids, just us Heiner's. It was a trip where you bring tons of reading material for the drive and yet you don't even open the books because you are too busy talking and laughing. We definitely missed Cameron. He is usually the jokester, but I would say we did pretty well without him. There were times we laughed so hard we cried. And Brooke, we only had a couple of muskrats. For those of you who don't know what a muskrat is.... think about the movie "Meet the Fokers". We have a few people with very strong opinions in our family and when we get on topics such as politics, we have to yell "muskrat". Essentially it is agreeing to disagree without the argument and then we move on. We saw some interesting sights.... take a look and I think you will understand why we laughed so hard we cried.....

This time when we told Mom about the signs she got the jokes right away. I the past she has said, "I don't get it," and that causes us kids to laugh even harder. I think Uncle Merrill and Aunt Mary even enjoyed the signs. I am not too sure about Gram. Do you think she got it? All I have to do is think of either of these signs and a smile comes to my face.

Of course Star Valley is the home to Rulon Gardner. His face is plastered all over Rulon's Burger Barn in Afton. We are related to him through my great-great-grandpa Archibald Gardner who had 13 wives and was asked my President Brigham Young to settle Star Valley. I am not huge fan of his after hearing some of the stories about him!

One of my favorite parts of the trips was listening to my dad sing with his brothers. I brought my video camera because I wanted there to be a night where they did nothing but sing. That never happened so I ended up recording them singing at the funeral. I wish the whole funeral could have been them singing. I could listen to them all day. I will try to get this on a disk and post it here.

The funeral was wonderful and I cried more tears than I thought I would. You see, I loved my grandpa, but his motto was "children are to be seen and not heard" so when we would go to visit we knew we better stay out of grandpa's way. He was gruff and at times downright mean. I remember he did take us on the sled one winter to feed the cows. I loved going with them. You see, I was (and still am) a city girl and all that farming stuff was amazing to me. The whole concept of branding cows with your own brand was cool. I thought it was mean to burn the cows but it was cool to know my grandpa had his very OWN brand. I was in awe as I watched my uncles and cousins put milkers on the cows or as I watched the men in swathers as they cut the hay. I have some wonderful memories of being in Wyoming, there just aren't many of my grandpa. We were never allowed to go with grandpa so we would stay back with my grandma.

My grandma died of breast cancer in 1981 at the age of 51. I have heartfelt memories of her. I loved her homemade root beer, her raspberry bushes, and the mittens she made for us to wear when we came to visit. I remember her cooking and how she walked with a limp because of a bad hip. I remember her taking care of me after an allergic reaction to a horsefly bite. I talk about these memories because Grandpa's funeral was like being at Grandma's all over again. It was difficult to watch my Dad cry. His heart was so full and he could barely sing. His prayer to dedicate Grandpa's grave was so sweet; he thanked Heavenly Father for sending the birds to sing and asked that the grounds be peaceful. He talked about being about to see the valley they loved, where they toiled the ground together. It was so peaceful!

After the funeral luncheon and a Pepsi stop we all loaded in the car and Dad gave us a tour of Star Valley. He talked about where people lived, what land Grandpa owned and sold - it was a wonderful 2 hours just driving, enjoying the view, and learning from my dad. I hadn't been to Star Valley, when there wasn't snow on the ground, in about 20 years. I had forgotten how gorgeous it is. The mountains had snow but the trees were all colors of green. I could have easily stayed there for the summer. It was sad to leave not know if I would ever be back there. I wish we lived closer so we could take the quads and spend a week exploring the canyons and mountains.