A Sad Day

On Tuesday, My Sweet Grandpa Stan, Passed Away...

I Love his cute smile, in this picture!

(I think I took this picture the first Summer we came back to visit from Az. Dax would have been two,  and Tregan, four)

Although Stan was not my Real Grandpa, We loved him like he was. 

 He married my Grandma when I was younger.

When my Grandma was still married to my Grandpa, she was friends with Stan and his wife. His wife passed away from Cancer, and my Grandma got divorced from my Grandpa. So they hooked up, and got married a few years later. They were so happy together. They traveled alot, they were part of a traveling group called Good Sam. They had a motor home, that they went all over the place in. They had a second home, in Mesa Arizona, where they spent their winters.  

He kept a supply of ding dongs in his freezer. He Loved Chocolate! After sharing with Tregan one time when we visited, Tregan remembered they were there, and he always wanted one, when we came back.

My Grandma passed away with Cancer, about 8 years ago. She was the last of my grandparents. So it became really important to me, to make sure we visited Stan as much as we could. My grandma and Stan were the only great grandparents, my kids knew. My other grandparents passed away when I was still in highschool and college. Because we visited him alot. My boys became close to him. I only had Tregan when my grandma died. It was shortly after that, I found out we were expecting Dax. So Stan was the only one to meet all of my kids. He was even there, to see Aty blessed. Which meant So much, to me!

 He lived in his house in Logan, on his own, for a few years. But one day, he fell and got hurt. So his daughter decided it was time for him to move in with her. She lives in Arizona. I was living in Arizona when he moved there. So I was excited to be living close to him again. We tried to go and visit him as much as possible. He was always so happy to see us. But as time went by, he would express to me, how lonely and bored he was there. I felt So bad for him. I just wished he could have been back in Utah, living in a retirement home, making friends and having fun. He always had fairly good health. He walked a lot! I remember when I was younger, he used to walk from his house in Logan, to Macey's grocery store. Which amazed me! 

The last time we visited him, was in August 2009. Right before we moved back to Utah. I remember being very Sad, knowing that this was probably the last time I would see him. I called him right after Thanksgiving, and he was not doing well at all.  He kept saying how unfair it was that people he knew were dying, and he wasn't.  It made me very sad. He turned 95 in January. He got really sick and weak these past couple of weeks,  and was ready to leave this earth.

Because he was living in Arizona, we won't be able to say our final goodbyes to him, until next Saturday. Because of funeral arrangements and such.

So for now, we are just sad, and we miss him. But we know he is with Grandma now, and he is much happier!

We love you Grandpa Stan!

Holding Aty on her blessing day.