For those who knew my sweet Grandma Speakman, she passed away this last week. We knew it was coming, but it was still hard to accept. She has always been one of the most amazing women I have ever known, and I have tried so hard to emulate her in my own life and with my own family. Her dedication and service to her family and to the gospel is unparalleled. I am sad my children will never get to know their great-grandma Speakman, but I hope through they can learn of her through her journals and life history and know of the amazing heritage they came from. Both Grandma and Grandpa were true examples of what this gospel is all about here on earth, and though I know they are dancing together again and just having a ball learning all there is to know about the after-life, we sure will miss them here on earth.
Her funeral was last Friday and Saturday, so my family all packed up and headed up to Utah for the service. Justin and I actually already had tickets to fly up there for his work party that was happening Saturday night at the Grand America Hotel in SLC (his job is based out of Linden, Ut) so we just moved the tickets a few days earlier so we could be there for the service. It was so nice to be able to see all my dad's side of the family again, even though we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with them. I love them all so much and wish we could be closer so we could spend more time together and our children could become friends. We stayed with my cousin Jess and her little family in their new home Thursday and Friday night. They have a little girl Braxton's age, so it was nice for them to meet eachother and be able to play together for awhile. Thanks Jess and Drew for your hospitality and making us feel at home!! We had a great time with you guys!

Dani, Jess, Drew, Maggie, Braxton, and Justin at Chili's, gettin some grub

Saturday night Justin's job paid for us to stay at the hotel where the pary was at, and I must say I was definitely impressed. I believe the Grand America hotel is the only 5 star hotel in Utah, and it lived up to its rating. The service was wonderful, the hotel was beautiful, accomodations were amazing, and the food was absolutely FABULOUS! Unfortunatley i didn't get to go to much of Justin's party, since all our babysitters for Braxton fell through, but we were there long enough to enjoy a nice dinner and meet his head honcho boss, some of his co-workers and their families. Sunday I spent alot of time with Braxton walking around the hotel and playing outside in the COLD weather, and we enjoyed a wonderful brunch in their Garden Cafe before checking out. We walked around the SLC temple and visited the visitors center, then headed to the airport to hang out there before our flight home that night. All in all it was a nice family trip. Its never really a "vacation" when the kids come along since there is never a break for mommy, but it was still nice to be able to be in the nice cold weather and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

This is pretty much what our room looked like, with an Italian marble bathroom. It was BEAUTIFUL!


Our little family at Temple Square

Justin in front of the temple

B-rax chillin in his car seat. I couldn't get him to keep any socks on his feet! The second he was sitting down he would take them off.


Justin pushing the baby around temple

Check back soon for pics of B-rax's birthday!