Missouri

Thursday morning Aaron and I crawled out of bed at 2:42 a.m. We dressed, threw pillows into the car, where everything else was already packed, then carried our tired Morgan to his carseat. Our 20 hour journey had begun.
We met up with my family at a rest stop before Evanston Wyoming and collected a few more passengers, then continued on our way. We slept, switched drivers, watched movies and even played some playstation games in the car. We stopped frequently for gas or potty breaks. Morgan did awesome, and always told us when he had to go potty, and never had an accident or anything. He was happy the whole time.
We did get a flat tire in our car on the way there. Thankfully we had lots of capable men and a full-sized spare.
We arrived in Missouri around midnight, central time. My siblings and cousin Jennifer and her nine month old, Jonah, were dropped off at my grandmothers house, then Aaron, Morgan, and my parents headed to the only motel in Gallatin Missouri and went to sleep.
The next day, after we'd dragged ourselves out of bed, we headed to my grandma's house where lots of family already was, and where even more arrived throughout the day.
We got a picture taken with Grandma. Morgan wasn't angry, he was just making a grumpy face for the picture. Silly boy.

That evening we all headed to the church so we could have dinner and practice the songs we were to sing at the funeral. The Turley family is a very musical bunch. I love singing with them.

The next morning we went to the church for the viewing. Then the funeral. The service was wonderful. Uplifting and spiritual. Grandpa left behind a lot of people who really love him. Then we ventured out into windy, cold weather for the graveside service.
Then it was back to the church for the luncheon. It was yummy food.
Here is some of the family. I couldn't get everyone in the picture. Most everyone at the luncheon were descendants of Grandpa. And there were still lots of grandkids that couldn't come. Though all 13 of his kids were there.
We got a cute formal outfit for Morgan, which was going to be a birthday present, but I wanted him to look nice for the funeral, so he got it early.
Grandpa's brother, Ronnie, was there, and led the family in some silly songs that he and his brothers used to sing.
A slideshow was made by my cousin Kevin, but it wasn't working on many computers, so after the luncheon we headed to his parents house, who live close by, and watched that.
There was more visiting at Grandma's house. Morgan was popular among a lot of people. What can I say, he's just favorite material. And he's no respecter of persons. If you were lying on the floor, (or on the airmattress on the floor) you were fair game. Many a cousin, aunt or uncle, was jumped on by my toddler.

The next morning was another early one. 4:00 Missouri time, which is 3:00 ours. We added another person to the drive this time, (my mom) so there was no room for the playstation on the way home. We hit snow storms and fog in Nebraska and Wyoming, but otherwise the trip was nicely uneventful.
Morgan loved having grandma next to him in the car.
We got home around 11:00 p.m. and slept wonderfully in our own beds.