mike cromwell

river and I hopped in the car on october 4th(happy birthday ashley!) and went to idaho falls. she was a delightful travel buddy and was supposed to keep me awake but she fell asleep 45 minutes in. but prior to that she would talk about the beautiful surroundings and say things like, "mom that sunset is beautiful. you should stop and take a picture." and i would. "that moon looks so pretty. you should stop and take a picture." and i did. once she fell asleep, i was having a really hard time and almost stopped at the sturgill's in twin falls because i was afraid i'd fall asleep. but after a little prayer i felt confident to keep going. I eventually made it and stayed with my cousin cheryl.

unfortunately the event that took us there was for my cousin's funeral(cheryl's brother).  but seeing all of my family was so fun.  i even got to see my washington cousins and uncle!
we took cheryl's granddaugther with us the next day to see my aunt peggy(cynthia's great grandma).  peggy played the piano with river and river was in heaven!  then we went to get ice cream before the funeral.  river and cynthia were two peas in a pod.  the three of us had fun at the dairy farm seeing all the animals after we ate ice cream.

i will always think of my cousin when i see a unicycle!  he was also an exellent bowler!

i love that my aunt and uncle kept the funeral true to mike.  they had everything he loved there and he was dressed in his flannel and jeans!  that's what he wore everyday!

my sweet cousin shauna!  it's been way too long since i've seen her.

and my awesome cousin ronny(shauna's brother).  they live in washington.  i've been grateful to be get to know them better through facebook.  i had no idea he is even more obsessed with halloween than kg.  i wish we lived closer anyway but during october for sure! i missed their siblings chrys and jodi!

it was a wonderful service and i'm really happy that i made the quick trip over to celebrate his life.

my cousin shauna took these photos before we got back on the road for home.  thanks shauna!

{cynthia-6, river-3}

rest in peace mike!  i love and miss you!