Funeral, Food and Freaky relatives

We went to Minnesota over the weekend for my grandmother's funeral. It was a nice service and she looked very peaceful. It was freezing cold outside, and I thought my feet were going to freeze at the graveside. The minister must have been cold too, because the service there was very short.

Despite the sadness of losing my grandmother, we did have a wonderful time visiting with my relatives. All of my 10 aunts and uncles were there along with 22 of my 35 cousins and some of my second cousins. It seemed that all we did all weekend long was eat. I still feel full from it all. Somebody (I can't remember who) donated a HUGE box of chocolate covered peanut clusters to the family. We ate and ate and ate those. We even brought home two big baggies full of them and there were still tons left. And of course we had all the usual casseroles, cakes, and fried chicken that families have when they get together.

My cousin Tera and I did have a bit of an adventure concerning our cousin Paul. He basically "stalked" us all weekend, wanting to be where we were and butting into every conversation we were trying to have. He is older than both of us, but has always had a reputation of being a ladies man. I wanted to yell out really loudly, "I am your COUSIN, leave me alone!!" but didn't quite have the guts. Steve did come between the two of us a few times and did his best to protect me. For that I am very thankful.

The boy was great the whole time. He slept better away than he does here at home. Here is my favorite picture of him from the trip. We had been walking around the mall of America for a while and stopped to get something to eat. I gave him a baby cookie to chew on to keep him happy while we were eating. He was so tired that he fell asleep while he was eating it. Such a sweet sight!