Valentine's day... or not?

So this Valentine's day was a special one in a different way. Last Wednesday Sam's grandpa (his mom's dad) past away. It was a unique experience because we were able to be there at the hospital along with his (sam's) mom, grandma, aunts, uncles and a few cousins. Grandpa Harris had gone into cardiac arrest a few days before and suffered brain damage so he was kept on a ventilator until the family felt it was time to let him go. When they decided the time was right and everyone said their goodbyes, the doctors came in to turn off the machines, etc. Luckily he went peacefully and fairly quickly and with loving family surrounding him. I've never been present for something like that and it really was a neat experience. He was 90 years old and had lived a great life so it was sort of a bittersweet moment.

The Harris family decided have the funeral on Valentine's day. All of Sam's brothers and sisters were able to fly into town for the event and it was awesome to finally have all of the original 9 Robinson kids in one place, as this sort of thing is pretty rare. I normally wouldn't post very many pictures of something like this but Sam's brother Jeff is an amazing photographer(as is his wife Michelle) and got so many great shots of the day so I just had to post some of them. 

First, this is last October with Grandpa Harris on his 90th birthday. He was such an amazing person. truly an inspiration to so many people of hard work, love, and dedication to the gospel. We will miss you Grandpa! Love you!

At the gravesite after the funeral. The pall bearers were all of his grandsons:

Grandma Harris with Aunt Rose:

Uncle Ray and Aunt Joanne:

The whole Robinson clan! minus a couple spouses and more than a few kids, lol:

with Grandma Harris:

aaand finally, the original cast! love this pic!

Brothers......

ohh brothers...

Jeff was able to get "unnecessarily close close-ups" of everyone lol. I give you.....the Robinson Bunch:

So glad all the brothers and sisters were able to make it up here for the weekend! It was really great to see everyone. and it was also great to see Sam's aunts and uncles on his mom's side who we don't get to see very often. although it was a bittersweet reason to get together, it was still so much fun. I'm sure Grandpa Harris would've wanted it that way. :)

The name of the post might be rather confusing. I chose it because as I was looking back at photos, I realized that we have YET to really celebrate the actual holiday of Valentine's day as a married couple, haha.. There seems to always be something that comes up to take the place of the special day.. last year, we ended up going to California for my nephew noah's baby blessing and spending the weekend with family. The year before, our good friends Christa and Andy got married that day so we spent most of the day in SLC then came back and spent the evening with Sam's mom, who was in town, at Steve n Sarra's house.. Then I tried to look for some sort of record of Valentine's the year before and had no luck! no pictures, no nothing (I hadn't started blogging yet). I THINK it was because we went to Mexico at the end of Feb that year so maybe we decided to put of our celebrating til then? not sure. and I guess we'll never know. haha.. Anyways, no worries tho. we aren't too heartbroken over it. I actually think it's kinda funny.. but, obviously each Valentine's day has been special in it's own way every year.