My Grandma Hoffman

The week before Sophie's birthday my grandma Hoffman became increasingly ill. She had been moved to an assisted living home after a surgery to recover, but as soon as she was well enough to go home she had to go in for another procedure. Her health depleted rapidly after that. She faced many battles with health over the last ten years and fought valiantly despite her tiny size. My parents called me Thursday to tell me that she had passed away. So I packed up Sophie and I to leave for Idaho Falls with them first thing the next morning. We stayed with Daniel's dad and were there for five days while funeral arrangements were made. Impressively nearly all my cousins and aunts and uncles were able to make it. It was lovely to see everyone and I know that would have made my grandma so happy. 

 {I wish I had some pictures of my grandma, but I don't. I will have to get some}

My grandma was a proper lady. She always had impeccable manners. She was a master homemaker. She knew how to set a perfect table. Her house was always spotless, yet homey. Comfortable and full of love. She had been a wonderful cook. She was spiritual and loved good things. She loved music and reading. She loved the gospel and the temple. She loved doing family history work and indexed over 150,000 names. She loved her children and grandchildren. 

I always knew to be on my best behavior at grandma's house. She had a small box of toys in the hall closet that we would play with as kids. I remember always borrowing the movie "The Sandlot" from her house because we didn't have it. She loved hearing our accomplishments at school and work. She loved that I worked at Deseret Book (pretty sure she prayed I would get it and that's probably why I did!). We would chat about books and I loved picking out things I knew she would like. She loved to give books as gifts and they always had a lovely inscription with her beautiful penmanship. My grandpa was the silly to her sweet and the laughter to her wisdom. They were a perfect pair in my eyes. At the funeral my cousin Brad shared a history written by my great-grandma about my grandma. I will have to include that along with some pictures at a later date. 

My Aunt Paula, Aunt Teri, & Aunt LeeAnn with one of two remain sisters of my grandma, Carol.

My Hoffman Cousins

The funeral was held the day before Sophie's birthday. After which we headed straight back to Boise so we could spend Sophie's birthday doing happy things. It was a lovely funeral. It's hard to convey how loved someone is, but I know that many of us were touched by the stories and thoughts shared.

Here are some other random photos of our little trip:

 Sophie's excitement over a new birthday toy from grandma