My Nana Passed Away

 My sweet Nana (my Dad's Mom), Ada Klaussen, passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 90 in November.  I traveled down to CA for a few days to support my Dad and enjoy the services.

 It was wonderful to be with my Dad's side of the family and share this special time with them.  My Dad is the only member of the Mormon faith, and so it was hard to see some of the hurt so much from the passing of Nana.  We shared in some powerful talks.....

 The services were beautiful.  It is easy to celebrate such a wonderful woman and we all had such fun memories to share.  The above picture shows me at the far left at the piano.  My contribution to the services was to share a few thoughts about how she had impacted my life (through the piano especially) and then to play a few of the pieces that she has actually give me 17 years ago.  It was a honor.

 After the services we just spent the next 2 days together, enjoying each other.  At my cousin Aaron's house (which was my Nana's and the only house I remember visiting her at) we had dinner and my Dad enjoyed so "let down" time on the electronic drum set.  That was fun to watch.  Lauren and Stella are my cousins kids and are darling.

 Taylor, Dakota, Brittney and I shared a hotel room, which was so fun because it allowed us to have some extra time together.  I think this might have been the first time since before Dakota's mission that we were both together, with out any spouses or kids.......just as brother and sister.

 Saturday morning I was also able to sneak off for a beautiful run up in the hills near Claremont.  It was a great 5 mile loop!

 We also spent some time on the campus that incorporates several Claremont colleges, which is where my Dad attended.  In fact, the little outdoor stage above is one of the places his band once performed.

 This tree was crazy pokey.  It was the weirdest thing I've seen on a tree.

 In front of the library for all the colleges.

 Taylor and I on the beautiful grounds.  The whole campus is absolutely amazing.

 We also visited my cousin Aaron's business, where he makes over cars and designs parts.  It has become really successful and ships all over the world.

 This is my sweet cousin Rachael and her beautiful family.  We really adore them.

After lunch one day, we saw this truck with a huge cookie on it and just had to take a picture.  Through out all of our times talking about Nana, we always brought up her chocolate chip cookies (that she used to even ship up to us in the mail before Christmas).  When we saw this truck it was like her little sign to us. :)

Nana will be missed but what a great legacy of love, laughter, family, education and drive that she left for us.  My favorite part of the trip was better understanding that all that I love about my own Dad, truly comes from my Nana.  Finally, I can really give credit where credit is due.  She was a wonderful woman.