When Zac and I were married, I only had one living grandparent left and Zac had three. All of his grandparents instantly welcomed me into the family and treated me as if I were their own granddaughter. I am grateful for the time we lived in California and got to spend time with Grandpa.
We were able to fly out to California for the weekend for the funeral and spend time with all of Zac's siblings and parents. It was a bit hectic getting out there though. For the past few months, Zac has been studying for his Professional Engineering exam and was scheduled to take it the day before his Grandpa's funeral. I picked Zac up from his 8 hour test on Friday night, drove to the airport, flew to LA, spent Saturday and part of Sunday there then flew back to Salt Lake.
While in California, we stayed with an old family friend that lived just down the street from where Zac spend the first nine years of his life. It was fun getting to hear Zac's memories from his childhood of growing up in El Segundo.
Whenever, someone passes away, it brings to mind all of the great memories we have had with that person. I think my favorite memory of Grandpa Vidmar comes from when Zac and I were newly weds. We stayed a few nights with them in CA before we left on our honeymoon cruise. And of course, Grandpa Vidmar wanted to play Mexican Trains. As we were playing, Zac kept drawing the wrong tiles and couldn't ever start his train. Grandpa decided to give Zac and break and gave him a tile so he could start. That next turn, Zac put down all of his tiles and won the game! Grandpa Vidmar was so mad and proud at the same time. Mad that Zac and beat him but proud because that was exactly what he would have done. From that time forward, he would never let Zac forget about that game.
During these times, I am always reminded of the plan of salvation and how grateful I am that families can be together forever. I know that this knowledge brings peace whenever we lose someone we love in this life.
This is probably one of my favorite pictures of Grandpa Vidmar. He was an excellent story-teller. He lived a fascinating live. He was born in Chili then moved to the US as a boy. He met President Truman, survived polio, gave great financial advice and was pretty darn good at Mexican Trains.
All of Grandpa Vidmar's kids, nieces and nephews
We stopped by his house on Sunday before we left. He had lived in the same house for over 50 years. He even had a picture of Zac and I's graduation from college still hanging up in one of the rooms.
This was his war rations book that we found in some of his belongings. It is just an example of all the things that he experienced and saw in his life time.
Zac and his siblings....this is a perfect example of each of their personalities.
Saturday night, Zac's cousin took us out on the town to experience all of the good food that LA had to offer. Pinks sells hot dogs with all kinds of crazy toppings. It was so much fun getting together with all of Zac's family. It is true what they say, when you don't just marry the person but you marry the family. I think I married into a pretty fun and awesome family.
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