The Hargrave Clan: Nacogdoches

On March 26th, Matt's family received the news that their Granddaddy Hargrave had passed away. We were at Mary and Wayne's house in San Antonio for Easter at the time, and much of the conversation that weekend revolved around him and the Hargrave family. However, because Matt had to be at work for some pretty crucial stuff on Monday, and the funeral was to be held Tuesday afternoon, we didn't plan on going.

Monday night at 5:20, Matt called on his way home from work to say he had changed his mind. By 5:45 we were in the car and headed four hours to Nacogdoches, Texas.

Allow me to just say that I had spent my entire Monday unpacking and doing way more laundry than I wanted from the Easter adventure when Matt's call came in. No rest for the weary around here.

Because we had to leave so fast, Bennett didn't get dinner until we could stop at a McDonald's along the way. Unfortunately, it was a little past his bedtime once we finally got it, and as hungry as he was, sleep won the battle in the end. He put up a good fight, though. Notice the half-eaten chicken nugget and sippy cup in his hands in this video...

The drive to and from Nacogdoches was gorgeous! "How could a place filled with cactus and rock possibly be gorgeous," you ask? Well, much to my delight and surprise, there are some very pretty areas in this state--and most of them are in East Texas. It reminded me of the Oregon coast, with super tall pine trees and tons of grass and bushes and wildflowers, wildflowers, wildflowers. Matt has always wanted to retire in Texas, and I have always said "no way jose", but in twelve years you can all come visit us in Nacogdoches, because that's where we'll be.

This is pretty much what it looked like the whole way. I felt like we were on a little road trip.

This picture does the moon no justice. It was incredible. Actually, it was a little annoying because it shinned so brightly it kept waking Bennett up. :)

When we arrived at our hotel in Nacogdoches we were greeted by Rachelle, Jake, Janell, and Sarah, who had driven over together for the funeral as well. We spent the night, ate breakfast and did a little swimming the next morning, and then headed over to Grandmommy's house.

I hadn't previously met this side of the family before and it had been awhile since Matt had seen them too, so it was very fun. It amazes me that even if you hadn't told me Matt was related to these new people, I could totally pick them out of a crowd as Hargraves. They were all built the same, they all talked the same, and they were all very...boisterous. Apparently, Matt comes by it honestly :) We had so much fun talking and meeting and oooing and awwing over Bennett, I almost forgot the real reason we were there. Almost.

Around noon we drove to the First Baptist Church where we were fed an excellent lunch. I never knew there were so many delicious ways to prepare potatoes. Afterwords we lined up with the family and entered the chapel.

I have been to very few funeral services. I have never been to a service for a family member. I have never been to a service that wasn't conducted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I thought the funeral service for Matt's graddaddy was beautiful.

When it was over, we headed back to the house for a quick change of clothes and some potato leftovers, and then we said our goodbyes and started back home. It was a fast and furious trip, but we both feel really happy that we got to be there.