bitter and sweet

i spent the first weekend of my summer in a little town that holds big spot in my heart: price, utah.
i've mentioned this before, but this is where almost my entire family is from, including my grandma powell.

my grandma powell has had to face father time for a long time now and it's kinda taking a toll on her, in other words, she's getting old. a few months ago she was in her house and she fell and broke her hip, little did she know that would be the last time she'd ever see her precious little house of 56 years. she is now in a nice nursing home in st. george  and we love having her close. 

this weekend me and my dad as well as many of my cousins, aunts and uncles went to her cute little blue cottage to prepare it to be sold. 

it was extremely bittersweet. here's why: 

bitter:

shortly after my grandparents where married they moved into their beloved house and have been there ever since. that is a loooooong time to live in one house. it is the only home that my dad and all his sibling knew growing up. there are 56 years of memories in that little blue house, that is something that is extremely hard to leave. 

I could tell that as we cleaned out the house that most of my dad's siblings were just trying to hold back tears.... my dad eventually cracked. 

he came upstairs crying holding these wooden cars that his dad had made him. (my grandpa powell was really good at making stuff out of wood/leather/chocolate/ect. but he passed away 14 years ago from cancer) when he came upstairs, all he said was "these were my toys" but behind his glossy eyes i could see that he was crying about much more then wooden cars. 

as we finished our work and prepared to leave, we gathered in the living room for one last family prayer in the home that had hosted thousands of family prayers.

i don't think there was one dry eye in the entire room. 

sweet:

the beautiful thing about this is that even though the house was hard to leave, we are so blessed to have something that is so hard to say goodbye too.

through the entire process of going through old stuff, packing, and cleaning, I feel like I got so much closer to my family, and not just my living family. I learned so much about my grandpa powell as I sorted through his old stuff and even read his love letters to my grandma during the war... he was a charmer:)

it was really fun going through decades of stuff, especially because most of it was up for grabs. I came home with striped high waisted 70's shorts, my dad's baseball jerseys, a typewriter, a green leather chair, a bow and arrow, 100+ records, assorted antique bottles, a floral bread tin, a leather fanny pack, some love letters, harry potter glasses, a letterman jacket, a bullet belt, and a lot more amazing stuff that i'm probably forgetting.

so ya you could say the hoarder inside of me was having a dang good time.

and now for a bijillion annoying pictures:

sooooo many love letters... i was in chick flick heaven

awwwwwwwww

moon boots and 70s shorts woot woot

idk why I'm posting this, gahhhh this is so embarrassing,,, but ya you could say we have a good time;)

these flowers my dad called "snowballs" were evvvvverywhere

even the cute gold doorknobs made me nostalgic... tear tear

the freaky dungeon-of-a-storage-room where i played orphanage my whole childhood

we found my grandma's wedding dress under her bed and it's still pretty as ever

just a pretty little stump

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

as we packed up the house, i decided to compile a few little videos so that i could remember this lovely little home and the memories it offered. it's nothing amazing, but it is just enough to take me back and help me remember the sights, sounds, smells and feelings i experienced when i went to "grandma's house"

the password is "bye" 


grandma's house from Katie Powell on Vimeo.