My Grandma Farr.

My dear grandma passed away on February 14, 2015.

I will never forget that day and the feelings I experienced.  She had been sick and not doing well for some time. I know without a doubt that she is in a better place. I can only imagine the welcome she received from all her family and friends. Her health will no longer hinder her endless efforts to serve others. And I know without a doubt she will be doing great things.

I would like to write out some of my most favorite memories of her so that my children will always know that they had a very special great-grandma, a great-grandma who loves them and who is undoubtedly watching over them from heaven. I want them to know that she is truly the most beautiful person inside and out. I hope that by sharing some of my most cherished memories of her they will learn through her example and qualities of love, kindness, creativity, patience, and service.

(Olivia and Grandma)

(Clara and Grandma)

My grandma always made sure to express her pure love to us grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  It was impossible to be in her presence without feeling like you were the best thing that ever happened. She always made sure to compliment us on everything we did. Whether we were actually very talented at it, or trying something for the first time, we were amazing. Although there are a lot of Farr grandchildren she always made each of us feel included and loved in our own special way. I have many pictures of her holding Olivia and Clara. She absolutely adored them. Every time I saw her she would go on and on about how precious they were and what a lovely mother I was. I can’t tell you how much this meant to me. 

I remember us gathered around her as she told us stories of our pioneer ancestors and their unwavering faith. She made each of us our very own pioneer dress and bonnet and with the help of our parents assigned us to "be" one of our pioneer ancestors. I was assigned to be Eliza Snow. I read stories about her and in that moment decided that I would be brave no matter what came my way just like she was.  And through my own personal struggles and trials I have often thought of Eliza and that has given me the strength to carry on. She spent much of her time doing family history work. And sharing with us all the stories and things she learned from her ancestors. She taught us how important families were and how important it was to learn about those who have gone before us. 

My grandma absolutely loved dolls. She would buy the most beautiful porcelain dolls and let each of us granddaughters pick one out to keep. I was so young, probably too young to have a doll like that but no matter our age we got one. And I remember feeling so special as I left for home with my brand new doll.  She made me and Sophia these paper dolls that I used to play with for hours and hours. Oh how I love paper dolls. My grandma had suitcases of barbies and barbie clothes.  My cousins and I would spend hours in her room dressing up the dolls in elegant dresses and playing pretend.  For Christmases grandma would give us packages of our very own fancy ball gown dresses and shoes for our barbies. I would play endlessly, often daydreaming about someday being able to wear gowns like that myself. To this day I am absolutely in love with all things dolls. If you gave me some barbie stuff I could spend hours setting up a home for them and yes even playing pretend. I like to think that I got my love for dolls from my grandma. Actually I'm sure I did. 

One of my favorite memories of my grandma is her love for sewing. There was a room downstairs dedicated strictly to all her sewing things. I always loved to go in there and look through her endless boxes of fabric. She was unbelievably talented and could make you anything your mind could make up. Us girls of course loved dress up. She also made lots of costumes. Two of the most memorable costumes she made me were my Dorothy costume and my Danielle de Barbarac costume (she's the Cinderella character in the movie Ever After). I remember giving her a picture of the dress and asking her to make it for me so I could wear it for Halloween. When the dress was finished and I tried it on for the first time I was in love. It was the most beautiful dress I had ever laid eyes on. It was everything I had imagined. I was so excited to show it off at school and wear it not only on Halloween but every other day of the week, holiday or not! She made nearly all of the princess costumes for my twin sisters. She always made two of each costume so that each of them could have her very own. This act goes back to the fact that she always made each of us feel included. We were each our very own special person whom she loved dearly. We still have those princess costumes and I am lucky enough to have had them passed down to me for my two girls. As my girls wear those dresses they will know that their great-grandma spent hours making them because she loved us and wanted nothing more than to make us each feel beautiful. Another one of my favorite things that she made for us was our clown costumes. Each of us grandchildren were made a unique costume to wear to a clown party she was having. Mine was a very large costume, big enough to stuff with lots of pillows so that I could be a big fat clown! I thought it was the funniest thing ever and made sure to stuff my self so much that I could hardly walk! She made costume after costume for the grandchildren as she prepared to put on the Nutcracker. It was just for the family, but boy did she take this seriously! I was so young, but I remember being at the performance running around causing way too much mischief with all my cousins. Yet she was patient and continued on with the show even though her grandkids weren’t taking it seriously. Looking back I feel bad but I am sure she enjoyed every moment of that craziness.

Grandma absolutely loved music. She loved playing the piano and singing. We would often sing songs with her and we loved playing on her piano whether we could play or not. My cousin Mischa was born with some disabilities and she loved teaching him songs and having him perform for the other grandchildren. One of the songs she taught him that I will forever remember is the primary song, "I'll walk with you." Perhaps she did this on purpose, but by teaching him that song she was also teaching her other grandchildren to always be loving and accepting of others no matter what. 

Grandma loved to draw and oil paint. And she was beyond talented at it. When we would go to the house there were often little sketches laying around. Mostly of flowers. To say she loved flowers would be an understatement. She had the most beautiful gardens with all sorts of flowers. All of us granddaughters would go pick bouquets of flowers and show her and she would always smile with pure delight. Never once do I remember her getting after us for picking her beautiful flowers but instead encouraged us to pick them and share them with everyone else. To this day every time I see flowers, I think of her.

One of things I admire most about grandma was her patience. She raised five boys and one girl. And when I asked her what she would do when those boys would get a little too out of control, she told me she would go get a glass (perhaps sometimes a pitcher) of water and throw it on them. And of course that would be the end of that. I have seen her use this technique on them even though they are grown up now! As sweet and kind as grandma was, she definitely had a sense of humor. At my bridal shower every guest was given a card to write down a piece of advice they had for me as Michael and I were about to start our lives together. I will never forget what she wrote on her card. "Always remember to clip your toenails." I laughed at the time, but after over 5 years of marriage and sleeping in the same bed as Michael, I still laugh but know that her advice could not be more correct!

Grandma loved to cook. She always made sure there was plenty of yummy food when we would come visit. Perhaps her most well-known dish was her green jello. She made this for most big family events. It was different every time. You never knew what you might find in there! I think one time there were shrimp! But oh my goodness could she make jam. She made the most delicious apricot jam. It was always best when you poked a hole in a fresh roll and poured it inside. Talk about heavenly.

Most of the time you could always find grandma sucking on a cough drop. When I was little I always thought that was coolest thing and wanted to be just like her. So I would sneak in to her room and get in to the drawers where she kept some serious stashes of the regular honey cough drops and I would take handfuls of them and shove them in to my pockets so I could suck on them later. To this day, I don’t necessarily suck on them for fun but whenever I am sick and in need of a cough drop I always buy the regular honey kind and think of her. 

I will always remember grandma for her strong testimony of the gospel.

 And she always made sure her grandchildren knew she had a testimony. In fact she left her final testimony on earth to be read at her viewing for all her loved ones to hear. When she found out I was going to be married she insisted on giving me enough money to go to the temple store and pick out my temple clothing, so that I wouldn't have to worry about renting things each time. She knew that it would mean so much to have my very own that I would wear my first time in the temple, the day I was married to Michael forever, and every other time I attended. I will always know that the temple was important to my grandma. And it will always be important to me.

Grandma had the most beautiful smile. Every time she smiled the entire room would light up. Love would fill the air and you knew that you were important to her. That she loved you dearly. I love that my dad shares that very same smile. Because every time he smiles I see grandma.

My grandma Farr will always be a part of my life. I look to her as one of my greatest examples. She was absolutely beautiful in every way. As hard as it has been to have her pass away, I know she isn't really gone. She lives. And is watching out for her husband, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren always. I hope as I go through out my life that I will remember all the lessons she taught me through words and mostly by her example.