Too good for this world

As soon as graduation was over, we rushed home and loaded up the car 

so we could go to Arizona to attend my nephew's funeral.

It was strange to have such a happy event be so close to such a sad one.  

Funny how that happens so often in life.

My nephew was 5 years old when he drowned in a pool in Mesa Arizona on June 9, 2012.   It was a tragic accident that can not really be explained.  The general feeling at the funeral was that Clayden's work here on this side of the veil was finished.  He was called home to work on the other side of the veil as a missionary.  He told his mom that he was going on a mission just days before he drowned.  We will all miss his sweet face and personality but the knowledge that we will see him again is very comforting.  The funeral was beautiful and the peace we all felt as a family was indescribable and unimaginable.  Losing a child is so painful and yet we have to remember that they are not really ours.  Heavenly Father just lends them to us for a little while. 

 The flowers at the funeral were just beautiful.

My brother in law is works for the New Mexico Police Department, and several of the officers came down to Mesa to support and help with the funeral.  They actually had a police escort to the cemetery.

The Mesa police department also helped out and to see all of the officers standing at attention at the cemetery was quite a sight indeed.

Jared has always been close with his Uncle Aaron and Aunt Helen, we were so
glad when Jared was able to attend both the funeral and his Graduation.

Most of the family were able to be there.  And many of their friends
traveled down from New Mexico.

The pall bearers waiting for the procession.

If you look very closely, you can see the cowboy hate of
Clayden's older brother Greg.  He wanted to be
one of the pall bearers.  Losing his little brother has been
especially hard for him.

The parents were presented with a special flag.

Jared and his cousin Brooke, waiting to release balloons.

All of the small children were able to release these balloons that were in
Clayden's favorite colors.   This really seemed to be healing
for the little kids who took this loss really hard.
I would recommend it for anyone else looking for ways to help
young children coping with a loss.

When it was time, everyone released their balloons up to Clayden.

This shot of the balloons in the sky is one of my favorites.

Clayden is buried not very far from his Grandpa Hammond.
Some of us went over and visited Grandpa while we were there.

This is a picture of two of my brother in laws with another friend who is also in the
 police force and one of their favorite scout leaders.

Jared had to try on his Uncle's hat.

It was a long emotional day, and some of us needed a nap.

Others spent the afternoon playing games with Uncle Marion.

Here is a picture I found of Jared with Clayden from a couple of years ago.