Memorial Day Weekend and A Week in Lake Powell

All my life I remember going with my parents on Memorial Day to decorate the graves of their parents (mostly my mom's parents). My mom was faithful to remember all her relatives who had passed, including Gene Bird, her husband for a few short months before he was killed in an airplane crash in WWII. My dad never liked my mom to talk about her first husband, but he was supportive of her placing flowers on his grave, and before he passed away in 2015, he made sure one of my brothers would continue to decorate it.

I feel like our generation is not as involved in this tradition, and also the tradition of honoring those who have given their lives for our freedoms, and it's sad that we have moved away from it somewhat in favor of playing on a day off. Roy and I are trying to be more mindful of the purposes of this holiday, and yesterday we stopped (on our way home from Lake Powell) at the Evergreen Cemetery in Springville, UT. and placed flowers on my parent's graves. We also bought a plant for my grandparents graves, but since they were already decorated (and will soon be more abundantly decorated), we put our flowers on my great grandparent's plot, Hyrum Smith Clyde and Elenora Jane Johnson Clyde.

Sunday night Roy and I drove to Mapleton for Todd's baby blessing. Crista usually has these events either at our home or in Logan, so it was Matt's parent's turn not to have to drive. We stopped at Thomas' grave on our way to Mapleton and took a balloon and some flowers to Tom's grave. Tomorrow we are spending the day in Heber/Midway with Roy's extended family to honor their departed loved ones.

Roy at the grave

Bridget happily greeted us, but I couldn't get her to smile

Greta wanted to make a mean face for the picture, but she couldn't hold it very long.

Crista and Matt with Todd on his blessing day

Grandma and Greta. It's not hard to get smiles out of Greta

Matt with Todd

Catharine and Roy with Todd

Ruby, Greta and their grandma Jana

Cute Todd. I was able to hold him for quite a while.
It is so relaxing to hold a newborn

Today was our first day of returning to two church meetings. Our sacrament meeting will be 45 minutes for a short time (with the sacrament), and our 2nd hour meetings will be 35 minutes. Dan and Jieun attended with us (they've watched on Youtube quite often because of Yuli, and sometimes having colds, etc.) I love sitting with their family. I was showing Dojin some pictures on my phone and he had me take a selfie with him. It's amazing how much a four-year old knows about technology.

As you can see, I chose not to wear a mask, but Jieun's still a little concerned because none of her children are vaccinated yet. Actually, we are "encouraged" to wear masks, but last week I noticed quite a few people without one, and I was happy to join them this week.

We had an interesting lesson during the 2nd hour; I went with Roy to the YM/YW class (5th Sunday Lesson). Our current Elder's Quorum president was the teacher. He is a therapist and works with a lot of soldiers that struggle with PTSD and drug issues, etc. He spoke to us on stress and how to recognize it and cope with it. He had a few thoughts that I thought were excellent.

1) Get up at the same time every morning: He said that this is the best way to solve any sleep issues that you might have (I think this is especially true with young people, because I know a lot of my siblings struggle with sleep issues, Roy and I call it "the Cook Curse)."

2) Exercise: Find something you love to do and be consistent, it is a great stress reliever.

3) Meditation: Stop everything for a few minutes every day and just breathe. Think about your breaths.

4) Service

5) Sleep (see number 1).

All of us struggle with stress at one time or another and I thought the tips were excellent.

Elise sent me these pictures that she painted for her mother-in-law. Her in-laws have a farm now.

Plus a cute picture of Harvey:

We had a great time in Lake Powell with Caitlyn and Dallin and Jennie (everyone else either had to work or had a new baby, or had to deal with the closing week of school). We almost didn't go because we heard a lot of the launching docks were closed (they were all closed except Hall's Crossing which happened to be where we were going). Roy called down and was told that people were launching and boating, so we decided to chance it. We were so glad we did! It was a beautiful week with both the weather and the water. One of the reasons I was a little concerned about going was the temperature of the water, but it turned out to be wonderful. It was a little cold (think Flaming Gorge in August), but the temperature outside was hot enough that we wanted to jump in. We were also a little concerned with the boating conditions. The channel was fine, but we did have to be pretty careful in the canyon areas. There was one day that was cloudy and a bit windy, so we drove to Natural Bridges National Park and spent the day hiking. They have some beautiful and fun hikes that we have done before, but they continue to be enjoyable. The rest of the letter will be a picture essay of our vacation.

First, a few pictures to show the low water. I heard it is the lowest it's ever been.

This picture shows how glassy the water was. This is inside a canyon,
but until Friday we had water like this in the channel.

Cait

Paddle Boarding:

Pulling up anchor (and testing my strength!)

Jennie and Catharine

One of our hikes in Natural Bridges:
Roy, Jennie,
Caitlyn and Dallin

While hiking we ran into a couple from Florida and we got talking to them. I'm guessing they were a few years older than Roy and me--maybe late 60's. I mentioned we had 21 grandkids and the reaction she gave me: "Oh you poor thing. That must be so expensive." I also pointed out Jennie and Caitlyn and said, "These are my two youngest--they don't have any kids yet." She responded, "Well--tell them to hold off!" I think this is the epitome of what the world thinks of having children. Many young couples seem to be choosing to have dogs over kids. I am so grateful for the gospel and for prophets and apostles who know where we can find true joy and happiness. Families are the basis for this joy.

Jennie

Jennie and Caitlyn on the trail down to the bridge.
They are almost to the bottom
in this picture.

The inner part of one of the bridges

Caitlyn and Dallin

This is an area where the dirt has hardened and formed
a crust. There was a sign that said, "Don't bust the crust!"
because it helps prevent erosion. There's something about
a sign like that--it makes you really want to "bust the crust"
but I refrained.

Roy

Beautiful sunset

Proof: calm water in the channel!

Jennie braided all of our hair. Catharine, Jennie and Cait
Back view

Side view

Front view--always the best

Catharine

View from the top of Hole in the rock. The white spot
is our boat. Caitlyn and Dallin hiked this without us.
I've done it once--maybe 10 years ago . It was hard for me
then, probably impossible now--there were too many places I needed
a boost to get up particularly large rocks.