Memorial Day and a fun family week!

Memorial Day

We celebrated Memorial Day at home with our family.  We're grateful that Tom's grave is close by so that we can all easily visit and think about him.  We are also grateful to Andy for his past service, and to others who risk their lives as they serve our country.  

It was great to have everyone over (except Elise and family).  The kids especially enjoy getting together with their cousins.

Yuli, Cam, Dojin, Effie

Dan, Yuli, Jieun, Sara and Nick;  Catharine and Camden

Camden--chillin' with a book

Roy attended the funeral of a 1st cousin once removed (Vicki Smith - daughter of Doris Cliff - Sister to Teenie Montgomery Rasband) this past week.  I didn't know her at all, and I had a doctor's appointment, so he went without me. 

The picture on the left is Roy with his 2nd cousin Carolyn Erekson who is in our ward.  

Below are:  Chuck Madsen (2nd cousin) and Roy's Uncles Noel and Uncle Lynn Rasband with Lynn's new wife, Karen.  

    

                This picture has Mark Cliff (1st cousin once removed), Brian Cliff (1st cousin once removed), Uncle Noel Rasband and Chuck Madsen (second cousin) son of Herbert Madsen and Nellie (Grandma Teeny's sister).  

Roy also attended Ollie's ball game without me.  Ollie is a good player, but also a good sport when the other team gets the win.  

We had a lot of intereaction with grandkids this week.  We did a little caregiving (Thursday and Saturday) while parents were involved in extracurricular activities.  Adrienne went to Youth Conference (a rough weekend rafting), and Crista and Matt did an excursion to Snow Basin all day Saturday.  They signed up for a hike.  The idea was to hike up the trail, ride down the tram, and then do it again, seeing how many times they could do it in 12 hours.  This involved getting up VERY early in the morning.  They were able to make the hike five times.   It was a difficult hike straight up the face of the mountain.

Adrienne was exhausted from her weekend and came home sick, and I'm sure Crista and Matt were exhausted, but in a good way.  Roy and I were also exhausted, even though I have to admit I didn't do all that much.  Roy had reasons to be exhausted since he, Nick and Dan drove up to Manilla on Friday and moved a bunch of stuff into the "cabin."  They got a lot accomplished, but Roy says it's pretty dusty and needs a good cleaning before we unpack any boxes.  We have almost enough furniture and other stuff in our current home that we can just move some of it to Wyoming.  We won't have to buy much, which is nice! 

The grandkid room.  There's room on the floor for sleeping bags, too!

 

On Saturday (after helping us out all day on Friday) Roy worked on the yard while the kids played.  Nick and Dan did most of the babysitting for me.  Matt brought a bounce house with a place for water, so Ruby, Greta, Bridget and Dan and Nick, and all their kids spent most of the day playing in our yard.  They had a fabulous time!  It was like taking the kids to a free water park.  They used the bounce house, then the hot tub, then hopped in the creek (54 degrees), and then did it all again.  I think I was exhausted just from watching.  Thanks, Nick and Dan!!!

I didn't take even one picture, but Roy and Nick took a few

My sweet Todd had a good 3 + hour nap.  That made tending him super pleasant and easy. 

On Sunday, Roy and I subbed for Yuna's primary class.  I think she liked having her grandparents as her teachers.  Roy called on one of the boys, calling him, "Bro. Graves."  He made a face and said vehemently, "That's my dad!"  So, Roy called him Bro. Andrew and he was okay with that (The class is 7 year-olds turning 8 this year).

Quote for the week (I came across this while studying for next week's Relief Society lesson, which I'm teaching. 

God loves us too much to let us be content with what we have achieved spiritually up to now, because He is a perfect Father.  He knows what we have the power to become and He has His special ways of being lovingly insistent." Neal A. Maxwell