I'm still playing catch up on the blog. This past Monday was Memorial Day, a day to remember those who have fought and died for our country, as well as a day to remember our own loved ones. My parents were always thoughtful in decorating the graves of their loved ones that had passed on. I admit, we tend to think of Memorial Day as a play day, since Roy always is always off work. This time was no different; we were up at the George. I went up to relax, and Roy went up to do projects. We had to have a little discussion about what the purpose of our weekend getaways are. I know that Roy loves to go to our Wyoming place, but I also know that he loves projects. I am happy to help out, but I go up for rest and relaxation. He told me that my whole life is rest and relaxation...he's probably right. My children were more thoughtful than me this holiday; Dan and Jieun and family; Nick and Sara and family (and maybe others) all visited Thomas' grave. Cait visits this grave often since the cemetery is right by her condo. Finn and AJ stopped in Springville following a baseball game there and Finn lovingly left his baseball. This was fun as it sparked a conversation between my siblings. Dave saw it and asked who had left it there. I didn't know until Adrienne posted the picture of Finn with the baseball.
Vernon and Ila My mother always decorated the graves of her parents and grandparents, my dad's parents and grandparents, and her first husband Gene Bird, who died in WWII. When my mom passed, my dad (who never wanted her to talk about Gene) took over decorating his grave. When my dad died, Dave took over the responsibility. Some of my neices and nephews searched out and found his grave this year.
Yuna, Dan, Yuli, Hyeji, Dojin and Doyeon. It means to world to me to see pictures like this one.
Finn, paying his respects to his great grandparents
Avie, Cam, Ori, Effie and Nick
Caitlyn and Jennie, and Foster and Elijah, drove down to Santaquin to visit grandpa R. on Memorial Day. There was a near miss of a could-have-been serious accident, so we're very grateful to our Heavenly Father that they made it safely. Caitlyn said that Grandpa knew her, but was confused at who Jennie was.
After their trip to see grandpa, they stopped at the gravesite of Ila and Vernon and paid their respects. I'm so appreciative to all who made the effort to visit and remember our loved ones.
In Flaming Gorge, Roy and I sought out some petroglyphs we'd heard about. It was a little drizzly, but beautiful. We found the petroglyphs but were disappointed that some people had defaced the rock with their own art. As far as I know, the pictures of the petroglyphs I'm including were all from the distant past.
Roy and I drove home on Monday after a beautiful ride in our kayaks. We had invited an old friend to dinner. Mary Canale Sanders was one of our Georgia success stories. When dad met Mary, she was working a temp job where Roy was working. Roy was nice and gentlemanly (apparently not something she was used to). He told her she should meet his wife and that she should go to church with us. Some seven months later, she did end up at church and we were in her ward. She loved the people in the church, and she soon joined, but she had a long way to go; she had some serious addictions and was in an abusive relationship. She told me that I went to court with her to testify against the "boyfriend," but I didn't remember that. She had two young sons, Randy and Jake, from a previous marriage. I was her first visiting teacher. We continually showed love and eventually she overcame her past. She met SJ Sanders and soon they were married. Together they had a little girl, Phoenix. It was Phoenix that brought us together again since she was getting married in the Brigham City temple (I haven't seen Mary in probably 30 years). Caitlyn went with me to Phoenix' reception so I wouldn't have to go alone (Roy went on another ride with his club. He'll include some pics in the next blog). Mary's son Randy is the elders quorum president in his ward.
Catharine, Roy, Mary and SJ
Roy, showing off his toy
Since Memorial Day corresponded so closely to the last day of school, there were other events that were happening. Beverly was in her dance recital. She had four numbers and four costumes.
Gunnar, Roy, Ila and Catharine enjoyed an evening at the Hale Center Theater. It was a great show. I think we all enjoyed it, except I'm not sure about Gunnar. He was pretty tired!
While we were on our trip to Israel, we missed an ice skating show with Caitlyn and Ori. Jennie, Jordan, Nick and kids all went to support them.
Ori (on left) with her group number people
We received this picture of Elijah while we were gone. He's really growing.
The last of the grandchildren have returned to school. Cam and Yuli get to go to pre-school together-and the Avinator (Avie) has started Kindergarten (I may be a week late on that one). We returned home from Flaming Gorge on Tuesday, and Roy woke up early Wednesday morning to catch a 6:00 flight to Chicago for a conference. He got home about 1:00 am on Friday morning. He was pretty exhausted, but he still wanted to drive to Logan to watch Crista's three girls play soccer. Bridget and Greta played on the same team. Bridget was definitely in it for the sociality. Greta played a little, and day-dreamed a little, too. Ruby made a goal right off the bat. She is definitely more engaged at this point. After the games we went to Angies (restaurant) for a treat. Bridget; Todd All the kids had pancakes and they all ate a lot, excepting Greta. Ruby had her own plate of pancakes and finished up Greta's. I had pancakes, too....
The new rule: no driving to the cabin (via Mountain View) after dark. If you have to drive at night, go the long way through Green River (or drive 35 mph). We thought we were being vigilent watching the road. We even made the comment that the Cadillac had such good lights that we could see a long way off the road. We found out that it's pretty hard to miss a moose that runs right in front of you. We feel blessed that 1) we weren't seriously hurt; 2) The Cadillac is a huge car; 3) it happed to us instead of any of our children in their smaller vans and SUV's; 4) it was a baby moose (still a huge animal). We've driven up to Flaming Gorge so many times and we've only ever seen one moose. Now we've seen two! Incidentally, the accident took place very close to where we saw the other moose years ago. This picture was taken the next day when Roy went back to hide the key in the car for the tow truck. We are hoping to be able to fix the Cad. The b...
Caitlyn decided she wanted to see the play The Cursed Child in New York. I guess it was originally her mother-in-law's idea, but she (Robin, Dallin's mom) was talking about going after the New Year, and Caitlyn thought she might be too pregnant to enjoy it. So, she stole their idea, talked to Crista about it, then invited me. I thought it'd be fun, but I didn't want to go without Roy; especially to New York. After we agreed to go, Caitlyn basically planned all the flights, hotels and tickets. I didn't want to go all the way to New York for just one play, so we looked at a bunch of others (including prices) and settled on Wicked. We would have loved to see Hamilton, but tickets were $750 and higher. Roy and I have only been to New York once in our lives and that was in 2001, just months following 9-11. At that time we took Elise and Dan, wanting them to get a glimpse of history. We visited Ground Zero while it was still smoking. ...
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