Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend this year. We had three busy days dedicated to remembering our loved ones who have passed on.

We started on Saturday down in Orem, visiting the grave of Nate's sister Alissa who died as a baby.


Here is a picture of all of the family that lives here in Utah.


Then we went to another cemetery nearby, where Grandma Rawlinson Twitchel is buried.


Eli wasn't sure about riding on Jarom's shoulders. Just look at that cute face!


After that we all went out to eat at a Thai restaurant. It was really good and my first time having Thai food.

Sunday, we took our little family to the Salt Lake City cemetery to see some more graves.

We started with the grave of my mom's sister Daisie, who died as an infant.


It is sure hard to get four kids to hold still for a picture, isn't it?


We also found the grave of my uncle Darrow who died of colon cancer and his son Don.


After that it started to rain so we hurried and found the graves of three former prophets before we left.

President and Sister Kimball...


Here is Isaac, so excited to see the petrified tree stump!


President and Sister Hunter...(but I didn't get a picture by it)

and President and Sister Hinckley.


After that we took the kids over to Sinclair to eat our sack dinner and drink hot chocolate!

Here is Eli folding his arms!





Then Monday morning we got up early to eat our chuck wagon breakfast at the park in Herriman.

Yummy food!


My crazy boys!


Eli was so cute trying to use a fork and a knife! (did you notice Nate's t-shirt? funny huh?)


After that we headed to Sandy to visit the grave of Grandpa Richardson and uncle Tom


and Grandma Richardson...


and Grandpa Bentley. (for some reason, I don't have a picture of that one)

We were trying to get a picture of Eli's mullet for all of you in this one.


After we left the cemetery we all went over to Ruth's house in South Jordan for a BBQ.
It was a really fun weekend spent with family on both sides and memories of those who have gone before us.

REAL soccer

Because Joseph has been playing soccer this spring, he got two free tickets to a REAL soccer game. Nate bought an extra ticket so Isaac could go too and they had a fun guys night out.


The boys watched the game for about 20 minutes and then spotted the cotton candy man!




From then on they were keeping their eye on him and would not rest until they got some. Here they are enjoying the other treats they got.


So Kate wouldn't feel left out, I took her on her own date with mommy. We went shopping at the new Kohl's store nearby and then went to Iceberg for some yummy shakes!

We have flowers and plants!

Ever since we moved into our home, I have wanted to plant some flowers. However, I seem to have a black thumb and kill everything I plant. Well, finally that seems to not be the case anymore!

We have daffodils and tulips!


It's so fun to see some color!


This is the only remaining piece of ground cover Nate got me about three years ago. Hopefully it will continue to grow and spread. It has really pretty purple flowers.


My dad came out about two years ago and planted some grapevines for us. They are the "Black Monukka" variety.


More grapevines. (they are a lot bigger now, and you can see tiny grapes growing on it!)


This is a lamb's ear start that Nate's parents gave us about 4 years ago. It is awesome and has just grown so much this year, I had to split it up!


This is a ground cover I got from my sister, Julia. It is really pretty too with my favorite purple flowers.


Here you can see one of the transplants from the "lamb's ear."


We got some strawberry plant starts from Nate's dad. I hope they survive. If not, we will get some more next year and try again. We also have a tiny garden spot where we planted cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins. So far the plants have come up, I just hope they survive me!

Soccer!

For the past 6 weeks Joseph has been playing soccer! I think it has been good for him to do something physically active. This Saturday is his last game. I'm hoping he and Isaac will both want to do it again next year.


Joseph is the one in the red hoodie.