Rewind 9 - Graves and Lakes and Lots of Love

I think I'm falling further and further behind ...

Memorial Day weekend was just yesterday, wasn't it?   Well, it feels that way, at least.  However, the calendar is arguing with me.  Next week we celebrate Independence Day, and this week we're in the middle of Lehi Roundup Week and it's been two weeks since we were in Yellowstone.  No Memorial Day was not yesterday.

On Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, the skies opened and poured on us.  We woke up to a steady late Spring rainstorm.  We don't get those in Utah.  Usually it's either snow or cloudbursts in this high mountain desert.   So we love the rare opportunities to pull out the umbrellas and enjoy the liquid sunshine as it seeps through the sky, touching our bones, and saturating the earth.

Brent and I took Edna to the cemetery to decorate graves.  This first Memorial Day since Leo passed was a heartbreaking one in many ways, but Edna was a trooper and, in spite of the rain, was willing to tackle the soggy ground to place the flowers on his grave.   Bill and Stephanie joined us, as well as Howard.  When we got there, we found a jaunty pot of bright pink mums left earlier by Mike and Makinzee as well.
 

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Stephanie's Grandpa Rothe is also buried in the Lehi Cemetery.  We stopped there for a minute.

And moved on to the other part of the cemetery where Brent's grandparents and great grandparents and great-great.... well, you get the idea.  There are a lot of ancestors buried in the Lehi Cemetery.

Grandma Smith's Flowers

And yes, this is the marker for other ancestors.

After a breakfast at Kneaders, Edna rode with us up to the Salt Lake Cemetery where we found my grandparent's headstones in need of a lot of work.  This is the after shot.  Didn't get the before.  There was a lot of mud and dirt and grass piled over the top of the headstones.  Also, the grass had grown back over the concrete slab as well.  Brent's been wonderful to help me take care of this spot every year.  We were in Yellowstone last year, however, and unable to make it up to the cemetery.  I could tell the difference this year.

 I needed some cemetery shots for a marketing brochure I'm doing at work and the SLC cemetery is a great one to find lots of different views, so Brent and Edna waited patiently while I took a lot of photos.  These are a few of the ones I took, but I still don't have the right shot for my marketing promo.   May have to make another trip that direction soon.

George Albert Smith's headstone/monument.  Other visitors also stopped to remember.

Among all the rows and rows and rows of markers, I loved the privacy found with this pair.

Monday morning, May 26, Brent joined Bill and his two girls on a fishing trip.  It's been forever since Brent's gone fishing.   He didn't have any gear ready and didn't have a license, so he just tagged along for moral support.  I don't think it was more than a day later before he decided he wanted to really go fishing again, and he pulled out his gear, got a license, and is now ready.   Unfortunately, seems like he's the only one.  I told him I'd go with him if nobody else will.  I really regretted not joining them on Memorial Day.  Looks like they had a great time.  At least Brent took the camera and got a few photos:

It was sunny, but early in the morning, it was also cold with a little breeze coming off the lake.  Thank heavens Grandpa is tough and happy to share his jacket:

 The girls thought the best way to fish was, obviously, to troll from shore.  That means casting in, pulling out, casting in, pulling out ...

 ... which means fixing lines and untangling tangles and reworming hooks ...
and you can bet the girls were not the ones doing that.

But, wait!  What's happening with Karsyn's line?????   Did it snag on something?

Karsyn's not too concerned, but Kamryn goes to check it out.  Hey,  Karsyn, I think you've got something here!

 Well, that got her interest!  Bill's, too.

 Nice, catch!

The rest of the morning was pretty much spent tossing rocks.  But they had a great time out at the lake (Deer Creek Reservoir) with their Dad and Grandpa Loveridge!

 

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We had a barbecue, pretty laid back, at Bill and Stephanie's that evening.  I think all the fisher people were pretty tuckered out after their early morning.   

 

Memorial Day weekend is always the big kick-off for the summer.  That means FUN! and OUTDOORS! and FOOD! and everything else that reminds one of what the next three months can bring.   But mostly, it's got to be about family and the love we have for each other.  Going to the cemetery helps us remember our heritage and people who have held us and taught us and made us part of their lives.   Celebrating together with those who still surround us helps create a reservoir of loving memories in the lives of those who matter most to us.  

I am so grateful for all my family, for those who have passed on as well as those who are part of our lives today, whether close enough to celebrate in person or in distant states.  You are all my heroes.  That, for me, is what makes Memorial Day so special.