Memorial Memories and Then Some

Its Monday and Memorial day and time to do some service ... Darby's arena area is too muddy to ride the horses, so she is building it into a real arena, using sand.  Look at all the great people who came to her party on Monday Morning.  

 Darby recruited cousin Jason ... he was a great addition to the crew.

 ... and its time to call it a day.

 Then Dad and I headed to our parents graves to leave flowers.  This is my parents' graves at Wasatch Lawns.

and Dad's parents graves at Holladay Memorial Park.

Last of all it was to see Ben's grave at the old Springville Cemetery

... and look who we ran into to!

When we got home I dotted my floor and 

 and diamonded my table.

Then Dad planted tomatoes, while I planted flowers.  It was a very productive day.

On Tuesday we picked up J. Scott to help us finish up the sand pile at Darby's.  He offered, how cool is that.  Then Becca needed a sitter, so we took some munchkins along.  After the sand was stacked  back into the arena area, we all went to Mc Donalds.

Not sure how Scott endured all that lovin on by his cousins.

It doesn't take much to make Mac happy.

When we returned the kids we got to do a tour of their new apartment.  It looks great.  Next we took Scott home, and Dad played with trying to fix their doorbell to no avail.

Next it was to Robin and Jeff's to see Caleb open his mission call.  Here he is with his folks and John, his grandfather.

We sat next to him as he read his call, so it was fun to snap a picture of everyone else recording the event.

Congrats Caleb, who is headed to Omaha Nebraska!!  It turns out that is where Robin's mom was born, and Barb's mom's birthplace and family farm is also in the same mission in Vermillion, South Dakota.

On Wednesday in Texas they had 6 1/2 inches of rain in 5 hours.  Whew! The kids loved it.

 I, of course, worked on Wednesday, and Dad had Barbershop practice that night.

Where-as, I found myself at Benjamin park with Benjamin Moyar, and the rest of the ward, for a ward picnic.  I was in charge of the Young Women's game for the primary.

Here I am with some of the girls wadding paper to play junk yard.

... and they're off!

 On Thursday I had visitors at work ... that's always fun.

That night Dad and I went to visit his cousin Jerry, since I am her ministering sister.

... and guess who graduated from Kindergarden!  She is wearing the candy lei from her Mimi and Papa ... bet you can't guess who we ordered it from. For those out of the loop, Brittany made many, many of these leis as a fund raiser.

 On Friday I was out getting in trouble early.  I parked up against a cone while garaging but when I got everything into the car that I had purchased at the sale, I forgot and drove forward to make a U turn  Oops.  I didn't know my car would turn into a unicorn, or that a handsome knight in shining armor would come in his huge white stead to rescue me. 

Yep, I was the dunce of the day!

These happy people are having sushi to celebrate my birthday ... yep that was two weeks of birthday, thanks everyone!!

!

Yum

 On the way home we picked up these girls to help me put the garden house back together again,

Here they are having virgin mint juleps.  Nenna said "Its kind of gross, but I love it!" always the diplomat, just one reason we love this girl.  Both girls were great helpers and it made it fun to put things together.

Bottoms up!

You may note a subtle bee theme throughout the garden house ... its a nod to Ben, and will be a quiet place to reflect on this beloved son.

 On Saturday morning I dropped Dad off at a day long barbershop practice in Salt Lake before heading to ...

Trevor and Nell's for a family breakfast.  Here is Nell with our Van.

Some of our girls.

 Brittney  sure has her lap full.

and happy birthday blue berries for sugar free me ... though to be honest I did have some of Nell's Mom's recipe for buttermilk syrup made by our very own Trevor ... yum!  Well, it was more birthday celebrating, right?

 Eleanor made the bracelet for Van.

How many cute girls does it take to whip the cream?

After the party I managed to spend the day at two DIs in SLC, and spent well over a hundred dollars ... yep, three original paintings and a fur coat, among many other things, before picking up Dad and calling it a day.

We had a wonderful sabbath ... after I got home from my presidency meeting, and Dad and I were about half way through our Come Follow Me, the Kews stopped by for a visit. It was definitely a bonus for the week.  When I asked them, my artsy friends, for suggestions on what to do with the open square of wall in the fireplace surround, Steve suggested that I commission a mural by Eva ... I love it.  Eva is currently working toward reenacting the project that Scott did for his Eagle ... she's collecting money to buy items to make Chemo kits for women, like her mother, who are heading into treatment.  I thought it was a fabulous idea.