Memorial Day Weekend

We had a really nice and very productive Memorial Day weekend.  Per tradition, we visited cemeteries to honor and remember family members who have passed on, and spent time with family members still here.  We worked and swam and planted and ate.  It was a wonderful kick off to summer.

On Saturday morning, Kent and I got up early to work in the yard.  More on that in another post.  About ten o'clock, we met up with DeMartinis and headed to Goshen and Eureka.  We packed flowers, tools to tidy up graves, and a picnic lunch.  We stopped in Goshen to decorate the grave of Uncle Doug (Grandma Hare's brother) and Aunt Cecil, then proceeded on to Eureka to see my great-grandparents, George and Georgina Richards (Grandma Hare's parents).  The Eureka cemetery is being worked on, and apparently the city has decided to invest some money in improvements to the land.  While I think it is great to put the cemetery in better order, I also like the feel of the place, sort of Boot Hill-ish, untouched and overgrown with graves to discover under wild rose and sage brush.  It is, however, still being used, and I suppose those who come to visit loved ones recently deceased might like a less savage look.

Normally, following our visit to the cemetery, we picnic in the Eureka city park.  It is always, without fail, windy and frequently miserable to eat there.  This year was no exception.  While it was warmer, the winds were so strong the lid to a cooler blew off and across the lawn.  After getting everything out of the cars and trying to set up for lunch, we decided there was nothing that said we had to have lunch in Eureka.  We loaded up the cars again and drove to Santaquin for lunch instead.  There is a lovely city park complete with pavilion and large play equipment.  While still breezy, it was nothing like the gale force winds in Eureka and we were able to have a very nice lunch and good play time.  We will adjust our annual tradition and make Santaquin the lunch stop in years to come.

Blythe and Luke at Uncle Doug and Aunt Cecil's grave.

Brandt wanted a picture of this cool tractor. 

The wheels spin in the wind.

Brandt, Luke, and Makenna

I think they were pretending the thing they are standing on was a boat.

Collin is trying to get in down below.

It looks like Luke is trying to bash Makenna on the head with a very large rock.

He wasn't.

All of us at George and Georgina's grave.

Blythe got out of the car for the picture and nothing else.

Because we don't have church until one o'clock, we decided to go to Salt Lake Sunday morning to decorate graves.  We stopped first at Memorial Lawn to see Foster and Lois Barrus (Kent's grandparents).  Kent's Auntie Marilyn and Uncle John are there too.  We placed flowers and talked about Grandpa Foster's experience in the war (WWI), and Grandma Lois's quilting.  Blythe uses one of her quilts when it is cold.  It is slick, like her kiki, and she loves it.

We made another stop at the Murray cemetery to see great-grandparents of Kent's.  The big draw here was a cannon.  We drove past it on the way to the grave and Brandt insisted we return so he could fire it.  It was a memorial to those who died in the Great War and was pretty cool.

These days, Brandt never gives me a regular face when I take his picture.

He's always mugging.

That's a handsaw Brandt is threatening with.

He insisted on bringing it with us, and then carrying it around.

How can one safely leave the house without one's saw?

In Murray.

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Sighting

Fire!

After church and dinner, we drove up to the East Lawn cemetery to see our closer family members.  We first visited Kent's brother John's grave.  He just died in September and the feelings of loss and grief were certainly more fresh.  We were not the first ones to have been there and we were glad to see lots of flowers. We also went to see my dad, Grandma and Grandpa Hare, and cousin Jeff.  Lots of tender feelings there too.  Oh, I miss Dad.  We sat by the graves while the children played in a huge sand pile and I cried and cried (which I'm doing again now).  I think it is nice the kids have someplace to play close to Dad's grave.  He'd like that.  It was a nice day and a fine time to honor those we love.

Monday morning we began tackling George and Merlynn's house.  George is ready to sell the house, so those of us Barri who are still here need to get the house ready.  We wanted to put things in order enough to be able to take pictures, but that is a big job.  The whole thing is a big job.  Lee and Aaron, David and Sharon and several of their kids, and Kent and I worked from 9:30 until about 4:00, cleaning up the yard, sorting, tossing, and cleaning.  We made good progress, but after 47 years of living in the same place, there is much to work through.  We'll need several more days just like this one to get it all finished.  Oh joy.

While we worked, Brandt and Blythe hung out with cousins at Grandma Sue's house.  They swam and played and ate, and when we finally met up with them at my mom's for dinner, they were exhausted buy happy to have been with cousins all day.  Speaking of eating, we got to have homemade ice cream with the Barri and the DeMars--Grandma Barrus' tutti frutti with the Barri, and Oreo with the DeMars.  It was delicious!

These pictures of Brandt are all courtesy of Mikayla.  She was photographing swimming while I was cleaning house.  Blythe had gotten out of the pool and was done by the time she started shooting, so there is no record of Blythe swimming.  Oh well.