A memorable Memorial Day

Summer is finally here. I got up Monday morning to flag lined streets, no school and no work. Memorial Day. The first official day of summer, at least in my book. We actually had a really nice weekend. My Mom and Dad came down and Kevin and Tess hung out with us too. And my kids favorite house guest, Molly, spent the weekend with us too.


I was itching to get out into the canyons and do some camping but I waited to long and didn't reserve anywhere. I thought the chance of us getting a first come first serve spot was slim so we opted for a fire and dinner by Bridal Veil Falls. It was beautiful. Kevin and Tess headed out early afternoon and snagged us a spot. We had a BIG fire and roasted marshmallows, ate dinner, went on a walk to see the falls and just kind of hung out. It was a lot of fun.

Being Memorial Day we thought we should do a bit of grave visiting. So we headed out to take flowers to my grandparents grave. When we got there we had a bit of trouble finding the graves, I thought I knew where they were but somehow they disappeared. Turns out I was actually remembering pretty right. My Mom pointed them out-they were where I remembered them they were just a little difficult to see due to the picnic that was spread out on top of them. The family of Grandma's cemetery neighbors look to be a fun group. They all turned out to bring flowers and have a bit of a party. There was quite a few people and quite a lot of food. Donuts, cookies, all kinds of stuff - spread all out for the grave goers to enjoy. They jokingly offered us some when they realized their donuts were covering Grandma. I spotted some raisin cookies and had a hard time controlling myself. I wanted some so bad but didn't feel it the place to indulge on strangers cookies while I was supposed to me memorializing my grandparents, plus I would have embarrassed my family had I reached out and grabbed one. I was hoping if we waited around long enough they would leave before us and I could scout around for a leftover cookie crumb or two - but no such luck.

So Monday afternoon we decided to head out to Utah Lake for a little canoeing. We rented 2 canoes and Kevin and Tess took out Taylor and Anna and Rick and I took Ryan and Dallin. Rachel got to stay with Grandma, Grandpa and Molly. We had a great time paddling down the river. The mosquitoes were a bit bothersome but they seemed to hang out mostly by the docks. Swarms of them descended on us as we got in our life jackets and the canoes into the water. They weren't too many as we left the dock so we settled in for a nice ride. It was beautiful. We had a great time searching for animals. We all kept our eyes peeled and called out when we saw something. We saw lots ducks and geese, a beaver and even a turtle out sunning itself. Ryan kept looking and looking but had a harder time spotting those quick moving little animals. He finally got really excited and almost tipped us when he jumped up yelling, "I see a huge rear" Sure enough there was the back end of a horse sticking out from behind some bushes.

We raced back and forth with Kevin and Tess and as we headed back we pulled ahead and left them in our wake. We kept expecting them to pull around the corner - but they were no where to be found. After getting out and waiting around, then going to look for them we finally spotted them. When they got back to the dock Tess let us in on a lesson learned that canoe ride - to stay still. They also learned that in May the water in that stream is mostly snow runoff that is still pretty close to being frozen. So the canoe tipped, and all four occupants went for a swim. Tess was able to grab Anna, Kevin grabbed the canoe, Taylor grabbed Anna's flip flops and somehow they all made it out of the water and back into the boat, except Tess's flip flops. Anna wasn't' to thrilled with the little dip into the freezing, dirty river. She insists that she will never go canoeing again. She admitted that she cried, Taylor on the other hand "cried without tears". Whatever that means. Anyway what an adventure - one they are sure to remember. In fact on the way home Taylor tried to comfort Anna with, "At least we have a good story to tell our kids." And he is right - one should never underestimate the importance of a good story to tell your kids.