Creating Memories

For as long as I can remember, our family would spend the morning of Memorial Day clipping daisies and roses and tulips and irises from my mother's beautiful flower beds to be arranged and placed on the headstones of loved ones passed on before us.  We would meet family at the Evergreen Cemetery in Springville, Ut, to reminisce and laugh and cry, and then enjoy the day with each other.

Since moving to Idaho, there are very few of our relatives (mostly distantly related ancestors) who are buried close to us, so Memorial Day has become more of a celebration of our heritage than anything.  Living in Chesterfield does have its advantages...one being the opening of the townsite.  (The website, found HERE  has some room for improvement, but will give you an idea of what the Chesterfield Foundation is about.) 

While the weather threatened to deter us from having any outdoor fun, it didn't stop us from going on with our plans! Here's a breakdown of our weekend fun:

Saturday, May 29th
I spent the morning making surprize treats for a surprise occasion, while also doing laundry.  *Note to self:  While it is nice to leave a clean house while on vacation, it is seldom a good idea to pack everyone's clothes and put laundry away simultaneously.  Let's just say my children were lucky to end up with Sunday clothes for Church.  Taylor ended up with four pairs of pants, one shirt and a pair of socks in his bag...I must have put his pjs and other shirts and socks in his dresser.  

After a quick peanut-butter and jam samwich, we arrived in Chesterfield amid torrents of rain and quickly hauled everything but the kitchen sink from our trunk into the house.  The little boys were lucky to get a horse ride after the big boys finished moving cows, and we had a blast jumping on the tramp, playing in the dirt, and visiting.

The worst part of the weekend, Saturday Night:  (Why does it always involve my child?  And why does it always have to be Tanner?)  After thinking our boys were alseep, Ryan left the bedroom to come back downstairs to visit.  I forget the circumstances of him returning upstairs, but when he saw my sister's light on and realized Tanner wasn't in his bed, he went to find him...and it's a very good thing Tanner's daddy found him, and not his mommy.  Tanner had somehow climbed up Deseret's dresser, and found atop a book case all of her fingernail polish.  See where this is going???  Ryan found Tanner on the floor, painting a little one-inch piggy-thing with a rainbow of metallic fingernail polish...unfortunately for me and my mom and sisters, (not to mention Tanner) there was also fingernail polish drips and puddles and pools all over the carpet.  It took a large bottle sol-u-mel from Melaleuca and my mom, me, Ryan, and Katelyn a good hour of scraping and scrubbing to get the polish out of my mom's light beige carpet.  It took me longer than that to calm down from cussing, crying, and throwing a hormonal tantrum.  I was most upset about the fact that now my son has to have 'supervised' bedtimes...is there no rest for the weary?!

Sunday, May 30th
My dad fixed us the infamous Apple Pancakes for breakfast, then it was off to get ready for church...my boys looked like they had stepped from the pages of j.crewcuts...their ties were that cute.  (still waiting for pictures from my parents' camera of our family pictures...it might be a while before I get them.  :)  )

Church meetings left me thinking long and hard about my children and the unfortunate nail polish event of the night before, and I quickly repented of the nasty things I had said.  I made sure I gave Tanner a hug at every opportunity that day.  Although he was stubborn about staying in primary, he had a nice nap on my lap (well, what's left of it) during Relief Society, which my mom did a fabulous job of teaching about Self Reliance and and being Temporally and Spiritually prepared.

The best part of the weekend, Sunday Afternoon:  Unbeknownst to my dad, we children had planned a simple and small surprise 50th birthday party for him. And although we wanted to surprise our mom with something (her birthday was May 27th), she was also in on the gig. She sent all the men-folk out of the kitchen because there were plenty of women.  Instead of my dad protesting, he gladly went to his library and fell asleep.  How he slept through all of us laughing and making his surprise dinner was beyond us.  My mom had invited a few friends from the area so there were about 30 of us waiting outside when Reed dragged him from his nap, out the front door, and around back....  SURPRISE!!!  And surprised he was!  We had set up for a big BBQ, in the only shade on the entire ranch, and froze while eating outside.  Tricia made delicious salads, and Ryan made his fabulous homemade ice cream (three kinds:  huckleberry, Oreo, and strawberry) and I contributed the Lemon Cakes.  Everyone chipped in to make dinner, including Reed's friend/Stephanie's Roommate, Amy, and Keith and Tricia's friends, Mike and Jen.

 What started as a fun picture of the two of them quickly turned into a funny face contest...

We are incredibly blessed to have such wonderful and loving parents.  Not only do they have strong testimonies of the the gospel, they love each other so much.  They are an incredible example of selfless service, compassion, and dedication to all that they are involved in.

Monday, May 31
The morning was started off with a huge production of popcorn balls to be sold at the townsite...mmmmm!  And then we all headed up the road to watch our awesome dad and his scout troop do the flag ceremony.  After a beautiful tribute for fallen soldiers and ancestors who had gone on before us, it was time for the real fun. (Katelyn and Clay left for EFY, so I really had to step up my game and be a responsible mom.) This year I came prepared with sunscreen, a laid-back attitude, and some comfy walking shoes.

We visited the log store first thing, and walked away spending under $5.  While all proceeds go to improving the townsite and restoring/maintaining historical buildings, it was my secret goal to not over-do it this year.  The biggest hit was the $2 cotton candy that Stephanie made.

We scored some free root beer...  

Also, we made butter and got to eat it with some delicious bread and homemade rhubarb-strawberry jam, saw some neat gun and saddle displays, and walked, and walked, and walked.  And no, I didn't sing as I walked, and walked, and walked.  I instead held up my belly or carried a very tired and whiny Taylor on my back...I wouldn't have made a good pioneer.  

After a windy lunch, we headed home to wash clothes and take naps (Tanner had purposely dumped an entire can of root beer down the front of his only shirt.  I wonder what was going through his tired mind when he did that, "I wonder what will happen if I just hold this can upside-down and watch my brother's root beer pour all over me and the stroller..."

Nap time went by all too quickly, and we then headed outside to watch Keith and Reed and the troops work 11 calves.  (At this point, mom and Deseret were still at the townsite finishing up serving lunch to hundreds of people, and dad was being a blacksmith...making ropes and diamond prairie rings for every child that asked for one.)

It was quite the circus at times, with Keith, Reed, and Stephanie trying to get 11 calves branded, vaccinated, castrated, ear-marked or otherwise wrangled, with the help of Tricia, Amy, Mike, and Ryan. 

 Jen and I tried to stay out of the way in the calving shed with the little boys, but wherever we stood, we were in the way.  My poor brothers were so frustrated...I eventually had to leave; it was too painful to watch it take over an hour to get that work done.

Tricia and Amy were quite the troopers; and Tricia said that giving cattle shots is quite a bit different than Novocaine at the dentist office (she's a dental hygienist)...

I got my 'round-up fix' and took my whiny kids back to the house...and no, I don't think I could have done a better job...it was just funny to watch.

By the time dinner was fixed and we snacked on this and that, everyone was ready to go back home.  I was starting to get cranky, so I began packing everything to stuff in the trunk...as Keith and Tricia and Mike and Jen were getting ready to leave, my husband pulled out the guns...and we had a grand ole' time shooting a collection of water bottles and tuna cans.

And while it's been a few years, I was a pretty good shot.  I got about 3 out of 50 targets.  See that little puff of dirt in the upper right-hand corner?  Yeah.  There's a clear water bottle that just got shot all to heck.  :)

Ryan even let Tanner do a little shooting.

I had to get a picture of the guys and their guns...

I will skip over the pigeon incident, only to say that it was absolutely hilarious, in a sick sort of way.  May he rest in peace.  (The fact that he died is not funny, but the events leading up to his tragic death were humorous.)

The ride home was the shortest drive I've ever had from my mom and dad's house.  I woke up just as we were getting off our exit, and felt like I hadn't even been in the car.  I love those short rides!

It was a wonderful weekend, full of memorable moments, good food, fabulous people, and great learning experiences.

Now, if only I had a day to recuperate after that fun three-day weekend.  It was near impossible to pull myself out of bed this morning.