Memorial Day Festivities

So I came back to Tri-Cities the night before Memorial Day weekend. I had to work the next day. I guess that it's an unwritten law that employees are required to "volunteer" on Memorial Day. This is only 1 of 4 paid vacation days we get throughout the year... but whatever. So I ended my weekend short and came back to work the following day at the Cemetery for the Memorial Day Service. I'm telling you... it was incredible. The speakers said things from their hearts that made you think about the blessings and joys you have living here in the US and those that have fought for the freedom we so often take for granted. The singer was phenomenal and my favorite that he sang was God Bless the USA. I got goosebumps and shivers during that song. It was incredible. I wish everyone could have been there.

But before I go any further... I will explain what Linzey and Landon are doing below. They woke up sooooo early and Linzey decided to play dress up. She was the queen and she made Landon a prince with a robe. hahaha I took this picture as I was heading out the door. They were so cute that morning. :)



I made it to the Funeral Home located above the Cemetery and chilled with Miss Tiffany while we waited for Jeannine to arrive so we could all walk down together. When Jeannine arrived and we started out... my camera shots started then too! This is Me, Tiffany, and Jeannine. We all work as office managers at the funeral homes that Mueller's owns. I am at Mueller's Chapel of the Falls. Tiffany at Mueller's Tri-Cities Funeral Home. Jeannine at Mueller's Greenlee Funeral Home. We are the three amigos at work and love to share our funny blunders with one another... sometimes only things that other Funeral employees would relate to. :)
(can you tell there was a breeze right then?)



I had to get a picture of the Tank that's located on our way down to the Memorial Day Service. Jeannine and I have never really seen it so I made her get in the picture with me.



We make it down, after a few minutes of walking and chatting, to the Ceremony spot in the Cemetery and I loved how many flags there were there. Picture this picture and then looking to both sides and seeing hundreds of graves covered with mini flags placed where veterans have been laid to rest.



During the service there was this gentleman who came and plopped down on the grass near us. I didn't think or give him a second glace after the service started. And then one of the speakers called each branch of the military veterans to stand. I was touched and took notice a little more when he stood after the Navy had been called. For some reason it was a lesson to me. You can't tell outwardly if someone has served or not... regardless they need to be thanked. So this is my thank you to this gentleman who seemed invisible to me until he stood.



This was my favorite speaker that day. He is an officer with the Benton County Sheriff's Dept. During his speach at the closing he asked us to raise our hand in the air if we would fight, to our death if it's needed, against any army/nation that was invading our country. Every woman and man, whether old or young, and every child that understood raised their hand. There wasn't one hand left down. And each of us truly meant it. He then stated that we ARE the most powerful nation because of that one fact. Every citizen of this country would fight to the death for the freedom we enjoy. No wise country would ever come against us. This is why many respect the US Military.
His speech was moving. Empowering. Thought provoking. Deeply refreshing. Stirring.



There were 3 brothers that were standing side by side most of the service and I thought it was very cool. It caught my eye when the songs were being sung that they all were standing exactly the same. The oldest to the youngest of these young men had their hats off and hands placed behind their backs. Before I could get that picture the oldest one replaced his hat on his head. But I still felt it worthy of a picture.



After the service, we sought out... ok... I sought out Jess Reiland. I had never seen him in his military uniform. You see... Jess is the one we contact when the family has requested Military Honors for their loved one. So Jess makes that happen with the Veteran of Foreign Wars. I had to get a picture with us and him.




As we went back down to the tented area to help families find their loved ones graves, we realized that Denise and Lauri were packed up and gone! But while we were standing there (not knowing where they went) a very nice young man came up and gave us a heartfelt thank you for the Memorial Day Service that was done for those who had passed away after serving in the Military. His hat said that he was a World War II Veteran and I was so struck by his stories and personality I asked if I could get a picture with him. Thankfully he accepted and believe me... he was strong when he put his arm around me to hug me close for the picture! I loved this man, even if we only had a breif encounter.



Before we headed back up to the Funeral home and our cars, I had to get a photo of this sight. This isn't Christ as I had once thought. It is a Saint that I can't recall at the moment. But what struck me was the statue surrounded by the many US Flags.



And a closer view of the statue... One day I will go and read the inscription underneath it.



After wards there was a lunch provided by the owners for those who helped out. We went of course because we all were starving and tired of standing in the sun.

Below is Rob. He is one of the Funeral Directors here. He is slim, but I don't know how he keeps it slim when he devoured the 4-5 pieces of pizza stacked in front of him.
Amazing appetite.



Then the infamous Brad. He is so funny if you can't tell from the photo. :)
He loves to have a good time and is also another Funeral Director. He is LDS and his wife, Nelda, makes THE BEST powdered chex mix that I've ever had!



This would be Jim. Jim loves to give me a hard time in the mornings as he's leaving the Funeral Director Meetings which he conducts. And I just love to give him a hard time right back. :) I love to spoil the Funeral Directors with treats and sweets. That way they'll bring me more cases and I won't be so bored during the day.... but bored for me is good for families...



Here are the three guys together... Jim, Rob, and Bradley making sure he's in the shot. hahaha



After I got home I realized how red I was because I had thought with the cloud cover we had that I wouldn't get sunburnt... yeah... as you can tell I was really wrong.
Here is my sister, Leah, and me.

In the end my nose and chest were peeling... but thankfully it only lasted a day!
Next time I will have some SPF Sunscreen on no matter what type of forecast it is!

Mother's Day Camping Trip

We asked my mom what she would like for Mother's Day and she replied that all she wanted was for her kids to get together and go camping on Mother's Day weekend. So that is exactly what we did. After weeks of trying to make everyone happy, it ended with staying in the Quincy area and going to Evergreen at the Quincy Lakes. Why it's called Evergreen.... I really don't know because it's all sage brush and lakes! I really had my heart set on Swan Lake, but I was up for camping anywhere and make my mom happy. I couldn't get Friday off and so I headed to Quincy right after I got out of work. We made it there around 7 pm.

When we first arrived, I laughed because Landon was like a magnet to those four wheelers.
Here he is with his helmet on...



Jenny took him out for a ride and so did Uncle David.



Jenny and I took a turn on the 4 wheeler too!
I don't trust myself driving one of those. They are nice and expensive, and I know how I am on just my 2 feet, let alone someone else's recreational vehicle! So I left the driving up to Jenny.



I love this photo of Leah and I. She is my younger sister, but she has always been thought of as older than me by everyone that has met the two of us and didn't know us personally. So she is supposed to be my little sister, but sometimes I find myself looking up to her a lot more than I should think an older sister is supposed to. She's my best friend though.



The lovely sunset view from Evergreen Lake in Quincy. It was beautiful. As you look at this you can't tell that there were hundreds and maybe even thousands of Frogs croaking everywhere. I love to hear frogs and crickets at night, so it didn't bother me any. It was a beautiful sunset though.



These are the kiddos that night besides Landon. It was Linzey, Nicolas and Devon (Nic's friend) who were trying to catch the frogs by the water. They did get some too!



And here is just one of the many they found together.



Here is the clan of family and friends gathered around the campfire.
Misty, David, Samantha, Nicholas, Abby, Jenny, Sam (standing up), and Victor's boot. :)
Then there is Jenny, Sam, Victor and Niko.
You can find this group together all the time and especially on the weekends doing something.



And here is a shot of myself. I totally don't match, but it was cold and I only brought one pair of close toed shoes... so this is what you get! Can you tell I'm not one to bring outfit after outfit camping? I just bring the bare necessities.



Here is Mom or Grandma Therese with Landon and Linzey.



Landon and I... except Landon was tired of the camera by then and way past bedtime!



The next morning (after very little sleep for ALL of us) the kids set out playing with the frogs from the previous night in the dirt.
And yes... Landon is still in his pajamas and laying in the dirt... enough to make you cringe... but that is why there are loads of laundry to do after camping.
Then Nicolas and Landon posing in the back of Victor's truck.



Leah making a HUGE breakfast to feed us all. She made eggs, sausage, and a fruit bowl.
It was very delicious and she did an amazing job because NONE of it was burnt!



My mom and I finally got our FIRST fishing licenses and wanted to fish some. So we set out to find the boys out in the very remote part of the lakes. I thought Jonathan was leading us on a wild goose chase with how far out we were going, but thankfully we HAD to stop and take a picture of this crane we went by on our way. It was beautiful and HUGE.



Then we made it to the boys as they were headed back to camp. So we didn't even get to go fishing, but they stopped and showed us how they bow and arrow carp in the lakes. They already had pulled 3-4 out of this lake on earlier, but I decided to capture them in action since I wasn't going to get to fish right then. Below is my brother-in-law, Thomas, and his cousin, Eric.




Eric got a carp within the first 10 minutes. This is him getting the carp off the arrow.



And this is how big the carp are down there... as Jonathan shows us below. They are about 20-30 pounds. Thomas had a weight pulley in his tackle box, but the fish maxed out the weight and fell right off... so it shows you how big and heavy they were!



We made it back to camp and Landon was wanting to go 4 wheeling again...



The boys were target practicing... poor mocking birds.
Eric, Thomas, and Sammy.



Picture of me next to this stump by our campsite.
You could tell that a beaver or something had attacked the side of the stump.



This was the beautiful skies we had on the second day in camp.
There were a few clouds, but it was a NICE day!



Leah and I hiking with the kids. The boys didn't want to come with and so we trekked off by ourselves.



We went fishing later that day and Eric caught a baby stergion. It was awesome. Very cool looking and they are huge fish when they get to be an adult. We just captured and released this one because it was too small to keep... and we want him to get bigger and catch him again. :)



Mom finally went fishing and found that she liked Leah's pole more than the one that she had.
Mom could actually cast out with Leah's and was about to throw her's in the lake...
so Leah rested and watched.



So we moved to another spot and then as we were packing up there, Jonathan, my nephew, decided he was going to throw a peanut (orange candy thing) at my head... which he did and it hit me square in the forehead. I wasn't going to let that go... so I chased after him... he ended up going around a turn and falling into the water. Little do you know how gross smelling that water really smelt like. It makes you smell like dead carp... and we had been trying this entire camping trip to avoid going in the water or touching the water as they hopped from island to island to get a better fishing/hunting spot. So when this happened and I didn't have to do anything to have Jonathan get wet.... I was so happy.



We went to one more spot and this is me and Jonathan (and not pictured is Sammy) sitting on the canoe in the back of Thomas' truck going to the fishing spot. The last one of the night... no one had caught anything (except the Stergon that we couldn't keep) and so we were determined!



This is the night sky and darkness that was settling. You can tell there are rain clouds coming and that night we ended up packing up and heading into town because we didn't want to get rained on. But not before Sammy caught a Bass at this very spot! It was pretty big and I learned (not through experience) that Bass have extremely sharp teeth and fins that you have to be careful of. Thankfully there were others that knew that and no one got hurt, but I saw those teeth and cringed.



So our camping trip went extremely well. We all had a blast and were extremely tired from not getting much sleep the previous night. Hopefully we can do it again next year too!

YW Events to Note

This is a photo of the Camp Certification that we did for the YW to pass off their fire-making and cooking activities they needed to have signed off before we went to camp. I thought I had left my camera at home until I went to my car to get in and found it on my front seat! So this is a photo of the rest of the people (mostly leaders and only 1 YW) who were still there with the Brother from the Stake Scouts that helped to teach us and use his barrels for the fires.



Mia Maids were in charge of the Combined activity with the Young Men called Human Foosball.
My mom had done this activity as a ward activity in Quincy, but I didn't know what to do because they used PVC pipe and we didn't have the funds or resources to replicate that. So I went to the Dollar Store and found some clothes line that we used to "anchor" the kids to their lined team. We used lines on the gym floor to keep them in place. I was the referee and we kept score... although with every point the lines moved, so keeping score was hard if not impossible.



As you can tell there were some who got "out of line" but for the most part it was fun for everyone. Except if you were waiting for the ball to come your way... Sarah is looking pretty bored in the photo below.



The lines were made up of a variety of YW and YW from different ages.



There were 2 goalies at the ends of the gym and we switched them out too.



This Rachel... she is the amazing young lady who watches Landon for me when I was doing Mutual or Mary Kay Parties. She is so good with him. She plays, reads, digs, and sings with him. I loved her watching Landon because I knew he was always going to have a fun time.



This was just part of the crowd watching on...
My niece, Linzey, is the one in the striped purple shirt.



The event was fun and even though we were stressed beforehand, it turned out well and everyeone had fun. Only one person got hurt by being beamed in the eye from the ball... so if you replicate this make sure you're not using a soccer ball, but a soft ball.