memorial day/weekend...and then some

Memorial Day turned into Memorial Weekend this year. We had lots of family time together, which was great. It started the Friday afternoon before Memorial Day--we went to Morgan and met Daren's family there to visit the graveyards.

I have gone to Morgan with Daren's family every year to visit the graves ever since Daren and I have been married. Daren's grandpa died over 20 years ago, and his grandma died over 10 years ago, so it's nice to go visit their graves. Daren's dad grew up in Morgan and there is still a lot of extended family there, so it's a fun place to visit. Plus, this time of year it's so green and beautiful.

Most of the family attended, and somewhere in there is Gpa and Gma Mortenson's gravestone.

Saturday afternoon we made the trek to Manti to visit Gpa Cox's grave. It was sunny and warm when we left Riverton, but cloudy and quite chilly when we got to Manti--we were completely underdressed, but survived. I love this thumbs-up picture of Jake and Chad...Jake is always calling Chad his "little buddy."

I love that the cemetery is right next to the temple--when the flags are up it makes for a beautiful picture. Grandma, the oldest of the Cox's, and Elyse, one of the youngest of the family. Will was begging for a Dr. Pepper the whole time at the cemetery, and he finally found a willing sucker, I mean dad, to give him one! But remember: what goes in, must come out...

...and so Will took off to the port-a-potty, which I have decided there are an abundance of at cemeteries on Memorial Weekend and Will managed to find every one of them! Daren was in high pursuit after Will. And this little Nathan was just the cutest thing all day. He was decked out in his camo in honor of his dad who was away working for the army. He was so cute at the park we went to after--he wanted to play football all day with the guys!

All the cousins who came that day: Jake, Paige, Will, Ben, Elyse, and Nathan.

This is the park in Manti we went to after leaving the cemetery. The sand volleyball court was a kid's sandbox paradise!! And this time we remembered to bring our yellow Tonka trucks!

Will just parked himself in front of the food and didn't move for a VERY long time!!

It was seriously chilly that day, and I was not prepared for it, but fortunately Daren was. He found the electric blanket that is stored in our car, plugged it in, and Will and I cuddled in it for the longest time (Will slept most of that time).


On Monday morning, you know, the actual Memorial Day day, we went to see the new movie, Night at the Museum--Battle at the Smithsonian, and we all LOVED it!! We watched the first one last week just to get prepped for this one. Ya, we're a little psycho ;) The rest of the day we played around in the yard, mowed the lawn, and did a lot of "underdogs" on the swingset!!

Jake was so tired that night, but he didn't want to leave the dinosaurs out, so he put them to bed too. It was so cute.

**WARNING** the following pictures are kinda bloody and gross!!!!

For the past 11+ years we have lived here, it was nice and peaceful when there weren't any ice cream trucks allowed into the city limits. I don't know who had the hairbrained idea to change that, but someone did and now I hear that music all the time and it drives me CRAZY! All the kids, who had just eaten pizza at our house, ran after said annoying truck, got it to stop, and then ran back to ask for money for the ice cream. During the run back to the house, Will tripped over himself and did a face plant on to the road. It seemed kinda bad at first, but not too bad; at least not at the time. Daren, being the softie that he is, gave in to getting all of the kids an ice cream. Will was happy to finally get his Sonic ice cream!!

Like I said above, Will's face didn't seem so bad...until he woke up Sunday morning with this puss all over his face, and the beginnings of a good scab. When we were at church, Will pointed to his owie and asked me if he had peanut butter on his face!! Poor kid! (It's looking SO much better now!)

This is how these boys got to and from church on Sunday. I don't know if they will ever walk to church again! You gotta love the goggles on Jake!

And for my final random picture, I took this of Ben in the tub the other morning. He has gotten into the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series lately and just likes to read it everywhere!!