Memorial Day

I know, I know. Memorial Day was, like, a month ago. But here it is anyway.

Memorial Day was a good one this year. I suppose it always is, it's one of my favorite holidays. I'm not sure why, maybe it's just the quiet, reflective tone of the day. Or perhaps it's the picnic we always have at Pioneer Park. Either way, Memorial Day has always been one of my favorites.

Sunday we stopped by Redwood Memorial Estates to see Grandma Zierse.



The boys wanted to walk around a little bit. So we looked at the mausoleum. Nathaniel was always pointing out the dates, especially when the birth and death dates weren't very far apart. We also could just make out Bagpipes somewhere else in the cemetery. I love bagpipes, they always bring tears to my eyes.

Jonathan wanted to go look at the fountains in the front. As soon as we walked up and Brigham saw the water, he immediately got to work taking off his shoes. I was impressed with his boldness so I let him continue. Unfortunately, not only would it have been inappropriate, but it was also pretty cold. He was a little disappointed when we left without getting in the water.

On Monday we met my family in Provo. It was a little weird not being able to meet at Grandma Harding's house. We met at the park instead. It had been raining a lot lately and all the slides were wet. My dad, with amazing foresight, had a towel to wipe all the slides off with. After everyone was present we went to the Provo Cemetery.

We always start on the West side and work our way East. The Harding/Jolley side has a lot of family buried here. It's a really old cemetery and so it's always interesting to see the headstones. We have several ancestors buried here who came across the plains with the pioneers.


Grandpa Harding's grave.


Grandma Nash's grave. Brigham is getting a little better at posing for pictures, but I was taking too long. So close.

After the cemetery we all went back to the park for lunch. On the way I decided to stop by the tabernacle. I hadn't seen it in the day time yet and I wanted to see how it looked.


So sad.



The weather had been pretty nice at the cemetery, we were hoping it would last while we were at the park. It was okay for a little while, just long enough for everyone to eat. But then, it started to rain pretty hard.


We had anticipated this and so we got a spot in the pavilion instead of on the grass like usual. Everyone stayed dry. Everyone who wanted to, that is.

Good Memorial Day. It's good to have a day to remember those that came before us and sacrificed so that we could have freedom and prosperity.

Nathaniel the Animator

If anyone has read Nathaniel's blog, you know that he likes to use a program called Blender. Well, today he started working on an animation and wanted to post the results. He doesn't post very often and his blog is private so I wanted to give his blog a little shout-out and give everyone an opportunity to view his work.



It's not very long but it's not easy to do. Jaaromy has this same problem. He'll show me this "awesome text box" or something similar and tell me how it "took hours to make this" and it looks just like stuff I see on the computer/Internet all the time and take for granted. But programming really is a lot of work, and I need to show the proper excitement for the simple things.

Good work, Nathaniel. I can't wait until you are working for Pixar!

Day Out with Thomas #4

We decided to do Day Out with Thomas this year. We didn't do it last year because it's just so expensive. When it's over I really have to think about whether or not it was worth the money. It's definitely worth some money, I'm just not sure if it's worth the amount we pay. But since we didn't do it last year we decided to try again.


Our first stop is always the activity tent. They have lots to do, including coloring,


Legos,


and lots of train sets. There are so many little boys who love trains it's often hard to find a spot to play.


On the way to the maze, Brigham had to stop and play with the bubbles. It's one of his favorite things.


Once at the maze, it was hard to get a good picture of them since they were always running.


Time for the train ride! We usually ride in a open car but, I'm assuming, since it was overcast they only had enclosed cars. I was a little sad about that at first, but it ended up being a very nice and relaxing ride.


In fact, it was such a relaxing ride...


that some of us fell asleep.


After the train ride we got balloon animals. Jonathan picked a snake again this year and Nathaniel chose a bear. Brigham loved watching the balloon makers work and he loved his little balloon dog. He would wave it around and make the ears wag, it was super cute.


Jonathan, our bravest, decided to have his picture taken with Sir Topham Hat again.


On our way out we took a picture with Thomas...sort of. There was a huge line to take pictures with Thomas and I just didn't have the patience for it, so this is what we did. Looks fine to me.

Then we picked up dinner for the kids at Wendy's and Jaaromy and I stopped at Taco Bell before we headed out. This is the tradition. We never eat at Taco Bell except after Day Out with Thomas. I'm not sure why, it's pretty tasty.

So, everyone had fun. Was it worth it?