Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday was my great uncle Jim’s 90th birthday. Jim is my Grandpa Jensen’s brother. My mom ordered a cake and made arrangements to have a family party in the common room of the assisted living center where he and Aunt Flora live. Uncle Jim had a rough couple of days leading up to his birthday, suffering a fall (thus the bandaged nose) and spending some time in the hospital. We were happy that he was able to be with us so we could celebrate this amazing milestone with him.
Ryan has a huge crush on my second cousin, Amy. Many of you know that she was Miss Utah a few years ago. (Ryan just can’t believe that she wasn’t chosen to be Miss America. “Not even Vice Miss America?!?!”) All morning before the party, Ry kept asking me if Amy was going to be there. I kept answering that she probably would. He waited somewhat patiently. Finally Amy and her brothers came. Ryan poked me and pointed at her as soon as he saw her. When she said hi to him, I thought he was going to fall right over! It was hilarious! Ryan has now informed me that we need to visit Jim and Flora more often – preferably on Sunday evenings when Amy also visits.

With his overwhelming fascination with Amy, Ryan had not realized how much fun Amy’s brother, Andrew, is. Andrew served his mission in New Zealand, and knows the haka! So after a few minutes to coordinate their moves in the hall, Ryan and Andrew entertained the party guests with the haka. (I bet you’ve never seen Indiana Jones do the haka! Yes, he wore his Indy outfit ALL WEEKEND…except to church and to bed. Note: he changed from his tan tee shirt to a white oxford shirt. Early in the day, he only had the bottom two buttons buttoned, exposing his whole chest. I made him button up the rest before the party.)
Many families travel on Memorial Day weekend. Our Memorial Day weekend travels take us to three cemeteries. My brother and my Jensen grandparents are in the Bountiful City cemetery. My dad’s mother and brother are in the Sunset Lawn cemetery in Salt Lake. Saturday after Uncle Jim’s party, we made the cemetery visits and decorated the graves.
One of our favorite Memorial Day weekend traditions is the bagpipe program at Lakeview cemetery on Sunday night. We have gone for years, and always love it. The weather was nice for it, and watching the sunset over the lake while the bagpipes played was wonderful, as always. I know, it’s not a good picture because of the crowds around. Oh well.
Of course, Ryan was still in his Indiana Jones outfit (although, I did make him change his pants). We walked around a little bit in the new expansion area of the cemetery. Here are a couple of the cute pictures of little Indy there.
Our plans for Memorial Day were to work in the garden and the yard in the morning, and then go hiking in the afternoon. It rained – HARD – all day. So much for our plans. Instead, we got some cleaning and organizing done inside. We did have our traditional family barbecue on Monday evening, which was fun, as always.