Memorial Day Weekend

We were lucky enough to have our grandsons spend some time with us over the three day weekend.  We went to the movies and the Rec Center for swimming, but we also delivered yellow mums to the graves of those we love and miss.  All of our mums were yellow because my husband thought I put too much thought into which color for which grave site last year :)

First stop was the Provo Cemetery where my parents are buried.  My sister later added an American flag as my mother is a veteran of WWII.

I love the beautiful views of the mountains from their site.

After swimming, we drove the freeway north to Draper, Utah.  Many of my husband's ancestors were founding members of this community and are buried in the Draper City Cemetery.

We placed our mums at his grandparents grave site, both of whom I was lucky enough to know.

The boys wanted to find a marker with their name.  This was easy for Raymond, but a bit harder for Henry.

Next stop was just a few miles north at the Larkin Cemetery.  Glen's parents are buried here.

Both of them died too young and we always regret that our grandchildren and youngest son did not know them.

Henry once again looked for his name.

After a visit at our youngest son's home, we were on our way east on Interstate 80 and through Parley's Canyon.  After a beautiful drive we were in a beautiful mountain valley and small town of Peoa.  Ola Jenson came from Sweden in the mid 1800's and helped settle this place.

He and many of his descendants are buried here.  He is buried next to his second wife.

His first wife, Anna Carlson Jenson, is buried across the way to the north.  She came with him from Sweden but unfortunately died as a result of child birth in her late 30's.

I often ponder the big risk it really was to give birth back in those days before many of the health measures that we have today.

Anna's eldest son, Ola Joseph Jenson,  and his wife, Nancy Morrell, are buried just a bit east of Anna.

They were brought back to this cemetery from Talmage, Utah where they had homesteaded in the early 1900's.  Nancy was a trained midwife who delivered over 800 babies in the Uintah Basin.

Henry finally found his name in this cemetery and more than once!

The boys check out the names of veterans on the commemoration board.

There were many for a town so small.

They also found their cousin's name.  My husband became a Jensen when his father joined the Navy in WWII and didn't correct the clerk about the spelling.

I really do love this day when we remember those who were willing to place their lives on the line for freedom.

We now traveled south towards Heber City and home.  The sun broke through the clouds as it settled in the west making everything look magical.  My photo does not do justice to what we really saw.

We took the road less traveled.

It was the main highway before the Jordanelle Dam was built backing up the waters of the Provo River.  Now it is the boat launching ramp.

Henry wanted to throw rocks in the water.

Luckily for him, there were some big ones.

Next time he wants to hike around on the other side.  We had a great day with the boys and we loved sharing a bit of family history, too.

Museum walk

We took three of the grandsons back to the Museum of Curiosity and Discovery for a Canopy Tour.

Henry was especially excited about doing the tour and so happy that he was tall enough.

Honestly, I thought they were so brave.  Those harnesses guarantee that they won't fall several stories to their death.

And there they go for some tight rope fun with Raymond leading the way.

A close up of this craziness as Toby makes his way across a rope with tiny wood blocks to step on.

Yes, it was Grandpa Glen's idea and Grandma Laurel would have said "NO" if asked.

Fortunately, I wasn't asked and they were so proud of themselves.  Their reward, ice cream cones.

Aprons for the boys and the girls

Years ago I made and bought some aprons for the grand  kids to wear on doughnut day and sugar cookie day.  Guess what?  They keep growing and growing, so this year I made some new ones.  These were not Christmas presents, but just because I want them all in the kitchen learning how to prepare food and gain food prep skills.

For the boys, I found a four pack of dish towels each a different design at Ikea.  Perfect!

For the largest, I only trimmed off the triangle for the arms.  For the smaller boys there was some trimming and additional hemming.

I used the extra towel for ties which were fairly long.  They are threaded through the casing on each slanted side with a loop to fit around the neck at the top.

I used the triangles from the armhole trimming for further pocket accents.

My accent fabric was some red and white ticking leftover from my family room drapery project last year.

Pretty cute!  My base pattern was a Simplicity apron pattern.

Baby Opal didn't get left out.  She had also grown and needed a larger bib.  I just added some more length at the shoulder.

I love this reversible bib pattern from Piper's Quilts and Other Comforts.

Showing off their new cover ups before rolling doughnuts.  That is Oscar's in the background.  He wasn't as pleased but I know that he loves to help in the kitchen so I'm sure it will be used.

I also used a Simplicity apron pattern for the girls.  It included sizes for adults, children, and 18 inch dolls.  Once again, perfect!  Heather has grown so much this year and I used a small adult size for her.  I started with the largest child size pattern and just kept cutting it down as I went.  Most of these fabrics were Lori Holt designs.  Heather's is different mostly because I needed more fabric and most of my Lori Holt fabric pieces are a yard or less.

 

The doll aprons are made from the girls' contrast fabric with pieces of their main fabric for contrast.

I loved how they turned out.  My main expense came from all of the quarter inch double fold bias tape, yards and yards of it, that I bought.  Thank goodness for a senior coupon of 30% off my entire purchase at JoAnn's.

I had enough of the same but different color way fabrics to send the three sisters; Ruby, Sadie, and Mae home with coordinating aprons.  Heather's and Julianna's were each a bit different.

Julianna was more interested in helping grandpa in the front yard than participating in our photo shoot.  But we carried on.  I received coupons for free photo books with the purchase of a couple of dolls I bought this fall and I wanted a plethora of cute pictures of my American girls.

Aren't they the cutest? I love my boys and my girls!  I wasn't sure how my two oldest grandsons would feel about an apron, but they are still on my list for the future.  You may have noticed that Opal's bib and Julianna's aprons are of the same fabrics.

For Christmas, the girls received matching American Girl tops and American Girl hats including hats for their dolls.  I also picked up new white blouses and jeans for their dolls at the Doll Shop at Gardner Village in Midvale.  I love shopping there for my girls.  The quality is good and prices are lower than the official American Girl outfits.  They also have monthly coupons.  Just a thought for any of you who are from Utah.