Memorial Day Weekend Part 1

Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays.  Every year for as long as I can remember we have visited the graves of my ancestors, told stories, and placed flowers.  When I was little, I remember I didn't like it very much but it's become such a special tradition as I've gotten older.  I've always felt such a rich connection to my Nielson ancestors and I think it's because of memorial day.  My grandparents would always go to the cemetery with us and tell us stories about the family.  We now visit my grandparent's graves every year, which is hard, but I have great memories of visiting the cemetery with them.

We started the weekend Saturday by heading to Ephraim.  Our first stop was Meg's family's house to drop off some furniture and when we pulled up we realized the wheel had somehow fallen off the trailer!  We don't think we had gone very far without the wheel because there was no damage, but our trailer that typically has 4 wheels only had 3.  That was a terrible surprise.

Unfortunately, no one in town had the parts to fix it so we took it to the RV park and set it up on a jack, and camped without a tire for the weekend.  It ended up not being a very big deal other than it scared us quite a bit when we first arrived.

After setting up camp we headed to Linda's and then to the Scandinavian Festival.  We had never been to the festival even though it's every year on Memorial Day Weekend.  It was pretty fun and there was delicious food!  We had some Sanpete County turkey with Piccadilly chips.  Delish!  We finished it off with flatbread for dessert.  My cousin Brian had a booth set up.  He's currently the Sanpete County Sheriff and is running again this year.  The primary is in 3 weeks and then there isn't a general election for it. I sure hope he wins! Skylee was as cute as can be in her cowgirl plaid and boots.  Goodness, I just love that girl!

Saturday evening we went to the Manti Temple with Meg to receive her endowment.  The Manti Temple has always been one of my favorites because of my family heritage in Ephraim.  My great-great-great Grandpa A.C. Nielson (also called Grandpa Mormon Preacher) helped query some of the stones for the temple.  One day he was working in his wooden shoes because he was a pioneer from Denmark and a rock fell on his head.  He wrote in his journal that he felt the rock crush his skull and he said a prayer and then he felt his bones go back into place.  His only injury was a scab on his ear - pretty remarkable.

My grandparents loved the Manti Temple as well.  When my Dad went on his mission he asked that my Grandparents go to the temple once a month while he was gone.  My grandpa agreed, which was a big step for him at the time - he spent a lot of his life inactive.  Even after my Dad returned home from his mission my grandparents kept going to the temple and eventually started working there.  When I was young, they were called to serve in the Temple Presidency and were at the temple every single day.  They left me a great heritage of temple worship.

Unfortunately despite this great heritage, I had never done a session at the Manti Temple.  I was nervous because I knew it was a live session and I had never done a live session before. Despite my concerns, it was such a beautiful experience.  I loved being in the temple with my family - it was so sweet.  Jake and Meg both looked so happy and we were all so happy for them.  It strengthened my testimony that families are forever and the sealing power is real.

After the temple, we went and got dessert.  Kristin picked up Skylee and she was so funny.  She's started making this really funny face where she purses up her lips and squishes her face in and says "Mmmmm."  The best is if we make the face at her, then she immediately makes the face back.  It's the best.  After dessert, we headed into the trailer and went to sleep.