Memorial Day

Memorial Day has always been one of my favorite holidays.  Growing up we went to the cemetery every year with my Grandparents.  I've always felt a very strong connection to my Nielson family heritage because of these cemetery visits every year.  We headed down to Ephraim Friday after work, set up camp, and went to Fred's Drive-In for dinner.  It was delicious!  While we were there we ran into my cousin Kerry who was coming back from his daughter's high school graduation.  It was really fun to visit with them for a little while.

Saturday morning we got off to a late start before going to the Scandinavian Festival. Last year was the first time we went to the Festival and we just loved the food so we had to go again.  We got Sanpete County BBQ Turkey, picadillys, and fry bread.  We visited with Meg and Melanie who also got BBQ turkey and then saw Linda and her family.  We walked around with them for a while and then went to see the classic cars at the Festival.  It was pretty cool.  While we were wandering around we saw many people my Dad knew including the man who baptized him.  It was really neat to see so many people who knew my Dad.  I love small towns.

After the festival, I took a nap, and then my grandparents stopped by for a little while.  We visited with them and then Eric and my Dad went to the farm to go fishing.  It was pretty chilly, but it was a beautiful night and Eric got some amazing pictures.  I've always loved the farm.  It's been in my family since A.C. Nielson started the farm when he first came to Sanpete in the 1800s.  His family lived in an adobe house on the farm.  When he died, his son Joe worked on the farm, and then his children Howard and Alt worked on the farm.  When my great-grandpa Howard died, my Grandpa took over the farm, and now my uncles Richard and Clair run the farm.  After Eric and my Dad came back, Eric and I went for a walk around the Manti Temple before heading to bed for the night.

Sunday morning was really fun.  We ate breakfast, showered, visited with Charlie and Patty, and then went to church at Richard's ward where he was speaking.  There were two speakers that were assigned to talk about their pioneer heritage.  Richard talked about A.C. Nielson and read several parts of his history.  It was a really good talk.  At the end of his talk, he said that America was the greatest country in the world.  I really liked that a lot.

After church, Kristin and Dan arrived.  We went to Meg's family's house for lunch and it was delicious!  I really like Mitch and Melanie a lot.  We visited with them for a while and played Wiffle ball in the yard.  Skylee loved paying with their cat Nessy.  Nessy will have kittens very shortly!  Her belly was definitely huge.

Our next stop was the Manti Cemetery.  We went and saw my great-Aunt Pat's grave in that cemetery.  I like that it's right next to the temple.  Dan also has family there so they put flowers on some graves there.  Our next stop was the Ephraim Cemetery.  We have a lot of families there.  Our first stop was Afton and Howard Nielson and Elliot Johnson.  My Dad said that she would be so glad that we were there to remember her.  Our next stop was my grandparents, Colleen and Vail.  It's always really hard to put flowers on their graves.  When my grandpa died, there was a funeral spray with a plastic cow in it.  It's been on his grave ever since.  Skylee found it and started playing with the cow.  I always get a lot of peace being at the grave with Skylee Dallas.  They would have loved that she was there.  Eric showed Skylee how to pick dandelions at the cemetery and she would put them on my grandparents' graves.  It was really sweet.

Our next stop was A.C. Nielson and his two wives.  We owe a lot to A.C.  We next went to Bart and Cleon Thorpe.  Cleon was my great-grandma Afton's sister.  She loved her a lot and was worried that she wouldn't have anyone to remember her on Memorial Day, so she made my Dad promise to always put a flower on her grave for Memorial Day.  We put a flower there every year.  Kristin also showed her inner-Nielson by making sure the other flowers on their grave were properly staked down.  She said something about how this was not "amateur hour."

We next visited my Mom's grandparents' graves.  I still remember Eunice and Ivan growing up.  She taught types and foods at Manti High School and was an excellent cook.  My Mom said she loved her chicken soup with Danish Dumplings.  Growing up, when we went to visit them she would tell my grandpa Ivan to "go get these kids some cookies."  They always had oatmeal raisin cookies in their freezer that he would get for us.

After the cemetery, we went back to the trailer for a bit before taking Skylee for a walk to the temple.  Skylee is always very independent so she wanted to walk most of the way there herself.  We went to the far side of the temple so we could hang out on the hill.  We tried to teach Skylee to roll down the hill, but she would rather scoot than roll.  Jake and Meg came and met us there and Skylee had the best time running all over the hill.  She would come jump on us and say cute things like "you coming?" That was her favorite sentence this weekend.  Sometimes she would even say "Eric coming too?" Or "Papa coming too?" depending on whoever she wanted to come with her.  She is so smart, and it's so fun to see her start forming sentences.  She knows all of our names and knows how to get us to do what she wants.  For the most part, she gets her way.  When we were all done playing, we wrapped her in Eric's jacket and then she snuggled with me the entire walk home.  She was so tired.  It was really sweet.

When we got back to the trailer, we made steak, potatoes, and cobbler.  It was delicious!  We ate dinner and made a campfire before calling it a night and heading to bed.

This morning we made pancakes and dutch oven breakfast casserole for breakfast and packed up to come home.  We left the trailer at Kerry's house and played with his dog Dusty for a while before heading to the Fairview Cemetery.  Our first stop was Nancy Joy's grave.  She crossed the plains and was in Nauvoo.  I'm fairly certain that on my Nielson side, I have Nancy Joy and Henry Stevens that were in Nauvoo.  I need to do more research.  I also think that I have relatives from the revolution from both of those lines, but I want to do more research.  I know my Grandma was part of the Daughters of the American Revolution and I would love to join.

Our next stop was Bert and Geneva Tucker.  They were my Dad's great-grandparents.  While we were visiting their graves we ran into some of my Grandma's cousins who were also visiting Bert and Geneva's graves.  Her cousin Eddy talked about what a great lady his Aunt Anna (my great-grandma) was. He got choked up talking about her because he loved her so much.  It was really sweet.  We put flowers on Anna and George Jensen's graves before heading to Payson.  One of my favorite things about Memorial Day is how we always run into the family at the cemetery and can exchange stories.  It was wonderful.

In Payson, we stopped by my Great-Grandparents Edith and Lewis Hiatt's grave.  My grandma Hiatt died when she was 97 years old.  I was 16 when she died.  It's very remarkable to me that I had great-grandparents until I was in high school.  She was a wonderful lady.

Our final stop was the Springville cemetery to see Eric's Grandma Patricia Troff.  I would have loved to meet her.  She sounds like a truly wonderful woman.

All-in-all, it was a great Memorial Day.  I have so much appreciation for my heritage and I'm motivated to read more records.  My Mom has binders full of histories that I would love to read to know more about these people.  My grandma was an amazing genealogist and she always had so many stories when we went to the cemetery.  I think it's because she took time to research her family and she truly knew who these people were.