The whole month of April is bittersweet...Amelia was born on the 14th (sweet!); Kristy was born on the 24th (sweet!); Kristen was born on April 27th (sweet!!); Denzel died on the 29th (difficult, tender feelings...still!); Sweet Kate was born on the 29th, one year after Denzel's death... (soooooo sweet!!) And so our family tries to get together on the weekend of the 29th to celebrate and to remember, to love and build great memories!! This year was especially memorable!!!
Lunch at Mo Bettah's!! Great food, everyone having fun, even if a plate of food went flying off the table!! (The guilty will remain nameless...with a big smile!)
Then we were off to Thanksgiving Point and the Tulip Festival...in the rain and snow!! But it was SO perfect for us...the kids could run and play to their hearts' content, parents were relaxed and not worried about big crowds, and we loved the BEAUTIFUL gardens and walkways of tulips!!
The kids had a LOT of fun, too!! They were great map readers and led us to all the sights!!
After the Tulip Festival, Rod and I made a pitstop on Harmons to get cookies and M&M's...even though Siri made it sound like a rap star was coming to the cemetery...Denzel would have been SO impressed...maybe!
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Five years ago on May 5th, Denzel was buried at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery
near Camp Williams. It was a VERY difficult time...
Some people do not understand our family...but that's okay. We love each other greatly; we have strong family bonds; we have a strong testimony of our Savior, His Atonement, and the great Plan of Happiness that assures us of being together eternally as a family. So, we can cry and laugh, remember sad memories, and make great new ones, all the while knowing that Denzel is very aware of us and knows that we love him and remember him!
At the Cemetery, we were immediately aware of two things:
A burial service was just getting underway, north of where Denzel was buried, and our hearts went out to the family and friends gathered there.
On Denzel's grave marker, the Freedom Riders had left a sweet remembrance along with our son's picture. It really touched our hearts!
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Saturday morning we woke up to a great BIRTHDAY BREAKFAST for Kate who turned 4 years old! In the afternoon we headed up to the Hoopes' home for a fun birthday party of swimming and dinner with Kate's favorite foods of biscuits (Brandon makes GREAT biscuits from scratch!), chicken legs, salad, 7 layer jello, and birthday cake!! Such a fun day for sweet Kate!!
Cayman LOVES his tootsie rolls...and the new "no teeth" look!!
Dezmond LOVED jumping off this giant slab of rock into the pool...long before anyone else did it!! Impressive!!! (It helped that the pool was heated to 95 degrees...in case you noticed the snow on the mountains in the background!!) It was an incredible time!!!
Yep!! It was a great weekend together!!!
