Memorial Day Weekend

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend!

 On Saturday, we went with our friends, the Watsons, to see the Golden Spike National Historic Site. It was pretty cool, much more so than we were expecting, and it was fun to learn more about the history of the transcontinental railroad. 

They reenacted the entire thing, complete with the speeches and the driving in of the spikes. I learned that this was the first nationwide broadcast, since the telegraph guy sent out updates on everything that was happening. There were big gatherings throughout the U.S. celebrating the joining of the railroad. 

 Our friends Stephanie and Brian:

 Michael completed the Junior Ranger program. They were sticklers with filling everything out, so Michael was the only one out of the 8 kids that got his badge.

 It was hard getting all the kids in for a picture. I think we're missing their youngest in this one.

 After the Golden Spike, we headed over to see the Spiral Jetty. The rocks in the man-made jetty weren't as tall or as big as I thought they would be. Maybe it just deteriorated over time or maybe it started out that small. I don't know. It was still cool to see though.

 We walked clear down to the shores of the Great Salt Lake, and with all those boys, we couldn't NOT let them get in. So, even though it wasn't in the plans, shoes and socks came off and we all had a blast playing in the salty water.

 Eventually, we gave up trying to keep Gabe clean and dry. We stripped him down and let him go to town.

Then, we tried to clean everyone up the best we could with no towels or water or anything. Then, we made the long drive home. 

The next day, after church, we headed to three different cemeteries to pay our respects to our grandparents. We started with my Grandma Higley at the Veterans' Memorial Park near Camp Williams. 

 Then we headed up to Salt Lake County to see Grandma & Grandpa Saville's resting site.  

 We ran into a distant cousin, who kindly took our picture.

 Then, we went to the Lehi cemetery to see my Grandpa Chadwick's grave.

 And while we were their, we visited my dad's baby brother Scott.

On Monday, we worked on some projects, because that's what we do. We made benches and a crate/box for utensil jars--all from scraps! 

 We took these headboards that the Brian's siblings used growing up and turned them into benches. We used our old plywood headboard for the seats.

The painting came much later, but since we're talking about them now, here's the finished products for both projects:

(We made two, but since they're identical, I'm only showing one.)

All in all, it was a successful Memorial Day Weekend!