Memorial Weekend Part 2

On Memorial Day Dan and I headed to Ohio to spend the afternoon with his extended family. We went to the small town of South Salem for the parade that everyone marches in (around 1 block) and then everyone goes into the cemetery to place flowers on all the graves of the soldiers.

View of Graveyard

 After everyone has placed flowers we all gathered for a small ceremony to hear speakers, listen to readings, and recite the pledge of allegiance. They place a wreath in the cemetery and do a gun salute and take a moment to honor the dead. It was very moving and I was glad we got to go, I haven't been to a service on Memorial Day before because we are usually coming home from camping. We then spent time at Dan's Aunt house and I had a chance to chat with some of his family before the Strawberry social  at a church in town. We finished the day by stopping in a neighboring town to place a wreath on his other Grandfather's grave, who also is a WWII vet.

The hard part of the day was realizing it was a year ago that I spoke to my Grandfather for the last time. I was having a really hard time with it and really missing him. I can't believe it has been a year and remember how hard this last year has been. But I am glad we went and I had a chance to see how Dan's family celebrates Memorial Day.

Memorial Weekend Part 1

For the Holiday weekend Dan and I discovered a we both have family traditions, which is an interesting issue to have :) So we attempted to attend both family functions this year. To start the weekend off with we drove up to Michigan to go camping with my family.

We always have lots of fun and are busy doing things and relaxing. My sister and one of my cousins brought up their dogs, which added an element of fun watching them play and chase each other.

Eva and Dusty

 Here is a picture of some people relaxing and watching the rest of us play catch...

playing catch

 Then we started hitting in the road, which is safe as there are hardly ever cars driving down the road. We would take turns hitting, catching, and chatting it is always a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Dan and Stephen

Dan

 The rest of our time was spent reading around the fire, eating, and playing games. We had a good game of Catan going on Saturday afternoon.

Later a few people started doing some whittling and Titus wanted to show off what his dad made for him.

Titus and Me

The whittling

 And of course evenings spent around the camp fire. We also share meals and usually have at least one meal of cooking over the fire or in the fire :) We had a great time and Dan and I stayed as late as we could because we were having such a great time.

We got to take up our tent and jump start our summer of camping with the nice cold Michigan nights that got warmer before we left. It was a good thing I brought up extra blankets! We can't wait to go camping again!

Pasta Sauce

Tried out another new pasta sauce...it was ok, good seasoning but not saucy enough :)

Camera

Here is my old camera (which still works but it will cost too much to get the battery case fixed). I have had this camera for 9 years! I can't believe it has been that long and I loved it. It has traveled all over the world with me and I have never had any problems with it. If you want a good camera I would suggest Fuji!

I tried taping the bottom but it just didn't work

Dinner with a Friend

On Sunday Dan and I met my friend Heather half way between our houses. Heather and I met in Cambodia and she recently returned to America after living there the past 3 years.

We had a lot of fun catching up and being able to talk about people we know, places in Cambodia, and what future plans are starting to look like. It was also interesting to hear how things have changed and some of the current issues and happenings going on. We loved hearing about her work (social work with families doing foster care) and seeing how much she has learned and been able to apply from her Master's program. She is still in school but I can see a huge amount of growth in her.

It was a great reminder of my time in Cambodia and bitter sweet as I have days when I miss being there. Shifting back to America is a process and being with her helps remind me where I was when I first came back and where I am now.

The Yard

Dan and I have been trying to get things done around the yard. We now have some flowers planted in our back yard, and this past weekend we tackled the front yard.

I took before and after pictures so you can better see the change :)

Too many weeds and old mulch!

Just needs new mulch

The weeds are taking over

Used old mulch to edge

Dan worked in the garage cleaning, sorting, and throwing stuff out while I took on the yard. He did take a "break" to mow the front yard and got it just finished before the mower starting acting funny. We worked for over 5 hours and got a lot accomplished. And I had to bring my Peony blossom inside :)

My new look

I finally got my new camera so I can start posting more :) And the first pictures I am going to post are of my new hair cut. I went in on Thursday and had them chop it off! My hair is really thick and it was getting long and too hot for summer...

Before:

And here is what I look like now....

I love it! I am so glad I went and got it cut, it is much cooler and takes less time to do in the morning. I was getting sick of always sticking my long hair in a pony tail, it would take too long to blow dry plus curling iron...no thank you!

Hawk

The other day I looked out into our backyard and a hawk was eating something...

Sorry I wasn't able to zoom in better...I have been using Dan's phone while I wait for my new camera.

Around the yard

This past weekend Dan and I got some things checked off our "to do list" for around the house. First we had to take care of the yard as we have not had a chance to mow yet. It looked amazing once we got it done :) It has been a month since we have been home on a Saturday and it was a nice change. We bought a hook for our bird feeder, bird seed, and a Peony plant. I have been working to make our backyard sitting area nice by planting flowers and we got the bird feeder for our wedding (18 months ago).

(We have been waiting all week to see birds on the feeder and today I finally saw one!)