MORE MEMORIAL PICTURES!

On our way up for camping this Memorial Weekend Lance and I recounted for the kids the many adventures of previous Memorial Camping Weekends! The year we got lost and had to sleep in our truck and survive the night on Ding Dong's and Pepsi. The port-a-potty year. The year Gramps was going to clothesline the kids riding their motorcycle through our camp with a shovel. The year the motor fell of the boat in the middle of Mackay Reservoir. And I can't believe I forgot to tell them about the first Memorial Weekend that Lance spent with our family when we were engaged. Ya know the one where he ended up breaking all 3 fishing poles he brought in various "accidents". Anyway, I'm sure there are so many more you can think of!

As we left Blackfoot Reservoir this year, we talked about our new memories and about how many times throughout our marriage and throughout my life I have taken that drive....the one leaving a weekend full of tradition, family, and memories. It occurred to me that Memorial Weekend is so much more than just a weekend of camping. It's a weekend of leaving the regular world and our busy, chaotic lives behind to reunite as a family. It's building memories with our children, cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, grandma and grandpa that will be told to their children just like we tell to them. ( It must be the Indian in us, passing down the "old stories") It's strengthening bonds and family ties that still bring us all together and will serve them the rest of their lives just as it has us.

I am grateful for spouses who have come into our family and have been willing to embrace this tradition. I'm grateful to our mom and dad for their wisdom and for tirelessly continuing this tradition, no matter how much work it takes. And I'm grateful for grandma and grandpa.....where it all began.