Belated Memorial Day

A few weekends ago, we decided to take a trip I only wish we had done sooner. We headed down to Utah to visit cemeteries and talk to our grandparents and family members about our ancestors. The first day in Utah we went to the Hogel Zoo though, which had nothing to do with family history. The boys had a lot of fun. We went first thing in the morning and I'm glad because it started to get crowded. Their favorite parts hands down were the elephants. We went to an elephant show which was actually really neat.

After the zoo we went to West Point, Utah. My Dad's family is from there. We went to the cemetery and my aunts and grandma were nice enough to give us a "tour". They showed us a lot of ancestors and told us some really neat stories. We then drove to Hooper and saw many old homes where my grandma and great-grandmas were born or grew up. We saw an old log cabin from 1869 that my ancestors built. It was so neat to see these things! We then stopped at the Hooper cemetery. I learned a lot and it helped me realize just how blessed I am.

The next day we went to the Ogden cemetery and Liberty, Utah with my grandma Atkinson. It is still hard to see my grandpa's grave site so "fresh". The sprinklers were on so we had to quickly run through and try to find other relatives while dodging the water. My grandma was related to just about everyone in Liberty. It was nice to be able to go there with her. We also saw the house she grew up in and the land her family farmed.The boys call my grandma "other grandma" and just love her.

Sunday morning Ryan and I went to sacrament meeting, then we headed to Soda Springs. Ryan's mom is from there and they met us there. We visited with his grandma who still lives there, went to the cemetery, and again visited old land and houses. We learned a lot! It is such a pretty area! This land used to all belong to his family.

Like I said, I only wish we had done this trip when our grandpas were around to talk. It was such a neat experience. We have some amazing grandparents and ancestors. It is fun to hear their stories and learn about their lives.