Memorial Day in Moroni

We were on a time crunch for Memorial Day because of Mark's big baseball tournament, so we put both our celebrations on Monday. Then the games got cancelled due to rain. In fact, we got rained out hard on Saturday and ended up sopping wet! We were pretty upset when the games got rescheduled for Monday, but then those got rained out, too.

The boys wanted to visit Grandma Benson and Grandma Ockey, so we left early and headed to Gunnison first to honor our Andersen and Benson relatives. Then we headed to the Ephraim cemetery to clean up Grandma Ockey's grave and tell stories about what a great grandma she was.

Seth helped Mom pick out all the flowers. 

We love Memorial Day. 

Mark remembers Grandma Benson, but Dax and Seth don't. 

We stopped at the temple for Mom and Dad. It's our special spot! 

We always clean up the headstone and make it look nice for Grandma Ockey. 

We miss Grandma Ockey and wish our boys had been able to meet her. 

Then we ended up in Moroni at 10 am Monday morning. We wanted to talk about Grandpa Ockey's maternal Grandma and Grandpa and the 9 kids they raised. John Thomas Tilby Roston and Isabel Ellen Warner were Dad's Grandma Ockey's parents. They were born and lived in Moroni their entire lives. Their history is a true pioneer story, full of sustenance farming, no modern conveniences (they had to light a fire near the outdoor tap to get water all winter), and difficult living. Grandpa Ockey remembered them just a little (he was 8 when John Rostron died), and he spoke about what he remembered. Since one of the histories mentioned poor man's cake, Mom found a recipe and cooked some up. It didn't have eggs, butter, or milk, but it was surprisingly good, but unsurprisingly dense.

Grandpa Ockey shared all his memories about John Thomas Tilby Rostron.

Dad shared histories he'd collected.

We had a really great time with the Alders, Christensens, and Schusters. The rain held off just long enough for us to find all of our relatives, and there are a bunch. Best of all, we learned a little about the hardships and trials that our family went through in order to give us the opportunities we now have.

The Ockey's who came to Moroni.