Loving the Ancestor's

These are the fun ones that I can't wait to match up
to my genealogy sheets.



I love all the moss and age of these headstones.



My Mother's Grave with vase down in the ground.


Where mom is buried




Working on the flower's in Manti



My cousin Tracey at the Manti cemetery. Below we ran
into our Aunt Lucy.








Buck's Grave. It was rainy but still fun!



Memorial Day used to be called "Decoration Day" when I was growing up. It was a day when we went to the cemetery and decorated the graves with flowers from our yard. Mom and I would go out in the backyard and pick Lilac's and branches from the Bridal Veil bushes and make bouquets. To this day Lilac's remind me of Mt. Pleasant whenever I smell them. ahhhhhh I can smell them right now. ummmmmm.
This ritual became a life long activity that I love to do. Early on I became very interested in cemeteries and the names on the headstones. I loved reading the family histories and working on my genealogy group sheets. When I got married I was excited to start my own Book of Remembrance. Mom's passed on now and it's my turn to carry on the tradition. I am the family record keeper and I love it.

On Friday I started the Memorial day weekend by going to Mom's grave. I started a tradition after she died where I have a notebook with a pen inside a ziplock bag that I keep inside the urn that came with the headstone. When anyone visits her grave they write a little note or memory and date it. It is really special to read all the thoughts and memories that others have of Mom. One day I went to her grave and the book was GONE! I couldn't believe it. Why would someone remove the book or steal it once they realized what it was? Crappy people!! Two or more years of entries lost! I replaced it and it was taken again! Then I gave up. Well, I decided to start it again in February of '09. When I went Friday someone had messed with the vase AGAIN and the baggie had been cut open and the book was all wet. Why and who is doing this? The urn screws down into the headstone and is hidden when not using it as a vase. It does not sit up above the ground until you are ready to use it and then you unscrew it and stand it up on the headstone. The book is shoved up inside the vase and it very safe and hidden when not in use. Really no one should bother it. Does someone go through the cemetery and unscrew every vase to see if there is something inside of it??? Grrrrrr. Freakin' grave robbers!!! The book was was usable but damp. I let it dry out as much as I could while tending to the grave. I wished I had brought another ziplock bag.

Anyway....On Sat. my sister Peggy and my cousin Tracey went down to Sanpete County where we grew up and tended to all the Ancestor's graves. It really is fun,(we even met some long lost cousins when they were there putting flowers on the graves). I took pictures of all the headstones and I am busy matching up the ones I don't know who and how they are related to us and will be putting all the info in my genealogy book. It is so fun when I find a match! We drove around going to the old houses of our Grandmother's and Great Grandmothers. I also took pictures all over town in Mt. Pleasant.
It will mean so much more to me next year when I go to visit all them again. We really need to take all you younger girls with us so you will be able to carry on the tradition when we are gone. As I will expect you to come visit my grave someday and bring me flowers!