Memorial Day

It is always good to have Memorial Day to remember many loved ones who have passed away. Yesterday (May 24th) was the 7th anniversary of my mother leaving this earth for a far-better place. I can't believe it has been that long--but in the meantime, I so admire how my dad has done such a great job taking care of himself. At 86, he still works full-time at the law office, and is a Stake Patriarch, who has done over 800 Patriarchal Blessings. Wow! He really is amazing! All of my family had a special remembrance of my mother yesterday at the cemetery in Rexburg, Idaho. I was sad that I couldn't be there in person, but I had a wonderful talk with my dad the night before to tell him all of my remembrances of my wonderful mother who was the epitome of motherhood and made my job as a mother so much easier because of her great example.


My parents and the seven children. I am the oldest and this was taken when I was just starting my junior year in college.Today, since there was no school, George and I, along with Jeff, Garrett, and Isaac, went to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine. Amy and little Lola were still in Dallas and were coming home tonight. We had such a great time together. Here are some of the photos I shot!

The albino gator. He looks like white chocolate!
Papa showing Garrett the huge bull gators.
The animal worker got in with the biggest gators in the park and started walking around among them. She then started pulling out frozen rats and started throwing them toward the gators. I think they have been fed too much. They didn't seem too excited, but then who would be if you were given a frozen rat for lunch. Ugh!

I think I was hurrying too fast to take this picture and didn't get it steady enough!



Then Garrett used the map to maneuver us all over the Gator Farm. He did a great job, and we didn't miss a thing!


Garrett in front of a real crocodile skeleton.
This was a crocodile that was nearly 18 feet long that died in about 1992. He used to live at the Gator Farm. He was gigantic!
We saw wonderful animal shows. This is a diamond back rattle snake. His rattle was shaking almost the whole time she was telling us about him. She sat him on the crates for awhile. He was too heavy!
Garrett was so brave and touched the non-poisonous snake the handler was showing. Isaac was a little more timid and decided he just wanted to look.

There is a beautiful lake with literally hundreds of birds around it. This was the perfect time to see them nesting and watch their babies in the nest. They were so close we could have touched them!


Before you call child protection, I will tell you the following pictures are of the one and only non-real gator in the whole park!




Seriously, I was afraid we were going to have trouble getting George out of this predicament! But fortunately, he maneuvered out, and then Jeff took us all to lunch. What a great family day together! We only wished we could have had all the grandkids with us!