Happy Memorial Day!!

I love Memorial Day. Maybe because of all the family traditions that revolve around it. For as long as I can remember, we've gone to Provo to put flowers on our ancestors graves. We would pile into my grandpa's old brown and orange VW bus, which was a fantastic treat. We were always in charge of making sure none of the buckets of flowers spilled, while at the same time, we wore no seat belts. Now he is gone, and my grandma too, so the graves we visit aren't so distant anymore, and there are more of them. I wore Joel's Grandma Beverly's red hat today as we wandered around the cemetery. I didn't get to know her very well, but it felt right to remember her for Joel.

After the cemetery, we went to my aunt and uncle's home for our usual family BBQ. Hamburgers, chicken, yummy salads, melon, and the absolute musts for Larsen picnics--homemade root beer and ice cream. That is comfort food that will never get old, and it is memories like that that make us family, more than just shared genes.

Joel seems to be doing well, though I suspect he censors his experiences to make me worry about him less. He is loving the obstacle courses, and he is starting to learn about rifle marksmanship. They started white phase last week, but it sounds like his platoon has a few guys who mess things up a lot so they haven't really gotten any new privileges. For example, they now get 15 min phone calls on weekends, but every time someone messes up they lose a minute. In less than 24 hours, they had zero minutes and were already subtracting minutes from the next weekend.

Joel wants me to say hello to everyone for him--his Family, Stephen, Kyle, Haynies, Standrings, Adrienne, Friends from both our old and new wards (You know who you are). He says thank you to all the angels who have been taking care of Damon and me and answering his prayers. He especially wants his older brothers to know what incredible examples they have been to him and how much he looks up to them and wants to be like them.