the murrays: Our World starts to open up a little....May/June

My sweet sweet Grandpa Hansen passed on in May. He was 92 years old. The last time I saw him alive was at Grandma's funeral last September, but we had been corresponding by mail since then. I'll never forget the last words he wrote to me in March. I love him so much and he has had a huge impact on my life. And I think his death was harder for me than Grandma's, because it was so sudden. And because he was with it mentally until the end. I feel like I had lost Grandma several years before her death due to the dementia.

From Grandpa I got my huge sense of connection to my heritage- his ancestor's were the first I learned about as a child and still the ones I know the best! Coming here to the place of his birth every other summer my whole life grounded me in what was important- the gospel and family.

I love Hiko! Here we are at the gates of the Ranch. The cemetery is only a quarter mile away.

Grandpa! I wasn't prepared for how emotional I would be to see him. Seeing Grandma I was fine, it didn't super look like her and I was just so happy for her to be at peace. But Grandpa looked so much like himself, like he could just sit up and grab my hand and say "oh, how are YOU??" like he would do. I just cried with Jenae to see him and know he wasn't going to sit up and be thrilled to see us like always.

My dad, brothers, cousin and uncles as pallbearers.

At my great-grandparents' graves. Jewel and Alfred. I was SO SO happy that Katelyn and Whitney agreed to come to Hiko! The littles had come to Grandma's funeral in Chowchilla, so having these two made it complete for me. I want them to remember this and feel this connection to their heritage as well.

Plus it was kind of a party van situation! Donny and Christine had come down from Rexburg and spent the night and we caravanned. Jenae and Connor came to our house as well and they and Jonathan rode to Hiko with me and the girls! It was SOOO much fun driving together! Also Derek caught a ride with my parents and Katrina drove over from St. George by herself.

So you can see we had 6 of us kids there, it was wonderful.

my Schofield great-grandparents' graves

putting flowers in the grave, after the casket was lowered into the ground.

My dad speaking- he did a great job.

Katrina! Love her! and Dad photobombing haha

We had an amazing faith promoting experience on the way home with almost running out of gas and coasting back to Caliente. I wrote about it in my journal and we have it on video from marco polo.

Anyway I have only grown more grateful for my Grandpa as I have started typing up his old journals- what a great man he was. Not perfect, but a devoted and faithful servant of God all his life. It has helped me feel close to him, and my Grandma and all the family.

Back at home, we started going to the pond as early in May as we could- it felt great to get out and do something!

Also so exciting- the return of sports!!!!!! Since Grass Volleyball is outside and it was just a Salem city sport, we had basically no restrictions.

I caught Katelyn's first set on camera!! And here she is about to hit it.

Kate ready to go and Whit serving.

Also Owen got to play coach-pitch baseball. He had a great time.

And more volleyball for Kate, and Whitney with a great hit!

I got to run in a half-marathon that Marcie set up, she is awesome. It was way fun even though there were only 15 people. :)

Emma has been navigating the nap/no nap situation for about 6 months. She still (now in November) still naps once or twice a week. But the days she doesn't nap we see a lot of this-- crazy falling asleep positions between 5 and 8pm. I can't even remember the number of times she has fallen asleep at the dinner table- at least 10! Me and Eric kind of like it though; we are enjoying our baby as a 3 year old for as long as we can.

In June we got to do swimming lessons with no restrictions!

It was fun.

(side note, we painted a lot of rocks during COVID quarantine lol)

Maris rocked swimming lessons level 3 and can now go all over the pool at will. we trust her without floaties, it's so nice to only have one little one to worry about!

Owen really improved his skills in level 4, and happened to be in the same class as his friend Jenna Patrick.

For Memorial Day we went to a bunch of cemeteries in Cache Valley with Eric's parents and Kurtis. We saw 8 or 9 of Mary's ancestors and 2 of Brad's. And got to go in the Wheeler Cabin (Mary's ancestors), which is now a DUP museum!

It was really special to see where Mary's dad grew up.

And see Brad get emotional about his ancestor's conversion story.

We went up to Grandma and Grandpa's house pretty much weekly from May-August, because....

....they opened their pool!!

So many fun times with family this summer!!

Oh and here was Whitney rocking level 6 for the second year- she loves to exercise so much that she took it again!

Roasting marshmallows at Grandpa's fire pit

And we got to go boating twice- once at Yuba and once at Jordanelle- these pics are at Yuba.

Emma has a ladybug on her finger:

chillin with Grandpa

Tubing!! And Whit on the kneeboard.

beach babes

Sweet Aunt Lauren always willing to play. And pushing the boat out once when it got stuck.

This year we really discovered the posibilities of the paddleboard! It was ADORABLE to see them all go out together on Salem Pond. We went once a week.

They played a ton on it without Emma too- a couple of times for an hour or so! Just jumping off over and over. It was so cute.

And then school was over and it was officially summer, even though it seemed like we had already had the longest summer of our lives!

Cute Kindergarten Graduate!

Cute 6th grade graduate!! With her Dual Immersion teachers Mr. Cetz and Mr. Monsen.

They had a virtual graduation but it wasn't that exciting.

And poor Kate didn't get to perform her Jr. High play and be Alice in Alice in Wonderland. But they did film it in small groups for the teacher to edit together.... not sure if that's ever going to happen but it gave her some closure and she had fun.