Honoring the past, and the present for Memorial Day.

This past weekend was a time to pay tribute to all those who have past on from this life to the next, so we made our visit to the cemetery to place yellow roses on dad's grave,
(His favorite flower) and reflect on some special memories. We have enjoyed this special time with mom several times each year, however this time Jennifer Hornsveld was in town to visit, so she went with us. Jennifer came to town with Matt as he moved back here from California, then she will be flying back to California tomorrow with mom who will be attending another grandchild Mitchel's high school graduation.
Along with the California two visiting was Thom, Nancy & Emily from Snohomish Washington.(Camera shy) We had the pleasure of hosting the three of them, but during the days were spent at moms house visiting, and eating. Nancy however was with her mom who has been in poor health, which led her to be checked into the hospital Sunday night, so most of her time was away.It was fun also to have visits with Mary and Randy's boys. Though they live here we don't see them very often, and they are quite the comedians as they share there adventures. Of course when John and Dale's son Sam comes around it seems he always does some entertaining as well. Who would have ever thought that one family could have so many hams. Theater is an important part of many of the DeRoest bunch.
Each day the family got together for dinner at moms house, then played games, or visited until late.
Monday we celebrated Mom's 78th birthday.
She will be having another family party on her official birthday in California on Friday the 4th, but we all wanted to have our turn to pay our tribute and love to her for the great example she is of family unity and service.