Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Pictures and Places That Tie Us Together-Steeped in Traditions!

I LOVE these pictures! This is my Mom and Dad, with my oldest Sister and Brother. (Anjeanette is also present in Mom's belly. It is the first picture of her...even if you can't see her;) This picture is taken at Memory Grove, in Utah. I love this picture for so many reasons. The first is how cute and young my parents are. I also love how dated the picture is. It's obviously the 70s!



Ok, now here we are at Memory Grove again. This time it's my Grandmother!


This is my Grandfather.


Can you see why I so love this place? These are my Great Grandparents, at Memory Grove!


Here I am MANY years ago, after my Grandfather's funeral. Every time we go up to Utah, we have certain places that we have to visit. Some people might not think these are "destination" spots. But for us, they are. I have so many pictures of family members at this park. Guess where my parents got married? Yup, here! This place is so steeped in traditions for our family. I marvel when I look back through these pictures, and see each time I've gone back to it with my children as they were added into the picture. Something to cherish.

Do you have a place you have pictures of ancestors? Can you take pictures there? If not, you can start this tradition yourself. Take a picture of your spouse and you. Every year add in the newest members of your family. That's all it takes.
We have many places that we take pictures, year after year. Though, none have our ancestors at them like Memory Grove. We have 2 more spots that are our favorite spots. This is a picture of the women from the trip we just got back from, on one of my Grandmothers front porch steps.

What a bunch of fun women! We also got adorable pictures of each set of the kids, one whole set of the cousins, and one set with parents and kids. We have a shot of my 3 older siblings on these front porch steps. That was either before I was born, or just when I was too little to sit myself. I think these pictures mean so much to my Mother because this is her childhood home.



Our last favorite spot is on our paternal Grandmother's front porch swing. In life whenever someone says, "think back to a time where you are happy, your favorite place to be" this is where I go to. It is my safe haven from the world. We sit out on the swing and just talk. We watch the kids play on the driveway and front yard. We absolutely LOVE it if it rains or snows while we are visiting and we run to the patio to watch the storm! This year when we were on the patio, the weather was so delightful! I snuck out there as much as I could and am so blessed to have spent one on one time with each of my children, out there on that porch on the trip we just took. I also spent time with various family members, and of course with my Grandmother! I so treasure that time spent out on the patio.


All of the cousins (and our cousins children mixed in too!) were gathered around on the driveway at one point. The oldest of the cousins was doing something that made all the rest of the grandchildren laugh. I remember being out there, growing up, with my cousins. We put on all kinds of plays or shows for our parents and grandparents. How neat to have that moment repeated with the next generation! I have pictures of the whole family gathered here, almost every year!

Thanks for taking a walk with me down memory lane. I hope this shows some ideas of traditions that help to tie all the generations together and gives us a common link. I can be in these places and know that my Great Grandparents, Grandparents, Parents, Siblings, and now my children have all been there. I think it's neat to have that visual link to all of them!

Rebecca

3 comments:

The Queen of Clearance said...

I love looking at old family pictures and it is especially fun to compare them to now and then!

Almost Always said...

Beautiful family photos in such special places...treasures for sure. Thanks for dropping in on my blog & leading me to yours..it's great to meet you! :)

Alison said...

i'm going to google "memory grove" right now...

this is a great post.