NEAL'S GRADUATION 

Mom and Dad Mansius came out for Neal's Graduation from BYU over Easter weekend.  So while they were here we not only celebrated his graduation but Easter and Aubrey's birthday as well. We almost had the whole Mansius gang together.  We were only missing Lee. We crammed in a ton of activites during those 3 days but it was a lot of fun.

Neal and Rachael are now off to Law School in New Hampshire.  Congratulations and Good Luck Neal!

Graduation Dinner.

 The Big Moment!

 The Graduate and the Proud Parents

 One of the Best Couples I know!!

Of course no trip here is complete without a trip to Temple Square
(April 21)

Memorial Day

Uncle Marlin invited us over to his house for a BBQ this year for Memorial Day.  He was excited because he wanted to show us his new smoker and he was planning on making chicken and pork.  HMMMM!!!  Before we headed over to his house we stopped by the Salt Lake City Cemetery to visit some of James' Ancestors.  There we visited  Annie Lenore Simpson and David Smith Anderson (James' Great Grandparents) and Annie Sophie Smith and David Patterson Anderson (James' Great Great Grandparents).

Then we headed over to Marlin's where the kids helps pick some flowers with Auntie Joan to make bouquets for more of our ancestors.  Keith, Neal, and Rachael also joined us.  Joshie got James and Keith going in a mini soccer game.  Neal and Rachael were moving the next day to New Hampshire so we were glad we got to see them one last time before they moved.  We are going to miss them being so close.  

Aubrey Fern is standing in front of her Grandma Fern's Childhood playhouse build by her Father.

Once we had eaten dinner and finished making our bouquets we headed over to two more cemeteries to visit a few more ancestors.  I'm not sure how everyone fits into our family but here we visited  Chloe Oviatt and Joseph Hyrum Jensen, Frank Mel Roscoe Jr, Myrtle B and Ira Oviatt (James' Great Grandparents), and Carmen Hubbard Oviatt Rosco Johnson.

Our last stop of the day was to visit Aunt Margie (Marlin's wife).  She has a perfect view!  From her grave site she can see 3 temples.  Draper, Jordan River, and Oquirr Mountain.  Out of all the people we saw today she was the only one I knew when she was living.  She was a very kind person but not afraid to share her opinion with her.  I'm sad that she was never able to meet my kids.  We tried several times to get together with her but they always managed to fall through.  We miss her but know she is in a happy place!

(May 30, 2011)