Memorial Day Weekend

For Memeorial Day weekend, we made a quick trip down to Salina and Richfield to visit my (Ryan) Dad's grave. He passed away in Aug of 2003 after a battle with Melanoma. It had been a while since I had been to the grave. There are always mixed emotions going there. Riley understands it all but Tyler just thought it was a different place to play. My Dad and I were always pretty close but the older I got the more I appreciated him and all that he did. Even the Sunday drive with no radio was great and for a teenager I think that is something. When he was sick, it was a unique opportunity to try and help and serve him. Sheree and i would go see him when he would come up to Provo for dialysis and then later through different stays in the hospital. He said he would be here until Riley was born, and he was but not long after. He was doing great at the time Riley was born and was able to stand in the circle at Riley's blessing, but it was all downhill from that point. In fact Riley's middle name is Bruce, named after my dad. We were going to go down and see him the next weekend when mom called. I miss him. He would love my boys. I like to think that he met Tyler and Brock before I did. In fact we joke that he was the one cursing us with boys. When Sheree was pregnant with Riley she really wanted a girl and was somewhat disappointed that she was having a boy and my dad told her that there was nothing wrong with having boys, especially since he came from a family of 4 boys!