Friday, August 24, 2012

Retiring a Flag

Our Stars and Stripes!


We had the opportunity to attend a flag retiring ceremony the other night and it is one night that will stay with me forever.  I have always thought of myself as a patriotic person. I have great pride in our country and insurmountable pride for our members of our armed forces.  I find myself realizing, every so often, my own ignorance of what is going on around me and have to take a moment to appreciate the safety and blessings that I enjoy by living in the United States of America.

Before this week the only time that I have been part of any kind of flag ceremony that has been emotional for me was when they took the flag off of my father's coffin, folded it, and presented it to me.  It was one of those moments when it truly hit me what he did for our country and what others do every day.  

When I was in elementary school we learned about the flag and how to respect and care for it.  It is a lesson that has always stayed with me and one that I will act upon.  Right after having that lesson I went to the store with my mom and the flag flying out front was tattered and had rips in it.  I complained to my mom what a disgrace that was and that it was wrong for them to keep flying a flag like that.  She told me to tell the store and took me over to customer service. I did tell them how I felt and by the time we were done shopping there was a new flag flying.  Over the years I have done this many more times and have never been afraid to share my feeling when it comes to this great symbol of our country.

This week when we attending this ceremony I wasn't prepared for the feeling that would assault me.  It was such a solemn moment watching each flag be folded and then reverently placed upon the fire.  The closest way of explaining the feelings that I felt while watching them burn was like losing a family member.  The man leading the ceremony was Kenny's 1st Sergeant when he was in the National Guard and he had Kenny be one of the ones to place one of the flags in the fire.  I think that was a special moment for Kenny to have that connection with someone from his Guard days again.

Witnessing such an emotional event brought very vivid images to my mind and I wish at times like this that I was more poetic and able to share my feeling better.  I am not even doing justice to the evening that we had with my simple thought that I have shared so far.  If you ever have the opportunity to attend a flag retiring ceremony I would recommend you do so.  It has helped me to remember again how dearly I love our Stars and Stripes.


Thursday, August 23, 2012

New School Year

I can't believe that it is almost the end of August, we have moved back to Grantsville, school has started and both boys are so far loving it in this one stop light town.

Taylor is in 8th grade and doing wonderful.  He loves it so far. We had to drive to Salt Lake to get him his instrument for band, he is playing the trombone. He talked my ear off the entire way to the store (all 40 min.). According to T, his band teacher is awesome, his Language Arts teacher is oooold (he is 64 and this is his last year teaching).  He is able to go to school with one of his cousins and a friend and also found one of his friends that he had from 3rd grade.  So far, so good.

Kelton started 10th grade. He is taking digital photography and already had his first assignment of taking 100 pictures. He is also taking pottery, current issues and algebra II (he is the only Sophomore in the class the rest are older).  He also started drivers ed this week.  He is doing wonderful and has been so excited for school every day.  He also loves walking to and from school each day because we live just around the corner from the High School.
First Day of School 2012
Taylor & Kelton