Memories!

This past week we were in Idaho Falls for the funeral of Mark's mom! It was a beautiful funeral and a great tribute to the loving person she was!! She had a grandchild from each of her childrens' family speak! They each honored her in their own special way and we all wept or laughed and sometimes both! Jason represented our family and did a beautiful job. For those who know him, his talk is posted on his blog. Just click on the link on my side panel for Jason and Jenn.



Mark laying his boutonniere on his mom's casket!



Here are all of her children and grandchildren (except Jason Besendorfer who was at the MTC in Provo) under the same tree where we had our last Stringham photo 17 years ago at Grandpa Stringham's funeral! A lot of the cousins we hadn't seen in many years. Some of my kids hadn't seen one or two of their cousins since Grandpa's funeral! We are the family that lives far away!



Grandma Stringham's children: Nadene Reich, Mark, Ilene Franck and Lila Besendorfer! I've noticed that all four of them have the same gentle, kind, and loving demeanor just like both their mom and dad!



These are the fields that Mark grew up with! He planted, changed sprinklers, and harvested along with his mom and dad! They grew a little of everyting, but a lot potatoes. That farm paid for all of their childrens' way through college and two of them on missions! I guess they had some not so good years, but mostly good years as far as crops were concerned. Some of you may not know, but Ashton, Idaho is the potato seed capital of the world! So even if your potatoes say they're from somewhere else they may have gotten their start right here in Ashton, Idaho as seed potatoes!



Rebecca loves to capture the old fashioned things in her pictures! These are the run-down farm machinery that his dad used. There were no air-conditioned cabs on the tractors like you see now! They hand carried the sprinklers -- no sprinklers on wheels! I think their generation could teach us a thing or two about hard work!


Our children spent many hours riding three wheelers, or walking down the little roads on the farm!


Mark and I spent many hours watching our kids play at this little canal -- they loved throwing rocks, trying to watch as the dried leaves or weeds they had thrown in went from one side to the other side, or hanging their feet in the water. I even seem to remember some of them accidentally slipping into the water! This is one of their absolutely favorite memories of the farm! It proves to me that the things that bring us the greatest joy and the greatest memories are not fancy things!



This little farm brought so many happy memories into my children's lifes that they all get emotional at the thought of it being sold! This was our little corner of the world and our safe haven! But, of the course, Grandpa and Grandma Stringham are what made it all so special!