Two Families, A Wedding, and a Holiday

This first part is for my mom because she really wanted to be at my cousin Ryan's wedding on June 26. She was the only of her 8 siblings to not be there. Her sisters from Chicago and California were there but not her. I'm not trying to rub it in or anything.

This is my Aunt Irene who lives in Chicago. She's pretty much the goofiest aunt I have.

This is her after she noticed I was taking her picture. Today is her birthday and for her birthday she is picking her daughter up from the airport after her 18 month mission to Arizona. Happy birthday Irenie Beanie. And welcome home Joelle!

Here are the rest of my aunts. (Not pictured is my uncle Ross, he left before Leanna got there).

Sarah and Allison tried their hand at country dancing. I think it's just a coinciddence they're doing the same move right here.

Oh, by the way, this wedding reception took place at an elk ranch west of Payson.



I never did find out how the owners came to own forest creatures in their backyard and what it is they do with them but it was quite the interesting backdrop to the reception.

Here are the cowboys groomsmen. 

And the bride and groom, Belomie and Ryan.

Me: Would you like to have this for your backyard?

Justin: Don't even joke about it.

Hey Mom, here's a cousin or something of yours. I don't know who he is but Evelyn was talking to him so you better know him.

Hey, there's the Payson temple.

Then it was feeding time. How weird that feeding and petting elk are part of someone's day?

And that's all. We may mosey back on over during the rut, just to see what's going on. 

You're welcome, Mom.

This is a bonnet Sarah made by hand all by herself.

The next day we went to Orem to the Kitchen family reunion (Justin's mom's side) It was fun but really hot. The kids had fun meeting cousins they've never met before and may never see again. The food was good, the playground was hot. It was just like a family reunion should be. It was fun to see so much family in one weekend.

This past Wednesday we went to Park City for a little vacation with Justin's family.  Wednesday we went boating.

Henry is getting more brave and is a better sport about wearing life jacket.

This was Erica's first time on the boat. Guess who loves water? 

Sarah loves to drive the boat.

Erica's first tube ride.

Justin had to work at the temple early Thursday morning so we left Sarah and Henry with Corey and
Nadine and went home for the night. Once Justin was finished, we headed back up and took the kids swimming.  

It takes a lot of concentration and energy just to keep Erica from dunking herself into the water. She's a splasher.

Sarah tried out some strokes.

Henry showed me how he dares to put his face in the water.

He'll also move around without clinging to someone. Success!

That afternoon we all went on the Heber Creeper.  

"Can you believe we're on a train?" says Henry.

Justin grabbed a limb. I made him toss it back out. I didn't want him to be that weird guy holding a tree limb.

The kids had a lot of fun. I liked it too but it was super hot. It was as hot as an old train with no AC on a 90 degree day would be. Afterwards we ate pizza in Midway and got ice cream because we were still so hot.

Friday we went to see Inside Out while the rest of the family went boating for Dallin's birthday. I kind of felt like they needed a kid break and Justin and I got sunburned that first day anyway.  After the movie I took the kids swimming while Justin stayed with Erica while she napped. For dinner we went to Midway again for Dallin's birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  

Saturday, the 4th, we went to the Olympic Park.  

Sarah tried the skeleton. There really isn't much to them.  Notice her cute shirt. I made it.

Feel the rhythm, feel the ride. Or as Henry said, "feel the women."

Sarah snowboarding

Me snowboarding

Henry snowboarding

Justin skiing

Sarah skiing

Erica skiing

There's a display of some women's ski clothes from the 1970s-2000. They were mostly ridiculous. There was this video playing of models from 1981 modelling ski clothing for television. It's for reals people and just went on and on and on. They were being all sincere which makes it pretty much the funniest thing ever.

Then we rode the Alpine slide. Sarah and I rode the chair lift together. She was very nervous but handled it great.


Corey and Nadine waited with Erica at the bottom.

There's Braden

And Dallin

Nate

Sarah and I

Then Justin and Henry. You can see they caught right up to us. Justin is still mad he had to slow down.

The kids played on the playground while Corey and Nadine went down the slide. I didn't get any pictures of them because Henry was too busy having a major meltdown because he couldn't go on the big people rockwall.

Then we ate lunch at the hotel, played games and then Justin and I took our brood home so that we could get a good night's sleep before my early Sunday meeting.  We did let Sarah and Henry stay up to watch fireworks with their neighborhood friends. Justin and I watched from our porch while I talked about how bummed I was that President Packer died.

It was another great fourth.  We've done something different every year, who knows what next year will bring.

On today's episode of Life with Dye: Sarah learns the fling, Henry eats a frog, and Justin gets some very unique gifts

The last two weeks my kids had a class everyday at the highschool for the city's arts festival. I signed Sarah up for a Scottish dancing class and Henry did the edible story art class. Sarah had a rough first day since Scottish dancing is nothing like the kind of dancing she is used to (ie, prancing around the living room to Let it Go). She thought she was the only girl that didn't get it but believe me, she was not. By the end of the second day, she was memorizing the counts which made it easier to practice at home and overall had more fun.

I just love how she gives her full attention to things. She's never that kid goofing around, complaining, or sitting down. She puts her whole heart into it. I'm starting to see a perfectionist and insecure side coming out so I'll have to help her with that. I kept telling her she's doing this for fun and to learn something new. No one cares if she does it wrong or doesn't get it the first time.

Henry was reluctant all morning of the first day until he walked in and saw playdough. Every day after that I barely got a good-bye from him before he announced, "I'm here!" to his teacher.  I am quite relieved since this was a trial run for preschool in the fall. I am having a love/hate relationship with that milestone. Look past the teen engrossed in her phone and you'll see him.

His class was basically reading stories and making snacks that went along with the characters. Pretty much the perfect thing for a 4-year-old boy. They made cute stuff like pig bagels and apple slice race cars, biscuit dough pigeons and elephant popsicles. You know, all the things I should be doing with my kids according to Pinterest. Well now I don't have to.

Erica spent that hour every day eating cereal and grapes and wandering the halls with me.

On Friday, the last day, they had a performance that evening for all the dance classes. Corey and Nadine came too.

 Sarah did so well! She's super cute and is all about Scottish dancing now. She pretty much shows anyone that will sit still long enough (and even if they won't).

Here's a video of one of the dances, Mom and Dad.

 Father's Day! Here's the yearly photo. Sarah was pouting inside during the first part.

 I finally guilted her into coming out but then Henry pouted that she took his spot.

I asked the kids if they had any ideas for a present for their dad. Henry said he wanted to get him his own guitar so he could be a rockstar but when I told him that cost too much money, he thought a rootbeer sucker would be good. By Friday when I took Henry to the grocery store, he had settled on buying Justin "his own big bottle of spicy juice (soda) and his own sack of tomatoes." He was serious. He also picked out some chips, avacado, and candy bars. Pretty much anytime he wanted something and I said no he'd say "But I want to get it for Dad for Father's Day."

 He also got two bottles of rootbeer "in case Dad runs out he can share the other bottle with me." What I love most is that rootbeer is Henry's favorite, not Justin's.

Sarah made him a shield. He also got a marinade injector to season meats on the inside and seasoning shakers to season meats on the outside before putting them in his smoker which flavors meats with smoke while it cooks them.

The Ways in Which Justin is a Superb Father and a Better Parent than I

1. He makes breakfast when he's home. I never do. The kids think it's such a treat. (Okay, once I did make French toast and Henry said to Sarah, "Do you know Mom knows how to make French toast too? Just like Dad?!") My kids love eggs and anything that syrup is poured onto so this earns Justin tons of points around here.
2. He wants his kids with him when he does things he enjoys. Fishing? Bring the kids. Hiking? Bring the kids, they'll love it. Go looking for deer? The kids need to learn. While doing my idea of fun things requires me to be away from my kids, Justin sees it the opposite. The result? The kids love what dad loves and they are pretty well-rounded kids. How many 6-year-old girls set their alarms so they can go fish with dad on Saturday morning?
3. He creates chaos. My kids are at that age where the louder and rowdier, the better. I disagree. Justin agrees with them. He loves wrestling and getting them all sweaty and wound up right before bedtime. They try to get me to join in but I always say I don't wrestle, I just give hugs.
4. He can say things better than I. If my kids need correcting on a certain matter, say, Sarah wants to quite dance after the first day because she thinks it's too hard, I can tell her all day long that she did great, she doesn't need to worry, tomorrow will be better. Sarah doesn't hear me and stresses and frets. Justin comes home and after hearing her fears says something simple like, "Well you're taking the class to learn. Everyone is. If you already knew how to do it, we wouldn't have signed you up." Then just like that, Sarah's faith in herself is restored.
5. He has a Daylight Doughnut punch card.
6. It's a rare treat to ride in his car.
7. No one is stronger or taller than Dad.
8. He can get them to eat anything. This mostly works with Sarah because she's more mature. But if there's a new food at dinner, he'll say, "I'm trading treats for bites" so if Sarah eats a bite of a new food, she gets a treat. She has to give it a thumbs up or down sign too.
9. Henry always chooses Justin at bedtime. If I say it's my turn, he'll say, "you got me last night" even if I haven't had him for a week. Erica will always choose me so that makes me feel better.
10.  Every morning, the kids want to know what day it is, if it's a work day, and if Justin has to work the upcoming Friday (sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't). Henry takes this a step further and asks what he wore to work that day so he can match. "Was Dad wearing jeans? Did he have on a striped shirt?"