Dyer Family Reunion August 2010

Get comfy. This is going to be a lengthy post. Or just stop here. Or just look at the pictures. It's all good. So, we had our Dyer Family Reunion this year the first week of August. I flew into SLC a week beforehand to visit some friends (see older posts). On Saturday the 31st of July I picked up my sister, Peggy, and her two kids at the airport and we drove 3.5 hours to Elko, NV. It was so fun to drive with her and the kids got along great. We were completely silly, singing, and laughing and I'm sure our kids thought we were crazy. Well, we are and there is just no getting around that. I love being around my sister. She's the greatest.

Well, here is our week in pictures. They aren't any order really.


Ever since my parents moved to the middle of nowhere, I mean Elko, we have lots of projects to do at their house. Last year we (and by we I mean the men) worked on the shed. This year we (and this time I mean all adults and some older kids) worked on making a gravel path around the wildflowers. This is the finished product. It took us probably a total of 10 hours to complete. Andy rototilled, the kids sprayed the weeds, then we put the landscaping tarp down, dug trenches for the wood, and put the gravel in. The finished product was awesome. It was a lot of work! But I love working hard like that. You have such a sense of accomplishment. Plus it's good for the kids to see their parents work together (and not just sit around and play cards ALL day long--but that's good too!).


Mom and Dad with all their grand kids--silly picture.


Attempting to be serious.

Don't ask. I don't know.

We had all the kids make hand prints to put around the path for my parents. They got to put their name on it and decorate it with jewels.

More finished path.

If at any time during the day, or night, you wanted to know where Audrey was this is where you would find her. My brother James' dog and a brand new puppy and Audrey fell in love with him. His name is Chubbs. She sat on the deck and held him forever. She was quite the puppy hog.

Audrey lost her third tooth in two weeks at my parents house too. Then we got home from our trip she lots her fourth in 2.5 weeks! Thankfully she isn't self conscious about it. She practiced some vampire faces in the mirror for awhile.

All the girls watching a movie together. I think they are watching Annie.

We went on a really, really, really, long hike up Lamoille Canyon. It was gorgeous and the day was beautiful. It took us 3.5 hours. It was gruelling but we made it.

We even found some snow!

I think this picture is pretty awesome. It's of Megan by the big lake we hiked to.

We made it! We are all so excited to get to the final destination!

The view on the way down.

The creek/river at the bottom of the canyon. Alexis, Paul, Ellie, and Granny stayed at the bottom of the canyon while the rest of us hiked. They had a great time and Alexis was soaked when I returned!

Exploring the creek/river.

Here is Thanny wondering why I am bothering him while he is playing. I love how dirty he is! That is how all the kids looked every day!

Rachel is wondering the same thing as Thanny. And she is even dirtier. :)

Audrey spent about an hour one day washing all the cars. I love it when kids find an activity that keeps them busy and it helps too!

Since my parents have been living in Argentina for the last three or four months they brought home gifts for everyone. All the girls got these bags.

Peggy and I got these bracelets. The boys got whistles. Dana got a thumb piano. Okay, I can't remember what Andy and James got. Hmm. Books? Not sure. Gee, I guess I stopped paying attention after I got my present.

Here are the girls spraying weed killer on our soon to be path.

We couldn't reach the puppy so we sent Rachel in to get him. :)

Audrey in heaven.

Here is Bekah holding one of Andy and Dana's kittens. They have two adorable kittens. So between the kittens and the puppy all the kids were in animal heaven!

Yeah, that's right. We're licking the bowl clean. That's how we do things in the Dyer House.

Alexis loving the kittens.

I don't have any pictures of the adults and kids playing games but rest assured that we did that every day. And into the night. I love playing games with my family. We laugh and laugh and enjoy each other's company so much. I wish we all lived closer. I miss my family all the time. They are a great source of inspiration to me. I am so glad that we have this week every year. Thank you family! I love you!

Free

Audrey is finally free!! Her cast came off this morning. She was so happy. Her arm is pretty stiff and feels sore but I bet in a few days she won't even remember that. The doctor made her promise not to use the monkey bars yet. :) I've been talking to her about that for a week. I am afraid that she will be so excited to have her arm back that she will be all gung ho. But I think the stiffness of her arm is giving her pause for now. She can now participate in gym class (there is nothing so sad as your child telling you she has to stand or sit by the teacher in gym while everyone else is running around playing a game) and play more freely on the school playground. And we can ride our bikes to school now. Another HUGE relief for me: no more plastic bag in the shower. Such a pain. Hooray! Now let's see how long we can go without another injury.

New Things

Audrey got a new cast on today. Her arm was so swollen when they put the first one on that now that it isn't as swollen it was too big up on top of her arm. She thought the cutting saw was great. She said it tickled and she giggled the whole time. We had the same casting lady (yes, that is the technical term--at least for me it is) as before and she is really nice. She was expecting Audrey to choose pink, purple, or green for this cast but Audrey decided on black. This girl just makes me smile.


Here is the girls' first day of school picture. Well, it's after school got out because I forgot my camera when I walked them into class the first day. I'm such a negligent parent. There were some parents who were videotaping their kids walking to their class, opening their locker, and walking into class. But I was the only parent who walked my kids in on the second day of school so there! I beat them all for that one! Or I'm just a sucker when it comes to my kids.

Drawings

I just had to post some of Alexis' most recent drawings. I love these! The first two are out of order. But you'll figure it out.


This should be second in line.


This should first. I think the title of this comic book is absolutely hilarious and ingenious.


I find this picture so funny. Why is this girl hiding from the cops? What has she done? Why is Alexis drawing punks running from the law? All funny questions to me.

Visiting the Stricklers

After three days with John and Noelle it was time to visit Kathy and James Strickler. We met them at Stanford and we have all been fast friends ever since. Alexis and Brooklyn (their oldest daughter) were wonderful friends all our years at Stanford. It had been two years since they had seen each other last. I was lucky enough to visit Kathy back in April and we usually see each other once a year at BYU Women's Conference. It didn't work for us to go to that this year so I decided to see them as long as I was in Utah.

The kids had a great time playing with each other. I loved getting to know their newest addition, Kathryn. I even got her to laugh! I love that age. Alexis and Audrey loved holding her. One of our nights there we had a girls afternoon out. We went shopping and then had dinner at Outback Steakhouse.

Kathy and I even managed about an hour long hike. Thanks for all the fun and thanks for feeding us Kathy and James! We love you guys!


Audrey and Kathryn


Audrey, Alexis, and Kathryn

Brooklyn and Alexis. I cannot believe how tall Brooklyn is! I mean, her parents are tall so it shouldn't be such a shocker but it still is! Would you ever guess that Alexis is actually six months older than Brooklyn!?! Nathaniel is also much taller than Alexis and he is two years younger! Crazy! :)

The beginning---visiting the Philpotts

Two weeks ago the girls and I embarked on a long and wonderful two and a half week vacation. We started by driving from Indiana to Minnesota. It took us a mere 9 hours and 20 minutes. We only stopped twice and yes, I am quite proud of us. We arrived on a Friday evening and stayed with my sister-in-law and her family. While we were there we got to be present at my niece's Baptism, which was wonderful. Thank you for letting us crash your place Lori!

Three days later we hopped a flight to Salt Lake City. The girls both flew on planes when they were babies but naturally they don't remember them so this was a very new experience for them. After being on the plane for 30 minutes Audrey declared that she now knew what she wanted to become: a pilot. Alexis was really, really anxious about flying. She did great. She doesn't like taking off or landing very much but once we were in the air she was just fine. Thanks to a very helpful talk from Uncle Andrew Alexis was able to be "bored" on the flight. :)

Our wonderful friends, the Philpotts, were so kind as to have us stay with them for a few days. We met John and Noelle at BYU-H and we had lots of visits with them when we both lived in CA at the same time. But it's been four and a half years since we saw them! It was definitely time. Especially since in that time they had adopted four kids! I loved getting to meet them.

The girls loved jumping on their trampoline. They didn't care that it was extremely hot outside. They turned on the sprinklers one day to avoid some of that heat. Noelle took us to "This is the place." That was super fun. It was a relatively mild day (heat wise) and there weren't a whole lot of people there so it was perfect.

We loved our visit---thanks John and Noelle for having us. You still owe me a game of Ticket to Ride with both of you! :)


We had smores our last evening there. It's fun but man it's interesting to eat smores in hot weather! :)


Ah, the good life--enjoying her smores.


Audrey and Jenna

Alexis and Emma

All the kids eating their lollipops at This is the Place park.

Riding the train.

Broken

Audrey has broken her right arm! She was riding her bike on Wed. night around 6pm. She came in the house with Alexis crying and bloody. She got a huge scrape on her right arm below her elbow and one on her knee. I bandaged them up and she only cried for about 5 minutes. Well the next day, Thursday, she went about things fairly normally. She cradled her arm a little but I thought, well, the scrape is in an awkward spot and she didn't complain that she couldn't use it or anything. In fact, she did use it just sparingly. So bedtime comes and I tell her we have to change her bandage to keep her cut clean. She took off the bandage herself---she wouldn't let me near it. Apparently I have a reputation for ripping them right off. :) I took one look at her very swollen and pink arm and knew something more was wrong. However, I wasn't about to wait at the ER or Urgent Care for hours on end and Audrey wasn't complaining too bad about her arm. That kid is tough! So this morning we left the house at 9am, went to our new Pediatrician's office, got x-rays, back to the doctor, then to the ortho for a cast and four hours later:



She's such a trouper and is fine with it all but says no one is allowed to sign it. She wants it kept nice and pretty and clean. She'll get it off in 3 weeks.

Alexis has been such a wonderful big sister. She's helping Audrey with anything that she needs. In fact, after the fall she brought Audrey's bike home and helped her into the house. Then after I bandaged Audrey up Alexis carried her to the couch. They were both really good during our four hour excursion today. I'm just glad it's done with.

I'm exhausted!

For the doctors in my family: "closed radial neck fracture-right" :)

Audrey Time

While Alexis was in horse camp all day last week I had to find some activities for Audrey and I to do. We got invited to go to the Fort Wayne Botanical Gardens on Tuesday. They were having all sorts of special things going on because it is Three Rivers Festival time here. The first thing we did was have a caricature of Audrey done. I think it is adorable. But she turned it around and wouldn't let anyone look at it.



Next we got to get a balloon animal. Audrey chose a Monkey with a banana. She loved it and thought it was great. Then I popped it on accident and we had to wait another 20-25 minutes in line to get another one. DOH!


On Thursday we were invited to go to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo with some new friends. It was really nice! I have to say it is a really great zoo. It is in the top 10 in the US for Children's Zoo's. We didn't even see everything. We're going back tomorrow with Alexis. But here is what I saw for the first time in my life:

Baby Peacocks! I have never seen them before. They are really cute! They weren't all that shy either. It was a fun outing even if it was really hot out.

Toothless Wonder

Audrey lost two teeth in three days and I had to show her great smile now.


This is after losing her top left front tooth.


If this isn't a priceless smile I don't know what is. If there is a mirror around she is looking in it checking out her new smile and making all sorts of goofy faces. Also, her top left front tooth is wiggly too. I give it about a week and a half and it'll be ready to come out. Now that will be an awesome picture!

Horse Camp

We all know that Alexis LOVES horses. She has since she was three years old. We were told by one of Ben's colleagues about a horse farm that gives lessons just 8 minutes from our rental house. I know! Sweet! So three days after moving to Fort Wayne we went to check it out. We got a tour of the stables and met the owner of the farm. We also met the teacher for the horse camp. Alexis thought it was great and I really thought it was a nice farm and they have some really beautiful horses. When the girls saw the three kittens they have it sealed the deal! So Alexis went to horse camp last week. It was Mon-Fri from 9-3. They groomed the horses, got them ready to ride, rode for an hour everyday, took everything back off the horses, learned about how horses are shoed, played games, played with the kittens, and learned lots of things about horses. Alexis absolutely loved it and it looks like we'll be signing her up for lessons when school starts.


Alexis on "Peaches." She says Peaches is really stubborn about turning right but she is a sweet horse.



Trotting on Peaches.

More trotting.

Grooming Peaches for their Grooming Contest.

Alexis outside of Free Wind Farm. The sun was in her eyes which is why she looks like she is crying. :)

Free Wind Farm