Post Wedding Fun

After the wedding anything went..as in no need to keep the lawn looking nice or the kids scrubbed clean.  A huge slip n' slide was setup in the backyard complete with bubbles and hoses spraying from the deck to completely drench the slider.  Most of the kids got pretty speeding going down it.  Our kids however were a bit more cautious.  Ryan even got in on the fun and went down a few times with Kevin.

We went on quite a few walks.  Some to the park and some just to the stop sign at the end of the road.  Kevin though it was fun to push Charles around a little too (and not just in the stroller).  Aside from that, the kids found fun with whatever they found sitting around.  Baby Tyler (now a week or 2 old) was hit with my kiddos.  I was surprise that Kherington actually wanted to hold the baby.  With Kevin she was fine with him, but never gave him kisses or wanted to hold him.  Kevin also was into giving Tyler kisses and wanted to hold him but that probably wouldn't have been a good idea.

I tried to make sure we had pictures of everyone, but the camera was misplaced for the bulk of the trip, so what I have is mainly off stealing any camera that was sitting around.  I did manage to snag some picture with the Finley's before they escaped to the airport.  Lets be honest, one house with 30+ people, 15 of which are kids all under 10 years old, non-stop for about a week probably isn't the most relaxing place to be.

I was able to meet up with Kourtney, one of my good college friends and her kids.  Lucky for me, her husband is from the Seattle area so our paths will cross every now and again.  We first met up at the Bell Square play place, the the next day she joined us at the beach.  It was supposed to be sunny weather, but that didn't happen.  The kids were a bit chilly.  We still had fun though.  It was so cute to see Kate and Kherington be instant friends and Benson is quite possibly the cutest smiliest baby ever.  After all the fun, Kevin finally crashed.  He took a 4 hour nap without being prompted to.  I guess he finally hit his breaking point.

A couple days later we went back to Newcastle and the sun was shining.  The kids actually got in the water even though Kevin had spent the morning telling me, "Me no go in water."

With all the older cousins gone (just Charles and Tyler remaining), I tried to do a fun thing each day with the kids.  We went and used up the rest of the money on a Coldstone giftcard one day.  My kids pick their ice cream by color.  Kevin ended up with Cotton Candy and Cheesecake (blue and white) and Kherington had Chocolate and Strawberry (brown and pink).  We also went over to Robinswood to change up the playground scenery.  The other kids were pretty impressed on how fast we could get Kherington going in the little twirly bucket.  Kevin just wanted to chill in the swing...as in didn't want to be pushed but didn't want out. 

We made a couple Costco runs which is always a fun thing to do.  Kevin loves the gelato (I've only ever seen it at the WA Costco food courts) and Kherington is all for a Beef hotdog and pink smoothie (perfect mom/dad combo).  Oh how I miss Costco.

We were able to celebrate grandpa's 56's birthday.  He was out of town on his actual birthday, but that didn't stop my kids from singing to him all day.  The kids were both fans of the ice cream cake.  Maybe when we have a decent size freezer we'll start doing those for their birthdays.

The night before heading back to Belgium, the kids stayed out late getting in their last fun in the sand and the little fort the cousins made down off the hill in the trees.  Can you tell that Kevin wore his shirt everyday...look at that farmers tan.

We had a good time seeing all the family, but I was ready to get back to my own space and own routine...and I'm sure mom was ready to see the last couple families leave so she could have some peace and quite after month of non-stop kids ;).

Michelle's Wedding

Michelle and Clarke got married on Friday, July 5th.  So so so exciting!  Michelle was my buddy when we were little so I guess it's okay to say that she's my favorite  and I would think all the sibling would agree that she is the best of us so Clarke really did marry well ;).  They got married in Seattle and in July so we could all be there.  The one thing I remember from the sealing is that they have a lot of reading to do...haha...and on that note, the one thing I remember from Dana and Guillaume's is that they'll have lots of kids...haha...anyways...We are happy for them.

After the wedding and between the luncheon I was in charge of a quick Costco run to pick up berries and a couple other odds and ends at Costco that we wanted fresh.  Quickest Costco trip ever.  Then we head to a Mexican restaurant for the luncheon.  Clarke's mom did a great job decorating and even made cute little envelopes filled with Sees chocolates (California family).  

Next up with prep for their reception which was in our backyard.  I mostly did kitchens stuff, but the decor crew really did a great job.  I was also in charge of cutting/serving the cake.  It's a good thing YouTube exists.  The cake was made by a friend of a friends, looked great, was a good price and tasted good (lets be honest, most wedding cakes are expensive and taste like crap).

Here's Michelle and the girls...oh and her husband snuck into one of the pictures.

Just as the reception started, Kherington asked if she could go play in the sandbox.  I told her she could if she changed her clothes so she ended up wearing her princess shirt and grey legging for most of it. Kevin spent a good deal of time there also, but of course was willing to break for some ice cream Sundaes.  I'm sad there's no evidence of it, but Kherington was the best dancer our on the dance floor.  All that you tube music video watching finally came in handy (too bad most of it is kinda raunchy and I didn't realize it until I actually watched the screen...oops).

We're excited to go visit the newly weds after retuning stateside.  Since Clarke is just starting school they should be there for a good while...and we all know I can't stay away from Cafe Rio for much longer so I'm sure we'll make a trip sooner than later.

Family Time

When we got back to WA, over half the family and all of the cousins were there.  There was always lots of excitement and a lot of eating.  Feeding and cleaning up after 30 plus people is no small task, but it was planned out pretty well.  We had dinner CEO.  Funny thing was on my CEO night, we were the last people home so we didn't actually end up doing much to help out (Kyle said that was in true CEO style...haha).  We had a massive family home evening, the kiddos painted their future uncle Clarke a banner.  I think the wording got a little outdone by the paint.

One of the days we went over to Remlinger Farms.  It was really perfect for this age group of kids (10 and under).  Kherington was way more adventurous than Kevin even though Kevin could have done almost all the rides she did.  Like the pony rides.  She loved them.  I think she went 5 or 6 different times and Kevin just stood and waited each time.  Kherington's favorites were Bumbleberry and Peach.  Another highlight was the hay pit and maze.  Also at one point just members of our family filled the roller coaster.  It was cute to see the cousins play.  Brenna was extra sweet with Kherington and ended up riding most of the rides with her.  As with each get together though there is always an injury and that came during lunch time.  Eli fell off the bench and sliced his ear open.  He ended up at the ER and came home with stitches which was not so cool. (plus they didn't appropriately grease the scab so it dried to the bandage when they took it off.

Wednesday evening we left all the grand kids with a crew of baby sitters and were all able to do a temple session together.  We ended up waiting for the last session because Clarke's plan got delayed a couple hours and even with that it wasn't sure that he'd make it.  They ended up holding the session a couple minutes since the front desk had told them he'd just came running in the front doors and was changing.  So the first time all of us were together was in the temple...kinda cool.  All we had was an iPhone to snap a picture after the session so there are some pretty funky eyes.

The Fourth of July was a busy one.  We had family pictures in the morning.  After the main photographer got the whole family, Anna took some individual family pictures with her sweet high end camera plus every one was snapping away.
Just the Glovers (the one with Ryan and Kevin is one of my favorites):

Most (maybe all, but I can't find Lani's) the individual families had pictures taken also.  Here they are from oldest to youngest.

The Finley grandparents...not sure how the Dixon grandparents and Mom & Dad got skipped.

My favorite picture, I got the most crap about taking, but I am so happy we did.  It was a 'in-law's' picture.  We all married well :).  What an awesome group (sadly we didn't get a siblings picture).

After family pictures we all did a quick change into workout clothes and laced up for our traditional run.  Mom had ordered some shirts (with an awesome design by Anna) for all of us to wear.  At this point I was finding it funny that in about 12 hours Clarke had seen us in just about every setting...anyways...  We started off with the kid run.  They ran down a hill, through a little pathway and down the gravel road back to the house.  They were pretty cute.  They all got ribbons when they finished.

Next up was the adult 5K.  This year we had actual people telling us where to turn (thanks to the Redding Dixon clan).  Ryan, Guillaume and Kyle all tied for last...what a great crew of non-running bro-in-laws.  At the award ceremony, Ryan ended up with two award - one for last place (the red lantern award) and one for sweatiest runner...haha.

After the run some went down to the church to play some bball while others started getting everything cooked and setup for the dinner that evening and the reception the following evening.  We had a big BBQ with Clarke's family that night.

A few of us went to the hill to watch the fireworks.  We went, but both kids were almost asleep (it was a long fun packed day) and didn't really care so we headed back down and put them to bed.  I then ended up making one more batch of pita's for the reception.  I don't think I'll ever make pita's again.