Wedding Week

Peter's Sister Heidi got married on the 21st. Because there was so much family coming into town, she planned a whole week of festivities to make it into a reunion.  Her fiance also comes from a jumbo family so it was a very full week.

 To start things off they had the annual Dickinson family rafting trip. I was kinda sad to sit this one out this year, but the river was a little extra rough this year and all the rafts ended up flipping but one.  Heidi's almost Mother in law even got a broken leg (she found out later)  to show for it.  Yikes.  She was a very good sport though, and other than that, everyone had a great time as usual.  Michelle, Sherry and I had a fun play date that day with all our kids.

Next on the list was the Epic Relay race, which the Dickinson siblings, friends and Dad had been training for for months.  They didn't get a Hood to Coast team this year, so this was a good option.  Sherry even ran it and brought her little trooper along for the 2 day event.  I stayed home with our kids and Peter took our van and went and enjoyed being with his family. 

Go BYU Pirates!


On Sunday there was a family Dinner and variety show at Peter's parents house with the 2 families.  That made for a big group!  It was fun to meet everyone.   Our kids did some fun "talents".  Dallin showed off his growing penny collection, Eden sang "Lets Get Together" with Lucy, Miranda and Lindsay.  Tanner wore his Spidey gear and did his song and dance to the Original Spiderman song.  He has learned all the lyrics, or at least what he hears, which translates to be pretty great.  Finally, with the help of Eden and Dallin, Carter did a magic trick that the kids made up and have been doing lately.  It goes like this:  Carter holds up an empty paper lunch bag and tells everyone to close their eyes.  Eden then puts a little toy in the bag.  Carter tells everyone to open their eyes magically pulls out the toy from the bag.  Everyone gasps in surprise and claps (repeat 3 times).  Carters face is the best part, he really thinks everyone is amazed at his magical abilities.
On Monday, they rented the skating rink and we had a pizza party there.  It was fun as usual with kids and ride toys everywhere, hockey and karaoke (which Peter and I seemed to be the only ones doing, lol).















After skating we spent the rest of the afternoon setting up for the reception. It was at the Magnus Tree Farm way out in Sherwood in a beautiful setting. The decorations were bright and beautiful and I scoped out photo opportunities for the next day and chased kids mostly while Peter worked.  We had a couple of in-law families stay with us that night so that was fun to get to know them more.  
On Tuesday we got everyone ready and headed to the Portland Temple.  They arranged for babysitters at the near by church for all the grand kids so we dropped them off first and then attended the wedding.  It was awesome to see so many siblings there.  They used the biggest sealing room, which was the same one Peter and I were married in almost 10 years ago.  We noticed a difference in the attendance though.  Ten years ago at our wedding, we had lots and lots of aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents as the guests and  just a few siblings.  Things have changed over time and for this wedding we noticed  the majority were lots and lots of siblings and spouses and just a few extended relatives.  Heidi is the 10th child to be married on her side and Blake is similar.  That was fun to see.
After the wedding Peter gathered our kids and I was able to be the photographer for the day.  It is always fun to be with the bride and groom so much on their big day.  I love that I got to do that for them.   The kids were pretty crazy without their mommy paying a lot of attention to them, but it all worked out.  There was a luncheon at Hometown Buffet and then the beautiful reception that evening.   A lot of people sang at the reception, so Peter and I sand "Lucky" for them.  I love singing with Peter when I can talk him into it once in a blue moon. Here are a few pictures from the day.














This was the year they were born.  Makes me feel really old that I am a whole decade older than that.








Beautiful Bride.  I just love Heidi.





Reception

















Because there was a bit of a walk to the reception area, there was a golf cart chauffeur.  This was the ultimate kid magnet of course.  Poor guy had to put up with a lot.


Sherry made the cake.


Something spontaneous happened with the bride and grooms first dance.  The parents Danced with their children, but because Blake's mom broke her leg, some sisters started cutting in.  Then Heidi's brothers all did the same so for the whole song it was really neat to see all the sibling love.  It was a very fun moment that was unique to this particular couple with jumbo families.




 I made these cute little dresses for my girls and did not get any pictures. This is the best shot I have, but they were really cute.
Lucy talked grandpa H. into fast dancing. Is there anything he can't do?


By the end of the day my kids were sooo dirty. Notice Tanner's nice suit pants! Sometimes you just have to go with it. 


We are so excited for Heidi and Blake as they begin their life together.  They are so cute and perfect for each other.  Congratulations Blake and Heidi!

In the News Again!

Who knew chess could make you so famous? Well at least in the Hillsboro Argus. Peter and his friend decided it was time to start a chess club at our own school so they presented the idea and were met with complete support and funds to get started!  The reporter came on the first day and what do you know, they made the picture again.  Eden was actually playing against the Principal in this game!  Dallin loves having chess at his own school and his dad as the coach.  Eden has lost nearly all enthusiasm having lost the opportunity to see her beloved cousin Miranda each time.  The club already has more than 40 kids getting to school at 7am to come to the club.  That really shows how much our school needs things like this.  Way to go Peter and Aaron! Superdads.

Eden is 6!

Eden was very ready to turn 6 last month.  We had a great party planned involving friends and horseback riding.  But that week we got hit with a stomach bug.  It slowly worked its way one person at a time.  I was crossing my fingers it would skip Eden, but of course about an hour before her party, she started throwing up.  That was that.  The next day we were going to have a family party, but we were quarantined, so it was just us, a cute cake and a decorated house. 

Eden was very good natured about the whole thing.  Probably because she didn't feel well enough to be disappointed.  Plus she still got cake and presents.   

Hello Kitty is one of Eden's favorite things ever, so she got some ear mufs for those cold morning walks to school.

Eden also loves snow globes. 

And stuffed animals.

Then Daddy brought out the big surprise!

A Pinkalicious Bike!  She loved it and couldn't wait to try it out.  Her old bike was so small for her.

I am not proud of this cake that was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  For the sake of memory, here it is.

 A week later we finally had a family party for her so she and I decided to try the popular rainbow cake this time.  We had a great time making it together. And this time everyone was healthy.

 It was a hit.

A couple of days before her birthday, by request, Eden and I went to Claire's and picked out a new crown like we did last year. It is a cute tradition that I am happy to do for her. She should feel like a princess.  Peter also brought her flowers for the 4th year in a row. She just loves that kind of stuff.  What a girl.

I can't believe Eden is such a big girl.  She is beautiful inside and out. She really is a virtuous young lady.  She has such a desire to be good and do what is right.  She loves kindergarten, chess club, cooking, sweets and playing with her siblings. The other day when we were shopping she said to her brothers, "You guys are my best friends."  I am so lucky to have such a sweetheart of a daughter.  I love you Eedy Beedy, you make life fun!

Mark's Wedding

Last week Peter's Brother got married.  Most of Peter's siblings were able to come so it was fun to see everyone and hang out.  Here is Larry and Lori's little family!


Mark and Dani were very cute.  Lucy, Heidi and I all sang songs for them.  Now I can take 1 solo off my list of goals.

Lily's Birthday

Lily turned one last month and I am finally blogging about it. We had a family party for her  and she was adorable as usual.  Lily got her first tooth days before her birthday. Totally normal for our kids.  She also started taking a few steps here and there around the same time.  Since then she slowly progressed, but preferred crawling still.  Then just this last weekend, she really started walking and not crawling anymore.  She is now a toddler with a cute bow legged walk. 

Lily's most common words are mama and dada.  She says dada so much that Dallin just started calling her that instead of her name.  Now all the kids call her "Dada".  (Dallin calls Peter by his first name for some reason so there is no confusion).

Lily loves to hug and cuddle and rest her head on my shoulder. She likes to be cheek to cheek and get kisses.  She also likes to bonk her head on other people's heads.

Lily has been a dream baby all the way. She has been easy and independent and happy most of the time since she was born.

We decided that she was a little monkey so we made her a monkey cake (idea from here).

Lily didn't hesitate to go for it. She had a blast.

I love this cute little baby so much.  She brings so much joy to our family.  She makes everyone smile and fall in love with her. Life would just not be right without her.

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Peter has been taking Dallin and Eden to chess club with that his brother Larry runs at his kid's school 2 mornings a week.  They have shown a lot of improvement already and trust me, on chess club days, there is no whining about getting up early.  They love it and they love seeing their cousins Miranda, Derek and Spencer.  Larry is such a great leader and this is no exception.  He is awesome and makes it so fun for the kids.  Yesterday, a photographer from the Hillsboro Argus came and guess who showed up looking all famous Today! You can left click and read the article.

Thirty-Onedurful!

My birthday happened to fall on the day of a triathalon this year.  I decided to go for it with my sister.  I had missed the sign up deadline, but was able to get back in by replacing a dropout.  I was so glad.    I had to get up early and be in Salem by 6 am.  The first part was swimming 500 meters.  I was not worried about that because I am a pretty strong swimmer and that isn't very far for me.  I was in one of the first heats because the person I replaced was a beginner swimmer.  I think I lapped everone in my lane 3 times.  I didn't really make great time, but got like 12 minutes. Then, since this was not timed in between events, I waited for my sister and we did the rest together.  The biking was 12 miles and the run was 3.6 miles. 

The biking wasn't too bad until the last couple of miles.  Then to try to run after that was super hard.  It was like I was going in slow motion because I just got off a fast bike and my legs felt like they weighed 1000 pounds each.  We managed to get through it and finish strong though. My time was 2:03:23, about in the middle, so nothing to brag about.  This was my first Triathalon and it was so much fun!  I loved saying that I did it on my birthday though so I could totally feel like I am not getting old or anything.

That night, Peter took me to the Melting Pot!  This was a really big deal for me.  I had seriously made a goal to go there on my some day list(right next to doing a triathalon).  I was so excited I could hardly stand it. It is like a whole eating activity.  I think we were eating for over 2 hours.  It is so different and fun. 

 Cheese appetizer.  They gave us so many things to dip, that we were full already.

They even make raw meat look nice.  Okay, I was still a little grossed out, but it was fun to cook it and try different things. There were so many different sauces and meats and veggies, it was gluttony. Note: I am not a fan of duck. Lobster tail is just okay.

Cute!

Dessert was my favorite part.  It was deliciousness, and we ate it all.

I was so blissfully full afterward, but we weren't about to see a penny dollar of it go to waste by leaving any food behind.  I don't think we will go again because of the cost, but it was a neat experience.