Memorial Day Weekend Trip Part 2: Utah

As some of you may remember, every year my family has a reunion in the little town of Oak City, Utah. For posts about past years go here or here.

This is the same side of the family that we went on the cruise with. So as soon as we got there the cruisers showed everyone how to start a reunion off right... with the Michael Jackson Experience of course!!

Phil and Kellie got skills. And Robert is a meany for pushing me over!!

It takes serious concentration folks!

The next morning the whole crew headed over to the skating rink

We were a little resourceful with how to include Lydia.
She loved it!!

A few of my awesome nieces and nephews.

After skating it was off to the hot dog tail gate!

Rockin our sunglasses

Then to Town Hall for visiting, and then later dinner and then the Saturday Night Dance

The Wilcken August babies. They are getting so big so fast!

The Oak City Band. They rock!

I bet you've never seen this many adults doing the Hokey Pokey at once!

 

Dancing with Daddy

 

Crazy nephews!

More dancing with Daddy. She couldn't get enough :)

On Sunday there's church and then games, the ultimate Pig Tournament, visiting, dinner, and the program.

Mary was such a happy baby and then would just fall
asleep with whoever had her at the moment when
she would get tired.

Bunco!! Have you ever seen a Bunco game this big! It's intense!!!

The Millie Meal. We rocked those sandwiches!

My Dad doing his classic "Wishy Washy" Skit

And of course the family songs...

Like I said, Mary fell asleep with anyone

Red Velvet cake. YUM!!

My nephew Spencer won the PIG Tournament. He's been wanting
this for YEARS!!

My Mom. Basically she's the BEST!!

Then Monday morning, THE MAIN EVENT. The Memorial Day Breakfast. Every year my family makes delicious sourdough pancakes, fried eggs, and ham for all of Millard County. It's awesome!

Eggs and ham station

Pancake station

Lydia stuffing her face with a sourdough pancake. Priceless!

Cousin Shayna and sisters Aubrie and Breanna

The 2 sets of "triplets". The last time that 3 Wilcken grandkids
were born really close to each other was another 2 girl and 1 boy
combo and the boy was the oldest in that group too. So here are
Spencer, Taryn, and Anna holding what they each call their mini-me

These 2 are so fun to watch! They just love each other!

The girls by my Grandma's headstone

Lydia by one of her many namesake's headstones.
My Great great Aunt Lydia

Mary by one of her namesakes. My Aunt Mary who passed
away just over 2 years ago. She was/is an amazing woman
and is sorely missed.

I thought this picture was just too precious! My
brother Scott with his 2 twin boys Ben and Caleb and Alena
all holding hands. Love it!

And that's a look into our little piece of heaven we call Memorial Day Weekend in Oak City. Oak City almost fell victim to the recent fires that raged all over Utah. The whole town had to be evacuated and everything. I cried on and off all night with worry, but Heavenly Father answered the many prayers that were offered that night on behalf of that little town, and all was well with little damage. So this 40 year long tradition can continue for years to come!

Memorial Day Weekend Trip Part 1: Arizona

For Memorial Day Weekend we went to my family reunion in Oak City, Utah, but we took a big detour and first stopped in Mesa, AZ for my sister, Aubrie and Robert's sister, Aly's high school graduation. They both graduated from the same high school which is also mine and Robert's Alma Mater.

Seminary Graduation

These are all of the youth from my parents' ward that were
graduating together. They haven't had a group this
 big since  the year I graduated :)

Lydia's Birthday Celebration

We had a quick party with Robert's family for Lydia's birthday. 

As always Lydia loved the attention.

Lydia's haul. Some new clothes, a table and chair set,
books, coloring set, alphabet/number  mat, and more

The walking and barking dog Great Grandma
Richardson gave Lydia. She loves it!

Graduation Night

There were about 700 students in their graduating class. It's a big high school!

Sisters! Missing Emily, Becky, and Katie

Not by blood, but sisters just the same. I love Aly!!

They make us look good.

We were so happy to be able to spend this special moment in Aubrie and Aly's lives with them. 

The next morning we headed up to Oak City...

Fun With Friends

Just a few random fun times with friends :)

Cheryse's Birthday Fiesta 

We resurrected Poncho Lydia with her new sidekick Muchacho Mary. They were a hit. Robert also attempted to grow out his Mexi-stache

The birthday girl got the final wack at the pinata.

Finger painting at the park with my weekly Mothers' Group

Lydia outlasted them all. Anything that involves
making a mess can keep her entertained forever!

The finished masterpieces.

At the Boardwalk with the Baer's

Riding the train

I promise Devin's shot looked more manly
than the position this picture caught him in :)

Lydia loves the Merry Go Round aka the "Up down horsey ride"

Watching the solar eclipse 5/20/2012 at Greyhound Rock Beach
Several of our ward members all got together to watch the eclipse. There were smiles, visiting, laughs, and caramel corn a plenty!  

I'm the one that looks goofy in street clothes and Robert's suit
coat. I'm looking through some welding glasses that one of the
ward members brought so that we could look directly at the sun.

Taken by one of our cool ward members

So basically we have a lot of fun here :)

Lydia's 2nd Birthday

It's true! May 14th my first born turned 2 years old! I still can't believe it!

Decoration idea that I got off of Pinterest. I loved how it turned out!

First stop on her birthday was Toys R Us so she could play with the toys and pick out a new swimsuit with built in floatie. No more constant worry about her drowning at the beach :) 

Can you tell how excited she was?!?

She went through a phase where she would refuse to look at the camera no matter how hard we tried

You see what I mean

That evening we had several of our friends over for cake, homemade ice cream, and other goodies. We had 14 adults and 11 kids ages 2 and younger in our little apartment. It was a little crazy but so much fun!

She blew out her own candles this year! I was so proud!!

And she actually ate the cupcake this year.
Such an improvement from last year ;)

Is this not the most precious thing EVER!
This is one of Lydia's BFFs, Naomi.

After everyone left, Lydia opened the few little presents we gave her. Most of which were hand me downs. She loved them just the same :)

 

A few Stats and things:

Weight (on 6/11/2012): 26lbs 9.5oz (44th percentile)

Height (on 6/11/2012): 2 feet 10.5 inches (58th percentile)

What she is learning: She is a great talker and is getting more and more clear with her words everyday. She knows all of her shapes. She can count to 12 on her own. She can say the whole alphabet with some assistance and recognizes several capital letters. She still struggles with some of her colors. She knows orange and purple and can get those and a few others almost every time but she can never keep red and green straight, which being the paranoid parents we are worries us that she might be slightly colorblind, but only time will tell. She also loves to sing songs and read books with Mommy and Daddy. One of these days I hope to sneak some video footage of all of this.

Miss Personality: There are 4 different women that serve in the Nursery in our ward. They are all AMAZING. When we've picked Lydia up at the end of church all 4 of them at different times have said "She has SOOO much PERSONALITY!!" We always say thank you and then wonder if that is just a sugar coated way of telling us how much of a handful she is, but we wouldn't have it any other way. We love how bursting with personality she is! She keeps us on our toes, but also entertains us constantly.

A Few Favorites: Favorite Food = Pizza or Pizza Rolls.   Favorite Drink = Chocolate milk.   Favorite TV Shows = DragonTales, Dora, Super Why, Little Einsteins, Bo on the Go.   Favorite Book = If I Were A Lion.   Favorite Quiet Song = I Am A Child of God.   Favorite Wiggle Song = Follow the Prophet (We march around to the chorus)

Loves her friends: We are so lucky to have so many friends in Santa Cruz! And all of them have kids around Lydia's age (several of them also have a second kid Mary's age. It's so fun) Anyway, Lydia's favorite activity is anything involving her friends. When we go anywhere and say that we're going to play with friends she starts going through her list. "Play with Naomi? Ada? Grant? Jayden? John? Bridger? Keaton?" If ever we have to say that one of her friends isn't going to be there, even if the rest of them are, she immediately throws a fit. She likes it best when all of them are there :) There was even a while where she was calling a Ken Barbie doll that we have Grant and would hold hands and dance with it. Too Cute!

And that's our 2 year old Sweet Lydia!

Welp...

We're alive!! I cannot believe it is mid-July! Where did May and June go???? Oh wait I know. Our little family has spent them with one sickness after another, along with squeezing in some summer fun here and there :) You are about to be hit with a slew of catch up posts so enjoy!