PAC-12 Meetings

It is the time of year, right before the season starts, that all the football conferences have their media day.  The Pac-12 meets in Los Angeles, Ca., then fly's to Bristol, Conn., and New York, NY.  All the head coaches and their wives arrived in Los Angeles on Monday, July 25th and stayed in the Beverly Hilton.  When Kyle and I arrived in our room that night there was the most beautiful red roses from the Pac-12.  It was the beginning of the trip and I could not take them with me, I hated to leave them so I gave them to one of the workers at the hotel. They also had this cute cupcake in a jar, it was delicious!

Hotel, Roses, Red Velvet Cake in jar

We got up Tuesday and the coaches all went to media meetings and the wives all met and went to a local spa, you could pick what ever you wanted done, I had a great facial.  We all had lunch together and got to know each other better at a near by restaurant, the Pac-12 had a really nice Tori Burch black purse on our chairs for each wife at the lunch.  Right after lunch we all went to the airport and there was a plane for the North teams and a plane for the South teams.  We went right to Bristol, Conn., while the North went straight to New York.

Kyle at media interviews, wives going to lunch, airplane, and Kyle in the plane.

Wednesday morning all the South division coaches of the Pac-12 had to go to ESPN headquarters for interviews.  The wives were given a car and driver to go to New York before the husbands so we did not have to wait for them.  The  wives went to the Broadway play "How to Succeed in Business".  It was really good although I don't think Kyle would have liked it, too much dancing and singing for him.  After the play we walked half a block to a restaurant for a late dinner, it was good food and a fun evening.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Kyle had some media interviews to do on Thursday until later afternoon.  All the other wives had gone so I walked from our hotel in the meat packing district to downtown, 60 plus blocks, I walked around for about 5 hours.  It was hot and humidity was high but it was so interesting just watching people everywhere. 

Trump Towers, Central Park, David Letterman Show, and Katz's deli

On Friday Kyle and I just had a relaxing day and did some sight-seeing.  One of Kyle's former players, Sione Pouha, plays football for the NY Jets.  He has a business where drivers will pick up players and take them around town or home from parties, etc.  It is basically a limo type business for players.  Sione is so nice and when Kyle has come to town, he has given him a driver to take him around instead of walking or having to take a cab.  So the driver took us a few places and then we would walk around too.  We walked across the Brooklyn bridge, went to the harbor and saw the Statue of Liberty, went to Katz's Deli for lunch, dropped us off at Central Park, we drove through Wall Street, and we got to experience New York traffic and the crazy drivers.  There are so many people everywhere, it would be easy to get lost there.  We had a fun time alone for a few days before the football season's starts on Monday for Kyle.

Brooklyn Bridge with New York buildings in the background

Statue of Liberty on a hazy day

The Wedding

Your wedding day is something to be remembered and Melissa has beautiful pictures and video to look at and help to remind her of that special day, unlike the olden days when I was married, they did not quite do it so nice.  So I rely more on my memories, which can be selective of course, and the few snap shots I have.  Melissa and Dawson's day went off without a hitch, it was perfect!

Coming out of the temple

Salt Lake Temple doors

The family with Dawson

Some of the decorations

Melissa and Dawson with their families

Newlyweds

Kyle walking Melissa down the stairs at the Ring Ceremony

La Caille entrance

Bride, Groom, Bridesmaids, Groomsmen

Melissa and Dawson visiting with guests

Cutting the cake

Grandma was hungry and thought she could not wait/

evidence of where she got the cake before it was officially cut

Melissa with all the Whittingham girl cousins

Daddy/Daughter dance at the wedding

Whittingham cousins dancing

Melissa and Dawson's friends dancing-great entertainment!

Melissa hugging Kylie and Rachel good-bye

Melissa hugging me good-bye

La Caille that night

And away they go!

The Engagement

The past few months have been spent preparing for our fist wedding in our family.  The memories from my own wedding preparations have blurred into a nice, sweet, easy time in my mind.  It was very low stress for me, I wish my mother was here for me to ask her what she remembered about it.  With Melissa finishing up Nursing School at the U of U, it was more stressful for her and required a bit more from me.  She was able to complete school, go through graduation, study for the State Board Nursing Test and pass, prepare for the wedding and have some great wedding showers.  We also took the family and Dawson to Hawaii for 10 days before the wedding, so I think we did pretty good in keeping the stress down.  Making decisions is not Melissa's favorite thing so just doing that every day was the hardest part.  We had wonderful friends who we relied upon to help us with many of the decisions and preparations.  Could not have done it without them!

Engagement Pictures

Hours spent on the internet looking up wedding ideas

Nursing Graduation-Big Accomplishment

Hawaii with the Whittingham's

Wedding Showers

4 weeks vacation-1st stop is Paradise

Kyle gets 4 weeks of vacation a year, they happen to come all in a row, which is nice for a summer vacation. So football camps end and Kyle's vacation starts ticking away.
Melissa is getting married on July 21st, so that has put a few restrictions for the summer plans, but in a good way.

Maui is our favorite place to relax if we can get there. If Kyle is far away, so he can't go by the office, then that is the best way to get him to relax. Flying that long is the only negative. We brought Dawson along with us, Melissa would not leave home without him. We are lucky to have some great friends who let us stay in their house while we are here.

Kyle, Alex, and Tyler ready for the beach

Beach and jumping rock

Favorite shave ice

Kyle has a former player and some connections that help too. Cawicka Casco took the kids spear fishing again this year.  Dawson, Melissa, and Tyler went,  we dropped them off with Cawicka and his friends. They snorkled with their spears about a mile down the beach.  Melissa hated it because it was very deep and the gear was hurting her nose,  just kind of miserable.  Dawson and Tyler loved it, Cawicka speared an Octopus.

On their way to spear fish
 

Tyler fishing with spear

Octopus

On the beach with Casco's

  Poolside reading

Road to Hana

Waterfall on Road to Hana

Church in Maui

Alex's favorite pastime (notice phone near by)

Melissa and Dawson on our yearly blow-hole visit

Melissa, Dawson, and Alex all performing at Luau

Tyler and Dawson challenged people on the beach in volleyball

Melissa and Dawson Snorkling

Kylie and I in the local pool

Water Volleyball-Kyle, Melissa and Dawson

Alex and Tyler playing water volleyball

Melissa, Dawson, and Kylie para sailing

Those are my feet on the left and Kyle's on the right, 1200 feet in the air.  This proves I did it!

Alex and Kylie para sailing!

The whole trip was great!  We played Yahtzee every night and had great dinners and time to visit.  We were gone for 10 days getting mentally prepared for the wedding that is 11 days after we get home.  This was Kyle's only real break all year, we are grateful to former players, friends and their friends for making the vacation so wonderful!