Happy Birthday Tyler!

Tyler Through The Years

Our cute little guy, Tyler, has been fully grown for a long time now.  Today he is 26 years old........... where does the time go?   Don't let that sweet, young, innocent face fool you, by 10 years of age he had things all figured out.  Tyler knows just how to hit my buttons to tease me, pull all kind of jokes on me, and make me go a little bit crazy.  I think it has been one of his favorite things to do since he figured out just what would work.  I was so gullible, I fell for his jokes every time, which I am sure is why he got so much joy out of it.  Tyler is a hard worker.  He helped his dad put in a whole yard and sprinkler system when he was just 8 years old, working 9 hours a day.  He loves boating and worked hard on learning how to do a flip on the wake board with our old boat that didn't have a tower and  had a huge wake.  He loves football and has worked hard since he was a boy to always do his best and play in little league, high school, and college.  He worked hard for 2 years serving the people of Brazil and teaching the gospel on his mission.  We love you Tyler and are so proud of the great person you have become.

        Tyler and Grandpa Fred in their tuxes

Melissa, Tyler and Grandpa Fred

March 1992

Tyler, Melissa, and Alex Lake Mead 2000

Kyle and Tyler road their bikes to Snowbird without stopping when Tyler was 16 years old

Tyler doing his flip

Kyle and Tyler after Brighton game Senior Game

Kyle and Tyler before mission

A Whole Day Off for Kyle

Today we had the pleasure of Kyle being with us all day today.  The Utes just finished their two-a-day practices for this fall season.  The 18 hour days for 2 weeks is very draining on the coaching staff, players and their families.  So it should get a lot better compared to that.

Coaching at Practice

 Kyle talking with the Team

We went down to Pleasant Grove this morning to hear Jason Whittingham give his mission homecoming talk.  Then we went to Lynita's house to have some great food she had prepared for everyone.  Trevor came home a month ago,  so it is nice to have them all home together.

Trevor with our family at  the airport

Jason with our Family at the airport

Drew and Ruth came by Lynita's house (they live close by) so they could tell us good bye.  They are leaving for Ohio tomorrow and will be living there.  I always hate to say good bye.  Their little family is so cute and Dustin is the cutest little boy I have seen in a long time.  Ruth is really good at blogging and I love reading her adventures.  So I will still be able to follow their family that way.  We will miss having them close by.

Dustin, Ruth and Drew Dowling

Players and Coaches Wives Party

Today is the last day of 2-a-day practice for the players and the coaches.  I had all the wives over to my house for a little get together.  Janice Davis and her husband Tim (OL) have returned to the staff at Utah.  Tim was a coach here and we are happy to have them back.  Chad Kauha'aha'a (DL) and his wife, Lena, also are returning to Utah to coach.  Chad is a former player at Utah.  Norm Chow and his wife Diane are new to the staff but she is still living in California, so we didn't get to visit with her.  Most of the players wives are young and haven't been married for too long.  Some had new babies.  All the kids were invited as well. The wives brought desserts and salads and I bought some pizza from the Pie Pizzeria.  With only 3 coaches wives and 1 players wife unable to come, I think we had about 45 including all the little ones.  It was very casual and was a great way for all of us to get to know each other better.  I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

 

Megan Fagergren, Jenny Fitzgerald ,Whitney McNabb

Adriana Finau, Aila Finau (2 yrs) and holding Nelli Reilly (4 mo old), Kylie Robles, Taft Tobles (1 yr)

Angelina Lotulelei with Arilani (2 yrs), Adrianna Finau with Nelli Reilly (4 Mo) and Aila Finau (2 yrs), Infant seat is baby Finau

Janice Davis, Rhea and daughter (Khiani) McGill, Ann Argust

Ashley Chapman, Brandie Rudy, Liz Scalley

Toe'umu Moala, Janelle Tongaonevai, Malvina Aiona, and Jessica Riley
 

Tori Tui'one holding Calia Tui'one, and Toe'umu Moala 

One of Our Favorite Pastimes

We have not had enough boating this summer, not enough time to go to Lake Powell.  Everyone in our family enjoys going boating as much as possible.  It has been a great family activity and a memory maker for all of the Whittingham's and for me as a young girl with my family.  I have gone to Lake Powell every summer for as long as I can remember.  The wedding was a good reason to not have time this year.  We did make it to the local lakes a few times at least.

Kyle and Ashley

Kylie wake boarding

Kyle, Kylie, Fred, and Rachel relaxing on the boat

Alex, Melissa, Tyler, and Kyle at Lake Powell

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