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!

Max

Max is our Westie dog we have had for 12 years.  He is a great dog, obedient, loves to sleep, and loves to have anyone pet him (once you start he won't go away).  Max loves to go on walks but after a certain distance (about a block) he will just sit down and refuse to go any farther until he has a rest.  Due to his age he has lost some of his hearing so you can call to him and he won't come unless he is looking right at you.  Max also loves to lick your feet or your legs so if you don't want him to do that you must keep your shoes on and your legs covered.   

Max waiting patiently at the door to come inside

                                 Max at Lake Powell with the family                                            

Ute Football Camp 2011

Football camp has come to an end for another year.  Gone are the days when my own children participated in the camps.  Tyler started attending Utah's football camp when he was 7 years old, he is 25 now, so it has been a long time that there was at least one Whittingham from our family that has attended camp.  We still had friends and cousins we know who came this year.

Tyler at Utah Football Camp 1996

Alex Football Camp (in sandals) 4 yrs old

Jackson, Sam, Alex, Jason, Rachel, Trevor, Kali, Kylie, and Coach Kyle in 2005

Tyler helped coach, Kylie is front left, Jackson, Kali, Alex is back right, friends Austin and KC with Kyle 2004

Kyle talking to the football campers at the end of the camp 2011