Pioneer Day in Cokeville

They say you learn something new every day. Well, if you aren't a member of the Dayton Family (I was in your shoes not long ago), get ready to fill your daily learning quota. If you are a member of the Dayton Family... well, I guess there are plenty of places to learn new things. Try Wikipedia. But not until after reading about our fun trip to the town where Becky was born.

Every year, the week of July 24th, there's a Pioneer Day celebration in the town of Cokeville, Wyoming (population: 535, according to the 2010 census). So Becky and I made the three-hour trip from Provo that Friday to stay overnight on the Dayton Family ranch, enjoy the celebration, and visit some of the places from the first 14 months of Becky's life.

We arrived in Cokeville at the Dayton Family Ranch on Friday evening. After a delicious barbecue with some of the family, we had a family fireside with Becky's uncle, Elder L. Tom Perry. We were asked to prepare a special musical number, so we sang an arrangement of "They, the Builders of the Nation." Afterward, we set up a tent on the ranch and fell right asleep.

Another shot of the Dayton Family ranch. Isn't it beautiful? I had never been to Wyoming, and I was fascinated with the miles of pure, open land. Wait til you see the sky on Saturday!

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning to run the annual David Dayton Memorial 5K. The race is named after Becky's dad (he originally organized the race every year), who worked on the ranch until he died in a ranching accident just over a year after Becky was born. This is us after the race. I gotta say, running is so much more fun with a wife by my side.

After the race, we visited some special places in Cokeville. First, we went to visit the cemetery and Becky's dad's grave. Of course I had never met him during his mortal life, but I felt a special reverence and love for him as we knelt there together. I'm so grateful for eternal families, and I can't wait to meet him someday. Everyone who knew him tells of how he was just a pure, genuine, good man. His headstone says, "A man without guile." I was so happy to finally get to know him a little better that day.

Okay, just look at that sky. Isn't that incredible?

This is Cokeville Elementary School. Becky wan't old enough to have attended school here, but it's a cool place. Years ago, there was a hostage crisis here involving all of the students and teachers and a man with a bomb. The story ends miraculously, with the bomb going off but killing none of the hostages. They're making a movie out of it. It's a really neat story.

This is the house where Becky lived! Such a neat little place right next to Cokeville High School. It was so cool to see this part of her life! I could imagine their fast-growing family having such fun times together here. By the way, it's for sale... maybe we'll buy it. For old times' sake.

The Cokeville Pioneer Day Parade! There were some awesome floats, like this gem: "Many things change, but love and service stay the same."

The local cub scouts were on horse-poop-scoop duty. The little champs.

Not pictured: tons of candy thrown from the floats.

After the parade, there was another devotional with Elder Perry, but this time with the whole Cokeville community. It was a great meeting, and there was an awesome lunch afterward.

This was our last stop in Cokeville before returning home to Provo. Pine Creek, at the very spot where Becky was baptized 16 years ago. I had seen pictures, like the one below, but actually being there was such a neat experience. What a beautiful and peaceful place.

And this is Becky, at 8 years old, in the exact same place. Isn't she so cute?!

I'm so glad we went to Cokeville. It's a neat little place. I really felt a special reverence for this place as we visited such special parts of Becky's life, and now it'll have a special significance for me as well.

Benjy's Wedding

So my little brother got married last month and I'm still freaking out about. I thought he was 15?! Turns out he isn't and somehow he convinced this incredible girl to marry him! He's pretty awesome too I guess. I have a gazillion pictures below of the exciting event, but here are a few oldies.

Seriously, he was the cutest little boy ever!

Benjy always came to visit me in Rexburg. It was the best.

Not my best picture, but it's accurate. Benjy always makes me laugh. He's pretty hilarious. 

 Like an awesome person I didn't take any pictures at the temple, but here are some I found on FB. 

I love this picture of Benjy & Kaitlin! They just look perfect!

 The siblings.  

 Benjy & Kaitlin got married at 8 AM (They are both morning people? I don't get it.) So we were in charge of the breakfast. We set up almost everything the night before. Who needs ladders when there are boys around? 

Kaitlin's colors were pastels and our cousins John & Ang let us use their gorgeous backyard which is right across from the temple.

 The spread. In addition to muffins, watermelon, grapes, juice, milk, chocolates & ham we made 15 breakfast casseroles. 

I didn't have time for a shower in between the breakfast cleanup and reception so a foot bath had to suffice.

The photographer was stuck in traffic so we just took our own pics beforehand. 

The groom with the dads & boys.

Cute dads with their girls. 

 Seriously I have the CUTEST nieces and nephews ever! 

Aunt Kaitlin is already a favorite!

All the nieces. Shout out to H&M for the $6 dresses. 

Sisters!

 This is how the boys imitate the girls shots. 

  Looking sharp.

Nobody's belt buckle even compared to Benjy's! Not the first time that has happened. 

 Me with the handsome groom!

Me with my handsome groom.

Matching dresses. 

April, Avery & Adelyn crowding around Barbs and the cute baby.

 Almost all of our bridesmaids clothes came from Barbara so we had to get a thank you pic with her.

 Too bad we didn't leave anything for Barb to wear...

 So during our photoshoot a Hymn book fell down or something loud happened. This picture caught our reactions. I look terrified! Haha. 

 A few weeks after the wedding, Kaitlin & Benjy had an open house in Clearfield. Tia, Ryan and I had such a fun time there.  

Congrats you two! 

Welcome to the family Kaitlin!

Family Reunioning

Every three years the O'Briens (My Mom's side of the family) have a reunion.  I love them. 

It is so fun to just be with family. I was really excited to go this year so Ryan could meet the rest of my family and get to know everyone better. Here are a couple of things we did. 

Thursday we drove to Manti before the reunion so we could go to the temple. We went to a live session which was a first for both of us and it was really neat. The temple is just gorgeous. Here in the middle of basically nowhere is this grand, beautiful, ornate building. 

After everyone had checked in we went swimming at the Aquatic Center across the street from the temple and had pizza. 

That night the boys played basketball. For 3 hours! I stopped by for a few minutes to see my awesome husband score a few 3-pointers then I came back to the dorms where we were staying. Since my sisters have young kids they couldn't go too far from their rooms so we pulled the mattresses into the hallway and chatted there until early morning. 

Friday was the 4th of July and we started it with a 5K. Chrissy was sweet enough to slow down to my pace so we could chat while we ran it together. 

Towards the end of the 5K it got pretty hot. See Ryan's face: 

After a beautiful flag raising ceremony, which I didn't take pictures of, the kids all went and made patriotic bagels and did other crafts. 

 Ryan and I went with the Waldrons to find the local parade. They threw out so much candy during the parade. That is one of the reasons I love small town parades.  Here's a pic of Sara and me double-buckling just like we used to. So she's almost 8 months pregnant and just looks as awesome as ever!

 We took a huge family picture of everyone at the reunion, but I don't have a copy of it yet. Here's one of our immediate family. The whole time we were so sad Mom & Craig weren't there, but we are of course so grateful for their example and service. 

 Pictures of the grandkids are always the funniest. There's no way to get 14 kids 6 and under to look good in one shot. Christian was hating it and wouldn't let go of Marie so she tried holding him behind the pole. Haha. 

Our family pic from the reunion. 

 That afternoon we had a BBQ hosted by Marvel's. They did our wedding luncheon and I have just grown up loving their food so this was such a treat! The picture does not do it justice.

After the BBQ we headed to a field for Family Olympics. It was super fun. There were competitions for all ages. My favorite was tug-of-war. We had a girls only round and it was pretty awesome. 

After the Olympics we had an awards ceremony. Here we are for the 5k. I know I'm making a weird face, but it's so good of Chrissy that I had to put it up. 

That night we had a Variety Show. About a month before the reunion we figured we should hurry and think of a talent to do during our 5 minute allotted time. This is what we came up with. There are 2 parts, stick around to 1:00 for the second part. 

 After the talent show I walked out to my car to drop something off and saw hundreds, if not thousands, of sheep being herded down the street.

 After the sheep show we had an ice cream social and then ended the evening with fireworks and games. 

Saturday morning Heather taught a Zumba class and it was so much fun. 

 That morning we walked 3 miles to the Manti Temple. It was a really neat experience, especially this close to Pioneer Day. Along the trail there were stories about Mutti (My Grandma) and it was so fun to stop and get to know her better. 

 Here we are after our 3 mile walk. Not sure why I'm rubbing Ryan's belly? 

 Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the rest of the events. There was a neat fireside about the Hole in the Rock Pioneer Expedition and then there was O'Brien Family Jeopardy. My awesome cousin Barbs puts together a whole jeopardy game about our family. She's awesome. The 500 point question under in-laws was, "How do you spell DeFigueiredo?" My brother David got it wrong and no one else attempted...haha. That night we watched old family videos and played games.  

Sunday we had an incredible testimony meeting and then said goodbye. 

The reunion committee put an emphasis on getting to know Mutti better which I loved. I grew up just around the corner from Mutti and have so many wonderful memories with her. She died in 2001, and I've been so scared lately that my memories are fading away. 

During the reunion each of Mutti's kids that were there gave a Mutti Moment and they reminded/taught us about a few things that made Mutti Mutti. In between that and reading stories about her during the Manti walk  Ryan got to know her too. I'm so grateful for her and for my Grandpa O'Brien. All reunion I kept thinking of them smiling down so happy to see us together strengthening our family bonds. I'm so grateful for my family and for the knowledge that I have that our ties will last forever.