A Blogathon!!!

Settle in Blogging fans and enjoy possibly the longest and hopefully the best post in quite a while. P.S. Isn't that a beautiful Virginia sunset above?

Happy Birthday to Claire!!!

Not only did Claire get to celebrate her birthday in Utah with all of her family, but she got to celebrate twice! Unfortunately dad missed the official birthday, but he was there in spirit. Claire is such a joy in our lives and we love her so much. I still remember Hill waking me up at 2 a.m. on June 3 of last year and letting me know that it was time. I am currently doing OB anesthesia, so I have alot of memories these days as I'm working up on the OB floor. We love you, Claire. Thank you to all family members from both sides for such wonderful parties. Claire loves all her gifts and is currently working on thank you notes. I currently have photos only from the first party.



Claire gets her hands upon the good stuff. Hill has an obsession with rainbow chip cupcakes with frosting. Claire loved them too.



Claire's face was priceless as she got the first jolt of pure sugar. Of course grandpa Dahle had already given her a few treats prior to help her build up to the big day.


Claire enjoyed more than just eating the cupcake.


Happy Birthday Claire!! Mom and Dad love you so much.


The Croquet Match

A Dahle family tradition is a post barbeque game of Croquet. This years epic battle did not disappoint. The hoops were placed in their traditional Sunday placement. The lawn was mowed to optimal length. The mallets were tightened and the balls were polished. The full Dahle family was reunited.


Team Captains with their current family ranking - 1- Nate 2- Seth 3- Kevin.


The team captains deliberate. I don't remember exactly how the teams played out, but I enthusiastically drafted the newest member of the Dahle family - Leeah.

The game itself did not disappoint. I wish we had some pictures. It was a nail-biter, but Nate and Leeah took the competition down. Shot of the game - Nate sends Kevin and Dad's ball flying over the sandbox, over the play house, and behind the wood pile - sealing the hard fought victory. Of course a drop was required. Nate and Leeah victorious. Kevin and Dad an honorable second. Seth and Eric a distant third (thanks Sweetheart, I owe you). Looking forward to the next round.

The wedding

One way to ensure a visit to Utah from the Virginia Dahles is to have a wedding. It was a perfect day (debate still remains as to whether that is from the wedding itself, or the fact that the day was done by 5 pm). In all my years I have never seen Seth smile as big as he did just after the wedding. It brings joy to see your brothers and sisters so happy and doing well. Leeah, we welcome you to the family (you can be on my croquet team any time).

Leeah looked beautiful on her special day. Thank you for making Seth so happy.

There's that smile. The groom was in top form. I also feel like I brought my A-game at the luncheon when Seth's life was compared with the history of the gospel. It is still a work in progress, but it went over well. What a great looking couple. We hope you guys had a great time in Maui!

(If you could all could have seen their wedding video, you would have seen how far they came - i.e. Seth at the science fair and Leeah with the Rupp family singers).



There are my girls. Looking cute. Great haircut Hill. It looks great.

Claire is just learning to walk. And what better place to practice than in the shadows of the temple. She is making some great progress. In fact today she took three steps before she ate it. Much better than the faith fall she we have gotten used to.

I love my brothers and sisters so much. It was a sweet day to spend together.

Kev, that's a stiff wind you are walking into. We loved meeting Natalie (even though she was adverse to getting her picture taken). We are sad that she had to study so much. What was most impressive was her willingness to ditch you to watch the Lost finale with us. We only wish she could have hung around long enough so we could get her thoughts on the ending. Strong work Kev. Keep us up to date.


There were some pretty flowers at the wedding lunch.

The Cousins


I'll be honest, Claire had a rough transition from Virginia to Utah. Maybe she just didn't tolerate the altitude so well. Soon enough she will enjoy playing with her cousins a little more. She talks often about the pending birth of her new cousin Hadley.


We hope for many more additions to this bunch. We love Kinsley, Gabe and Sam.

Two words - G-Q. Looking good Gabe.

Who let the monkeys loose at the temple? Sam couldn't figure out what to do - eat his cookie, or fully commit to the monkey face. He compromised. Don't stare too long at Gabe's eyes or you may go crosseyed too.

Kinsley is so much fun to take pictures of. She is so full of life and energy.



Nice face Claire. We will just add it to your repetoire.


Great balance for two years old. Sam is very difficult to get to hold still.

There we go. Good look, Sam.

This is just after Kinsley finished her bowl of ice cream. Obviously happy.
I love both these pictures so much.

Gabe and Kins!!! We sure miss you guys. You are growing up so fast. Keep on smiling. We love you.

To quote Peter Gabriel. "I'm digging in the dirt." Sam did a stand up job of taking care of Grandma and Grandpa's vegetable garden. What is most important is that he paid special attention to the newly planted rhubarb plant that will begin to bless the Dahle household with pies and cobblers in the near future.

The Graduation

While not a point of contention, it is a point of discussion in the Virginia Dahle household. The Dahle family has a long tradition of NOT attending their sibling's graduations. This is a most treasured tradition in our household. Imagine how many bad graduation speeches (except yours Kev) that we have missed out on by not attending each others graduations. Not to mention the reading of every graduates name together with their stroll across the stage.

Hill's family, on the other hand, attends everyone's graduation with bells on. We just happened to be in Utah for Jake's graduation. No matter how hard I tried to explain why we should adopt our tradition, I was unsuccessful (on top of that, they charged money to get in). It was off to Weber State to see the Davis Dart class of 2008 graduate. Congratulations Jake!!! I wouldn't have missed it....

Claire just wanted to document her presence for future reference. I think her exact quote was, "You owe me Uncle Jake." Claire and I cheered loud for Jake when his name was read, despite the request to abstain from such behavior. I guess if you are going to be there, you should make your presence known.

Claire was a great excuse to get out of the full reading of names. We had a great time playing on the grass. This was the first time that Claire was presented with crawling down a hill. I have to commend her determination. She is on her way down.

Some of her attempts did not turn out so well. FACE PLANT!!!

"Dad, I had a great time at graduation."

Fine, it wasn't all so bad. We are glad we got to spend time with the Carter family. We love you guys.

The Carters - A family of graduation attenders.

(You will notice that there are significantly fewer pictures of the Carter leg of the trip. We implemented a plan to get those pictures and unfortunately, it didn't come through. Hopefully we will do better next time.)

I love you

One of these days I will have the opportunity to take my sweetheart to Italy. Until then, I will just have to enjoy a kiss in the Gelateria. It was a long week without you. I am so glad that you are home.

(If anybody wants any copies of the pictures, please let me know and I can email them. They will be better quality than copying from the blog.)