because you missed it...

(cokeville 24th celebration 2013)

*one of my favorite cousins/people of all time, was not present this year with us in cokeville. she and her cute husband (and baby on the way) moved away to oregon and were not able to come. i was so sad not to see her. we've both been at this celebration every year of our lives and i missed her so much! this post is to her. love you britt!

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britt,

gosh i missed having you around this year at the 24th. i know your family missed you too. but don't worry, i'm going to try and recap a little of it for you. even though i know you could shut your eyes and basically imagine it all in your head. you probably already did that though didn't you?

anyway, james, brooklyn, and i were some of the first ones there (shocking i know) and we were veered over to stay at aunt julie's. the little girls were nice enough to let us stay in their room. we even got the royal treatment with mints on top of our towels. how cute is that?

after we got settled in, everyone slowly started showing up. there honestly weren't as many people there as last year. it felt kind of empty. and i don't know how that's possible. grandma served almost 100 for dinner that first night. isn't she amazing?

once dinner was over and cleaned up, well, you know the routine. lots of visiting in every corner of the house.

and baby ryker handled being passed around like a champ. he's so cute. he totally looks like hayden asleep and uncle steve when he's awake. soooo cute!

don't you just love these two? if only i had gotten uncle lyman in the picture with them. gosh those are some great, smart, funny great uncles we have. 

i know for a fact that this girl with the big smile on her face was missing you pretty badly. that cute camille!

i know i already told you but i DEFINITELY missed you. can't wait until next year.

don't be mad, but this year i decided to forego the 5k for a few extra hours of sleep. so you'll have to find someone with pictures from that on facebook or something. i heard they had quite the turn out. 

brooklyn was stoked for the parade. right now she loves horses and candy, and you and i both know there are a lot of both in the cokeville parade. she wasn't disappointed. 

look at your cute mom! what a good sport she was to dress up like a bee to represent her ward. she's so great.

little liv definitely enjoyed her first time at the cokeville celebration. she gets cuter every day and even more busy. we just love her. oh and chandler and whit too.

us again. sorry.

the annual girl cousin picture. maybe we should photoshop you and camille in. notice we're on the wrong side of the street. ya, our spot got taken this year. how rude. :)

after the parade was the program of course, and then the babies took naps, and all of us adult couples decided on flying j pizza and blondie's for lunch. since you and so many others were missing this year, we thought we'd switch things up. we'll probably go back to the way things were when you're there next year. unless you want to be a part of a new tradition...

because it was so hot, we let the kids run through the sprinklers. petersen/dayton cousins alike all took a turn and enjoyed cooling off. my daughter threw a fit shortly after and wanted her clothes on and wanted to go see the horses for the 100th time. 

the guys went to play a little football at the high school and all the women gathered at aunt julie's for kayla's bridal shower. of course, grandma had everyone tell a memory of kayla and give her advice. can you totally picture aunt holly?! i'm sure you can.

as if football wasn't enough, the guys came home from football, showered, and then promptly went back out to go shooting/hunting. they were gone long enough to miss the first wave of dinner. poor them. not. but dinner was great. the crowd started dwindling by then, just like it always does. grandma still fed a lot of people that night. 

then there were fireworks, and visiting on the deck. 

uncle tom was saying something funny here. he was quite a hoot this year. i forgot to mention the family fireside on friday night didn't i? it was pretty much the same as always, except this year uncle tom didn't bring another general authority to accompany him. he and aunt barbara both spoke, joey and buffy's family sang and it was the cutest, and that was basically it. short and sweet. definitely enjoyed by all who attended.

sunday was church obviously. aunt julie taught in relief society so all of us went to support her. i loved sitting next to grandma during the lesson. i really just love her.

after church i wanted to get a picture in front of aunt julie's house. i don't have hardly any pictures of that house. i'm really sad that i don't have any of me with grandma and grandpa dayton in front of it. so sad. that house is full of so many great memories. i'm glad it's been able to stay in the family and that aunt julie's family gets to live there and make their own memories.

after dinner (grandma served 52+), dessert, and clean-up, damian performed his act of many languages. remember that? gosh he's funny. the younger kids loved it just as much as the adults. then, kayla got roped into doing her miranda act. she was so embarrassed, but you wouldn't even know. she was hilarious and had both buffy and aunt holly in tears. ha!

the 24th celebration is always a great time. spending time with so much family and eating such good food is a recipe for great memories. so many of those memories for me involve you. you and i lived for this weekend. you definitely more than me though. you made it so much more fun for me. i definitely missed you, but think how great next year will be when you and your cute little family will be there to celebrate it all together for the first time. oh it'll be fun. 

cool kids! 

love,

nin