Father's Day and my Birthday

I remember as a kid that I would occasionally have to share my birthday with my dad. I think this is the first time it has happened since Nathan and I have been married and it was a great day. I really wanted Mexican food so we went out to eat on Saturday night and then Nathan and I both planned dinner for Sunday and I have to say YUMMY!! We had a pork roast that we grilled and it had the most amazing dry rub on it. Ultimate twice baked potatoes, cheddar biscuits, and an awesome turtle ice cream cake from Culver's. We played games with the kids, Cranium and Mafia. We were introduced to Mafia while at my family reunion. It is a game I remember playing on group dates while attending BYU but I had forgotten all about it. We played as adults at the reunion and my kids were up later than others so they were able to see a couple of rounds and really wanted to learn how to play....Each person except the narrator gets a piece of paper with an M, C, or D on it. There are only 2 D's (detective) and 2 M's (mafia), the rest are C's (citizen). After you have seen your letter you return the papers and close your eyes while the narrator tells you what to do. First the mafia open up their eyes and chose, quietly, someone to "kill". They then close their eyes and the detectives open up and chose who they think is the mafia. All then open eyes and the narrator tells everyone who was "murdered" by the mafia and then whether the guess made by the detectives is right or wrong. Then everyone proceeds to try and convince everyone else that they are a citizen. There is much confusion, loudness and lying that happens in this game but also lots of laughs. Dayton was the mafia the first time we played and Alexa accused him of being mafia. Dayton turns a little read, gets a huge smile on his face and says, "I can not tell a lie. I am mafia." We all burst into laughter and played several more rounds.

To end our day Nathan and I were able to participate in our new assignment. We are the Addiction Recovery Group Leaders in our stake and Sunday was our first meeting. It was a great experience and we are so excited to share such an amazing program with others.

So all in all I think we both had a good day. I am now one year older....yikes. Nathan is a great dad and we all appreciate everything he does for us. Happy Father's Day Nate. We love you.

The Salin's

Alexa, Dayton, Mackenzie, Emma-Kate, and Jackson

We met the Salins when we moved to Ohio in December 2003. We were lucky enough to live just one street away from them for about 3 years and they are dear friends. Well they now live in Overland Park, Kansas which was on our way home from Utah so we dropped in for a visit.

Lizzie and Valerie

Lizzie, Mackenzie, Nathan, and Alexa

We went swimming at their neighborhood pool, ate the yummiest fajitas ever, and had a blast playing Rock Band. My kids now think Jeff is the coolest rocker ever.

Thanks Salin family, we had a great time. We wish you still lived just a street away.

Dayton kids

Jordan, Matt, Jaime, Josh, Jake

Jaime, Jordan, Matt, Josh, Jake

I am the oldest and have 4 younger but taller brothers. They are all kinds of silly and chances are pretty good that I will be laughing while in their company so I consider myself one lucky girl. Mom, Matt, Jake, Jordan, Jaime, Josh, Dad

These are the people who are lucky enough to be married to a crazy Dayton.

Shannon (Matt's wife), Natalie (Josh's wife), Lindsay (Jake's wife), Nathan, Jamie (Jordan's wife)

Jake

My brother Jake is a the best video game player I know. My mom has been taking Super Mario Galaxy with her when she goes to visit all of the grand kids and together they have been trying to pass off or beat different levels but some of them have been a little tricky. Well never fear because uncle Jake is here and he can do anything when it comes to a video game. My kids were in awe. Jake could pass off levels in record time and had the kids mesmerized.

The Dayton Family

Unfortunately the lighting was not the best and I (Jaime) am in a shadow in every photo. But this is the most recent picture of the whole family.

This the the logo on the back of the T-shirts we were all wearing in honor of the 2009 reunion.

Grandkids

Mom made skirts for Jordan and Jamie's wedding and she made one for herself so she could match.

Then she made the boys BYU jammies and ordered the girls silky jammies. Dayton loves these jammies. He asked me the other day if he could go and take a shower at 3:30pm just so he could put them on.

Kids love Nathan.

That is just a fact.

Pizza Night

At the ranch, one night is designated pizza night. Barbara fires up the pizza oven and makes the dough and everybody gets to roll out their own pizza and top it with whatever they'd like. YUMMY!!

Red Cliffs

Dad and Alexa

Dad and Taylor

Alexa, Mackenzie, Dayton and Nathan

Josh and Elizabeth

Nathan...really, that water looks questionable to me.

Climbing the steep, smooth, rock face.

Dayton and Mackenzie

Successful at climbing the steep rock face.

On Thursday morning we decided to go for a hike somewhere. Barbara had told Nathan about an easy hike in Leeds just a few miles away. We loaded the cars and drove to the area she had mentioned but did not find any hiking paths so we turned around and followed some signs to the Red Cliffs. We were not disappointed. It was beautiful. Hot, but beautiful. At the end of the trail we didn't find a pot of gold but we did find a pool of water.

Climbing and Fishing

Dayton and Elizabeth wanted to climb up the hill to see what was on the other side.

So...off they hiked.

Josh wanted to fish so Alexa decided to try as well. Josh caught a fish but Lex did not. She was no too excited about trying again. Not so too much instant gratification with fishing.