B&M WHITING CLAN: August in a blur

We went in for Hunter's semi annual dentist cleaning. While there we discussed with the dentist about how we have been trying to pull his bottom tooth but it refuses to come out, SERIOUSLY! Bryant wrapped floss around the tooth and around his hand on several nights and yanked as hard as he could and couldn't get the tooth out! In fact he even hurt his hand a little. So I asked the dentist if he would just pull it while we were there. He obliged and it was a good thing because the root was really far down and we likely would have been back in a couple of weeks to get it pulled anyway. At this office they have video glasses so Hunter watched an episode of Wild Kratts while he was being numbed up and the tooth pulled. He didn't even realize it had happened.

We had some kid friends over for dinner. Everyone loved sitting around the table together.

August was $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving point. I missed the first Tuesday of the month without even thinking about it but the second Tuesday we went to the awesome dinosaur museum that Tucker and Hunter thought they would never return to. We got there early and were the second family in line. I forced them to take a picture before we went inside so that I could remember what they were wearing just in case we got separated.

This dinosaur was so long it was impossible to capture in a single photo.

There were always things above our heads to see and so much around us that we often forgot to look up!

This is the sand/water table. Children get to learn the effects of erosion and such things. Mostly they just bury toy dinosaurs and find them again.

Baby dinosaurs are the coolest, especially when you get it to yourself!

At the end of the museum is a sand excavation area. The last time we came here (3 years ago) we didn't have time for this part and Bryant and I did not really want to deal with all the sand. This year they got to dig and enjoy both sand areas while I fed Connor some snacks.

Afterwards we sat outside and ate our lunch. It was a fabulous time. I loved that my whole family went for only $10 instead of the crazy $12/child and $14/adult. The kids all did such a great job listening that I told them we could hit up another museum the following week.

Quite the curve ball hit us that week, when we received the news that my father had passed away while traveling with my mother in Idaho. I drove with my Aunt Charlene the morning after to meet my mother and Aunt Tricia in Idaho and help in whatever way possible, even if just to give a hug each time one of my siblings asked to share a hug with mom. I stayed in Idaho overnight and returned the following evening to meet all of my family that had traveled from Arizona that day. When we arrived at my small house people filled every available area possible. The walls were lined with people sitting on the couch, floor, and chairs from the kitchen. Only Bryant, Daniel and Ian were found out of the mass in the space of the kitchen. We were all well worn that evening and looking forward to getting to bed. We lucked out in being able to rent a house across the street from my grandmother in Provo that was vacant only through the weekend. Many of my family stayed in that house, while others were in a house across the street and next door. A couple of siblings opted for the privacy of the nearby motel. I didn't realize it was also graduation weekend so the hotels were well booked and charging the higher prices :(. I drew everyone a map to get them where they were headed so they could get to bed.

While the event that brought all of us together was truly tragic and heartbreaking, being together as a family was beautiful! My father always knew how to throw a good party and he sure made this a good one. Someone in my ward offered to gather people in the ward to provide meals for my whole family (10 siblings with spouses/significant others and lots of children!) They provided all three meals each day my family was in town and even brought them to the "rented house." The food was good and there was always plenty, something my father would have been proud of. The only member of my family missing was my sister Emilee who was in the hospital in Arizona having been intubated to help slow her heart and keep her alive. (She is doing better now but her heart is greatly damaged and she has little to no energy for tasks). The services for my father were beautiful. The "family luncheon" after the services included most everyone that attended the services because so much of my father's family/relatives and great friends live near enough to Provo that they could all come. (which is why my mother decided to hold the funeral in Utah and have all of her children travel).

My brother The "Cool" Uncle Jacob purchased some fire arms and grenades and got all the grandchildren and younger aunts and uncles to enjoy a game of shooting each other in the back yard. This eventually led to quite the game of duck duck goose with many adults playing too. We ended the evening with roasting smores. It was fun to see some of the nieces and nephews roast a marshmallow for the first time.

All of my family drove home on Sunday, except Isaac and Juli with their kids. They figured that since they had driven all the way from Pittsburgh they might as well stay for a couple of days before heading back. I was glad to have some family stick around for a little longer.

We had fun playing outside in the swimming pool and sprinklers.

Connor learned he could fit in the ice chest :P

Isaac and Juli even stayed an extra day so they could join us on $2 Tuesday at the Museum of Curiosity (and man am I so glad that they did!) We were not permitted to take our strollers into the museum based on the expected crowd. After getting in and being there we could not have even imagined how someone with a stroller would have been able to maneuver around the museum with a stroller because it was difficult enough without one. I was so grateful to have an extra set of eyes to keep track of everyone. There were a couple of times that one person would be in charge of staying with those that were found while the other two went off searching for those that were missing. I don't think I'll be able to do this museum on my own with our children on $2 Tuesday myself, it is just too crazy!

Brylee had fun dancing on the stage in the "little" town

The line for the zipline was super long so those that wanted to do it only got to do it once because we refused to sit around waiting for them to have another turn :/

Here is Clark on the zipline

And Hunter

And Tucker

This water table was awesome! Connor was able to sit and play and I didn't have to worry about him getting run over or crawling away!

Here is Elliot

Some parents who have been before actually brought a change of dry clothes for their kids. I opted to just take off Connor's shirt, figuring he could be in a shirt and diaper if necessary.

All of the dangling feet was super cute!

Brylee and everyone else got completely soaked. We realized we should have come in the water room before going to the outside playground, oh well we are beginners!