Dehner Retreat 2012 - St George

A couple weeks ago, Mike's family all drove out from Ohio for our Dehner Family Reunion in St George. The house was amazing and we got to spend some quality time together. The kids had a ball seeing their cousins!!
Here's Will and Ty. They were great pals all week!

Mike looks super onery, but I'm sure deep down he was happy I was taking his picture.

The girl cousins!

All the kid cousins shared a room (minus Meg of course). They had the smallest room in the house and yet they were thrilled to be packed in there! The boys used this room to wrestle and jump and the girls would giggle and play with their toys.

Meg taking a snooze on Grammie.

Little Meg. I stole this picture off of my sister-in-laws blog because I love it so much.

One night we took the kids to see Aladdin at The Tuacahn Theater. They had a ball and Morgan says it was her favorite part of the week. It really was amazing. The show didn't start until 9 pm when it was cooling down outside.

Mike's favorite part of the trip was his early morning bike ride through Snow Canyon. We took the kids up there later on to hike and play in the sand dunes. It was beautiful (and HOT!!). Here's the kids in Jenny's Canyon.

Digging in the heat. They didn't last long since it was so hot... It was too bad really, because they could have spent the entire day there if only it wasn't so hot.


Morgan and Miles teaching a little Family Home Evening lesson.



Playing a little tennis out back...

The best thing about this home was the pool & hot tub. Unfortunately the pool was out of order all week except for about 12 hours. It was a huge bummer to say the least, but the kids made the best of it. We turned the hot tub off and they played in there all week.

When the pool was working it was awesome. Everyone loved it - including Meg!!

Hanging in the shade.





The big boys playing on the slide... If you can't see it very well, there are 3 of them stacked on that poor floatie.

Kate on the left and Chad on the right... The slide was awesome!

Miles having a go.

Mike spend his time flipping off the top.



Miles took a little while to muster up the courage to jump off. It was so cute watching him. He'd stand on the edge and stare down for a while until he'd finally get the courage to go. He ended up getting a bad case of swimmers ear when we got home, but I think he'd say it was worth it. (At least he'd say that now that the swimmers ear is cleared up... I've never seen him in so much pain.)


Cousin Kelsey jumping off. She is a little fish and has always been a daring girl. I wish she'd rub off on Morgan a little :)

We miss them all already.

My girl chose to be baptized!

Morgan has been waiting and waiting to turn 8 for a very long time (well, to her it was a long time!). She really wanted to turn 8 so she could be baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

This past weekend all of Mike's family was in town from Ohio (pictures of the Dehner reunion to come soon!!) and it great having them here for her baptism.

Here she is just before in her cute little white jump-suit... So much cuter than the one I wore when I was baptized. It made me realize just how tiny she is - this fits most kids her age but she was drowning in it. But make no mistake about it, just because she is small in stature by no means is she small in spirit (or sass :).

Eagerly waiting for everyone to arrive...

Mike looks so handsome in his whites. I am so thankful he is a worthy priesthood holder and was able to baptize and confirm Morgan. I am thankful every single day of my life that Mike is a man that fully understands his responsibility as the patriarch of our family and he takes living worthy of the priesthood he holds very seriously.

I have personally seen many cases in my life the huge impact one man has on his family for better or for worse. A righteous man has the power to influence his entire family to also choose good and it creates peace and happiness in the lives of those he leads, and in contrast one man making poor choices can completely destroy an entire family. I don't know if many men fully understand how much influence their choices have over so many around them, but I know Mike gets it, and that is one of the biggest blessings in my life as well as in the lives of each of our children. I love this man!

Morgan wrote her testimony all by herself to put on the inside of her baptism program. I think she did a beautiful job and I have seen that she already has her very own testimony of Jesus Christ. I hope she always does.

Luckily for me, Auntie Beth held Meg for the entire baptism so I could enjoy being with Morgan. I love this picture of the two of them!

Some of the friends and cousins that came to watch... I wish I would have done better at taking pictures of everyone there.

Morgan finally got her own scriptures! Grandma & Grandpa Beckstead have a tradition of taking all their grandkids out for their 8th birthday for them to pick out their own scriptures and tote. Morgan loves that it has her name on it!

(she asked me to take this picture... So funny. It looks like she is cross referencing between the Bible and Book of Mormon!)

There is something so comforting as a parent to know that Morgan now has the companionship of the Holy Ghost. What a great day!