Only in the Dyer Family. . .

Only in the Dyer family can 12 grand kids be happy for hours on end in chilly Tahoe.
(Look at that skyline.)


Only in the Dyer family can you take a hike to the highest point in Tahoe (yes, you can see 4 other lakes and amazing distances) and expect to have a picnic of tasty breads, and assortment of artisan cheeses, with toppings of aged balsamic vinegars and oils. And for dessert milk and dark chocolate from Trader Joes. My mouth is watering just listing what we ate.

Only in the Dyer family do you attempt the impossible such as surfing in a lake.
Actually, this is Wiley doing some paddle boarding, (new hobby of A-list stars) which we all loved.

Only in the Dyer family can you be peer-pressured into swimming out to the distant buoys and pose for pictures. (I'm not sure you all understand how cold Tahoe can be.)

Only in the Dyer family can you find oodles and oodles of cute girls in bathing suits or birthday suits. (only 5 of the 12 grand kids are boys)


Only in Tahoe can you get this amazing background at sunset!

Looking Back



Today is our ten year anniversary. It's been a fabulous ten years, with some interesting twists and turns in the path and I'm sure the next ten years will be the same.




When I look back at these pictures I giggle a little because we look so young. I wonder if our families thought the same thing? Strangely enough I felt old at the time.



The main thought is I don't think I fully realized when I said "yes" to Ben how great being married to him would be. It is easy now to look back and be grateful that the Lord helps you make such huge decisions such as who to marry because He sees happiness and potential in the future. Ben has made my life lovely, and my marriage easy. The last ten years have been fantastic.

Old Spice

I know, I know, you've all seen those funny commercials but did you know that
my ridiculously talented cousin was featured in the newspaper today for those Emmy winning commercials? No, he is not the NFL Hunk the commercial features, rather he is the creative genius behind the commercials.

Here is the link to see the various commercials:
http://www.oldspice.com/videos/

Here is the article in today's paper:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700059341/BYU-grad-becomes-commercial-success-promoting-what-a-man-smells-like.html

Here is the commercial that my cousin wrote for his wife Jill featuring the NFL Player:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdG7JyAgWuw&feature=player_embedded

Here is the BYU version of the commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs


Jason and Jill's blog is listed under "my cousins" in case you want to get more of their story.

Oh yeah, I thought I should mentioned that I have a number of talented and witty cousins. Anything from singer-song-writers (Merissa Wilson and Jessica Rose) to well known bloggers such as Cardigan Empire. Go ahead Google them.

Does their talent make me almost famous?

6 people in the family.

Trying to get all of us to look right in one picture is impossible. I am forever going to have to be okay with okay pictures. 6 is just too many to control.

Taken Hostage


Help! I've been taken hostage by my children.

Over the last month I've attended a dozen "puppy parties," pulled LEGOS from the vacuum abyss, tried paring mismatched socks for the kabillionth time, rescued Little Mermaid from the toilet (isn't she supposed to swim?), and explored the hidden (and forbidden) regions under my bed trying to find my earrings.

I've fished apple cores out of the couch, washed spit-up out of my hair, and scrubbed yellow-popcorn poop (you know the kind I mean) out of every t-shirt I own. I've leased out my body parts to a suckling baby, slain hundreds of creepy-crawlies, and dried buckets and buckets of tears (not just my own).

Worst of all, I haven't had eight hours of sleep in a month.

Seriously, school cannot start soon enough. Until then, I'm sending smoke rings from my own backyard, tapping Morse code with a Polly Pocket, and fashioning S.O.S. signs out of playdough.

P.S. Here is a picture of my tormentors.

Family of 6:
6 Weeks and Counting

I'm finally getting my head out of the fog that comes with newborns. I'm getting more sleep and learning to handle so many kids. By sleep I mean anywhere, nearly anytime of the day, I can fall asleep. I've learned to sleep while nursing and sitting and eating and practically standing. By handling my kids I mean that I've had to let go. Their jobs are down to a minimum, I don't even bother to make them get dressed if we aren't leaving the house. The only job that still happens around here is taking the trash out because the mountain of diapers grows at a steady rate. You can guess what my house smells like right? Yeah, you don't want to come over.

So anywho, in an effort to actually leave the stinky-ness and the block out the craziness of the 6 people living in a tiny house, we all went and spent some time on an even smaller boat. We managed to take a trip to the lake as a farewell to family who are moving. We've been lucky enough to have my younger brother, his wife and child, and my younger sister live nearby. Alas, everyone seems to be moving and to the desert of all places. We coaxed them all to Utah Lake for a miniature family reunion and some wetness.


I'm always behind the camera trying to document the "Welch lives" and for once I ended up on the other side of the camera. I am so delighted to actually have proof that I exist for the family history books that I don't even care that I'm soggy. Wet is not my best look, but I'm happy. I want my kids to remember that I can make more than a scowl on my face.

The best quote of the day was when water-logged Keri was "trying" to get up on the wake board. Rosie was getting impatient with her and yelled out to her in the water, "Keri, why are you not holding on?"

The following are some of my favorite people in the whole world. We will miss you.

Enjoying Summer

We are enjoying summer the best we can and trying to forget the rough days. Lately, we've had a few hard days, some of which we blame on the pollen. Wiley is highly allergic to certain pollens, (we discovered this two years ago while in Germany, one scary afternoon).

Although it is hard to tell from the picture the whites of Wiley's eyes are swollen like marshmallows up and around his irises (click on the picture to see it better). When I look at these pictures I don't know if I should laugh or cry. He looks miserable but really he is loving life. On these days his medicine basically knocks him out and he spends hours on the couch napping, reading books, and napping. Sweet life.

Betcha didn't know

In September 2006, the Department of Transportation (in this state) converted the existing carpool lanes to Express Lanes.

So in this state the "carpool lane" is actually called the HOV/Toll or the Express Lane.

HOV stand for High Occupancy Vehicle or any car with two or more people.
Toll means anyone who has paid money and has a sticker on their car, including people with only one person in it, it costs $50 a month.

The lane is also available to buses, emergency vehicles and motorcycles and interestingly enough to any clean-fuel vehicles with a current "C" Plate from the DMV are eligible to use the Express Lanes free of charge.

Notice the signs next time you are cruising down the freeway.

p.s. a mom in a minivan full of kids is indeed entitled to the Express Lane.

Two Weeks

I am here and surviving, but just barely. I have had so much help from my mom, mother-in-law and a hubby who is doing his best to shelter me from having to deal with all 4 kids at once. (When I say "having to deal" it makes it sound like having 4 kids is miserable, which it is not. But I'm not great at the juggling thing yet or whose request to fulfill first). I'm wondering how anyone survives 4 kids without the help of family around, I've been so lucky.

I can't help but feel like I have twins. Those of you with twins might feel differently, but I have two babies. One that cries when she wants to eat and one that cries when she wants to eat and can walk. I just feed them differently. My worst nightmare is when they both want to eat at the same time. . . oh thank goodness for help.

I've had two surreal moments. I was driving back from the airport with my four kids in the car. I looked in my rear view mirror (checking out my kids all in car seats) as I changed lanes into the carpool lane with this huge grin on my face thinking "I so deserve this lane".

The second surreal moment came during our first family home evening with all four kids. A moment of true craziness, satisfaction, and joy. Ben and I kept looking at each other like, "wow, did we do this?"



Welch family- day one of six person family



Wiley James - day 2,980



Rosa Lynn - day 1,845



Eva Sophia - day 425



Hazel May - day 3

Welcome Hazel May

Sharalee woke at about 4:55 a.m. to use the bathroom. When she got back in bed, she glanced at the clock and thought, mournfully, that Dr. Ford (pseudonym) -- her OBGYN on whom she has a self-proclaimed "man-crush" -- was a few minutes from concluding his weekend shift. Then, suddenly, she heard an audible "pop." Gush.

"Ben!"

"Mmmmphf." [Translation: "It's your turn to give Eva a bottle."]

"Ben, my water just broke."

"Mmmmphf?" [Translation: "Are you sure?"]

At this point, I went back to sleep, but methinks I heard sounds of a shower running followed by a hair dryer. I know, I know -- I'm probably crazy, right? What sane person, whose water had just broke, would shower, shampoo, and then blow-dry her hair prior to going to the hospital? (I'm not saying this happened -- I'm just saying what I heard.) Also, when we finally got to the car, I may or may not have seen Sharalee wearing eye shadow and lip gloss. Then again, it was early.

At approximately 6:00 a.m., Sharalee observed that her contractions were coming at two-minute intervals. At this point, she thought it advisable that we get to the hospital. We called my mother, who responded promptly, and left for the hospital. Not surprisingly, Sharalee was starting to panic. Not the panic of woman about to give birth to her fourth child and third daughter -- consider the wedding costs, especially in this down economy. (Those were the panicked thoughts of the father.) No, Sharalee was experiencing the panic of a woman who, having procrastinated our departure to the hospital in favor of blow-drying, may have advanced past the point of no return -- the point when you can no longer get an epidural.

And she was almost right. When we arrived, the nurse took one glance at Sharalee's face and decided we could skip triage and go straight to Labor & Delivery. The nurse also had the wherewithal to grab the anesthetist before he went to ply his wares with a non-emergency C-section down the hall. Thank goodness. A few contractions later, she was slowly descending into Numbville, population 1, when the door opened.

"Dr. Ford!" Sharalee exclaimed.

You remember that scene in the old BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice" when Mr. Darcy takes a dip in the pond before heading back to Pemberley only to find Elizabeth Bennett there? Well, picture the look on Elizabeth's face and you will approximate Sharalee's expression. (Turns out Dr. Ford didn't get off until 7:00 a.m. -- it was now 6:55.) Dr. Ford entered and gave a reassuring smile, sort of like Han Solo in the Mos Eisley cantina, you know, the "ya-but-who's-going-to-fly-it-kid" sort of expression, and sat down. He surveyed the territory, commanded the nurse and I to hitch up one leg each (Sharalee's, not ours), one push, half-a-push, and suddenly he was holding our baby.

Frankly, at that point, I could have kissed the doctor on the mouth. (I was still reeling from memories of our last delivery experience, which was like a two-hour tug-a-war with Sharalee's uterus, a.k.a. Tito Ortiz.) A few minutes later, we were alone in the room with Hazel May, the three of us staring at each other and glancing at the clock, not to mention the snow falling outside (in May!), like "what just happened?"

The rest, well, is pretty much like everyone else's experience. Here's the vitals:

Weight: 7 pounds, 14 ounces
Length: 19 and 1/2 inches
Birth time: 7:00 a.m.

And here's the pictures:



More to come later.