West Point

Every 4th of July & Labor Day -- they do an outdoor concert and have fireworks at the West Point Military Academy and they shoot off the cannons.  You can feel the ground shake when the cannons go off.

Kaya holding the chains they strung across the Hudson River to keep British ships out.

Analise on one of  the old school cannons.

The girls partying it up.  West Point was named 1 of the top 5 most beautiful campuses in the country.  I agree. 

The cadets put on a concert, and they were accompanied by Phil Stacey from American Idol.

My date with a living legend

I got the chance to see Joe Paterno and Penn State play against Temple. It was a really cool experience:  Pre-game tailgate. 2nd row tix right behind the bench where you can watch the coaches cuss out the players. Post-game tailgate.  Oh, and a 3.5 hour drive each way.  Thanks to Angela for letting me go.  I've been begging her to let me go since we got to New Jersey.
I think from here on out -- if I go to a college football game, I want 2 tailgates worth of bbq or I'm going to feel ripped off.  But I can do without the 7 hours of driving.

That guy on the side is not peeing in the corner.... I'm pretty sure...

Stadium seats 110,000.  University Park only has 10,000 residents.

This is where our seats were.  I learned some new expletives from the D-line coaches.

Happy Halloween from Rapunzel and the 3 Witches

While the rest of the Christian world celebrates Christmas -- we would like to take time to pay homage to Halloween.  (We're always 2-3 months behind.  Expect Christmas pix sometime in March).  Analise wanted to be Rapunzel, Kaya wanted to be the witch that locked her in the tower.  And Mom thought the witch could use some help.

Rapunzel in her tower.

Alivia made a very sweet little witch.

Kaya was the happiest witch I've ever seen.

I never thought I'd be so happy to be married to a witch.

Not our baby -- but so cute we had to include it.

Did I mention she was quite a happy lil' witch?

The Dad Life

That's how I roll.

I knew it was going to be good right when they made fun of the free sunglasses I always wear.

SWAGGER WAGON Official Toyota Music Video HD

Now I know why Angela insisted on getting the Sienna a couple years ago.

I like the Toyota more now because of the acceleration/braking issues they had.  This makes it funner to drive with the ward youth.  You ask them if they'd heard about Toyota's, and then you yell "I can't stop it!!!" as you stomp the accelerator.  It's funny every time -- even when they know it's coming.  Because in the back of their mind, they're still thinking 'maybe he's serious this time!'

I saw a t-shirt I wanted to get after their incident making fun of their "moving forward" slogan.  It said:
Toyota -- I can't stop moving forward!  

Or click here to see another funny Toyota t-shirt.

Random Summer Fun

Before we began out exodus to Utah & Texas for 2 months of the summer -- we had a little last minute fun in NYC & northern Jersey.

4th of July fireworks @ West Point Military Academy

Analise & her girl scout troop in the Pequannock Parade

Should we be worried already?  
Kaya putting the moves on her 3 year old buddy Jackson

Angela's German friends (Denise & Alex) came to visit & see NYC

(picture here at Central Park before we bumped into Heather Corrigan & her husband from OHS - small world)

Rick Swensen came to NYC for a conference, and so we got to meet him and catch a game at Yankees Stadium together.
[Rick still has some skills w/ the ladies, because after that one night hanging out w/ Rick, Analise asked if he could come visit in Utah, and call her on her birthday).

"RedBeard" the pirate

For half of this summer, I've been living in Lubbock, TX working on my dissertation. In order to fully get into the spirit of writing, and in order to officially become a professor -- you have to have a beard. Everyone knows that, right?
Well, between being a missionary, attending the BYZoo, and being married to Angela, I have been required to shave every day. So when I was away for a couple weeks in Lubbock, I just wanted to see what those red hairs could do if they were given some room to grow. The results:

Most common question:  "Do you dye your beard?"  My response:  "Is that even possible?"

My question:  What genetic change happens at the top of my ear, that doesn't affect the back of my head?

My attempt at a goatee

My attempt to get on "How to catch a predator"

So I have to say, I LOVE THE RED BEARD!  I wanted to keep it forever.  Or at least for a year.  But Angela informed me that if the beard stayed, she wouldn't.  So I think I made the right choice.
[Editors note:  I think her actual words were, "you can keep it, but no more kisses if you do."

Germany Leipzig Mission Reunion - 10 years later

Angela had a reunion w/ her East German Mission (that no longer exists). It was a lot of fun to see old companions and friends and see how they're doing a decade later.  We had some friends from Germany visit us this summer, so it has been a fun summer for Angela to remember her times in Germany.
(Editors note:  I would not have lasted 2 years on a mission to East Germany, so I was sent to a tropical island with a fun-loving people in the Philippines.  German missionaries really get a lot of respect from me.)

"Sister Esplin" and President & Sister Moss

Germany Leipzig Mission:  10 yrs & lots of kids later

The companions that wrote the Mission President saying "don't transfer us, we're good". (Sister Peo)

The trainer (Sister Nelson)

Sister Webb

Sister Jensen

Aside from the spiritual experiences, learning, cultural experiences, and development that come w/ serving a mission -- my opinion is that it's one of the best marriage preparation experiences you can have. 
I remember when I was dating Angela that I was impressed that Angela liked EVERY companion she had and it seems like they liked her too.  So I had a guess that she'd be a pretty easy person to live with, and if I could go back in time, I'd just tell younger stupider me, that "you have no idea what you've got here... you better lock her up."  [As in, put a ring on her finger ASAP, not as in other forms of locking women up].

Bear Lake

The Carlson's invited us to join them in Bear Lake for a family vacation. It was probably the highlight of the summer for the girls. Swimming all day long, hunting for seashells, playing w/ cousins. They didn't like the raspberry shakes Bear Lake is famous for, and I felt what it was like to be disappointed with your children. How dare they?!!

Adorable Alivia

Cute cousins

Blowing bubbles w/ cousins

I think I dreamed of being on the beach w/ this girl when I was single.  Where's the white horse?

8th Anniversary

I try hard to to make anniversaries, birthdays, and Mothers Day special, but Angela always seems to outdo me by far.  For our 8th Anniversary, she asked her Mom to babysit the girls for 2 nights so we could go to the Esplin Cabin (where we went for our honeymoon) high in the mountains of Park City, UT.  2 NIGHTS!  We have only had 1 night away from the children since Analise was born, so having 2 days and nights together was pretty unbelievable.  We wouldn't trade the girls for anything, but it was nice to get away from the daily tasks of parenthood and remember that we actually started this family because we like each other!

Deer in the mntns

View from the cabin

Don't worry...t's Welch's Sparkling Cider

We watched our wedding video, went shopping in Park City & made Angela buy stuff for herself instead of just for the girls.  We watched a movie together at the theater for the 2nd time in 6 years and ate @ Cafe Rio (Angela's favorite).  Definitely the best anniversary ever.  Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for babysitting!

Swimming @ "Jackson's Lake"

Our friends, the Wittwer's, live in a beach house with a private lake. Analise, Kaya, and their friend Jackson are enjoying themselves. New Jersey is really a very beautiful place (aside from Newark).
You can tell that Kaya has a very low threshold for danger. Analise loves to doggy paddle around the lake for hours. Kaya can be out there for hours also, as long as she can hold on to someone at all times.

baby Alivia

If you're the 3rd baby girl... your training starts very early.

And we are not always white trash -- just sometimes.  We do usually dress our baby.

Mr. Mom

UPDATE:  Now we have video evidence that Mom did in fact come home.  And there was crying.  Two times.


Angela went to girls camp for the last 5 days, leaving the 4 of us kids here unsupervised.

Some observations and experiences from the past week without a Mommy, in no particular order:
1. Analise wanted to wear the same shirt everyday. I didn't really see why she couldn't.
2. Meals for the baby included oatmeal, milk, graham crackers, and a few jars of baby food. Not too bad until you eat it for about 4-5 meals a day. I just didn't know what else to feed her.
3. Observant Mom yesterday @ park: "Are your daughters pants on backwards?" ummm, yes.
4. Meals for the big sisters rotated between their choice of PB&J sandwiches, mac & cheese, hot dogs, and bowls of cereal. Oh, and McDonald's.
5. When Mom left on Monday, it wasn't until Wednesday night at church that anything besides sleep happened to the girls hair. I wish I had taken a picture before the nice ladies at church helped fix this. Because Kaya's hair was looking pretty awesome. Kind of like that girl on American Idol this last season.
6. At end of each day, I'd think, "I can't believe Angela does this EVERY day."
7. At end of Day 4, I was thinking "I'm not cleaning anything. I don't care. It's so impossible to keep anything clean that I'm not even going to try anymore." Yes, it looks like a bomb went off. In every room in our house. Except the kitchen, because I've mainly been using paper plates.
8. When the girls ask for ice cream, it's hard to say no. Because I'd kind of like some too. The girls have picked up on this and exploited it consistently.
9. We've done a full summers worth of activities in this 5 days, because the inmates are much easier to watch when they're at Chuck E Cheez, the park, swimming, jumping @ inflatable playland, riding bikes, going to a baseball game, etc.
10. The struggles to get them to go to sleep are minimized when you don't put them to sleep until a few hours after bedtime.

We are all so excited that Mommy is coming home today. She might not recognize her house or her kids, but all in all, I kept them alive and she got her first 5 day break from parenting in the last 6 years. I just hope the break wasn't so good that she decides to just stay at girls camp-- indefinitely

Angela dancing at the Ward Talent Show

Angela is the tall georgemous blonde in the blue robe on the far right side.
I think the funniest part is where she starts stretching out & running in place to get her blood pumping, and the 2nd funniest part is when she can't get the blue robe off for the dance.

And just for the record, I think "9 to 5" would be a breeze for the woman we refer to affectionately in our house as the "MomV.P." She's by far the Most Valuable Person in our house, and tends to have the most pleasant personality to boot.

Kaya Mae dancing @ the Ward talent show

WARNING:
Watching Kaya Mae in this video will make you baby hungry. If you feel like you already have too many kids in your household, please, we ask that you refrain from watching this video. If you wish, we can post a multitude of the crying, fighting, and tantrum videos so that you can make big decisions with a clearer head and a more balanced perspective of what it is actually like to be a parent.
Sincerely,
the Management

Note 1: Kaya is the tall blondie in the green swimsuit. She loves to dance, but ballet seems to be her preference. She also loves the spotlight as you can tell @ the end when she decides to go back for just one more bow.
Note 2: Angela choreographed this cute little dance, and for only having 2 practices, I thought it went quite well. And the beach balls were my idea. (I stole the idea from an OHS class of '93 election dance my sister Annika was in).

Best. Birthday. Ever.

There have been approximately 31 of these to compare... but I have to say that this was the best birthday ever. (Disclaimer: I don't really remember the first 8 or 10 and 3 of them were on my mission which was fun in its own right but just not comparable). (2nd disclaimer: When I told Angela that this was the best birthday ever, she told me that I say that every year, which may or may not be true).

Angela imported my gift (in yellow box) from Europe. I've never had a gift imported from Europe before, and this one was definitely worth the wait.

Background on why the gift is so cool: We had done a little family history work in Young Men's/Young Women's so that all the youth could take their own family names to the Manhattan Temple. I came across my Great Great Grandpa Samuel Dean and his father John Dean who lived in Burnley, Lancashire, England and then immigrated to Utah. Well, she bought me a soccer jersey from the Burnley soccer club in England so I could sport some family pride. And she got it for 10 pounds (which is about 1/5 of what jerseys usually cost -- so the cheapskate in me was happy too). See the jersey here.
And we went to 2 baseball games. At the Mets game, the girls got to run the bases on the actual field after the game which was REALLY COOL. Except for one thing... they forgot to touch home plate. And I had told them not to come back without getting dirty, but they didn't listen.
When we went to the Yankees baseball game, out of the stadium with tens of thousands of people, they zoomed in on the cutest one -- sweet baby Alivia was on the jumbotron in the 1st inning. She was a rock star. Analise & Kaya thought that was pretty incredible, and worked their hearts out to try and see her on the jumbotron again, or get on there themselves, but to no avail. We heard from several friends who were at the game afterwards that they saw Alivia on the jumbotron. Pretty cool. (Disclaimer: My favorite baseball team is whoever is playing against the Yankees, but they gave free hats out that night -- so don't judge me for wearing a Yankees hat.)
The biggest highlight of the day was Alivia standing up on her own for the first time, and then following that up by doing it about 150 more times that day w/ the proudest look on her face! It was so fun to watch her, and all the girls (including Mom) screaming their hearts out. [Video coming later]. And she brushed her teeth for the first time too.

Other birthday highlights: Angela surprised me by cleaning up our junk room while I was at work. She made blueberry muffins for breakfast, and she made one of my favorite dinners (lemon curry chicken w/ broccoli) and she even made Butterfinger ice cream cake.

Camping in the backyard

For Spring Break, the girls kept begging to go camping, but it was going to rain, so we threw up the tent in the backyard and me & Analise & Kaya had a fun campout in the backyard. It's been about 2 years since I can remember them wanting to go to bed before 8 pm, but if there is a tent & sleeping bags involved, apparently bed time becomes much more attractive. We cooked some S'mores in the oven, and it was quite a lot of fun. Analise wanted to use the flashlight to read a bedtime story (Hop on Pop) to Kaya.

Hoppy Easter

I remember telling Angela that this seemed to be the best Easter ever. It was so fun watching the girls sing Easter songs in Sacrament meeting. I could have watched for hours as they colored the easter eggs, and they had 7 Easter egg hunts... which they seemed to enjoy the last as much as the first.

I don't know how to explain it, it just seems like having the little girls around makes every big holiday so much more enjoyable and satisfying than ever before. I think when they get older, some of the luster will probably disappear from the holiday celebrations -- but right now, they're at the perfect age and it makes holidays a ton of fun.

NIGHT SLEDDING!!!

In February -- the local park put up a flood light so everyone could sled 'round the clock.

Whoever in the city council decided to do this... GENIUS! Tax money well spent if you ask me.

This reminded me of when we were in high school and we named our sleds. Mine was the appropriately named the 'Super Whomper', Mark's was the "Batmobile" and I also had a backup sled that I named "Jaws" and painted shark teeth on the front. Any suggestions on what names or designs we should give to the current disc sleds?

Happy Valentine's Day

Analise and Kaya really enjoyed Valentine's Day. They made plenty of cards and hearts, Kaya did some dancing while watching Figure Skating, and Alivia cuddled up between coughs, cries, and runny nose wipes.

The highlight of our weekend was going 'night sledding' last night. They put up a big floodlight at the park by our house, and Analise tried just about every sled, and every sled partner while shredding it up on the sled hill. I had to make her go home at 9:00 pm. I'd say "one more run" and she'd respond, "No, 10 more runs."

Kaya won the award for best crash, flying full speed and out of control into a bail of hay that was there to prevent kids and adults from flying into the parking lot -- and she didn't even cry. She's one tough cookie. It's not uncommon at our house to hear "Kaya, stop picking on your big sister!"

In full disclosure, I have to admit that these are the girls' Christmas dresses. Knowing us, we won't download any Valentine's pix for another month or two.

Don't mess with a missionary man.

My little brother Devan went into the Missionary Training Center in Provo in January. He has been called to serve in Chile, and we're quite proud of him. We had fun hanging out with him, playing basketball and ping-pong, going to a Jazz game, watching the BYU Vegas bowl, and having a few family parties before he left. He's emailed a few times from the MTC and seems to be doing well learning Spanish. It's fun having a missionary out in the field again.
4 "Elder Dean's": Dad -> Sweden, Devan -> Chile, Randy -> Canada, Luke -> Philippines

Christmas in Utah

We celebrated Angela's birthday in her favorite way -- spending it with her entire family in SLC. She has been asking for a new sewing machine for a while, and if you know how much she hates being cold, you'll know why she's so excited about the new coat.

The cousins doing the Christmas story @ Grandma/Grandpa Esplin's.
Making cookies with Grandma Esplin.
Christmas morning w/ Grandma Katie & Grandpa Lee.
Grandpa Lee took us sledding behind the snowmobile. Awesome!
We got to meet our newest cousin, baby Liron. He is really cute and really strong. He'll have to be with how much his little cousins love to maul babies.
Christmas morning in Annabella, UT & our Christmas pajamas.