Ockey Family in Town

Dad and his brothers

Jim and Naimah decided to travel to the US to see Grandpa Ockey. Dax was two years old the last time Dad's brother came to Utah, so it was a rare occurence. When they announced their visit, Gary said he'd come from Iowa to be here, too. That meant that all of Dad's family would be in Utah together for the first time since Mom and Dad's wedding. Craziest of all, both brothers would be staying with us. That meant late nights and early mornings as we laughed and debated together.

We had a great time hanging out with family. We hiked the Living Room and visited the UVU Roots of Knowledge stained glass exhibit. We walked through the Saratoga Springs Temple for the open house. We even watched a Bees' game, during which a 529 foot homerun was hit, which was the longest this year at any pro level. Gary and Shelly liked sports events, so we played some disc golf at our park. We even went and hit some baseballs at the park together. And we celebrated Jim's birthday!

We love taking people to see our new temple.

Another brother picture

The living room hike--the most loved and hated hike in Utah!

We were definitely worn out at the top.

Shelly came with us while Gary had to work.

The boys enjoyed spending tine with Jim. Naimah walked through the NHMU.

The end of the Living Room hike is so fun.

We celebrated Jim's birthday!

Grandpa came to the baseball game with us!

The baseball game was fun.

There was a lot of guitar playing and singing.

And even a little karaoke.

We had a great time at Roots of Knowledge.

And we played a lot of games!

Jim was a good sport and played with the boys a lot!

We also went on a walk to show Jim our favorite pond.

We were in Yellowstone for Seth's birthday, but they still surprised him with a gift when we returned.

The main event was a family get together at the park. We had our old friend Erin Pritchett take some pictures. There were quite a few extended family, along with the all of Dad's family. After taking photos at the amphitheater at the temple, we traveled down to the park for a picnic. We had a good time talking and laughing together. 

It was really fun to be together for a week. Dad is still catching up on sleep, but it was worth it!

The whole gang that was in town

Grandpa Ockey and his sons

All the siblings

Siblings and spouses

Nice glasses Mark!

Family pic with Grandpa

Erin was kind enough to take some family pics, too.

We sort of recreated our picture from last time.

Oh Dax!

Mark looking grown up as usual.

Everyone was pretty good for the pictures.

Seth has a great smile!

Dax did smile nicely for this last one!

Mayhem Again!

May is always a crazy busy month, and this year was no different. Here are some fun highlights from May 2023!

Mom finally got to go to Camp Floyd on a field trip. Dad goes every year with his class, and since this was her last chance, Dad was nice enough to let her be a chaperone. She had a ton of fun watching Seth at all of the stations.

Mom loves spending time with her boys.

Seth was very obedient at the soldier station.

Seth was pretty messy after making bricks.

Seth played tennis for two months and he and his partner took 1st place in their tournament. It was so fun to watch him enjoy the sport that Dad loves so much.

Seth and Gabe made a great team.

We went to a Bees game, and some of our good friends were there, too. We sat together and had fun, especially Seth and Blake.

Baseball games are so fun!

These two were destined to be friends.

They got to run the bases the night we were there.

Dad had to prove he could still do an airplane with Mark.

There was so much rain this month that we enjoyed a lot of rainbows.

Mom's friend captured the same picture but at the temple.

Mom found a chrysalis in the garden when she was weeding. The boys decided to keep it and hatch it. Just when we thought it wasn't going to make it, a moth hatched. We were excited to release it.

Went to see The Johnson Files.

Mom and Dad survived another 14 hour day as stake leaders at the temple

Seth did great in his dance at the dance festival!

So many rained out games this May!

More rainbows!

Grandma and Grandpa came to watch a game, but it got rained out. So we had ice cream instead!

Back in the car because of rain and lightning.

Mark spent time in the tower with his friends during rainout games as an umpire.

Mom, Dax, and Mark volunteered as ushers on a day when they needed lots of help.

Seth and his good friend at Highland.

Raining at Mark's game, so we built a cover to keep us somewhat dry.

Mark and Dax went with the youth to the temple.

The week after school was out we squeezed in a day of adventure. We went and toured Kennecott Copper Mine, and stopped at two different parks. It was fun to do a little work while we played.

This tire is huge!

Everything is enormous at the mine.

We were there for a dynamit blast. It was very underwhelming.

This park was small, but fun!

Dad can balance while on the phone!

We stopped at another park that had ziplines.

This spinning toy had 5 seats and we all got on!

Seth played at the splash pad, so he was barefoot.