Air Supply Concert

Dad saw that Air Supply was coming to Salt Lake City, and he has been a fan for a long time. (His fourth grade notebook had a big Air Supply banner on the inside cover!) So Dad did what anyone would do. He bought two tickets and gave them to Mom for their anniversary so they could go together. We had such a great time, even though the two men on the stage easily qualify for Social Security.

This was our first time in the Eccles Center in Salt Lake.

We celebrated with an anniversary selfie.

It seemed a few songs were played in a lower key so he could hit those high notes!

We rocked and clapped and sang and stood for almost the entire show.

The performers walked right up the aisles!

Dad had a great time at Mom's anniversary present!

Exciting News for Dax

For those of you who have followed along for awhile, you know that Dax hasn't lost any teeth on his own. This is a problem since he'll be 10 years old in about 6 months. About 2 months ago, he had two teeth pulled out by the dentist. Those were the first two teeth to go and we weren't sure Dax would ever lose any teeth on his own.

Toward the end of November Dax's top two teeth started to get really wiggly. He was determined to have them out. So one night he wiggled and wiggled, and they were hanging on by a thread. Seth was grossed out and refused to be in the same room as Dax. Finally, after many hours, Dax pulled not one, but two teeth out. Apparently he can only lose teeth in pairs. We are glad he lost these two on his own!

Seth was grossed out by Dax's hanging tooth!

Dax has three missing teeth right now. Only one has grown in on the bottom!

Dax has won the Turkey Trot three years in a row, and he was very worried about holding that title for the 4th year, especially since 3rd graders run all the way around the field instead of just down the length of the field. Dax ran his heart out and he took 3rd place. But the best part was that he was such a great sport. He congratulated the other two boys and he took it all with a great attitude. 

Dax was very fast around the track!

The three winners. The other two boys came in 2nd and 3rd last year!
Also, do you see Seth peeking in this picture?

Dax was chosen for the student of the month for 3rd grade in December. He earned a balloon, a treat, and a certificate. We were so proud of him because the letter his teacher wrote to recommend him said such wonderful things. This is what she wrote, "Dax is consistently helping others and his teacher. He shows kindness to his classmates by offering to help them if they are stuck on classwork. If I need help from a student, Dax is always offering to help me. He has a smile on his face all the time. I have never heard Dax say an unkind word to anyone. Dax makes coming to school each day worthwhile." We couldn't agree more. We love Dax so much!

Dax with his student of the month award!

Dax is becoming an amazing young man!

Seth Basketball

Seth had a great basketball season this year, and since it was in November and December, it didn't overlap with Mark and Dax's January/February league. It was Seth's first year, but he is way ahead of his peers when it comes to dribbling, shooting, and defending. Seth was a great passer, too, and helped all the kids on his team to score one game. This required passing to one little boy and girl about a dozen times as they kept throwing it almost high enough to score.

Seth has a great shot!

Seth was an awesome defender, too!

Mark and Dax loved when Seth blocked shots, which he was able to do quite often. 

Seth got to play with Graham, a friend from our neighborhood, and they worked well together. Seth usually brought the ball up the court, and he was a monster at rebounding. He'd only get frustrated when the other kids would come stand right in front of him to receive a pass. Most of the kids this age can't catch the ball anyway!

Seth was quick so he could dribble down and score before anyone caught up! 

He had a fan club for one of his games!

Dad was Seth's coach this year, so he got to run practices and teach the kids which way to run when Seth's team was on defense or offense. He also had to yell "Pass the ball!" as kids travelled around the court trying to get past their defender. It was so much fun, though. Seth was the leading score on his team with around 12-16 points per game. His team went undefeated, too!

Dad is the best coach and the kids loved this game he played of keep away!

Seth's team 2018!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving seemed extended this year. After seeing all of Mom's family in Las Vegas, we had a few days of school before heading up to Grandma's house. On both of those days we had cousins come and stay at our house. We even had all six of the Webbs and all six of the Pooles spend a night. Our house was really crowded with a dozen extra people in it! We made the most of it, though, and took all the cousins to Luminaria for Aunt Tiff's birthday. We spent the whole night looking at lights, sipping hot chocolate, and listening to stories about the Savior in the Light of the World Garden.

We have loved spending all this time with cousins. 

Mom with her two next in line sisters. 

Ockey, Webb, and Poole kids.

The kids loved hearing Dad tell all the stories about Jesus. 

We love Luminaria!

On Wednesday we made the drive up to Blackfoot to Grandma's house. All of the cousins, aunts and uncles, and Grandma and Grandpa would be there again. The kids played a lot of foosball and watched movies while the adults talked and told stories. Grandpa even took us to the photo studio so we could take a family picture because everyone was around.

Grandma had fun activities for the kids.

Everyone loves staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house. 

These are the cute Oreo turkeys that the kids made.

Seth really wanted to help Grandma in the kitchen.

She let him make a pie.

This is the finished apple pie. He wouldn't eat it, but Mom thought it was delicious!

Sisters! Brittany is missing from this pic. 

All the cousins for Thanksgiving!

We are grateful for Grandma and Grandpa!

Our traditional Thanksgiving family portrait was a little trickier to take this year since there was a table in the way,
but we made it work! 

Dad is always good to help with projects around the house.
He fixed the front door knob that has been broken for a very long time. 

Best of all, it was a really calm Thanksgiving. No one get upset and the kids got along splendidly (mostly). On Thanksgiving Day, Bob smoked a turkey and it was the most delicious bird we'd ever eaten. Mom and Dad did a lot of dishes, and the boys played with cousins for three straight days. It was especially fun because the four cousin families now live in four different states (Utah, Nevada, California, and Idaho).

Mark and Daniel waiting for pictures. 

Everyone was hanging out with Uncle Jason.

Dad is good to all the little cousins. They love him!

All the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa. We snuck this picture from the side! 

Here we are all dressed up and ready for pictures! 

Mom and Dad take many more pictures together now.

Mom and her sisters had a good Thanksgiving!

On Friday we came home because we needed to cut a Christmas tree with Dad's family on Saturday. We drove to Ephraim in snowy, terrible conditions. Along with three cars spun off the road, Mom spotted two foxes right off the I-15 by Mona. Because of the weather it was impossible to pull over for a picture. Along the way, we told all the stories of memorable Christmas Tree adventures, not knowing we were creating one that day.

We texted this picture to everyone to be careful because they were all behind us on the road.  It was slick and scary.

The trip up Ephraim Canyon was much worse. The van couldn't make it past the big turn, and several trucks got stuck behind us. It was glassy slick and we pushed several cars out while the boys worried in the van. Luckily, we were able to get off the mountain safely, but we didn't even cut a Christmas tree or take any pictures! Instead Glen chained up his truck and cut one for us. We got our usual trees, and one that Nate chose was tall and fit perfectly in our house. The other was so comically curved that it looked like it was a long bow missing it's string. The boys declared it "the Charlie Brown tree," so we lopped off the top and put it in the basement. It is almost exactly as tall as Dax, and the boys have fallen in love with it. Best of all, now they will remember "the year we didn't cut a Christmas tree."

The canyon road was worse, but we made it out okay. I forgot to take any pictures because I was so worried about everyone being okay.

The boys were nervous up on the mountain when everyone kept sliding.

Roy's Pizza made everything better.

Who thought this tree would be okay? 

We love our Charlie Brown Tree! 

We are just grateful to have a Christmas tree this year!

Ben's Baby Blessing

We had a great time playing in St. George for a few hours before heading to Vegas.

The week before Thanksgiving we decided to drive down to Las Vegas for Ben's Blessing day. It was kind of exciting because everyone in the family was there. We drove down to St. George on Saturday where we met the Ferlans and Brittany for dinner at Roy's Pizza. We also spent some time hiking around Pioneer Park, which included a trip to the Crack. Unfortunately, Dad couldn't make it through.  We had fun climbing, hiking, and taking pictures with the cousins, though.

Dax and Seth were super excited to check out the crack after Mark told them about it!

Mom squeezed part way through. She decided she had done it once and didn't need to go again!

I love this picture of Randy taking pictures of us!

The boys went all the way up and back down again! 

Pioneer Park has lots of fun places to climb and play. 

Our boys love climbing! 

All the cousins climbed up to be with Mark!

It was fun to spend time with my two littlest sisters.

Randy really wanted a specific picture, and I could not seem to get it right. Hence the shiny crotch picture here! Ha ha!

But I finally caught the vision.  

There are beautiful views of St. George from Pioneer Park.

Cousin time is the best time!

Seth loves jumping pictures right now.

Dax climbs into every hole.

Mark wasn't feeling well, but the rest of us were pumped for pizza!!

We didn't get to Las Vegas until after 8 o'clock. The cousins all stayed up until 10:30 playing and strewing toys everywhere. All of Mom's sisters and Grandma and Grandpa were there. We even had all the husbands.

We stayed at the Poole's house and woke up in plenty of time for Church. The kids had fun playing, and the blessing was really nice. Mark was a little surprised to be asked to help pass the Sacrament in their tiny Ward, but he happily accepted.

We had so much fun holding sweet little Benjamin.

Mark was especially good about taking care of his youngest cousin.

Seth loves babies and always asks Mom to have another one because he hates being the youngest. 

Audrey loved hanging out with Uncle Randy this time around.

Mom loves snuggling the little babies.

Ben smiled at Mark all the time!

Brittany with Mark (photo bomb by Seth)

After Church we had lunch and then said goodbye to the Pooles. Then we raced the Ferlans and Webbs up the freeway because everyone was staying out our house Sunday night. It was really crowded, but we all just fit. Mom even let the boys stay home from school to play with all those cousins. It was a really fun weekend!

The Daniels Family! We haven't been all together for a long time.  

Mom loves taking family photos!

We played a family baseball game with the Webbs and the Ferlans. It was so much fun!