January Fun

January was a little calmer month. Luckily, we got to spend time hanging around the house and relaxing, which isn't a very common occurrence for us. There wasn't much snow, so we even had some outside time.

Seth loves dressing up!

Ty, Savannah, and Bentley stayed with us for a whole week. And Bentley loved playing with the boys.

Not sure why we got ice cream, but we always love stopping at Handel's.

Mom and Dad went on a date down in Provo.

We even had an at-home learning snow day! It was exciting! 

Seth and Mom get to hang out lots together.

Seth and Mom went on a date to the train show.

We were amazed at the Lego train set.

Seth even got to make a tree for his own train display.

Mom and Dad love going to the Hale.

One Sunday morning the boys and Mom walked down to the edge of the lake to see if there were any ice stacks. There weren't, but we still had fun walking on the ice and exploring around the lake.

All of the plants were very frosted.

Seth found a long string of ice.

We walked on the ice just a little bit.

The pieces of ice were so pretty.

Dax took this fabulous picture.

Mom loves spending time with her boys.

Seth and Mom also went down to Dripping Rock.

And checked out a new park!

Ice Castles

We love the Ice Castles.

Every year we get to visit the Ice Castles for the blog! And every year we love seeing what they have created. 

This year, the castle was huge!

There were more tunnels than usual, too.

Mom and Dad shared the ice throne.

Seth enjoyed the slides the most.

The centerpiece was a pretty fountain.

While we walked around the Ice Castles, Mark was in St. George at a baseball camp. He rode down with his best friend and had a blast despite all of the hard work they put them through. We missed him a lot when he was gone!

Mark sent me pics every once in awhile as an update.

Mark and Will having a blast!

Mark and his buddies at the camp.

Bald Eagle Drive

We went for our annual bird drive! We love heading down to Sanpete County, Dad's old stompin' grounds. Mark drove for a good portion of the drive down to get some driving practice, so Mom got to ride in the back with the other boys. She had a great time back there.

Mom had fun riding in the very back.

We spotted a couple of pheasants running around Fountain Green.

We saw a lot of bald eagles. In fact, the most we have ever seen. There were bald eagles all over, but the best sighting was a Great Horned Owl. Mom magically spotted it on a side road, and we sat and watched him for a really long time.

The boys all took turns using the camera, and between the 5 of us, we got a lot of great pics of the birds.

Our drive always ends up at Roys Pizza! We had a great lunch and even got a family picture. It was a great day!

We spotted this eagle first and he peered right down at us.

Bald Eagles all over the electrical poles.

The owl is camoufloged so well. 

He slept the whole time.

In one spot we found 8 different eagles. 

Majestic!

Mark is taking after his mom with photos.

This is the pic he got.

We spotted these two on the way home.

We love Roy's.

This was the last bald eagle we spotted. Right by the road.

Las Vegas

We enjoyed our trip to Las Vegas a few years ago so much, that we decided to head to Tiff and Jon's house for a few days after Christmas. Our boys love to see their cousins, and Las Vegas isn't too bad in December. In fact, this year, it was downright cold, with temperatures in the 40's at times. That was okay, though, we didn't really leave the house anyway.

The boys enjoyed their listening devices, so they were good in the car.

Ben wanted to do one of his new puzzles, so we all worked on it together.

It was tougher than we thought, but we managed.

We love spending time with all our cousins!

One of the times we left our house was for a trip to the temple. Our boys, especially Dax, like to "collect" temples, by taking photos and doing baptisms. With the Pooles, we had a lot of boys and two Moms to baptize. It was really nice to spend time in the temple. The other time we got out was for the movie, Sing 2. Other than that, we just played, ate, and spent time together.

New Temple!

We left our Church clothes in Las Vegas, which was a bit of a problem.

We roasted marshmallows on Jonny's new firepit.

Mark enjoys some s'mores.

Ben and Randy got along.

December Fun

December is always our busiest month for the Utah's Adventure Family website. We get to do so many fun Christmas activities. Mom burned everyone out on Christmas lights this year, so she promised to be better next year. We also have lots of fun family traditions. We were busy almost every night. Luckily, sports were sparse, so we had plenty of time. Here are some highlights from our month!

Mark Reflections

Mark's photo won an Award of Excellence at the Council Level. We were so proud of him. His entry moved on to Region, but did not earn any more awards. We are just grateful our boys get to experience a little of the arts through Reflections.

Mark was a reluctant winner!

Mark borrowed Randy's clothes and jacket for this event.

Ward Christmas Party

Our ward put on the most amazing Christmas party. It was a live Nativity and it was so well done. We loved it. The weather was perfect and Dad got to be one of the wisemen. 

We rode on a wagon pulled by a tractor over to the Nativity.

Dad was a great wise man.

Park City

One evening we headed to Park City for some Christmas fun. We walked Main Street and enjoyed the lights and the snow globes. We also were there for the Electric Light Parade. It was fun, but short. Then we headed to Jordanelle for a wagon ride through some Christmas lights. We had hoped for more snow, so it could be a sleigh ride, but it stayed pretty dry. We ended the evening by eating at our favorite train restaurant in Heber. 

The Snow Globes were fun and someone offered to take our photo!

Waiting for the wagon ride.

Someone else offered to take our family photo.

Seth loves the Dairy Keen.

Riley's Family Christmas

Last year we made the trek to Genola for Riley's Family Christmas, and we loved the small farm and their cute Christmas activity. So when they invited us down this year, we had to go! They added a new light show, which was really cool. The wagon ride through the lights was fun, too.

We love the small farm feel at Riley's.

The kids had fun with all the photo spots.

Seth took this awesome photo of Mom and Dad.

Such cute boys.

First Snow

Seth was really excited for the first snow. He hurried home from school and went right out to build a snowman with mom. Of course, he ate as much snow as he could hold. 

Seth loves the snow!

Mom and Seth did pretty well with the snowman.

Mom and Dad enjoyed a date to the Smoked Taco. Best tacos!

Seth also loves these huskies!!!

Alpine Live Nativity

We were excited to visit the Alpine Living Nativity since it didn't happen last year, and it has moved to a new spot. The large barn was cool, but the crowds were tough. We kind of missed the old days, but it was still a fun night. 

Waiting to walk through

We do love seeing the camels.

Seth got to hold the shepherd's staff.

Walking in to this moment is always special.

Gingerbread Houses

We were so glad that our friend, Emily, was making her little gingerbread kits again this year. We had a fun night decorating, and a lot less mess than when we build the graham cracker ones. Check out our creations.

The little kits are so nice and easy!

Seth made an awesome cottage.

Mark had bears guarding his house.

Dax went with the green house!

Randy made Santa, which some dubbed "creepy clown."

Candlelight Christmas

This is our favorite event of the entire Christmas season! Candlelight Christmas at This is the Place is the best. We had a ton of fun walking through the pioneer village, and we spent lots of time doing the pioneers dances. Watching our boys smile and laugh together is the best part. We ended the evening with a quick stop at Frosty's Winter Wonderland. This house is awesome! We met the owner and he was so kind and even gave us a gift.

The pioneer traditions are so fun!

We love to pioneer dance.

Mom got to take a turn dancing, too!

This is the Place is our favorite.

Look at this house! It has over 400 figurines.

What a kind gesture to give us this cute gift.

Randy's Birthday

Randy celebrated another birthday after Christmas! He got his own electric blanket that he and Dax still fight over, and he requested Lemon Cream Pie for dessert. We have the best Dad in the whole world and hope he had a great birthday.

New Years Eve

December ended with New Years Eve games with Laurie, Glen, Nate, and Jason. We played lots of games and ate lots of food. Seth really wanted to play Doodle Face. And this game is not for the easily offended. Take a look at some of the finished drawings.

Mark loves seeing what everyone else is drawing.

Seth's turned out pretty good.

Umm....Dax....what happened to you??

Not too bad Randy.

Poor Mom! She always gets drawn in some crazy way.