Saturday, March 11, 2023

First Date

Mark looked so handsome for his date!

Mark had his first date! He was asked to a girls' choice dance called Sweethearts. He was pretty excited to go, because the date lasted all day Saturday. In preparation, he and Dad went to a few of this girl's basketball games. She is a good match for Mark, because she plays shortstop on the softball team and shooting guard on the basketball team. It was fun to watch her play, and she came to several of Mark's basketball games, too.

Heading off on his first date!

On the day of the date, Mark and a few of his friend couples, went to an escape room at around 10:45. Then they had lunch at JCW's. Finally, they dropped Mark off and he got changed for the batting cages. Since she is not quite 16, Mark drove Dad's car to pick her up. They had a great time, and Mark learned to hit softballs. He came home to change for the date, and the couples came to pick up Mark again. He looked really good all dressed up. We got to meet her and talk for a few minutes as Mark put her wrist corsage on, which was fun. They even let us take a few pictures. 

Mom was so excited for Mark.

Mark did great putting on the corsage.

They matched very nicely.

They took a lot more really cute pictures before the dance. Then they enjoyed dinner at Tepanyaki, which became Mark's new favorite restaurant. He loved everything but the wait. They did make it to the dance, and supposedly they even danced a bit! Then the whole crowd went to a friend's house to watch movies. Dad didn't pick Mark up until a little after 1 o'clock. He had such a great time!

The fancy pictures turned out so nice!

Mark was so glad he got to go with his friends!

After a week or so, we convinced him to take her out for a follow-up date. They went bowling and to a movie. It has been really fun for us to watch Mark start to learn a little bit about the dating scene!

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

January Adventures

We have had a lot of snow this year, so we haven't been out adventuring as much. Also as our kids have gotten older, we have a lot more going on, it seems. But we did fit in a lot of fun in January. Here are some of our January Adventures.

With all of the snow, we finally went sledding over Christmas break. We went to our favorite spot at Silver Lake and had a fun time even though it was super busy!

Dax loves sledding the most!

Mark took a few runs and a had a good time.

Here is Randy making sledding videos on his phone.

Seth made Mom go sledding even though she prefers to watch and video.

This is how Mom feels about sledding!

Dax loves the hot cocoa even more than sledding!

Dax turns 14 this year, and he was able to be ordained a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood. Grandma was sick, but Grandpa still came down and we spent some good time with him. We played games and talked and hung out. Mom especially loved being with her dad. She doesn't always get one on one time with him. Grandpa was also lucky enough to hear Mark give a talk. Mark was asked to fill in the day before, but he wrote a beautiful talk and did a great job.

Grandpa was the sheriff in BANG!

We had a lot of fun with Grandpa.

A January tradition is to drive to Sanpete County and see the Bald Eagles. We look forward to it every single year. This year we saw a ton of eagles, and even spotted one tree with 15 eagles in it! It was far away, but there were so many! It was amazing. We always end the drive with pizza at Roy's in Ephraim!

Going on an adventure!

We saw a lot of beautiful eagles.

We love going to Sanpete because they are so close to the road.

We also saw turkeys a few different times.

This tree had 15 eagles in it. It was awesome!

Roy's Pizza is our favorite!

Dad's class had a field trip to the State Capitol. He goes every year with his fourth graders. Mom invited herself because this was her last chance to go since Seth is the youngest! She loved being with Seth and listening to Dad's knowledge of the history of Utah. The Capitol was so beautiful inside and she can't wait to go back and explore more. 

Mom doesn't always love field trips, but this was a good one.

Mom was so excited to see this beautiful building.

Mom got to hang out with Dad, which was the best part.

Seth will make a great governor someday!

Dad and Seth are growing so close this year!

Also, look at Mom's photo she snapped of the Capitol building!

There was plenty of other fun happening during January. Here are some memories we want to preserve for the books.

Mom and Seth built this amazing snow fort.

They also stocked it with snow balls!

We tried a new art adventure.

The boys got to attend a Youth Event at the Conference Center.

Seth has been Mom's best helper with the new pasta maker.

He really is the cutest chef.

Mom and Dad went out to eat at Strap Tank!

We are trying to check off all of the Utah temples. This is South Jordan.

Mom won a drawing at the new Life Shop in Lehi.

We built snowmen picture frames at Lowes.

Mom and Dad went to the Payson Temple with Dad's high school friend, Ryan and his wife.

We got some delicious ice cream at Handel's!

Mom went on a hike to Dripping Rock.

We made the kids go outside and they liked it!

It was a beautiful day for hiking in the snow.

Mom and Dad went on another date to Nachos Live.

Dad snapped this crazy pic of Mom! She's so excited for yummy nachos.

Monday, March 6, 2023

Ice Castles 2023

The Ice Castles are part of our winter traditions!

We love going to the Ice Castles. We have gone every year since Seth was small, and every visit is a little bit different. This year felt a little bit smaller with not as many places to explore and wander around, but we timed it right so that we could enjoy the lights! Mom loves seeing the ice all lit up. It is amazing!

We had a great time trying all of the slides and taking fun pictures. Mom forgot to grab Dax's coat, or maybe he forgot to grab his coat... Either way, it ended up being okay after we shared sweatshirts and other layers around. This is a fun winter tradition.

We were bundled up because it was an extra cold winter.

Dad crawled through a super small tunnel!

Seth squeezes into small spots!

This big tunnel is super cool!

Mark and Dax might be getting too cool for this adventure.

This area was gorgeous for pictures!

Mom loves all of the colored lights!

We had such a fun time!

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