February 2025

February was a big month with Mark's mission call arriving. But we also had some other awesome adventures.

We spent a day exploring Park City. The weather was supposed to be great, but changed right at the end and it ended up snowing, but we made the best of it.

We had amazing Mexican food!

Mark found a fun pickleball paddle at the art museum.

It was super snowy!

While Mark was at the Sweethearts Dance, we went to two jump places to update some posts for the website. The boys were good sports and we had a lot of fun! 

Dax is very agile on these courses.

Seth is very daring!

And they both love dunking basketballs!

Dad and Mom were invited to go on the coolest date for Valentine's Day. We made a flower arrangement and our own fondue. It was awesome! 

Dad dressed for the floor arranging.

Mom had to pretend to love cheese.

Dad wanted all flowers, no fillers.

They turned out great and lasted surprisingly well.

 

Sometimes we get invited to restaurants or other food places. We're not really sure how, as we are not really food bloggers, but we usually go for the experience. 

Somehow we have become food influencers. Randy is the best at it.

The Seven Brothers food was yummy.

First time at the new Hale theater.

Mark introduced Mom to his favorite sandwich at Fast Freddy's.

Mom went to a girls night out and made her own candle. 

Dax and his friends tried their hand at fishing in the freezing cold.

Mom and Dad went to Secret Garden at a small theater in AF.

Lots of temple trips throughout Utah!

Ice cream after temple trips!

The monthly Seth selfie (Sethie).

Super Bowl party at the Schusters.

Making posters for Prom!

The chickens are laying so well. 
(Clockwise from Green: Chocolate Thunder, Skittle, Sunny, Pebble)

This has begun again. Dax is catching Randy.

Seth came with us to check out a fun pizza place.

Mark's best friend was called to serve in Durban, South Africa.

These young men are amazing. 

Early morning temple trip before school with the Deacons and YW1.

So much golf for Mark!

Mark and his friends built this giant snowman.

Mark's Mission Call

We are so excited for Mark!

Mission Calls are crazy these days. First, all the paperwork is electronic. You get it all filled out and the Stake President submits it no more than 150 days from your earliest departure date. Then the papers sit at Church headquarters for a week or two. Finally, the prospective missionary receives an email with the call. There are a hundred rumors that people are "For Sure!" about like: calls come on a Tuesday, calls come before noon, if you're portal has been assigned a missionary email you can expect your call that Tuesday, etc. All of these rumors have been swirling as we've seen Mark's friends called to Taiwan, then Argentina, then Portugal, then Hungary, and then Denmark. Mark has been on pins and needles wondering where and when and how to announce his call to friends and family. 

We weren't sure what to expect, because Mark's papers were submitted by the Stake President too early. How long would they sit at Church Headquarters? Would this affect the timing at all? He'd put July 5, as his earliest departure, so how long would we have to wait? 

On Saturday, February 8, just 3 days after the papers were supposed to be submitted, Mark was assigned a missionary email. Would the call come Tuesday morning? Or would it defy precedent like his friend's had and come on Monday? We were not getting a lot of sleep over the weekend!

The following Monday, we waited all day for an email, knowing that a call was unlikely. After Family Home Evening ended at 7:30, Mark left with a friend to deliver a Sweethearts' poster. Before he even got out of the neighborhood, Mom got a text in all-caps, "I JUST GOT MY CALL!" Within seconds he was back in the house, with sweat on his forehead. 

We asked Mark what he wanted to do. He wanted all five of us together. He wanted Dad to pray. Then he wanted to read it all aloud. The prayer was mostly gratitude, but also a plea that we would all put our trust in the Lord and know that this call was just right for Mark. Then Mark started reading. There had been a lot anxiety about foreign missions, which Mark was really hoping for, so when he read "Rosario Argentina," we just about collapsed! He's taken three years of Spanish, so we hope that he will pick up the speed and cadence quickly. After another quick prayer, Mark was gone to finish the poster. He didn't even read far enough to know that he'll be at the MTC in Mexico City! 

It was such a whirlwind of emotions, and now we know that Mark starts home MTC on July 28, and leaves for Mexico City on August 5. We are one step closer to having a missionary! 

Of course, there was an announcement party as well. Unfortunately, between the Lehi basketball game Tuesday night, Seth's basketball practice, Dax and Mark's tournament games, and church activity night, we had to wait all the way until Wednesday at 9:30pm to gather together. And Mark wanted no one at all to know outside the 5 of us where he was headed. We did a pretty good job of keeping the secret, while sharing the guessing app and saying we were unauthorized to pass on information before Thursday morning. This extended to everyone, and even Grandma and Grandpa had to wait.

On Wednesday night, Mark came home from his tournament game (they scored 88 points and beat a far superior team) and changed into his suit. By 9:30, our house was filled with people, mostly teenagers, and excited chatter. Dad said a few words, mostly about how great the people in the room were and how much we love Mark's friends. We even had a few far-away family members on a video call for the announcement. When Mark got to the part about Argentina, there was a massive cheer that raised the roof right off our little house. Then there were hugs and photos and lots of Mom's cookies. The kids hung around for a few hours, so we got to bed pretty late, but it was a great night celebrating Mark's acceptance of his call. 

Jacob is also going to Argentina! A different mission, but it is so fun they will be there together.

Mark's best friends since elementary school off to Portugal and South Africa. 

I don't know who took this picture, but it is hilarious!

Most of the gang that showed up. There were lots of adults, too!

Nice photo bomb Seth!

January 2025

 A new year and a whole new month of January adventures.

Mark and his friends went sledding on New Years Day. They have a lot of fun, but they do not take the greatest pictures.

Grandpa came down on his way to heading out on a cruise. Grandma was supposed to go too, obviously, but got super sick, so Grandpa went alone. He hung out with us for New Years Day and Melanie made a turkey.

Dax became a priest! I cannot believe he is so old! We appreciated Laurie and Glen coming to support him, and our Bishop, too!

Mark got his wisdom teeth out in preparation for his mission papers. He handled it really well and healed up quickly. He only had three wisdom teeth, which was nice. When he came out of the anesthesia he kept telling me over and over again about how fast he fell asleep. And he also kept making the peace sign. But for the most part he was really normal!

We went to the Ice Castles with a smaller crowd than normal. Mark and Dax both had conflicts, so we let Seth bring a friend. We had a ton of fun enjoying the castles in the day and the night. And even took the wagon ride this year. This is one of Mom's favorite adventures every winter.

One day Mark and his friends got up at 4 AM to go to the Jordan River Temple because it opens earlier than the temples in Utah County, They wanted to make it back in time for school. They are so amazing. It just so happened that we had an appointment as a family to go there that same day. So Mark went twice within twelve hours to the same temple. 

Now here are a bunch of random pictures from the month of January. 

Need to include one of Seth's selfies every time.

There are some really pretty sunrises in the winter time.

Mark worked on his mission papers in January and turned them in the first week of February.

We went out for pizza while Mark was at Winter Formal.

We finally got around to raking the leaves and the chickens loved walking through the piles.

Seth and Mom went to see the Mufasa movie.

Mark and his buddy after the played each other

Mark's friend was the first one to receive a mission call. This opened the way for many, many more mission call openings!

Creating fun things at Hawaii Fluid Art again.

Mom and Dad love coming to this studio!