Dax's Birthday!

Dax turned 7 this year. I can't believe he is getting so old and that he will be getting baptized for his next birthday. He has grown up so much lately. I am so proud of all the things he has learned to do!

For his birthday, Dax requested a bowling party. So we invited a few of his friends and headed to the bowling alley. It was fun to watch all these boys go bowling, and unfortunately Dax ended up with the worst score. I think Seth might have come out on top! It was fun. Then we headed back to the house for pizza, mint brownies, presents, and a few games.

Dax is turning 7! Can you guess his favorite color?

We had a sports party because our whole life is sports around here!

This is the bowling crew! Seth, Dax, Noah, Mark, Liam, Geoffrey, and Seamus.

The next day, we went to Brick Oven to celebrate Dax's birthday dinner. We all love Brick Oven, but especially Dax. He loved being sung to and getting free ice cream!

We all love Brick Oven for birthdays.

Dax got a huge ice cream sundae for his birthday!

Then on Sunday, his actual birthday, we had some family over to eat mint brownies. He told me that he wanted mint brownies instead of cake, but also he wanted a baseball field cake. So I combined the two. Mint brownies baseball field style! If you didn't catch on, Dax is a fan of mint brownies, just like his mama!

Dax was super excited about the real maple syrup he got for his birthday!

He wanted a wallet for his birthday!

Dax loves Bad Kitty books.

Baseball field mint brownies!

Dax is such a happy kid. We are so lucky to have his cheerful, giving spirit in our home. He is also the most stubborn child we have. He will not budge an inch if he is determined to have his way. On those days, Dax can drive us all a little crazy, but hopefully that determination will bless him down the road. Happy 7th Birthday to Dax!

Itty Bitty Baseball

Seth has loved playing Itty Bitty Ball at the Legacy Center, and he was actually more excited for the baseball season than the others he has tried. He loved hitting the ball and running the bases. Seth is a good listener and his coach loved him for that. The one skill we are still working on is catching the ball. I figure he has a few years until he needs to perfect that one. I had so much fun watching Seth even though it was often strange to sit there all alone without a baby to take care of. Here are a few pictures of Seth.

Seth loved this uniform shirt given to Dax for his birthday. 

He is a great hitter!

One day he decided he had to wear a baseball hat.

Seth apologized to Dad about 50 times for being on the Yankees (even though it wasn't his choice).

This video shows some of the fun things he was able to do at Itty Bitty Ball. My favorite is always the warm ups where they do sit ups and push ups! Seth's favorite part of the day was always running around the cones.

Tulip Festival

We love the Tulip Festival!

This year Seth and I went to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point the morning that it started. We had a wonderful time exploring the gardens, feeding the fish, and spotting the owl. Seth was so excited to see all the different flowers and colors. We also spotted a goose hanging out by the stream, and one sitting up high like the owl. We went on a Friday so we were lucky enough to be there with the bounce houses and the food trucks. Since it was a little chilly, there weren't many people there and Seth had the bounce houses and slides all to himself. It was a very fun morning.

Seth wanted to take a picture by all the flowers.

Our selfie!

It was a beautiful day. This was my favorite picture of the day!

Seth loved all the flowers.

Seth could barely make it to the top of the slide by himself, but he loved sliding down.

About 100 pelicans flew overhead while we were there. This is one section.

Seth also had a blast bouncing all alone!

We thought this goose nesting at the top of the waterfall was pretty hilarious.

The Great Horned Owl is beautiful, even with her dinner in the background.

Well, everyone else was very sad that we had been to see the tulips and owl without them. So the next week, we headed to the Tulip Festival on Friday after school. It was a much warmer day, and we took some beautiful pictures. The best part of the evening came when we arrived at the owl's location. We noticed she had three little owlets there with her! We spent a long time looking at the little owl family.

Mark liked the striped tulips.

I'm so glad I get to spend forever with these boys!

Seth jumped into my arms right before Randy snapped this picture. I love it!

The flowers were beautiful lining all the pathways.

This huge patch of flowers is always a great spot for a photo.

Randy loves the grape hyacinths.

Dax was very excited about the BYU flowers!

The owlets are out. She was probably sitting on them in the picture above. They are so adorable!

We actually got to take a family picture on this adventure.

The next week, I mentioned that I wanted to check on those baby owls. So the boys were supportive and we hurried over one Saturday after working hard in the yard. As we were driving to Thanksgiving Point, the rain started to come down. So we hurried through the rain down to the bridge where the owl is nesting, and spent a few minutes getting soaked and looking at the adorable owlets. It was a great start to all of the Mother's Day festivities!

This little guy was hanging out by himself at first. Isn't he/she precious?

Then we watch him hop over by the rest of the family!

Can you see how wet we were? It was totally worth it.

Easter

Easter crept up on me this year. When it falls in March, I never get anything ready on time. So our Easter baskets may have been a little small this year, but we still had a fun Easter Weekend.

It began with a Friday night performance that we heard about at church. It was an Easter "musical" of sorts. There were songs sung by different people who knew Jesus Christ such as Mary, Judas, Peter, and Pilate. There were Bible videos playing at some parts and choir songs at other parts. It was okay. It tried a little too hard to be non denominational, and while our kids were very good, it was definitely hard for them to sit still. Dax even fell asleep (so did dad, I just didn't take a picture of him).

The movies were the best part!

Some of the characters did have good voices.

Too tired to make it through the show.

Then Saturday morning we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at the Alder's ward. They invited us to come to their ward breakfast and easter egg hunt. The breakfast was great, and we laughed at all the kids taking 5-6 pieces of bacon at a time! I think Randy wanted to do that, but he is a little bit more mature than the 6 year-olds.

After breakfast, the boys went on an Easter Egg hunt. They got lots of eggs and candy. Seth only picked up blue eggs, and Mark and Dax tried to find the best hidden eggs possible. It was a chilly morning, so mom's toes were almost frozen off by the time we headed back to our house.

Mark being silly while we wait for breakfast to be ready.

Ready to fill our baskets!

Seth and Laurie had fun together.

Dax found some eggs in the drinking fountain, but I think he missed the hidden pink egg underneath.

The Easter Egg Hunt gang 

It was Grandpa Daniels' birthday, so we had a special lunch for him with Grandma and the Webbs. We ate sandwiches and cinnamon rolls, and had a good afternoon before Grandma and Grandpa had to leave for their missionary work at the Conference Center.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Daniels!

Then we headed up to This is the Place Heritage Park for Baby Animal Days. This is one of our favorite state parks, so we were excited to have free tickets to the Baby Animal Days activities. There were adorable baby goats, chicks, bunnies, and ducks, but we had more fun exploring the grounds and interacting with the "pioneers." The boys got a shave, panned for gold and weighed it in the bank, became leather apprentices, rode the train, and lots more. There are lots of pictures on our other blog, but here are some favorites!

The boys loved holding the baby chicks!

Mark got in trouble at school, so he had to stand with his nose on the wall while holding books.

They have a new mini train to ride which was fun, especially since we saw geese nesting!

We also had some free doughnuts that were delicious!

Seth really liked beating the rugs. He has a good swing for it.

Just yesterday, Seth asked me when we were going to the place where we mowed the dirt.
As you can see, Mark and Dax are "mowing the dirt."

Finally, Easter day came, and we had a wonderful day at church, taking a nap, and then we visited the Alpine Easter Walk. This is a new adventure by the same people who do the Alpine Living Nativity. They had a few things to look at, and a short video to watch. It only took about 10-15 minutes, but the empty tomb was amazing. I felt like it really drove home the message that Jesus is resurrected--in a more visual way anyway.

Alpine Easter Walk