November Fun

We had some really fun adventures in November. One of the first adventures we did was visit a new venue called Picture This Utah. It had lots of different fun locations for snapping fun pictures. We had so much fun creating different photos. 

We liked this fun record display.  

The huge presents were fun, too. 

I loved watching what the boys thought of for pictures. 

The Rudolph ball pit was mostly trouble because we have baseball players who whip the ball at each other. 

The ugly sweaters were awesome!

I think the boys are actually pretty nice!

On one weekend Mom went with Dax down to Escalante for a baseball tournament. Dax played well, and he and Mom had fun eating at all of their favorite restaurants. His team ended up taking 4th place. Meanwhile, back in Lehi, Dad took Mark and Dax to a fun free hawk event. The boys loved meeting the different birds. Then they hiked the steepest hike ever up to Heugh's Canyon waterfall. They had fun adventuring all weekend.

Seth loved the peregrine falcon.

Mark was a big fan of the owl. Not sure how the owl felt about him.

Dad is learning to take some pretty amazing photos. 

Seth asked for a wolverine to be painted on his face. Whoever painted this is amazing!

Mark loves hiking. He is always happy outside. 

The hike had lots of adventurous spots with bridges and boulders. 

The waterfall was small since it was late in the year, but still beautiful.

Seth was acting like a wolverine.

The boulders field was the boys' favorite part. 

Dax loved that he could pick where to eat every time. We started at In N Out. 

Mom and Dax had fun watching the Jazz game together.

Dax's team!

We stopped at Roy's for pizza and took some home to Dad, too.

We also visited the Tonaquint Nature Center while we waited to see if we had to play in the championship.

At Thunder Junction park we bruised our tailbones going down this slide. 

The rest of November flew by as we went on lots of adventures and prepared for Thanksgiving. Here are some of our fun memories.

Mom and Dad helped their friend solve a mystery box she created.

We visited a duck pond while we waited for Dax at baseball practice one evening. The ducks were not afraid of us at all.

They ate right out of our hands.

It was so funny to watch them follow Seth around the park.

Some of the ducks even stood on Mark's shoes.

Dax went to meet the mayor for one of his last cub scout meetings.

Mark and JJ competed in the duet festival and earned a superior. They played really well. 

Mark is really excited for pie month!

We visited a new live Nativity here in Utah and we got square donuts at the end. 

Thanksgiving Weekend

We take a photo every year at Thanksgiving. 

We had a great time at Grandma Daniels' house this Thanksgiving. The weather was terrible all over the country, but we were able to beat the snowstorm by leaving on Tuesday night. The Webbs and Ferlans joined us for Thanksgiving this year, so there were plenty of cousins to play with. The snow came on Wednesday and the boys had fun shoveling, playing, and building a snowman. Mom tried to start a snowball fight with the children, which was a huge mistake since we have three baseball players in our family. She and Stephanie got pummeled back inside the house, and the kids went back to building their snowman.

Seth loved playing with Brittany's cats.

Grandpa played a few games of Pling Pong with the boys.

Dax built this cute little snowman the first day it snowed.

Mom and Stephanie got pummeled with snow.

There was lots more snow the next day and the kids built this awesome snowman

Dad loves playing with the kids.

Mom did a lot of cooking, too. She helped Grandma with pies and brownies for dessert. Meanwhile the kids warmed up with a movie. There was more snow on Thanksgiving Day, but that didn't bother us as we stayed inside and ate dinner and watched football. On Friday, we managed to sneak through the weather and made it all the way back to Salt Lake Valley before the snow hit.

Mom loves cooking with her mom.

We enjoy hanging out with family.

Grandma makes the best Thanksgiving dinners ever!

The cousins played so well together!

We missed Tiff and her family, but it was fun to be together.

We headed to Ephraim to cut Christmas trees on Friday. Because the the new snow was nearly two feet in the mountains, we parked the van about halfway up the canyon (which happens to be newly paved). From there, we road up in the back of Glen's truck. The boys wanted to sled first, but the deep powder wasn't great for creating a sled track. Mostly the snow ended up in your lap and down your neck. We gave up on the sledding after just a few runs.

It was a beautiful day up on the mountain.

Mom and Dad have been getting Christmas trees together for a long time.

The sledding was tricky with how deep the snow was.

Dad was a good sport and carved a trail.

The snow flew up in your face and no one liked that.

It was cold!

Ty and Savannah had a better idea for sledding since they brought their dog, Champ. They hooked his leash to the sled, and Champ pulled Dax and Seth back and forth in the road. Mark was too big, so he had to enjoy watching his brothers on the dog sled.

Seth loves animals. 

Champ was so strong. He pulled Seth all over.

We laughed and laughed as Champ pulled the boys around.

It was the best way to sled!

It was hard to find trees in the deep snow, too. We had to shake the snow off each tree we looked at, sending it down in a shower on anyone within ten feet. Then we weren't sure if the tree was really nice because the branches were sagging down around the trunk. We chose two uncertainly, but they turned out to be two of the most beautiful trees we've ever had.

Dad was covered in snow after he shook all the trees we kept checking out.

We love picking out our own fresh tree.

We also took some four-wheeler rides. This year the boys drove with Dad (or in Seth's case, Glen or Laurie) riding on the back. They all proved to be pretty good drivers, though Dax likes to go back and forth a lot, and Mark likes to go a little faster than he should! There was hot chocolate and donuts, and we ended up at Roy's for pizza afterward. Best of all, we missed the bad weather again and got our perfect trees up and decorated by Sunday night.

Seth will ride the 4-wheeler with anyone.

Dad was nice and let the boys drive.

It was a long day, and we were glad for lunch at Roy's.

Face-to-Face Event

We were glad we were together as a family at the Face-to-Face event.

We have a guy in our Ward who works in the Church Office Building. He prepares all the Youth Programs and Face-to-Face events. Since the Church is retiring Boy Scouts and changing all their programs, there was a big broadcast to the world about how things would be changing in the year 2020. The General Presidents of the Primary, Young Men and Young Women, and Elder Gong of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles were all there. Our friend from the Ward was able to get us tickets.

The event was held in the Tabernacle, which was really cool. They don't do many big meetings there, so we were excited to go in and check it out. We arrived early, and they prepared us by teaching us how to applaud and how to smile gently because we might be on camera.

We enjoyed being in the Tabernacle.

The event was really neat, and we learned so much about the new program. They unveiled the new emblems of the Youth Programs, like rings and necklaces, introduced a new Young Men's theme, and clarified a lot of things we need to know. David Archuletta sang a new song that was written by our friend, Nik Day, too.

Best of all at the end of the event, Elder Gong invited everyone up to meet him, shake hands, and take a photo on the stage. The line was huge, and it took us an hour and a half (as long as the event), but the boys all wanted to stay and meet Elder Gong. We also met Sister Jones, Brother Owens, and Sister Cordon. They were so kind, and each took a little moment with our boys. This was really fun for us, and Sister Jones remembered attending our Ward a few weeks ago for our Primary Program. It was a night that we won't forget.

Elder Gong and his wife were so kind to each of our boys.  

They asked their names and where they were from.

Elder Gong was kind to Mom and Dad, too!

It was such a special experience meeting an Apostle. 

Our friend Josh who got us tickets to this event decided to photobomb our picture with the Gongs!

Elder Owens is the General president of the Young Men.

Strive to be is the new theme for the youth program.

Sister Jones remembered coming to our ward for the program. She said the boys were her Primary buddies. 

We were super glad to have Brother Lewis with us, too!

Reflections 2019

We love Reflections.

This year was a little bit different for Reflections since we had boys at three different schools. This meant three different turn-in dates, but they all decided to participate and the theme was Look Within.

Dax was excited because at Highland Elementary they have a Renaissance Award. If you enter in all 6 categories, you can earn the Renaissance Award. We have never entered in more than two or three, so this was a lot of work for Dax. He worked really hard, and had a lot of fun. Dax actually most enjoyed his dance, which was the one category Mom wasn't so sure about. He was really creative and tied it to sports. Dax ended up winning 1st place for his painting and his picture, and 2nd place for his literature entry, movie entry, and music entry. His dance was the one category that he didn't place in. We were all a little shocked, but we were proud of Dax for earning the Renaissance Award. Best of all, the lady in charge said she that Dax was the only Renaissance Award winner that turned in a great project in every category, rather than just getting it done.

We missed Dax's award assembly because of the piano recital, so we took these pictures in the office.

Dax was most excited for his Renaissance Award.

Dax took this photo for Reflections.

Seth entered in four categories. He just kept making more and more entries, and I think he would have done all six if Dry Creek had the Renaissance Award. Seth created a movie, a painting, a story, and took a photo. And he won first place for all four of his entries. Seth said he felt a little embarrassed when they kept calling his name, and it didn't help that our neighbor kept screaming out, "Seth got another one! That's four!" We liked Seth's movie, which was disqualified at the Council level because it used copyrighted Star Wars characters, and his story about Looking Within at his heart, which had a defect at birth. We were so proud he came up with these wonderful projects all by himself.

Seth shook Mrs. Worlton's hand a lot!

We were very proud of Seth!

Seth was a Reflections champion.

This was Seth's photo.

Mark is in Junior High now, and Reflections isn't quite as big of a deal there. He said they made a few announcements, but Mom had to search on the school website for any information. Mark entered a painting and a photo. We never heard anything about an awards night. Then one day Mark came home and announced that only 7 kids had entered Reflections in a school of over 2,000 students. He had a certificate and two movie tickets. Mark was really excited about the movie tickets and decided that was worth entering Reflections.

Mark was glad to win the movie tickets.

Mark's Reflections photo.

The boys did acrylic pouring paintings. They turned out so awesome! Starting at top left and going clockwise: Dax, Mark, and Seth.

All of the boys had entries move on to Council, but none of them received any awards at that level. We are grateful for this program that allows our boys to think in a different way, and we are proud of them for entering every year.