Christmas

Merry Christmas!

We had several days of celebration for Christmas this year. We held our annual Christmas sing-along and invited the Bishopric's families. We attended the Ockey Family Christmas Party. Grandma and Grandpa Daniels came to visit and deliver presents. We even made sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies.

Mark sat next to Santa this year. He's getting a little big for Santa's lap.

Dax asked for chocolate milk. 

Seth loves talking with Santa.

Grandma and Grandpa Daniels came down a few days before Christmas.

Dad was excited for his new Boston Red Sox paraphernalia. 

Laurie & Glen also stopped by to exchange gifts.

On Christmas Eve, we frosted cookies to eat and share with Santa.

Dax is a great cookie decorator. 

We loved our Christmas trees this year. 

Best of all was Christmas morning, though. The boys woke up to find some amazing gifts from Santa Claus. Mark got a brand new guitar, and he has been playing it almost every day. He has such a natural talent for music and has nearly passed Dad on his guitar playing. Dax got an amazing new fishing pole and a fishing box full of equipment. Though he hasn't been able to use the pole, he and Dad added line to it, and got it rigged and ready to go. Dax is excited to get out to the lake, pond, or river. Seth received a brand new camera. He has been using it every day and has been getting better and better at taking pictures. At first his pictures were grainy and blurry, but after a few hundred shots, he has gotten quite good at taking pictures. He's excited to take his camera on a hike so that he can take some pictures in the woods.

Coming down on Christmas morning!

Mark was surprised to receive a new guitar.

Seth loves his camera!

Dax got a lot of new fishing gear.

Our boys were such great gift givers, too. They used their own money and bought each other gifts. They also made games, books, and art for one another. We were so happy that they understood that giving can be more excited than getting this Christmas. As we unwrapped presents around the tree, we went slowly and took our time, perusing each present rather than rushing to rip them open. The boys were excited as their gifts were opened, and that made everything worth it.

Seth got Mom this necklace for Christmas.

Seth made Dax a fishing game. He loves it!

Christmas morning was perfect.

Dax carved Mom in this soap for Christmas!

So many fun gifts shared at Christmas!

Dad got Oregon Trail and everyone is a big fan.

Grandpa Ockey stopped by for a bit on Christmas, too.

Mom made an amazing Christmas dinner that featured ham and twice baked potatoes. We even got the china out of the cupboard and made it a special day. Our boys may be getting bigger, but they are understanding what Christmas and the spirit of giving really means.

Our only fancy meal this year.

Seth 1st Grade Basketball

Seth's team!

Seth had a great year in basketball with his Dad as coach! His team went undefeated, even though there were a few close calls. It was a really interesting team, because it had four really great players (including Seth) and six people who were totally new to the game. These six couldn't even catch the ball, not to mention dribble or shoot it. That was frustrating at times, because Seth wanted to help everyone score at least one time this season. Though that didn't happen, Seth helped a lot of kids by throwing (or handing) them the ball so they could score. We were really proud of the way Seth played. He could score as many points as he wanted, and his defense on other kids shut them down entirely. His favorite thing to do was block people until Mom yelled at him to stop. Seth is a really great basketball player and we are so proud of how he played this year.

Seth handles the ball really well.

He is also a great shot, though we are still working on his layups! 

Seth played mean defense.

Seth was always the first one down the court. 

Seth loved having Dad for his coach!

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.