I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year. The boys really spoiled me and we had a ton of fun. On Saturday before, we went to check on the owls and the boys were good sports because it was pouring rain the entire time. But we got to see the cute little owlets!! We also spent some time at the dino museum and saw a 3-D movie about traveling to Mars--super interesting. Then we had dinner at Cubby's, which mom loves!
On Sunday, the boys made a special poster for me with very kind notes and a fun pictures of our family. It is still sitting in my room. It makes me really happy.
The rest of the day we just relaxed. We had planned to go on a bird drive, but then it rained and rained. I loved spending time with my family no matter what we are doing.
I love these little owlets.
Here they are with their mama!
These boys are so good to me--braving the rain for some owls!
We had fun at the dino museum!! Watch out!
We watched a 3-D movie in these awesome glasses!
Cubby's is delicious!
Loved my fun card!
Selfies in the Ockey Family are an adventure...especially when we all put lifesaver mints into our mouths right before.
Spring sports always keep us busy, and we know that will just get worse as Seth begins to play. This year we had soccer and baseball for two boys, and quite a few conflicts on game times, which really split us up. Dad didn't do any coaching, though, except for filling in on Dax's soccer a few times.
We started with Mark's soccer, and he had a great season with Coach Clark. Mark is the leading scorer on his team (again) and plays forward. He had hat tricks several times, and his team ended up with only 1 loss and 1 tie. Mom and Dad most liked seeing Mark score with his patented chip shot or left foot. Mark had a great season, although every game seemed wet, cold, or wet and cold.
This is Mark's last game. It was pouring the entire time!
Mark is always hustling on the field!
Well, most of the time! Ha ha...this is him waiting for the game to start!
Dax had a rougher year with soccer this year. His coach was consistently late to games and practices and didn't seem to do much to help Dax learn the game. Dax's team was always on the losing end of a something to nothing score. During the last game when Dad coached, Dax scored two goals in a close loss. Still, Dax loves soccer, particularly defense, and is looking forward to next season.
Dax LOVES to hang back and kick the ball as hard as possible. He will be a great defender!
Dax is always having fun on the field, which is what's really important!
Mark's baseball was another big year. He and his friends Shad and Cael are still together on the Nationals, and they are the "Big 3." Mark has played infield-- mostly middle infield and has been a great fielder. He pitched for the first time this year. In his first game Mark pitched one inning and struck out 3 while walking one and allowing only 1 run. Only one kid hit a grounder to first, which ended up going for a "hit." In his other start, he was outstanding. He pitched 3 innings, struck out 8, walked one, and allowed no runs. It was a no-hitter! Mark has also been a great hitter sending two balls over the heads of the outfielders in his last game to collect 5 RBIs on two doubles.
We have been so proud of Mark and his pitching.
One day there was a double rainbow over the baseball field!
That's Mark with the blue sleeves. I like to caption this picture, "God Smiles on Baseball."
Mark is very focused on the mound.
Mark loves his team and is always cheering for them!
Mark's Team!
My sister, Brittany, came to a baseball game. My boys had lots of fun!
Dax is the star of his coach pitch team. He is easily the best fielder and is usually assigned to first base or pitcher. He likes to bat last on his team so he can clear the bases. Last game he had two great hits that went for a double and a homerun! We feel really bad that Dax will only make about half of his games this year because of our crazy June full of vacations, but Dax is already looking forward to next year's season.
Dax likes playing 1st base.
He is so excited to be playing coach pitch this year.
Good swing, Dax!
Seth has been a great trooper to attend all these games. He is excited to start soccer in the fall and has been practicing a lot. In the meantime, he's enjoyed itty-bitty ball at the Legacy Center.
Mark was talked into participating in the Research Recital at his elementary school this year. The were to choose a topic they were interested in and do research on the topic. After a few months, they presented their findings to some "reviewers" who wrote positive comments about what they did. Mom was asked to be one of these reviewers, and she had a lot of fun listening to all the research projects.
Mark chose the topics of birds since he loves them so much. I think he already knew everything about them, but he did some research on the birds that came to our bird feeder. He created a power point with pictures we had taken at the feeder of the different birds. I really liked his observations that he shared...they were fun!
He also did very well on his presentation. Mark was most excited to use Randy's clicker and change the slides while speaking. We love these opportunities to be in front of people. It's such a good learning experience for Mark.
These are the students who presented in the 1st hour! And the adults who "reviewed" their research!
Mr. Rencher, our principal, presenting Mark's medal.
Mark is in the middle with his awards.
Look at all those kids who did a research project for fun!
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!
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.
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.
