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.

Duet Recital

This year for the boys' piano recital, their teacher decided to do a duet recital. This meant that the boys played all their songs with someone else. Dax played with some other boys, Mark played with some other boys, and they also played with Mom. Mom even played with three other moms. Everyone did very well, and Mom loved being able to play with her boys. The boys were excited to dress casually for a recital for once.

Mom loved being able to play with her boys. 

Dax was confident on his duet.

Mark also played a song for the audience to participate in.

Mark and JJ practiced a lot together.

Mom realized afterward that she should have smiled more, but she was very focused on this speedy song.

Not sure what Mark is smiling about, but I love this picture of him.

Playing Jingle Bells together was super fun!

Park City

Seth was excited for the treats they left in our room. 

We were recently contacted by a hotel in Park City that wanted us to come and stay. Our weekends were pretty busy with the last baseball tournaments and Mom and Dad's anniversary trip to Manti, but  we figured the first weekend in November should work. The hotel was really generous, offering us two nights stay in two rooms, dinner at their classy restaurant, breakfast, and tickets to a museum downtown and an escape room, but they weren't offering any cash. This meant we'd have to cover our own gas and many of the meals, but we still decided to take the deal. It turned out to be a wonderful stay-cation.

Mark and Dad had their first basketball practice on Friday night, so they brought the car up later that night, while Mom, Seth, and Dax went up and got checked into the hotel. It was really nice, with a game room, snack stop, pool, and exercise room. We spent a bit of time at the snack stop throughout the day, popping in for a can of pop or a brownie after dinner. The rooms were great, too, and since we had two, no one slept on a cot or a foldout couch.

The boys loved the special snack room that we could visit. 

We woke up Saturday morning and got a fairly early start. The breakfast was buffet style, but they had an omelet making station that was delicious. We felt a little bad dining and dashing, and made sure to be extra gracious with our servers because our meal was being comped.

It was a cold morning and there was ice on the cars when we drove to the Olympic Park Museum. We enjoyed walking around looking at all the decorations used in the opening ceremonies. There were also a lot of outfits worn by athletes, and a bunch of video kiosks showing events. There is a second museum in the same building that shows the history of skiing in Utah. It had a lot of interactive displays and games, which kept the boys entertained.

The boys pretended to carry the torch.

Jamaica, we have a bobsled team!  

Dax is an intense snowboarder.

Seth is intense in a scarier way! 

Dax tried the virtual ski jump.

Mark and Dax also got to ride the virtual reality bobsled ride. 

We enjoyed our visit to the Olympic Park.

At around 10 o'clock, Dad and Seth drove down to Lehi for Seth's basketball game while Mom, Mark and Dax went to check out a local park. The park was nice, but it was still chilly around noon, so mostly they walked around and looked rather than spending a lot of time playing. Dad was grabbed at the game by a complete stranger, who insisted that Dad should be in Park City, and not in Lehi. She laughed and said it was okay to take a break from vacation.

The boys were most excited to dunk on the small hoop.

The boys want these pictures in our family book! 

We took a complimentary shuttle downtown for lunch. We ate at a cute little Main Street restaurant that had the most amazing pizza and fries. It had a tiny layout with a soaring roof and vintage pop and beer cans covering the walls. We took our time eating and then took a walk down a little trail past the Shoe Park. Shoes were hanging from the trees above a tiny stream. The park was about a third of an acre, but there were tons of trees and just a little snow on the ground.

We really enjoyed Davanza's.

The pizza slices were HUGE!

The trail was nice. It was paved and ran along the edge of downtown through several tunnels. There were also lots of murals along the tunnels. We passed an instrument station where the boys banged on some instruments made out of wood or old brake rotors. Then we stopped to play at a park that we found along the way. It was a great leisurely pace, just right for this type of vacation.

Seth (and Dax) just wanted to eat snow the entire hike.

But we found some really fun murals.

The boys hate when I take their picture in the sun.

We enjoyed the music park a lot.

There were quite a few different murals along the trail.

We had fun on our easy hike.

We found this Great Blue Heron on Park City Main Street.

Our next stop was for ice cream at a local shop on Main Street. The ice cream was really expensive, but it was all made in the shop, and it was really good. They had a lot of interesting flavors to try. Just next door we visited the Park City Museum, which the hotel paid for. It was a nice history of the area, which started as a silver mining operation, nearly died as a ghost town, and finally became a skiing mecca for the world. The boys enjoyed the interactive displays, but they really enjoyed venturing down into the basement, which was the old jail. We learned about a few criminals and checked out the cells, and then did some fun mining things like blasting TNT and using a jack drill simulator. After the museum, we called the shuttle and headed back to the hotel for dinner.

The boys were grateful for a treat.

We had fun learning about mining in Park City.

The hotel restaurant was really upscale, and when we saw the menu, we knew the boys wouldn't do very well. We were also a little surprised by the prices. We split three entrees including a steak for Mom and Mark, trout and fries for Dax and Seth, and a vegetarian burger for Dad. The food was great, and we only had to pay the tip.

Dax was so excited to eat trout.

We had a fun dinner together!

Saturday ended with the pool. The boys had been dying to get in since we arrived. The pool area was amazing. The pool is built into a courtyard of the hotel with a roof over the top, so it was nice and airy. There was a boys hockey team in the pool when we arrived, but they left after not too long. The boys played for a long time while Mom and Dad worked on the website and promotions that were required for our stay.

On Sunday morning after breakfast at the hotel, we had our final adventure. We had a free trip to a family-friendly Escape Room. It was Park City themed, so we were trying to escape a caved-in Silver Mine before it entirely collapsed. The boys did really well with the puzzles. We let Seth open a lot of the combination locks, and both Dax and Mark were fully involved in the puzzle solving. Of course, we escaped in plenty of time. We got home around noon, which was just in time for Mom to get to choir practice and Dad to get to tithing settlement.

We loved the Escape Room.