Day Off From School

I love adventuring with these boys!!

Every year in March we have a day off from school. Randy heads to teacher meetings, and the boys and I get to play. For many years we went to the zoo because we have a pass, but we don't have a zoo pass anymore so we had to come up with a new plan.

We kicked off the day by stopping at Krispy Kreme to get some free donuts. The boys get 6 donuts each for earning good grades. Luckily, Mark and Dax are always willing to share, so Seth and I enjoyed a donut, too.

Good grades always pay off!

Next we headed to the Bean Museum. There was an exhibit about this huge snake called the Titanoboa that we wanted to see. If that snake still existed, I would live in terror my whole life. We did enjoy learning about how they discovered it in South America, and other interesting facts about the Titanoboa. We walked around the rest of the museum as well, even the basement! The boys are so funny because they love looking in the bird room and the President Packer area that shows his wood carvings the most. I would guess most kids don't even want to walk in those areas.

We always love visiting the BYU Bean Museum.

Help them escape!! 

AAAHHHH! Horrifying!

We love seeing the different animals in the museum.

Mark and Dax moved ants around for almost 30 minutes. 

We don't always make it down to the basement, but they really wanted to go see the Utah animals. 

Especially the cougars!

We also made a stop at the BYU dinosaur museum. We hadn't planned to stop, but Seth had to go to the bathroom two minutes after leaving the Bean Museum, so we pulled into the dino museum for a potty break. We figured since we were inside, we might as well walk around. Even though this museum is small, we are always impressed with the fossils. There was even a worker cleaning off fossil bones that we were able to watch. The boys had a lot of fun.

Everyone needed a picture of the dinosaur trying to eat them. 

Dax, too!

I wonder what is being said in this conversation.

This skull is way bigger than Seth!

Just pretending that this dino bone is a boat. Mark and Dax are rowing, and Seth is falling out!

Then we rounded off the day with a trip to the dentist. Everyone had great teeth, and no cavities. We are still hoping Dax will lose a tooth, but I'm worried that Seth is going to lose one first. The race is on!

The boys love the dentist. Ok, Seth loves the dentist, Mark is neutral, and Dax is not a fan!

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Research Recital

Mark and Dax's elementary school hosts a "research recital" every year. They both like to participate and this year they decided to do their research together. They settled on the topic of the Amazon River.

Mom really enjoyed watching them work together. Dax researched a bunch of facts at school and brought them home. Mark also did a little research, and then they worked together to create a Power Point presentation. Mom helped them find some images. They divided up the speaking parts and were all set.

Dax presented the first part of the presentation.

On the day of the Research presentation, they were amazing. Dax presented the first part of the Power Point and he remembered everything he needed to say. Mark went second and looked like a natural up there. Afterward, there are some reviewers who ask them questions. One was our principal, and another was the Lehi City mayor. They both commented on how the boys were natural presenters and how well they'd done. We were so proud of them!

Mark Johnson (Lehi City Mayor), two district office employees, Mr. Rencher (principal),
and all the research presenters in our group.

The last part of the Research Recital is a recognition night where everyone receives a medal and a treat. We were glad to see Mark and Dax enjoy working together so well.

Mark receiving his medal.

Dax might have watched the Olympics for too long! 

We are so proud of both Mark and Dax, and how hard they work at school.

There were about 160 kids who participated which was a lot of medals! 

S'mores donuts at the end make all the work feel worthwhile!

Mark's Basketball Season

Mark loves playing basketball!

We kept Mark in a rec league and a lot of the competition moved on. That made Mark kind of a big deal in the league. He scored a lot of points, blocked a lot of shots, and had a lot of steals. Meanwhile, his team won every game but one.

Mark loved playing point guard.  

This shot does go in!

Mark could often blow past everyone for a layup. 

Dad coached the team again, and exactly half of the ten players didn't play all that well. They had trouble catching the ball, and couldn't really even dribble. By the end of the year though, everybody made good progress. Since this was the first year of help defense and legal stealing, it was a big jump for a lot of these kids. Dad really liked helping them learn the little intracacies of basketball.

Dad has a great time coaching these big boys!

This is what the warm up time looked like at every game. All the Ockey boys!

Dad always had Mark play the point guard. Mark scored a lot of points and even made a few three pointers. His favorite play was getting a screen and taking it to the hoop. It took him half a season to learn to pass it to the weak side, but when he did, other boys got in on the scoring, too. As Mark continues to improve, he continues to have fun, and that's what matters most!

Mark was a great leader on his team. Mom was most proud when he made sure to tell everyone on his team good job or good game each week.

Mark's good friend Tyce played on our team and they had lots of fun together. 

We are missing one player in this picture, but here is the team! 

This team definitely had a lot of fun.  

Dax took a picture of the scoreboard of our last game. He was so proud of Mark's team!