Mayhem Again!

May is always a crazy busy month, and this year was no different. Here are some fun highlights from May 2023!

Mom finally got to go to Camp Floyd on a field trip. Dad goes every year with his class, and since this was her last chance, Dad was nice enough to let her be a chaperone. She had a ton of fun watching Seth at all of the stations.

Mom loves spending time with her boys.

Seth was very obedient at the soldier station.

Seth was pretty messy after making bricks.

Seth played tennis for two months and he and his partner took 1st place in their tournament. It was so fun to watch him enjoy the sport that Dad loves so much.

Seth and Gabe made a great team.

We went to a Bees game, and some of our good friends were there, too. We sat together and had fun, especially Seth and Blake.

Baseball games are so fun!

These two were destined to be friends.

They got to run the bases the night we were there.

Dad had to prove he could still do an airplane with Mark.

There was so much rain this month that we enjoyed a lot of rainbows.

Mom's friend captured the same picture but at the temple.

Mom found a chrysalis in the garden when she was weeding. The boys decided to keep it and hatch it. Just when we thought it wasn't going to make it, a moth hatched. We were excited to release it.

Went to see The Johnson Files.

Mom and Dad survived another 14 hour day as stake leaders at the temple

Seth did great in his dance at the dance festival!

So many rained out games this May!

More rainbows!

Grandma and Grandpa came to watch a game, but it got rained out. So we had ice cream instead!

Back in the car because of rain and lightning.

Mark spent time in the tower with his friends during rainout games as an umpire.

Mom, Dax, and Mark volunteered as ushers on a day when they needed lots of help.

Seth and his good friend at Highland.

Raining at Mark's game, so we built a cover to keep us somewhat dry.

Mark and Dax went with the youth to the temple.

The week after school was out we squeezed in a day of adventure. We went and toured Kennecott Copper Mine, and stopped at two different parks. It was fun to do a little work while we played.

This tire is huge!

Everything is enormous at the mine.

We were there for a dynamit blast. It was very underwhelming.

This park was small, but fun!

Dad can balance while on the phone!

We stopped at another park that had ziplines.

This spinning toy had 5 seats and we all got on!

Seth played at the splash pad, so he was barefoot.

Memorial Day

Okay, so it wasn't really Memorial Day. Mark had a baseball tournament on Memorial Day, and his team did so well on Friday and Saturday, going 3-0-1, that they made the final day of the tournament, so our Monday was taken up, too. This post should probably be called, "The Saturday After Memorial Day."

Mark played well, but they lost their first game on tournament day.

On the Saturday after Memorial Day, we drove down to Sanpete County. We had some unfinished business with a hike we'd never completed in Maple Canyon. A long time ago, we started up a trail to see an arch in Maple Canyon, but Mom slightly twisted her ankle on a loose rock carrying Seth, and Dax skinned his knee. Since he was just a little guy then, we gave up and went home. But this time, we were there to finish.

We had to pass through the campground on this trail. About 100 yards in, Mark, Dad, and Seth heard a violent commotion just off the trail. We looked up and saw a bobcat scampering up a tree in hot pursuit of a squirrel. When it heard our excitement, it turned and ran headfirst down the tree. Seth hustled back to find Mom and Dax who were coming up the trail. We watched as the bobcat retreated to a small cave and then sat and watched us from the darkness. Since we didn't have Mom's big camera, we didn't get great pictures, but it sure was exciting!

The first time we saw a bobcat in Utah.

Maple Canyon was beautiful in the Spring.

Dad was dressed in his Manti gear.

This arch is super cool!

We were glad we finally made it to the end of this hike.

After finishing the hike and checking out the arch, we decided to hike up the box canyon as well. The boys enjoyed scrambling over rocks and helping one another climb the ladders and ropes. We made it all the way to the waterfall, which was really cool.

The Box Canyon is a favorite trail. 

Seth loves climbing around in here.

We made it to the end of the box canyon.

They added a nice ladder.

Mark loves hiking.

The boys climbed up to a little cave while Mom and Dad watched from below.

Roy's Pizza was definitely on the agenda. We stopped and ordered plenty of food for everyone. Mark and Dax had pasta, Mom and Dad had pizza, and Seth enjoyed the cheese sticks. After lunch, we drove around Ephraim. This included stops at the temple, which is just a big hole in the ground, the house, the farm, the cemetery to see Grandma Ockey, and Grandma Benson's old house. Then we drove down to Dad's old duck hunting grounds. There was so much water after this record setting year! We really had a great time!

Roy's is a must in Sanpete.

The big lane was really wet!

Happy Memorial Day!

Everybody's Working

For the first time, everybody at our house is working! Dad, of course, has his job as a teacher. This year he took on a new task for the first time. Instead of just teaching fourth grade for the 25th time, he taught a 4th/5th split. It was frustrating at times, but he had such amazing students, his favorite being Seth, that he really enjoyed the year. Still, he's excited to be back to fourth grade full time next year.

Seth had a great year with Dad in 4th grade!

Mom works hard volunteering at school, and she puts a lot of time into her website. She hit several major milestones, including amassing 50,000 followers, and conducting a complete website overhaul. This was much needed as the website hadn't been updated since we moved from blogger ten years ago. Mom also excelled at another job this year, which was usher coordinator for the Saratoga Springs Temple. She put in countless hours, and suffered many headaches organizing thousands of volunteers from our stake for three full days working in the temple. She and Dad enjoyed working in the temple, and Mom was amazing at getting the temple shifts covered. We can't wait until the open house is over, so that we can have our very own temple.

Mom and Dad loved serving at the Saratoga Springs Temple Open House.

Mark took on umpiring youth baseball games at Vet's park. He worked three to four nights per week through May and June. He usually put in about 6 hours. Mark balanced his schoolwork and new job beautifully, managing a 4.0 while earning very good money. We were a little worried about him, because we've seen some pretty critical fans at sports games, but Mark handled his job really well. He received as many compliments as complaints, which is great for an umpire. He even got his own debit card and started handling his own account. Best of all, he really loved being on the field and the friendships that he developed with other umpires. It was an awesome experience.

Mark had a great time umpiring.

Dax and Seth continued their soccer refereeing this year. They worked hard on most Saturdays and always worked together, which they really loved. Both boys liked reffing the little girls' games, because "they are so nice to each other, and the parents don't take it so seriously." After working hard all Spring, Dax and Seth decided to pool their money and buy their own shaved ice machine. They were really excited to make snow cones for anyone in the family throughout the summer! We all enjoyed the fruits of their hard work!

Dax is an experienced referee since he has done it for so many years.

It was awesome that Dax and Seth could work together.

Seth enjoyed being a referee a lot.