Monday, September 25, 2023

Homecoming Dance for Tyler

Tyler had his first high school dance.  Since they had their day date on Tuesday, they first met for dinner.  
The dinner was at his dates house where her family made the meal and set their backyard for the occasion.
Sheree, Rebekah's mom, asked if the girls and I would come and help serve the kids their meal.
Megan and Allie were very excited to get dressed up and serve the teenagers and see Tyler with his date.  I did have to talk to them about not embarrassing Tyler and just have a good time being helpers.
The girls and I went over to Rebekah's house and Tyler came in his car.  
The girls and I helped get the food ready with Sheree, her husband Spencer, and their youngest daughter Hanna who also served the kids.  We also watched the teenagers standing around acting a little awkward at first, it was adorable.  Sheree took a lot of pictures of all the couple and the group.  There were four girls who didn't have dates and just came to be part of the group.  
Once all the kids came, they all sat down and were given their menus from the girls.  They then placed their orders and then we worked hard to get each kid what they wanted.  We started with drinks, then salads, then main course, and then dessert.  
They seemed like they all had a great time and enjoyed each other's company and the food.  
After they were all done eating, they all left for the dance, and we stayed and helped clean up.  It was such a cute and fun idea to make the dinner like a restaurant for the kids, but none of them needed to pay for it. 
 Tyler said he had a really good time at the dance.  They danced and had fun until almost the end of the dance.  Then they went over to another friend's house to watch the movie Tangled.  The theme for the dance was "At last I see the Lights", so they stuck with the Tangled theme for the night.  
Tyler said he had a good time and was glad that he went.  It was a good experience for his first dance and is excited to do it again.  

Tyler's Triple Header Baseball Games

Tony, Allie, and I went to Tyler's games in Tooele.  
We dropped Tyler off at the field to warm up and then we went out to breakfast.  Allie was very excited to eat Wendy's breakfast.  
Tyle was supposed to only have a double header with a two-hour break in between his games.  The team we played first had a lot of kids who couldn't play their second game (because it was their Homecoming too) so they asked our team to stay and help them out.  So even though Tyler didn't end up playing during that pick-up game, he still was there in the dugout, and we couldn't all leave because we didn't know if he would play or not.   
Tony did go and pick us up some lunch at a local hamburger place.  The food was, okay.  There was a little fair next to the ballpark and we wished we would have eaten there.  Tony did take Allie over there to look around and ended up getting her a necklace and a couple funnel cakes for us to share.
Tyler played both games well and it was fun to watch him.  Allie liked coming and hanging out with us during the games.  It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning and afternoon.  

Tyler's Date to the Sunflower Festival

Tyler and Rebekah went to Cross E Ranch with their Homecoming group on the Tuesday before the dance.  Since Tyler can't drive with friends yet, Rebekah was nice enough to drive.  This day worked out better for Tyler because he has two baseball games on Saturday that he now won't miss.

Tyler said they mostly walked around and took pictures in the sunflower fields.  They did get a cut up caramel apple to share and they both liked that.  He said that they had a really good time, and he was glad that they went.  




Thursday, September 14, 2023

Our Josh is 14 Today!

 Josh is such an amazing young man.  He has the biggest heart and really looks for ways that he can help and serve others.  He has been known to be the first to volunteer for service projects and is always asking me how he can help me.  He is a sweetheart, and we get many compliments on how kind he is to others. 
He still enjoys playing his computer, the Switch, and watching shows.  He is laidback and is good to his siblings. He is hoping to start working at the Rec Center now that he is 14 years old.  We are so lucky that he is our kid!


Monday, September 11, 2023

Fall Baseball has Begun!

Tyler had his first two games playing fall ball.  This year the high school decided to join a league to play ball in Grantsville.

Each Saturday the team plays two games.  The first game they easily won the other team.  Tyler only played one inning of that game and played well.  The second game they lost, but Tyler was able to play the whole game.  He caught for half the game and then played second base the last half.  He did good at both positions.  He struggled at bat, with striking out both times but he went out swinging, so that was good.  The girls had a double header softball game at the same time, so Tony took them there while I went to Tyler's games.  It's a good thing we like watching our kids play baseball and softball.  

Baptisms for the Dead with Friends

A family in the neighborhood next to us has kids that are our kids ages and they have become good friends.  Their mom asked if my kids would like to go do baptisms for the dead with their kids.  We picked a date and made it happen.  
Their little brother, whose a few months older than Megan, hurt himself at school and wasn't able to go.  So, it was a mini date for Tyler and Josh with their two daughters.  Tyler was able to do the baptizing and really enjoyed that.  They said that they all had a great time and look forward to doing it again.

Asked & Answered = Homecoming 2023

Tyler decided to ask Rebekah Allison to Homecoming this year.  He looked at a couple different ways to ask her but landed on an idea that Tony had by giving her Crumbl cookies.  She was super sweet to answer him just the next evening with a baseball themed answer.  He has found a group to go to with and I think he's excited to go.  

Monday, September 4, 2023

Allie & Josh Family Birthday Party

We were able to have a family party to celebrate Allie and Josh.  We decided to have a BBQ outside and asked everyone to bring a side to share.  It was all very yummy and always a good time spending time together as a family.  We are thankful for all who could come.  We did do it over Labor Day weekend, so we knew that would mean some people couldn't make it and we totally understood.  

The weather was a little warm to start, but the shade came quickly and made for a perfect evening.  The kids played with cousins and us adults had lots of fun chats.  Couldn't ask for anything more.  




Allie's Friend Birthday

We continued the year of friend parties with Allie's Royal Birthday.  We invited ten friends from school and church and eight were able to come.  
We told her friends that they were welcome to dress "royally" and some did and some didn't.  They all looked so good.
We started the party with painting and decorating star wands.  I know that's a little "girly" but it was hard to find things to do with the royal theme that was for both boys and girls.  They are all nine and under, so I figured they would still like painting.  So, I had many different colors and ways that they could decorate the wands.
After all the wands were decorated, we then got out a Disney Bingo game that I had made and had they kids play Bingo.  They all seemed to like it and didn't want to stop when it was time for lunch.  I think they just wanted to keep winning prizes.  
I was worried about time, so we ended to Bingo game and fed the kids.  Allie wanted ham and cheese sliders with chips and fruit, so that is what we did.  
After eating, Allie opened her presents.  Everyone was very generous, and she liked all of her gifts.  After that it was cake time.  The kids sang Happy Birthday and then we handed out the cake.  
Once they were done eating, they all played in the front room or Allie's room.  A couple of the younger girls from our ward wanted to watch a movie, so Tony put on Descendance 3 for them.  It was funny when one of the girls wanted the kids who were playing to be quite so they could watch the movie.  I told her that it was okay for them to play.  
Most of the parents came mostly on time, but a couple took longer.  So, then the kids played outside for a while and then back inside.  One of the kids still here was our neighbor and we knew that she could go home at any time, but we waited over an hour for one kids' mom to come just to find out that she told him to walk home after the party.  Both the kid and his mom failed to tell me that, so we were stuck waiting for her to come.  
It was fine and all worked out because the three kids just played more together and had fun.  Just a little annoying waiting for the mom to come.  
We sent the kids home with a goodie bad that included some cotton candy, their star wands that they painted, and the treats and prizes from Bingo.  They were all very excited about the bags.  I think the kids all had a good time and Allie loved having so many friends over.

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Allie's Birthday Dinner

Allie wanted her birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  We got a really fun waiter, and he made it extra special for Allie.  He was the loudest shouter also, the whole restaurant definitely heard that is was Allie's birthday.  She felt special and we all had a good time going out to dinner as a family celebrating our Allie.