My Sweethearts

Cooper is always telling us about the deals on "awesome" stuff he can get in Guatemala, like SpongeBob nikes. 

This little cutie's hair is finally long enough to put in a bow! She wanted to look like Rosie.

Rosie and I were bored one night when the kids were gone so we made some Valentine decorations.

One of these things is not like the others....

Mark had a great time with his BYU basketball season tickets. He made up for Cooper not being there by inviting lots of friends. This is Bishop Schow and his wife Melissa, who we serve with us in our BYU ward. They are big Ute fans, so it was fun to go to the blue and red game together. (I don't even remember who won. Prolly us.)

We had to take a picture inside the new Crumbl building to show Cooper. (We were nice not to include pictures of the goods.)

One of Mark's sisters sent him this great picture of his Mom and big brother Paul and the mumu. I wanted to get it in here. I don't know why it's black and white, but I guess we can tease Paul that not only is he from the 1900s but he is from the era of black and white film. This would be around 1970?

Leslie had a great Roundup 25th birthday party. The Auctioneer contest was legendary.

This was also Rosie's first year playing basketball. It was super cute and hilarious to see the kinds of things the girls needed to be told. Also the skipping. Here is a little sample.

She was also happy to get to sing and record one of her favorite pop songs, "Treasure," for her class talent show.

Mark and I had a great time mixing our date nights up a little by going to some of our BYU kids' events. This night we went to a swim meet to cheer some of our girls, and a comedy show where one of the guys was performing. Then we took the guys who were also there (roommates, etc.) out for dessert.

Speaking of dessert, this dishy guy is about to turn 50. We spent a lot of time gathering old pictures of Mark to show on a slideshow at his epic--seriously EPIC--Halftime Show 50th Birthday Party. I will include some of them in this post because I like them and don't know if they are online anywhere else. 

Ellie did not like that I put dishsoap bubbles on my nose--and then on her nose.

One day I pulled Macy and Luke out of school to take them to a BYU devotional. The speaker? Dallin H Oaks, prophet and president of our church. It was super cool to see people physically running into the building in order to ensure a seat.I hadn't been to a BYU devotional since my college days in the late 1990s, so I was startled to see all the laptops across the whole arena. That did make me feel old. 

Afterward, Luke was super sweet and said, "Was this the most important day of my life?"

President Oaks spoke about coming to Jesus with faith and humility and good friends. 

Cooper finds an extra friend to talk to.

Mark during his little league, wooden bat era.

Mark and his little sweetheart, Leslie

Mark, Class of 1994. Boston could have ironed his gown for him if he was around. Boss helped steam his friend's graduation gown and ended up burning his friend rather badly. Scarred him, actually. Maybe it's good that Mark left the gown alone.

Look at these two little angels! Who would've thought we'd have four more in short order!

Springtime in Canada 1999

Macy at Sweethearts with her friend Owen. I love the boots.

Apparently bangs are coming back. My BYU girls saw this picture and challenged me to do it again. I said no, then on impulse one day went and did it. What I discovered is...I have a lot thinner hair than I used to. Haha. I think the bangs will be grown out again soon.

Back when Mark had bangs, too. His are better.

This was our BYU Preference dance--the equivalent to Sweethearts. We were already engaged at this point. I remember I wore a black ribbon in my hair that was extra long, down to my waist or knees or something.

This was a clipping from Mark's senior yearbook that cracks me up. He does sing that song well, though. I guess all the girls were screaming like he was a boy band.

New daddy! Baby Leslie.

This is also baby Leslie. I think this is when we went up to Montana when my Grandma LaVonne passed away in 2000. Duke went through the Cardston Temple and we got to go with? I couldn't button my coat closed.

This is a portrait that a street artist in Paris made of Mark when he was on his mission there.

Mark had this great idea to do a physical timeline of his life for the big Halftime Show. The guests could slowly walk past this while they waited in line for their J Dawgs and chips.

See the jar in this picture, with the white lid? That's our stock of company pocket knives that Mark was supposed to be giving out at a software tradeshow in Atlanta on 9/11. The tradeshow never happened, and knives were no longer allowed on planes, anyway. Mark and a coworker drove nonstop cross country all the way home. The knives came along.

Mark's bestie Scott Teichert from High School was the emcee.

I got to speak briefly about our first date and welcome everyone. I was extra happy to get to surprise Mark by showing up in lots of rhinestones and bling. He thought I was just going to wear a T Shirt.

Luke and Rosie got the job of tossing T-shirts to the crowd. It was super cute and fun. We also had a lot of tinsel pompoms and big Number One foam hands dispersed around the room.

Our BYU kids really stole the show. Here Jacob and Tyler performed a funny juggling act to music. Then Will and Charlie played Happy Happy Birthday on their jazz instruments.

Mark's good friend Zane was the main attraction and did his fun magic show for the crowd. Everyone loved it. I was glad Leslie got to be a volunteer and that she was feeling well enough in her pregnancy to come. 

It really was a great night, Mark said probably his most fun birthday ever and one of the best nights of his life. See the 50 on his jersey?

Boston and Cooper were sad to miss the party but they sent nice messages. We wouldn't want them to be anywhere else.

 

Lots of Water and Sky

In October, Rosie was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a big day for the whole family, and we hoped our missionaries had many people to teach that week to make up for missing it. Rosie is such a good girl and an important voice in our family. I'm glad she gets to be with us here at home for a few more years!

We were glad that both Grandpa Day and Grandma Haynes could be there on Rosie's Baptism day.

The waters of baptism symbolize new birth in Christ, and that you want to be a part of His church.

While Grandma was here we took a little trip to Leatherby's Ice Cream and also to UVU's huge stained glass gallery depicting the history of the world, Roots of Knowledge. (The kids liked finding the "Easter eggs" hiding in the pictures, including Superman and Indiana Jones.)

We had to do a little photo recreation because Luke has graduated from thinking that plain vanilla is the awesomest flavor. 

We would have shared, but everyone had colds. I promise. 

For Fall Break we took a trip to Hawaii, via Las Vegas. So nice to only have to buy tickets and lodging for a family of five! 

 

Rosie is not my smileyest child, but something about the beach really brings it out in her. This is at Lanakai Beach--the calmest and prettiest of the three beaches we tried out.

This is a papaya moustache, not a frown...

Rosie made friends with a little girl who only spoke French. Luke on the right, snorkeling.

After I took this picture of Luke I was going to take one of Macy, but I looked over and she was already wiping the crumbs from her face, haha. The girl is pretty health foodie but she can appreciate a good beefy bacon avocado burger from Seven Brothers.

These are the chocolate chip macadamian pancakes with coconut syrup. Basically the size of a birthday cake. We all ate it and there was still some left. 

This is the Turtle Bay Beach, near the VRBO where we stayed. The snorkeling was the best here. We also enjoyed the bedtime family swims in the private HOA pool after dark.

Luke's favorite was Hukilau Beach, also known as Pounders for the bigger waves. 

Macy's friend did Hawaii nails for her before the trip. She liked laying out on the sand.

We loved going to the Polynesian Cultural Center and seeing the shows and activities. I love the girls' reactions in these pictures.

We also had a great ziplining adventure! But didn't want to drop our phones into the forest...so this is the only picture you get. There were upside-down spiderman poses. It was really fun. 

Macy went to Homecoming and also the Sadie Hawkins dance. It was "Dynamic Duos" themed, so she and her date decided to dress up like Liberty Mutual Insurance's Emu & Doug. 

I think this is my favorite photo-bomb of the year. Maybe the decade. 

The Elders Day are both doing great. Cooper hit his six month mark in November, and Boston hit 18 months, coming home end of May. 

My Mom's missionary rock collection is growing. Leslie and Cole already have theirs. Shown here are Boston, Cooper, my nephew Cash, and my Dad, the original. I love that Cooper's character is wearing a woven Guatemala tie.

Cooper has, thus far, gained a much needed 17 lbs on his mission, against the predictions of everyone who said he'd be sick a lot in Guatemala. He still plays a ton of basketball and hikes up mountains, so I think it's the peanut butter pancakes he makes for breakfast every morning. If only he had some nutella to put on top!

Elder Gong, an apostle in our church, came to the Antigua Mission and Cooper was able to visit with him briefly. Super cool.

So proud of these two dingalings. Who knew they'd be such awesome men?

Rosie was channeling a little Latino culture for Halloween. She was Mirabelle from Encanto. Luke was Luke Skywalker and Macy and friends were Strawberry Shortcake characters.

We were plenty busy having way too much fun with our BYU Freshman ward. We hosted a few dinners and also football watching parties. Mark is too funny. I think at this game we had like 45 kids over, and he ordered pizza. Instead of just bringing it all in from the car himself, he had the boys bring it in and stack it assembly line style, and everyone kept cheering the higher the pizza tower got. 

Luke, 7th grade. Aaaalmost got his braces off in time for pictures. 

Macy's braces came off a while ago and I love her pearly white chiclet smile. She's rocking her junior year and is hoping to maintain her gpa.

For Thanksgiving I sent the missionary boys a fun little throwback card. 

Grandma Frances passed away in early December. We will miss her but know she is in a better place and back to full memory. 

Grandma with Macy

Grandma with Boston. This one is extra special because she joined the family not too long before Boston was born. Since she'd had no children of her own, I invited her to attend his delivery. Grandpa said that it was one of the highlights of her new life and she talked about it often to him.

Mark had fun being the brisket server at the ward party. 

Rosie dressed up like an elf one day. I love the snowflakes on her leggings.

She and her friends helped me make old fashioned vinegar popcorn balls for a different party. They were a hit. 

We drove someone to the airport and took a detour to Temple Square. Macy also was able to sing the choir Christmas songs in the Tabernacle again. Here is a clip from her school concert trio.

I had some good Grandma time with Elise. (This was while she was waiting for us to install her carseat.) She will be a big sister in July!

That uke is hiding a baby bump. Leslie sang her "Cole for Christmas" song for us on Christmas Eve. Sooo funny and good. We were glad their family could come for our traditional "Favorite Things" dinner.

Santa had light work this year with only three kiddos to gift! And they liked helping me wrap presents.

I did not buy him that shirt. He got it for himself because he thought it was funny. 

Some of my gifts were hostess themed since we host lots of BYU parties and dinners.

This cracked me up. As the youngest child, Rosie knows that the "school ornaments" have their own special place...

I really was looking forward to our little New Year's cabin getaway, maybe even more than Christmas. Mark and I got engaged on New Year's eve 1998 while snowmobiling in Beaver, and it seemed high time that our family had a retreat. We'll call it part celebration, part adventure, part quiet time to interview each family member about their wins of the year and their goals for the new year. We went to Moab. The weather was perfect and beautiful and we went on some fun hikes. The parks were not crowded. The cabin (and hot tub) were great, and the food at Pasta Jay's was as good as always, worth the hype. I think we need to make it a tradition. now that we are grandparents and will want time with each of our kids' families. This seemed like a good spot.

This was a really fun hike to Corona arch. You can see how huge it is. Afterwards, we went to a diner and on the wall was an old photo of an airplane flying through the arch. 

Corona arch in the background of this one. I like hiking on slick rock. Nice and clean.

Rosie and Luke had fun playing on this rope swing by the cabin. The funniest part was that a curious goat with big horns hopped the fence and the kids had to make a run for it...

Wilson arch. It's a bit of a scramble to get up there, but Rosie was determined to do it with the teenagers. She was super proud of herself and kept bringing it up the whole trip.

Canyonlands

Arches Natl Park: the Windows area. I was teasing them that since everyone had their phone out they should take a picture of each other.

Park Place hike in Arches. All the little puddles were reflecting the clouds and super pretty. 

Park Place hike with the 3 Kings in the background. Macy brought our honorary daughter Danika Bananika.

Dead Horse Point--one of our favorites--was not exactly as expected, haha. (Usually looks like the Grand Canyon.) It felt like that one scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when he walks over the abyss.

Macy and Rosie being silly in the cabin. 

Here's to a New Year! It will be fun to see what's around the corner.