Cool treats and hand golf with the Smiths and again with the Lillywhites

We had fun getting together with the Smith kids the other night.  First we went to Digby's and had Pineapple Whips and other cool treats and enjoyed catching up on things happening with them.  Then we headed over to the Red Cliffs Golf Course.  It closes to golfers at 8 pm.  After that they don't care if people come in and take walks.  Paul and I like to go in the summer because it is so much cooler to walk there because of the greens and also because they have giant sprinklers going that you can enjoy walking through the spray of!  We brought some balls we had found on other walks and showed the kids how we play hand golf.  We played a few holes and then just enjoyed walking the greens and getting cooled off in the sprinklers.  They also liked making some  poses on a big rock on one of the greens.  It was a fun evening with Kaebri, Tasia, Zade and Trigg.  

Since we had so much fun with the Smith kids, we decided to do it again this time with Brenden, Eliza and Kai!  We had yummy treats again at Digby's.  It was a Saturday night, and maybe that's why we encountered a lot of after hours golfers on the course.  We kind of had to work around them, but we still had fun in the cool and green and wet of the golf course.  I should have taken more pics.  Another fun grand 'edventure' for the books!  Brenden could  throw so far! Kai amazed us with  how far he could throw too!  And Eliza amazed us all with getting one hole done in only 2 shots!  

Grand Edventure with the Smith Kids

 

We had good times with Tasia, Zade and Trigg at Fiesta Fun - miniature golfing and then at Dairy Queen for treats afterwards.  We went on the last day of our school Spring Break!  It was a fun time and a great way to finish it off!

Grand edventure date - Eliza and Trigg

 Eliza and Trigg were our dates for mini golf yesterday.  It was a little wild and crazy with not too many rules to follow - you could help that ball along in a lot of different ways if needed.  But we had fun and that's what matters.  Time in the car on the way to after treats was spent singing the family song book complete with There's a Hole in the Bucket revised to Dear Trigg and Dear Liza!  Trigg loved singing La Cucaracha because he remembers singing it with his mom.  We had to sing along to a few versions of Sea Shanty too.  We hear that school is good with them.  And Eliza gave us a little preview of a song she and a friend will be singing in church.  It's good to see them growing up and being confident in their abilities.  Hopes of the future!  

Date Night with Kaebri - grand edventure

 

We caught an afternoon matinee with Kaebri for her date to see this movie/concert.  It was crazy trying to find matching schedules, but she was able to make it from work just in time for the beginning.  Afterwards we grabbed a quick dinner at Panda Express just in time for her to get off to her evening class!  Life is busy at her age, but this was totally worth the rush.  What a beautiful concert/movie experience.  The performance by the musicians - singing and playing of instruments was awesome.  

"Embrace the hope of Easter and experience the power of the last week of Christ's mortal ministry as told through the internationally acclaimed musical event, Lamb of God. This unique concert film brings award winning composer Rob Gardner's music to the big screen for the first time as audiences are able to see a new orchestration and new soloists perform a work that has been compared to Handel's Messiah and Mozart's Requiem. Witness Lamb of God as never before seen."

Oops!  So rushed we forgot to take any pics!  

Let the grand edventure dates begin - 2021

We got off to a great start with Eden and Ellie when we attended St. George Musical Theather's production of The Secret Garden.  It was very well done and good, but kind of a different way of presenting it than in the book or movie.  We had fun hanging out before and after too getting treats at the store and then playing a round of Hells-a-Poppin' afterwards.  These girls are growing up to be beautiful young ladies.  Wow!  

The final 'Grand Edventure' date of the year!

 It was hard to get this last date to happen.  We had hoped to take Zade, Koen, Noah and Brenden together like we try to do most of the time.  But Zade was under quarantine at the time and Noah was not available.  We took Brenden and Koen, but still needed to take the other two to finish this year's dates.  Then we were going to try again and Zade was again under quarantine!  So here we are down to the wire for this year and finally both boys were available at the same time!  We took them mini golfing at the same place we took the other two.  And they had a blast.  I don't think either one had been mini golfing much, but they picked it up and did a good job of being encouraging to each other while they improved their games.  Paul and I actually didn't do as well as usual.  Noah was pretty excited that he ended up winning.  It was fun to listen to these guys talk computer games and do a little cousin bonding in the back seat on the way to and from.  We didn't have a clue what they were talking about, but they left hoping to be able to get together on-line to play.  I call that a win.  We stopped at Burger King for ice cream and French fries and called it a good date!  And another year of dates is completed!  

Brookside to Baker - always a favorite little hike

Saturday afternoon we hiked one of our favorites.  We had hoped to see the leaves changing, but they were pretty much all off from a little cold snap a bit ago.  But it was still as beautiful as always.  No matter what the season, this little hike never disappoints.  We couldn't figure out why the water was so high after such a dry year, but when we got to the top we found that they are doing a lot of work on this old earthen dam from some damage that occurred a few years ago during a high water time and they are in the process of draining the lake right now. On the way back down we decided to try the little wild grapes that were still on the dried up vines.  They were so good!  We ate quite a few handfuls of them each.  There are a lot of seeds per each grape, but it was worth it.    It was interesting to see the work being done.  I always take too many pictures on this hike because it's just so pretty!  It was pretty cool and windy, but we loved it!

Gaige gets a redo date

When we took Gaige cross country skiing for his date earlier this year it started out well, but then he seemed to just feel worse and worse.  Don't know if it was altitude related or what.  (The next day he was sick at home and a few days later I got sick too.)  He toughed it out pretty well, but I felt bad that his date was not a great day for him at all.  Spur of the moment the other evening we decided to go miniature golfing and that sounded like something that he might enjoy so we got him to come along and it was a better date than the other one was for him.  He's a fun kids to hang out with! 

Madi, Tahlia and Essie - into the wild Grand Edventure date!

They were in town for their Tolman reunion and after the rest of the gang went home, their part of the family stayed in town with us for an extra few days.  And that meant we could take them on a date to the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum.  And it was so FUN!  They loved all of the animals and they liked the insect room too.  And they even watched the hunting movie at the end pretty well.  But they had so much fun in the children's room with all of the props to play like they were camping, to pet actual bears and deer skins and to just use their imagination to play.  It was fun to watch them enjoy themselves that way and to enjoy being with each other.  

After the fun at the museum we got lunch at Wendy's and took it to a park and ate it despite the wind trying to blow it away and then played on the toys some.  Next we went to another park to see the baby swans!  Then it was time to get them back to Mom and Dad!  Another 'grand edventure' date was accomplished!

We also enjoyed our Sunday time together by watching Music and Spoken Word, having a wonderful SS Lesson led by Jay and Brynn and watching a B of M movie that went with it, singing and sharing the sacrament blessed and passed by Jay and Paul. We took a drive up to very cool Pine Valley and spent some picnic time at the little Nature Center picnic area up there. The girls also loved having Bean play with them (should have gotten pics).  After naps and movie break we had delicious German Pancakes and bacon cooked by Jay and Brynn!  During the weekend we also had Derek and kids and Moss, Christie and kids over for dinner on Friday night and then Supe, Beacher and the Borrowmans over on Saturday night.  Bean and I (and Moss and Christie and kids) also got to enjoy swimming with them on Friday afternoon at the Arcadia Resort where they had been staying with their Tolman family reunion.  We missed seeing the Randalls and the Weavers from Enoch and Cedar, but look forward to spending time with them at our Family Uncamp coming right up.  

Outdoor social distancing adventures of late

We've been taking hikes to places where not many people are - none at all here this day - and have greatly enjoyed getting out during this time of  "social distancing" because of the Coronivirus.  Feel just a little guilty about enjoying my time off work and it being hard times for many.  This day we took the hike on part of the Red Hill where Supe and Ari go for walks.  We love that all of the recent rains have filled up the pond at the top of the hike.  And this time we even saw a baby desert tortoise!  

Red Mountain Trail - this hike was perfect!  The weather was just right, it had been raining long enough to make lots of beautiful pools, but was sunny this day and the sand was all packed with water instead of being terrible to hike in.  We think we did 12-15 miles and it felt good!  We love this place.  I think this was the best time I've ever done this trail.  We saw a few people, but were able to keep our "social distance" as prescribed at this time.  Pictures can't even begin to do this beautiful place justice!

Last Saturday morning we took a beautiful bike ride up the West Canyon Trail in Snow Canyon!  It felt good!  Then in the afternoon we took Zade and Trigg to escape from being so much in the house and went to Supe's Pond again.  They had never been and loved seeing it and also the little side hike over to Courgar Rock.  Afterwards we stopped in at the drive through at BK for some ice cream cones and then took a ride around the St. George Temple to see how the renovation work is coming along.  It was such a fun time!  We had originally planned to go on a different shorter hike close to their house, but it was covered with people, so this turned out much better - we didn't run into anyone else.