Firsts in February

February 9, 2018

1st time attending Family Fun Night with the boys!

Josh and I took the boys to their school for Family Fun Night and the boys had a blast!  In fact, we hardly saw them the whole evening, as they immediately connected with friends and went off in opposite directions.  But we happened to be near by when Versii posed for a picture with a group of friends.

February 10, 2018

1st Year Lacrosse Player:

Paxton is starting Lacrosse this year.  

Official practices will start in March.

This was his first Lacrosse clinic to be outfitted in all his gear.  We picked it up for him that morning.

He's excited to learn it!

 Paxton is the one coming from the left, in the white helmet.

1st Time watching a Lacrosse Game!

 Later in the afternoon, we attended a college Lacrosse game that was held here in Camas.  This is a photo of Paxton out on the field getting ready to have his picture taken, along with all the other kids in Lacrosse this year, with both college teams.

Pax 1st Time running a Parkour Course!

Right after the game, Paxton had a birthday party to attend for his friend Drew.  They had an American Ninja Warrior party at Forge Parkour, in Portland.  Paxton just loved it! 

 February 11, 2018

Pax making his 1st plans to "Dumpster Dive".

This really made us laugh!  Why Pax?!

Step 1: Turn Crazy

Step 2: Get used to the smell.

Step 3: Go for it!

He's gotten the idea in his head that he wants to turn trash into treasure.

 1st Time Face Timing with Penelope.

After our trip together in the Dominican Republic, P just loves us and wanted to Face Time.  She's so cute!  As soon as I answered, she had a big grin and then says, "Where's Josh?  Where's Josh?"  She wanted to see us both together!

 Kaden attends his 1st Concert! 

Josh had purchased tickets to see Dan Auerbach, who is the lead singer and guitarist for one of his favorite bands, The Black Keys.  And then on the night of the concert, he didn't feel like going, so he asked Kaden if he'd like to invite a friend and he'd drive them.  So Kaden and his best friend Gabe ended up going to the concert together.  It was a first for both of them and they had a great time!  

(Above is one of several photos and video clips Kaden took during the concert, at the Crystal Ballroom, in Portland.)

 February 13, 2018

1st time making slime!

Paxton had been asking for weeks to make slime.  So I finally collected all the ingredients and we tried 2 different recipes.  The first was using Elmer's glue, water  and Borax.  But we didn't like the consistency and it felt really granulated.  On the second attempt, we used a recipe that called for Elmer's glue, saline and baking soda.  That recipe was a success!  It was both smooth and slimy, the way one imagines slime to be.  

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February 16, 2018

Kaden's 1st Paycheck!  

The boys had no school, so Josh had Kaden go to work with him for the day.  He spent his day reviewing logs for discrepancies and Josh said he did a great job!  Kaden said it was easy work and was super excited to come home with a check for $70.  Not bad for his 1st day of work! 

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February 16, 2018

Josh and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary!

Although celebrating our anniversary is not a 1st, it is the first time we'll celebrate 12!

The above photo was taken 2 days after we were married, February 18, 2006, and is our 1st family photo.

 This is our 1st photo together after being sealed for Time and All Eternity in the Portland Oregon Temple 

on November 28, 2008.

 And here we are on our 12th Anniversary, getting ready to go out to dinner at Smokehouse Provisions (a BBQ Place) for the 1st time.  And then we drove into Downtown Portland for dessert at Papa Hayden's.  We both tried new desserts: Josh had a lemon cake and I had this.  It was a pistachio cake, topped with passion fruit frozen yogurt and raspberry sorbet surrounded by a toasted meringue topping. It was pretty tasty!  I always enjoy spending time out as just the two of us!  Love this man of mine so much!  Happy Anniversary Josh!

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 February 20, 2018

1st Time sending my kids off to school while it's snowing!

It was lightly snowing this morning when I left to take Kaden to Seminary.  And by the time the boys went to leave for school, 2 and ½ hours later, it was really coming down and starting to stick to the street.  I can't remember ever having snow like this and there being school.

The snow is still coming down pretty consistently, so we'll see what the rest of the day will bring.  Originally it was not forecasted to start snowing until the evening, and they say it will warm up to 36 degrees by 1pm and start raining...but it's the Northwest and forecast can change quickly around here!

*Update, it's still snowing and the schools ended up closing early and the boys were all home by 1:30pm

Our Last Day in the Dominican

 February 5, 2018: Our last day in the Dominican Republic, Josh and I woke up super early and decided to drive to Altos de Chavon, in La Romana, which is about an hour and a half drive from Punta Cana.  We left the hotel at 7am and drove through the town of Higuey during their morning rush hour.  Traffic rules do not appear to be widely used in the Dominican.  They do have a few stop lights and stop signs, but we didn't see many in Higuey and everyone just seemed to drive wherever and how ever they please.  

Here's a montage of video clips from our drive through Higuey.  I'm very glad that Josh was driving and not me.

The driving was so chaotic in Higuey, I was glad when we finally made it out of the city.

Entering Altos de Chavon.

A 16th Century replica Mediterranean village situated on a cliffside overlooking the Chavon River.

 A panoramic view.

St. Stanislaus Church, consecrated the year I was born, in 1979. 

Josh found himself a band!

 A 5,000 seat amphitheater.

 Treasure found at sea, made into jewelry.

Altos de Chavon is full of beauty.  I wish we could have spent more time there, since we went early, many of the shops were not yet open for the day.  But definitely worth the drive!  Just be careful on the stones after it's been raining.  Right after this picture, it slipped on some mud and fell right on my knee...got mud all over my pants and a big bruise!
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After leaving La Romana, we drove back to our hotel.  Along the way, we stopped for gas and saw this fruit stand.

Josh with the giant Hard Rock sign right before we hurried and packed up for the airport.  Crystal and Matt decided at the last minute to extend their stay, so we were off for our flight without them.  We returned our rental car, went through security...

...and then another line for customs.  We had just enough time to grab some lunch before boarding our flight to JFK.  Once we landed in JFK, entering the US through Customs was time consuming, but definitely smoother than I imagined.  They had machines that could scan your passports and on-screen questions that you answered, then waiting in line to get your passport stamped by customs, picking up all your checked bags and rechecking them at the counter.  Then we took a train over to the concourse we were to depart from and out into the cold New York night to walk over to the next building, where we went back through security again.  Re-entering the United States is quite the process.  We made it to our gate just in time to grab a slice of pizza and board our flight to Salt Lake.  By the time we arrived in Salt Lake and had our bags, we had been traveling in and out of airports for over 12 hours.  We stayed in a hotel near the airport and then back to catch our flight to Portland at 6am on February 6th.  We finally arrived back home around 9:30am.  Travel time to the Dominican Republic is long.
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We had a fantastic time! But we were glad to get home.
Thanks so much Mom and Dad for watching our boys while we were away!  It was a relief knowing they were in good hands.