Basketball, Volleyball, and Take Your Child to Work Day

Landon had a job shadow day on March 3rd.  We thought long and hard about who would be a good fit for him to shadow.  Landon can be pretty easy going, but he had strong feelings and vetoed nearly every option we had for him.  He really wanted to shadow a Utah Jazz player, but we just didn't know how to make that happen.  Our best option was to have my parents' friend, who works at the Vivint Smart Home Arena, take him to work.  Landon kind of liked that idea, but sadly it fell through.  Ultimately, he came with me to work and I showed him around EnerBank.  He especially liked the kitchen area because my co-worker bought him a candy.  Landon was also pretty excited to walk over to Harmon's and get lunch with me.  We picked out several things to eat, including sushi.  He didn't love it, but did like some of the other things we ate. 

While I worked, I had Landon work on getting his license for riding an ATV.  Now when we go, he can actually drive legally.  Jill came to EnerBank to pick him up a little after lunch so he could get some play time in with friends.  I'm not sure he loved it, but I really enjoyed having him join me for the day. 

After a really great season, we celebrated Landon's Jr. Jazz basketball season with a team party.  We've done it in the past and the boys all really seem to like getting together again.  They were able to eat, laugh, and play basketball.  

Some girls came by and crashed our party.  I thought it was great, but some of the boys were pretty embarrassed.  My favorite part of this picture is Luke Wenerstrom, who was totally hiding behind Tyler. He was so embarrassed about getting his picture taken with these girls.

Landon played well and had a lot of fun with his friends this season.  I enjoyed coaching this group of boys.  We played on Monday nights, and because of two Monday holidays, his season went much later into the year than usual.  It felt a little drawn out, but it was still a great season.

Logan also played Jr. Jazz this year and had quite a few boys from his school and football team on his team.  They went undefeated and had a very good season.  It was different in the high school division, though, because all of the games were late in the evenings.  He even had games that began at 9:30 p.m.  It was a challenge to take the other children to his games to support him.  We were all so tired by the time we got home.  We're glad he had a great season.

The boys were also able to play church ball this year.  I coached Landon and the rest of the teachers team and Logan played with the priests.  Both teams moved on to regions, which was fun.  

Alyssa had a lot of fun on her basketball team this year too.  She was randomly placed on a team with a coach that had coached her in kindergarten.  She really improved this year and did a great job!  She also had a really fun time at a volleyball camp that was held after the basketball season.  She thinks volleyball is her sport and really enjoys it.  I committed to coaching her team for the upcoming spring season.

Snowshoeing in Cedar City

We had so much fun snowshoeing into the cabin last year that we decided to do it again this year.  We stayed at the Springhill Suites again and enjoyed the breakfasts and space for five people to sleep.  On the drive down, Logan got some time behind the wheel.  He drove a couple of hours before it turned dark.  I took over and finished the drive to Cedar City. 

We met up with everyone and visited and laughed in the lobby.  Mom and Dad, Shanel and Brian, and Jill and I were staying at the Springhill while Jake and Becky Jo were staying at the Courtyard.  It's always great to be together.

In the morning we left on a run toward the "C" but the snow level came down too low, so we ran the trail system behind the hotel instead.

Breakfast is always nice.

After breakfast, we headed up the canyon.  We enjoyed snowshoeing up the cabin road and a few sledding breaks.

We got in a family picture. 

We all had fun playing in the snow.  It was nice that everyone reached the cabin.

Rather than hike down the road, we walked over to the slide and ran down through the deep powder.  The snow was deep and we kept getting stuck because the powder was so deep.

After snowshoeing we ate lunch at the Pizza Factory and then did baptisms at the temple.  After a pretty full day, we drove home Saturday evening.  There was a blizzard so it was crazy driving home, but we finally made it and slept great that night.  

4th Grade Program and Counties Report

One of the highlights of the fourth grade is participating in the fourth grade program, centered on Utah history.  Alyssa has been so excited to participate!  She and her class spent months learning the songs about Utah and the dances.  She also spent a lot of time in class writing her county report.  She chose Washington County and was excited because she thought she could write about Seattle.  We reminded her that Washington County is different than Washington State, but she could still write about St. George!

In addition to writing a report about the county, she also had to make a 3D model.  She worked hard on her model of a slot canyon (with a little help from Jill).  They made orange salt dough for the canyon and glass beads for the river that cut through the rock.

The program was held on Thursday, February 20th.  The kids were all asked to wear white shirts and bandanas.

Alyssa danced so well and sang loud and proud.  Her favorite song to sing was "Utah."  We were really proud of her.  

A fun part of the program is the dancing.  Alyssa participated in the Virgina Reel.  Her partner was shorter than her, but she was a good sport about that.

Grandma Bunkall had a conflict, but Grandpa Bunkall came and so did Grandma and Grandpa Bryant. After the program, families were invited to the classroom to see all of the children's county reports and view their 3D models.

Meanwhile in middle school, our boys have one class together.  It's a leadership class called SOAR.  They received their SOAR hoodies this week and gladly showed them off.  Can you see how happy they were to show us?

Way to make us proud boys.

Valentine's Day and Elder Holland

Valentine's Day was a special day for Logan.  He and Landon had the day off of school, so Jill took him to the DMV so he could receive his learners permit.  With a learners permit, he can drive a car as long as a parent is in the passenger seat.  He'll have to track his driving minutes and log 30 hours of daylight driving and 10 hours of nighttime hours, before he can get his official license when he turns 16.  He was pretty excited and can't wait to get behind the wheel. 

For Valentine's dinner we ate steak at home.  The children have really been loving meat so everyone was happy.  We pulled out our china and enjoyed feeling fancy for the night.

After dinner, Jill melted some chocolate and we dipped pretzels, wafer cookies, and Oreos.  Calli joined us for the fun.

On the Sunday after Valentine's Day, Elder Holland visited our Stake Conference.  The day before Jill was able to spend a good portion of the day in training with Elder Holland. From 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. she attended a leadership conference and then from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. she attended a youth leadership meeting.  The meetings were held at a stake center in Herriman so it was a bit of a drive, and she was supposed to be seated 30 minutes early.  It was a full day for her, but she was grateful to have the chance to listen to an apostle speak.

Jill loved hearing from Elder Holland, Elder Christensen, and Elder Wetzel.  Elder Holland began the meeting expressing appreciation for the gift of time and the gift of heart that the audience gave in their callings.  He said the miracle of this church is its lay leadership.  Our service in the church is its lifeblood. He also shared a parable that President Packer had shared years ago.  A farmer found a pearl of great price in his field and made a beautiful box to display it.  He arranged for a building and a time so people could come and see his pearl.  After one day, he closed the display in frustration because the people coming to see the pearl only noticed the box.  Elder Holland likened this to us getting so preoccupied about things in the church that we fail to recognize what is at the heart of everything we do--Jesus Christ.  The Savior should be the center of all we do.

Elder Holland also spoke about the new Children and Youth program and how it is their best effort to save the youth of the church.  This program is designed to help the youth focus more consciously on the Savior.  

After an hour or so, the group was excused to take a break in the cultural hall.  Returning to the chapel after the break, the group began to gather and talk.  Elder Holland went to the stand and boldly said, "Brothers and Sisters, this is the sanctuary! Be reverent."  It was immediately quiet after that.  The group certainly felt chastened.

Sunday morning, the doors to our stake center opened at 7:00 a.m.  Brian Ludlow had opted to go early (about 6:45 a.m.) so he could get a soft seat in the chapel.  Stake Conference was at 10:00 a.m. so he had a long morning of waiting.  I went at 8:00 to give him a spell, but he stayed and we quietly visited until the conference began at 10:00 a.m.  Usually our family likes to go to Building 11 and watch conference on the TV feed.  This time, though, we squeezed in with the Ludlows in the stake center.  We are so glad we could attend the conference and see Elder Holland speak in person.  

Our children enjoyed the meeting, but thought Elder Holland was a bit stern.  At one point in his talk, he thumped his fist against the pulpit and said, "You can't deny the evidence!"  He said that we should not doubt the evidence we see in our lives (Book of Mormon, temples, etc.).  Then a few minutes later he said, "I would like to retract something I said, it's okay to have doubts....."  Everyone took note of how passionate he was.  He said that he is bold about this because the gospel means everything to him.

We had really good seats.  Even though we were in the chapel, I felt like I had to take a quick picture so we could remember this meeting and how great it was to be so close to an apostle.

Skiing

The boys and I got in quite a few ski trips this year.  We went on Saturday nights and sometimes took a friend.  This night we took Mason Chandler. 

My co-worker, Scott Jones, and I went skiing at Deer Valley and had a blast!  We took a vacation day from work and it was so gorgeous.  There was a beautiful blue sky, it wasn't very crowded, and the snow was beautiful.  We had so much fun.

For $25 you can get this for lunch at Deer Valley.  Yikes--it's so expensive!

My favorite run was green.  This was a pretty cool name for a run.

On March 14th we went skiing and it turned out to be the last time anyone could ski in Utah.  There is a pandemic going on with the COVID-19 virus.  Ski resorts closed as the world pretty much shut down (more on that later).  

Quite a few neighbors came skiing with us that night.  We took Hyrum Barlow and Hudson with us and met up with John Nielson and his children and Mark and Jonathan Mathews.  We had a lot of fun skiing with everyone and going on different runs.  Tate is a really good skier and took us on some really fun parts of the mountain that we hadn't been to before.  Mark is a good skier, too.  Jonathan and Hudson spent a lot of time together on the Magestic lift.  Skiing with lots of people made for a really fun trip.

After skiing, we ate a late dinner at Cafe Rio before heading home.

Band, Super Bowl, Dancing, and Basketball

The 9th grade band classes put on a concert with the high school band to get everyone excited for being in the band next year.  I missed this concert, but Jill went and said it was really nice. Sadly, Logan isn't going to be in the band next year.  He likes playing the trumpet and has enjoyed band, but he just can't fit it into his schedule. 

It was a busy night!  In addition to his concert, Alyssa had a basketball practice at 7:30 and then Logan played a basketball game at 9:20!  Now that Logan is in the high school division of Jr. Jazz, they play on Thursday nights and often have late games.  We still take the family to cheer, which is fun, but it is hard for all the kids to get up for school the next morning after these late games.  The high school division doesn't have weekly practices, it's just games for them.  Alyssa's team practices on Thursday nights and plays on Saturdays.  Landon's team, that I'm coaching again, practices on Friday evenings and plays on Monday nights.  Our Saturdays aren't as busy, which is nice, but it is busy all week long!

The EnerBank year end party was held on February 1st.  Jill and I joined up with some of the North Carolina team at the Little America Hotel. We had a fun night eating good food and hearing about the successes of EnerBank. 

Sadly, we didn't take any pictures of our annual Super Bowl party with the Bryant family.  We ate meatballs, spinach and artichoke dip, nachos, and veggies.  We ate until we were all stuffed.  We also ate some really great treats: cookies and pink popcorn.  We missed being with Jake and Becky Jo (who were traveling in Spain) but had a great time with the rest of the family.  In the end, the Chiefs beat the 49'ers 31-20.  We were happy to see Coach Andy Reid win.

The week before Valentine's Day, our stake hosted a dance for adults.  Jill and I went and had a great time.  Around the dance floor were tables with games to play, which was fun.  A couple taught some dance steps, so we were able to practice our waltzing skills.  We had fun mingling with friends from our ward and others in our stake.

One of the benefits of our ward being moved to the stake center, is that we now see others from the stake on a regular basis.  Before, we saw people at church, but never got to know them because they were in an entirely different stake.  Now, everyone we bump into in the halls is in our stake.  Going to this dance was fun, because we recognized a lot more people than we have before.

Alyssa has had a lot of fun playing on her Jr. Jazz team this year.  She was excited to know she got the "messy hair coach" again.  He coached her in kindergarten.  Landon gave him this nickname, since he regularly showed up with uncombed hair!  He and his dad do a great job coaching the girls. Alyssa surprised us this year when she said she wanted to play basketball again.  She has loved playing and even scored a basket this year!

The way the schedule worked, her team finished their season weeks before Logan and Landon.  Her coach was nice to buy trophies for the girls.  It was a really fun season for Alyssa!