February, Part 2 - Slot Canyons with Friends

Our big event for February was a quick day trip to Slot Canyons in New Mexico. Our friends, the Andersons, planned a trip to check out the hiking and camping spot around Slot Canyons and invited other families to join them so we went and the Deca family went. Slot Canyons are outside Las Cruces, NM which is only about 45 minutes away from us. We drove out Saturday morning and met up at a pizza place in Las Cruces for lunch before traveling the final 20 minutes to the start of the hiking trails. With three families, we took an entire section of the restaurant and everyone sat with the kids their ages so here’s the table of tweens - Tessa, Aubrey, and Rianne.

And here was the table of teenagers - Abby, Caleb, Danen, Braelinn, and Ethan. It’s always more fun to go on trips with friends. Once we left the restaurant, the kids split up in the cars too so they could ride with their friends.

And finally, here’s the table of littles - Taryn, Ashleigh, and Presley. We ended up with these fun girls and the tweens in our van as we drove the rest of the way. They loved singing loudly in the car and having fun.

The building next to the pizza place had a giant mural on the side of the building that faced the parking lot where we parked. Since we were the first family to arrive, we had some time to waste, so we walked over and took some pictures by the mural. The girls thought it was pretty cool. The drawings and details were pretty amazing.

After eating but before driving to the slot canyons, our girls wanted to take the other girls over to the mural to take their own pictures. You can see the full mural better in these pictures, and the girls thought it would be fun to jump in their picture and I thought they made for some really cute pictures.

When we made it to the start of the hiking trail, we parked on the side of the road and made sure we had everything we needed to start the hike. Kristina was hoping to plan a father/daughter camp out in the summer, so she wanted to see if this hike was doable for little kids if they were to camp here. We took a picture of all of the kids from the three families where we started the hike.

We had to hike a little ways in on flat dirt paths to get to where the entrance to the canyons began. We took another picture of the kids getting ready to start their adventure. It was a beautiful day and the kids were ready to explore with their friends.

The slot canyons were amazing and the rock formations leading up to the actual canyons were pretty cool themselves. The kids kept finding more and more places they wanted to climb and have their picture taken. It was fun to let them explore and climb and just enjoy nature.

Inside the slot canyons was so cool. The walls were so tall and some of the walkways were very narrow. The walls sometimes even curved or were high enough that the sun was blocked and it was pretty chilly. The views were just amazing, and it seemed like a very simple hike that anyone of any age could do. Here’s Tessa near one of the tall walls and our family as we hiked inside the canyons.

There were a lot of hidden slots and spaces that the kids found. Aubrey hid here until I caught up with her and then wanted her picture taken there. You can tell from the colors that this was deeper in the canyons where the sun was not reaching although you can see at the right edge of the picture where the sun was still shining. I thought Aubrey’s silly face in the first picture was pretty funny. I love when the girls have fun outside and enjoy the outdoors.

Abby took this selfie of us while we hiked through the canyons. You can find certain spots where the sun would shine down in just one spot here or there. It made for some really pretty lightings when taking pictures.

Here’s Abby with her best friend Braelinn. They were at the back of the hiking group because they stopped the most to take pictures. As we hiked out of the main canyons hiking spot, the younger kids who had rushed through the hike found some rocks to hang out on while the older kids finally made their way out of the canyons.

We had this picture taken of the moms, me with Kristina and Niki. You can see how high the walls go and the curvature of the canyon walls. It really was so beautiful. We also got a picture of all the parents together. It was harder finding spots wide enough for larger group pictures because some of the walkways were so narrow as you can kind of tell from this second picture.

  

The teenagers finally made it out to the waiting spot and got to rest while the younger kids explored the open terrain. The girls were more accommodating to have their picture taken, but the boys didn’t seem to mind too much when I found them for a picture.

Outside of the canyons, there were still open hiking paths that we followed for awhile. We found a tiny trail off the beaten path that we decided to follow and it took us up to a very high point on this hilltop. Kristina stayed behind at first to get a picture of everyone up there. It was beautiful up there, but I kept getting nervous as all the kids roamed around and there were so many edges since it wasn’t very big up there.

We did take family pictures at the very top so you could see some of the view that we saw from up there. It was very pretty and I love having family pictures.

It was pretty steep getting up and down to the top hill, but the kids thought it was fun. We had some kids who blazed the trails to show us the way, and others who moved more slowly and cautiously and would freak out if they felt like they got hurt at all. But with all of the older kids and adults, we were able to hike around without any injuries and with lots of fun pictures.

As we came down from the hill and followed another hiking path, we stopped for pictures on the way. There was this hill with some rocks that made for a good picture spot for the kids so I got a picture of my kids after some of the other families did the same thing with their kids. I took this closeup picture of Taryn and Ashleigh as they did most of their hiking and exploring together.

A couple final pictures that I wanted included were some selfies as we walked back through the canyons to get back to our cars. Here I am with Taryn and Tyler even let me take a picture of us together even though he really doesn’t like being in pictures. He did take his new camera that he got for Christmas so he could take some of his own pictures, but he prefers to be the photographer than the subject and he was taking some good nature shots of our views.

As we walked back through the canyons, we had all the kids find places to climb the wall so I could take a video of them saying hi as I walked down the canyon. You can tell in this first picture how narrow the walkway is, but all the climbing spots where kids could find ledges to stand on or crevices to hide in like Aubrey’s hiding spot.

We were able to set up one of the phones on a timer to take a picture of the entire group - all three families. All of our kids are close in age and all of the adults get along really well, so we had a great time together. It was so much fun. This is right at the mouth of the canyons as we came out at the end of the hike.

February, Part 1 - Aubrey's Birthday, Tessa's UIL, Abby's Volleyball, Gila Valley Temple Trip

February always starts with Aubrey’s birthday. She turned 11 on February 10th. With our weekly Kasibbons dinners (Sunday dinners with our family and the Kasallis family), Aubrey got to pick the families that joined us for dinner and Audrey made the dessert of Aubrey’s choosing. She picked Audrey’s raspberry bars and she asked the Kandersons and the Rahls to join us for dinner. One family from church and one family from school. It was fun celebrating her birthday with friends and family.

Aubrey’s actual birthday was on a Monday this year, so I took this picture of Aubrey before she left for school that morning. She was very particular about what she was going to wear to school that day and how she wanted her hair. She’s definitely the Diva of the house and the most fashion minded. She loves everything Abby does and wants to be a teenager just like her already. She even had some of her closest friends at school wear blue (her favorite color) on her birthday to honor her. Who thinks of this stuff? Aubrey does which is why we love her! We went out to eat for her birthday that night and she chose Olive Garden. The waitress was really nice and brought out a dessert plate with “Happy Birthday” written in raspberry sauce. The birthday hat she had Aubrey wear was a hairnet so we all got a good chuckle. Happy Birthday Aubrey!

  

Valentine’s Day always follows Aubrey’s birthday. We didn’t have any big plans; however, Abby did. She wanted to make Tyler and I dinner. So she and her sisters and her friend, Sabrina, made all the plans, found a recipe, and prepared us a lovely dinner for Valentine’s. They made a salad and an Italian sausage pasta dish that was delicious. They set the table fancy, used candles, and served us each course of the meal. They even turned on music and Taryn danced for us for entertainment. It was so cute. I was very impressed. Abby had even made a playlist of romantic music to play in the background. It was even better when some of the songs from our wedding video played on the playlist. I thought it was a nice touch. It was a great evening that we really enjoyed. It may have to become a new tradition. We loved it and we love our girls and the awesome ideas they have.

At the very beginning of February, Tessa had Solo and Ensemble for band. She prepared two solos this year and a percussion ensemble. She is not a huge fun of playing/performing in front of large crowds, but I’m always very proud of her for doing hard things and overcoming her challenges. This year she prepared a solo on the marimba and another one on the steel pan like last year. I took this picture of her with a few of her band friends while they waited to get started.

Here she is performing or getting ready to start her solos on the marimba and steel pan. My dad accompanied her on the piano for both. Both songs were catchy tunes and she did a great job. The judge, Mr. Beach from Franklin HS, even made a comment that we’d probably all be singing her marimba song for the rest of the day because it was such a catchy tune. She scored a I+ on both solos which is the highest score you can receive. We are so proud of her!

This year Mrs. Allen, Tessa’s band teacher, had everyone in the honor band participate in an ensemble, so Tessa was in a percussion ensemble with all the percussionists from the honor band. They played a fun song using a variety of instruments. Tessa played the bells and the triangle. It was a fun piece and they also scored a I+ for their performance. Tessa is the only girl in the percussion section again this year, but all the boys are very nice to her and she has a fun time playing with them in band.

In February we had a few snow days and for Texas, that’s saying something. You can see behind Taryn how much snow we got one morning and because of that, school was delayed a couple of hours. The little girls took advantage of the extra time and played in the snow for a little bit. They were able to make a tiny snowman that they put on our wall that separates our driveway from our porch. They kept saying it was one of Elsa’s snowman babies.

Abby’s second big tournament was the El Paso Bid Qualifier. For the division we played in, we ended up playing at Five Set courts instead of the convention center, so it wasn’t as big feeling as it usually feels. Five Set is where we did all of our scrimmages last month. The girls played hard and won some games and lost some games ending up third in their pool which put them in the bronze bracket again for Sunday play. 

I took a few pictures before their last pool play game while warming up. I love watching Abby set. This team that they played was very good, an older team, and they beat us soundly. But it did help the girls feel challenged and rise to the occasion. By the second set, they were playing better and making some really good plays. We love watching them play, even when they lose.

In between games, we took the girls outside to eat and relax. We set up camping chairs so the girls had a place to sit and while eating lunch, they all decided to dab for the picture that one of the moms was trying to take. Sometimes these girls have too much fun.

Maddie, one of Abby’s teammates who hadn’t been playing due to injury, was able to get their medal from the El Paso tournament during one of their final practices. Abby wasn’t there to play on Sunday either, but they gave her a medal at an earlier practice. 

The girls had a team bonding in February and we all met up at a Menchie’s for ice cream. Coach Martin had promised them ice cream if they won their Sunday games, so this was their reward for pulling through. The girls enjoyed getting to see each other dressed up instead of in workout clothes and they had fun visiting, eating ice cream, and walking around the shopping center. Abby ended up inviting AJ and Milo, two of her friends, so they were hanging out in the background and photobombed the picture when the mom who took the picture didn’t know that the boys were with Abby. Most of the girls knew them from school, but they were nice enough to hang out while Abby visited with her teammates.

Another event from February was our ward temple trip to Gila Valley. I had never been to that temple before so I was excited to go. Abby and Tyler had gone the previous year, and we took our entire family this year. The younger kids and teenagers hung out in the church in the same parking lot while the adults did a session in the temple. And then some of the parents stayed out with the little kids while the teenagers went in the temple to do baptisms. It was a four hour drive one way to and from Gila Valley so it made for a very long day, but it was awesome to be with friends in the temple and to visit a new temple. Here are a few pictures in front of the temple after the youth finished with their baptisms. Abby took the picture of Tessa with the sun behind her.

And here’s a picture of all the youth that attended the temple that weekend. We have such a good group of youth. I’m so happy that my girls have awesome friends and other church members to grow up with. They’re all great kids.

January 2020 - A New Driver! Service Project & Club Volleyball Begins

The year 2020 started out with great news for Abby. One of the last days of Christmas break before starting school again, Abby was able to get her Drivers Permit. She was very excited. We decided to do her Drivers Ed online so she had to do so many hours of online courses and tests before she was able to get her permit; and she had to be 15 years old. So as soon as her birthday hit, she used the Christmas break to her advantage to do online classes so she could get her permit as soon as possible. We had to get a paper signed by her school, but since the schools were closed for the break too we couldn’t get to the DMV until a couple days before classes started up again in January. So we spent one of our last mornings of the break waiting in line at the DMV. Two hours later, we had an official permit driver. Abby was so excited and I had to get a picture for the record, so here she is. My baby girl all grown up. Now she has to do more online classes and she has to log so many hours with me as her instructor, and have it all done by her 16th birthday if she wants to get her actual license once she turns 16. So now I’ve become the official shotgun rider because whenever Abby and I are going somewhere together, she wants to drive. 

Also during the break before heading back to school, we found out about free tickets to an ice hockey game, so Audrey and I loaded up our vans and took a bunch of church kids from the stake to a hockey game. It was really cold, but the kids had fun visiting with each other and hanging out. It was the perfect, fun way to end the break before getting back to the regular grind of school days. 

The three day weekend in January, over Martin Luther King Day, our stake always does a service project for the youth and since I’m in the Stake YW Presidency right now, I helped plan and carry out the service project. We had all the youth meet at President Murphy’s house to help pick up and clean his yard and acreage. President Murphy was the stake president for 10 years and had just recently been released so it was kind of like a thank you from the stake to have the youth help clean his land. It also was a good place for over 100 youth to gather since a lot of service project places can’t accommodate that many at one time. The kids enjoyed hanging out together and a lot of hands made for light work. Here are some pictures of Abby and Tessa as they worked along friends.

  

Most of the service included raking leaves and pulling weeds and bagging all the trash. Their property was so large that it kept all kids busy for over an hour. They even started burning some of the leaves in their giant fire pit because the trash bags just kept filling up. After the work was done, the kids were able to play on the newly cleared field and eat pizza and cookies. 

We were able to get a picture with everyone that came to help. We had a great turnout and the kids all talked about how much fun they had, so we thought it was a huge success. President Murphy also talked about how glad he was for the help because what those kids were able to accomplish in just a couple of hours would have taken him and his sons many weekends to complete.

Also in January, Tyler and I were able to go with other members of the ward to our ward temple night in Juarez. Tyler and I haven’t been able to go to the temple together for a long time. I usually go during the day while he’s at work and trying to go while we’re in Utah for our family vacations is sometimes a challenge. I was happy we were able to go together with our ward; and I was even more happy when he let us get a picture together before heading back home.

Abby continued her club volleyball team practices in January and even scrimmaged some other teams to help prepare them for their upcoming tournaments. When her team scrimmaged, I was able to stay and watch them play. I took a few pictures as she warmed up and while they played. She worked really hard and had great practices that her coach kept telling her how much she was improving. He even kept saying that he may move her to the first setter position instead of the 2nd setter which made her a little nervous, but she was very happy that her coach was noticing and recognizing her determination and work ethic to do well.

The last weekend in January was the girls’ first volleyball tournament held in Midland, Texas. This was Abby’s third year going to the tournament in Midland, but her first year competing with her new club team. We were so excited to see them play. Besides the few scrimmages they had the week leading up to this tournament, they had not played any other games. We had an afternoon pool on Saturday, so our morning was free. We met up at Cracker Barrel for a team breakfast. Here are all the girls on the Sol 15s team.

After breakfast, but before heading back to the hotel, the girls decided to have a Tik Tok dance party. Tik Toks are apparently the new thing for teenagers. They are like 10-20 second clips of music that someone has made dance moves to and everyone learns them so they all know the same dance moves when they hear that particular song. So the girls were all dancing and showing off for the parents in the Cracker Barrel parking lot. It’s so fun to see how much fun these girls have together.

They kept having to start over as more girls came out and joined them. Here’s Abby with some of her teammates from left to right: Abigail, Sophia, Reggie, Sophie, and Abby.

Once we got to the arena where the girls were playing their games and after warming up, the girls were ready to play. They had been preparing for this moment for months. They were all a little nervous, but very excited. Coach Martin told Abby right before they started that she was going to be co-captain with Sophie so both girls got to do the captain duties together - meeting the other captains and participating in the coin toss. Abby was even told by her coach that he was going to have her start, which she thought was going to be a possibility but was very nervous that it was kind of last minute and without much notice.

I took the picture from behind the girls and Andrea’s mom took a picture from the front as the girls lined up to warm up before their first game.

Andrea’s mom also got this awesome shot of Abby serving. I love action shots. So Abby did indeed start as the setter for this tournament, but she let her nerves get to her and she had some doubles right away and they ended up losing the first set. Sophie started the second set, but luckily Coach still let Abby play as the second setter unlike her high school coach who just stopped playing Abby all together. By the end of the 2nd set, which they won, Abby was able to get her jitters out and play well. So they went to a third set, but they ended up losing that game. They ended up in the bottom of their pool after losing all three of their pool games, although they were all close games. So they were headed to the bronze bracket for their Sunday play.

We found a Fazoli’s near our hotel and told the team about it. Many of them hadn’t heard of it before. It’s one of our favorite fast food places, so whenever we find a town that has one, we like to eat there. Everyone else on the team thought it was yummy too. Here’s a table of some of the girls - Hailey, Sophia, Andrea, Abigail, and Abby. 

Taryn was not very excited about traveling for volleyball again and she even told her teacher, Mrs. Bock, about how sad she was that we had to go out of town to Midland. Mrs. Bock attempted to cheer her up by telling her about Swenson’s, an ice cream place in Midland that she likes. We ended up finding it and taking a quick trip there after dinner Saturday night. We had to take a picture so we could send it to Mrs. Bock. She was so happy that we got to try it.

We stayed in the hotel that night, but ended up driving home Sunday morning. Abby still doesn’t play on Sundays and her team this year has been very supportive of her. They kept us updated as they played in the bronze bracket and we were so happy to hear that they ended up winning every game on Sunday and therefore winning the consolation medal. It really cheered them up and gave the morale boost they needed after losing all their games on Saturday. At their first practice after the tournament, they presented Abby with her medal since she wasn’t there on that Sunday, and they took another team picture since Abby wasn’t there to be in the team picture when they won the medal either. We thought it was so nice of them to think of Abby and appreciate her like this. It’s a great group of girls and we are so proud of them for fighting back and getting the win.

A few final pictures from January. Taryn helped me cook dinner one night and she was very excited to help when I told her she could beat the chicken with a hammer. I was making chicken cordon bleu and the chicken needed to be very thin. Taryn had a lot of fun pounding away at the chicken and the dinner was delicious. The girls’ elementary also had a STEAM night at the school in January, so we went for some activities and to see some projects. Here’s a picture of Taryn with her straw tower that she constructed. Taryn is loving 2nd grade and really doing well in it.