Q4 Kid Dates

Kid dates are important to us, but we kind of dropped off this quarter, then jumped in and did a bunch of kid date type things. We had some leftover money in that budget and I wanted to use it for the purpose it was intended, meaning spending quality time with our children. We were able to squeeze in some fun activities before the end of the year: 

I took Caleb and Lucy on a date together and then took Lydia and Austin on a date together. It worked out great for me to be able to spend some time with each of the kids. 

Mom, Caleb, and Lucy went bowling and then got ice cream at the new Thanksgiving Point Ice Age Creamery. 

Mom, Austin, and Lydia went Ice Skating and got burgers and hot chocolate at In-N-Out. (We tried to go skiing at a little ski-hill with a magic carpet, but they didn't have enough snow.) 

Mom, Dad, and Lydia went to the wedding reception of Brenna Millward and her new husband. We ate treats, danced on the dance floor, and generally just enjoyed the blissfully happy atmosphere.

Dad and Austin went to McDonalds to get breakfast sandwiches. 

Mom, Lucy, and Caleb went to the Traverse Mountain Outlets to see the giant tree and explore their gingerbread house display. 

We ALL went to see Moana at the SCERA theater. 

David and Caleb went on their own. (Because Caleb had a birthday party conflict at the time that we wanted to go, and also because we were babysitting Juniper and Sylvie and this way we swapped off staying home with the baby.) 


Shantel and Leah took Lydia, Austin, Lucy, AND Juniper, Audrey, Ellie, and Anderson. 

When we went for the magic show in October, the kids saw a poster for Moana2 and decided right then that they wanted to come back together to watch Moana in the Grand Theater. It was super fun and we will definitely be coming back for more movies here. (Especially because my favorite Garden Theater just went out of business, I am so sad!) 

We love these kids and are grateful for the time and the means to do these fun kid dates with them. 

Q.3 Kid Dates (July-Sept)

Admittedly, we didn't do a great job with our kid dates this quarter. However, we are trying! David took Lydia on a date. I took Caleb and Lucy to the children's museum and to get ice cream. David and I both took Austin to Pizza Pie Cafe. We love these kids and love spending time with them, even if our efforts for one-on-one kid time are sometimes sparse. 

We also did a combined kid-date for Lydia and Austin and we kept them home when we sent Caleb and Lucy to the Wards for our babysitting swap and we played an escape room board game with them. They loved it, even though David and I had to clumsily give a bunch of clues to make it so we finished on time. (We didn't have the same strategy and we kept messing the other person up.) But the kids can't wait to do another one and I know it's going to get more and more fun as they grow. 

Summer Kid Dates

We had some really fun kid dates this summer. Here are some highlights:


Lydia and David went to Oliver at the Hale Center Theater Orem. The play is a little heavier (i.e. doesn't end with a happily ever after) but they enjoyed it. 

We took all the kids out to eat at Chilis. We don't go out to eat at real restaurants very often, so this was a real treat. The kids were all very well behaved and enjoyed their food very much. 

Mom & Austin Date to Lagoon. Austin has been saving his money to take to our end-of-school lagoon trip for months and months. When at the park he realized that he had enough money to buy a bounce back ticket. We were able to come, just he and I, and it was a blast. He loved riding cannibal over and over (I rode it 8 times in a row with him until I got so sick that I couldn't ride anymore. He continued until he hit 10 or 11 times in a row). I loved that he still held my hand while we were walking around. It was my favorite day with him. 







Lydia and Mom went on a little ice cream date. We got Gelato at Harmons and sat in the over loft and read our books while we ate. A date of Lydia's dreams. 



More Ice Cream Dates. We took Austin and Lydia on separate occasions to try the new ice cream waffle place called "The Dolly Llama". They have these warm bubble waffles that they wrap around the ice cream and it is super yummy. 

Visit #1


Visit #2

I'm realizing that we didn't take any pictures of our Caleb and Lucy dates. We also took both Lucy and Caleb to get Ice Cream at Thanksgiving Point. 

We like doing kid dates and even though it's not as regular as we wish, having the one-on-one time in our schedule makes a difference. We love these kids. 

April Kid Dates

This month Caleb and Austin combined kid dates and the boys all went to the theater to see the new Mario Movie. They all loved it and were so excited to be able to watch it in the theater.

Lydia also combined her kid date. For their birthday, Lydia gave Lily and Iris a coupon to go out to lunch together and so I took them all to Pizza Pie Cafe and let them hang out, eat pizza, and laugh together. It was a great birthday gift and a fun date for me to tag along with the girls. 

Q2 Dates

Although we aren't perfect, we are trying to do dates with the kids on a regular basis. Here are some pictures from our Q.2 dates. We have a whole spreadsheet with our years dates planned out (each child gets six dates, every other month - alternating mom and dad). It's important to us to spend time with our kids individually as well as with our whole family and so we are making the effort. Plus, it gives us an additional excuse to do fun things! 

Austin & Mom: Bowling

Lydia & Dad: Parade of Homes

Mom & Caleb: Hike to Grotto Falls

Lydia & Mom: Parade of Homes

Austin & Mom: Parade of Homes