Mother-Daughter Dates: Summer Fun and Games

Here’s the latest from our Year of Dates (the gift that keeps on giving all year long)! We also had an Afternoon Tea date during our birthday month.

Baking

Wish I got photos of this! Our creations were eaten so quickly, lol! When I was planning these date ideas, I chose baking for the month that Jer would be gone because it would be something flexible that Lils and I could do together even if we weren’t “alone” since her brothers were also home. Baking is something she greatly enjoys and that I could use a lot more practice on. I happened to have a fridge full of strawberries that I got on sale, and a tube of croissants to use up, so I curated a few recipes and L chose the ones she wanted to us to do. One had cream cheese frosting! She did lots of cutting, mixing, tasting, and was truly the very best helper especially when her brothers figured out what fun they were missing out on. We enjoyed music and wearing our fancy aprons, and being able to offer our guests fresh baked goodies!

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Running

Running is one of those activities I think you learn to love. I certainly didn’t like running when I was younger! We probably should have practiced more, as we spent most of our miles walking before race day. Here are my beautiful running partners on one of our workouts.

As race day came closer, it was exciting picking up our tshirts and racing bibs, waking up early to get to the race starting line, enjoying the views of the temple grounds, and getting pumped with the music. The temple is all about family, and this race happens near Pioneer Day in celebration of our ancestors, so I ran in honor of my sweet Grandma Rebecca. It was wonderful to be able to share this event with my Lils. Here we are Before and After with each of the temples!

I stayed at her side the entire time and tried to be encouraging and not push her too hard. ”The important thing is that we finish,” I told her. She did AMAZING!!!! Her first 5K! I’m so proud of her for doing her very best and giving all she had! We celebrated by having a big breakfast together at Village Inn with orange juice.

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Hike and Paint

The watercolor was from my memory of the trail that I wanted to take L on. While the boys went camping, we packed some snacks and our painting supplies and headed for the canyon! The hike up was gorgeous and green, with pleasant weather since we started in the morning and were surrounded by shade trees. She loved holding my hand all the way. I’m glad she still wants to do that with me. When we reached the picnic area, we unpacked our art brushes and paint and let our imaginations out on paper. L finished her watercolor piece before me with lovely abstract greens and blues. She’s a lot smarter than me, as my ideas got way too complicated but I imagined what it would be if this picnic area were Lily’s backyard and garden. There would be a treehouse, a teepee, a dog house, a rock garden, a fire pit, and more! Painting is one of her most favorite things to do, and hiking is one of mine, so I was glad we got to combine our passions and be inspired in nature together.

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Game Night

This was such a fun date for us, and so affordable thanks to the FREE cover charge. Originally the plan was to play games at home with both Dad and Mom, but it ended up being just me. Lacking any good two-player games at home, I looked up a game store and found the perfect place to find something new to play!

Icewolf Games in Springville is brand new and had a large selection of games to try for free, sturdy and clean tables with non-slip padding for comfortable play preventing pieces sliding everywhere, and a very welcoming atmosphere especially for kids. She chose the games we would play from a large shelf, then wiped the floor with me round after round of Ticket to Ride. We were able to eat snacks and check out the brand new games they had for sale, plus custom dice and specialty cards. Not sure if you can see the glee on her face, but we had tons of laughs and she was a confident player.

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Nickel Arcade