Colby - Erika - Kaid - Brett - Brock
My dad loves with all his heart and once your in his circle you will always be in it. He is such a loving husband, father, brother, uncle, and grandfather. We are all lucky to have you in our lives! Hope you have a great day and know that we all love you!
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Brock got to play flag football this year ~ I think he would have rather it been tackle but hey it's okay with me. He was on the Redskins and played in Salem, Colby was his coach and they had a lot of fun and learned a lot! Brock was thrilled to get to play he LOVES football ( actually he loves sports) it was so fun to go and watch these kids come together as a team and win the games. Because of Colby's work schedule all of the games were either at 6:30 or 7:30 so the last few games have been FREEZING but that has not stopped the kids from doing great. 
We decided to all pile into my truck to get out to the Usana, because Chelsey had never been there and just because it was going to be easier to get everyone out there and back. So we loaded 9 people into the truck- I know not safe~ but we all made it home in one piece.
This is Brett and Coltin, I had to laugh because they did not seem like they were having a lot of fun, but both of them said that it was one of the best concerts that they had been too. So who knows! :)
Brett and Kaid both love Taylor Swift so Brett was telling me to get pictures of her. So that is why it's here.
Here is Brett and I right before Brad Paisley came out, and right before the rain started.
These girls.....what can I say? We had extremely good seats and we were right at the isle, so poor Coltin and Brett would get all of the stray, drunk, friendly girls that would come and dance with them, no scratch that they would TRY to get them to dance with them. Well this girl had just had one too many to drink and while she was dancing she spilled her drink all down the front of Coltin and Brett. I felt so bad I offered to trade him spots but he said he was fine. I had to laugh because every time I looked over it appeared that she was offering Coltin a beer. I told Brett to not be surprised if he was grounded from our family next time he wanted to bring him along.
Just before Dierks came on we ventured back to the lawn seating to see some of the homies~ Chomp and Fly. We all had a great time and can't wait to do it again!
Erika 
Brock has always wanted to hunt, from the time he could walk and talk he would ask Colby when he could go hunting....Colby has always said once you can read and understand the hunters safety book you can take hunters safety and then you will be able to hunt. So this year Colby felt that Brock was ready, so Colby signed him up for his Hunter's Ed class and Brock did awesome! He passed both the written test and the shooting test. So the other day the older boys took him out dove hunting. They had not been out for too long and we got this picture text on our phones! Yep! Brock's first time and he gets a dove. He was so excited and so proud! I guess there is no turning back now, he has the hunting bug!
This is Brett, Riley, and Brock on the hayride. I had to laugh because I told Brett and Riley that I was going to take a picture of them and Brock decided that he needed to get into the action.
After the hayride we walked around seeing all of the different things that they had to do, this was a duck race that you had to pump the water to see which duck would win. Riley was the only one that could actually make the water pump out so he obviously won!
After the duck races we walked over to the corn cannon and the kids loved this, all of them spent a lot of time at this, they could hit an old barn or other things that they had for the kids to hit. Brett seemed to get all of his over the barn. So who knows what he was hitting on the other side.
On the way to the corn maze the kids found these big bikes that they could race, so needless to say they all took turns racing each other. Here Brett is "helping" Brock to the win.
I loved this next picture because you could see the determination on both the boys faces to WIN! I don't think Riley was wanting to be beat by a "little kid"!
This last picture was in the actual corn maze, it was a tricky one this year. Kaid "somehow" got separated from us and was done with the maze in record time. We found him out talking to a girl. Before we went in they gave us a list of rules and one of which was no picking corn, or cutting thru to find your way out. If we broke any of the rules the "corn cops" would ask us to leave. I told all of the boys that they needed to listen and make sure that we did not have the "cops" become an issue, sure enough we had been in the maze for about 5 minutes and here comes a "corn cop" just as Brock says we can cut thru right here.....The cop said no you can't and Brock just looked at me and turned and ran the other way. So we were following Brock and for a few minutes the "corn cop" was following us! All in all it was a fun time and I think that everyone enjoyed it!
Until Next Year!
So once we were done eating we headed out to cut wood, this is something we have done for years. Colby use to sell so we were constantly cutting some where but now we just get for ourselves. But he had a goal of cutting 3 truck loads. I told him that he needed to remember that I am a "PRINCESS" and I don't do manual labor. (That is a total joke, I work right next to him when we cut wood, it's just not something that we did when I was growing up) He just laughed and said he would see me there, so Kaid and I drove the first load down to the house and unloaded it and grabbed drinks and went back to get the next load, once we got there Brett, Brock and Colby had more than the one truck load already cut. So the boys loaded the truck up and then Kaid took it down and me and the the two youngest stayed to help Colby get the rest of the wood. We worked hard...Brett and Colby touched each and every piece of wood that we got. Brett is really strong he could lift some of the pieces that where HUGE I told Colby that there was no way that I could have even moved them. Once we were done we had to wait a few minutes for Kaid to get back with the truck we looked over and we saw this: 
Brock was dead asleep on the ground. He had worked right along side both Colby and Brett all day long. He was wiped out. Once we loaded up the truck we decided it was time to head back home, along the ride Kaid stopped the truck in front of us and came running back to our truck and said did you see that badger? Colby hit reverse and sure enough there was a badger, they asked if they could kill it and Colby told them yes, so of course they got it and brought it home.
You can see just how dirty you get from cutting wood, Brett had pine sap on his arm and I think a week later he still has it. All in all it was a nice relaxing time away. Now if I could just talk Colby out of going and getting more wood!?!?!
Erika
pants were falling down I told him that he needed to get his belt or have me adjust the waist on them. He started to say I can't find my belt and he stopped mid sentence, I told him to just come over and I would adjust his waistband......Guess what I found when I grabbed his pants! Yep these ugly shorts were on UNDER his clothes and he has this ugly old "football" shirt that he had on under his other shirt. I told him to march himself back in the house and to change his clothes and that he was NOT allowed to wear that outfit to school EVER! He proceeds to tell me that football was starting and that he needed to practice while he was a recess and that he needed to dress the part...Are you serious you can't run around in your shorts or jeans you have to wear the ugliest shorts and an old shirt because that it what you think a football player would wear?!?! He cracks me up, but seriously I would have NEVER thought that I would have to deal with this. I guess that is what paybacks are all about :)!
Erika
I had to do both of these pictures- because we have always done two photos with the kids- up close and a little farther off. As you can see Kaid did get his cast off his nose, he only has to wear it at night for the next 3 weeks. 
Brett is now in 8th grade and he could not wait to get back to school and see some of his friends. He has played hard all summer, but Brett really loves school. 
This is Ben, J'son, Phil, and Brock (he was the stand in for Kaid)
It was a late night, the game was an 8:00pm start and they last typically 2 hours, and then they handed out shirts for the team. Colby was really happy and enjoyed being able to coach them. Hopefully they will come back next year and be an even stronger team!
It was bittersweet Kaid has played with alot of these guys for years and there were a couple that are graduated now and won't be back next year, and do to a schedule change the tournament was played a week later than it was scheduled so Kaid did not get to play in the tournament (he was working graveyards for cherry's) Oh well maybe next year.
Here is the before surgery photo and the after surgery photo. Kaid had surgery on Monday to repair his nose. Once the doctor got in there was more damage than he expected so the surgery was longer and they had to do a lot more than they originally planned on doing. They said that he will be in a cast for awhile- we really won't know much more until he goes back to the doctor on Tuesday. So for now he keeps taking his pain meds and is getting very good at the PS2! Good thing it's summer and friends can come over and visit him.
This was while he was in the holding area waiting to head into the operating room. This was 10 days after the break- you can still see just how swollen his nose is.
Once I grabbed the photo I again asked him he if needed help- this time he yelled "YES, I told you that the first time you asked" Oops! Sorry, he did a really good job of hopping with the horse as she was walking around the arena.
Once he got off the horse he put the saddle back on her and let Payton and Cameron Bryce have a turn. Payton got on the horse and sat there- then said that she was done. Cameron Bryce on the other hand loved it. He wanted to ride all by himself and not have anyone lead Smokey. I told him next time he could do that.
Once we were done riding the horses Brett brought over a new puppy and asked
if he could keep it, being the good mother that I am, I told him of course we could keep it as long as it stayed at Merrill's place - he did not think I was funny! We had a great weekend, and hope Bryce and Michelle had a good anniversary.
Erika
This is Brett and Riley waiting for everything to start, don't they just look excited to be there?! Once we got settled they decided that they were going to walk around for a little while, once they came back Brett said I saw Kelly Clarkson, I did not really believe him so I asked what she was wearing....He said a greenish tank top and a little vest thingy... He is such a boy.
So Kelly comes out and guess what she is wearing... Yep you guessed it.
So I guess I should believe him more when he says things like this. We were about 8 rows back (it was GA , so if you can call it rows) But I told the boys that we would still try to get them closer. The concert started and she was really good, Brett and I had seen her when she came with Reba in November we both thought she was a good performer so we were excited to see her again. We were surrounded by a very "unique" group of people.....I learned a lot! And by the middle of the concert we had both of the boys on the front row, they were both excited and seemed to have a good time. It only rained for about 30 minutes and it was not the downpour like it had been earlier in the day so we were all OK. We all had a blast and can't wait to go to the next concert! And Happy Birthday JUDI!
Oh I almost forgot, if he does NOT get dirty, then he DID NOT have a good game! He slides even if they are not going to get him out!
Kaid has just started this week, he has only played 2 games he started out the year pitching, Colby is the coach of this team and I am not sure who is more happy about him coaching, Colby, Kaid, or Brock. It has been fun to see Colby and Kaid interact in this way. Colby has done an outstanding job coaching, last year this team was a sad team, they never won and they would usually forfeit most games, and when they did play they were typically 10 runned so they would use the "Mercy Rule" Not this year. They played two of the toughest teams this week and did quite well, they did lose both games but they only lost by 1 or 2 in either game. So this is a great accomplishment. I get nervous when Kaid is pitching because for some reason I think the game is all on his shoulders.. But he did very well both nights.
Tonight I think I only have two games so it should be an early night! Nah, who am I kidding I will be closing down the ball park. Like I said if you need me and can't find me at home, I am at the Ball Park.
This is the group up at the site back row: Shad, Kaid, Scott, Brady, Ryan Front Jared, Brock (yes Colby was true to his word that he would carry him across the river once the bear was dead) Vern and Colby. We finally made it home around 3:30am. THANKS to all of you that helped! It was so appreciated. We know that you all sacrificed your time and muscles! Thanks again!
