Wrestling Letter

The wrestling team had a dinner for everyone and gave out a few awards and a slide show of the season. It was a lot of fun and the highlight of our night was Brett getting his Varsity Letter. He worked really hard all season and was able to earn the letter. I told him that we needed to go over and get him a Letterman's jacket and he told me that he could wait until he was older because he didn't want to grow out of it. :) I told him that he can wait but he will want it once he is in high school. Brett we are so proud of you and your determination.

Wrestling 2010

Ok, I have been wanting to get this on the blog so that I have it. This year in November Brett decided that he wanted to try wrestling. I said ok what do we need to do? He said he didn't know but that they would be starting up soon and he wanted to wrestle with the High School rather than the Jr. High team. So we committed to driving him over every day after school (I can't wait until he can drive) He started out the year wrestling 135, he did great for never wrestling a day in his life. The coach told us that if he didn't win a match the entire season not to worry, that his 9th grade year was just about learning. So I was not too worried about him really wrestling. Little did I know that I was going to love it and he would do so well.

By the end of the year or season he had dropped down to wrestle in the 125lb. bracket, he excelled at this weight and took off. It was so fun to watch him each match and to see his determination. He would set goals each match and he would reach each goal. We went down to the tournament in St. George and he ended up taking 6th place there. I love watching him and cheering him on. He ended the season with a record of 13-13.

I am not really a fan of the singlets that they wear but I have to be impressed with his muscles. I wish I had some definition like that. I cant wait until next season.

Brett's First Goose

This Christmas break the kids have been either out shoveling snow or snowmobiling or hunting. Brett has been dying to hunt ducks because with wrestling he doesn't get the chance to hunt while they are in school. (He goes right from the Jr. High to the High School for wrestling practice or matches) so he asked if he could go out yesterday morning we told him that was fine but he needed to be careful. I got a phone call while I was a work letting me know that he had gotten a goose! He was so excited, I told him to send me a picture and the above picture is what I got :) I told him first of all it is really neat that you got a goose, BUT your outfit cracks me up! He told me I don't have any style and that he looks just fine. When I got home he had plucked the goose and had all of the feathers in a bag so that he can make a pillow out of them. I am sure glad to help him with that. Now I am hoping that I will be able to get him to clean his room. :)

Happy Late Birthday!

I meant to have a shout out to Brett set to post on his Birthday and unfortunately things with school and work got really crazy! But I have to say Happy Birthday to Brett! Brett turned 15 this year! Time files, it seems like just last week I was pregnant with him and now he is taller than me and could take me down. :)
Here is my list of things about Brett:

1. He is the BEST student
2. He is such a great brother, to both of them
3. He is a worrier
4. He hates his curly hair
5. He is strong
6. He loves to tease everyone
7. He is very "book smart" (which we love)
8. He honors his priesthood
9. He is extremely tender hearted
10. He is a great friend
11. He is wise beyond his years
12. He has a great spirit and testimony
13. He is great at sports
14. He loves the Utes football team
15. He is a social butterfly

Brett ~ I hope you had a great birthday, know that you mean the world to us. Your a great kid and you always give 110% in all you do. We are lucky to call you ours!
Love,
Dad, Mom, McKaid, and Brock

Oh and to all of you who live in town--- he will have his learners SOON! So you might want to watch out! :)

Nickelback

The concert Brett has been waiting for has come and gone! Brett found out it seems like almost a year ago that Nickelback was coming in concert and he was counting down the days. So I promised him we would go when they came, so tickets went on sale and I was set to have some great seats and Colby said when is it again I said Oct 20th - he says don't buy Brett a ticket he will be hunting in Idaho. So I released the tickets and went on with life, Brett was really sad but alright because they would be hunting.....that ended up falling through so at the last minute we got tickets.
We actually ended up with some really good seats, here is Brett and Riley- it was tons of fun and glad we got to go. It will bring an end to the concert season for 2010. Unless Alan Jackson does a Christmas concert some where. Glad to have had some fun times with Brett and his friends. I hope we made memories that will last. We have a tradition of going to dinner before the concert both these two boys got talking some pretty deep stuff. Hope they know how much I love them and admire them for holding to what they believe.

Summer Concerts ~ Brad Paisley

We went to Brad Paisley's H2O tour this past weekend, it was a lot of fun! We ended up deciding to go kinda last minute so we just did lawn~ but we had a total BLAST!
He had quite the show lined up, he had a small stage and then the big stage. The gates opened at 4:00 and there were performances with different people about every 45 minutes. We watched a few of them but some of them sounded TERRIBLE so we went and found a spot on the lawn, this is a picture of Brett once he woke up from his nap, not sure if you can see the lines on his face. It was pretty funny to just people watch and see what some people think looks good on themselves!

This is Brett and his friend Russell, it was Russell's first concert ~ I think he had a lot of fun. Once the show started we moved down and had great seats. It was one of his best concerts!
And just an FYI ~ that is Brett's happy face! He did have fun! He just doesn't always show it!

Russell, Brett and me.

Summer Concerts ~ Tim McGraw

I have been really bad at updating things but wanted to make sure that I had memories on here. So here goes.... This summer we had tickets to Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum, it was at the Usanna ~ and we had tons of fun! I have seen Tim several times, I think he puts on a great show!

We had pretty good seats, at least Cindy and I did. When I first bought tickets Colby was going to go with me so I bought seats then Brett said he wanted to go and take a friend so I got them tickets but we got theirs on the lawn.

Here Cindy and I are waiting for the concert to start. It was extremely hot that day!

I turned around and zoomed the camera in on Brett and his friend Riley. They actually got right up on the front row of the lawn seating, so they had a pretty good view. It was a lot of fun and I hope everyone enjoyed it, I know I did.

Another School Year 2010 Edition

Wow, summer has come and gone. What a sad day, this year was really different with McKaid not being in school it just made things weird. We went school shopping and got the kids what they needed, I thought with not having to buy clothes for McKaid it would be cheaper--- I thought WRONG! But oh well, I could not get pictures of the boys together because Brett has to catch the bus before Brock even gets up. I really don't understand why Brett's bus takes all of the Jr. High kids all the way over to Salem and then brings them back to Payson to the Jr. High-- doesn't make sense too me but I am not the district. Brock was so excited to start school he woke up around 2:30am and came in my room and said that he could not sleep any longer and could he get ready. I told him that he could go in the front room and watch TV while I slept but that he needed to go back to sleep because it would make for a LONG day if he didn't. With all reports in Brock enjoyed his first day of school and is ready to go back tomorrow-- thank heavens! I was not wanting another year like last year.

Here is Brett right before he left for the bus--- he has to be at his bus stop by 7:00am. I have offered to drive him to school so that he can sleep longer or not sit on the bus all morning- BUT he said he would rather ride the bus! Go figure, I guess I am not "cool" enough. I guess this way he gets lots more time to socialize.

Hope both of them have a great year and enjoy their school experience.

Family Renuion

This year we had a family reunion in Delores Colorado. We have not been able to make them for the past few years, this year Colby's mom was in charge of meals. She needed help so we where able to get away for a few days and take Brett and Brock. We decided to make a mini vacation out of it. On the first day we drove to Moab and stayed the night there. We decided to go to Arches since none of us had been there. It was a lot of fun. We hiked around on a few of them, I have decided that the boys are way too adventurous for me! I was panicked at they places they were jumping from and things they would climb on. The next day we got up and they played in the pool before heading out to the reunion. It was a couple hour drive to Delores, but it reminded me of Montana, it was bitter sweet. Once in Colorado we checked into our hotel (if you could call it that! It was more like the BATES MOTEL) got Colby and I settled and then drove out to the property where the reunion was being held. The property was so beautiful! I loved it and could just pack up my house and move there. They had a river running right threw the property and a beautiful house and barn. Brock and Brett (and everyone else) decided to stay there in their tent. We helped them set it up and they chose a spot right up from the river, so they could hear it all night.
They have tons of things to do most of the time the kids where in the water, weather it was floating the river, swimming, or wake boarding. This is Brock on the wake board they had tied to a tree, he could get all the way across the river to the other side. He did take a couple of spills and Brett had to save him once, but he had a blast! Brett even did it and he had to have Brock save him once. It was really sweet, Brett fell in and Brock was the first one running down the river to "save" him.

On Saturday most of us decided to float the river in tubes.........WOW it was an experience! Chelsey and myself ended up being in charge of Ethan. We only scared him once, he flipped over in a part where it was very deep and swift. He couldn't get his footing so I had to dive in and get him when we got him back in his tube he told me "your trying to kill me" I had to laugh, I told him that I was not and I would make sure that he didn't fall in again. We ended up going down again and the second time we had Brett and Brock in tubes with us rather than the canoe they went down in the first trip. We had tons of fun and got some great sunburns! But it was defiantly worth the drive and all of the bruises.

Baseball Season

This year Brock decided that he wanted to play in Salem, so we signed him up. He was on the Yankee's this year. He had a ton of fun. He was always the last batter in the line up which was a bit frustrating for him but he always did his best and would try to motivate his team. I would always forget my camera so I snapped a few pictures with my phone as he was in line to bat, we have the warm up and the swing. This year Brett decided that he did not want to play so we thought we would only have Brock playing because Kaid was going to be working at the scout camp at Scofield for the summer. Little did we know that he would not take that job and be playing baseball. McKaid played in Payson for the Red's again. He had a great year and got to pitch quite a few games, he did really well. It was bitter sweet to watch him play knowing that this would be his last year to play city league. His team starts tournaments this week and it will be fun to see what they can do.
Even with just having the two of them playing ball we still seemed to be at the ball park every night of the week and would typically close it down. (Which is fine by me :))

Blind Side

The first of this month UVU had the real life people of the "Blind Side" come and talk, there was the mother and daughter Leigh Anne and Collins Tuohy. Brett went with me and it was an amazing experience to listen to what they had to say. Yes they did talk about the Hollywood aspect of things and about the movie it's self, but they where really there to share a message and to give a challenge to everyone. The mom talked a lot about how society deals out judgement on a person based on their first impressions. This judgment can be right or it can be wrong. Most often it is wrong. She went on to talk about everyone has value and how if everyone would not judge and be a little kinder to people that there would not be so much negative in the world.
I have thought long and hard about what was said and how even in my life I am a person who will judge a person based on the superficial things that I think are important. I don't want to be a person who does that - so from here on out I am going to make an effort to get to know someone before I decide what their "value" is.
This year has brought a lot of changes into our lives in a short amount of time, we have had good times, and some rough times. We have had everything from happiness to loss. I have watched my kids grow and learn compassion in ways that I never thought that I would see.
We are truly blessed and there is no reason for us not to share with everyone.
So I guess what I am saying is remember that each of us have "value" lets make sure that we treat others kindly and always remember their value.
Erika

Brad Paisley Concert

Like I said I am going to go back a little to have a record of things that we have been doing. This concert is one that I want to remember. We had so much fun! Judi and Taysia went with Brett, Coltin, and I. We also meet up with Chelsey & Matt, and Lacee & Miles. We went to Texas Roadhouse to eat before we headed out to the concert. 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

Corn Maze

Wow time sure flies by, I can't believe that it is October already. There has been so much that I have wanted to put on the blog but have not had the time. So I will have to back track in the next few posts. But I wanted to get up our fun night that we had. We go to the Corn Maze each year and this year Brock & Brett both brought friends. We had a lot of fun! This was the first thing we saw when we got to Hee Haw Farms..... One of the "friends" said that it looked a lot like his sister! (which was really mean.) 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!

Erika

Another School Year.

It is really hard for me to write this.... I had a first and a last all in one moment! This is the first day of school for all of my kids and also the LAST first day of school for Kaid! He is a senior! It breaks my heart to think that in a few short months he will be graduating high school! Wow, time flies. As you can tell Brett and Brock were really the only ones that were OK with having their picture taken. 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.

Brock is in 3rd grade and has Mrs. Snow. We had to go in and find his class this morning and he was pretty excited. They are getting pretty smart they have split him up from all of his friends :) so he will have to make new ones again this year.

Hopefully they all have a good year, have fun, make new friends, and learn.

Erika

A Sad Goodbye

The past few weeks have been pretty emotional around our house. We have had to say goodbye to two of our horses. We have been keeping our horses on some property in Elk Ridge for years now, and there were some issues that came up with the land and so we needed to move the horses. We have been looking to buy a house with land but have not really found the right place. So we decided that the best thing to do was to sell the horses until we get a place of our own. So about 1 ago we sold Sierra- I will get a photo of her on here. We have had Sierra since she was old enough to leave her mom. It was heartbreaking- But Colby did it while we were at ball games and so she was just gone one day. But on Saturday it was Smokey's turn to go- we loaded her in the trailer and meet the guy at Cabela's it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. We got Smokey right after Brett got burned, she was his therapy. He LOVED riding her and would spend hour upon hour with her. It was good for both of them. Brett did 4H with her and did very well. She helped build his confidence back up and he was more of the old Brett.

I was doing alright on the ride up, but when we got her out of the trailer it hit me like a ton of bricks. I started to cry, Brock said that he did not want to sell her and he was crying. The new owner came and they had two boys about the same ages as Brett and Brock, they were so excited to have a new horse, hopefully they will love her and take good care of her.

We are now down to one horse "Joe" that we need to sell and then we will sell the horse trailer.... It is hard to loose a pet - especially when your not ready to say goodbye.

Erika

Cousins

Wow, life has been BUSY! We have been finishing up baseball seasons and trying to finish up the remodel on the kitchen....

This past weekend we got to tend Payton and Cameron Bryce while Bryce and Michelle ran to St. George for the night. It was a lot of fun having the cousins over and letting them get to know each other.

On Saturday Brett got home from a week of scout camp, he was greeted by Cam, Brock and Payton. We decided that we would go down to the farm so that Payton and Cam could ride the horses. Brett decided that he was going to ride Smokey bareback, he was riding around the arena and having a fun time and all of the sudden there be came a problem, I was laughing so hard I asked him if he needed help I thought that he said no so I decided that I would grab a picture of him.

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

Kelly Clarkson Concert

On Thursday Judi, Brett, Riley and I went out to the Kelly Clarkson concert at UVU. It was an outdoor concert and the weather here has been horrible so we were ready with our rain gear and blankets. We went to dinner first and then headed over to the concert, there were a lot of people already there so we were not sure just how close to the front we would be able to get the boys. But we assured them that we would try to get them as close as possible. So we started making our way to the front, we found a spot and set down our blankets

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!

It's that time of year!

If you need to talk to me you can just catch me at my home away from home, THE BALL PARK! I am here Monday - Friday I am typically running from game to game and sometimes I even get to watch all of one kids before the next game starts.

I love baseball and I love to watch the kids play, but it gets a little overwhelming with 3 kids playing, one husband coaching, and two of the three kids also umpiring. I really earn my taxi status this time of the year!

Brett and Brock both started the same time this year and have played quite a few games already. Brett's team is 4-2 they are a really good team Brett is back to playing (after his appendix) the first game back he was not to sure if he wanted to swing the bat, but he acts like nothing ever happened now. Last night he was the catcher and he did an outstanding job. I love to watch when he is catching to me it seems like one of the funniest positions to play. He has also started this year umpiring the coach pitch games, he seems to really like it and he takes his job seriously. I don't have pictures of him playing but Shayli got this picture of him after his night of umpiring coming over to support Kaid at his game.

Brock is in Coach Pitch--- Let me just say that this is KILLING him.... He has two other brothers and a dad that have taught him HOW to play! He eat sleeps and drinks baseball. He loves everything about it and is really good. But that is the problem, he is too good. He runs from play to play to get the outs, or whatever is needed. He is the "backup" to every player. It cracks me up. I told the coach at the last game that I have talked to Brock about staying and playing the ONE position that the coach tells him to play, but it just doesn't work, the coach just said he is a good player it's ok. So I guess that as long as the coach is ok with it Brock will still run from play to play. Last night he was talking to me and he asked if he had to play another year of coach pitch next year, I told him that I was not sure...his response was if I have to I will take the year off and come back when it is real baseball! (you gotta love this kid)

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.