New Year's Eve Weekend in Boise

For New Year's Weekend we decided to go to Boise. Bryce's parents live there and Boise State University was hosting Oklahoma State for a Wrestling dual. Oklahoma is where the boys went this summer so they were excited to go see the dual. Bryce got talking with Weber High's wrestling coach and he wanted to take the team up there to see it. So after a lot of hard work, stress, and time, Bryce was able to set up a quick trip to Boise for whoever wanted to go. We ended up with about 70-80 kids and adults. We drove up on Friday and got everyone checked in at the hotel. Bryce's parents helped out with this and were at the hotel to give everyone their room keys and tickets to the dual. We headed off to the dual on Friday night and had a great time. Oklahoma kicked butt again BSU, but it was fun for the kids to see the coaches and wrestlers who did the wrestling conference this summer.

This is Brayden and Tyler's favorite OSU wrestler-Justin Oliver. He is the #1 seed wrestler in the country right now. He is awesome!!

OSU ended up winning all but 1 match that night. After the dual, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house to eat dinner and sleep.

The next day, Bryce had set up a 3 hour seminar at a wrestling club in Boise (not far from Grandma's) with a guy named Ivan Ivanov. He is from Bulgaria and was in the 1996 Olympics for Greco-Roman Wrestling. He put on a great seminar and it actually lasted over 4 hours.

Ellie did pretty good while we were there to watch. Here she is posing on the mat.

Silly Ellie Girl!!

Here is Ivan with Bryce. Bryce was very impressed by his style of coaching.

They had some awesome equipment that they train with. Ivan allowed the boys to try some of it out. Here is Brayden trying to swing it around his back. It weighed approx. 25 lbs.

Go Tyler Go!

In the background is another coach that helped with the seminar.

Brayden got to face off with Jake Woolsey at the end with this equipment. He did great!
They also did some live wrestling towards the end. It was pretty intense. The music was blasting and Ivan would have the older group out for about a minute and then the younger group would go out for a minute. They did this for quite a while. It was fun to see our kids get to wrestle some boys from this gym. They had some competitive boys.

Here is the team photo with Ivan's team also.

After the seminar, everyone loaded their cars and headed for home. Grandma Clark was nice enough to make all the boys a sack lunch to enjoy on the ride home. She loved having us all there. We actually stayed a bit longer and then headed for home around 3:00. We had to get home for church the next day because Bryce was being released from the bishopric and I was being put in as the Primary President. YIKES!

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning we actually had to wake up the kids around 8:00. I think they were exhausted from the day before in SLC. We had church at 10:00 so we decided to open our stockings and get ready for church. Then after church we opened presents and had breakfast.

Tyler is the one at the bottom of the stairs trying to wake up.

Ellie and Brayden are checking out what Santa put in their stockings.

Brayden was excited to get new Reebok Zigs for Christmas.
He also got a new mitt and his own personal DVD player.

Here is Ellie posing with her new Barbie. She was excited about all her new toys.

Tyler got most of his stuff before Christmas- his ski pass and coat and snowboard pants. He was excited about his new googles and mittens for snowboarding. Grandma Linda got him a cool running watch that he can use to train for the marathon in May.

The kids all got new Boise sweatshirts from Grandma and Grandpa Clark. They were way excited about them.

Here is dad just relaxing.

Grandma opening her new photo calendar we got her.

We gave Grandpa a new flashlight and a Lowe's gift card.

Finally at the end of the day here is what Ellie's room looked like-quite a disaster. But we had a great day together. We were able to relax and enjoy each other's company. My parents were in Arizona for Christmas but we got to see them a couple of days later as they traveled through back to Montana.

Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve this year we decided to ride the Front Runner to SLC and have dinner at the Gateway and then go to Temple Square and see the lights. Jim and Jennette were in town and decided to come with us. It was hard for me to believe that Bryce actually wanted to go and didn't complain too much. He can be a scrooge at Christmas time.

We ate at California Pizza Kitchen. It was nice to not have to fix dinner or clean it up. Then we took TRAX to Temple Square. It was pretty cold but we bundled up pretty good. The lights were gorgeous.

Tyler froze a bit and complained some. He actually wasn't going to take his coat. He definitely is becoming a teenager and I am not ready for it.

A nice gentleman actually took our picture here and did a better job than we could.

Our cute family

Me and my honey

Overall, it was a great night and I told Bryce we may have to make it a Christmas Eve tradition. He wasn't so sure of that.

Wrestling Season

Wrestling season is actually on the tail end. We started in October and by the first of February it will be over. The boys have done great this year. Bryce has been helping coach the junior high team so he has been really busy. But overall, he has enjoyed it. Brayden has done great! He has taken 1st place at several tournaments and has only lost a few matches. He is a natural at this sport. Tyler has done great too! He has improved from last year and has had some really tough matches. He is not sure he wants to continue wrestling next year, which makes his dad a bit frustrated, but we will just wait and see. I am very proud of their hard work and dedication to wrestling. It is a tough sport and I think it teaches the kids how to succeed in life.

Thanksgiving in Vegas

We spent our Thanksgiving in Vegas this year so Brayden could play in the Pigskin Tournament. We had a great time. Bryce's parents and his brother and his family were with us, but it still didn't feel like Thanksgiving. The weather was too nice and we didn't have any dishes to do. We actually ate our Thanksgiving meal at the Palace Station buffet (picture below). It wasn't too bad for a buffet. I actually enjoyed the stuffing, which is my favorite part of Thanksgiving. We did end up cooking our own turkey on Sunday after our trip.

We went to the Bellagio one night to see the fountains. They are awesome!! I think the kids really enjoyed them. Ellie was in awe.

Brayden with his cousin Seth acting all tough.

Brayden and Tyler are enjoying their strawberry crepes for breakfast.

Ellie and Bryce sharing a smoothie.

Overall, we enjoyed our trip to Vegas. More than likely Brayden's football coach will want to make this a tradition for several more years. Oh and I actually went out shopping Thursday night until 1am with Tyler and my friend Angie and her son Ty. It was interesting!! It seemed like everyone and their dog was at Walmart.

Pigskin Tournament in Vegas

Brayden's football coach asked the team about 2 months ago if we wanted to go to Las Vegas for the Pigskin Tournament over Thanksgiving. At first I wasn't sure because I love Thanksgiving but it was our year with Bryce's side of the family and his parents were willing to go to Vegas too. His brother whose son is on Brayden's team decided they wanted to go so we decided to do it.

We left on Wednesday early in the morning to get down there for the team to check in and weigh in. We decided to stay at the Luxor in Vegas, which turned out to be a lot of fun. The team did awesome!! They only had 2 games and they won both. They played teams from California. Brayden had 2 really good games and we all had a blast. The weather was perfect-in the 60's.

Brayden after the game.
The HUGE trophy

Brayden is #8 on the bottom row.

After the game

The tunnel after the big win!

So excited

This was Bryce's job during both games. At least he had a good view.

Brayden scoring a touchdown!!

He's got his game face on.

Mini Bowl Champs

Brayden's football team did awesome this year. They went undefeated and were also the Mini Bowl Champs for their division. He was able to play on Coach Hogan's team again this year. His cousin Seth was also on his team, which made it extra fun! They both play offense and defense and don't come off the field very much. But that's the way I like it. He is on the bottom row 3rd from the end on the right.
Brayden and Seth holding their trophies.

Ellie was a real sport going to all his games. She loves watching her brothers.

Celebrating after the big win.

Getting ready to play ball. He looks so cute in his uniform.

Waiting patiently for the kickoff.