More Wrestling

The boys have been enjoying the wrestling season this year. We have been to 4 tournaments and they have both done really well. This last tournament was at Weber High which is where Bryce and I went to school. So it brought back some old memories. This tournament is always pretty tough. Brayden wrestled on Friday night and did great. He had 3 matches and lost 1. There was actually a 3 way tie for 1st place because the other kids all lost 1 match too.

Tyler wrestled Saturday morning and had 3 matches also. The first 2 matches he pinned his opponent in the first minute/round. But his last match was pretty tough. It was a 3rd grader from his school that wrestles up because he is so good. Ty didn't get pinned and he put up a good fight, but he lost. There were a few tears too. He placed 2nd overall.

Enjoy the videos from the tournament. Tyler's video is his 2nd match where he cradles his opponent to win. Brayden's video is his last match of the night.

Wrestling

Tyler started wrestling a couple of weeks ago and he had his first meet a couple Saturdays ago at Logan High. He had 3 matches and did really well. He practices at Fremont High on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Brayden definitely likes to wrestle his brother but was a bit too shy to do it in public. Although he finally decided he wanted to try it. So Bryce took him to get wrestling shoes and he went to the wrestling meet last Saturday at Clearfield and did really well. Bryce enjoys coaching his boys. He was a great wrestler back in his day! I was able to post part of one of Brayden's matches below. Tyler's matches were too long to download. I will try to get one of Ty's next matches on the blog next week.

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating last night. Brayden and Ellie went with Bryce while I passed out candy at the house. Tyler went with his friend Parker around the neighborhood. They didn't even have parent chaperone's. He is getting too old! Brayden went as Incredible Hulk. Tyler was a haunted skeleton. Ellie was a spider. At first she wasn't sure about getting on her costume, but with some candy as a bribe she was more than happy to get ready. She definitely has a sweet tooth. The weather was great. We have had 70 degree weather all week.

Like I said I was the one passing out candy at home. There weren't a lot of trick-or-treaters this year. We still had candy left over. Oh and thanks to Grandma Clark's fun Halloween book she gave me, I was festive enough to make pumpkin stew. It is a stew with meat, potatoes, carrots, and onions. But the fun part is you bake it in a pumpkin. I was a little worried it would taste like pumpkin, but it was really good. The kids even had seconds. Thanks, Grandma!!


So cute!


Already diving in, she hasn't even went trick-or-
treating yet.


Ellie the spider.


SCARY!!

Fun Family Night

Well, last night after our Family Night lesson, we were able to carve pumpkins. The boys look forward to this each year. I think Bryce does too. He is really good at it. He helps the boys clean the seeds out and then carve cool things on the pumpkins. Ellie got involved this year also. She enjoyed digging into the pumpkins and pulling out the guts too. She even enjoyed tasting it. Yuck!! We all had a great time and the boys were very proud of their finished products.

Canning fool!!

Well, this summer we were able to grow a garden and we had tons of tomatoes and peppers. We were also able to grow some beans. So I figured I needed to use this abundance of produce and do some canning. I have Jennette's pressure cooker so I had everything I needed. It was nice to be able to spend my days doing something useful for my family that we can enjoy all year.

I did about 3 batches of salsa- 50 quarts. I also did 40 quarts of stewed tomatoes, 40 quarts of spaghetti sauce, 12 pints of enchilada sauce and 12 pints of pizza sauce. I was able to bottle 20 pints of green beans and about 20 quarts of peaches. I actually enjoyed doing it. It made me proud of myself for accomplishing it. I always remembered my mom bottling when I grew up and we always enjoyed the fruits of her labors, so now my family can enjoy the fruits of mine.

Weekend in Jackson

Bryce and I had the opportunity to get away without the kids to Jackson Hole last weekend. I had never been to Jackson and we had wanted to get away together so we decided that would be the perfect place. It was our fall break at school so I had Thursday and Friday off. We left Thursday afternoon and returned on Saturday. Bryce's brother Jim and his wife Brandi were nice enough to watch our kids for us. The drive to Jackson is beautiful. It took us about 4 hours, but we enjoyed it. You go through Logan Canyon to Bear Lake and then drive along the Snake River and through a canyon until you reach Jackson. With the fall leaves and the pine trees it made for a beautiful drive.

We had a very relaxing time in Jackson. There is not a lot to do in the "off season" in Jackson, but we were able to shop, go to nice restaurants, catch a movie, and see some wildlife and the Grand Tetons. I even got a massage. It was just nice to be able to spend some quality time with Bryce. We always seem to miss our kids while we are away, but we still enjoy our time together.

The weather was good but cold. The highs in the 50's and the lows in the 20's. However, the place we stayed had a heated pool, jacuzzi, and sauna all outdoors. We were able to enjoy them on Saturday morning after breakfast. A year ago, we spent 10 days in Hawaii. Jackson was no paradise like Hawaii, but overall we had a great weekend together.



The Grand Tetons- what a sight!!

We call this our moon shot of 2 antelope


The cabin we stayed in- very nice!!

The Snake River on our drive home

He's Back!!

Well, Bryce has returned from Alaska. Finally!! 10 days was a little too long for all of us, including Bryce. He had a good time overall, but he did miss his family a lot. The weather wasn't too great while he was there. He said it rained all but one day. The fishing wasn't too great either. He caught a total of 3 salmon. Now I know that sounds bad, but they were good size and we should be able to enjoy them for a while.

Bryce actually got sick the last couple of days. He wasn't able to eat much and he said he slept a lot. He was glad to get home to his own bed and a meal cooked by me, not by his roomies. They cooked most of their meals while they were there and there were some guys he said definitely didn't know how to cook.
He told us a funny story about going to church in Alaska. They went last Sunday to a small branch. There were 27 people there and 7 of them were from Bryce's group. During the sacrament a black bear ran across the parking lot of the church and someone yelled "bear". Bryce figured everyone would swarm to the window to see and they would have to start the sacrament over again. But actually only 2 people went to the window, a 4-year old and the branch president!!

We are all really glad to have him home. The kids were really excited to see him. Ellie took a while to warm up when he got home, but she didn't want him to leave for work this morning. She loves her daddy!!

He was able to take only a few pictures. He had to take the old digital camera instead of his really nice Canon because the battery was at work when he left on the trip. So the pictures aren't all that great. Also, he got the camera wet while he was fishing one day and it had to dry out for a few days.

Gorgeous scenery!!

They saw this bear at the city dump.

Bryce and his salmon!!