The Firth Invitational

Yesterday we put on our new Madison Wrestling shirts and headed off to Firth for Cody's firth tournament of the season. (pun intended) He beat his first opponant 10 - 1. (This kid stood about 6' 3" and had the longest legs. He kept Cody "on his toes" at times)

I was so into the second match that I forgot to take pictures. It was a tough bout and Cody made one mistake which cost him the match. But hey... that's what these early tournaments are for. Make all of your mistakes here so that by February you don't make them anymore.

The third match Cody got a tech fall in the 2nd period. (For you non-wrestling folks he was up by 15 points). His 4th match was a breeze. :-) He ended up 3rd in the tournament. Yay!!!

I think that is a great start to the season!

Skye (our official T-shirt model) was the videographer and play by play announcer. We get comments on the tape like .....(about a little red headed boy who stood in front of her) "Hey Opie... I'm filming here". (Or to the rather large lady who wasn't watching where she was standing taking pictures) ...... "O great, here is a ROTUNDA blocking the whole view of the ..... Ooops... sorry, .. didn't see you there Mom." All in all, it was a fun day!

THE END

A Short Respite (aka The Thaw)

What a pleasant surprise we had yesterday. As I went out in the morning (6:15) to start the car I realized it wasn't freezing. Really! It was 33 degrees and a slight mist was falling. By mid afternoon the temperature was around 40 degrees, and the Chinook winds were blowing around 35 miles an hour melting the snow like crazy! It was nice to go outside and only need a light sweater. We generally look forward to this weather phenomenon in January (the January thaw) so I do hope it comes back next month. I took these pictures around 5:00 pm yesterday. you can see how much melting had already occured. I hope your day was warm like ours!

Drive safely!

Snowbound

We got a lot of snow last year, which is to be expected when you live in the intermountain west. But it was the first of February 2008 before we measured this much snow. This year we have even more of the powdery white stuff. Everyone over the age of 50 who grew up in this valley will tell you "This is what I remember Christmases being like when I was a kid."

This picture was taken only an hour or so after Darryl and Cody Shoveled there way back into the driveway with my little Kia. Cody's truck is rear wheel drive and will probably stay in the driveway for a while. We have celebrated White Christmases before, but we were always able to leave when we wanted. Not so this time...... We are snowed in! Well, actually we can probably get out, but we live on a rather large hill, and until the snow plow comes on Monday there is no way to get back up the hill, and it would be impossible to get into our driveway without 4 wheel drive today. So we are taking it easy, doing chores, watching movies, working puzzles, playing games and enjoying each others company while this peaceful time lasts.

I hope you are having a wonderful Saturday!

Christmas Dinner

Cody was the only one who "dressed" for Christmas Dinner this year. He wore every article of new clothing he got for Christmas.
Skye planned a wonderful Christmas Menu. Ryan Cooked Cornish Game Hens (Honey Butter or Apricot Glazed), Skye made the salad with home made Star Crutons, Pomagranite seeds, oranges, almonds and lettuce with her special Raspberry Vinagrette, Cindy cooked Parslied Potatos, Hillary made Broccoli with Cheese Sause. We also had Baked Sauteed Squash w/ Leeks and Rolls. Cali fixed Cheesecake Trifle for dessert and we enjoyed several flavors of Sparkling grape juice and Apple juice.

It was a wondeful meal to top off a very Merry Family Christmas. God Bless Each of you!

Darryl's Favorite Christmas Present

Gideon's Present to Grandpa was a Bug Swatter/Zapper. Uncle Cody wanted to see if it really zapped! :-)

It works!

Christmas Cheer!

Travis loved this present.
Gideon was racing around the courtyard in his new walker!

Since Ryan is the best "Meat Chef" in the house, Darryl bought him some Marinades!

The Girls and their new purses Darryl bought on one of his trips.

More Fun!

Just for the record. I put these posts up in order but when I checked the blog they are all jumbled. Who knows where this one will end up. Oh Well. It's all fun!

Skye and Ryan bought all of the men toy dart guns with accessories! We had a mini war going on for about 5 minutes. Yes, he did shoot his mother! Right in the head! Travis' set came with toy handcuffs which Cody immediately put to good use!

And this is Darryl opening his present from Gideon. There are a couple of videos somewhere on this blog that explains this!

Kelly got a desk top golf set.

And Travis got a Rams Horn powder horn for all of his black powder stuff. :-)

Then We Open Presents!

Cody's new pride and Joy. It's the softest leather ever! Skye's new robe and Hillary's pillow cover!

Gideon finds his candy cane in his stocking!

Hillary volunteered to get Gideon dressed, but he had other ideas!

Cali and Gideon enjoying the fun!

Christmas Morning

We started a tradition when the children were little. They could get into their stockings as soon as they got up, but you can't open any presents until the whole family is there. Cody was into his stocking at 4:30 this morning. The rest of us waited until 7:30. Cody's new pajama pants.

How about that tinsel Skye?

Ryan.... Ryan..., Wake up! It's time for my favorite tradition!

Before we open any presents on Christmas Morning we read/recite and discuss the story of Christ's birth from the book of Luke chapter 2.

Happy Birthday Cindy Sue!!

Yes, Christmas Eve is my Birthday and as usual it was a wonderful Day. We started out by leaving the house early in the morning to go Christmas Shopping. We returned home around 12:30. Darryl and I bought ourselves a wireless router for Christmas, and our wonderful son-in-law, Jake (Hillary's hubby) hooked it up for us, programmed all of the computers to it and the printer and now we have truly entered the 21st century! We can use our computers all over the house!! Yeah! In the evening the kids came over and we celebrated my birthday. WOW, I look old for 39! (again).

Earrings from Cody, and a birthday plaque/chart made by Cali. ( I love it!)

Gideon, enjoying the fun! Travis looks like he is ready to go to sleep!
We practiced the songs we were going to sing as we went Christmas Caroling.

It was Hillary, Jake and Cali's first time to sing this song.

This is the wondeful Birthday 'cake' I had this year. Skye and Hillary made me a white chocolate coated cream puff tree. It was delicious!!

My husband bought me a new watch for Christmas. I can honestly say this is the most beautiful watch I have ever had.

After the the birthday celebration, caroling and opening the secret Santa presents, Cody talked Darryl into playing Jake and Hillary's wii, also a first! All in all it was a wonderful Christmas Eve!

It's A Marshmallow World With Some Cow Pies!

WHY DO I LIVE HERE AGAIN?????

It has been snowing almost every day since the 12th of December. This is how Cody get's his muscles warmed up for wrestling practice which starts at 7:00 in the mornings. "It's a Marshmallow World in the Winter, When the snow comes a tumbling down..."

We have had blizzard conditions for the last 3 days. We drive to the bottom of the hill pretty easy IF we are able to get our of the driveway. Gettin up the hill is 'iffy' though.
I am pretty sure we have over 12 inches of snow already, but with the 35 mile per hour wind gusts it drifts alot. The temperature was in the negative figures last week, but today warmed up to a balmy 22 degrees.

This was what I found when I opened the back door this morning.

This is the Dining room and back porch. Cody cleaned it off and it drifted over again in an hour or two.

This morning when we were coming back from Rexburg this is what we saw. It is not unusual to encounter cattle drives going down the road in this part of the country. The line of cows went on for over a half mile, so did the line of frozen cow pies!

Not your usual Cowboy hat, but probably a lot warmer.

You gotta love those cowboys who enjoy this kind of thing.

This is looking at the cattle drive from our house. (I did have to use the telephoto setting though). I went in the house and warmed up after taking this picture. I am glad I am not a cowboy today. God Bless them!