Christmas Day

This year for Christmas Matthew got a new stereo for his car (no cassette player anymore) Kary spent 3 hours installing it while Matthew supervised. Matthew drove us to grandma's house so he could show us how well his stereo works.
Tyler got new boots, and a touch MP3 player. Both boys are lovin' life! As for me- my favorite part of Christmas day was Craig's phone call. He's doing GEAT.

Christmas Lights

This year Tyler put up all the lights at our house by himself. He said he was going to do things "his way"

I think he used more lights thn we ever have in the past. I kept expecting him to run out of lights.

The neighbors said it was like living next to the Vegas strip.

I am just glad Tyler has such a great time every Christmas!

Kamree's Baptism

We had a great weekend in Monticello. Kamree was baptized down in blanding Saturday morning, then we went back to Monticello and cooked a huge turkey dinner.

Birthday Boy

We went out to the lake yesterday afternoon for some fun. Kary and the boys liked the raft (shown here) the most, but they did ski too. We got to cool off, have some fun, and get a little sunburned. A Great way to spend some time on your birthday. (and feel like one of the younger kids again)

Father's Day Campout

Kary wanted to go camping for Father's day, so we headed out for the mountains near Beaver. We went on a bunch of trail rides on the four wheelers. Tyler set his trip meter on the bike and it said we covered 125 miles in three days. We saw alot of wildlife and...
...even some snow on the top of the mountain. It was green everywhere. The weather was much cooler than home.

Matthew even tried to put a snowball down the back of his dad's shirt. (in June)

There was a lot of water and mud. Matthew found some fun mud puddles to play in.

Doesn't he look clean after a day outdoors?

Graduation

We had a fun barbeque the night before graduation. Matthew is texting to see where the rest of the group is. (I think he can text in his sleep) Jennifer is racing Kamree to the top..... (Kamree wins)

Kenyon got taken for a buckin' dinosaur ride (a first I think) by Tyler

Graduation went well! Congrats Matthew!! He left right after graduation to catch the bus for the grad trip. They went to Disneyland, six flags, and the beach (complete with breakfast on a yaught) and then came home. Matthew says, "Staying up for days on end is over rated" Every time they put them on the bus to change locations- everyone slept.

Football Banquet

Pine View held they're football banquet at the end of the school year this season. They had a nice dinner for the senior players and they're families at the Staheli Barn. It was a lot of fun to hear the coaches talk about the players. Coach Hosner (pictured above with Matthew) got to do all of the big awards...

Matthew got the award for the "Most Inspirational" player. Coach Hosner had a lot of very nice things to say. My favorite part was where he told Matthew, "When you finish with college, and get things sorted out, I hope you will come back to Pine View and Coach football with me in the future." It was a fun night.

A Little TLC...

So Kary and Tyler have been giving the Mazda a little TLC before Tyler starts to drive it. They put on a new motor mount the other night and now it drives like a dream. (the whole time Craig drove it - it drove like a tank) if only we had known that was the problem. They still have a few repairs to go, and then the scarey part really starts (Tyler behind the wheel) So I heard a new joke: Whats up with the new boom box in your car? I don't have one- I'm just looking for the brake on my side of the car! (Tyler will hear that a lot in the next few months!!

Stock Show 2010

So after you get done spending all the time teaching your cow (named "Rocky") to walk with you- he gets to go to the stock show. But, once here's there he needs to look his best. So.... Tyler gets to give him a daily bath...

But after his bath- he needs to look pretty and fluffed. So you get out his big hair dryer and style him up..
Of course after he gets duded up- it's tyler's turn to clean up. (takes alot less time) The fun part is keeping the cow clean until he goes in the show ring. You can't let him lay down, and if he poops... you get to wipe his butt (and yes I mean just that- raise his tail, take your wad of papertowels, and wipe)

When you get all done it brings a smile. They are judged the first day on showmanship (the kids) and the animal on the second day. The last day is the auction- where you have to say goodbye. Until you start all the fun again next year. (Tyler won a red ribbon- that's good for his first try)

Skim Boards..

Tyler just painted this for his art project. He has cows all over the back. He can't wait for warm weather to try it out!!

Tyler's New Hobby

Tyler decided it would be fun to make a wood cabin out of popcicle sticks. He started out with a little 12 x 12 building... and started to remodel.

This is about 3 feet high, has 3 stories, and a garage. He used over 1000 popcicle sticks, a wood crate (he took apart) a cardboard box he cut up and a few pieces of 1/4 in wood he found.

He even remembered doors and windows.

Do you think he has a future as an architect?

Playin' In the Snow

Kolbie was Tyler's little shadow all weekend. He had fun playing in the snow with Tyler.

Matthew and the boys built a jump at the end of their long slide. They had a great time. Kamree was keeping up with all of them. The girl has NO fear.
Jennifer and Kolbie came to a stop with Kolbie yelling, "Wheeeeee." Everyone had fun!!

Kolbie was getting his first driving lesson from Grandpa.

Line Dancing..

The young men and women in our ward had a line dancing night. I have actual proof that the boys do know how to dance if they really want to.

It was actually a lot of fun. (even with Matthew telling me he was being tortured.

Basketball

The boys have both enjoyed playing basketball this year. Tyler has gotten very aggresive on defense. His team played pretty well. They won about half of their games
Matthew spent most of his time in flight. His main goal was to stuff as many people as possible. I just got lucky enough to get a picture of one. Matthew's team finished the season undefeated.

Taking Down the Tree

Grandma's house had a tree that was trying to fall on the roof. The guys got together so they could chop it down.

They put a metal bucket on the forks, and climbed in. Matthew and dad were 50 feet in the air at times. They had to cut off the branches in chuncks so they could get it to the ground with out taking out power or phone lines. It took about 4 hours to take out 2 trees. Both trees were hollow clear down through to the roots.

Happy Birthday Matthew..

For Matthew's birthday we decided to do something spur of the moment. We went to Vegas to Mandalay Bay to the Shark Aquarium. The boys had a blast. Matthew thinks his little 10 gallon fish tank is too small now (that's what he got for his birthday)
They had a "touch" pool for different manta rays.


Of course we had to tag his car (even though it was raining)

I like these kind of surprises...

So I checked my mail today...there was a letter from a creative writting company. Apparently the teacher at Pine View High School submitted a poem that Matthew wrote last semester- and it has been chosen to be published. He has a chance to go register as a judge. The 10 finalist have a chance to win money. I don't know about that part- but I thought his poem was pretty good (I didn't even know he had written it. But what kid ever shows you all of the writting they have to do for homework?) So I am going to share it with you... and you can leave a comment about what you think.

Basketball

To be a basketball player,

You need to have a little bit of skill

You need to know the rules,

And how the game is played.

You need to know when to shoot,

And when to pass.

You never know which game will be your last

When you get older you will look back into the past.

You will remember all the fun times you had,

Even shooting in the driveway with your dad.

In the pros when you make your first shot,

You jumped up and down celebrating a lot

You will remember your coach's leadership

That took you to the championship.

When you look back all you will see

Is your memories.

Christmas

Christmas was fun at our house this year. The boys got rockband with a few other things. They were nice enough to include the parents in this fun game. They even went and created a band so all of us could play together. The name of our band "Bad Noise" Is that not appropriate or what? Both of the boys like to play guitar. Matthew got a cordless guitar for his birthday coming up (we just gave it to him early)
They have had a lot of fun. We had a great day!! Craig called about 3 in the afternoon. He got to talk to us about 40 minutes. He talked to everybody, and tried to catch up on everything that's happened since he left. He is doing great, and enjoying every minute of it.