Dodge Ball Champs!!!

Last Saturday Chad was involved in a Dodgeball tournament that was in Castledale (which is about 30 min. from Price) with some other park rangers around the area. The tournament involved 4 or 5 other teams and it was a double elimination tournament.

We arrived in Castledale at the Rec. Center at 9:00 and met up with the rest of the team. The team consisted of Dan Richards (Manager at Huntington), Clee Richards (Dan 's son), Wayne Monroe (Manager at Willard Bay), Shon Tripp (Manager at Palisade), Nathan (Park Ranger at Green River), Nash (friend of Dan) and Chad. There was a quick review of Dodgeball rules and the tournament began.

The first game was against a high school team and it was pretty sad. The game was over very quickly and the Rangers didn't do much. (I don't think they even won one of the games - it was the best out of 5.) Mackenzie (our more competitive child) had some pointers to give Chad after the game to hopefully help him out in the next games. (If you are wondering about the advise - I believe her exact words were, "Dad, you guys need to gang up on one person - just do it one person at a time like they were.")

This was the first game against the high school kids. As you can see, not so good. A lot of standing around and getting out.

The next game they were able to watch which helped them pull it together and figure out what to do the next few games which they were able to win. And believe it or not they actually made it to the championship game, which was against the high school team again.

A couple of videos of the Championship game against the high school team. The Rangers definitely improved their game.

The championship game was a long game because it was the best out of 7 this time and since it was double elimination the Rangers had to beat the high school team 2 times because they hadn't lost a game yet. The odds were definitely not in their favor but believe or not the Rangers were able to get the job done.

The high school team - took 2nd place and not too happy about losing
to older men.

The Rangers - Dodgeball Champs - won a t-shirt and a $100 gift certificate.
The guys finally smiled on the last picture do to the fact that Nash (the guy on the far left) told the wives to hurry and take the picture because their fingers were too tired and sore to hold up much longer (funny guy).

The guys were extremely tired, had to take breaks between games , were sore in places that had not been used in a long time (which required ibuprofen and ice) but had a lot of fun and very excited to have beaten kids at least half their age. They have already planned to come back next year for the next dodgeball tournament.

As a side note the guys were wondering how to split the $100 gift certificate that has to be spent in Emery County between 7 guys who don't all live in Emery County. The decision: A fishing tournament. They will go and buy fishing equipment with the $100 and then go fishing and win the new equipment by catching the most fish, biggest fish, etc. How did the wives let one tournament turn into another tournament that will require a least one night of our husbands being gone?

Show and Tell

The girls have been begging us to take the scorpions to school for show and tell. I of course did not want to try to do this without Chad because I do not like to touch the scorpions (actually I haven't ever touched them and have no desire to touch them) and the teachers like to do show and tell on Friday which is a problem with Chad's schedule. Well, last Friday we were finally able to work it out and the girls got the chance to do a show and tell with the scorpions.

Mackenzie's class loved the scorpions and had a whole bunch of questions to ask (it was a good thing that we made her look up a few things on the computer the night before). They especially loved watching them catch crickets that we brought to feed them, the video Chad made of them catching and stinging a cricket and that they glowed when a black light was shined on them. Hayden of course wasn't too excited about it because he had seen it all before - he would rather sit and look at the books. (Courtney's class liked the scorpions too but mostly just the boys - the girls were really grossed out by them.)

Cabella's with cousins - what can be better!

Last week we found out that Mandy, Adam and the kids were coming to Salt Lake for the weekend and we thought it would be a great idea to meet up with them for dinner one night. So the plans were made and we meet them at Cabella's on Friday night. I don't think the kids could have been more excited to see each other and they had so much fun doing all that Cabella's has to offer. Like ....

Feeding the fish

Looking at the animals

Running from place to place

Kate and Hayden spent most of the time doing this everywhere.
You make think I am joking but I am not. We had to stop and
look for them several times.

Looking at books and rearranging magnets
so they could be families again

Notice how cute Kate is posing and how Hayden is always being a
goof ball - I definitely do not have my kids trained well.

and the best of all the "Mule Deer Dance".

We definitely had fun, especially the kids! I don't think I could enjoy that place as much if it weren't for the kids. Thanks for meeting us in the middle!

Flashback Friday

*I borrowed the idea of Flashback Friday from Mandy because I thought it was such a good idea and I realized that Hayden is getting a lot of face time lately. Thanks for the idea Mandy - I hope you don't mind!

Back in September of last year Mackenzie had a class project on Utah plants and their biomes that she was working on. This project required that she gather certain types of leaves, classify them and put them together for display. One of the many weekends we were up to Scofield it was such a pretty fall day we decided to go hiking around the mountainside and gather some of the leaves she needed. The fall colors were gorgeous and we timed it just right between rain storms which made the colors seem even more vibrant. We did collect almost everything she needed and we came home tired and a little wet but the kids had a blast.

The final project turned out really good and Mackenzie got 100% on it. She was pretty proud of how it turned out which is why we just barely threw this board away - and it still took some convincing. She is definitely a pack rat! I told her that I took a picture of it so that she will always have the memories. I'm such a mean mom - I just hate the clutter though!

A movin and a shakin!

Every since Grandma and Grandpa bought Courtney a hula hoop in November, Hayden has been working on trying to figure it out himself. Well, after much work and help from the Wii Fit board, last week Hayden was able to figure it out by himself. He was so proud of himself and so excited that he can finally do it. Now he practices almost every day.

I love his wind up to get started and the grunting!

The latest excuse.

The other day Hayden decided to build a fort after making a huge mess in the front room. I had to admit that it was a pretty cool looking fort but I wanted the other mess cleaned up.

Courtney is impressed with Hayden's fort skills!

So when I asked him to get out of his totally cool fort and clean up the other mess he made (I was even going to help him clean up), this is the response he gave - "Mom, I have to send my email and check the blog first!" What!!!!? I thought Chad and I were going to die laughing. And, really, how could I respond to that?

This picture is Hayden pointing to his computer.

You will be happy to know that the emails were sent successfully and everything looked great on the blog so the mess did get cleaned up, eventually! And, Chad and I are rethinking the amount of time spent on the computer checking blogs, email and facebook!

I love to read!

For Hayden, everyday around 2:00 it is a countdown until the girls get home from school. (I guess that should tell me that my activities with him during the day just don't quit cut it!) When he hears the bus come down the road he runs and hides and then yells surprise as soon as they walk through the front door. Everyone then has a snack, including Hayden, and then it is homework time.

The past few weeks, however, Courtney has become quit the little reader and Hayden is loving it. Courtney's homework is usually just reading and so Hayden is more than happy to sit with her and be read to. In fact, he usually has several requests for his favorite books and this is how they spend the afternoon - sitting on the couch with a pile of books. I love it!!! (It also helps that the school is having a contest this month for reading 500 minutes in order to win a pass to Seven Peaks. A little motivation never hurts-right!)

Pile of books Hayden picks out.

Courtney sometimes objects to the amount of books or the fact that it is the same book several times, but who can resist a face like that. Chad and I have a hard time and so does Courtney.

Kenzie is also reading but has to fit it in between her telephone calls from friends. (You may think I am joking but the phone literally starts ringing as soon as she walks in the front door. She is growing up way too fast!)

All Aboard!!

Of all of Hayden's Christmas gifts, he still never tires of his trains. He plays with them almost every day for hours at a time, which is great for me. It sometimes requires a little help with setting things up and then hours of fun ensue.

Come on over and you can climb aboard the Hayden Express!