The most interesting thing happened to us last night.
Next week is Spring Break for our school. I am also taking the week off of work, the first week long vacation I have taken in a really long time...no real plans, just staying home, spring cleaning, cooking, etc. This week is one of those screwed up weeks at the school due to conferences. Ike went to school Monday through Wednesday, but was off Thursday and Friday because of conferences. Cassidy had Friday off for conferences and Kaittlin was scheduled all week with early release on Friday. Originally Kaittlin was going to be gone all day on Friday because of a track meet in Bonners Ferry, but at the eleventh hour they rescheduled the meet for Saturday. I had also scheduled myself off of work on Friday to attend the meet in BF.
So yesterday, Thursday, I ended up working late trying to get my desk cleared off to be gone for 6 work days. It was 6:00 by the time I got home and Mike was at the neighbors house helping him work on his motorcycle. Kaittlin had also just walked in the door from track practice and Ike was outside playing (Cassidy was at a friend's house spending the night). I was tired and hungry and didn't really want to deal with dinner. The rising costs of EVERYTHING have really affected our family in the last 6 - 9 months and we have really cut back our spending, but payday was Friday and I threw caution to the wind and suggested we go to Cabin City Pizza for dinner. Since we eat out so seldom anymore I had no trouble convincing anyone to get in the car and go! :)
When we walked into the restaurant it was not busy. There were only two table occupied, one with two men and one with a single women, no one we knew. We took our table, ordered, and started talking amongst ourselves. Kaittlin had taken her ASVABs that morning and spent the afternoon at Career/College day at the high school. She had brought along some of the college and military brochures she had picked up and we were passing them around and discussing options and generally having a really nice "before the meal came" time. During that time the woman who was in the restaurant got up and left and a gentlemen we know walked through and briefly stopped and talked to us.
When our food came it took the waitress a couple trips to get everything to the table. On her final trip she announced, "and I have really good news for you, your meal has been paid for". She went on to tell us that the lady who had been in the restaurant earlier told her that she had enjoyed watching our family and we made her smile. The week before someone had paid for her dinner, and she wanted to pay it forward. The waitress knew little about her other than she comes into there about once a week and her husband is a long haul truck driver. We were stunned and thrilled! What a blessing!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Busy Times
This must be a busy time for bloggers. Since the first of the year I have not had a spare minute to post to this blog & 5 of the 6 blogs that I regularly follow seem to have the same problem.
Winter has waned here in Northern Idaho. After one of snowiest Decembers on record, snow storms have been few & far between since the first of the year. It has continued to be cold & frosty, but for the most part the roads have been clear & there have been a few days that have even made you think spring might be on the way. Today WAS on exception, as it snowed & the wind blew all day...I think we got nearly 3 inches.
Let me fill you in on what has kept us so busy for the past several months.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Mike is not a paid coach for the high school wrestling team this year. However, he did agree to continue to keep computerized records of all the boys' stats & compile the paperwork necessary for their state seeding records. This, along with our family's geveral love of the sport kept us on the road several times a week this wrestling season...following the team to almost all of their matches. Thirteen of our boys advanced to the state tournament in Pocatello a couple weeks ago, which was very good for our team. However, once they got there the competition was tough & we only came away with two medals, a 4th & a 6th. The season is over except for the awards banquet & he is already looking forward to next year.
In addition the weather challenges have kept the bus garage busy, he continues to serve as the Vice President of the Lumberjack Booster Club, & in his "spare time" :) he has been rebuilding the engine in his pickup which has been on all winter project.
For myself, I continually struggle to keep up with the demands of job, home, & family. I am enjoying a several month hiatus as the co-chairman of the St. Maries Junior Miss program as Kaittlin is participating...it is strange not to be very busy with that this time of year, but a welcome time off, & fun to see Kaittlin getting to experience the program. The economy has affected the grocery business as much as it has other businesses as well. We have seen ever increasing product, delivery, & overhead costs which in turn require an increase in what we sell, which of course, affects our business. But, most of all, the biggest impact has been in the unemployment in our community. So many people are not working, therefore not spending money. We have also had to cut hours. It is just heartbreaking to see so many people struggling. I am thankful that I have a job to go to each day & that it has not yet been impacted by the economy. Even though Mike & I have continued to work our family has felt the affects of the economy as well with rising fuel, food, utility costs. We have really cut back & pray that things turn around quickly.
Kaittlin has probably been the busiest of all of us this past several months. In January she finished up her first semester of her junior year, passing her college class Fundamentals of Health (the first half of her CNA course) with a B+. She began the actual practical part of the CNA course in January. This class is quite time consuming. In addition to the two hour online class each morning at school, with whatever homework that entails she also has skills classes, clinicals, & job shadowing. The skills classes are taught by an RN at Valley Vista, the local nursing home. These classes are various afternoons from 3pm to 8pm & some Saturdays. She must have 20 hours of skills to pass her class. Clinicals are also held at Valley Vista, usually early mornings before school & some Saturdays. The students work with RNs to practice the skills they have learned with actual patients. She must have 40 hours of clinicals to pass her class. She also job shadows at the hospitals a couple mornings per month before school, shadowing another CNA. She just finished up wrestling season, as the teams stats keeper & was able to travel to the state tournament with them. She had a great time, but came home with an upper respiratory infection that took her out of school for a couple days. She just started track practice every night after school & is really looking forward to getting going with that.
If all of that is not enough, Kaittlin began preparation for the Junior Miss program in January. They meeting once a week on Monday evenings from 7pm to 9pm. One week they met every night to learn their Fitness routine & in a couple weeks they will meet every night of the week to learn their Poise routine. We ordered her Poise dress in January & it arrived. It is at my mom's house being altered. Although Kaittlin is not really a dress girl, I think she is really looking forward to having a princess gown & dressing up for the program. She has also gotten her Talent outfit put together & her music cut, although she has yet to work on her Talent presentation. She will be performing American Sign Language to a song. The Junior Miss girls were able to go to a local photographer to get their group & individual pictures taken last Monday. The pictures were just posted to the photographer's website yesterday. You can view them at www.kukur.com.
Cassidy has had quite a busy couple months as well. Middle school basketball was in full swing in January & February. Since the cheerleading squad cheers for both girls & boys basketball there were some weeks that she cheered at 3-5 games per week. Thank God they don't travel with the teams...only home games. She also is in the Publications class, which she really enjoys. They publish the school newspaper & the yearbook. Yearbook deadlines are fast approaching, so she has been busy getting her pages completed.
Two weeks ago, during PE class, Cassidy was playing dodge ball with her class. She was running for the balls placed on the half court line of the gym & dropped to her knees to grab one. As she did so, her face collided with the knee of another student approaching from the other direction. A doctor's appointment & facial CT later we found that she had shattered all of the bones in her nose. She did this on a Thursday & we had to wait until the next Monday for some of the swelling to subside to see a Ear Nose & Throat Specialist. He scheduled surgery for the next day, Tuesday, as he needed to reset her septum & the nasal bones on both sides of her nose. The surgery went well & then she went to stay with my mom & dad for a few days while she was on the prescription pain medication so that she could be monitored...she was hysterically funny on the paid meds...more entertaining than TV! :) A week later the packing was taken out of her nose & the cast off the outside & her nose is straight again & she is having no problems breathing, so that is a good thing.
Ike started out the new year between sports. Idaho club wrestling & middle school wrestling ended in the beginning of December. He decided that he would like to try to wrestling the Washington club wrestling season, which started at the end of February. He affiliated with a club in Potlatch which does the wrestling season & goes over there 1 or 2 times a week to practice. He is having a good time with their team & learning a lot. Last weekend was the first Washington tournament, we went to Mead High School in north Spokane. There were 900 wrestlers there, but it was very organized & moved right along. We had to be there for weigh-ins at 7:00 am & wrestling started at 10am. They were done & starting to hand out medals at 4:45 pm! Ike took 2nd place in his age division & weight class & brought home a sweet medal! He has 4 or 5 more tournaments & 1 or 2 freestyle tournaments in the area that he can attend. He just got signed up for baseball for the spring & if it stops snowing I suspect we will have draft in a couple weeks.
As you can see it has been a busy couple months. We invite any of our friends & relatives to join us for Junior Miss which will be held at 7pm the evenings of Friday, April 17 & Saturday, April 18. Tickets are $5 at the door or you can contact Kaittlin to arrange to pre-buy your tickets so you don't have to buy them that night. We would love to have you.
Winter has waned here in Northern Idaho. After one of snowiest Decembers on record, snow storms have been few & far between since the first of the year. It has continued to be cold & frosty, but for the most part the roads have been clear & there have been a few days that have even made you think spring might be on the way. Today WAS on exception, as it snowed & the wind blew all day...I think we got nearly 3 inches.
Let me fill you in on what has kept us so busy for the past several months.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Mike is not a paid coach for the high school wrestling team this year. However, he did agree to continue to keep computerized records of all the boys' stats & compile the paperwork necessary for their state seeding records. This, along with our family's geveral love of the sport kept us on the road several times a week this wrestling season...following the team to almost all of their matches. Thirteen of our boys advanced to the state tournament in Pocatello a couple weeks ago, which was very good for our team. However, once they got there the competition was tough & we only came away with two medals, a 4th & a 6th. The season is over except for the awards banquet & he is already looking forward to next year.
In addition the weather challenges have kept the bus garage busy, he continues to serve as the Vice President of the Lumberjack Booster Club, & in his "spare time" :) he has been rebuilding the engine in his pickup which has been on all winter project.
For myself, I continually struggle to keep up with the demands of job, home, & family. I am enjoying a several month hiatus as the co-chairman of the St. Maries Junior Miss program as Kaittlin is participating...it is strange not to be very busy with that this time of year, but a welcome time off, & fun to see Kaittlin getting to experience the program. The economy has affected the grocery business as much as it has other businesses as well. We have seen ever increasing product, delivery, & overhead costs which in turn require an increase in what we sell, which of course, affects our business. But, most of all, the biggest impact has been in the unemployment in our community. So many people are not working, therefore not spending money. We have also had to cut hours. It is just heartbreaking to see so many people struggling. I am thankful that I have a job to go to each day & that it has not yet been impacted by the economy. Even though Mike & I have continued to work our family has felt the affects of the economy as well with rising fuel, food, utility costs. We have really cut back & pray that things turn around quickly.
Kaittlin has probably been the busiest of all of us this past several months. In January she finished up her first semester of her junior year, passing her college class Fundamentals of Health (the first half of her CNA course) with a B+. She began the actual practical part of the CNA course in January. This class is quite time consuming. In addition to the two hour online class each morning at school, with whatever homework that entails she also has skills classes, clinicals, & job shadowing. The skills classes are taught by an RN at Valley Vista, the local nursing home. These classes are various afternoons from 3pm to 8pm & some Saturdays. She must have 20 hours of skills to pass her class. Clinicals are also held at Valley Vista, usually early mornings before school & some Saturdays. The students work with RNs to practice the skills they have learned with actual patients. She must have 40 hours of clinicals to pass her class. She also job shadows at the hospitals a couple mornings per month before school, shadowing another CNA. She just finished up wrestling season, as the teams stats keeper & was able to travel to the state tournament with them. She had a great time, but came home with an upper respiratory infection that took her out of school for a couple days. She just started track practice every night after school & is really looking forward to getting going with that.
If all of that is not enough, Kaittlin began preparation for the Junior Miss program in January. They meeting once a week on Monday evenings from 7pm to 9pm. One week they met every night to learn their Fitness routine & in a couple weeks they will meet every night of the week to learn their Poise routine. We ordered her Poise dress in January & it arrived. It is at my mom's house being altered. Although Kaittlin is not really a dress girl, I think she is really looking forward to having a princess gown & dressing up for the program. She has also gotten her Talent outfit put together & her music cut, although she has yet to work on her Talent presentation. She will be performing American Sign Language to a song. The Junior Miss girls were able to go to a local photographer to get their group & individual pictures taken last Monday. The pictures were just posted to the photographer's website yesterday. You can view them at www.kukur.com.
Cassidy has had quite a busy couple months as well. Middle school basketball was in full swing in January & February. Since the cheerleading squad cheers for both girls & boys basketball there were some weeks that she cheered at 3-5 games per week. Thank God they don't travel with the teams...only home games. She also is in the Publications class, which she really enjoys. They publish the school newspaper & the yearbook. Yearbook deadlines are fast approaching, so she has been busy getting her pages completed.
Two weeks ago, during PE class, Cassidy was playing dodge ball with her class. She was running for the balls placed on the half court line of the gym & dropped to her knees to grab one. As she did so, her face collided with the knee of another student approaching from the other direction. A doctor's appointment & facial CT later we found that she had shattered all of the bones in her nose. She did this on a Thursday & we had to wait until the next Monday for some of the swelling to subside to see a Ear Nose & Throat Specialist. He scheduled surgery for the next day, Tuesday, as he needed to reset her septum & the nasal bones on both sides of her nose. The surgery went well & then she went to stay with my mom & dad for a few days while she was on the prescription pain medication so that she could be monitored...she was hysterically funny on the paid meds...more entertaining than TV! :) A week later the packing was taken out of her nose & the cast off the outside & her nose is straight again & she is having no problems breathing, so that is a good thing.
Ike started out the new year between sports. Idaho club wrestling & middle school wrestling ended in the beginning of December. He decided that he would like to try to wrestling the Washington club wrestling season, which started at the end of February. He affiliated with a club in Potlatch which does the wrestling season & goes over there 1 or 2 times a week to practice. He is having a good time with their team & learning a lot. Last weekend was the first Washington tournament, we went to Mead High School in north Spokane. There were 900 wrestlers there, but it was very organized & moved right along. We had to be there for weigh-ins at 7:00 am & wrestling started at 10am. They were done & starting to hand out medals at 4:45 pm! Ike took 2nd place in his age division & weight class & brought home a sweet medal! He has 4 or 5 more tournaments & 1 or 2 freestyle tournaments in the area that he can attend. He just got signed up for baseball for the spring & if it stops snowing I suspect we will have draft in a couple weeks.
As you can see it has been a busy couple months. We invite any of our friends & relatives to join us for Junior Miss which will be held at 7pm the evenings of Friday, April 17 & Saturday, April 18. Tickets are $5 at the door or you can contact Kaittlin to arrange to pre-buy your tickets so you don't have to buy them that night. We would love to have you.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Thanksgiving, Christmas, & More
I have not posted to this blog for a while, mostly because when I started the draft for my last post shortly after Thanksgiving I tried to add a very optimistic (unrealistic??) number of photos. For some reason I really struggle posting photos on this site. If there are any readers who use blog spot that have perfected an easy way to post photos PLEASE leave your comments (it doesn't matter where I place my cursor when I upload my photo it lands at the top of the blog...I find it hard to move with a traditional mouse, which is what I have at work...it is easier on my lap tap at home).
I got frustrated & the perfectionist in me couldn't bear to go back & try to fix it...so I am now attempting.
Our family had a good holiday season, which seemed less hectic than usual...no complaints!
Thanksgiving was spent at my parents house with them, us, and my grandma. It was a good day, with good food & very relaxing. The photos interspersed in this post are from that day.
It was discovered by a quick glance of the calendar that the lateness of Thanksgiving this year left us with one less weekend before Christmas, so we decided to get our Christmas tree over that weekend rather than wait. We made our annual trip to the local tree farm. Rather than the usual snow we were met with rain & mud, but a lovely tree we got! (It DID take a week to get it decorated, but we got it done).
We finished up club wrestling the first week of December with the state tournament in Post Falls on my birthday (I can't remember a birthday in recent history that we did not wrestle on). Ike made the decision to wrestle one weight class up from where he had wrestled all year for the state tournament...this was a risky decision, but he knew the risks. He ended up taking 2nd place which was a particular good placing for that decision. He wrestled well & was very proud of himself. Afterwards we all went to dinner with the head coach & his wife, so that was fun.
The next weekend was VERY busy. It was the St. Maries High School Wrestling Invitational tournament (Friday & Saturday). We host 20 teams for the 2 day tournament & it takes great effort to put it together. We worked hard all week helping & late into the night on Friday. On Saturday we did not plan on attending as it was Ike's Middle School wrestling district tournament. We left quite early, following the bus. We had received a bit of snow over night & it was freezing rain when we left. By the time we reached Coeur d'Alene the roads were a sheet of ice, the rain was freezing to the windshields, & the wind was blowing very hard. We trudged on for a while longer, but then between Mike, the bus driving, & the coach the decision was made to turn around & go home. The kids were very disappointed, but all of the parents were quite glad we did not try to complete the trip, then come home in the weather & the dark. So, we got back about 10:30 am & worked all day at the high school tournament...it all worked out.
Kaittlin's drama club performed the play they had been working on three times in the month of December, it was quite funny. Cassidy had quite a few deadlines for the yearbook, and Ike had his band concert. The last two days of school before the Christmas break were cancelled due to the first real snow of the season...and SNOW it did.
It was Cassidy's birthday on Christmas Eve...she is 14! Can you believe it??? She requested homemade clam chowder for her birthday dinner & Grandma & Grandpa came & enjoyed it with us. Afterwards we went to our church for the candlelight Christmas Eve service...she is only one who gets a candlelight church service for her birthday every year! hahahaha!
We were all ready for school to start up again when the new year started, but it was short lived. Monday was business as usual, but the snow started in the afternoon. All after school activities were cancelled, as was the very first Junior Miss practice. Monday night there was a huge snowstorm, but St. Maries had school on Tuesday....I think we were the only ones who had school...in their defense the roads were pretty good in the morning, as they had plowed all night, but everything degraded pretty quickly throughout the day. Our high wrestling team was supposed to go to Timberlake on Tuesday night, but that was cancelled because Timberlake did not have school. By Tuesday night it was 40 degrees & raining like it was April. Wednesday school was cancelled because of severe ice on the outlying roads (roads in town were slushy, but not too bad). Thursday school was cancelled because of water over the outlying roads (by this time roads in town were great). Home wrestling match was cancelled. On Thursday they evacuated Calder because of the river flooding & an ice jam.
On Thursday afternoon Mike called me & told me that one of his bus drivers had been given four tickets to the Washington State Cougars basketball game in Pullman for that evening & wanted to know if we wanted to go...YES! How exciting! So we went with Jim & Linda to Pullman, had dinner, & went to the game. They lost by 7 points, but it was so much fun. I am not a HUGE basketball fan UNTIL you get to the college level, then I love it. That was the highlight of my week! :)
I got frustrated & the perfectionist in me couldn't bear to go back & try to fix it...so I am now attempting.
Our family had a good holiday season, which seemed less hectic than usual...no complaints!
Thanksgiving was spent at my parents house with them, us, and my grandma. It was a good day, with good food & very relaxing. The photos interspersed in this post are from that day.
It was discovered by a quick glance of the calendar that the lateness of Thanksgiving this year left us with one less weekend before Christmas, so we decided to get our Christmas tree over that weekend rather than wait. We made our annual trip to the local tree farm. Rather than the usual snow we were met with rain & mud, but a lovely tree we got! (It DID take a week to get it decorated, but we got it done).
We finished up club wrestling the first week of December with the state tournament in Post Falls on my birthday (I can't remember a birthday in recent history that we did not wrestle on). Ike made the decision to wrestle one weight class up from where he had wrestled all year for the state tournament...this was a risky decision, but he knew the risks. He ended up taking 2nd place which was a particular good placing for that decision. He wrestled well & was very proud of himself. Afterwards we all went to dinner with the head coach & his wife, so that was fun.
The next weekend was VERY busy. It was the St. Maries High School Wrestling Invitational tournament (Friday & Saturday). We host 20 teams for the 2 day tournament & it takes great effort to put it together. We worked hard all week helping & late into the night on Friday. On Saturday we did not plan on attending as it was Ike's Middle School wrestling district tournament. We left quite early, following the bus. We had received a bit of snow over night & it was freezing rain when we left. By the time we reached Coeur d'Alene the roads were a sheet of ice, the rain was freezing to the windshields, & the wind was blowing very hard. We trudged on for a while longer, but then between Mike, the bus driving, & the coach the decision was made to turn around & go home. The kids were very disappointed, but all of the parents were quite glad we did not try to complete the trip, then come home in the weather & the dark. So, we got back about 10:30 am & worked all day at the high school tournament...it all worked out.
Kaittlin's drama club performed the play they had been working on three times in the month of December, it was quite funny. Cassidy had quite a few deadlines for the yearbook, and Ike had his band concert. The last two days of school before the Christmas break were cancelled due to the first real snow of the season...and SNOW it did.
Between December 17 and December 31 we received just over 5 feet of snow at our house. We got a lot of snow last year during the month of January, but it was over a longer period of time...this came fast & hard. We have already shoveled our roof this year!
It was Cassidy's birthday on Christmas Eve...she is 14! Can you believe it??? She requested homemade clam chowder for her birthday dinner & Grandma & Grandpa came & enjoyed it with us. Afterwards we went to our church for the candlelight Christmas Eve service...she is only one who gets a candlelight church service for her birthday every year! hahahaha!
Christmas was a good time for us as well. The kids had already had nearly a week of snowboarding, sledding, & movies due to the extra days off of school. We never spend an exorbitant amount of money on Christmas & this year seemed extra tight, we were in the middle of remodel work on the house when the gas prices went haywire & just the general upswing in all prices affected us, as it did everyone. We are fortunate that our kids are not spoiled (I think sometimes they would like to be), but really they ask for very little...Kaittlin asked for a purse this year...so Christmas was a little leaner than usual. But it was just as fun. Kaittlin received her purse & was thrilled. My mom & dad got snowed in for their final shopping trip of the season so gifted some cash, the kids actually were happy with that as they are all saving for some things. Kaittlin is looking forward to Junior Miss this year & memorable moments of her senior year & would greatly like a digital camera. She saved up some gift cards from her birthday & Christmas. I believe those, along with the newly acquired cash will now buy one. Cassidy wants her hair & nails done (she's SUCH a girl!) and Ike wants to purchase new wrestling headgear, so all were happy.
We were all ready for school to start up again when the new year started, but it was short lived. Monday was business as usual, but the snow started in the afternoon. All after school activities were cancelled, as was the very first Junior Miss practice. Monday night there was a huge snowstorm, but St. Maries had school on Tuesday....I think we were the only ones who had school...in their defense the roads were pretty good in the morning, as they had plowed all night, but everything degraded pretty quickly throughout the day. Our high wrestling team was supposed to go to Timberlake on Tuesday night, but that was cancelled because Timberlake did not have school. By Tuesday night it was 40 degrees & raining like it was April. Wednesday school was cancelled because of severe ice on the outlying roads (roads in town were slushy, but not too bad). Thursday school was cancelled because of water over the outlying roads (by this time roads in town were great). Home wrestling match was cancelled. On Thursday they evacuated Calder because of the river flooding & an ice jam.
On Thursday afternoon Mike called me & told me that one of his bus drivers had been given four tickets to the Washington State Cougars basketball game in Pullman for that evening & wanted to know if we wanted to go...YES! How exciting! So we went with Jim & Linda to Pullman, had dinner, & went to the game. They lost by 7 points, but it was so much fun. I am not a HUGE basketball fan UNTIL you get to the college level, then I love it. That was the highlight of my week! :)
There WAS school today...the kids were all very happy. Ike & Cassidy went to a middle school dance tonight put on by the Humane Society. Cassidy is going to spend the night with a friend & Ike is going to an overnight birthday party. Kaittlin left with the wrestling team for a 2 day tournament in Kamiah this morning, they should be home tomorrow evening late. Mike is out at a friend's shop working on his pickup, which is why I had time tonight to try & fix this post! :) Mike's sister will be in Plummer tomorrow & we will go there & spend the day with her & her husband.
In other miscellaneous news I & all three of the kids have recently gotten FaceBook pages & started communicating with friends that way, Ike is thinking about wrestling the Washington wrestling season, we have found THE Junior Miss dress & will be ordering it very soon, Cassidy is going to cut her hair.
That's it for now...I apologize for not posting for awhile...I will try to do better! :)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Picture Post
As promised, here it is. I brought my camera to work today & loaded all of my pictures onto my computer. Then I took it downstairs to our photo machine, made a CD of all the photos & printed some I needed. I am charging the battery as we speak & when I put it back in I will be able to delete all the photos from the card & start over this afternoon at Ike's last home middle school wrestling match.
Regular season baseball...followed by all star baseball (picture was at his birthday bbq following the game)...followed by football.
Miscellaneous....
Here is a sampling of some of the pictures on the card:
This was Cassidy getting ready for a dance where they had to dress "cowboy".
The next several pictures are from Kaittlin's track season. She throws the shot put & the discus. She pulled a pec muscle early in the season while lifting weights & missed much of the season, although was able to come back right before districts. Although she didn't place at districts she came really close. She attended a very prestigious camp this summer to work on her throwing & is 
really looking forward to track this coming spring. She also purchased
her own discus & shot put designed for her height. I think that will help her throwing.
Regular season baseball...followed by all star baseball (picture was at his birthday bbq following the game)...followed by football.
Miscellaneous....
I think that gets you all caught up on pictures. I will post wrestling photos closer to the end of the season.
One last thing...as most of you know, quite a few years ago some dear friends of ours, Ted & Becky Schulz, asked us to allow their daughter to live with us during the week so that she could attend school here in St. Maries (they lived in Plummer). As a favor to them we agreed, and for two years Sonny attended school in St. Maries and stayed with us during the week...going home to Plummer on the weekends. She shared a room with Ike & quickly became a member of the family.
When Ted got a job in North Dakota & the entire family moved there the summer between Sonny's freshman and sophomore year we were thrilled for them that they were able to all be back together in one home again, but the void that was left in our house was enourmous...you see Sonny had become a sister & daughter.
We have continued to count her as a huge part of our family, enjoying her INFREQUENT (maybe she's reading this) visits to Idaho, traveling to ND for her graduation, & following her success in college both in the classroom & on the basketball court. (We even have a clock on the wall in the living room set to ND time!) We have traveled to Montana a couple times to watch her play over the years & Shawn was able to fly to Bismarck a couple years ago to spend a long weekend with her. This past week Sonny received a very exciting basketball honor & we are so proud of her. Follow the link below to read all about it:
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Two More Wrestling Opportunities & a Smelly House
Last Saturday we headed to Potlatch for a club wrestling tournament. This was a new experience for us. St. Maries is part of the North Idaho wrestling league. Our scheduled tournament for that weekend was in Sandpoint. As it turns out this year we have several tournaments quite a ways away (Bonners Ferry, Sandpoint, Priest River). Our head coach thought it might be fun to try a Central Idaho league tournament. We have a pretty small team this year, with quite a few young wrestlers. He thought it would be easier on the parents to have a shorter drive & good for the kids to have different kids to wrestle. After getting permission from leagues to switch for this weekend the decision was made to go to Potlatch.
The Central league does things a little differently. They wrestle round robin, which means that every wrestler gets to wrestle every kid in their bracket. This is good because it means more wrestling, more opportunity. There were only 4 kids in Ike's bracket so he got to wrestle 3 times. He was the lightest wrestler in the bracket weighing in at 98.4 pounds...he wrestled in the 113.2 pound bracket (they name the bracket after the heaviest wrestler in the bracket). He had three good matches & a very good day...he pinned all three of his opponents & secured a first place medal.
On Monday I had big plans of cooking a turkey for dinner & then having turkey leftovers all week. I put my turkey in the electric turkey roaster before I went to work, turned it onto 275 degrees & off I went. At about 3:00 that afternoon Kaittlin called me after arriving home from school to a house FULL OF SMOKE. Evidently the thermostat went out on the turkey roaster & instead of cooking at 275 degrees all day it cooked at 2000 degrees all day. The turkey & the roaster were crispy critters & the entire house was full of smoke. Thank God nothing caught on fire! However my house still smells sooooo bad....kind of smells like we burned the turkey with the feathers on!!! :( I have left the doors & windows open, run fans, sprayed Febreeze, burned candles....I think it's a little better, but, eeewwww.....it STINKS!!!!
Ike had his first home middle school wrestling dual last night. They dualed Canfield Middle School (Coeur d'Alene) and Kellogg. Canfield has a HUGE team...I heard they have about 75 wrestlers, although they only brought about 50. This gave our wrestlers a lot of matches. Ike had 3 matches. He won all three, two by pins & one by points in the very last seconds of the match...almost gave me a heart attack!!!
We head to Lakeland this Saturday for a club tournament and have another middle school dual at home next week.
Working on getting pictures off my camera for a "picture post" within in the week...stay tuned! :)
The Central league does things a little differently. They wrestle round robin, which means that every wrestler gets to wrestle every kid in their bracket. This is good because it means more wrestling, more opportunity. There were only 4 kids in Ike's bracket so he got to wrestle 3 times. He was the lightest wrestler in the bracket weighing in at 98.4 pounds...he wrestled in the 113.2 pound bracket (they name the bracket after the heaviest wrestler in the bracket). He had three good matches & a very good day...he pinned all three of his opponents & secured a first place medal.
On Monday I had big plans of cooking a turkey for dinner & then having turkey leftovers all week. I put my turkey in the electric turkey roaster before I went to work, turned it onto 275 degrees & off I went. At about 3:00 that afternoon Kaittlin called me after arriving home from school to a house FULL OF SMOKE. Evidently the thermostat went out on the turkey roaster & instead of cooking at 275 degrees all day it cooked at 2000 degrees all day. The turkey & the roaster were crispy critters & the entire house was full of smoke. Thank God nothing caught on fire! However my house still smells sooooo bad....kind of smells like we burned the turkey with the feathers on!!! :( I have left the doors & windows open, run fans, sprayed Febreeze, burned candles....I think it's a little better, but, eeewwww.....it STINKS!!!!
Ike had his first home middle school wrestling dual last night. They dualed Canfield Middle School (Coeur d'Alene) and Kellogg. Canfield has a HUGE team...I heard they have about 75 wrestlers, although they only brought about 50. This gave our wrestlers a lot of matches. Ike had 3 matches. He won all three, two by pins & one by points in the very last seconds of the match...almost gave me a heart attack!!!
We head to Lakeland this Saturday for a club tournament and have another middle school dual at home next week.
Working on getting pictures off my camera for a "picture post" within in the week...stay tuned! :)
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Golden Pin
A couple years ago Mike & I heard about a little incentive that one of the wrestling clubs did for fun. Every time one of the wrestlers won a match by a pin they would go to the lady who started this (one of the moms) and she would give them a "golden pin". It was a gold safety pin. The kids loved it & I thought it was just the best idea.
I have kept this idea in the back of my head for a couple years & this year I decided that I would give it a try. I found gold safety pins online for way less money than I expected. I ordered 3 inch ones for the wrestlers' first pin & 1 1/16" ones for each subsequent pin that they can hang off the big pin. My thinking was that each year I will start off with a big pin for their first pin of the season & small pins for the other pins...they can wear them on their sweatshirts or caps & it would be a fun way for them to advertise their success on the mat.
I asked Mike to contact the woman whose idea I was stealing & ask permission before I did it. He saw her at a meeting about a month ago & she told him to absolutely steal her idea, however, she offered him a warning...this will take on a life of it's own. She said that she started out her incentive in club wrestling, but it quickly spread to middle school wrestling, & now she has high school wrestlers who come & find her after securing a pin because they want their golden pin for their Letterman's jacket.
We found out last night how true her words were. Last Saturday we had our first club wrestling tournament & told the boys about the golden pins. As I expected they were very excited & I was able to give out quite a few of the big pins & two of the little ones. One of the moms even said that the boys were so excited to get their safety pins that they were by-passing their parents' congratulations after leaving the mat to come find me to get their pin! :)
Last night we traveled to Kellogg to watch Ike in his first middle school match. We wrestled against Kellogg & Wallace & our team did very well. Only three of the middle school wrestlers also wrestle for the club team, but when I walked in they were quick to find me & verify that pins at these matches would count for "gold pins". When I told them they would & yes, I had brought them, the word spread & soon the whole team knew that if they won by a pin they too could have a pin on their sweatshirt. So, needless to say, several more pins were handed out.
It was fun to watch...even the boys who didn't get pins were so excited for the ones who did...they made sure they hurried over to the bleachers & got their prize. I think this will be a really fun thing to do.
Ike wrestled well again. He won his first match 6-2 and his second match by a pin (yes, this was his first pin of the year & he got his golden pin).
I have kept this idea in the back of my head for a couple years & this year I decided that I would give it a try. I found gold safety pins online for way less money than I expected. I ordered 3 inch ones for the wrestlers' first pin & 1 1/16" ones for each subsequent pin that they can hang off the big pin. My thinking was that each year I will start off with a big pin for their first pin of the season & small pins for the other pins...they can wear them on their sweatshirts or caps & it would be a fun way for them to advertise their success on the mat.
I asked Mike to contact the woman whose idea I was stealing & ask permission before I did it. He saw her at a meeting about a month ago & she told him to absolutely steal her idea, however, she offered him a warning...this will take on a life of it's own. She said that she started out her incentive in club wrestling, but it quickly spread to middle school wrestling, & now she has high school wrestlers who come & find her after securing a pin because they want their golden pin for their Letterman's jacket.
We found out last night how true her words were. Last Saturday we had our first club wrestling tournament & told the boys about the golden pins. As I expected they were very excited & I was able to give out quite a few of the big pins & two of the little ones. One of the moms even said that the boys were so excited to get their safety pins that they were by-passing their parents' congratulations after leaving the mat to come find me to get their pin! :)
Last night we traveled to Kellogg to watch Ike in his first middle school match. We wrestled against Kellogg & Wallace & our team did very well. Only three of the middle school wrestlers also wrestle for the club team, but when I walked in they were quick to find me & verify that pins at these matches would count for "gold pins". When I told them they would & yes, I had brought them, the word spread & soon the whole team knew that if they won by a pin they too could have a pin on their sweatshirt. So, needless to say, several more pins were handed out.
It was fun to watch...even the boys who didn't get pins were so excited for the ones who did...they made sure they hurried over to the bleachers & got their prize. I think this will be a really fun thing to do.
Ike wrestled well again. He won his first match 6-2 and his second match by a pin (yes, this was his first pin of the year & he got his golden pin).
Monday, November 3, 2008
Silver Medal
Well, wrestling season has officially began!
I took the day off work on Friday (mostly because I just was not up to figuring out a Halloween costume to wear to work...I know, Iknow...). I spent the day cleaning house, cooking, & baking so that we would have food to pack & take with us to the Bonners Ferry wrestling tournament. This is the first club wrestling tournament of the year.
After the kids got home from school & Ike got done with middle school wrestling practice we packed up & headed out. Cassidy stayed behind, spending the night with a friend & joining us in Bonners Ferry on Saturday. We stopped in Plummer & picked up Al & off we went. When we drove through Worley we noticed that the town was completely dark, kind of weird for Halloween night. Evidently, the power was out all over the area (including St. Maries) for about an hour & a half that evening. We stopped in Coeur d'Alene & got a bite to eat then made our way north to Bonners Ferry.
We arrived at our motel at about 9:00 pm. Kaittlin's friend Alicia came & picked her up to spend the night at her house. Mike & I, Ike & Al got settled in for the night. We stayed at the Log Cabin Inn, which is just north of Bonners Ferry & is just the nicest motel, very clean & hospitable. We stay there every year that we go up for wrestling & highly recommend it to anyone staying in the area.
Mike & Ike were up early to go to the school for weigh ins. Ike was happy with his weight of just over 98 pounds, which put him in the 100 pound weight class. They came back to the motel for sausage/egg/cheese biscuits, juice, pumpkin muffins that I had made the night before. Then we packed up & headed to the school for the long day of wrestling.
The tournament actually went quite smoothly. Kaittlin worked all day at the table. Each club is required to provide table help. Kaittlin generously volunteers to do much of that each year for us. She enjoys helping, gets community service hours towards high school credit for it, & gets to free up the parents from having to spend as much time doing it. She recruited Alicia to help her this year.
Ike had a first round bye so had to wait quite a while to wrestle. All of the boys in his bracket were new to us. Ike did not gain any weight this year compared to last, so the kids he has wrestled in the past were heavier. His first match he wrestled VERY well & won 9-2. He was very excited with his win. There were only 6 kids in his bracket & because he drew a bye his first round & won his second round that put him in the medal round. The second match (for 1st/2nd) was a exciting match. Again, he wrestled SO good...it was anyone's match...a couple times he almost had his opponent pinned, but he wiggled out of it...a couple time HE almost GOT pinned but managed to get out of it. He ended up losing the match 6-9. He was disappointed because he felt like he had made some mistakes that cost him the match & he was really hoping for that gold medal, but silver is good & he wrestled well.
This was Al's first time watching Ike wrestle folkstyle & I think he had a good time. He is likely heading to Arizona this week.
Our whole team did really well...most of our boys medaled. All in all it was a very good day & we were done in record time...out of the gym before 3pm!!! We had dinner at Alicia's parent's house before heading back to St. Maries.
It was a long, tiring, but good weekend...nice to have that extra hour of sleep on Saturday night!!! :)
Booster club meeting this week, drama practice, Ike's first middle school wrestling match in Kellogg, cheerleading practice, club & school wrestling practice, & teacher conferences at the end of the week.
I took the day off work on Friday (mostly because I just was not up to figuring out a Halloween costume to wear to work...I know, Iknow...). I spent the day cleaning house, cooking, & baking so that we would have food to pack & take with us to the Bonners Ferry wrestling tournament. This is the first club wrestling tournament of the year.
After the kids got home from school & Ike got done with middle school wrestling practice we packed up & headed out. Cassidy stayed behind, spending the night with a friend & joining us in Bonners Ferry on Saturday. We stopped in Plummer & picked up Al & off we went. When we drove through Worley we noticed that the town was completely dark, kind of weird for Halloween night. Evidently, the power was out all over the area (including St. Maries) for about an hour & a half that evening. We stopped in Coeur d'Alene & got a bite to eat then made our way north to Bonners Ferry.
We arrived at our motel at about 9:00 pm. Kaittlin's friend Alicia came & picked her up to spend the night at her house. Mike & I, Ike & Al got settled in for the night. We stayed at the Log Cabin Inn, which is just north of Bonners Ferry & is just the nicest motel, very clean & hospitable. We stay there every year that we go up for wrestling & highly recommend it to anyone staying in the area.
Mike & Ike were up early to go to the school for weigh ins. Ike was happy with his weight of just over 98 pounds, which put him in the 100 pound weight class. They came back to the motel for sausage/egg/cheese biscuits, juice, pumpkin muffins that I had made the night before. Then we packed up & headed to the school for the long day of wrestling.
The tournament actually went quite smoothly. Kaittlin worked all day at the table. Each club is required to provide table help. Kaittlin generously volunteers to do much of that each year for us. She enjoys helping, gets community service hours towards high school credit for it, & gets to free up the parents from having to spend as much time doing it. She recruited Alicia to help her this year.
Ike had a first round bye so had to wait quite a while to wrestle. All of the boys in his bracket were new to us. Ike did not gain any weight this year compared to last, so the kids he has wrestled in the past were heavier. His first match he wrestled VERY well & won 9-2. He was very excited with his win. There were only 6 kids in his bracket & because he drew a bye his first round & won his second round that put him in the medal round. The second match (for 1st/2nd) was a exciting match. Again, he wrestled SO good...it was anyone's match...a couple times he almost had his opponent pinned, but he wiggled out of it...a couple time HE almost GOT pinned but managed to get out of it. He ended up losing the match 6-9. He was disappointed because he felt like he had made some mistakes that cost him the match & he was really hoping for that gold medal, but silver is good & he wrestled well.
This was Al's first time watching Ike wrestle folkstyle & I think he had a good time. He is likely heading to Arizona this week.
Our whole team did really well...most of our boys medaled. All in all it was a very good day & we were done in record time...out of the gym before 3pm!!! We had dinner at Alicia's parent's house before heading back to St. Maries.
It was a long, tiring, but good weekend...nice to have that extra hour of sleep on Saturday night!!! :)
Booster club meeting this week, drama practice, Ike's first middle school wrestling match in Kellogg, cheerleading practice, club & school wrestling practice, & teacher conferences at the end of the week.
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