Hunter's a Boy Scout!

That's right - Hunter had a court of honor tonight where he progressed from Cub Scouting to Boy Scouting. He received his Weblos badge, his Arrow of Light and about 17 other pins, belt loops and badges. Unfortunately, it was a hectic night with friends over, wrestling practice and a faux jewelry party all mixed in, so we didn't get any pictures.

Rainbows and Butterflies...

I wish. Actually, Orrin got sick and now I think most of the rest of us are coming down with it too. Just some 24 hour bug though - nothing serious thank goodness.

Unfortunately, no pictures this post either - Just an update.

Orrin decided that he too wanted to be in wrestling (along with Mason and Brayden), so he went to practice this last Tuesday and Wednesday. Then they had a meet on Thursday. Each one placed second - it was fun to watch them all wrestling - especially since they knew what to expect this time and nobody gave up, and they all did a lot better.

Josh had a presentation on Friday to the Idaho/Wyoming hospital cooperative. There are 14 hospitals, and they have various meetings quarterly with different groups. They have a CEO retreat, a CFO meeting, Nursing officer’s meet, and the IT departments meet (I'm sure there's others too, but that's all I can think of right now). At any rate, Josh got to present to the Co-op about Windows Deployment Services and how it could save them all time and be able to get more done with the limited resources of today's economy. It sounds a bit more prestigious than it really was - but at the same time, it was pretty nerve racking too. Turns out, he did a good enough presentation that in January they're having him present again on fire suppression systems and backup techniques geared towards hospital environments. It'll be fun!

Well, until next time - love you guys!

Wanna Wrestle?

Mason and Brayden decided that they wanted to be tough like their uncles, so we signed them up for wrestling! Actually, I'm not sure where they got the idea - but they really, really wanted to do it, so we signed them up. We've been to 4 practices now and had our first match on Saturday. All the kids were split up into categories of 3 kids each, that way they could all get a medal (Gold, Silver and Bronze). Brayden didn't win any of his matches - though the first one was close. He didn't realize he couldn't rest for a second while on his back - and by the time he got his breath again and was ready to flip the kid over and keep going - well, he was pinned. The second match he did better, he went all 3 rounds, but in the end got beat by points. The third kid though was a real tough kid. You could tell his dad knew what he was doing and practiced every day. About 1/2 way through the first round Brayden was crying and we had to coax him with McDonalds to even finish. It'll be interesting to see if he wants to go back for practice.

Mason had 3 rounds as well. His first round was with a girl and he didn't really know what to think about it. In fact - the entire first round they just circled each other and neither of them would shoot and take the other down. By the third round though, he was into it! They tied for points and had a fourth round, where the first one to score would win the match. Mason was taken down, but his back didn't touch, so it didn't count as points. With some instruction from the coach, he grabbed her ankle, put her on her back and won the match. The second round he had a buy - which means he sat out for the round. The third round was the interesting one though. They didn't have enough kids in Mason's weight range, so they pulled an older kid - but same weight - to wrestle. The kid had him pinned in about 20 seconds. Mason didn't even know what hit him. He tried though - and that's the part that counts. The ironic thing is who the other kid was. Trace or Taylor or something Batton. That's right - Ray's kid. A little weird - but what do you do? Anyway, they had fun and that's what counts.

Incidently, it should be noted that only the top 2 pictures are actually of matches - the other pictures are simply Mason and Brayden practicing with their friends.

Orrin - the next Gap Kid

Well, we submitted Orrin to be the next Gap Kid! Actually, we were a day late submitting the photos - now we'll never know if he could have been the next Gap superstar. Oh well, he's a cute kid anyway.

Mason's B-Day

Mason had his birthday party this last week. He wanted to do a pirate theme, so the adults (Josh, Jamie and Carrie) all dressed up like pirates and when the kids got there, we sent them to pirate school. We taught them how to talk like a pirate, how to dress like a pirate, how to eat like a pirate, etc... We had a treasure hunt and when the kids left, we made them walk the plank. Really, we had a board coming off our front porch, and when they left, we made them put their hands behind their backs and jump off the board. It was great fun.

Sorry ... Again

I know, I know. I always promise to blog more and then it never happens. Sorry. Most of you already know what's been happening in our lives, so for this post we're just going to put a bunch of photos. Let us know if you have any questions! Enjoy!


Orrin gets his cast off:







Football Season:

A Day of Fun:

Fun with Friends and Family:

Pioneer Day

We went to the Pioneer Day parade in St. Anthony (known to the locals as St. Agony) and had lots of fun. Tryson was visiting for the week, so he got to come with us. As you can see, nothing holds Orrin back - not even broken bones!

Wallpapers

Okay - since I've now completed all my final exams/homework and other stuff, I thought I'd take some pictures of our first ever garden! My intent was to use them as a wall-paper on my computer at work, but then I figured you all might like them too, so I saved them in different aspect ratios. Feel free to download the ones that fit your monitor!

Dual Screen:

Normal:

Widescreen:

Finals Week

Wow - this week has been crazy busy. First we got a virus - actually a worm - on our network. We discovered it at about 4 on Wednesday afternoon and it took us until 4 am to patch and repair our critical servers. Came back in at regular time on Thursday - worked until 9 pm getting most of our network repaired. Once again, regular time on Friday - worked until 2 am that night trying to finish things up.

Now, this week is finals week for me. I just finished my last exam (got a 70%) which gives me a B in the class. The other class I have a project or two that needs finished. That class is a little harder to judge my grade - but I think I'll bet a B-. That keeps my overall GPA still at about 3.3 - which I don't think is too bad considering I work full time, school part time and (of course) family full time.

Which kind of brings me to my reason for blogging. I had to create a security awareness poster for my Systems Security class. Had to use all original art work, and I came across this picture of Orrin which I though was great so I turned it into my poster. Here it is:

Also (as many of you already know) Orrin broke his leg last Saturday. He decided he wanted to jump on the big kid's trampoline with Hunter. Hunter (whether on accident or on purpose we may never know) gave Orrin his bounce. This fractured little Orrin's leg at the top of the fibia and possibly at the bottom or in the ankle itself as well so the doctor put him in a full leg cast. Of course - Orrin is a tough little guy, so this kept him down for about 2 days and then he was up running around again. He was even riding his bike (he sticks his cast out to the side), attempted to ride his skateboard and is asking to jump on the trampoline again. This won't happen for about another 2 months. Anyway, we don't have any pictures of the cast yet - but I'll try and remember to post when we do.

More Snowfest!

Okay, aside form Hunter joining the polar bear club, we had a lot of fun at snow fest! In fact, you might say that snowfest is one of the only redeeming factors for Rexburg's loooooooong winters.

Brrr...

Okay, I know I haven't updated in a while, and I don't have the time right now either, so just a brief preview of what's to come.

Hunter decided to join the polar bear club at the Rexburg Winterfest on Saturday! Photos to follow...