Keston's new adventure - Swim Team

This summer Keston announced that he wanted to try the swim team.  That means long days for the kid.  He is gone by 6 a.m. for seminary, then school, to play practice, to home for a quick dinner, to swim practice, and finally bed at 10 p.m.  I hardly see the kid anymore. 

His first meet was at home so it was fun to watch.  On his first event - he was climbing up to the blocks and his goggles broke.  It was not a great start.  Luckily Dad and Uncle Ken hurried to Sportsman to grab some new ones.  He did alright.  In the relays he brought his team up a spot. 


Here he is without goggles for his 50 free.

Waiting for the 100 free.

Starting the first relay.

He is getting close.

His last event - the 100 free relay - if I remember he was the last leg.  He did great!

After his meet in Butte - he was awarded the team jersey for great sportsmanship.  He is a great kid.  Let's see how the rest of the season goes. 

Theatre . . the Theatre

Keston has become more involved in the theatre at school.  Last year he participated in FXT and it has escalated since then.  At the beginning of the year he had a part in the IB play and then he got a part in Lord of the Flies.  It was weird but then again, Lord of the Flies is a weird book.  Here he is after the play in full make up.  Granny and Grandpa Paul were not thrilled with the play but he fun, I must say it was a weird adaptation. 

A face only a mama could love.  

Stratton better watch out.   Next up is FXT14 (the 10th Anniversary) he is in a couple of plays and then he is in the Music Man in March - he will play the part of Tommy - the mayor's daughter's boyfriend.  It will be a great spring!

Chad = Football

This brought the last year of middle school football.  The coaches changed positions on Chad and he went to wide receiver.  The problem with this year is that it seem like all the other kids grew in leaps and bounds and then there is Chad so he didn't get as much playing time - it was humbling.  That's okay - he had fun along with a great season.

At the beginning of the year there was a scrimmage with a lot of teams and Val saw his old high school football coach who was coaching for Columbia Falls.  So it was fun to see him again when they played each other. 

Behind that big number 15 in blue is a strapping kid who won't leave his man.  The kid has heart - you gotta give him that.

For their last game the two Grade 8 teams played each other on the high school field under the lights.  They announced each kids name.  Chad had a blast.  Unfortunately, they did not win but it was fun.  Chad is number 10.

After the game they gathered  mid field.  Chad had great coaches and he had a lot of fun.

I love the look on his face.  I couldn't get him to hold still for nothing.  He smeared on side of his under eye stuff so he had to smear the other side to make it even.  I love this kid.  

Keston in the Fall

The start of school and the fall brings marching band and cross country for Keston.  It was a very cold fall but he survived. 

Keston marching in the homecoming parade

This is the first year Flathead held their cross country meet at Rebecca Farms.  It was a beautiful day and Keston did great.  We then hurried up to Canada for Paul's farewell.

 The Mountain West Classic in Missoula.  We got to see Tylissa for a bit.  Keston did his best yet!

The Glacier invitational at Kids Sport.  

Parkour

The new hobby for Keston and Chad is parkour.  They have been practicing flips and jumps all across the town and parks.  On Labor Day we hiked up Lone Pine and the boys couldn't resist playing a little.

The Timmy

Whenever you need a smile watch this video.

I don't know why but it always makes me smile.  Who knew Keston had such timing.

First day of school

I know we are a little behind . . . but here is the first day of school for Chad and Keston.

Chad had a lot to lug around but he made it to the bus.  

 Here is Keston after the his first day.  His day starts with seminary at 6:15 a.m. and doesn't get home until after cross country.  They are sure handsome boys. 

College Life

Well we moved Tylissa to Missoula the end of August.  My coworker moved her daughter to MSU earlier in the week and it was horrible so I had planned for the worst.  Tylissa and I got up somewhat early for a Saturday and headed down.  We got to the dorms about 10 ish and immediately checked in, got her room assignment and keys.  Everything went smoothly, we did not have the snags, long lines, or crazy people that I was planning for.  We did have exhausted legs and tired arms from the multiple trips up four flights of stairs.  Our game plan was to unload, move the car so other could use the space, then hurry and get books, and then come back to the dorm to unpack.  It took us a whopping 15 minutes to get all her books.  In fact we had unloaded and books bought and mostly unpacked in less than two hours.  We ran to the store to pick up some groceries and a couple of things we didn't think about then took it easy for a bit. 

Here she is in her dorm getting things situated.  The two pictures is her whole space and her roommate has the exact same on the other side.  It is amazing what they can fit into that small space.  

I hung around until her roommate came.  She has a fantastic roommate, Hannah, who is also the only girl in her family and she has two older brothers.  The girls are both home bodies and go to bed early and then watch movies on their computers. 

College has been quite the experience.  Tylissa had a very rough start with the first couple of months bringing a lot of phone calls and many tears.  Once she got into a groove things started to settle down and she was able to finish her first semester.  She has been working for the food services and seems to enjoy it.  I have heard she is a good, hard worker.  Unfortunately she works every weekend so she is not able to come home but she is really going to enjoy her winter break.

It helped that we were able to see her every month.  Keston had a cross country meet in September.  We went down for family weekend in October.  We told Tylissa that we would be coming down on Friday but we hurried down Thursday after work and surprised her after Institute.

This was the moon coming up over the mountains.  Wow!

Friday we met up with Tylissa in between her classes and for lunch.  We did some of the tours and then hit the Food Zoo for dinner while Tylissa worked. We went on a athletic tour and got to go down on the football field.

A little parkour on the field from Keston.  

Saturday was the family breakfast.  Monte came through the crowds.   Then we headed to the game.  It was a great game and UM pulled it out from behind to tie in the last seconds of the game and then win it in overtime.  Tylissa had to leave the game early to head to work but we stopped in to say goodbye before we left.

Hanging out in her dorm.  

Keston testing out college life.  

We Love Bahama Bucks . . . a little too much

Our trip to Arizona consisted of many trips to Bahama Bucks.  We tried a lot of the flavor combinations.  Keston's favorite was coconut and strawberry.  Chad's was coconut plus any flavor.  I don't remember Tylissa's favorite.  We did NOT try the dill flavor.  We did come home with many color changing spoons. 

Chad really wanted a Eat Yellow Sno shirt but they didn't have any so we had to order it.  He loves wearing it around school because he gets a lot of weird looks.  Yellow Sno definitely means something different in Montana.