Tyler and Hollie have been taking "Red" photos since he was born. Now we have a new addition to the "Red" group, Chloe. She's 8 weeks old and doing one of her 3 favorite things.
Dave and Lauren came over to visit Christmas evening.

This year marks the First Annual Fattie Contest. Each person could make a fattie and add their own secret ingredients. Everyone got 2 votes. Taking the runner up spot was myself. I stuffed mine with basil, mozzarella, and tomato. Tyler won the competition with his 3 meat combo fattie. He stuffed it with bacon, ham, and bbq chicken and then smothered the meat all in Deadeye. So a big thanks go out to Deadeye for making this win possible. Tyler gets to take home the traveling trophy...until next competition.

Tyler opening his gifts on Christmas Eve.

We will remember this Christmas forever. We got to eat alot of good food, we got some good "air" sledding, and most important we got to hang out with the most wonderful people in the world... our family.

Tonight for family night we decided it didn't matter what we did just as long as we spent time together. (I'll admit I'm too old for some of his music and he's too young for mine.) These past couple of weeks we have been very blessed to be the recipients from many generous people's giving. Thank you to those who sent kind words by phone, email, and cards. Thank you to those who gave such generous gifts. We are very fortunate to have you in our lives not just at Christmas time but everyday. Our wish for everyone this holiday is to keep in mind "The Reason for the Season" and remember the best gift you can give anyone is the gift of yourself.

We Love You,

Brigett and Tyler

Today is National "Hug a Ginger Day." So take a minute to hug your favorite red head. Of course, Tyler got plenty of hugs today.

Tyler is one of the teams co-captains. Here he's meeting the Newell co-captains and getting some instructions at the beginning of the game from the officials.
Tyler playing some good defense.

Tonight St. Mary's held their PreK- 8th grade Christmas concert. The 7th/8th grade choir started out the evening singing two songs, "Noel, Noel" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". At the end of the concert all the kids gathered in a big circle aound the audience and sang two more songs, "Silent Night" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". It was a great evening of remembering the "Reason for the Season".

Tyler on the rim as Tyler Weber shoots a free throw.
Tyler getting the inbound pass from Moses.

Tyler had another stellar performance this afternoon. He did an excellent job of looking down the floor and making good passes. When his teammates weren't open, Tyler drove to the basket for a well driven layup. He even took a hard foul for an old fashioned 3 point play.

Last night Tyler had a basketball game in Sanborn. Even though the score shows a loss Tyler played phenomenal. He had a great night of good ball handling, good passes to the post, and great drives to the basket.

Tonight, we had game night. We played 2 games of cards, King's Corner and Go Fish, which I won both of. Then as the above picture shows Tyler picked running an obstacle course for the grand finale. He of course won with a time of 11.11 sec.

For Thanksgiving Tyler and I went to Colorado to meet his cousin, Chloe. We had a wonderful time in Denver an enjoyed being with our family.
Before we left for Denver Tyler spent some time shooting clay pigeons with his early Christmas present, a 20 gauge, from Rich and Andrea. Above, he's shooting Grandpa's new present, a 12 gauge Benelli. The video below is of Tyler actually shooting a clay pigeon.

Getting ready at the beginning of the game to jump.
During a timeout with their coach, Kyle Drey.

The boys played a very good game today. Tyler had another excellent game of getting the ball down low to the post. He also stole the ball for some fast break easy layups. Afterwards, we had Grandpa and Grandma over for some homemade beefstew and cheesecake to celebrate.

Tonight we held our weekly fun night. By the picture you can tell who won all three games. The T-man. We played Texas hold 'em, Kings Corner, and Indian Poker.

Sunday evening St. Mary's held their annual "Meet the Team Night." We ate supper at the Booster dinner and watched the teams scrimmage. In the picture I'm holding the check that the Scrip board presented to the school. In the past year more than $47,000 has been rasied to help tuition cost at St. Mary's. Afterwards Grandma and Grandpa treated for DQ. What a great weekend we had with everyone.

After the baseball clinic Grandma, Mom, and I headed to Ankeny to spend the weekend with Rich and Andrea. Tyler received an early Christmas present. He got a 20 gauge pump. The picture is at Okoboji Grill "Boji" where we ate supper Saturday night.

At the end of the session Tyler and Eric took time out for a memorabilia photo.

Wednesday Steve was the first caller to win a free pitching lesson with Eric Wordekemper. He is a St. Marys alumni that now plays for the Tampa Bay Yankees (The minor league team to the New York Yankees). Above Tyler is reviewing his instruction for the day.

Today started the first game of the 7th grade basketball season. Tyler is #11. He is the teams starting point guard. His stats for the first game are quite impressive. He had a double double. 12 points and 10 assists. That means he had a hand in 32 of the teams 40 points. Afterwards, Grandma treated us to pizza for supper. I made cookies for dessert. In Tyler's words we had a feast!!!

After a month of taking care of a family friend on Hospice I decided life was too short to just sit idolly by watching TV, texting , and searching the web so I implemented a family fun night for us. 1 night a week we shut all that stuff off and do.....tonight we decided to each pick a game and play it. Tyler picked Indian poker and Steve won. Steve picked poker and I won. I picked 31 and Steve won. We talked, we laughed, and in the end we all smiled!

The nice picture: Grant, Tyler (captain), Cole, Yach, Emily, and Jasmine

The not nice picture. It was Grant's idea to have it look like everyone was beating him up.

This afternoon Steve and Tyler won the annual Community Ed Turkey Shoot. This year Tyler made 13 of 15 and Steve made 12 of 15. There were four kids in Tyler's 7th grade group. Tyler and Steve are pictured with Scott and Aaron Krier. They won the 8th grade group. They received a certificate with their names on it and a turkey donated by Sara Lee.

Here the kids are pictured with Sister Donna who came to enjoy the great musical talent. Also Anthony Krier wanted in the picture.
Hannah Friesen, Amy Schwarz, Holly Keenan
Aaon Krier, Tyler Devos
Missing- Mandy Wolver and Josh Scuffham
Tyler is the only 7th grader. The rest of the kids are in 8th grade.
The kids performed with a bunch of other kids from area towns. Tyler met up with some old friends and got accquainted with some new ones. The director was from Briar Cliff music dept. He said the kids performed high school level songs to push them to the next level. He also said you were looking at the leaders of their respective school classes.

To catch up with everything else Tyler had dodgeball again this past Sunday. His team is now 3-1. Monday was the first day of basketball practice. They do lots of running and drills. Tyler even got his first taste of a 6:00A.M. practice. Steve and I got a taste of getting up at 5:15a.m. I'm sure I got more done before 8a.m. than most. I was done vacuuming the house by 7a.m.
We also want to welcome to the world Chloe Ann Smith. This is Tyler's first cousin. She was born on Halloween. We can't wait to see her on our trip to Denver over Thanksgiving.

For those of you who want to have 38 seconds of laughter go to www.youtube.com and search "Tman taking tailgating up a notch". It's hysterical!!! Thanks Chad and Rich for an awesome video.

Tonight Tyler headed to his first 7th/8th grade dance at the public middle school. He got all dressed up in his new shirt and brace (just to protect his hand).

On a play that Tyler was running the ball he got hit in the hand with another players helmet. His hand immediately swelled and bruised. So we went to the Primgar ER to get an x-ray. It's not broken but is bruised and hurts. It was the last football game of the year so he's going to heal up for the next 2 weeks and get ready for basketball.

Tyler's the kick returner on the right.

Today we headed to Sioux City to celebrate grampa's birthday MONTH. We went out to eat at Tyler's favorite place, Buffalo Wild Wings. He stayed away from the blazin' sauce this trip. After eating we went to the Movie "Express." Then after the movie we all went shopping to pick out a new shirt for Tyler's first dance which will be this next Friday night. This picture was taken at the food court after visiting with Walt Johnson. It's also the sixth picture taken before we got a good one.

Tyler and Chris all decked out for the SL homecoming game.
Friday October 3 the 7th grade football team rode in the homecoming parade.

Tyler's football scores:

September 23 vs. Denison 14-0 loss

October 2 vs. LeMars 22-12 loss

October 7 vs. Cherokee 30-0 loss

After the game the kids walking back to the side. Tyler is #11.
For Tyler's first 7th grade football game he played: QB, tailback, safety, kickreturner,and special teams.

Since I haven't blogged about anything lately I figured I'd post a trivia question for G-pa.


Q. Who is skipping 7th grade math and taking 8th grade math this next school year???

Give up yet...

Mrs. Frank the Math teacher at St. Mary's called me tonight to ask if it would be all right if Tyler skipped a level of math due to his high test scores. This way when he's a Senior he will be eligible to take a college credit math class at BVU free of charge to me. DUH! Yes!

Today Tyler had his last baseball tournament for the season. They played in Spirit Lake. They lost both of their games. First by losing to LeMars 9-1. Then by losing to Estherville-Lincoln Central 12-0. Tyler pitched the first game and did an excellent job. He was throwing some good curve, fast , and changeup balls. He allowed 0 walks. In the second game he was catcher and had the only team hit of the whole day... a bunt toward third base. They were supposed to play Worthington but due to the rain the rest of the tourney was cancelled.

Last night Old Skool treated the baseball team to a season end tailgate pizza party and X's game. The boys got to meet the players, get autographs, and go out onto the field with them. During the game they chased foul balls, danced on the dugout, and at the end ran the bases. What a great way to end a winning season!

Today we had the Corn Belt League tournament in Laurens. The boys finished 2-2 for 4th place. They received medals for their efforts. The team finished with a regular season record of 9-2-1 for 1st place in the regular season. Old Skool's final season record is: 11-4-1. What a great year for first time sponsor "Old Skool baseball."

Tonight Tyler started as pitcher and ended as catcher. To celebrate the victory Steve treated the team to DQ for a blizzard. Next Tuesday, Old Skool is sponsoring a pizza party and Explorers game to celebrate the good season.

This past weekend Tyler's tournament team started off Friday night with a pizza party and giving the boys their new jerseys with name on back. (I think Old Skool started something.) Saturday they played 3 games and went 0-3. Tyler played pitcher, catcher, and shorstop. He pitched a total of 14 innings last week.

Last night we played Lakeshore Cyclery. Tyler pitched and then caught for Yach. With 1 out, bottom of lineup, bases loaded, Jordan at bat, (btw... 1st year of ball, no hits all year) he hits a walk off double to right field to score 2 rbi's and win the game.

Catch up:

Tuesday night scores: Old Skool 6 Laurens 14

Thursday night doubleheader: Old Skool 6 Peterson 5 (5 innings)
Old Skool 9 Rembrandt 9 (5 innings) called due to lightning

Today Tyler ended his week long basketball camp in Newell. He received a trophy for "Top Offensive Player" of the week.

Last night we played in Laurens This week 3 players are gone because of camp. Tyler pitched the first 2 1/3 innings and caught in the 4th.

Tyler's stats for last nights game are as follows: He pitched 3 innings, threw 9 strikeouts, allowed 2 hits, and 1 earned run. The 5th inning he played center field and made a diving "golden glove" catch to get the 3rd out and end the inning and game.

Tyler pitched the first 3 innings. He struck out 7 batters, walked 3, and allowed 1 unearned run.

Tyler started out pitching 3 innings and ended catching 2. When the game was finished it started raining. Perfect timing. We came home to 2 big branches laying on the trampoline and knocking over the basketball hoop. Yippee, I have yard work tomorrow!!!

Last night we had another exciting baseball game. The score was tied at the bottom of the 6th and Tyler had a walk off double to score the winning run. Afterwards we went to DQ for a blizzard. As you can tell by the pic we had some special Old Skool fans cheering us on. My Uncle (Vin) and Aunt (Karen) from Alaska and my Aunt (Sherry) from Minnesota came up to watch the game. Tyler and I were so surprised and happy to have them share the win with us.

With mom winning 5 X's tickets at work and Dad working, Steve, Tyler, Chase and myself headed to Sioux City. We met at Pizza Hut for supper and then bundled up in our coats and blankets to watch in 58 degree weather. They ended up losing 0-4. Tyler and Chase had a good time getting these ballon buddies made for them.

What a nailbiter!!! After 6 regular innings the score was tied at 7. Tyler started out the game pitching and ended at shortstop. "Old Skool" owners were there tonight to watch the game and treat the team to a DQ blizzard. Thank you!!!

For Memorial Day we had Mom, Dad, Sherry, and Merlin over for lunch. After 2 bites of his brat Tyler was ready for grampa to give him a spin on the new turbo Triumph. They headed to the waterpark where Tyler spent the rest of the evening swimming.

Tyler, Brendan and Robbie before they went to the grove to Paintball. Yesterday was Tyler's first time for paintballing. He really loved it. Imagine that!

Tyler afterwards. The first game was with all the kids and adults. The second game was ADULTS ONLY plus Tyler. He got two men out right away. He held his own that's for sure. Some of the adults commented to me afterwards how good he is with a gun. They also got to hear some "hunting stories" about an owl and a black pheasant. I told them Tyler's been shooting since he was 3 and can hang with any adult you put with him.

Tonight was the boys first baseball game. Afterwards, Old Skool treated the team to Blizzards at DQ. Thanks Old Skool for a "cool treat" after the game.

The Storm Lake 6th grade tournament team played in a two day tournament this weekend. They went 1-3. Tyler played pitcher, catcher, short stop, and second. The boys did a good job playing against some good competition.

The studio that Tyler visited for his minicourse at school today. The studio is located in Spencer, Ia. They learned about the history of glassblowing and how to make it. Afterwards they went to McDonald's for lunch.
Tyler under the "Red Goblin".

Tyler and Dakota in front of the stained glass window "The Jungle". It is for sale for $250,000. It usually takes 3 years to sell. If one man was to make it himself it would take him 9 years to complete.

Each kid has their last name on the back of the shirt.
Last night at practice we handed out the jerseys and hats to all the kids. They were all very excited to see their number and name on the shirt.