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.

The highlight of the weekend was when the boys recognized this You tube star, Raphael Miles, from the team "94 ft. of game". He is from Minnesota, an 8th grader, and can dunk the ball.
This is the team of boys that got together to participate in a summer basketball league. This past weekend we traveled to Omaha for their first tournament. The boys record was 2-3. All the boys told us mothers "Happy Mother's Day". As a mom there was no place I'd rather be then watching my son enjoy himself playing the game he loves.

This is of all the kids receiving awards for 3 consecutive quarters of 3.5 gpa and above.

This is of the kids who had perfect attendance for the school year.

Tyler also received an award for participating in show choir. He continues to serve at the weekend Masses. We are very proud of his academic accomplishments and his service to the church.

Tyler and gramma after the spring concert. Tyler is 4'11" now. Gramma is in her heels in this pic.
One of 2 birthday cakes I made for his b-day. Tyler is using his money he received to go to basketball camps this summer. Steve and him are going to the ISU Father/Son camp on Father's day weekend, ISU day camp in Alta, Northwestern week long camp in July. He also got some new ISU apparel from Rich and Andrea for all the summer basketball. He had 14 pairs of ISU shorts now slimmed down to a good 7. All are long, below the knee, and ready to play in. Thank you to everyone for making his 12th birthday special. He said that night when he went to bed that this was the best birthday ever!!!

For Tyler's birthday he wanted to go out to eat at Huhot and to a Bandits game. So that's what we did. We sat in the front row. All 3 kids caught t-shirts and had them signed after the game. We all had a good time. Not pictured was Steve, myself, gramma, and grampa.

For the last 3 weeks we've been "mummifying" a fish in baking soda for Tyler's science experiment. You may also notice the new 'do Tyler's sporting. Yup, that's right a mohawk!!!

Yesterday was the boys last basketball tournament. They went 2-2 for the day. Afterwards we celebrated with lunch at Martini's then it was off to King's Pointe. We all went down the waterslides, enjoyed the lazy river, and Tyler even played a b-ball game in the water.
You're probably wondering why I took a pic of the business card. Well, today is baseball sign up day. This is the business sponsor for Tyler's baseball team this year. Steve is going to be the head coach and I the head mom. By sponsoring a team they get their logo on the shirts, purchase equipment, and update the fields. Thank you to Old Skool Trucking for sponsoring the team.
We love you!!!

"The Perfect NYBA Season"

12-0

First off, Tyler had his district free throw competition this afternoon in Fonda. He got second place with 21 of 25 free throws made. While Tyler was shooting in Fonda his team was playing Sioux Central in a nailbiter. The final score was 39-31 with St. Mary's winning. Tyler made it back in time for the second game against Aurelia. The boys won 63-14. This ends the NYBA season. Their last tournament is March 1st which ends their basketball season. March 2nd sign ups for baseball!!!

Last Sunday Tyler's basketball team played another 2 games in the NYBA. The first game they played against SL (B) team and won. They also won their second game against Aurelia 61-48.

Thursday night at coronation Tyler performed in the Senior boys lip sync. During the song "How far we've come" by matchbox 20 Tyler was the young Evan Smith. Friday night at the basketball game his mom, Julie, came up to me and said that it brought a tear to her eye. She also thought it was neat Tyler played Evan since he loves to tell people they are related.

Today the basketball team played 2 games at Sioux Central. They beat SC 43-17. The second game they beat SL (A) 34-15. Tyler had a season high for the day with 9 rebounds and 7 steals.

No pics just numbers. Yesterday the St. Mary's boys played Sioux Central and won 46-29. Their second game they played the Storm Lake (B) team and won 66-33.

Today the KC's hosted a free throw shoot at St. Mary's for 10 to 14 year olds. Tyler won the 11 year old division. Next he will compete at the district level on Feb. 10th. Here he is pictured with his friend Chris.

Today St. Mary's played their NYBA league games. First game Storm Lake Public B team 21 - St. Mary's 64. Second game Aurelia 25 - St. Mary's 60. They are 4-0 in league play and 6-1 overall on the season.

Saturday St. Mary's held their annual Booster Club 5th/6th grade boys basketball tournament. The team had a tournament record of 2 - 1 to finish 3rd place of 6 teams. First game Manson 43 - St. Mary's 29. Second game Denison 27 - St. Mary's 46. Third game Storm Lake Public 10 - St. Marys 25.

Tyler on defense.

The first season of the NYBA started today with St. Mary's playing Storm Lake Public in a double header. The first game SM won 77-21. The second game SM won 62-18. The boys did an excellent job playing as a "TEAM".

Tyler's 6th grade class getting ready to perform with the bells to "Let there be peace on Earth".
Tyler is in show choir which also performed. A couple of weeks ago they held a party where they ate pizza and tie-dyed t-shirts. Here they are getting ready to perform "Ain't no mountain high enough".

Tyler and Yach showing off their Dodgeball metals.

Saturday Tyler participated in St. Mary's 3 on 3 "Icebreaker" tourney. Tyler's team of himself, Chad, Joe, and Adam won their 3 pool games.

vs. Storm Lake Public 8-6

vs. Galva-Holstein 15-8

vs. Sioux Central 13-4

They made it to the championship game vs. Newell. The boys got up to a quick lead of 4-1, played excellent defense against a team that the shortest player was over 5' and worked hard. The final score was 12-18 Newell.

Sunday Tyler's dodgeball team played and by the gold medals around their necks won the 5/6th grade division. They never lost a match all season long.

Last Saturday Steve and Tyler participated in the Annual Sara Lee Turkey Shoot. Each threw 15 free throws. Tyler made 8 and Steve made 14. That was good for 1st place and a turkey. Once again they will be putting food on the table this Thanksgiving.

As the smiles in the photo shows, with a little "Tyler Magic" ISU was able to pull off a victory against K-State.

Just as great weekends go with Uncle Rich this one was no exception. Tyler, while sporting his new ISU apparel enjoyed a day of good food, friends and fun. All while doing it in style in the new RV. On the way back to Ankeny Tyler even slept on the couch. This means he'll have no problem making the 10 hour drive to Sandusky in the spring.

Last night Tyler and his friends went trick or treating. Trivia question G'pa...which one is Tyler?

Yes the picture is right and your eyes are not deceiving you...Tyler does have on an Iowa shirt. A few weeks ago our neighbors (who btw are huge Iowa fans) gave Tyler this t-shirt. He didn't have the heart to tell them he's an ISU fan so he smiled, said "thank you" and accepted it graciously. His friend, Chase, who's also an Iowa fan was shocked to learn he even owned a black 'n gold shirt. Just to prove his loyalty to ISU, last night for church Tyler wore this shirt as Iowa had just lost to Penn State. Go lions!!!

This picture is of the NYFL 5/6th grade kids on their float for the homecoming parade Friday afternoon..

At the homecoming game Friday night with all his friends, but where is Tyler???

This past week has been a busy one. Last Monday was Tyler's grandparents day at school. Mom and I went to go see his final performance. Tuesday night Tyler's football team held a scrimmage game against Kingsley/Pierson. Tyler's team played the first half and outscored the opponent 21-7. Yesterday Tyler played his last NYFL football game against River Valley/ Aurelia. They lost 28-7. Tyler had a good personal game. He made 3 good passes, one ending in a touchdown. He also had some good runs which resulted in first downs.

Just so you know Dad, even though I had a busy week I still managed to get my 40 hours in.

Once again dad ran the chains, mom and I ran the clock, and Steve coached. Tyler tried out the wide receiver position in which he caught a long bomb throw from Yach. That got the ball down in the red zone where the next play Yach made a Touchdown. Tyler also played QB where he had some good passing and rushing yards. Then on defense he had some good tackles.

Last Saturday Tyler had a football game. As the score and the OT shows it was a nailbiter. We all had jobs this game. Dad was a part of the chain crew, Mom and I were the timekeepers, and Steve coached. After the game we headed to Sioux City to celebrate Gram C.'s 84th birthday. Tonight we're watching the show "Fieldtrip" that premieres St. Mary's. We also want to wish Rich a "Happy 31st Birthday" tomorrow. It is 31 isn't it???

As some of you may remember last spring Tyler's class won a free fieldtrip and school update from Dashboard productions. They are a small production company in Des Moines that will air its new program "Fieldtrip" on IPTV. Out of the 6 schools they filmed Tyler's school was the one school to get asked to be at there premiere. So yesterday we all loaded into 2 Windstar buses and headed to Drake University for the big show. They filmed, interviewed, and even fed us throughout the day. Tyler's big premiere show will be aired on IPTV September 26th at 6:30 p.m. For those of you who don't have that channel or can't watch it don't worry... They are selling St. Mary's the copyright and we're going to be selling DVD's and I plan on buying one to show all of you.

4 generation pic after celebrating an ISU vistory over IOWA

The score was not indicative of how the boys played. Tyler had lots of plays where he used the stiff arm to gain a first down on a sweep. He also had lots of good plays to get the ball down the field.

Tyler's #14 lining up on defense.

Grandpa's always been at a sporting event that Tyler and his team have come out on top. Today Tyler wasn't going to show grandpa anything different. Tyler's personal stats were one 20 yard touchdown pass, one fumble recovery, 3 QB sacks and a whole bunch of beautiful handoffs. Along with a whole team of good things we came out on top.

BTW, grandma was there too to cheer on the T-man.

Thursday night at 7:30 (under the lights) Tyler had his first football game of the season at Newell. Tyler played quarterback on offense and end on defense. He did a great job as qb handing and passing the ball off. On defense he had a few key plays where he ran down one of his good friends and tackled him to prevent a touchdown. Good job T-man.

In LeMars at the Wells Blue Bunny Ice Cream Shop Ryan and Tyler each got a triple scoop ice cream fudge sundae. Did they each eat their quart of ice cream sundae?

Ryan and Tyler toasting to a weekend of "fun in the sun".

"Look mom, no hands!"

Not for long.

At Arnold's Park. For those of you who know Ryan this pic is really true.

This weekend Tyler brought a friend along to the cabin for a day of tubing and fishing. Sunday we went to Arnold's Park to finish the weekend off. What a great time we all had.

This is at our highest point... 600 ft. in the air.

Notice the "happy face" on the sail?

Here we are descending.

Back to the boat.

The slogan "third times a charm" rang true for Tyler and I today. After attempting to parasail on two different days we finally got to go today. It was a fun ride in the air. It's funny how when you're that high how slow it seems your going, how not windy it is, and how high you really realize what 600 ft. is. We had a blast and would recommend it to anyone. Even those of you who are a little afraid of being off the ground.

This is the field where the movie "We are Marshall" was filmed.
Trivia question #1: What is the capital of West Virginia? This is a picture of the building.

T-man and the "Cornrow Cadillac"

Trivia question #2: Where is the "World's Biggest truck stop" located at?

Tyler spent a week on the road with Gramps traveling to Richmond, VA and back. Tyler had a good time eating beef jerky, fries, and Mountain Dew for breakfast. He kept in touch with his friends back home via MSN and cell phone. He played video games on the computer, surfed the internet, and listened to xm radio all week. He also had a good time "gambling" away grampa and Riley's money. Sounds like he needs to get back to Storm Lake and attend some good 'ol wholesome Catholic School!!!