Tyler has been busy!

Tyler is really enjoying his art class. He's doing a great job.



For his CTE (Career Technical Education--I think) he needed to design and build a bridge. He was given the requirements, and then went to work.





The next day in class, the bridges were crushed. Tyler's bridge held 356 lbs. Good job Tyler! There were only 5 bridges in his class that held more weight.(Maybe you'll be a mechanical engineer...)



Tyler also just had his 1st Court of Honor. (we haven't had one in our ward for quite a while.) He earned several merit badges, Archery, Wilderness Survival, Environmental Science, First Aid, Leatherworking,and Rifle Shooting. He also had 3 rank advancements; Tenderfoot, 2nd Class and 1st Class. Great work Tyler & Bryce!



In our family the "mothers pin" really should be the "father's pin" since the father is the one who works on the merit badges...the mother doesn't. I tried to have Bryce go up to receive his pin, but it didn't work.




Tyler has worked real hard. He can be proud of himself.We're real proud of him also!!!

Our U.E.A. vacation

Since we were out of school for a couple of days for UEA, we decided to give the City of Rocks, another attempt. We loaded up the trailer, and Thursday night headed North...Tyler and I were a little hesitant after our last trip to the City of Rocks.




We went to Kelton and spent our 1st (FREEZING) night there. (we still don't have our heater fixed---now you know why Tyler and I were hesitant. This time we were a little more prepared).

Friday was a beautiful day and we drove to Albian to see Uncle Gary and Darrin. They were deer hunting, and since we were relatively close, we thought we'd meet them and Bryces parents for lunch.





After a VERY late lunch, we left Albian to travel back to the City of Rocks. There wasn't a lot of time to spend there before it got dark, although the boys did climb Elephant Rock and had a great time.








Friday night we were back at Kelton. It was much warmer the 2nd night-which we were happy for.

Saturday was the traditional Allen Family Kelton trip. The boys were patiently waiting for Nathans family to bring his motorbike.



When the bike (and the other family members) arrived, the FUN really started.








Returning home from Kelton Saturday night, Bryce looked in the side view mirror, and discovered we had a flat tire on our trailer. When I looked, I saw lots of sparks and smoke. We pulled over instantly and this is what we found...Not so much a "flat" tire, but an exploded /or shredded tire.





We are so BLESSED!!!!! This could have been a major disaster! I don't even like to think about the "could have been". I know that our guardian angels were once again on duty! They are so dilligent!!! I thank them!


I'm thankful that Bryce takes such good care of us. He put the spare on (which wasn't the easiest task) and we continued home. We are so happy that we arrived home safe and without any more incidents. We enjoyed our UEA getaway. It was a nice break.

M & M's = R & R

(no this is not the newest pre-algebra equation...although if it was, I would maybe understand it)

It is however, Motorcycles, McCall & Memories = Rest & Relaxation

Bryce, Brandon, Tyson & Matt enjoyed a 70 mile motorcycle ride, from Beaver Creek to Lava Hot Springs.


Special thanks goes to the "support Crew" for providing lunch and extra fuel for the long trip. (We were in the car all day. We deserve more than a thanks.)



After 70 miles the comment we heard was "it's amazing how good this ground feels"


Even though it was a long ride for the boys--they all really enjoyed it.

Two weeks later...Bryce and Tyler took a quick trip to McCall for a Motorcycle ride, and made memories with cousins.






They enjoyed an awesome ride with Brian, Jace, Kirk, Jake, & Darrin



After the ride, they were able to spend a few minutes at the Tony Hawk Skate Park, and of course Tyler loved that as well.





Thanks to Aunt Reta, and Uncle Gary, my boys were well taken care of.=R & R
Rest and Relaxation


While the boys were in McCall making memories, I was able to be working on some "memories" of my own. I've been working on the computer with our family pictures. I recently finished 3 Proclamation on the Family books; one for my family, Bryce Tyler & I, (here is a sample of my some of my favorite pages)

a book for my parents,


and a book for Bryce's parents.


I have really enjoyed working on these books. It has been so much fun searching for the right pictures to go with the right phrase from the proclamation. This has been a HUGE undertaking--3 30 page books at the same time, and they have taken several hours of work but it's been well worth it!
This hobby is MY R & R! I LOVE IT!