Merry Christmas 2010

2010 Thunderbird Takedown Tournament

Jake's first wrestling tournament of the year. It was a takedown tournament which basically means you get points for getting control rather than pinning the other wrestler. The first video clip is his first match. It is rather long but Jake won in overtime if you want to watch. Please try to ignore all my yellling and screaming on both video clips.


Jake has worked really hard this year to get ready for the tournaments. He has improved so much from last year. This is only his second year wrestling and he can hold his own with kids who have been wrestling 3-4 years.

Jake got 3rd place in the take down tournament. That is best he has ever done. We hope it is a sign of a great wrestling season.

Natural History Museum with Brandon

Brandon and I were invited to go on a field trip to the Natural History Museum. We have been wanting to go for sometime so we were excited about the invite.

This is Brandon with 2 of his friends and some kid I don't know. I am not sure what this particular exhibit is called but for Brandon it was called "The animals with big horns."

I seriously hate birds and I didn't not enjoy this exhibit but I thought I would take a picture in front of it to show some bravery. The picture doesn't show the nasty ostrich taller than me!

I thought this was cool. Brandon is standing inside the fish tank. They had Dori and Nemo fish in the tank. I was impressed that Brandon would stand "inside" the fish tank. I had to go first to show him that it was not scary.

Digging for fossils. Brandon really liked this exhibit. He didn't want to leave when it was time to move on.

A coy pond with big fish and turtles.

Brandon spotted this and wanted his picture taken with it. In the far right corner of the glass case is a miniature replica of the Easter Island statue. Brandon recognized it from the Night at the Museum movie. Brandon kept repeating the line "hey dum dum, give me gum gum!"


No pictures with the dinosaurs. Their roar was a little too scary for Brandon. We did have a fun time though.

Love my little guy!

Breakfast with Santa

Today our ward Primary had a breakfast with Santa. It was really nice and a lot of fun. The food was yummy too. Only Emma and Brandon were able to go because Jake was at his wrestling tournament.

Enjoying their breakfast

Making crafts

The finished product
Emma and Santa. I think she is getting too big for this. :(

Brandon and Santa. This year he asked for LEGO's and monster trucks.
Yeah for Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Turkey Day 2010

Thanksgiving this year was spent at home with just the 5 of us. Matt went and played football in the morning. So the kids and I got started on our dinner preparations. We all had fun making our Thanksgiving feast together. We used my mom's china and made some new and old recipes this year.

The table before we all sat down to eat.

Brandon finishing off the sparkling cider.Just documenting who attending Thanksgiving this year.

That would be...Jake, Brandon, Emma,
Matt and Melissa.

We had a fun day hanging out and eating ALL day.

Matt and I braved the stores at midnight and did some shopping.

The kids were finally feeling better after being sick for a week so we went to Bass Pro shop and out to lunch on Friday. Saturday we stayed home and relaxed until we were ready to break out the Christmas decorations. It was a nice Thanksgiving spent at home!


Just for fun...here is a LEGO creation Brandon made all by himself. I was so impressed I told him I wanted to take a picture and put it on our blog. So here it is.

Emma's Spunk n Spice Fall Performance

Emma has been in a little singing group for a year now. They just put on their fall show. It was all about being "Thankful". It was really fun. Emma had a couple of solo parts and a speaking part. She is the singing group with two of her good friends Taryn and Julia.

We are thankful for Emma and for sharing her talents.

Firefighter Brandon

Brandon and I were invited to go on a field trip to a fire station. Since Brandon wants to be a firefighter when he grows up we were excited to go. Here he is waiting anxiously for the tour to begin.

Brandon inside the fire truck.

Me and Brandon with 2 fire fighters dressed in all their gear. They had a race to see who could get their gear on the fastest. It took them less than a minute.

Brandon said he wanted to be the boss of all the firefighters so we had to get a picture of him with the fire chief. The fire chief even let Brandon sit in his truck.
Here he is with his new firefighter helmet and his new badge.

Halloween 2010

Emma and Jake have been begging me for a few years to have a Halloween party. I finally gave in this year. They each were allowed to invite 5 friends. So I had 12 kids to entertain for 4 hours. I made lots of yummy food (at least that is what the kids said) and planned a bunch of games. I had the kids entertained with games and food for 3 of the 4 hours. Then the just danced around, hung out and ate more food the last hour. Emma and Jake thanked me for the party quite a few times so I guess they had fun. Here are a few pictures from the party.

The Food.

Homemade rootbeer with dry ice. My favorite.

Grab the ghost game.

Waiting in line for "pin the wart on the witch"Brandon pinning the wart on the witch.Mr. Bones Bobbing for applesTriumphant!Brandon would not put his face in the water so he held the apple over the bucket and put the stem in his mouth. Hey, you do what you gotta do. :)
Emma attempting to get her apple.

Hanging out and dancing.

The Elementary School had a small carnival. All the kids decided they wanted a balloon. Jake and Brandon wanted motorcycles and Emma got an airplane. Can you see it?

We went to Richfield, Ut for the 5 day weekend to visit family and go trick-or -treating. It was only 25-30 degrees when went trick- or- treating. It was so cold. We didn't go to very many houses but the kids still ended up with plenty of candy.

Here they are in their costumes all bundle up for the cold.

Brandon was a fireman.

Jake was the Prince of Persia.

Emma was a princess.

We had a fun Halloween holiday and visit with family in Utah.

Catching up

I have been neglecting my blog. So I finally sat down and did some catching up. I made 3 posts with more to come another time. Enjoy catching up with the Summers family.

Jake's 9th Birthday

Jake's 9th birthday was Sunday, Oct. 17. So on Saturday the 16th we went out to lunch after a scout field trip. That is why Jake is wearing his scout uniform. Jake chose Tony Roma's for his birthday lunch.

Jake loves ribs!!
On Sunday, Jake's birthday we let him open his presents before church.

No birthday would be complete without new books!!
This shirt pretty much says it all. When I saw it I knew I needed to get it for Jake.
Here is my attempt at a LEGO cake. No judging. Jake loved it and that is all that counts.
Getting ready to blow the candles out.We love this boy more and more every year. We are so blessed to have him in our family.

Happy Birthday Jake!!