Belle Fourche, SD

We had a winning weekend!! Jace won both his motos in the Pee Wee Open Class and Brayden won both his motos in the Pee Wee 4-6 class! It was an exciting weekend!
This is Jace doing tricks while going across the finish line.
Brayden ready to race.

Jace on his 65. He is the 3rd one.

We had Hermosa make up motos after all the Belle motos were finished and Brayden won his and Jace had bike problems. Brett had to push him across the finish line so he could get some points. It was a bummer. He would have won that race too!

MY TURN!!

On Sunday we had a race in Belle Fourche, SD. When I say WE I really mean WE! This weekend was the Mother's Race! Since I have NEVER ridden a dirt bike before I practiced a little on Jace's 65 the week before and I also had my very first wreck. Brayden thought that it would be funny and swerve in front of me with the 4 wheeler. My first reaction was PULL THE BRAKE or I was going to hit him!! Instead of pushing down the foot brake(back brake) I pulled the front brake!! I went sailing over the handlebars and to the ground I went. The ground came in very slow motion and I put my arms out to break my fall and landed on my hands and knees and rolled. I heard Jace yell, "DAD, Mom wrecked" and he and Mattison came running over to me. They found me lying on the ground cracking up laughing. Mattison though that I was crying, but I was laughing so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes. The first thing Jace said was, "Mom you're not supposed to put your arms out to catch yourself. You are supposed to tuck and roll!" So I guess it is a good thing I didn't break anything. Brayden felt really bad and had a little lecture from his dad.

That was my last day of practice before the race. Brett told me that I had a name to uphold so I'd better go :) YEAH RIGHT!!


So here is the race!

We just drew for our gate pick.
I have my gate pick on my helmet.
Here are some of the Moms. There were 11 that raced.
Lining up at the gate.
Racing. We had to do two laps. The first lap was a race and then the second lap we had to stop at 5 flaggers to get cards. The best 5 card poker hand won.

Some of the ruts were like a foot deep! I can't believe how fast my boys go through this stuff! They would have lapped me twice before I got finished!

Jace is telling me to give it gas.I look very uncomfortable!

Finish line. I MADE IT!! I didn't even wreck, I screamed down a couple of the huge hills, but other than that I was good.

I ended up getting 9th place in the race and 2nd in the poker run. I thought I did good. Being it was only my 4th time ever on a dirt bike! I'll do better next year.

Race Day

We had a race today in Hermosa, SD. It rained the night before and helped get the track wet. (Hermosa is usually a dust bowl so we were glad for some moisture. Too bad it rained way too much and it got horribly muddy! So they started the races to see how it would go. Jace and Brayden went out for practice and were doing really good until Brayden wrecked into a face of a jump and Jace crashed into him. I don't have a picture of what Brayden looked like after he wrecked, but I am sure you could imagine. After practice there was a riders meeting and the Pee Wee Classes got canceled for the day.

While we were packing up getting ready to go, Jace had a bright idea and took his pedal bike out to ride in the mud. This is what he looked like after.

Brayden was the smart one and went into our camper to change. I don't have any pictures of him, but I wish I did. He was way muddier than Jace and Brayden didn't even ride bikes after practice.

They ended up doing the first motos for all the other classes, but canceled the 2nd motos. These are pictures of some of the other guys that had to race.

We seen this a lot today.

This was another trooper.
This is the hill that everyone had to park on. Some also slid down it and had a lot of trouble walking up it! (I was one of them)I wish that I would have taken more pictures (like a family picture), but Brayden was already clean and Brett was hosing off dirt bikes. But I'm sure you get the idea:) Next time I will get lots of pics, but I really hope that there is not going to be a next time!!

Elk Hunting--Opening Day

September 1st, 2008


Brett and I had gotten General elk tags this year and we were very worried that we weren't going to get an elk this year.

Good thing I am a really good shot!! 252 yards!

Brett, unfortunately, didn't get his that day. There is still a lot of elk season left though. He should get one too! I am sooo glad! Elk meat for the year! YEAH!! Hopefully he can get one too so that we don't run out!! (My boys eat A LOT!)
This elk actually still had velvet on his horns! Some was hanging off the back and there is still some around the bases. When Brett and Ryan packed his head out, the velvet on the tops fell off!! :( Oh well I still have pictures!
Bridger got to see me shoot it and everything! He is a great elk hunter. Very quiet! The other two boys were staying the night at a friends house so they couldn't be there. Probably a good thing though. It was a very long hike back to the truck and Brett was already packing Bridger.

Brett and his friend Ryan had to pack my elk out in quarters because we didn't bring our rhino! BUMMER! From where I shot my elk to where the pick up was, ended up being about 1 mile! To keep a very long story short, Brett and Ryan put in about 12 miles a piece that very memorable day!! He also fell like ten times and was soaking wet (because it started raining when they began to pack it out). Bridger and I stayed in the pick up. I did nothing but one trip carring the backstraps and tenderloins. Sorry guys! I felt bad, but they didn't seem to mind.

They are both pretty sore today.

I am just glad I don't have to buy beef anymore!!!!!

YEAH!!!!

Weston County Fair

Pig Wrestling!!

My boys wrestled a pig on Tuesday in Newcastle. They loved every bit of it. It was a team that included Jace, Brayden, Hunter and Reece. They were in the Pee Wee division.

OK. So if you don't know what "Pig Wrestling" is let me educate you. HA HA

First, you get a team of four people. You start out with one hand on the fence and they blow the whistle and you take off running toward the pig and try to catch it. OK wait. I think I forgot to tell you that the "Pig Wrestling" is done in the mud. (Mud up to your knees if you are 5-7 years old.) OK. So as you are running to catch the pig you are also trying not to fall on the mud. Hilarious! When you catch the pig you are supposed to go and put the pig into a barrel (butt in first). Then when you get in into the barrel all team members must raise their hands to stop the time. You get 1 minute to get it in.

1 minute seems like forever when you are a little kid out there trying to do this. Jace, Brayden, Hunter and Reece didn't end up getting the pig in the barrel, but they had fun trying anyway. Brayden actually ended up losing his shoes in the mud. So after all the teams went, Brayden went back out there to try to find his shoes. He found one, but could never find the other. Oh well. I sent him in there with old shoes anyways.

This is what Brayden and Jace looked like after they got done looking for the shoes.

We had to go and find a hose to wash them off in. I got to do that. Lucky me. They were disgusting and the mud took a little while before it would come off. But it finally did. I brought them a change of clothes so they wouldn't get my truck all wet. We went to Pizza Hut after. The boys were starving. I guess it took a lot out of them :)

They have another pig wrestling match on Friday, in Sundance this time. Hopefully they will do a little better since they had some practice. I'll let you know how they do. I will video it this time.

Lemmon Race

This weekend we had a two day race in Lemmon, SD. It was both exciting and scary, but at different times during the weekend. To start off, we left Upton at like 10:00 Friday morning and started to travel. We had to stop in Spearfish to get groceries for the weekend and then we were off again. A little while later Jace says, "Hey Mom, look at me!" I looked back and I see him writing all over his face with his fingers. A while ago he used a permanent marker on one of his trucks to color it black. So while we were in our truck he thought that it would be funny to scratch it off his truck and wipe it on his face. So this is what he looked like after he was finished.

Yeah, just great! I thought for sure it was not going to come off of his face and he was going to look like that all weekend. But, luckily it did. 4 hours later and we finally made it. We set up camp and get the dirt bikes unloaded. We make dinner and go to bed. So night one was pretty uneventful. Except for the fact that I could hardly breathe because of the awful cold I had, well still have. But other than that it was good. The next day we wake up early. Practice starts at 7:00am and they have to put on their gear and get ready to go. Practice was good. Both the boys were hauling butt. Brayden was doing a huge jump that no one else was doing. It was scary and exciting both!

So then after practice the motos started. Brayden ended up getting 2nd overall in the Pee Wee 4-6 class and 4th in the Pee Wee open class. Bare in mind that Brayden is still only 5. He is the youngest person in the Pee Wee Open class. He kicked butt. Jace did great in the 65 class. He ended up 6th overall in that class and 5th overall in the Pee Wee Open Class. Yes, Brayden beat Jace in the overall. I was not looking forward to this day, but you know what? It was fine! Jace didn't seem to mind and he was very happy for Brayden. Jace wasn't doing the big jump that Brayden was doing and that was one of the reasons why Brayden stayed ahead of him. On this day only one other boy was doing this jump. Jace was doing this jump on his 65.

So we get done with the races and start dinner and relax. We are all sitting outside with all of our friends and watching all our kids ride their bicycles and do tricks.

It was great. The weather was gorgeous. All of the stars were out and there was not a cloud in the sky. Brett decides that we better put down our awning because it was a little breezy out and he did not want to get up in the middle of the night if the wind picked up. We ended up leaving out pop up tent up and not worrying about that. We go to bed and everything is good. The boys are so tired that they pretty much fell right to sleep when they climbed into bed. I, on the other hand, struggled to fall asleep. I still couldn't hardly breathe! But I finally fell asleep. Unfortunately, my sleep didn't last long. Brett and I were wakened by the nastiest wind ever. It was horrible! I hated every minute of it! I thought for sure there was going to be a tornado and our camper was going to get lifted up into the sky and smashed down to the ground! The wind was a horizontal wind and the rain was just coming down! We were watching the lightning out or window and then our pop up tent got torn to pieces and only a corner of it was on the frame. The tarp was smacking our pick up so Brett had to brave the storm and go outside to cut it off the rest of the way so it didn't scratch our pick up. So Brett and his dad did that. We got a phone call at 2 in the morning from our friends Todd and Robin Seeley saying they were all in their pick up listening to their weather radio. They went out their after they heard to tornado sirens going off. Brett and I were debating on whether or not to wake up Bridger and Brayden and go out there too. Jace was awake and he was not liking it one bit! I had to go and lay with him and we prayed. The storm would calm down and then get worse. We ad a few breaks where we thought that the storm was over and Jace fell back to sleep. Then the storm would pick up again. It was awful! I think the storm lasted for a good 1-2 hours or more! Brett and I finally fell asleep and when we got up I went outside to check things out. What a sight! I wish that I would have taken a picture of our camp after the storm. Garbage was everywhere! Everyone who didn't take down their pop up tent came outside and found out that they had no pop up tent. The people that were sleeping in tents ended up sleeping in their enclosed trailers. I thought for sure that we were going to have a tent in our camp, but we didn't. I walked over to the track and there was standing water everywhere. The tractors were out there trying to get most of the water off the track so we could start practicing. I think we ended up starting practice a little later than usual, but it was fine. No one minded.

This is Jace and Brayden battling each other. Brayden is the one out front.

So day 2 of the racing went well. Brayden a Jace both had a pretty nasty wreck during one of their motos, but they were fine.

I can't believe I got this picture! I was just going to take it of Brayden going around the corner and he wrecked! Go figure!

After the races we packed up and headed home. So it was a very exciting, but scary weekend!!

Fun Days

Sorry it has taken me so long to update my blog. We've been really busy with racing and everything.

This last weekend was Fun Days in Upton. We had a great time. On Saturday, there was a parade and Jace and Brayden rode their dirt bikes and Bridger rode his 4 wheeler. Brett had to ride with Bridger because we were worried that if we let him ride by himself he would either run over someone or something. Unfortunately their ride got cut short because Jace's dirt bike started to overheat. They were about halfway through the parade. The boys' dirt bikes are not meant to go slow. So they overheat when they do.

After the parade we went up to the park and had lunch. The boys played the games that the high school students put on and they won prizes. (I was bad about taking pictures this weekend!) Then we went to Polly's Pub & Grub to watch the minnow races. When we got there we found out that most of the minnows had died and they had to cancel the race. The boys were bummed, but then they found out what was going on next!

At the Upton Airport they had a RC Plane flying contest! (This is where I wish I had my camera!) These planes were awesome and after I found out how much these planes cost I was hoping no one crashed! We have a couple of people in Upton that have planes, but a lot of people were from out of town. The boys sat the whole time and just watched. They LOVED it and I did too! Our friend Riley was one of the people that had a plane and he was doing awesome tricks in the air! It was great! There was only one crash and it wasn't a bad one. When he was coming in for landing a gust of wind lifted up the tail of the plane and flipped it around on it's back. Come to find out that there was not much damage so that was good!

The airplane contest finished and it was time to go. Bridger was so tired that he fell asleep on the way home(it's like a 5 minute ride, if that). He was tired! So we got home and let Bridger sleep for a while. Jesse and a couple of his friends came over to hang out in the AC. Brayden figured out that he could do a headstand and practiced the whole time Bridger was sleeping. He is really good now. Bridger and Jace are almost there :)

This is a picture of Jesse. So if you see him or talk to him tell him to go and get a haircut :)

Bridger slept for only about 1 hour and then he was ready to go again. Jace, Brayden and Bridger wanted to go fishing at Keyhole so we hooked onto the boat and headed out. We got there and drove around for a while, but 5 people casting out of a small aluminum bost was not such a bright idea. Brett and I had to fix poles way too much! We ended up going to shore and casting. Brett caught 3 bass. None were keepers. Just threw then all back. I caught absolutely nothing along with Jace and Bridger. Brayden on the other hand caught a HUGE walleye, from shore, all by himself. He was very proud of it! It was about 3 and a half pounds.

Jace and Bridger wanted a picture of it too. Brayden caught the only keeper of the day. We got our bout loaded and headed home. The boys wanted to go and show Grandma and Grandpa Bruce so we stopped there on our way home. We ended up leaving the boys at their house so Brett and I could go out. So we went home and showered and went down town. We had fun. It was a good weekend and this weekend should be filled full of excitement too!! The boys have a two day race in Lemmon, SD. I'll let you know how they do when we get back.

I promise I will try too keep this updated!