A Ryker Hockey Weekend

Ryker is in the middle of the busy time of year. Hockey three nights a week, plus the pre-Thanksgiving Spokane tournament. He had a house game the night before we left and scored a very slick goal.

We left Friday morning for his 3pm game against a pretty good Spokane team. He had two shots go off the post in a row that would've been awesome goals.

It was a little chilly in the rink, they decided to keep the heaters turned off.

He played hard and got into the mix on a lot a scrums.

There is a pawn shop around the corner, and they had Anduril, Flame of the West and the Master Sword from Zelda. I was unselfish and got the Master sword for someone for Christmas (I'm pretty sure Cheese doesn't read the blog, so I guess I'm safe saying it is for him).

Ryker got the hustle player of the game in his last game. That's pretty cool of his coaches.

Three games, getting home late, early youth stake conference meeting, and a dark chapel for the broadcast was more than he could handle.

Jens was asked to watch some friend's lizards. This is Priscilla, the bearded dragon.

This is Cam, the chameleon. There was a little drama getting him back into his cage, but Ryker finally grabbed him and put him back.

He celebrated by using DeA's massage cups on his belly button.

 

Golf Simulator and State X-Country

The Stop and Rob installed a pair of golf simulators and we rented them out for the youth. They all seemed to have fun, especially the boys.

"It's all in the hips, it's all in the hips"

The cross country boys decided to run in matching pink arm sleeves.

The school had an awesome send off for the teams.

Ryker was pretty nervous and anxious and excited, exactly how you would expect him to feel.

Hampa and Nama came to support him.

They started warming up and there was definitely a nervous energy in the air.

He ran well and PR'd

In the end, he ended up 53rd overall which is more than respectable for a sophomore who didn't take running serious until this season.

It was a pretty day overall. We are proud of our lil' Gyker.

 

Halloween

It definitely looks like fall around here.

We had the ward trunk or treat, lil' Sofia was running around barefoot.

DeA was running around in an emergency blanket because she thought it was so cold.

It isn't much, but it's honest work.

DeA found out that Jens had butterfly wings and wished that she had known earlier.

Ryker has been dedicated and working hard to qualify for state. He was pretty nervous and anxious, but he knew if he ran his race he'd qualify easily.

At about the 2.2 mile mark, I told him that he was 23 overall (he needed to be in the top 44). Right after, the assistant coach told him he needed to pass two or three (knowing that he was lying). Ryker was confused and was pretty sure that he was in a good place, but started passing people anyway. He ended up finishing 16 overall with an official 17:09 5k. That is a huge improvement since last year, and even since last month. We are pretty impressed with his effort and improvement.

He wanted to ride the bus home, so DeA and I had a Miner's and Cabela's date.

It's Christmas season at Cabela's.

This will be our family card this year.

Ryker's Halloween costume was as a worn-out state cross country runner. He woke up after the meet and crushed four pancakes. Later, DeA found him dipping Oreos in chocolate milk.

DeA and I went to watch the Ascanio boys play soccer. 

Play is a strong word for what Luca was doing.

 

October Stuff

DeA discovered the delicious taste of C4, but only drinks it when she has a migraine. The other day she actually said "I kind of hope I get a headache so I can drink it." 

It's been a little foggy in the mornings.

I guess the war between Horcha and Leo Puppy is over.

We had the cross country team dinner at our house before leagues. It was a lot of energy and one loud voice.

Leagues were at Liberty Bell in 40 degree rain. Lovely.

He looks like Leo Puppy after swimming.

Go Go Ryker Racer!

Yeah, he passed and beat that dude.

Last year, after the same race, we went to the BBQ in Twisp and he had a giant bowl of mac and cheese with brisket. He was looking forward to the same thing after the race this year. It made it even better that they had the BYU game on in the restaurant. 

Rissa and Javi raised two turkeys for Thanksgiving. They were the right size, so after the race it was butchering time.

The kids wanted to watch and "help".

The wannabe farm dogs were less helpful than the barefoot kids were.

 

Autumn is here

DeA sitting by a crackling fire on a cold, rainy October day is just about the best.

I went down to Singleton to pick up Ryker from practice. Rissa was there with her kids, and she told them to get in the car. Leo Boy looked at me and said "I want to go with them". I told him to jump in, and on the way home Ryker asked what was for dinner. We named some things off and Leo inserted "I want that pancake thing you gave me". About a week ago I gave him a Trader Joe waffle for breakfast, and I guess he really liked it. He ate two, plus a yogurt and part of an apple. He probably ate 1000+ calories in about 10 minutes. Ryker asked to play catch, and while standing out there he bolted to Nama's, probably because there was an iPad there but no Max.

Gyker had a race in Oroville on a Thursday afternoon. It was in a pretty park by Lake Osoyoos, but the course was going to be difficult. 

His racing buddy unofficially ran her race in 18:04 (3 miles, not a 5K), so that was his time to beat.

Apparently he likes to talk to people while he's running the race. I'm glad he's friendly, but that might not be the best competitive thing to do.

"You don't need to time Ryker, just write Grace's time down" - Coach Jefe.

The kids discovered that the town of Osoyoos isn't just a border crossing and truck stop like I had always believed. It has a Boston Pizza, Tim Horton's, and other cool stuff. So, we loaded the passports and crossed the border on the night that the Blue Jays were playing the Mariners in the playoffs. All the Blue Jays fans were fairly vocal, so the boys tried to match it. Unfortunately, there was much less to be vocal about on the M's side than for the Blue Jays.

It was a fun evening in BC, and crossing the border was not as difficult as we expected. Now the kids think we will do this every time we travel to Oroville, but I guess that's not a bad thing.