A Wonderful Christmas!

This was truly a wonderful Christmas. We were home both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Which for anyone who knows us is a change from our normal routine of go go go. The boys were also home with us both days which was a change from the last 6 years. It was by far the best Christmas I've ever had!!! My parents, Randy's sister Brenda and son Sean joined us for meals, excited gift openings and just some relaxation time. It was fun watching the kids play with there new toys and help Matt with his Lego set, help Addi get dolls out of packages and put on her new make-up. This weekend now it is off to Oakes to celebrate with Randy's family and to have another wonderful Christmas memory.

Christmas 2008

A Very Busy Weekend...

This past weekend we were running in so many directions it was hard to keep track where everyone was and when. It was the Dan Unruh Memorial Wrestling Tournament here in Wahpeton. Which is sponsored by WHS and the Wahpeton Wrestling Club (that's us). Randy & I helped set up the concession stand starting Friday morning around 10am and left NDSCS about 5:30 that night to head over to the Eagles Club where they where having a benefit that I had been helping with for the past several weeks. The benefit was for Lawson Oliphant the son of a good friend who had suffered a birth injury. The benefit went extremely well and it was so nice to see people being so generous around the holidays. Unfortunately there was no rest for the weary, it was back at the college to work the concession stand again bright and early. We were back at it by nine after dropping the kids off at program practice at church. (Thanks to mom and dad for watching Addison, Matt & Jake all weekend). The team ended up in second behind Fergus Falls. Congrats to all our guys you did a great job!! When the tourn. was over and all was clean it was finally time to head over to Prante's for Huskie burgers and beers, it was nice to finally relax and enjoy some down time and start planning for next year.....On Sunday we continued our family tradition of cutting down our own Christmas tree. For the 6th year in a row we went to Cupkie Christmas Village near Perham MN. A good time was had by all and I got my "Cadillac of trees" the Fraser Fir. How it works for us is we drive around and I pick out the one I want and everyone says they can find one even better. Then we drive around about 30 more minutes and go back to get the one I pointed at in the first place. Think of the time we'd save if they'd just listen to me to began with! (Gerdon Family Lesson #1)

Go Ahead Give it a Shot, I Dare You!

Looking ahead to summer

Well we're already looking ahead to summer. This past weekend we bought a new camper for the lake.(2008 Breckenridge) It's a bit bigger than our previous one and has considerably more storage which is a huge plus when you have 4 kids and as much "stuff" as we do. We are also excited about where the new camper is going, we will be moving to a new spot in the resort. One that is more centrally located and works out better for the kids(not so close to the main road). It's hard waiting all winter to get out there again...Is summer here yet? No? Oh well, we will be getting together with our lake friends for a weekend this winter in Fargo just to keep in-touch and reminisce about the summer. I do expect winter to fly by, wrestling is in full swing and we are as busy as ever. This past weekend Nick was in Devils Lake for a tournament and took 3rd in his weight class (heavy weight) not sure if he will go down to 215 or continue at HW. Check out our school web site to see when he wrestles next. This coming weekend we host the Dan Unruh Memorial tournament here at home. It's a big deal around here and I am taking Friday off to help pull things together with the wrestling club. If your in the area we would love to see you on Saturday. Nick wrestles on and off all day starting at 10am.

Last nights concert....

Last night Randy and I want to a concert up in Fargo. Nick and his friend Pat also went. It was Saving Abel, Shinedown, Avenged Sevenfold and Buckcherry. I must say Avenged Sevenfold put on the best show. I wasn't terribly familiar with their music even though I do have a few songs on my ipod but was very impressed. I encourage everyone to check them out. I'm sure the most memorable thing for Nick and Pat (Randy too) was the 20 something bimbo in front of us that as Randy put it "didn't like her clothes" fortunately she got so drunk she didn't make it to the end of the show (sorry guys). It was a late night but well worth it, Randy even stayed in the concert the whole time, I guess his ears didn't bleed this time ie. the Fall Out Boy concert. Buckcherry was a disappointment but the other bands made up for that. They did however play Crazy B*tch which is my favorite song they sing so that made it OK....

Randy says I have to state that he is not an Obama voting, Oprah loving, The View watching, Democrat but he likes the quote. Keep the faith, Go Big Red!

I received this text yesterday and thought it was worth sharing.....
"Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama ran so our children can fly."

President-Elect Barack Obama in Chicago

The seasons over.....

Saturday marked the end of the Huskies football season. It was a nail biter right to the end with a score of 27-21. Our boys fought hard but with 3 or 4 game changing mistakes it just wasn't ours to win. I give our team so much credit for how hard they played and how they handled themselves after the game. Coach McCall gathered the team in a circle all kneeling holding hands and reflecting on the season, each senior was given the chance to speak and all did. They gave words of encouragement to the underclassmen and memories of games past. We as parents were thanked and it was truly a memorable moment to see such a great group of kids come together and support one another.

Brenda did this for Addison (Thanks Brenda)

Addison's Birthday Party

On Sunday we celebrated Addi's birthday. She had a Tinkerbell party and dressed the part, (even Snickers dressed up) they both looked so cute. She got some really wonderful gifts and nothing that's noisy and annoys mom. Thanks to everyone, I greatly appreciate that. I guess that's the difference between boys and girls. It seems like all the boys' toys used to be so loud. All the grandparents made it even though the weather was a bit snowy and windy. A good day was definitely had by all.

Huskie Quarter-Finals

Regular season football is over and playoffs have begun. Our mighty Huskies finished 3rd in the EDC this year. That is really good considering this is our last year in this conference and next year we will be reclassified to AA football (we're now AAA). It's getting hard to compete with teams that have 33 linemen(Fargo South) when we have 35 kids on our whole team. We now travel to Bismarck on Nov. 1st to meet Bismarck Century. It's down to a must win for everyone. As for Jake, his team ended up 4th out of 5 this year. Not quite the champions of last year but all had fun. Matt really had the best football experience. He parades around like quite the little football stud, but his brothers bring him back to earth by reminding him he did throw an interception or two. Check back next week to see how the game turns out!!

We just got our team pictures back and I thought I would share them with you. We also just returned from Jake getting to play in the Fargodome. Something the kids get to do each year as part of our youth football program. I added his team picture also, unfortunately they lost but had a good time playing in the dome and found out just how bad turf really hurts...we had more than a few "war wounds"! (if you double click on the picture you can make it bigger)

1929 Model A

Dad drove his 1929 Ford Model A in the Headwaters Day Parade Sept. 6th. The car as you can see looked amazing!!! Jake, Matt, Addison and Randy rode with him and threw candy. I got some great pictures of the car,it's hard to see the kids because it was such a sunny day but you can really see how nice dad's car looks. I'm really proud of the job he did restoring it. It is absolutely beautiful when you see it going down the street. He and Randy are currently having the engine of a 1950 Ford F2 truck worked on so who knows, you could be seeing 2 great looking vehicles in an upcoming parade.

5 nights of Football

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures of Nick playing football. I will be adding to them when I can but the next few games are on Mondays and I have volleyball on the same night. Jake starts his games on the 16th (schedule to follow) Randy says their team looks pretty good this year. I hope that's not just an over confidant coach talking. Nick has been playing with the JV and the freshman as they are short players. Fortunately he is done with the freshman now and can concentrate on the JV and Varsity only. Matt is also playing football this year, he started flag football 2 nights a week after school and loves every minute of it. As much as the other two love football I think Matt is going to be our die hard football player. He wants so badly to be the quarterback for the Huskies when he's in high school. It seems we do nothing these days but go to football games, football practices or watch football on TV. Wow, whens wrestling season???

Here's Jake's football schedule -- Green team


September

• 16th Green vs. Purple
• 18th Green vs. Red
• 22nd Green vs. Blue
• 25th Green vs. Black
• 30th 3 teams @Lisbon - 1 Team @Hankinson - 1 Team @ Wyndmere (teams determined later)

October

• 9th Lisbon @ Wahpeton
• 13th Play-offs
• 16th Play-offs
• 20th Championship

Happy Birthday
Dad (Randy)
We love you!
Sara, Nick, Jacob,
Matt & Addison

Nick #66

Back to School

Another school year is up and running (literally) I feel like I haven't sat down yet. I always wait for school to start so things can slow down and I can get back to a daily routine but each year I forget just how busy this time of year is. Nick, Jacob and Matt are all playing football this year. Nick is on the JV team but also dresses for all varsity games and has been asked to help on the freshmen team due to the small size of the team. Needless to say he's playing a lot of football, he's thrilled!!! Jacob is on the 5th and 6th grade Breck/Wahp team again this year. They are split into teams, he's on the green team and Randy is one of his coach's. They took 2nd last year. We're hopping for 1st this year! Matt starts flag football in a week, he wishes it we're tackle but we've explained you have to start somewhere and I'm not ready to see my baby get hit yet. Addison is becoming quite the cheerleader as she gets drug around to all these games and practices, she'll be playing football before you know it. We did sign her up for gymnastics so she'll get to do some girly stuff as the boys call it. Maybe we'll drag them along to watch her one night, they'd make cute cheerleaders too. Check out our link to the school website to see if you can make it to a game or two. We'll post Jake's schedule when it's available. Hope to see you there!

Vegetables of our labors

Randy and the boys planted a garden back in the spring and I must admit I was skeptical that they could grow anything but weeds. But as you can see by the pictures they managed to pull a few things out of that thing they call a garden and I got some cute pictures in the process. I'm not sure we'll be able to live on what they have grown in there but they have really done a good job and proved me wrong along the way, something they all love to do. Kudos to my handsome gardeners.

We're Back!

We're Back from vacation and we managed to make it to the end again this year. It's a feat I challenge each and every one of you to attempt. It's not for the meek and mild or those with weak constitutions. It's a marathon not a sprint as we often say and we train as often as possible for this week. We started off with Deep fry night which consists of deep frying anything you can think of and I do mean anything! It was a great start. Then it was on to potato night. We baked massive potatoes and topped them with some of the best things you can imagine. While the potatoes were baking we participated in a drink taste test contest. Each family brought a mixed drink and all the adults sampled said drinks and had to guess what the drink was. (we had multiple choice answer sheets) Some of the drinks we're The Fat frog, Lemonade, Elmer Fudpucker, Scooby Snack, BBC's, Thirst quencher & Fishouse punch those are the only ones I can remember. If you got the most correct you won the coveted liquor pig to keep on your deck till next year when we have a new game (congrats Berdine on your win). We also had Christmas that night where we opened presents and ran around like idiots grabbing other peoples gifts and trying to hide the ones we wanted to keep. Again it was a great night and fun was had by all. Wednesday brought appetizer night and my favorite night. That is some of the best food you can imagine. During the day we spent time on the beach and in the water it was an absolutely beautiful week. We couldn't have asked for better weather. We even tubed the Ottertail River under sunny skies.

Lake Pictures

Medora Trip

Well our annual Medora trip is on with only minor glitches. We will be leaving on Thursday the 26th and meeting Randy in Jamestown as he will be there on business most of that week. Unfortunately mom and dad are unable to be with us this year as it is my aunt and uncle's (Millie and Glenn's) 50th wedding anniversary Saturday. Dad was an attendant so he doesn't want to miss out on the festivities. We wish them all the best! Gloria and Mort also have an anniversary that weekend but will be with us part of the time, we're happy about that. Fortunately Harold and Lou will be there to keep us in-line. The Jones' will be returning with us to Wahpeton. Then we are off on a short 2 day trip to Minneapolis where we are going to a Twins game, (my first) Valley Fair and The Mall of America. The boys (Nick, Jacob, Matt, Luke and Matthew) are all really excited about getting to spent so much time together. I'm more worried about the balance of power shifting. Check back after the 4th of July for pictures of our adventure, or if you haven't heard from us by then keep an eye out for 5 boys in a white G6.

1st weekend at the lake

Readers Digest

Many nights the only peace I get is the time I spend in the bath tub. Addison is very troubled by this because I read while in the tub. She thinks I should be playing with toys and has asked me on more than one occasion if I would like a different duck as the pink and yellow ones floating around me didn't seem to be to my liking. I have finished many a good book frozen and wrinkled but they were to good to put down and I new I wouldn't have peace to read anywhere else. Well my new favorite thing to read is the Reader's Digest. I remember this around the house when I was young, my parents read it, but they're old..... OMG I have become my mother. Yes well this was bothering me until tonight when I was enjoying my bath and came across two quotes that seemed to fit me so well that I decided reading the rd wasn't so bad. Here are the two quotes you decide if they sound like me.
"I am not the type who wants to go back to nature, I am the type who wants to go back to the hotel." Fran Lebowitz
"The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and attached in the form of furniture, finished and put inside boxes." Dave Barry

Happy Mothers Day to Me!!!

As many of you know I am a coffee snob. I love, love, love my coffee. Not just any coffee though espresso and lattes. So for Mothers day Randy and the kids got me an espresso machine. A really good one, and it's awesome! I'm perfecting my recipe more and more each day, I'm not sure what I'm going to do this summer at the lake as it's a bit big to hall back and forth so I may still have to make my morning run into Battle Lake to get good Espresso but it's a nice peaceful drive. If your in the neighborhood feel free to stop by for a cup of espresso, a latte or a cappuccino.

Playing Outside

Yesterday was a beautiful day here so we took full advantage of it. We were outside most of the day. Even Snickers enjoyed herself. She slept as soundly as the kids last night. We bought the new SLR camera for better action shots of the kids in their sports but it turns out it works great for the dog too. Isn't she cute!!!

Nick's Confirmation

This past weekend was Nick's Confirmation. All went surprisingly well and a good time was had by all. The first picture is of Nick and Scott Jarvis. Scott was Nick's mentor though out this past year. They really have a great relationship and have had a lot of fun together. As many of you know we changed churches in September and have been so happy at Bethel this past year. The confirmation program was a big part of our decision to switch. Nick will even be going with the youth group to New Orleans next summer. He is really looking forward to that. I added the recipe for the sweet and sour meatballs to the blog because so many people have asked for it after Sunday. (thanks Dawn, they were great) I made them for the first time and they were easy and sooo good.

Aren't they cute!

I figured it was time to introduce you to some of my kids. There are a few missing in these pictures but it gives you an idea of who I see all day. In every group there's the clown, the drama queen, the shy one, the loud mouth and of course the bully. I have all of those and more. Some in the same child, I swear they have multiple personality disorders. It makes for an interesting day. Most days I start at 5:30am and end at 5:45pm and have 8 during the day. They range in age from 3mo. to 5 years. then I get 3 more after school. Randy says there is not enough beer in the world to stay home with this bunch.....but we're working on a 5th wheel full of Yuengling coming this way. (Missy will appreciate that).

Don't you just love North Dakota

This is what we woke to this morning. School is called off and all the kids are home. (They did the driveway) YEAH! Nick even went and bought me coffee, isn't he a good boy. Yesterday all the kids we're playing baseball in the yard and today they had to shovel, isn't North Dakota life great! By the middle of next week it's expected to be 69 degrees outside so I guess this won't last to long.

cities trip

Cities Trip

We recently went to the cities for 3 days for a little getaway. On the way we stopped to see the worlds largest ball of twine. Yes, that's what I said!! Turned out it wasn't such a great idea it was just a stinky ball of string... Then on to Wisconsin to tour the Leinenkugel brewery. Most parents take their kids to water or amusement parks, but not us. We like our beer! We also spent time at the Mall of America and Bryant Lake Bowl. A new favorite of ours in Minneapolis. All in all it was a great trip and a fun 11th Birthday for Jacob.

Back to Blogging

I'm Finally back to my blogging again. Life hasn't slowed down but I found a moment to update everyone one whats up. The Kids are doing fine, wrestling is all done for everyone. Now we are on to track, and Nick has started 6:00am football practice Mondays. It's weird to be thinking football and track with snow still on the ground but I guess that's the joy (ha ha) of North Dakota.

Regonials

Update on the Huskies at Regonials. Well Nick didn't do as well as we had hoped and the team ended up in 3rd place. We now are heading to Bismarck Thursday-Sunday to Wrestle at state. Nick isn't wrestling but I'm taking Nick and his friend Pat down to watch the team compete.

Blogging

Well here is my first attempt at blogging. We got the idea from Dave & Sara and thought it would be a great way to stay in touch with everyone. Especially all of you way out in there in Montana (Hello) I hope this finds you well. Our lives are so crazy with sports and other activities we don't get the time to talk to people individually. We thought this would be a great way to stay in touch and keep people informed on what we are up to and you can do the same.

The Cadillac of Trees

Again this year we headed out into the forest (ha ha) and cut down our own Christmas tree. I was told I picked the Cadillac of Christmas trees, the owners words not mine. Randy joked that out of a thousand trees to choose from I would find the most expensive one.(a blue spruce) Anyway it was a great day and fun was had by all. I posted some pictures of our day, hope you enjoy them.

Getting the Tree

Nick's wrestling

We are now in our fourth and final month of JV wrestling. Except Jacob and Matt start their wrestling program in two weeks and Nick's helping coach. Nick has done quite well for his second year as a wrestler. He even beat a senior from Elk River, MN. All of the Wahpeton fans were on their feet cheering him on. We were sure it would take us a week to get the smile off of his face. I posted some pictures of him wrestling, make sure to take a look.

nick's wrestling