japawo

So every year I think we get busier and busier. Now that all the kids are in school it seems like it is just one project after another. Last week we spent several nights helping Stanley with his Saltwater Biome Diorama. He put a lot of work into it and I think it turned out pretty good, but that was after a few adventures.


The first problem was when we pulled out the package of modeling clay from last years school projects and realized it had dried out. We now had a nice hard grayish white cube instead of malleable clay. We gave it to Walker to keep him entertained. It worked. He spent probably 2 hours chiseling and carving on that cube.


Here is his finished product. I'm not sure what it is.... but he's sure proud of it!


While he was busy with that we got some other clay for Stanley and he spent an hour or two making a shark, a whale, and few other things. We waited a day to let them dry, but they were still to soft so we tried putting them in the oven to dry it out faster. It didn't work. I guess there are certain kinds of clay that are oven dry and others that are not. It "melted" his animals into puddles and smoked up the kitchen.

So, on to plan C. We used some plastic bead kit things that you melt together with an iron. You use a peg board to arrange these plastic beads into a design or a picture. Then you put some special paper over it and then using an iron you heat up the plastic till it melts and the beads fuse together. You can see the end result in the picture above. The 2 sharks and the whale were made this way.

Stanley managed to finish the rest of his project without any more trouble.

That brings us to today's project. Making sugar cookies for a bake sale in Vyktoria's class. Here is a picture of everyone frosting cookies. David's friend Andy even decided to help.


Evidently it is impossible to frost sugar cookies without getting most of the frosting on your hands. Some of the kids seemed to enjoy that part, but I don't think Vyktoria feels that way.


Stanley doesn't seem to mind.


I think Walker would have bathed in the frosting if we hadn't stopped him.


Somewhere in the middle of this production -- and believe me when you try to make 2 batches of sugar cookies with the help of 5 children it becomes a production -- David and Andy decided to start singing their original parody of Roxette's "Listen to your Heart".



Sometimes I don't know what planet my children are from.

We finally finished all the cookies and that is when Vyktoria said something like "I don't think they'll all fit on my desk"


That's about the same time she realized that 2 batches of sugar cookies was way too many. You should have seen Toni. I think her head spun a full 360 just like the girl on Poltergeist. :-D

Anyway, the kids had fun and we decided to give the extra cookies to neighbors.

Weighing in at 134 lbs, standing 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a wingspan of 6 feet 2 inches, wearing size 12 shoes, with an overall record of 13 wins - 6 losses, and sprouting a mop of wild hair...

He's faster than texting, stronger than teenage boy BO, and can jump at least 3.9 inches off the ground...

He's the master of disaster, the human blender, and the mushroom hair monster...

Let's hear it for your 2nd place finisher in the District wrestling tournament...

DAAAAAAVIIIIIIIID WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!



Notice the "My dad is crazy" grin on his face? I wanted him to do some silly pose like kissing the medal or crouching in a wrestling stance but he wouldn't.

I finally remembered the camera! David had another wrestling meet today. He wrestled 4 times winning 3 (all by pins) and took 3rd place in his weight class. Here are some pics and a vid.

David's first match.


Video of David winning the first match.


David is going for the pin in his final match. You can see Grandma Wyatt, Grandpa and Grandma Wood, and Toni in the background.

I keep putting off posting because I'm hoping I remember to take a camera to David's wrestling matches. I am currently experiencing delayed success with that goal. Anyway, David is wrestling right now, and is doing quiet well. He has had 3 or 4 meets and his record is 6 wins 2 losses. He has pinned the last three opponents in less than a minute! Hopefully he will continue to win. He has 3 more meets before Districts. If anyone is interested in going the next meets are:

Tuesday 11/11 in Sugar City at 4:00 pm
Friday 11/14 in Sugar City at 1:00 pm ** UPDATED TIME **
Tuesday 11/18 in Shelley at 4:00 pm
Friday 11/21 in Salmon at 10:00 am (Districts)

Hopefully I will remember the camera tomorrow and can post some wrestling pics and possibly vids for your entertainment.


Soccer Update
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For all you soccer fans out there be sure to tune in to Fox Soccer Channel this Saturday @ 7:30 pm. RSL has beaten Chivas USA in the semifinals and will be playing for the Western Conference championship in Salt Lake. If you look really close up in the upper deck you may even catch a glimpse of some crazy Eastern Idaho fans. Adam, David, Stanley, and I will be in attendance and hopefully RSL will defeat the New York Red Bulls and move on to the MLS Cup. I would like to thank my wonderful wife Toni for letting me take myself to the game for my birthday!
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Lastly, here are some pictures to make you laugh or smile:

A Wood pile in Grandma and Grandpa's closet


Walker eating nachos.. Om, nom, nom, nom

Halloween. Does anyone else think it's weird to encourage your kids to disguise themselves and go beg strangers for candy? Oh well, here is a picture of our kids costumes this year.



On Saturday David and I drove down to SLC for the RSL playoff game against Chivas USA. We picked Micah up from Ben and Danielle's. It was a fun game, and RSL managed to win 1-0 even though the ref was HORRIBLE. He called 17 fouls on RSL and only 9 against Chivas. Even with Chivas having the 12th man advantage RSL dominated with 21 total shots (8 on goal) compared to only 3 total (1 on goal) for Chivas. They also had 6 corners while Chivas had 0. It was only through sheer luck that Chivas kept them from scoring until the 90th minute.




Toward the end of the game some of the Chivas fans started setting off firecrackers and smoke bombs. It was crazy! RSL plays again on Saturday (in California) and if they win or tie they will advance to the next round. GO RSL!

It's time for the Major League Soccer Playoffs and RSL (Real Salt Lake) made it in for the first time ever. GO RSL! They needed a win or a tie in the last game to make the playoffs. They trailed for most of the game but managed to score a goal right at the end to tie it and advance to the playoffs. They will be playing against Chivas USA in Salt Lake on Saturday. Adam is taking Joe and John, and I will be going with Micah and David. We plan on yelling loud and hopefully cheering RSL to a win.

It's fall in Idaho, and that means NO SCHOOL! The kids were out of school from Sep 27th - Oct 13th for Harvest Break. Usually it is a huge hassle because it comes just when the kids are starting to get back into the habit of school. Then they get 2 weeks off which screws that up and you have to start over. This year it worked out really nice for a different reason. I had to go to Las Vegas for training Oct 7-10 so we begged people to watch our kids for a week and I took Toni with me (a big THANKS to Ben, Danielle, and Shelly).

We flew out of Salt Lake on the 6th. The first night we went to Marriage can be Murder. It is a dinner murder mystery thing. It was very entertaining, and the best part was that Toni won! She figured out who the killers were by the end of dinner. It turned out to be the couple that sat across the table from us (probably helped a little). The weirdest part (and one of the main reasons she suspected them) was how much they had in common with us. The guy had gone to BYU-I around the same time as us, had lived in the same appartment complex as me, and knew some people that I went to high school with. The girl was from Michigan and had graduated from Otsego high school the year after Toni's brother Mike. Anyway, for winning Toni got a plaque and 2 tickets for another show (Defending the Caveman).

The next couple nights we went to Carrot Top and the Tournament of Kings. I can't remember which was when. On Friday we went to Defending the Caveman which was VERY good. It was funny, but somewhat educational too. It is about some of the differences between men and women and how they could have been due to the lifestyle of the caveman. Or something like that anyway. We flew back to Salt Lake on the 12th picked up the kids and drove home.

And that brings us to last week. Toni spent most of the week trying to get everything ready for a wedding and reception she was doing. It was the first one she has done, and I think she was very stressed. She then spent all day Saturday decorating, setting up, rearranging, decorating again, cleaning up. She did a great job and got several compliments.