Rushmore Thunder Hockey kick-off!!

We know that when the Rush season starts that the Rushmore Thunder hockey will be underway too!  The boys were soooo excited to get the season started!  Oh...who am I kidding...so were Mom and Dad!!!  We love watching the boys out on the ice...and every year they improve by leaps and bounds! They always have some open hockey ice time before the practices start so the kids can get back in the groove, and you know we would not miss a chance at some ice time! :)

Love my hockey boys!!!

Aiden picked up right where he left off last season...even better:)

Just sayin' hello!

Tyson owns the ice:) 

Taking a little breather

Hello again!

Nice shot!

Tyson testing his goalie skills

The boys skated for over 3 hours and had a blast!  Here's to a great Thunder season!

Rapid City Rush Season kick-off!

Well somehow the Dunbar family survived 6 months without Rush hockey, and are ready to start another exciting season.  We started it off with the Season Ticket holder dinner.  They hand out all the tickets for the year, give us a "special" present (a Rush scarf), and they introduce the 2013-2014 team!  The best part is getting to walk around and see the players and get signatures and pictures taken with them.  When it comes to our boys there are 2 Rush players that stand a mile high above the rest.....  Riley Wesloeski (also Grandma Brenda's heart throb:) and Conrad Reeder (he played last season over seas and we missed him terribly:)



Riley Wesloeski signing the boys' ticket books



Riley Wesloeski!...Aiden may have been slightly excited:)

Conrad Reeder!!!

Coach Ferras introducing this season's team

Riley Wesloeski, Justin Sawyer, Conrad Reeder, and Scott Wray

 Their opening home games were the weekend of Scott's birthday!  Talk about a great birthday present!:)  Grandma Brenda was able to join us for all the fun!

Check out Riley in the back getting ready for the face-off

The hockey gang!

Attempt #1 at a family picture...

Attempt #2 at a family picture...oh well...can't always be perfect:)

The Rush ended up winning both games and we can't wait to see what the season holds!  Go RUSH!!!

Pidemont Vally 5K Fun Run and Walk

Scott and Tyson signed up for the Piedmont Valley 5K fun run and walk this last weekend.  Tyson loves anything sport related and really enjoys getting to do races with his dad to show off his skills! :)

 

Pre-race

Standing with 1 of their 2 biggest supporters!:)

Getting ready for the starting horn

and they're off!

Coming down the home stretch

Aiden ran down to greet them and run on in to the finish line with them:)

Finish Time!  Great job!

They both did a wonderful job considering it was a bit breezy and a lot of it they ran into the wind!  Can't wait to see what race they decide to do next!

Dad's Birthday Present

The boys had painted me my very own coffe mug a few years back for Mother's Day, and ever since their Dad has been hinting that he sure wished he had one of his own.  Well, this year he will not only get his own coffee mug...he will get 2!  The boys didn't have school, so we used the opportunity to go paint some very awesome birthday presents!

Tyson picked out a travel mug and Aiden stuck with a regular coffee cup

Check out that focus

Aiden working his own magic

showing off his finished product...as a goof! :)

That's better:)

Tyson with his finishd product

Aiden decided he should put his name on the bottom of his

The boys did an awesome job, and had a lot of fun creating their own special presents for their Dad!  Now we have to be patient and wait 2 weeks before they can show off their awesome work!

Carmichael Thanksgiving

We had our annual "Carmichael Thanksgiving" this past weekend down in Wall.  This year we had it at the golf course club house.  Uncle Merlin was able to get it for us since he sits on the board!  It was great to have a lot of space for everyone...and the $1 drinks from the cooler were a pretty great perk too! :)

 

Jim Doyle, Denny Carmichael, and Scott swapping stories

Uncle Merlin and Uncle Tom in the back with Aunt Arla and Loni Jane and Logan visiting in front

Catching Uncle Tom taking a picture:)

The gals visiting:  Brenda Carmichael, Barb Croel, Marla Venjohn, and Mary Jane Doyle

Tyson was a little sleepy:)

The day always goes by so fast, but it is always so much fun to get to see and visit with everyone.  Talks are in the works for a "big reunion"  next year, with plans to do it in the summer!  We can't wait!

Winter Storm Atlas!

 

 Winter came a little early this year!  The weathermen had been threatening that a "strong winter storm" was aiming for the Black Hills and Western South Dakota for a few days, but I don't think anyone was prepared for what Mother Nature had in store!!  It rained all day Thursday and changed to snow at about 3 am Friday morning.  I decided to just stay home from work, since school was canceled for the boys.  It's a good thing I did, because I may not have made it back home!  Scott was able to get his route all done and make it home before the interstate closed and travel became absolutely impossible!

The boys doing a little shoveling before it became a full fledged blizzard!

nice snowball!

The snow was sooo heavy and wet, and did a number on all of the trees!

Tyson working on his snowman

Can you see me Aiden?

All done...minus a face and arms! :)

Aiden looks like he may be in trouble!

 We just snuggled in for the long haul Friday afternoon and night.  The electricity went off for about an hour between 7-8pm, and then was on the rest of the time.  We were very lucky!  There were thousands of people that had no power for days...Marla and Tony lost power Friday morning at 11am and did not get it back until Tuesday night at 5pm!  After all was said and done we had somewhere between 26-32 inches of snow!!!  I have never seen that much snow.....EVER!!  I wish I would have taken pictures of our front door and garage door.  The snow drift covered the entire door!  Saturday morning the snow stopped and the oh so fun job of digging out started!

The boys helping dad shovel....or not!

 Our wonderful neighbor Bob (the boys babysit his 3 dogs fairly frequently while he is on business trips)  has a snow blower and he let us use it!  If he hadn't God only knows when we would have gotten dug out!  Jeb, Cody, and the girls came over late Saturday morning to hang out.  They walked through 5 foot drifts to get to our house, but then at least we were able to play games and visit since there was absolutely not travel allowed!  They stayed the entire day, and it was a great way to spend the time.  The kids had a blast playing together!  The boys helped to get the drinks ready for the day....:)  I promise they also added a full box of juice boxes for them and the girls to share! :)  I just didn't get a picture of that!

So proud of their work!

The boys didn't have school on Monday either, and finally made it back to school on Tuesday.  The damage to all of the mature trees was devastating, and the cattle loss was terrible!  Atlas truly was a storm for the decades!  I hope it isn't a sign of what our winter is going to look like!