Brad's (and Matt's) Fall Basketball

Matt is again helping coach Brad's basketball team. Matt and Randy are fantastic coaches. They really care about the boys learning how to play and be good sports. They also care about winning, and the boys love having them coach. Brad's games are in the building right next to my school, so I can usually go watch. Some nights it is more fun to watch Randy and Matt yelling at the kids than to actually watch the kids play!

And some nights it is just more fun to play with Harrison. Can you blame me?

Now that Claire's arm is in a sling, she is limited to playing with Harrison. She put stickers all over his face for most of the game.

Oh and all over her own face...

This week, the boys played the girls' team. They really wanted to win. I think even Matt was drawn into the competition of "beating the girls." Lucky for everyone, the boys did win. It was a fun game, and definitely the best competition of the fall.

Brad's sweet blocking skills

Brad ripping the ball away from some girl

Claire playing under the bleachers... Poor girl with her arm in a sling!

Harrison being grumpy...

Harrison being REALLY grumpy...

It is so fun to watch Brad get better and better at basketball. He is really making huge improvements every year, and Matt loves coaching. I think we're in this for the long haul now...

Fall Treats

I love love love fall. October is my very favorite month of the whole year. Now that I am living with Jenny I figured I'd better take advantage of her sweet cooking skills. One night I suggested we make caramel apples. Jenny found some orchard where she could pick the apples and I said I'd go buy some caramel. That's not how things work in Jenny's kitchen. She made the caramel. Didn't even know how to do that. Needless to say, it was delicious.

I did lose my appetite a little after watching the kids just BUTCHER their apples. Seriously they man-handled those things, covering them in toppings. They did not look good, however they both practically were licking the toppings off their apples.

What a fun way to start fall! YUM!

Flashback to Fall 2008

Ahhh, fall. My favorite time of year. It's when school starts, when football season starts, the weather gets cooler, and my favorite month, October! I was going through pictures when I found some fun fall pics of my adventures back in 2008.

 One weekend we decided to go up the canyon for a fire. This was when I was living in the house in Hyde Park with Natalie and Alex was a freshman. Matt and his roommates also came, you can't have a fire without boys!

This was back before Matt and I were anything more than friends. I never would have expected that one day I was going to marry this crazy photo-bomber.

The best part of the night was when a police officer stopped by to check if we were drinking. Of course we weren't, but then he looked over at Alex, and way awkwardly asks if she is wearing pants. She had shorts on that you couldn't see under her sweatshirt, and it has made for a freaking funny story over the years. I am laughing just writing about it.

Matt's roommate Cameron. He slept on an air mattress for the entire year that they lived in Logan. He did have a desk (why a desk and not a bed???) and everything on it was meticulously organized. Matt and Brandyn would move stuff around on his desk and he would freak out. Cameron's story is also a funny one. About halfway through the year, one of Matt's neighbor girls started acting interested in him. Matt and I were starting to date at this point, and he kind of blew her off. She then started going for Matt's roommate Brandyn, who took her on a few dates. She started acting hard-to-get and he was no longer interested. Finally, she moved on to Matt's third roommate Cameron. He was from Las Vegas and basically told us that he came to Utah to marry a Mormon girl. Well this girl was not Mormon, but won Cameron's heart. He baptized her and a year later they got married. I wonder what they will tell their kids about how they met....

Notice how Matt is nice and shaved? Ahhhh, the good old days....

Labor Day 2008
For Labor Day, Nat, Alex, Matt and I headed up to Bear Lake for the day. I'm not sure why Matt wasn't in Jackson, and he can't remember, but I'm glad he wasn't because this was a fun day. The year before Natalie and Erika and I had gone to Bear Lake for Labor Day and bought dollar rafts and floated around in the lake and got shakes and had a way fun day. I had to continue the tradition with Matt and Alex. The water was too cold to really swim in, so we just played on the beach. I think I also got my car stuck on the beach and had to have some strangers help me get out.

Remember, these are the days when I had a boyfriend on a mission and was dating. Matt and I were just friends but very close friends.

We started taking these jumping pictures. I don't remember what started it, but I do remember laughing my face off the whole time. I start laughing every time I look at these.  Sorry there's so many... I couldn't figure out which ones I liked the most so I put most of them on.

Sisters...

Constipated sisters...

Good times!!!

Utah State vs. Weber State

A few weeks ago, our new season football tickets came in the mail! We start checking the mailbox every day during the end of July and it is a great day when they finally come.

Our first home game was against Weber State for Homecoming. Randy, Jenny and Claire and Harrison came and sat with us in general admission, along with Matt's friend growing up, JL Coon and his wife, Shar, and son, Andrew. Their daughter, Jenny, is a student at Utah State, and JL used to play football for Utah State, so they have a pretty good reason to buy season tickets this year. I think we have them convinced that we have the best seats in the whole place. Utah State played amazing. They were up 49-0 at halftime, which is when it started raining. By the third quarter, Matt and I were pretty wet. This picture doesn't really do justice to how wet we ended up.

Jenny brought ponchos for the kids to wear. The people sitting in the couch left when it started raining, so Claire got herself the best seat in the house!

*Side story about Claire- During the game, she was always looking for Big Blue, the mascot for Utah State. After seeing him, she told me that Big Blue was "fake." When I asked her what that meant, she said that he wasn't real, that he was dressed up. I said, "Who would want to dress up like a cow?" Claire said, "He is a special cow." Later in the game, she told me that she changed her mind and thought that Big Blue was real.

Harrison had been pretty cranky during the first half of the game. When Jenny gave him his poncho he went totally crazy, he did not want that thing on his head. But as soon as they took the hood off, he was sooooo happy. 

He loved looking at the rain. He didn't notice that he was getting wet until his little hands were freezing. That was when Randy and Jenny went home. I was impressed with how well the kids lasted in the rain!

Matt and I of course stayed until the end. Utah State ended up winning 70-6. It was so much fun, even though it was raining like crazy! The best part was that we rode the motorcycle to the game so we could get good parking. That backfired a little bit when we had to ride home in the rain! We both had some very wet clothes and blankets when we got home!

Go Aggies! Can't wait for more football!

Watch Out for Bears!

As Labor Day comes and goes, so does our annual trip to Jackson Hole. The Fischer family has been going to Jackson every year for a long time, and Matt and I joined in when we got married. This is a hard trip for us because it is right after school starts, when I am unable to take any time off. Matt and I went to the Utah State football game on Thursday night, headed back to Logan for work on Friday, then headed up to Colter Bay on Friday night after work. Every year we set up our tent in the dark, and this year was no exception. We are the only crazy people left who stay in a tent, which I guess means that we will be the first to get eaten by a bear. What a good way to go. Just make sure to write on my tombstone: Tori Fischer, Eaten by a Bear.

On Saturday we went into town for our annual shopping trip and lunch. Matt and I have never taken a picture with the famous arches, and this year Melissa made us stop and take a picture. We stopped in a few stores and then headed to some place for lunch that Randy found on his phone. It had more stars than the place we ate at last year so we had to check it out. Sooooo Randy.

Matt's favorite place to shop is the candy store. He bought all the kids rock candy suckers and a huge bag full of taffy. Matt let Brad help choose some taffy and I think the bucket doubled in weight thanks to Brad.

After shopping, we headed up to the ski resort to do the alpine slide. Matt and I both went down and I must admit that I am more of a chicken as I have gotten older. I definitely did not like going super fast. Some of the kids scared the crap out of me flying down the slide! I think Reagan had fun, wouldn't you say?

After a long day of shopping and playing, we went to the chuckwagon dinner and Bar J Wranglers show. This is also an annual tradition, and I thought this year's show was the best I've seen. Every year we have a new baby at the show, and this year it was Kailee. She was captivated by the lights and music.

I never take any pictures during the show, so this year I decided I had to take one. My favorite guy is the one on the far right, Brian. If you've ever seen a show, you know why. He is hilarious.

Harrison was exhausted by the end of the show. We wrapped him up in my sweatshirt and he eventually fell asleep in Jenny's arms.

Claire. What can I say about my girl Claire? Love her!

I think Matt kind of likes Claire too.

On Sunday after breakfast, Matt and I headed into Jackson to do a little more shopping. We didn't spend a lot of time actually shopping on Saturday, more like walking around keeping the kids entertained, so we had to go look again to see if we could find what we were looking for. Matt found this shirt that he thought was so funny. No, I didn't let him buy it, but you know he would have.

After a busy day on Saturday, it was nice to relax on Sunday. The boys took off to go look for animals while the girls chatted and kids ran around. Our group is huge so it is fun to have some calm time. On Monday, everyone got up and headed home early. We were lucky to get our tent down before it started raining. I think it rains every year while we are cleaning up. Thankfully, we did not get eaten by a bear, so I think we can go again next year!