Freestyle!!!!

I have decided to take a break from writing down my memories of dad. I guess I should update you on some things we have been doing lately. We are in the process of building a deck onto our house. The picture above is after we put down all the decking. The picture below is of the deck with some of the railing on. The kids just had to put the trampoline by the deck, so they could jump off the deck.

Yes, we are still wrestling in the Squires family. The boys decided they would like to try Freestyle during the off-season. They have gone to several tournaments and keep getting better the more they do it.

Two weeks ago the coach couldn't take the boys to the tournament that weekend. So Tammy and I decided to take them up and make it a family trip. We were able to go to the Eberhard Family Party while we were in Povo. It was a lot of fun. The next day we went up to Lone Peak High School and wrestle. Above you can see me trying to tell Spencer what he needs to do.

Both jayden and Spencer did really well in this tournament. As you can see in the picture above and below they pinned some of their guys. They both took home second place medals on that day.

Last weekend Coach Musselman, Coach Kelly and I took the Canyonlands Wrestling Club up to Farmington, UT for Freestyle State. As you can see below Jayden took fourth place and qualified for Western Regionals that will be held in Pocatello Idaho.

The picture below shows all of the boys in the club. I will explain left to right. Bandon Musselman took first place, Jayden fourth place medal, Zac Musselman took first place, and Spencer who didn't place but wrestled hard.

The boys were letting off a little steam with their coach. They also played a game of tag after their matches were done. There were still some matches going on at the time too. I thought they were going to get in trouble.

Fishing Part 2

Yesterday I didn't finish my thoughts on fishing with my dad. I actually had the following story in mind when I started writing yesterday and just didn't get to it. The first thing that made me think of this event with my dad, is me being on a trip with my son last week. I find it sad that as children we do not value the time we get with our parents, until later on in life. I am sure we all had fun at the time the activity was going on or remember the event, but do we really value the experience.


I remember going on the "boy's" trip with my dad, grandpa Mark and my uncle Lamont when I was around nine or ten. I loved going on these trips, but I don't think I really appreciated this event until now. Every late October we would go down to Navajo Dam to go snagging salmon. My dad and the other men went on this trip before I started going. I remember being really excited about being old enough to go with the men. I know for a fact that I never did appreciate my dad for letting me go. It had to be a big pain to take me on the trip with them. He had to teach me how to do it and also have me take away from his fishing time. He also had to hear me complain about how cold it was or being hungry. I am so thankful and appreciative that he took me each year.


I remember my first snag still to this day. My dad had always talked about how tough it was to bring in a salmon if you snagged its tail. Well sure enough my first one that I ever caught, I snagged it right on its tail. Of course I didn't know this until I brought it into shore. When I first caught it I yelled to my dad, "I got one". He dropped his pole and ran over to help. He told me how to pull up then reel, so your not fighting their swimming against you all of the time. I remember thinking that I would never get that fish in. My dad just kept telling me to keep going. At one point I asked him to take over and he told me, "no you need to bring in your first one son, you can do it." He was so confident in me and supportive it was awesome. Of course dad was always like that in life. When I finally got it in, dad gave me a high five and we took pictures. He also told me that I now had to gut that fish and any other ones I caught. I remember how big our smiles were that night eating my fish.

Dad Memories and Thoughts #2

Today I want to talk about my memories of fishing with my father. I am not that big of a fisherman anymore, however it was something me and dad did a lot when I was growing up. I remember several times going to Lake Powell for the weekend and fishing with the whole family. It seems like we were always down there when I was a kid. Dad absolutely loved to go play on that lake. When we were getting the photos ready for dad's slide show, I saw a lot of the pictures from one trip to Lake Powell. I remember this trip well. We caught probably 70 striped bass that weekend. The whole family was down for that trip, so it must have been a long weekend or something. I remember dad complaining that all he was doing was putting a worm on my hook and taking a fish off of it. Dad always complained about doing that, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he loved doing that for his kids and then his grand kids. The other memory i have of that weekend with my dad is transferring the fish back to camp. It seemed like it took forever to do it! (probably just an hour) We loaded the fish into 30 gallon trash cans and then surrounded them with life jackets so they would float. It was "easier" to transfer them across the channel that way than trying to carry them across the slanted slick rock. My dad told me jokes that he said I better not tell mom the whole way. I remember about drowning from laughing so hard. It took my mind off all of the swimming and work we were doing. I remember that once we got out of the water and took a little break on the shore my dad saying, "now we just have to carry these damn things up that small hill". Just so you know the hill was not small at all. We did have a great fish BBQ after all of the work.

Dad Memories and Thoughts #1

I have been avoiding updating my blog for the last couple of weeks. Before recent events I had several wrestling events to update all of you on. However I feel inclined to dedicate this post to my dad who passed away on January 15, 2011.

My dad was a great guy. Just like everyone else does with their parents, I had my share of disagreements with my dad. Man was he understanding and patient with me! He was the type of guy that would let you make your mistakes and fall, but was right there to pick you up and dust you off with a smile on his face. I look back on so many events in my life where I can now see that he had to have known what was going to happen, or what I was up to, and he just allowed me to learn life's lessons with his watchful eye. I grow to appreciate this more now that I am a teacher. I witness so many times where a parent wants to protect their child from every harm out there in the world. It seems that this hurts the child more than it helps them. Dad was a master at supporting his kids without enabling them.

One of my best memories of my dad is when we went to Disney Land. I remember how much he was teased and pressured by my grandpa and uncles on that trip. We went on this trip with my mom's family. So there were a lot of us going. However My grandpa Mark had always wanted to go deep sea fishing, so the women in the family had given the men permission to go fishing while the women and kids went to Disneyland. My dad although he loved my grandpa very much and loved fishing very much, he decided he was going to go to Disneyland with his kids. I really did admire him for that. I can only imagine how rough it was being the only adult man that went to Disneyland with all of us kids and the mom's. I do remember that he had a smile on his face the whole time we were there. I believe I was eleven when we went, I may have been ten, so that would have made my sisters three and five. I remember dad, mom and I taking all of them on the "kiddie" rides for most of the day. Dad could tell I was having fun, but wasn't fully enjoying Disneyland. He looked at my mom and said, "It's time for the boy's to go play". He took me on all of the roller coasters. I remember those couple of hours like they were days. He let me pick the rides we went on. I just remember talking with my dad and laughing the whole time. Dad use to love roller coasters. I honestly don't know how he could ride them with his back, but he did it. I guess my point to this story was that he could read us kids like a book and he absolutely would do anything for us. We went on many trips, but this one is my favorite.

This is kind of tough, but needed. I am going to pause for a little while (couple of days).

Wrestling

Spencer- Finished up his first year of ARL wrestling on December 4th. We were going to be in contention for a team trophy, so Spencer said he would wrestle up a weight class to help the team since we didn't have anyone in the weight class above. The other kid in his weight class didn't want to move up. When I asked Spencer he said, "No Problem Coach." I was impressed because he didn't even think about it, even though he only weighed 78lbs and would be wrestling kids that weighed 85lbs. Spencer probably had his best tournament ever! The kid never stopped wrestling even if he was down and time was almost out. He was down by one with 40 seconds left in his first match and got a take down to win with 8 seconds left in the match. The Second match with a kid that was a lot bigger, the match was tied with 15 seconds left and he got another take down with 2 seconds left, to win it. The championship match was tough. He was wrestling a kid that pinned him quickly at the first of the year. Spencer didn't seem to care, he went right after the kid and got a take down. The two of them scrapped all match! Spencer made one mistake and got put on his back, but he didn't let the kid pin him. He even came back and made it a close match. In the end the kid beat Spencer, however the kid looked like he had all he could take from Spencer. Second place at heavier weight class wasn't a bad way to end the year.

Jayden- While his younger brother was wrestling in Cortez, CO, he was wrestling in Panguitch, Ut. Earlier in the week Jayden dislodged one of his ribs. (ouch) This caused him to miss around three practices, however Jayden still wanted to go wrestle over the weekend. Missing almost the whole week seemed to affect his wrestling on Friday. He lost both of his matches that day. Tammy said he looked a lot better on Saturday. On the 11th he wrestled in Dove Creek and took 3rd at 130lbs. He looked pretty good, especially since he missed another two practices at the end of the week because he was ill.

Thanksgiving

The Squires family is doing well. We just finished up a nice long Thanksgiving Break. We stayed in town this year and celbrated with Tammy's Family. Her brothers' Jim and Jeff came down with their families. We spent most of the time eating, visiting, and playing games. Almost all of us went and watched the Harry Potter movie. It was our second time watching the movie, but it was still good. We wrapped up the weekend by watching the Broncos lose a heartbreaker to the Rams! We still had a good time watching the game up at Grandma Sparling's house.

Tammy- She has been really holding the house together with all of us running around busy all of the time. I don't see how she does everything and still does her own job. She is simply amazing! She didn't go out on Black Friday this year. I believe it is the first time in several years. However she did stay up half the night and spent plenty of money online. Tammy will be traveling to Panguitch this weekend to watch jayden in his first wrestling match of the year.

JJ- I have been pretty busy with wrestling. As soon as I was done with football this year I jumped right into coaching the middle school wrestling team. I am having a blast coaching Spencer and the team. It has been a little overwhelming, because I have almost 30 kids out this year. It is a big jump from when Jayden's team only had 10 and my first year last year had 18. it does mean the high school should be getting more numbers again. Unfortunatley I will be missing the first high school tournament this year because the middle school team wrestles in Cortez. This is the first time I will miss this tournament in probably eight years. Some of the boys' are upset by this, but we all must get used to the fact that I am no longer coaching the high shcool.

Jayden- Had a great football season. Really made up for the lost time last year. His coaches were impressed with his dedication and desire. The football team took state this year. jayden didn't get to play in the game, but was on the sidline and got to feel the joys of a championship game. He is now busy in the wrestling room. On Monday he had a little bit of a scare and hurt his ribs. Tammy took him in on Tuesday and they found out that he dislodged one of his ribs. They popped it back into place. Jayden said that it hurt worse to get it back in than when he popped it out. Amazingly he will be ready to wrestle on Friday in Panguitch. He plans on wrestling at 125lbs this year, but he doesn't qualify for that weight until Christmas.

Spencer- Is doing really well in middle school. He has had straight A's all year. He has been doing quite well on the mat too. Hehas taken second a couple of times and third once. He will wrestle in a dual tonight and then wrestle his last tournament in Cortez on Saturday.

Shaelyn- Has been doing awesome in school this quarter and currently has straight A's. She seems to be enjoying her last year of elementary school. She is doing gymnastics again this year and is constantly having me help her do back hand springs. She will be traveling with Tammy this weekend to Panguitch to watch her older brother wrestle.

Way too far behind to catch up!!!

Well it has been a long time since I have posted. I think I took an extra long break from all of the posts I made during our road trip.

Believe me we have done a ton since the road trip though. Everybody is a year older now. All five of us had our birthdays during the months of July and August. All of the kids have started school and are doing well. Shaelyn is in the fifth grade and this will be her last year in Elementary school. Spencer is in the sixth grade this year and has me as one of his teachers. Jayden is a Sophomore in High School. Jayden is playing football and is doing quite well being is first year, after missing last year with his broken leg. He plays Starting Corner on the "C" team and is a back-up linebacker on the JV team. Spencer is also playing football and doing well.

Tammy and I went down to a Scorpions concert for her graduation present. I am so glad and proud she is done with school. I was spoiled at the end of summer and Tammy bought me a new Toyota Tundra. It is way cool. I am the new reading teacher and I am really enjoying my new position.

Hopefully the next post isn't as long!