Bryson Reunion 2011

Last month was Tim's family reunion with all of his siblings.  Most of us get together all the time, but there are a couple that we don't see nearly as often, so it was nice to see them all together for the first time in quite a while.

Below:

Heidi, Randy, Tammy, Wally and Helen, Tim, Lane, Kip, Tina, and Shannon.  They're not anal like my family where we all have to be in age-order...

 On Friday we went to Roaring Springs, then played Minute to Win It that night.  On Saturday, we were told there would be a couple of water games, softball, and basketball.  I was thinking a few water balloons...I was wrong.  It ended up being Wally with a hose and free reign...yikes!

I had not brought towels or extra clothes or anything like that.  At one point about 30 minutes into the morning, Tim convinced me to play one of the games that seemed harmless enough.  Keep in mind that we had been at Roaring Springs the day before and I had embraced the wet hair/no make-up look all that day.  But this day, however, I looked pretty darn good--hair done, make-up nice, etc.  Long story short, Tim and Wally ended up dousing me.  No hair dryer or straightener in sight...and no desire to do my hair all over again anyway.  I wasn't really a good sport.  I think Tim has learned his lesson.  So there are no pics of me from that day...it's better that way. :)

Had I known just how wet we would get, I never would have let Sydney wear a white tee.  Good thing she's only 7 and not a teenager yet.

 Jake was happy to just throw balls and play catch with Dad.  That boy loves to throw!

Jake and his awesome daddy.  :)

 

Christmas letter 2010

I meant to post this like 2 weeks ago, but today will have to do. For any of you who did not receive a personal Christmas letter from our family, here is yours. Hope your holiday was great!


Happy Holidays from the Brysons!


What a great year it has been! Some of our favorite memories from this year are lots of camping trips to Grandjean in our trailer, lots of Boise State football games, and just living the dream and enjoying time together as a family. Here's our yearly recap:

Jake turned 2 in September. He is not your typical 2 year old--he is so easy! I hate to actually put that in writing, but it's true! He is a true joy to have around and is learning something new every day. His favorite things are Buzz, Woody, and Mickey Mouse, chocolate milk, nursery, and horses (especially the BSU mascot).

Sydney is 6 and in 1st grade. Her reading is out of control and she loves school. She quit dance lessons this year to take karate instead, which suits her feisty personality to a tee. She is an awesome swimmer and loves to do anything crafty like her mom. She definitely holds her own around all these boys! She can't wait to be old enough to go hunting.

Ryan is 10 and in 5th grade. He is a Webelo in scouts and will be a boy scout next summer. He was elected vice president of his school last month and is in the gifted and talented program. He is also taking karate lessons and is doing fantastic at piano, too. I almost cried with joy when he asked for new piano books for Christmas!

Brandon is 13 now and in 7th grade--we have entered the teenage years! He still gets amazing grades and is a Life scout, so he is working on his Eagle now. He got a guitar for his birthday and has been teaching himself to play. This year he shot his first big game animals--2 antelope and a deer. He's living up to his middle name.

I (Cathy) am just trying to soak up my time with our last little one at home. I have been bitten by the crafting bug lately and have painted several rooms and done some redecorating. I am now the Primary chorister in our ward and that's been fun! I also shot my first deer last week and made my husband proud!

Tim is in his 12th year at Albertsons and still counting the years to retirement… He has had a successful hunting year, the highlight being the mountain goat he shot in October. When he has time, he enjoys working in the garden, college football (big sigh for BSU), and lots of hunting. He is currently serving on the Stake High Council.

We have been truly blessed this year as always and are grateful for family and friends who make life so full of joy! To keep up with our family throughout the year, you can visit our blog at timandcathybryson.blogspot.com. We love you all and wish you the very best!

Love, The Brysons
Tim, Cathy, Brandon, Ryan, Sydney and Jake

Our summer home

For many years, Tim's parents and some other members of his family have been parking their camper trailers for the whole summer in the mountains at a place called Grandjean. We've been up several times and love it there. The best part is the hot springs pool that our kids thoroughly enjoy (never mind that one time many, many years ago when Brandon puked in it...). This year, we joined the bandwagon and left our little trailer up there for the summer. Mostly because Tim drew a mountain goat tag not far from there and wants to be able to scout out the area whenever possible. It's not something we were planning on doing this year, but we've been up twice now and have really enjoyed the convenience of the whole thing so far. I'm sure we'll make a lot of great memories, which is the main goal in my opinion.

Some fun things the kids did were go for rides with Dad on the 4-wheeler, lots of swimming, BB gun shooting, playing with cousins in our "neighbors'" sandbox, building a fire pit, hiking, playing games, and fishing. And eating s'mores, of course...

Our spot up there had a fire pit once upon a time, but had been almost completely covered up with dirt and such. We really wanted our own little fire spot, so that was our project last weekend. Tim brought a few shovels up with us, and the boys carried, rolled, and kicked big rocks we found to help make it. One of my favorite pics is the one of Syd with her shovel--she's totally posing--why am I surprised?? Anyway, our fire pit turned out awesome and did the job once it was time for the campfire that evening. I look forward to many more nights around that fire pit...

When we were trying to decide on Ryan's name 10 long years ago, Tim really wanted to name him Ryan Fisher (after all, Brandon's middle name is Hunter, and he wanted to continue the theme...). I refused and eventually won that battle. Perhaps I should have let him have his way. That boy loves to fish! He caught several the first night and I cooked them for dinner, and he also loved eating them (note the fish scale in one pic). The only downside to the whole fishing experience was Ryan "hooking" his finger. He didn't like that too much, to say the least... I think next time he'll be a little more careful when removing moss from his hook.

All in all, it was a great weekend and I'm sure there will be many more to come.

Our crazy life!

So I'm just trying to set up a blog today...have no idea if this is even working, but I hope so. Bryan and Carolyn came to visit for Easter weekend and left yesterday, and Liz is still here for most of the week, so it's been fun to have family around!! If this works, I'll write a bunch more! P.S. I realize Tim's head is cut off in this pciture, but the rest of us look really good, so he's gonna have to take one for the team. :)