Kansas Ballet

 Kansas is not a fan of being in front of large groups performing. She doesn’t mind small group of people she knows but usually only if nothing is rehearsed, only totally spontaneous. 

Well she was in post covid Ballet, in a small little class and once she found out there was a performance at the end of the year she was horrified. 

She did not want to perform. She was so scared that she only wanted her family there and no one else. Grandma and Grandpa did not get to come. 

The night before the performance, she was talking very cute, I need to clean my feet for the dance recital. 

Well as nervous as she was, Kansas did it. She accomplished another hard thing in her life. Her family was so proud. 

All the little girls did so well. They were so cute. It was a fun short event. 

Recognition

 This week I wanted to make a note of recognizing our kids good choices, perseverance, and overall awesomeness.  

This past few weeks Kansas was super sick and had to get some blood work done to check on some bacteria levels and she was super brace getting her needles.

 Pretty awesome. Also her getting 3rd place in her age category at the family fun run. 

Wade has been working extra hard, practicing  shooting and dribbling basketball. He had his first basketball game in Stirling and got 11 points to help his team win . He also  got 1st place in his category for the family run.  Great job. 

Macie has been the lead scorer for her basketball team and has been working hard on developing her shot and skills. She practices an extra 4-6 hours a week.  Her coach told us that she was getting frustrated with her team as they all call for the ball but are not open. Macie was very mature and did her best to pass the ball and not yell or coach the girls. After practice she talked to her coach about it. The coach was able to see the challenge and will support Macie and the other girls to get better. That was a very mature choice for Macie. 

She also was 10th out of 320 women in the family fun run. 

Coaldale Family Fun Run

 Family fun runs are always a great experience. The people are always so positive. Our family enjoys races. 

This time the family had a few practice runs around Magrath to help us get in shape. 

This year all there were over 600 racers. 

Macie, Wade and Kansas did so good. We were very proud of their efforts. 

Kalispell, why not?

 After a long trip home from Jasper, we decided to head to Kalispell MT with the kids to get out of the house and see some place different. 

The roads were a bit dicy from the Carway boarder to Browning but we managed to make it to Kalispell safely. We took no cell phones to it was an old school trip. 

We did a bit of shopping and ended up finding a hotel for a good price on the Third stop. 

Hotels were full because the AA High School Western Montana basketball championship tournament was going on. 

We stayed 3 days with Saturday being the nicest weather, which allowed us to walk around whitefish and window shop. 

Saturday night was memorable we stopped at a burger joint similar to peters drive in (Frugals) and got shakes. Well the adults did. The kids were too busy watching a show on their tablets to respond so they watched us enjoy our huckleberry milk shakes. They were not happy. It’s like they went on strike. They gave us the silent treatment for a few hours.

Well we went to the championship basketball games and they were awesome. The girls  game was sweet. The hometown Flathead High Bravettes battled the Hellgate Knights, a team from Missoula. What a game. The home town team was up for most of the game due to strong defense.  But near the end the Knights took a two point lead. Flathead got possession down 45-43 and called a timeout with 7.4 seconds to play. After an inbound pass at half-court and a brief passing sequence, senior Akilah Kubi found senior Avery Chouinard who barely got off a three-point shot that bounced not once, not twice, but three times off the rim, and once off the backboard, before rattling it's way through the net to give the Bravettes an absolutely thrilling 46-45 win over the Knights to become the 2023 girls Western AA Divisional champions.

The crowd went nuts. We got high fives from people we never met. It was very fun. 

We drove home Sunday morning and found out that the Del Bonita border crossing is only open Monday-Friday. 

That extended our trip a few hours as we had to travel back to Cut Bank and East to Shelby then up to Coutts. 

It may have paid to have a cell phone. Oh well good memories

Jasper Conference

 Every year the International Pressure Equipment Inspection Association holds a conference to network and share insures with peers. It’s like a glorified trade show. This year it was held in Jasper. 

It has been about 10 yrs since I attended the last one in Banff. 

This year I ran into a few folks I haven’t seen in many years. It was nice to reacquaint. 

The lectures were ok and the exhibits are growing with technology. 

It was a nice week to not be at work. 

The food was high end and so was the price.

The lake outside of the Fairmont Jasper Inn had a skating track

41

 Forty one years of life on this planet. That is very hard to believe. 

 For my birthday, my kids all made me cards, with wonderful comments. They were very excited to give them to me. After breakfast, we went sledding at grandma and grandpas land. I had a lot of fun with those kids. They are good kids. 

It was a beautiful day to be outside on a peaceful section of land, with out the noise of the world. 

After lunch we went to the church and shot hoops. Kids are getting too good. Didn’t even give me a break on my birthday and let me win. 

Kalinda had to work, but she brought home some good food for dinner. Chicken and steak fajitas. 

The day could not have been much better. 

Magrath Grade 4 B-ball

 Wade has worked pretty hard to get better at basketball this year. Not only was he on the Raymond team, but also on the 4th Grade community ball team. He played more ball in 3 months than he played his whole life previous. 

His golden achievement was playing at halftime during the heart breaker boys game. He got the feeling of what it will be like to play in front of big crowds. 

Unfortunately he didn’t make a basket but his presence was felt on defense with a few steals and rebounds.  

Good job buddy! 

Raymon Basketball

 This year, Macie and Wade have been on 2 community basketball teams. 

In Raymond, they were on the same team and had to learn a lot about the game of basketball. After 4 months they both came out stronger players. Wade’s defense has got stronger, and last night we saw Macie shoot the ball strong from further out.  Although they did not win any medals, they put in blood sweat and tears to make it through. 

SuperBowl 57

 2023 Super-bowl

We have been making it intersecting by picking winners and other items throughout the game. 

This year was a good time and great food. 

All the Magrath family got together and made their picks to win the first family Super Bowl trophy. 

The chiefs won 38-35 over the eagles

Our little Kansas was pretty happy. But the big winner was Macie. 

Trophy and $10 to the Goose

Spelling Super Star

 In late January, Wade ask us for an expensive war set made by BMC. this particular set was 1898 US war vs Spain at San Juan hill. The toy set cost over $100.00. Yikes that is a lot. This was an opportunity for Wade to work to earn this toy. One of Wade’s weakness’ is spelling. His notes and writing is very hard to read due to spelling. My challenge to Wade was to spell 95/100 words at the end of February. 

His first attempt he got 5/100. He was very depressed thinking that he would never succeed. I spend a lot of time working on words and studied many hours. 

On Feb 10, wade took the test and got 83/100. What an improvement!  Wade studied the words he got wrong and attempted the test again  

On Feb 11, he took the test again and scored 95/100. 

To his surprise he got his toy that day