Happy NEW YEAR!

As we say goodbye to 2009.......We want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! We had some amazing memories and lost some love ones. But we look back with a heart full of memories and look forward to a spectacular year in 2010.

Happy Anniversary Grandpa & Grandma Elliott

This picture was taken 3 summers ago when we celebrated Grandpa & Grandma's 40Th wedding anniversary. Today they celebrate 43 years together as husband & wife. Feel free to e-mail anniversary wishes to jelliott@gra.midco.net or delliott@vaaler.com.

The Art of making Ring Bologna

For years we have made deer Bologna and we have never blogged about it! With football smack in the middle of deer hunting season there was not time for much. And with only getting one deer during opening weekend there was not much to make bologna with. Six weeks later and more deer meat we took advantage of the snowstorm. So we ground about 75lbs of meat, mixing it with pork & beef. Grandma has this recipe that we use that has garlic, cure,cloves all spice and mustard seeds. Once that is all mixed in by hand it's time to sample. (the most popular of the ring bologna making event) Then at that point you chill the mixture down again as you clean the casings. Yes, casings are sheep intestines. Then everyone takes turns at filling the casings, tying the ends of the bologna. Not that long ago we had an old fashion sausage stuffer and we use to crank and crank. Once the casings are stuffed its off to the outhouse. We converted this old outhouse to a smoker. The rings are placed on rods that are hung in the house above the fire pit. The fire is started and when the logs get roaring hot and flames are put out with apple & cedar chips with water. It takes about 4 to 6 hours to smoke the rings. Basically it's an all day process but well worth it! It's so GOOD!

Christmas with Khloe

Cousin Khloe is 15 months old and she came to Christmas in a beautiful red dress. As you can see she was the life of the party with all of her toys.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We did a little present opening to get the holiday started. Tanner & Dalton got Spider snowmobile jackets & gloves and Tabor got a modular snowmobile helmet and some well needed bluejeans.(maybe your child lifts weights if you can't find jeans to fit over his thighs) Then the boyz also received a new Wii -FIT resort game. We have truly been blessed with many wonderful memories this year. May your families share the same joy this season. With a break in the snow we are headed to Canby to get a few more CHRISTMAS ROOSTERS! Peace to all.

The Elliott's

Yeah Holiday Break!

Today was a picture perfect day! The Boyz had early morning practice prior to only a half day of school. After hauling some firewood we met Darin at the theater in St.Peter for the showing of Avatar. Wow what a movie! We really should see it in 3-D that would be amazing. At St.Peter they have a popcorn bar with all types of toppings like caramel apple, BBQ and Parmesan cheese. When we came out of the theater naturally it was snowing. So we are all ready for the big one, yes one to two feet of snow. We had our Christmas dinner tonight~ on the menu was steak & lobster ravioli's. Looks like our travel plans for Christmas are put on hold due to Mother Nature. BUT with plenty of gas for the snowmobiles and a handful of movie rentals we can wait it out.

The Team

Well here we are we were short a few kids the day we took our team photo. Good looking bunch of wrestlers! On Monday we are off to Truman for a dual meet. With Christmas break around the corner these boyz won't get much time off with practice everyday except for Christmas Eve,Day & New Year's Eve & Day. Three years ago when we moved here there was 5 people on the team, last year we had 9 wrestlers this year with a new coach we have 21 kids out. I don't know who is having more fun ? The boyz wrestling or the parents watching!

1st Raider Home Wrestling Duel in 7 years. Dalton at 112, Tanner at 119, Tabor at heavy weight (giving up 30 - 80 lbs). Dalton went 1-1 losing his 1st match on points and winning his 2nd match by pin. Tanner wrestled his tail off but came out on the short end of two tough matches. Tabor has 4 wrestling matches under his belt now and went 0-2 on the night verses a state ranked heavey weight that out weighed him by 63lbs and then gave the kid from River Valley more than he wanted and got in a nice football style double leg take down. A week off, then its a duel with Madelia/Truman on Monday night.

Back to the Mat!

Wow what a big day of wrestling! The boyz did an amazing job today it was so much fun! On Bubba's first time out to the mat he got a PIN! KA-CHING we were all screaming/crying & cheering! Tabor took 2ND place and had a good time. Tanner was all fired up and really picked up on some fast moves and placed 4Th for the day. Dalton took home the Raiders only 1st place medal. Wa-hoo he earned his letter today. We give the body just one day's rest and back to practice on Monday and another meet on Tuesday! Tuesday we have our 1st home duel. GO RAIDERS!

T'was the Night before the Meet

Twas the night before a wrestling meet and all through the house .....

all of the Raiders were stirring all about......

Duffle bags were packed by the front door with care.......

in hopes that a pin would soon be a win!

A Day Off!

Mother Nature hit us with about 5 inches of snow and winds up to 50 mph. The boyz took advantage and had the snowmobiles running by 9:30 am. Shortly after the boyz were outside the wrestling coach called. I reassured him that the boyz would get some exercise in today! Lifting all those Christmas treats to their mouths! Just kidding. The snow was a welcome break from school & work. Saturday is our first wrestling meet in Delano. Sunday a Christmas party then a busy week of events.

Well today everyone was back in school and ready to move on. A lot of fun stories and memories about the past weekend. We had some exciting news today! Tabor received a letter from a college recruiter here in Minnesota. Tamara has a tendency to always complain that the O-line doesn't get enough love. Well it looks like someone was watching the line long enough to have a good look at Tabor. Another high lite was Tamara getting to hand all 3 of her son's runner up metals at the welcome home. The Boyz are taking a couple days off to heal up the bruises and then its off to wrestling practice for all 3. Yes, Bubba has made the switch to wrestling. YEAH we are going the same direction for sporting events.

The End of a Dream Season

I would be lying if I didn't tell you it still stings a bit that we took 2ND place. But we set some great records and made even more great memories! At the start of the season the state of Minnesota had 63 - 9man teams. At the end of the Dream Season we can say there was only 1 team better than us. And how many of those teams can say they had 4 fathers who coached and 7 son's who played. Big thank you to all who cheered us on each and every week. As the days go on and our bodies & hearts heal we will post more of our Metrodome Memories.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! This year we are "Thankful" for all our family & friends and our Raider Brothers. In just one hour we will be packing up the bus and headed for practice on the Minnetonka Dome. One more game and one more win. Tabor~Tanner & Dalton

Dome Dome Dome

This has been one amazing ride! And to think 20 years from now our boyz get to have this memory of our entire family on the turf at the metrodome. Truly a milestone they soon won't forget. They can do this ........ our RAIDER family ........lives it .........breathes it......... and knows it.

Feeling Like Home at the DOME

Words can't describe what happen today. We never gave up! Big "THANK YOU" to all our family members & friends who came to cheer us on. Even the Birthday Boy Justin came to the DOME to bring the Raiders good luck. I have a ton of photos to post of our adventure. Here is just a few to share. We are going to do it all again next Friday which by the way we are changing the name to BLUE FRIDAY!

Introducing Blue Bear

Saturday the team stopped to eat at Perkings in Owatonna around 8 am prior to our big win. Well as the boyz were finished eating they were playing the claw machine. The defense boyz thought they would take an opportunity to "get even" with Tamara. So Turbo came with this bear for her and a line of crap about how much she does for the team. Well under the bear are all of the breakfast bills! They all had a good laugh but then Tamara stops at wal-mart to get the bear a new blue ribbon and he came to the game & welcome home an he will be at the dome! Right now he is tapped to her office door for all student body to see. Could Blue bear make the local paper?

DOME BABY!

You can do anything together! We had a escort into town tonight, Nicollet County Sheriff & Nicollet fire department along with 250 fans left the lights on the football field to welcome home our players. This has been an amazing season for us and its far from over. We took a couple of hours to celebrate with family and friends. It was a win but there is next weeks game to prepare for! Next Saturday at 8:00 we will play Ada-Borup in the dome. These good southern boyz are going to show the pig farmers from the north just how we play 9-man football. Hey, the last one to leave Nicollet Friday night please turn the lights off!