Diamond Ranch Academy | Lava Falls Campus

Matt Blanchard Speaks to DRA

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:09:25 PST

Diamond Ranch Academy had a very special speaker last night. Matt Blanchard came to the ranch and told his story.

What an amazing story it was…

Seven years ago Matt was in a horrific auto accident that left him paralyzed. The day of his accident he tells the boys how he was told so many times that day to put his seat belt on by his best friend. He then went on to tell us how is choice then had impacted every person and aspect of his life.

Matt showed the boys a movie of him going through therapy to try to walk again and the struggles that he went through. I think that you could have heard a pin drop in the building.

The boys stayed behind and didn’t want to leave. They asked great questions of Matt and wanted to get a group photo. A special thanks to Matt for taking the time to talk with us, and a special thanks to the boys for representing themselves well.

Movie Time…

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:33:38 PST

Getting each of the boys their own candy, popcorn, and soda was a big chore.

Seeing how grateful and thankful they were to go to the movie, and Get the treats..... Priceless!!

When the boys returned to Ranch they were given an additional gift of a concert from Ephraim. I didn’t know that Ephraim could sing?

All in All a great break to the

Week.

Homeade Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 10:09:49 PST

The guys this year were able to participate in a friendly competition where they decorated the dorms with the items they already had or recieved on a daily basis. They LOVED IT! Here is some of their handy work...

Frosty the Snowman?

Snowflakes can be different colors!

Is that Snow??

SANTA!!!

These guys were just planning ahead for new years!

And to top it off a true Charlie Brown christmas tree!

It was awesome to see the boys get so into this little competition and to realize that the true gifts are not things like electronics and cars and money, but rather they are each other, service, family, and giving not just recieving.....

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 09:12:01 PST

Santa made a specialtrip to the DRA Cabin early, and I mean early, Sunday morning. Where he gave out stocking to all the students.

The boys had a great time. It was nice to see how appreciative the boys were for the gifts they received.

Lava Falls had a dorm decorating contest, and man did they do a great job. Kyle and Ike did an amazing job.

They had a great time making the dorms look speical for the day. The day was overall AMAZING!!

Have a wonderful holiday season. The boys did great.

Halloween Fun Day!!

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:16:41 PDT

Nothing starts out a Halloween Fun Day like hot dogs, chips, and donuts!!!

Almost got him while he was taking a bite..

Lets get it started with a little jousting.

Caleb and Tommy battle it out. Nothing is going to get in the way of Victory

Rock wall was a little hard, but Tyler was able to scale it in 18.2 seconds. NICE!!!

The Bounce House and Slide was a big hit.

Kelby showed all the students and staff how to really dress up for Halloween. It was Amazing!

A Little Pickle Ball Anyone??

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:55:39 PDT

The Lava Falls Boys that passed their week, were taken off ranch to play a little pickle ball.

“Let the games begin”

I think the boys thought that it would be easy. They had a blast and we all had a lot of laughs..

Not sure, but I think some of the boys are going to join the “Professional Pickle Ball” Tour..

After a lot of laughs and breaking out in a sweat, it is time for a snow cone… Can’t beat that!!

Black -vs- White

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:25:19 PDT

We had a Pep Rally for our Black and White football game. The boys really enjoyed themselves! The game was very competitive and both teams performed really well. The game ended in a tie...depending on who you talk to!

Team Ricky!

Team Robbie!

The Diamondback Football Team

Caleb showing his competitive spirit

Getting ready for the "Bunny Hop"

" Summer Fun Day"

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:42:49 PDT

The Summer Fun Day started off with the boys going off ranch to see “Transformers III”. What a great movie.

Then it was time for the DUNK TANK!!!! Tyler watches as the ball misses the target just a little. You can see it in his face that he thought he was going in the water.

Did someone say Pie Eating Contest? Not using their hands didn’t stop these guys.

Armon was Victorious!!! I think most of it was on his face though.

Then he wanted more????

Then it was off to learn a new dance!!!!! This was a great thing to be a spectator at, they really know how to get their grove on.. Thanks to Sage Canyon for teaching the boys.

Nothing says summer like a nice swim in the pond. The temperature was perfect for a little dip.

Max and Drew made a deal to jump and the same time. I think Max really didn’t want to let go of the bar, but a deal is a deal.

Max taking some time to master the back stroke.

The boys had a great day at DRA today and most all of them stopped me to let me know how much they appreciated the day.. Thanks to all of the staff for putting on such a fun day for the boys…

No School Today!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 13:03:53 PDT

"Lets Have Some Fun"

With the 4^th of July falling on a Monday we had the boys play Ultimate Frisbee. Lava Falls, Cory, stops the Stone Ridge pass and takes it in for a touchdown!!!

After the Ultimate Frisbee game was over, it was time for Kickball with Slip & Slide in between the bases. Casey comes sliding in to second base. Nothing like a Slip & Slide in Hot Weather!!!

Joey Sliding in to 3^rd. Open Your Eyes Joey!!!!

Denver coming into 2nd, Will he make it???

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Thu, 19 May 2011 13:42:41 PDT

“The Lava Falls Graduates”

Today was a great day for the Lava Falls Campus!!

Austin and Max were honored this afternoon for completing the required credits to receive their High School Diploma.

Proud parents were all smiles to see Max receive his Diploma

Even with the clouds in the sky it was still a great day for Austin

We wish you both the very best in all that the future brings.

-Your DRA Family

Field Day 2011

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:44:17 PDT

Field Day was a huge success. The competition between Lava Falls and Stone Ridge was apparent. Neither campus was going to give up.

Vic was in no way going to give up the lead to Austin. Look at the professional form of Vic, he needs to be running track.

Hagos was getting ready for the track meet on Saturday and man, was he ready! He was the boys Athlete of the day. Nice Job Hagos!!!

Stuart was hard at work keeping time. ReallyStuart???

Marcin left it all on the track. He had no more in the tank….

Can someone tell Taylor it is 80 degrees and there is no need for a winter hat…. J

The boys had a great time and slept like babies.

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 08:25:52 PDT

Bring It on!!!

The Lava Falls boys volunteered to help the city of LaVerkin to get rid of their tumble weeds.

Taylor is sporting the tools of the trade. Thanks for getting it done boys. You are Awesome!!!

They Came To Play

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:29:30 PDT

The Sticks Came Alive…..

DRA Baseball came to play against Desert Hills.

The Diamond Backs took an early 1-0 lead from a Home Run hit by

Kyle.

Lava Falls had a great showing at the game assisting the team

to Victory with a 5-3 ending score!

Brendan controlled the back of the plate like a pro!

Even the bunts were on the money as Dominic lays one down the third base line.

Go Diamond Backs!!!!!!!!

Matt Blanchard - A story of not giving up!!!

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:58:28 PST

Matt Blanchard, was paralyzed in 2006 in a auto accident. Matt came and shared his story with us and how he had been through a lot of pain and suffering but still was able to keep his head held high and make the best of things. But that is not all!! Matt's story differs from a lot of other peoples that are like him in wheelchairs. Matt didn't listen to the doctors when they said he wouldn't be bale to walk again.

Matt just wasn't going to accept that.

Matt explained that if you want something bad enough go out and get it!!!

Matt can now walk with just the assisitance of some crutches. He has been paralyzed for over 5 years and just recently has been able to walk with the crutches. He showed all of us that it might take time but anything is possible!!

See more of Matts journey at

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7845885902329955289#

Batting practice just got a lot better!!

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 07:37:32 PST

The new batting cage has arrived!! The boys and staff put this up last week and the boys are loving it!!

The coaches are especially excited to see how it will improve our teams batting averages this year!

Some TOOLS of the trade! Some of these bats have already proven themselves in the CAGE!!

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:52:36 PST

2011 Super Bowl Party!!!

The boys had the opportunity to cash in their ledger dollars to go to the

Super Bowl Party!!! And man, was it worth it......

The Food was out... The Pre-Game was on and the boys were ready for some Football!!!!!

One more hot dog before kick off....

It was almost 50% for Green Bay and 50% for the Steelers.

It was an amazing game and the boys had a great time. They are talking about the next big event, and saving their ledger dollars. They did great!!!!

Marathon Volunteers!!

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:29:25 PST

DRA was priviliged to volunteer at the local half marathon. The boys were able to hand out snacks and drinks to all the runners after they had finished the race. It was awesome to see all the crazy outfits that the runners had on while they were running the race. Sorry we didnt take pictures but some were a little innapropriate.

Here the boys are at the Finish Line of the race. They did awesome cheering on the runners after our turn was up handing out the snacks and drinks.

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:07:36 PST

New Arrivals

Some of DRA’s new arrivals took time out of the day to get their photos taken with our newest arrivals that were born last week.

Austin & Danilo were getting to know the newest lamb on ranch.

This guy would come right up to you and almost ask to be picked up.

The smile says it all. Who could resist?

Funny thing is that both of these guys will eat you out of house and home..

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:27:15 PST

Nothing goes better with Oreos Cookies than ICE Cold Milk.

As an upper level meeting, we brought in Oreos and Milk for the boys. The meeting was a huge success and the boys were very interactive throughout the discussion, and seemed to very responsive.

Look, I think that I might be able to get one more in my mouth.

I wonder if Mitch will share with me?

The boys really enjoyed themselves after the meeting and did a wonderful job of cleaning up the classroom after the benefit. We are looking forward the the next upper level benefit.

CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATING CONTEST!!! The Lava Falls boys enjoyed some friendly competition against the Stone Ridge Campus in decorating a Christmas tree!

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 20:21:55 PST

The BEFORE picture of our wonderful creation!

Sometimes you just need to sit back and think about what move to make next. Christmas tree decorating can be a difficult task.

This was the first phase of putting on decorations.

What to do next? That is what Casey was thinking :)

IT'S TIME TO DECORATE!

Now ThAt Is SoMe CrEaTiVity!

Time for the LIGHTS Ladies and Gentlemen!

THat Is A THing Of BEAuty!

We had all the Boys stringing Marshmellows....It was a funny sight.

Dan had to make sure everything looked perfect!

Ow Braden....what more can be said!

Anybody hungry?

Dan took charge of making things happen! Alec and Nick also put their input in!

Now that belongs on a Hallmark card!

Eli loves MR. Snowman!

I am speechless!

Zack and Mr. Snowman are obviously best buds!

Myles and his picture perfect smile!

Pondering childhood memories.

Dan F and the finished tree!

Mr. Snow getting a "Head Ride" from Braden.

Tis the Season to be Jolley...who is more Jolley....Braden or Sean?! Or is it JAKE!

Aww, how cute! In a very manly way ofcourse!

Here is what the boys wanted the finished product to be, however some minor updates have been made since. Give the boys a ROUND of APPLAUSE!

CAN DRIVE!!! A group of boys helped bring happiness to those who are in need during this time of year! Good Work Boys!

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 18:46:10 PST

Getting in the Christmas Spirit!

As you can see, Steven is a big fan of cereal!

I think Eli found a new LOVE.....Helping Others that is!

Parker made things happen! What a HARD worker!

advancements 12.23.2010

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:53:17 PST

Nick Advanced to the Supervisor level this afternoon! This is him giving his speech!

Congratulations Nick! Keep up the hard work bud!!!

Brendan anticipating the results of his advancement to Supervisor! And the results are......

Gooood!!! Congratulations Brendan!

Wait for it... Wait for it...

Gooood! Kyle, my newest graduate!!! If anyone has earnied it he has!

Happy Holidays!!!

Christmas Shopping!!

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 15:04:51 PST

Today we took some students down shopping and got some decorations for the big building and the new Christmas tree(coming soon to the blog). They found these silly hats and wanted to take a picture with them on! I love to see the students in the holiday spirit.

Some of the guys were trying to pull off a tough guy elf!

Random Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:15:28 PST

As I was working in my office I started missing my son at home, so I decided to go around and take pictures of some of my boys. I had a really fun time with all of them. I apologize for not getting everyone. I had so much fun I definitely plan on doing this more often.

Here I am giving Nick a hard time!

Jeff getting ready for Media Club!

Abraham and Brendan in History class! Brendan getting into the Holiday Spirit!

Austin smiling for the camera.

Life is Good!

Look at that Cheesy Grin!:)

Colton smiling for the camera. Can you tell that he is nearly a foot taller than me:) Hilarious!

Austin helping me set up a Graduation.

Simon one of my Graduates. I got this one unexpectedly!

Brian, Nick, and Abraham helping me set up a Graduation. Nick snuck that one in on me:)

Zach smiling for the camera.

Brandon pauses his school work to give me a smile!

Mitch my most recent upper level.

Great Picture of Nick!

Braden smiling for me while we set up a Graduation.

Lookin Good!

Eli lookin content. I tried to some teeth in that smile:)

Brandon gives me a thumbs up after me giving him a hard time!:)

Christian W in Math giving me a smile. He was helping fix the flash on the camera!!

I was wondering around with a camera and got some good pictures! I thought I would share them with you all. Enjoy! I am excited for my next camera adventure! Next time I will try to get more pictures:)

Happy Holidays!!!

Christmas Tree Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (www.diamondranchacademy.com) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 09:29:27 PST

As we were driving through the woods looking for a Christmas Tree we stumbled upon this tree that was already decorated. It was hilarious!

After we had our laughs at the other Tree we started on our quest to find our own and this is how it went.

Once we found the perfect tree it was time to cut it down.

To encourage the tree to fall a certain way we ties some cord to it. Here is one of our Stone Ridge boys giving it a tug.

TIIIMMBEEERRR!!!

Cutting the tree down was a success! Now for the real task of getting it to, and on the Van!!

The boys did a great job! Thanks to Brigham our Stone Ridge Director we were able to get it there! This tree was a MONSTER!

This was the easy Part! There is no turning back at this point.

Kyle and his basketball coach! Preparing to conquer the impossible!

Troy, Brig, and Kyle are wondering what they got themselves into!

As you can see this tree was nearly as big as the van! All the boys were thoroughly excited about getting one of the biggest trees we could find!

Now for the Impossible!

Almost There!

After much diligence we got it on there!

Some of the boys were wondering if this is legal, so just in case you are wondering here is our tag:)

Success!!!

Our Christmas Tree Adventure was a great way to start off the Holiday Spirit! The boys had a great time playing in the mountains. Once we returned we talked about gratitiude and what we all had to be grateful for over the Holidays. I was impressed with some of the feedback I received. The common denominator that was expressed was Gratitude for the opportunity to change their lives and have healthy relationships.

Happy Holidays!!!