Spring Break

Our spring break was over the first weekend in April (BRRRR), so we headed for warmer places out of the snow.  It happened to also be General Conference weekend.  We went to spend the weekend with the beloved Tueller family!  Poor Marilee was a trooper to have us there that particular weekend.  It was nice to be with them, even if we didn't completely rid ourselves of the lovely cool weather.  My kids do LOVE their Tueller cousins, and I was actually pretty impressed at how calm they were able to stay being all together quietly through that many hours of conference.

Monday we headed to Logan for shopping and then FUN for the kiddos.  We ate at their favorite place, Golden Corral, for lunch.  The hot spot every time is the dessert, of course.  This time was especially impressive because they had a chocolate fountain with fresh strawberries.  We lost count on how many skewers Megan and Seth came back with.  Callen and Ryan were equally damaging on the treats.  Everyone left feeling happily stuffed and ready to burn off some sugar.  So, we headed to the Fun Park.

This was a first for us and the kids had a blast.  We were there a few hours and they still groaned when it was time to leave for home.  They had roller blading, laser tag, a huge jungle gym and lots of games to burn up tokens on.

 Laser tag was by far every one's favorite (and shortest) part of the day.  They would have spent all day in there...if only we could ever find that allusive money tree!

We started and ended with roller blading.  Callen and Ryan were speed demons on wheels.  Callen was really tricky and could do spinning turns.  Ryan liked to skate as fast as he could toward the cement wall, and then veer off to the side at the last second.  Party poopin' me put an end on that little trick all too soon for his liking.  I tried to share the analogy of a bug on the windshield with him, yet he still seemed unfazed.  Megan really liked it too.  She and Callen would skate towards each other, grabs hands, and circle.  This also made me a wee bit nervous considering Callen's love of speed, but all came out unscathed.  It wasn't Seth's favorite thing in the world, he preferred the jungle gym and spent a lot of time there.  He also loved the game where you roll the ball and try to land it in the rings for points.

Ryan's favorite game was the basketball shoot.  That boy has some quick hands and cranked through those balls.  Megan's favorite game was jump the light (instead of rope).  She said that if she'd seen that in the beginning, she would have burned up all of her tokens there.

Callen loved being an ace pilot so much that he ended up burning through a lot of his own money refining his skills.  The different faces he made were hilarious, and then you had Shaun watching from behind who was equally entertaining.



All in all, it was a GREAT weekend and we had a lot of fun together as a family!

Megan's TOY!

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!  Megan takes after her mother, except we have no cats, so she takes out her creative juices on the dogs.  We've had many creative outfits on the different dogs over the years, but this last one made us laugh the most.  I about died when poor Chewy walked out in Megan's latest fashion.  His little stick legs out the bottom on the front and the little nubby stinger put me over the edge.  HA!!! Chewy is such a patient dog.  The most he complained (beyond the look of pure humiliation in his eyes) was a little grumble when Megan made him stand up for the picture.  Poor poochie!

Look at those little stick legs and that nubby stinger-now that's FUNNY!!!


Looking back to previous victims... 


This was Toby back in 2008.  She made the crown out of
aluminum foil and toothpicks!  Toby loved Megan so
much she could do anything to him and he just ate it up.
He was by far her best poser!



Seeing GREEN...but it's not spring, it's Ryan!

Yes, we are all seeing a little more green around here.  Ryan passed his green belt test in Mixed Martial Arts on March 25th!  We are so proud of him!  He got quite a work out.  His test took about one hour.  He had to show his kata he made up while blindfolded.  Then he had to spar everyone in his class, starting with the white belts and working his way up to the two highest ranking red belts, Callen and Megan (who did not take it easy on him, quite the contrary).  He then had to demonstrate multiple defensive moves.  He did SO GREAT! 

For a reward I bought him an Artic Circle shake.  It's a tradition now.  I quit after getting my green belt, so I told the kids that if they got that far too, I would buy them a shake.  Megan, Callen and Ryan have all gotten theirs so far, and Seth is not far from testing for his yellow belt.  (Ranking goes: white, yellow, green, red and then black.)  It's so fun watching all our little martial artists!  They are all doing so well.  Megan is not far from testing for her black belt some time this year!  Watch out when you mess with a Tobler.  They may be small, but they've got some MOVES!!



Ryan receiving his green belt from Sensi Ron Manchester!