Spring Break

We had a GREAT spring break this year!  The kids were out of school the 19th-22nd.  Our nephew, Chase Wankier, was having his mission "farewell" in Cedar City on the 18th.  He will be serving in the Mexico Leon Mission.  We decided to make a get-a-way out of it!  Saturday on the way down, we fought a strong headwind the entire way, and woke up to snow on Sunday!  IT FOLLOWED US!  We had a great day with the Wankier family though, and the kids loved the swimming pool at the hotel.  Poor Ryan pushed off the bottom of the pool and scraped the skin off his nose on the side of the pool on his way up.  I teased him that his scab looked like war paint.  Besides the pool, another high point was that they handed out free samples of the Breath Right nose strips.  The kids wore them every night for a few days after that.  I must admit, it was a quite night in the hotel!

Varying stages of energy that night at bedtime, but everyone was breathing free and clear.

Leon and Geneil were heading south in their trailer over that next week, so we all headed to St. George together!  We had such a great time with them, and are so glad we were all together.  We went through Zion National Park on Monday.  Leon and Geneil took us to the IMax theater.  There was only one other family besides us there, so we felt like we had a special showing.  We went on only one hike because it got cool and started to snow a bit, but we all enjoyed the beauty around us.  Ryan summed it up when he said, "It makes me feel so insignificant."  This is a beautiful, diverse world Heavenly Father has blessed us with.

Megan took some great pictures.  This was one of my favorites.

We spent Monday and Tuesday night in Washington at Uncle Berl and Aunt Sharlene's (Leon's sister).  Leon and Geneil parked their trailer there as well.  We had told them not to worry about us, but Aunt Sharlene spoiled us rotten with all her cooking, and Uncle Berl loved to tease the kids.  We now love them, and we are so happy we got to spend the time with them.

 Leon grew up in a home just down the street from there.  He gave us a tour around Washington and what used to be his family farm. We even got to see the elementary school.

Next, it was off to the "Sugar Loaf".  This is the rock with "Dixie" painted on it.  We had so much fun hiking around on all the rocks.  The kids did not want to leave.  I got some great pics on Leon's camera, but haven't gotten them from his yet.  Megan took some great ones too.

On Wednesday morning, Callen and Megan got to do baptisms for the dead in the St. George Temple.  Geneil mentioned that they had come all the way from Idaho and could they do more than 5 names each, especially since she and I were going through a session.  They were more than generous...Megan did 20 names and felt done, but Callen cleaned them out and did 48 names!

We said our good-byes to Leon and Geneil, and headed north to Salt Lake to stay the night with Paula.  On the way, we stopped by Levan where Geneil grew up and saw her home and the cemetery where her parents and some other relatives are buried.  This is the headstone of her parents, Christian and Grace Christensen:

Thursday morning we started heading for home.  We stopped by the Hill Air Force Aerospace Museum on our way.

This will be a trip we all will remember!  Time together, family, and the great out doors...It doesn't get any better than that!



Seth's Baptism and 8th Birthday

I can't believe my baby is 8 years old!!  All of my children have now been baptized.  Seth was so excited the whole last year in anticipation of his baptism and he could hardly wait to have his own scriptures with his name on them  He was so lucky to be able to be baptized on his 8th birthday.  As it was also New Year's Eve, the birthday party carried over into that night with the Tueller's.

When talking about who Seth would like to have baptize him, his cousin Bryce's name came up.  My boys have idolized Bryce over the years.  He has always been so sweet and fun with them.  I think both Seth and Bryce agreed it was a very special experience for both of them.

Are these not two of the most handsome boys you've ever seen?  I love the barefoot picture!  (Thanks to Marilee for taking all these pictures since I killed my camera.  She took some great pictures.)



Boy cousins/brothers: Callen, Seth, Bryce,

Devan, Garrett and Ryan

Girls cousins/sister: Cassidy, Miranda, Annalee,

Megan and Mikayla



Seth wanted Shaun's stir fry and sticky rice!  Mike helped get it all cooked up for the herds!  Mike was also a witness while Seth was baptized.  He has done this for each one of our children, they all love him.  Thanks Mike!



 The Tobler Men: Grandpa Leon, Seth and Shaun. Leon was also a witness, as he has been for all the children, and Shaun confirmed Seth.

Seth opening his scriptures! 

 

 I love this picture of Shaun and his mom, Geneil!  Grandma has also been our speaker over the years.  For Seth, she talked on the Holy Ghost, and Marilee talked on Baptism.  They both did a great job.

All in all, it was a great day and Seth felt very special and loved.  Those in attendance for both the baptism and dinner were Grandparents: Leon and Geneil Tobler, Paula Danielson and her family, Mike and Marilee Tueller family, and our friend Erik Prusse.  We also had some good friends from the ward and the bishopric there.  I was a very good day.  Definitely high on the great days to be a mama list!  I am so proud of the choice Seth made to be baptized.  He is a special boy!



YAY Megan!

Well, after taking martial arts for about 5-1/2 years, Megan reached one of her goals.  On New Year's Eve, she tested for her black belt.  It was about an hour-and-a-half of physical and especially mental work.  She even selected her brothers to help in her testing, which was a great honor for them.  She used Seth for demonstrating her knowledge of pressure points and other affective places to strike, Ryan for jujitsu, and Callen for weapons defense.  They did such a great job in supporting her. Megan was amazing.  She did not want any pictures during her testing to distract her, but these pictures afterwards show the results:

 Miss Jymme, Megan's Sensei Ron Manchester and our new black belt!

 The back row were her judges, and the front row were helpers.

Miss Jymme and Megan both got their black belts that day.  Miss Jymme tested before Megan, and then was one of her judges.  They worked through a lot together.

We are so proud of Megan and this huge accomplishment.  I think it summed it up how far she's come when Sensei said something to this affect,  "The first time I met you with your glasses and packing a big, thick book 5-1/2 years ago (Eragon) I thought,  'This will be the last person I know to take martial arts.'  You have come so far..."  Amen to that!  She has become a confident, competent leader and skilled martial artist.  GOOD JOB BUG!!  We bought her a sweet new black belt gi.  I'll have to post a picture of her in it...she looks SWEET!



HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Whew!  A new year and a new start on my blog.  Unfortunately, I broke my camera, but can mooch off of Megan until I can afford to get another one.  We had such a great Christmas/New Year holiday!  Lots of action, and LOTS of (we're talking over the edge too much) unhealthy, but yummy, food.  It is definitely going to take these buns a while to recover!!

We attempted to get a family picture so that we could send out a happy little card, but it ended in sadness.  There was something wrong with every one and I lost interest in the "journey".  Shaun didn't like how slumped he was in this one, but it was still cute.  He had to set the timer and then come try to jump in place in time.  It was fun to watch him.  We were going to say something like, "Happy Holidays from the Couch Potatoes in Idaho!"  That was Shaun's wits!

In December, Megan was in the HS play, "Fiddler on the Roof".  She was the second youngest sister, Shprinze.  Because of mom I already LOVE "Fiddler on the Roof".  I remember when mom and dad took us to the play down at BYU.  It was SO fun, and Megan was just a cute little Jewish daughter.

Ryan and Seth were in our Primary Christmas Program.  Their group of boys sang, "I'm Gettin' Nothin' for Christmas".  I remember that song from when I was in elementary.  It was fun!  Santa gave them a chocolate bar and a Book of Mormon.  They were thrilled.

Seth does not look too excited-but Santa delivered his request for Christmas!

Ryan played basketball, which ended in December.  He was so fun to watch.  He was a stealing machine.  What a worker.  If there was a pile somewhere, he was in it!  This was his team. He's on the front left.  His coach was a good friend and neighbor Robert Timothy.  He did a great job with the boys.

That's it for now.  Next post-Christmas...

Callen's Knee Surgery

On Wednesday, August 23rd, Callen had his osteochondroma on the inside of his left knee removed.  The cells at the growth plate just grew "wild" out the side and left a large bone growth that has been causing him a lot of pain over the last year.  The orthopedic doc told us last year that it may or may not continue to bother him.  Unfortunately it has been, so we had it taken care of.  He was a bit nervous, but excited to have it over with.

Shaun,  Callen, Megan, Ryan and Seth pre-op.  Callen LOVED all the buttons on the bed and had himself folded into a sandwich at one point.

 My boy and me pre-op!

Callen's brother's favorite part of the whole event was when they put Callen out.  They thought it was hilarious.

Callen's peaceful slumber after surgery.

 After surgery when Callen finally woke up he was FAMISHED!  He ate two whole plates of chicken strips and french fries, and was still begging for more.  Unfortunately, the kitchen was closed for a bit.  I could not believe how much food he put away.  The bone growth removed by Dr. Jeppson was about the size of a grape.  Callen wanted to keep the treasure, but they had to send it in to pathology.  He was very disappointed.

LOOKING GOOD!  We had to leave it wrapped and untouched the first week.  This was his incision site after a week.  It's about 3-4 inches long and runs vertically on the inside of his left knee.  Sadly, there will probably be no cross country for Callen this year.  Healing time is 6-8 weeks.  He can walk around, but no impact on the knee at all.  We were all so happy everything went well and know Heavenly Father blessed Callen, his doc, and the anesthesiologist to do their best work!

Shaun also got in on the action a bit.  BAD BOY!!!  The Saturday prior to Callen's surgery, Shaun was up getting wood for a friend and caught his knee with the chain saw!!  Can you just say BLESSINGS, BLESSINGS because it only cut the skin and did not get into anything major.  This was even on the first tree, so he bandaged it up and finished working for about 3 hours before he went to have it stitched up.  The boys were eating at the hospital cafeteria, and I guess Ryan was eating his chicken strips watching his dad get sewn up.  He had 8 stitches put in to his "hamburger hill".  This picture was about a week after it happened:

Shaun's friend, Dennis,  that he goes with to get wood promptly went out and bought chaps for them both to wear the next time they went out!  I guess he's had enough excitement!

Happy 10th Birthday Ryan!

My Ryan is officially in the double digits!  He requested his usually ice cream pie!  He was very excited to get ANOTHER pocketknife and a new bike for his birthday!  He lived on his bike for the first week after he got it.  We had pizza for supper (I admit it, I pushed for it because I was feeling lazy).

Seth, Ryan, Callen and Megan at Studebakers Pizza

The fun did not end for Ryan there though.  The next couple of days we were in Salt Lake for the wedding of our niece, Elizabeth.  While there, we decided to try a new adventure and go to Boondocks, a fun park.  To top off the excitement, there were many cousin's involved.  We went with Mike and Marilee Tueller's family, Paula and Mikayla, and Marissa and Hannah.  It was a blast!  There were go-carts, miniature golf, boats that you could squirt at each other, laser tag, Roller Ball (miniature bowling) and arcade galore. 

 Speed racers Seth and Callen prepare themselves for speed.

Ryan the friendly yet competitive driver.

My Shaun-Vroom Vroom Baby!

 Mikayla and Megan on an arcade ride.

 This is the herd!  Laser tag was a BLAST with all of us!

This was my favorite arcade thing.  Paula kicked my heiner while her daughter Mikayla, Shaun, Callen and Mike witness our dancing "skills".

This is a definite do again!  There were hardly any other people there too!  Thanks fam for a great day!



24th of July Primary Parade

Pioneer Megan and Cowboy Seth (Cowboy Ryan peeking out the back).

This had to count for horse power for the kids this year in the 24th of July Primary Parade.  Megan turned the six-wheeler into a covered wagon.  The boys actually walked the parade, but I thought these were cute pictures of my cowboys and indian.  Chewy was a horse, or I should say a hard-headed mule.  Megan created a hand-made halter, which he tolerated.  It was the little tail she attached to his nubby which he was not overly excited about.  Poor dog.  Our ward does this parade every year, and everyone FEASTS at the Bennington Park afterward.

Cowboy Callen, Chewy the Horse, and Indian Callen

Tueller TIme!!

July 12-15th , Marilee brought her YW over to our neck of the woods for their ward's girl's camp.  Her daughter, Cassidy, turned 12 during the week and was able to celebrate during camp.  We got to keep the rest of the Tueller's here with us.  It was SO FUN to have them.  My kids were in heaven, as they always are when the cousins arrive.  My boys got to thoroughly worship Bryce for a few days!  If he ever lacks for attention (which I think does not happen) he can always come here to remember how much he is adored!  Miranda was my best buddy!  She hung with Megan, but always seemed to be there to help me in the kitchen or whenever I needed help.  Such a SWEETIE!  Devan showed off his technology he bought with graduation money!  Cool stuff!  Annie and Seth were in their usual bliss when they get together!

Are they not just the cutest peas in a pod?!

Here's the whole herd (Minus Cassidy).  They slept on the trampoline their last night with us.  Starting in the front: Seth, Miranda, Megan, Devan, Ryan (what are you doing boy), Callen (lavishing Bryce with adoration), Bryce, and Annie peeking around from the back.  This is what they woke up to the next morning thanks to the YW at girls camp-along with a certain leader that left proof of her involvement of a note written to her by her bishop, Gotcha Mare!

On Friday, the whole Tueller fam was able to stay and go boating at Bear Lake with us.  It was so fun to all be together!  We had a little drama though.  Shaun came in carrying Ryan to the beach from the boat and hollered,  "Get the first aid kit!"  I was not amused!  But it could have been worse.  Poor Ryan got some serious rope burns when the wind caught the tube and ripped it out of the boat and drug the rope along the arch of his foot-poor kid!  Megan was a sweet sister and took him out in the little blowup boat.  We had a great day together otherwise!

Can you say OUCH!!

Megan and Miranda decorated cupcakes for Cassidy and Miranda's birthday.  (Miranda's was the following Sunday).  They did "Rose" and panda's since they call Miranda panda, and Cassidy's middle name is Rose.  They turned out really cute:

"Panda" Miranda, Cassidy Rose, and Megan - cute girls!