Teuscher Family Reunion

This year the Gary H & Sylvia Teuscher Reunion was held in Geneva, Idaho and the theme was Olympics. Each family had to pick a country and learn something about that country for the big event. As I was working on one of my history courses at the time, Wyatt & I decided we wanted to by the Mayans and we did a little bit of learning about the Mayan Empire. Wyatt watched a video about the Mayan people and culture and was so enthralled with his learning. It was kind of fun to teach him a bit about that region and time period. Saturday morning we headed down to the church to utilize the parking lot for the frisbee throw and the batton race; the lawn for the hurdles and play time. After the events we went back to mom & dad's for lunch. Each family brought a pot luck dish that represented their country. We had egg rolls, pot stickers (China), Swedish meatballs (Sweden), French bread (France - hee hee), pork barbacoa (Yucatan Pennisular), a dish from Peru, a dish from Argentina, Fries & Gravy (Canada), Polish sausages (Poland) and a yummy dessert from Australia. Quite a spread and it really filled us up. After lunch and clean up we did a team race - everyone tied together and then running a certain distance. Then it was time for the awards ceremony. First Uncle James talked about the flag and what it symbolizes. He talked about how important it is to respect the flag and then he led Uncle Jared, Uncle David, Owen, Ethan & Trevor in retiring a few flags. It was so neat to see my brothers, my dad, my brother-in-laws, my husband and my nephews honoring their scouting heritage and the symbol of our country. Very moving. The award ceremony followed and then we managed to wrangle all the grouchy grandkids into a photo op with Grandpa & Grandma. It was such a fun weekend and to top it off Father's day the next day. So fun to spend time with family. There are a lot of us now (33 and if you add Eli that makes 34) so we are loud and obnoxious but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Camping 2013

Our summers are usually filled with the annual trek to the mountains to get wood for the winter. The last time we combined wood gathering and camping Conner was just 1 years old so we thought perhaps this would be a good time to take the boys camping.  We planned it in conjunction with our ward's annual campout and Brad, bless his ever loving heart, let us camp by a real toilet facility (well as real as one gets when out in the mountains - a hole in the ground with a little roof over it) but this 8 months pregnant lady was relieved to not have to find her own outdoor toilet, especially at night!  I wasn't so sure how Lane would do sleeping at night in the tent but he really got into the whole camping thing and sleeping in a sleeping bag - the first night. The next night I crawled out of bed at 5 and went and sat outside in a camp chair as our bed had not only Brad and me but three little boys as well. We were all pretty dang warm that's for sure!

Exploring the camp

Dinner time: is there anything better than hotdogs over

an open fire? Only if they're followed by marshmallows!

 Cutting wood the next day. All three boys worked so hard

as mom couldn't really haul any of the rounds or load, or stack.

Conner wearing his light ring he got at the ward campout the night before. They had so much fun playing with friends and staying up until it was dark enough that all we saw were these little lights running all around. I forget how much I enjoy camping and am glad that we have the chance to take the boys and teach them to love it as well.

Wyatt's Kindergarten Program

Wednesday May 22, 2013 Wyatt performed a program all about the 4 seasons with the other afternoon kindergarteners. He was so proud and so excited to sing and say his part. He would come home from school and sing these songs to us and it was so much fun to hear them in sequence and watch these cute little kiddos sing their hearts out. I loved watching the kids from Wyatt's class as I volunteered all year in there with them and got to know them. They are so dang cute and I can't believe they are all ready for first grade; wait I can't believe we have a child who will be a first grader. Where did the year go?

 Wyatt's class is right in front of the red X on the floor. There were two other kindergarten classes who were a part of the program as well.

 Mrs. Farnsworth, Wyatt's principal, used her magic wand and turned each kindergartener into 1st graders. Wyatt was so excited for this event and told me Thursday morning that he didn't need to eat lunch at our house as he was now a 1st grader and would eat at school. I explained that for this last day he was still a kindergartener and needed to eat at home. I think he was a bit bummed by the news. I'm not sure how many kindergarteners the principal knew by name but she and the rest of the office staff and teachers of upper grades all know Wyatt by name. I told Brad I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He is such a social person and remembers anyone he has ever met so I'm sure he went out of his way to say hello each day to these teachers and staff.

 Wyatt has had so much fun in his class this year and really loved Mrs. Breakfield. She was an amazing teacher and we are so lucky that she cares about her students and works hard to create memorable learning experiences for them. Thank you Mrs. Breakfield for such a great year in kindergarten!

For his graduation "gift" dad, mom, Conner & Lane got Wyatt graduation balloons and a package of M&Ms. He was so excited and proud of the fact that he did indeed pass kindergarten. We are excited and proud of him and the many things he has learned. At the end of kindergarten Wyatt can: count past 100, recognize and count change, read books, write words and complete sentences, draw pictures, do simple addition and subtraction and even do a little bit of multiplication. Way to go Super Wy!

An April Visit

There is a huge amount of excitement that wafts through our house when a visit from the grandparents is expected. Second in line and only a bit less exciting is when Aunt Mauria announces an impending visit. And visit she did the last weekend in April and the boys were so happy and excited to have her here. Wyatt eagerly and graciously gave up his bedroom (although he did insist on sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor) so that Aunt Ria and our friend Jenn would have a place to sleep and stash their bags. They were only here for a short time but we managed to cram in a visit to Dinosaur National Monument, Josie's Cabin, Moonlight Arch, a singing debut at stake conference, and a family outing for ice cream. We love when Aunt Ria comes to visit!

Aunt Ria and the boys at the Quarry at Dinosaur National Monument. I think she was as excited as the boys to see and play with the dinosaurs.  They purposely posed here so that it would look like the one behind them on the wall was trying to eat them. Funny group!

 At the Green River by Split Mountain. Love the queenly wave girls!

 Wyatt showing off his climbing abilities as he scales the rocky mountain side by the bank of the Green River. He was a bit nervous but we cheered him on from below and he made it all the way to the top!

 Amazingly enough I made the hike up to Moonlight Arch at 7 months pregnant. Under the arch is a super cool cave area and I sat there while everyone else climbed and investigated. Brad and I managed to get a picture together before he was called away by the boys who are not, I repeat NOT, afraid of any ledge, crevice, hole or otherwise scary and dangerous spot.

 Brad and the boys climbed on top of the arch and on their way back down found this really neat opening. You can barely see that they are sitting on rock on their right and tree roots on the left. Those roots were huge and wound all the way to the bottom under the arch. Pretty cool!

 Taking a water break and enjoying the cool shade.

 Jenn, Brad, Lane, Wyatt, Conner and Aunt Ria taking a break after coming back from the cave at the top.

Our outdoor adventuring family!

Now those of you who hardly visit or have never visited doesn't this look appealing? Aren't you tempted to stop on by and visit us? We are such good tour guides ;)

Celebrating the Arts

The kindergarten from Davis Elementary performed at the district's Celebrating the Arts. Wy was so excited to be a part of this and play the boomwackers (basically a tube with holes and the kids hit them on their hands). The song here is about a dog who turns out to be a hot dog. After the performances we found his artwork hanging in the hall - he made a hamburger. So proud of these kids and so thankful for the great teachers!

Natural Bridges National Monument

Part of our trip to Blanding over spring break included a day trip to Natural Bridges National Monument. We had never been here before and it was so remarkable to see such scenery and beauty. The bridge pictured below is the Sipapu Bridge. There is a trail you can hike down to this bridge but it seemed a bit too tricky for little kids and pregnant lady so we settled with taking a picture from afar. I admit when we first got to the overlook I couldn't see the bridge as the background just seems to blend it altogether. Just so pretty!

 A group picture (yep Wy's posing again!) before we trekked down to the overlook for the Sipapu Bridge.

Grandpa and Lane are standing close to the edge of where the trail goes down to the Sipapu Bridge.

 When we first arrived at the monument Wyatt went with Grandpa to get maps and came back with the Junior Ranger book. He loves doing these Junior Ranger activities when we go places so he was quite excited to get this one too. On each trail he reminded us that he was THE junior ranger and to please stay on the trail and to follow him.  Unfortunately he forgot to keep checking on his "group" and thus far outdistanced the slow pokes - namely mom. Conner didn't do too bad with keeping up although on this particular trail we wished we would have put him in tennis shoes instead of cowboy boots. I kept thinking he was going to slide right over the edge with those boots (they have not traction whatsoever!) Thankfully we was okay!

 This is the Horsecollar Ruin. It was pretty neat to see it in such good condition. We zoomed in with the camera and could see inside most of the dwellings.

 Ranger Wyatt and Conner (yes, he now too strikes a pose) prepping us for the long hike down to the Owachomo Bridge. This hike wasn't really that long but when you have a 1 year old who decided at the top to walk all the way down it gets to be a bit long.

 See, here he is getting ready to go down one of the many steps. On one step we stopped and measured: it was longer down the step than his leg. Would he let anyone help? Nope! He sat down, scooted over the edge, stood up, looked at Grandpa and said "Let's go!" There's me in the background trying not to slip and fall all the way to the bottom.

 Brad and the boys made it to the bottom well before Lane, Grandpa or I. I paused here to take a photo and didn't go much farther.

 My boys!

 This is the bridge from the trail, not even down to the bottom yet although it does look like I'm on the canyon floor.

 As we made the trek back up Lane decided he'd like to walk by himself and Conner decided he needed to be carried. In order to keep him moving we told him we didn't think he could climb up various rocks and  outcroppings. Notice the smile on his face when he proved us wrong. He is such a monkey and he scampered over these rocks all the way back up the trail. Good thing kids are easy to convince!

We had such a fun time at the monument and Wyatt was able to complete his Junior Ranger book. We finished too late to turn it in but we still learned quite a bit about the monument, the area and some of the animals that live there. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Patterson for taking us!

Spring Break Part II

On Saturday morning we loaded the kiddos up and headed to Blanding's Easter Egg hunt in the park. This was Lane's first time at egg hunting and although he wasn't quite sure what we were up to at the beginning he soon caught on to the idea. Once his basket had eggs in it there was no taking that thing from him. On the way back to the truck we had to stop many times to recapture spilled eggs but he was adament: no taking his basket and no help of any kind thank you very much. (In case you were wondering, yes he is our most independent child thus far!)

Pre-egg finding anticipation

Post-egg posing

After the egg hunt we loaded up a picnic (yummy fried chicken, potato salad, deviled eggs, olives, chocolate chip cookies - ooohhh so good!) and spent a few hours at the park. Grandpa had to work for a bit so we played on the slide, the swings, the merry-go-round (pregnant women should not ride this thing!) and rode bikes while we waited. This was the first time Lane swung in a big swing by himself and he only fell out once. Way to go my not-a-baby-anymore!

The merry-go-round was such a success that it took a bit of coaxing to get Lane off the darn thing. I was sitting with him going round and round and tried to take his picture. He thought I was trying to take him off and made the grouchiest face ever. What a turkey!

Brad and the boys at the park

Abby and the boys at the park

Riding bikes

I have no idea where or when this started but lately every time we get the camera out Wy strikes a "pose" with his serious face, turned sideways of course, and his hand on his hip. It makes us laugh and we try not to encourage it but really so funny.

Spring Break Part I

Brad's parents were planning to come to Vernal to spend Easter weekend with us but plans fell through so we decided to pack up the boys and head to Blanding for Easter and Wyatt's spring break. Our plan was to leave EARLY Thursday morning and sure enough 10:00 am saw us waving goodbye to the outskirts of Vernal :) Since it was already late into the day we decided not to push and just take our time. We stopped in Price at Burger King for lunch and treated the boys to a kids meal. We were complimented on our cute and well-behaved  boys and we graciously said thank you and laughed at the well-behaved comment. Actually for having been in the truck for 3 hours they were rather good. Before we left I told Wy to go to the counter and ask for crowns. Wow were the boys excited about this. They even stood still long enough for me to snap a photo before piling back into the truck for the rest of our long journey. NOTE: Lane's crown was a bit big and I told Brad he reminded me of the kid on Fat Albert who always had a hat over his head. These three are my 3 little Kings and I love them!

We arrived at Grandpa & Grandma's house around 4:30/5:00 and told the boys to just go play and run around to get rid of all the wiggles. For being 6, 3, and 1 they sure are good riders on such long distance trips. Brad's great idea was for them to take a walk and he surmised that they would stop at the corner and turn around. NOPE! Lane saw the open road for what it was (FREEDOM!) and took off with Wyatt following him trying everything to turn him around. Conner turned around and decided he'd had enough, he was coming home and finally Brad decided Lane wasn't coming back and needed to be stopped before he hit the main road. So he hopped on the 4-wheeler and went to rescue Wy and capture Lane. SUCCESS!

 On Friday we promised the boys a trip to the park and so we bundled up (yep, southern Utah was cold!) and headed for a picnic in the park. Grandpa and Dad were nice enough to hold down baggies and water bottles while the boys played. Eventually jackets were shed and shoes and socks came off but this mom was still cold! Great Grandma Zufelt and Grandma Patterson sat in the car and watched as the boys played.

 Our little monkey was so anxious to show us his mad skills on the monkey bars. He did this several times and we were very impressed.

 Conner was brave and went down the slide all by himself. He even paused long enough at the top for me to capture the moment!

 Lane finally woke up (he fell asleep between the house and the park) and joined the boys. Grandpa set them up on the rock to take a picture so I snapped one as well. One day maybe we'll get them all to look the same way at the same time!