Tyler's wisdom teeth

Tyler had his wisdom teeth removed, as all missionaries are required to do. He was in and out in like 20 minutes.

On the way there, he said that he was already embarrassed by the things he would say as he was coming out of anesthesia. He was pretty funny. I filmed pretty much the whole thing. He had all 4 wisdom teeth taken out. He did great! 

Road Trip

I love to travel and so does Tyler. Since sending off his passport for his mission visa, he cant travel anywhere that requires a passport. so we decided to take a road trip to Portland Oregon. We lived in Oregon before moving to St. George. That is where Tyler is born. Tyler hadn't been back since we moved when he was 2 and Teegan had never been. We took my Mom with us who also used to live there. Tori came too! Her husband had scout camp that week so it worked out great. It was a lot of driving, but it was a good time.

We stopped in Twin Falls to show the kids where I went to High School. (I forgot to take a picture tho) Then we stopped at Multnomah Falls. It is just a little bit outside of Portland. It was a nice stop and is so pretty!!

We went to the Grand  Floral Parade on Saturday morning in downtown Portland, then spent a little time at the Saturday market. It was kind of hot tho. We even went to the famous Voodoo doughnuts!

There was a line to get in.

Almost inside

mmm yum

On Sunday after church, we drove to Mt Hood. It was really pretty. Tori stayed behind to do homework.

We tracked down sister Lindsey Graf from st George after church too. Her dad is our Bishop and I visit teach her mom. It was nice to see her, I mostly did this for her mom. I know that I would want someone to visit Tyler if they were in his area.

 

On Monday Rob took us to an interesting ice cream shop. There flavors were weird. Pear and blue cheese, olive oil, lavendar. etc. I dont think it was any of our favorites. It was an experience though.

We went to the rose Garden. and after we went to eat at some food trucks. Teegan had shrimp nachos!

 

On Tuesday, we headed to Winchester Bay to the sand dunes. On the way we stopped in Corvallis to show the kids where we used to love. This is our old house. The house we lived in when Tyler was born. We lived there for 4 years.  From 1995-1999. (1019 N Lorvik place)

We ate dinner at the Harbor lighthouse family restaurant on Tuesday night. Wednesday we spent playing at the beach and on the dunes 

Ken taught me how to skip rocks. It was a lot colder on the coast, as usual. But we didnt let that stop us.

 Everyone had lots of fun riding in and driving the rasers.

Grandma rode in the rasers too. At 83 she doesnt seem to be slowing down much. 

Grandma, Teegan and Tori

Grandma wore Teegans sweatshirt. Can you tell who is who? haha. They traded glasses. Those sillies!

Tyler decided to jump into the freezing ocean. He got in to his neck! and did some push ups twice! That crazy kid!!

There was lots of sleeping on the ride home. We stopped in twin falls and Layton so that Grandma could visit her brothers. It was a good trip.

Take me out to the ball game!

Teegan is our little softball superstar! She has been able to play on the Snow Canyon High School Softball team for 2 years now. She is one of the smallest players, but what she lacks in sizes, she has in spirit. This year she played on both the sophomore and the JV teams.

It is really fun to watch your kids play sports. When they are little it is cute and funny to watch them struggle with their coordination and struggle with short attentions spans. But as they get older and get involved in sports they really love it is rewarding. I was never good at sports and neither was my husband. So we wonder where they get their athletic ability. Teegan seems like a natural athlete. She is good at most sports. It has been fun to watch her work hard and get better at softball. It is good to watch as they learn to work together, support each other, learn to bond as a tema and to have great sportsmanship.

High school softball can be tough. It is very time consuming, with practices everyday for 3 or 4 hours many long games and tournaments. Sometimes we would sit through  4-6 hours of games. It was tiring watchingsometimes, I can't imagine playing that long. But Teegan is tough and usually did it with a good attitude and a smile. I love my Teegan!

Te Mana-RUGBY

Rugby has been a big part of Tyler's high school experience. He has really loved it. All of it, except the multiple times he has dislocated his shoulder.  He isn't a super aggressive player when it comes to getting the ball, but he is awesome at tackling!

We really enjoyed watching the team play. They had amazing coaches who were so positive with the boys. They encouraged them to be great men on and off the field. The coaches inspired and uplifted the boys. I think this is part of the reason for their many successes. Tyler had the opportunity to go to New Zealand with many people from the team. One of his coaches is from New Zealand. Tyler loved the trip. It was a great experience for him.

Because of his multiple dislocations, he wasn't able to play as much as he wanted to. His shoulder interfered with his ability to excel in the sport as much as he would have liked. We thought we did great however. It can be a tough sport to watch as a mom sometimes, and I was constantly praying that he wouldn't get injured as I watched with my eyes half closed. The team took state 2 years in a row while Tyler was on the team. He didn't get the opportunity to play in the actual state championship game, which was really frustrating for me. I am sure it was frustrating for him too. But he has learned a lot and really enjoyed the time that he played Rugby for Snow Canyon High Shcool I will miss watching him play

Tyler is a High school and college graduate!

He did it! When you first send your child off to kindergarten, it is hard to see them go. They seem to be growing up so fast. Yet the road ahead seems so long and far away. Seeing your children graduate from high school is another hard time. It seems, looking back, that the road was way too short. Soon they are ready to leave home, and I never feel ready to let them go.

Tyler had the opportunity to go to a school called Success Academy. It met on the campus of the Dixie State University Campus in the morning for all his core classes, then in the afternoon he would go to Snow Canyon high school for his elective classes. When he finishes his three years, he also completes the requirements for his college associates degree. It is a really great opportunity. When he first started, (he chose this path on his own with no coercion from us) we were a little nervous about how rigorous it would be and if he would be missing out on high school experiences. It has been a great experience for him. And he did it! He struggled a little the first year, mostly with writing essays. But he did it and he did it with a 4.0 GPA!

Teegan, Lenae, Tyler and Ken

Tyler with his best friend Koby Holyoak

Tyler with Tori and Jennings

Grandma Anderson and Tyler

These ;pictures are at his high school graduation. He didn't go to the commencement for the college because he was at the State Rugby championship game. He is a handsome kid!! We are very proud of him! And expect more great things from him in the future!!

Aloha!

This year we went to Hawaii for spring break. It will most likely be our last trip before Tyler goes on his mission. He loves to travel and we wanted to go somewhere fun. So we decided on Kauai Hawaii. It was AMAZING! We had a great trip. The first full

day we were there we went on a hike. It was the Na pali coast line hike. The views were breathtaking. It was a pretty treacherous hike but so worth it!

We waited by the beach while Ken parked the car. Teegan was taking pictures and a seal came swimming up. She said she almost peed her pants. lol

The first part of the hike was 2 miles. It was really rocky and steep. When we got to the 2 mile point, we stopped and ate lunch by the river that ran into the ocean. There were tons of carans that people had built. It was interesting. The views along the hike were gorgeous. Some of the prettiest that I have ever seen. 
 When we started this hike, I had no idea what I was in for. I don't know if I would have done the hike ahd I known. But I am glad that i did it. After the 2 mile hike we decided to continue on 2 more miles to the waterfall. This was the hard part. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. The trail was so treacherous, I couldn't have done it without Ken's help. We climbed over boulders and slippery rocks, mud, crossed rivers hopping from big slippery rock to even slipperier rocks trying not to slip and fall into the fast flowing river. We crossed the river at least 4 times. Sometimes the trail disappeared and we scaled big rocks that were more like cliff edges. But we made it.

We stayed and enjoyed the waterfall for awhile, then headed back the 4 miles we had come. I was so exhausted and so happy to get to the car when we finally finished. I was really so tired. The 8 mile hike took us several hours. I was sore for the next couple of days. But it was a great experience. I don't have any pictures of the actual hike because I was busy trying to concentrate on each step that i took.