4 Years and a new year too

Can you believe its the end of the year already? Wow time really flies! I am also excited to celebrate our fourth year as a boring married couple! hip hip horray! So much has happened in the short time that we have been together... I finished school, ran a marathon and a triathalon, Jared will finish school this may, and has become a crossfit trainer... and of course, our greatest blessing has to be this little girl! We love our little Ryan!

Happy New Year!

Bree and Alex

Back in October my little sister got hitched to a great guy named Alex. We were so excited to be a part of the wedding. It was really fun to do the cake with my sister Natalie as well as the signing book that went with the photo booth! It was really a beautiful day!!


Bree wanted cupcakes...so that is what we made her. Natalie and I had a ton of fun making this for her! And they tasted good too!

Tis the Season!

I am fairly sure that I am not the only one who feels like this holiday season has crept up on them! I can't believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone already! We were so lucky to be able to go home and visit our families and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! We also went out and tested my new camera. Look out photographers I am going to be great one day... when I learn how to use it!!

Halloween

Papa, Grammie, Riley, Ryan, Dax


Halloween was so stinkin' fun! Ryan was a Bee... although I could not find anything black and yellow! She was an Orange and Black bee. The tutu was from my little sisters wedding. (I will update some photos from the wedding when we get some pictures.)

As we went door to door to get candy, Ryan would say "Here you go" and hold out her bag. As they then gave her some candy she would say "Bye bye" and turn to go to the next door. You should have seen her tromping around from door to door with her two cousins Dax and Riley as well as Eddie, Papa, Grammie, Grammie Teresa, Steph, Andrea, and me. It was a blast!! I am so excited for next year!!

Ryan, Dax the Builder, Riley the Witch

Dax

Eddie from Where the Wild Things Are

Riley

Triathlon

I finally completed my first Triathlon! Well... sort of. It was really more like a Biathlon because they had to cancel the swim due to round worm! YUCK! So we started with a nasty little 75 meter swim in a pool...so many of us peed in the pool that it was as salty as the ocean! SICK! Then we transitioned to run a mile to our bikes. From there we transitioned to do the 12.4 mile bike. Once done we transitioned again to run a 5K. All in all it was a blast! I can't wait to do another one! My dad, Brother--Jeremy, sister--Natalie, and I all loved it and did great! However, my dad and I both placed third in our age! It was so fun!!

MUD Run

Before the Mud Run!

Jared has been busy with his personal training at the Cross Fit Gym. A bunch of the people that he works with all got together and did a mud run. What is a mud run you ask? Well, it is a three mile race that has a number of obstacles. They had to run through tires, jump over walls, crawl through tunnels, and run the entire race in the mud. It was fun to watch. I would have done it too, but I had to stay with Ryan. It was fun to watch!!

Jared running in the mud


The Wall!

Climb through the tunnel

After the Race!

Ryan played in the dirt the entire time. I guess she figures if dad gets to get dirty, then she should too!

18 Months

Ryan had her 18 month photos today. She was not very good for the sitting, but we ended up catching some really good ones anyway. She is such a beautiful little girl! I can't help but smile every time I see her! Here are some of the shots we got.

Camping

We had a fun little get-away last week. We went up to the Oak Meadow Camp ground... well it was actually just up Leeds canyon. We had a really good time. At one point in the night Ryan was sitting on a camp chair and it collapsed on her and she fell face first on the dirt with her mouth wide open. She was screaming so much. After I grabbed the camera we started to check to see that she was really okay. We could tell that she was! As I started to wipe her face she screamed more and more. Finally I asked her, "Do you want some chocolate?" INSTANTLY she nodded her head yes and went SILENT. That was the end of all the tears! That's MY girl!! Chocolate can fix ANYTHING!

Summer Games

I failed to mention that I played in the summer games. We always try to play a little volleyball with all of the sisters. This year I was able to play again now that we were not doing summer sales. This is a picture of our team with our GOLD medals! There were so many great teams. Much better competition than the first year I played. We are number 1--but more like #7 because we were #1 in the silver bracket. But you would never know it unless I told you. It was a blast.



(From left to right and back to front) BreeAnn, Me, Lindsay, Natalie, Stephanie, and Buffy.

Returned from trip #2

On the ride to Powell the second time around. We left at 4:30 am and she was awake for almost the entire ride! I thought she would sleep for sure... I was wrong.

Ryan wanted to be the flag girl every time we went out on the boat! She loves boating! She loves to watch the skier or boarder get out of the water. When the skier falls she looks at you and asks where did they go? (Where go)

Tubing with Daddy on our first trip. Two weeks later she got on the tube with Natalie, Riley, Dax and Papa. Riley was hilarious, she has a pack of gummies in her hand and was not going to let them go even to tube!



We went to the arch on both trips. Here is a picture of all the parks. I will post one of the Zollingers when I get it. Left to right (Jordan, Steph, Papa Kirby, Nana Lynn, Abbie, Justin, Chase, Jon, Stephen, Lisa, Russ, Mace, Me, Jared, and Ryan.)


We have had a wonderful month. We just got back from our second trip to Lake Powell. We had so much fun with both families. Ryan loved the water and eventually was begging to get in and swim. She loved sitting on the swim deck and kicking her legs. She even let us dunk her all the way under without any tears! Russ taught me how to Sky Ski and Jared was killer on the slalom! I also attempted a few front flips on the wake board--still have never landed one. Close but no luck. It was a great way to spend some time out of Cedar with the families!

Lake Powell

Jared just read me a fact off the computer... the water temp at lake Powell is between 70-74! And that is exactly where I will be tomorrow!! Suckers!! I am going to Powell! I will be sure to post my pictures after I return from a well needed and might I add deserved (gag) vacation! And if Gentri Balwin is able to read this message you failed to invite me to your blog. it's mccall_park@hotmail.com and I hope all is well for you and your family! and for everyone else reading this...

Nana, we love you.
David, we are still conditioning Ryan to love you most.
To all others... We will update again very soon!

Oh yeah, and both my sister BreeAnn and Jared's sister Abbie got engaged last night! CONGRATS to both couples! We are so excited!

In Loving Memory

CHESTER LAWRENCE ZOLLINGER

This week has been hard with the passing of my grandpa! He will be missed, but at the same time we have a lot of peace too! He was a good grandpa and he taught me a lot! He didn't leave us much, but he did leave me his testimony!

I love you grandpa!