Our Vacation After Vacation

Less than 48 hours after we got back from our Caribbean cruise, we headed out to southern Idaho for a fun-filled week at my Dad's house. It was a GREAT trip! We all enjoyed getting back to our roots and my dad is one of the funnest people I know!

This was our destination. With all of us, my step-brothers and sisters included, we really contributed to the population for the week!



It's a place where this is normal...



and you can spend a whole day sitting on the front porch. Although, our porch-sitting time was pretty limited. As you'll see, we kept very busy!



My brother, Braden, brought his girlfriend, Cassi, to meet the fam. She's so cute and, thankfully, I don't think we scared her off!



We had some fun cruisin' in the Jeep, which is one of my favorite summer past times. I can't tell you how many times we piled all of our fun Utah girls in this thing for many different adventures!



This time, it was Ashley, me and Cassi piled in the back.



We spent a couple of days on the boat at Bear Lake. The first day we were so cold! Yes, I wore a sweatshirt to the beach. There's just something fundamentally wrong about that.



We were all a little hesitant to jump into the 65 degree water. (Especially me and Jeff since we had just returned from the 80 degree water in the Caribbean!)





Generally, everyone made a face like this...



or this...



or this when the jumped in the water.



Braden was more brave and flippied himself right in ("Flippied" may be a new word. I'll inform Wikipedia).



After your body goes numb, you can muster a smile. This is fun after all.





We had quite a lot of water sports talent aboard this fun-boat. My dad is 55. Can you tell?



Braden eventually got up on the wake board.



Which was a relief to him because he didn't want to be shown up by his girlfriend...



...or his sister (Ashley).



Erick was pretty good.



And Jeff was really good! My hot hubby still has it. Let's take a moment and appreciate his arm muscles. Go ahead, appreciate 'em. Aren't I a lucky girl?



This is as close as I got to getting up. After 3 tries, it was time for lunch and when we went back out to try again, my attempt was thwarted by my near-death (not really, but it was scary) close encounter with the propeller and the under-side of the boat. My hot hubby jumped in and saved me. My hero! He (has) saved me in every way possible... (Name that movie!)



So, I traded in the wake board...



...for the knee board and all was right in the world.



Ashley and I had a lot of fun doing this...



We also had a few fishing adventures! First at the carp hole...



Cassi's first fish ever...








Then we had an early morning fishing excursion up the canyon for some rainbow trout.



Jeff was the first one with some success.



I mostly just tried to stay warm while being Jeff's beautiful (albeit extensively clothed) assistant.



We had evenings of shooting. Bows and arrows first. My dad imparting his wisdom on Jeff.



Jeff was a pretty good shot. Although, by the time he actually released the arrow, the elk would have ample time to give him a once over, sing the national anthem, and then walk slowly away.



Ashley was a natural-born hunter.



I was a little less natural. This bow tried to shoot me! These compound bows take 60 lbs of force to pull back. In my prideful state I thought, "I work out, I can definitely do this," but as you can see, I needed the strength of two men to make up for my weak back muscles. In my defense, Ashley couldn't pull hers back by herself either. I just wasn't able to capture it for our posterity. We both had lengthy talks with our trainers (Jeff for me, a paid professional for her) when we got home.



Cue the Robin Hood music...




We also like to shoot guns in our family. Really, I don't think we have enough guns to go around...















Awww...isn't Braden a good boyfriend!?!



We took the 4-wheelers up the canyon for a hike to Bloominton Lake one morning.





We were among the wild flowers...







...and were one with nature.





We had some old-fashioned family photos taken.





My dad was especially proud of his over-educated "skank ho" daughters (yes, my dad used the term "skank ho" and was especially proud when he remembered it after great effort and a good couple minutes of thinking about it).



In the end, we all were so happy to have had a week remembering our roots. After all, we have many "onion layers" and this is just one of mine.



Thanks Dad and Betsey for a great week! We loved every minute of it and will definitely have to do it more often!

Thank You Shout Wipes!

Someone's lunch spilled in our fridge. The schmutz from the spilled lunch got on my lunch bag. The schmutz on my bag made its way to my black pencil skirt. I'm giving a guest lecture in an hour. I used a shout wipe and it no longer looks like an infant puked down the front of my black pencil skirt. I am relieved. Thank you shout wipes!

P.S. I know I am delinquent in my blogging. So much has happened and so much is going on that I haven't really found time to blog about it yet. Hopefully, soon. Thank you for still reading. For now, I'm just trying to keep my feet moving and my eyes open.

Our Tobler-Style Caribbean Cruise

We had a great week of cruising the Caribbean with the Tobler crew. We had 5 days of good food, great beaches, great company and loads of fun!

Leaving the Port of Miami...






We spent a day in the pool and managed to have it all to ourselves by the end of the day. The boys thought this would be the best time to create a whirlpool (as if the motion of the boat was not enough).



We were all very vigilant about our protection from the sun...



Although, some were less successful...



Kyle's choice of bathing suit for the week was this cute spandex number. Incidentally, when wet we all got to know him a little better...



There were some fun ports...





Lots of brother-bonding time...



Lots of sweetheart bonding time...







Plenty of relaxing on some very beautiful beaches...







And snorkeling...





We had some fun evenings...eating, dancing, eating, shows, eating, visiting.





Some ate too much and needed Kyle's professional medical attention...



There was also plenty of romance!



Jeff chose Kyle as his partner for the romantic pictures. My long hair was not conducive to these photos. It was very windy!



Even an anniversary!



All in all, it is at the top of our list of favorite Tobler gatherings and we cannot wait for the Peruvian Tobler Family Christmas 2010!

We're Baaa-aaack!

After two great weeks of vacation we made it home last night. I'm back to work today (and totally swamped) and Jeff happily started dental school orientation this morning. We have so many pictures to share later this week!

Back from the Caribbean...

...off to Idaho!

If you need us...

...we'll be in the Caribbean. :-)

Another Reason I Love Our Quarterback...

Amen.

As A Group, We're Not Known For Our Fashion Sense

I met a fellow professor yesterday that used a monacle. Yup, a monacle. It dangled about his neck and he peered through it when necessary.

Sun, Fun & Crab Legs

I had a great weekend with my girls in Orlando over the weekend! Saturday we went out to Jetty Park and enjoyed some beautiful weather. Despite applying sunscreen, twice, I came home quite sunburned! I promise, I am an adult and I do know how to apply sunscreen!

After spending a few hours at the beach laughing, chatting, and wave jumping (apparently I'm bad at this...I always ended up almost losing a piece of my bathing suit and/or with a mouthful of saltwater and/or with saltwater in my eyes), we went to a Hart-family favorite--the tiki bar! They have the most delicious crab legs and sweet potato french fries! Being from a land-locked state, Cydnee was a little reluctant to try them but, after a good dose of peer pressure and a nearly misssed opportunity (ah, ah, ah, cheese sticks!) we all enjoyed a delicious lunch!

Cydnee, Me and Ashley right before we left the beach



Grills Tiki Bar! My favorite biker bar! Yum!



Believe it or not, we got all of this food after inhaling two baskets of sweet potato french fries (with this delicious red pepper jelly...makes my mouth water just thinking about it!)



Ashley played with her food a little bit...



...but I dug right in! It was just as good as I remembered!



After we rolled ourselves out of the tiki bar we had a pretty low-key evening, which was perfect before our day of shopping the next day! That's a whole-nother post! The thrill of the hunt, the posturing for encroaching predators, and the complete satisfaction of the kill (or purchase, if you will)!

P.S. I'm watching the Bachelorette finale...what the!?! Really?? Ed over Kiptyn!?! Boo! Hiss! I'm done with this show.

Ready for a Girls Weekend!

We're headed out of town this weekend! I'm going to spend the weekend with my sister and a couple of our fun Utah girls in Orlando and Jeff's headed to Chad and Janet's in Palm Bay for the week. I've made it very clear that Chad is to return Jeff no later than Sunday, August 2nd--he can be returned earlier but, no later.

I'm looking forward to a fun weekend of shopping and going to the beach! Hopefully I'll have some fun pics to share on Sunday night! I'm not looking so forward to a lonely week at home. Maybe little Violet will pee on Jeff again and then he'll want to come home early! :-)

P.S. Did you all read the article about Tim Tebow in the current issue of Sports Illustrated? Just more reason to love him! 43 more days until kickoff!