Small Town Life

Small town life has its disadvantages, sure, but there are also advantages and things that just put a smile on your face, like this message on our answering machine yesterday:

"Hi, it's Tyler from Pizza Hut. I just found out yesterday that we're getting an ice cream machine, and I thought to myself 'First thing Tuesday morning, I'm going to call the McLaughlins,' so I just thought I'd let you know. Have a great day."

With just a handful of eating establishments in our small town, when Pizza Hut took over the neighboring storefront and went from carry-out only to adding a small dining room, we along with many other residents were quite thrilled. Wednesday night is buffet night, and we've been pretty regular in our attendance. They have the best salad bar!

Anyway, Tyler is one of the managers, and a great one at that. You just know that if Tyler is there, the buffet will be fully stocked and ready to go. For the past year or so since the dining room opened Todd has commented upon leaving that as good as the food is, it would be better with a little ice cream to top it off.

Well, after much begging, the ice cream machine is a reality, Todd's happy, and I think I even hear the Cheers theme playing in the background.

Grandma's visit

Mom came to visit over spring break, and we had a wonderful visit. She got to see all of our family and Mark and Jeni's, squeezing in a visit with Calvin before we left for the airport. Poor Calvin had to spend spring break in Destin, Florida... Here are some highlights of her visit:

Sunday, we headed up to South Bend to catch up with Todd Jr who was leading worship at a new church and got to spend a couple hours with him after church.



Tuesday we headed out shopping with Jeni and Kelly and ended up at Olive Garden for lunch. Can you say "Unlimited Soup, Salad and Breadsticks?" Mmmmm...





Wednesday evening we met Adam and Rachel for dinner in Fort Wayne.

Thursday evening, Mark, Jeni and Kelly came over for dinner.

Saturday, mom and I went to Adam's soccer tournament at University of St. Francis. It was a ccccold and wwwindy day!! We were able to spend quite a bit of time with Adam in between the games which was really nice!

We had a great time while she were here, and it went way too fast, and YES, everything we did involved eating (and I have the pictures to document it!) :)