Easter 2012

Sadly, I have not a single photo to document our Easter festivities.   We spent Saturday with Matt's family, at his Grandpa Thompson's house.  We had dinner and and egg hunt.  It was really fun to relax and hang out with family.  The kids were so cute hunting for eggs, they all had a ball.  I know some of Matt's family were taking photos, I have to get some of them.
Saturday night we slept over at my parent's house and my family watched our kids so Matt and I could go on a little date.  The kids had a blast and so did we.  Sunday we went to church with my family and then my grandparents and siblings came for dinner and then the extended family came for dessert.  It was a great weekend with lots of yummy food and visiting and cousin time.
This week we have Spring Break.  We hit up two parks today, one for a lunchtime picnic and then after rest/naptime we went to a new one in our area that we had heard a lot about, Neptune Park.  It was very cool and my kids loved it, but is was so crowded that it was hard for me to keep track of the kids.  Sydney thought she was pretty big and as I chased her around I was always doing a head count.  We only stayed for about 15 minutes because it was just too crowded and crazy for me.
Matt had some gift card and coupon combo so he took us Chili's for dinner.  I hadn't been there for years and we stopped taking the kids to any eating establishment that has a waiter when we had more than two (also when we had to feed them all...).  I was a little nervous about this, my children have fairly decent table manners, but still....they were all very good.  Only a few screams from Syd when she dumped water on herself and one child burping loudly.  No crazy messes or anything.  I was proud.
We are  not going on trip for Spring Break.  We wanted to camp, but Matt's ankle still isn't feeling up to hiking or anything so we will be home.  We have some fun things planned to do here though and I am excited because I really love having all my kids at home.
We have some camping planned for the summer, but our big excitement is a trip for just Matt and me.  We wanted to go somewhere for our 10th anniversary, but Sydney was pretty little and we put it off and now we are finally going to do it (closer to our 12 anniversary, but we are just happy to go!)  We are going to Washington D.C. for a week and we are pretty excited.  The kids will have a blast hanging out with all their grandparents and some cousins.  Matt and I will get to talk uninterrupted over dinner and not dump out the sippy cups every time we go through security at the airport.  It will be awesome!!!

Christmas Day Photos from Zack's New Camera

 Aunt Meagan

 My Grandparents with Sydney

 My Dad

 My brother Mike falling down the stairs?

 Snoopy's Doghouse, the winner of our family Gingerbread contest

 Some of Zack's gifts

 Austin waiting to go to church

 The after Christmas mess

 Austin with Aunt Kailee and Uncle Zach

 Jordy taking a picture of Zack with his own new camera.

Matt's Grandpa Thompson. 
There were also about 5,000 photos of individual ornaments on the trees at all the homes we visited on Christmas Day.  I will have to save those for another time.  :)

Christmas, Christmas don't be late

 The tree is stuffed in between the couch and the piano so as to provide as little access to Sydney as possible.  This was the first time I put ribbon on the tree, and all the boys think it looks "fancy."  I usually put beads on the tree, but multiple children kept pulling them off to play with them, so I took them away and put ribbon up instead.  Ribbon isn't as fun to play with!  Gotcha, kiddoes!

One of my favorite things this year....I love my nativity set, but I am talking about the ever-present piano music on my piano.  Zack has been taking piano for about six months now and he loves to play Christmas songs.  I have to ban him from practicing when Sydney is napping, he would practice all day if I let him.  He can't wait to show off his skills at a family Christmas party. 
We are so excited to celebrate! 

Thankful

December is here already and I can't believe it.  November was great, we had a lot of fun days as a family.  They kids are all at really fun ages, they like to play together, they like to play with us.  Thanksgiving was fun, we ate with my extended family at a church (and.....Austin puked during the meal.)  We spent the evening and night with Matt's family and then Friday Matt and I went to see It's a Wonderful Life at the Desert Star theater.  We came home that night after a fun few days.  I though at lot about what I am thankful for and here is my little list:

First and foremost, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The knowledge that families are eternal, that we are children of God and that Jesus Christ is our Savior are the things that I hold most dear to my heart. 

Second, my family.  I love my little (big) family.  Matt is the greatest and each of our four children are so unique and smart and funny.  My parents and siblings and Matt's parents and siblings are my favorite people to hang out with.  We are surrounded by good people and great examples at every turn.  Grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins.....I love when we get to see everyone and spend time with them and I always feel bad when we don't see someone during the holidays. 

Third would be Primary!!  I love Primary.  I have been the Primary President for the past two years and I love it.  Teaching Sharing time is one of my favorite things to do.  I love the kids on our primary, the teachers and the interaction I have with them.  I can't mention Primary without mentioning my Primary Presidencies.  (old and new).  We had a good thing going in Primary and then our ward was split in September....the day of the Primary Program.  My 1st. and 2nd counselors and secretary were all taken away....it was a sad, sad day.  Luckily, I had a 3rd counselor who stayed with me and we have a great new Presidency and we are back in business.  I love all the ladies I currently work with and have worked with over the last few years.  They are all dear friends and I have learned so much from them.  Shout out to Megan, Marie, Cheri, Jackie, Heather, Jessica, Wendy, Brigette and Krista. 

Last, but not least would be all of the things I take for granted everyday, water, warmth, food, clothing, vehicles, Matt's job, phones, internet, books, school, games, nature, holidays, and many many more.  We are blessed. 

Derek tells the Story of Thanksgiving

The Indian and the Pilgrim picked apples with each other.  They sailed on a boat that is called the Flower.  The Indians were already there and they already knew how to cook corn and the Indians taught the Pilgrims how to cook corn and some kids played under the table.  They didn't all battle, never, ever, ever.  They ate a turkey and mashed potatoes and all that kind of stuff.  They were friends forever. 

Boo

 We carved our pumpkins last Saturday night....an S, a bat, a traditional Jack 'o lantern and Dracula.

 Soooooo.......scary..................................

 On Halloween, the Elementary school had a costume parade.  Notice the amazing Angler Fish costume front and center...his mom said it cost $7.00 and waaaaaaaaaaay too much time to make.  Notice "Zackula" right behind the angler fish.  He is thinking...."mom?  Where is mom?  We are almost at the end and she isn't here!"

 "There she is!  Hi, hi, hi, mom!" 

 "Now I will show everyone what it means to be Count Zackula....bahaaaaaa."

 Batman Derek played it cool with a simple wave. 

On our way to Trick or Treat.  They were a little anxious to go and be done with pictures.  Zack is Count Zackula, Derek is Batman, Austin is also Batman and Sydney is a little purple Spider.  Happy Halloween!!

Fall Party

Matt has a really fun family.  He has great sisters (and brothers-in-law) and parents.  I always have so much fun when we get together.  He also has an awesome extended family.  Some we see more than others, but there are certain times of year that we never miss.  Memorial Day for the Sorensen side, and Aunt Lois' Fall Party on the Thompson side. 
Last night was the annual Fall Party, which we missed last year (Matt was at a BYU game and I just couldn't handle taking three rowdy boys and a newborn by myself an hour and a half away), and it was a blast, as always.  I took my camera, but didn't snap a single photo.  There were hay rides and pumpkin carving, soup and chili and scones and cocoa and cookies galore.  There was a little spooky graveyard and a trampoline and fire.  There are so many fun people to talk to, I always leave feeling bad that I didn't get to chat with everyone.  My boys loved it and it was a beautiful, warm night.  Some of my favorite parts of getting together with the Thompson gang are:


The FOOD!  I don't know who makes the marshmallow-ie brownies, but I ate four.
The Aunts:  There are nine sisters and they are all so fun and funny and I love to talk to them all.
The Great-Grandkids:  There are so many little kids running around, it is so fun to watch them grow and see them interact with eachother.
The Cousins:  Matt has an awful lot of girl cousins.  I have never counted, but I am positive the girls outnumber the boys by a lot.  In my family, it was the opposite.  There were a few girl cousins, but there were waaaaaaaaaaaay more boys and most were a lot younger than me.  I still love them dearly, but I don't get to see them much.  The Thompson girls are always so fun to talk to and I always look forward to seeing them at family parties.  Thanks, Thompson girls for being so awesome and such great examples!  Next year, in between the hot dog runs, re-filling the cocoa cups and scaring my children in the haunted graveyard, I will take some pictures. 

Chrismas Eve and Christmas Day and beyond.

Just a little post Christmas/New Year's mess/exhaustion. Taken 1/1/10 (taken without my knowledge, as I was obviously sleeping). I love that Zack fell asleep in this position. Thankfully, the counter with all the New Year's Eve dishes, is not in the picture. I am sure you can imagine, though.

For some reason, I can't load any of my pictures today. Christmas was so much fun. We had a great Christmas Party with Matt's family, with my brothers and sister and family, then of course the traditional Christmas Eve party at my Grandma's with lots of food and funny moments.

Christmas Day was so much fun. We wanted to enjoy every second and we turned on the video camera as the boys were walking down the stairs. We had so much fun, that neither Matt or I took any photos. It was a great Christmas, which involved a lot of midnight gift switcheroos (thankfully, we shop for the boys January birthday when we shop for Christmas, so we had some options.)nothing fancy, but I think everyone was happy. After breakfast, we headed out to Matt's grandpa's house and met up with more family and food there. We spent most of the evening at Matt's parents' house playing games and exchanging gifts. We were worn out, but happy as we drove home that night.
Here are just some of the highlights of the week between Christmas and back-to-life-as-normal:

*Having Matt home for an entire week!!
*Pirate Island
*Taking the boys to a movie
*Playing in the snow
*Organizing
*The mad scramble of trying to get all the new Primary classes organized...ack!! I learned a lot about how I do not want to do it for next year!
*Girl's sleepover to celebrate my sis-in-law Jen's birthday!
*New Year's Eve with some neighbors, very low key and a nice early night!
*Staying up late and watching lots of movies with Matt and my brothers.
*Eating a lot of treats.
*Enjoying a week of everyone being relatively healthy.

It was a wonderful holiday season. Some things we are looking forward to in 2010 (in no particular order):

*Finally finding out if this baby is boy number 4 or girl number 1. We will take either, of course. The boys think another boy would fit in nicely. I think we all might be at a loss as to what to do if it is a girl. (next week)
*Finishing Jamison's mission shopping (ASAP)
*The mission farewell that we are not supposed to call a farewell. (end of Feb.)
*Birthday, more holidays and our ninth anniversary! (Jan.- April)
*Having enough Primary teachers for every class!!!!!!! (this coming week!)
*Planning our garden (yes, I said planning, not planting, I am fairly sure I will not be able to bend over at that point.)
*Brother David's college graduation
*Postponing our annual Mother's Day weekend trip to Moab because I will hopefully be really close to having a baby!
*Having a new baby!!!!! (May)
*Welcoming my parents and brother Michael home from their mission!! (July)
****That is about as far ahead as I can think right now. We will have to re-evaluate all future plans after the baby comes. I just have to say that I am so excited to have a baby in the Spring for once instead of beginning or middle of Winter. We can be outside!! I send my other kids outside while I stay inside! It will be great.

Now that I am sure you are all bored to tears, I will end. Have a wonderful New Year!!

7:56 pm and we are Done!

Halloween 2009: Please ignore the horrible photo. We have a spooky skeleton who thought his mask was too hot, Indiana Jones and Thomas the Train. We started early with dinner in a pumpkin (thanks, Christina!) and headed out just before dusk. Since our kids don't care too much, we visited just our street and the street behind us and headed home. Derek, especially was exhausted. We reached the house, and every immediately shed their costumes and being the mean mom I am, I let everyone choose one piece of candy and took everything else away. (They had also gone trick or treating at Matt's office yesterday and so had eaten plenty already.) Zack chose a candy necklace, Derek chose a mini box of Nerds and smart little Austin chose a full-size 3 Musketeer bar. He ate almost all of it too. We turned on a spooky movie, (Scooby Doo and the Ghost Pirate or something) and hunkered down with pillows and blankets. The trick or treaters are slowing down and we are just relaxing at home. I love it! Happy Halloween!!

My Country 'Tis of Thee

I love the Fourth of July! We had a busy, but great day. We started the day at 8am when Matt helped the Cub Scouts with a Flag raising ceremony at the Bishop's house. Then we hopped right in the car and headed to the Freedom Festival in Provo. We watched the parade, hung out at Colonial Days, had picnic in the park, took naps at my brother's apt., headed to Matt's sister Mikel's house and had dutch oven potatoes and chicken and cake and fruit and corn and waterballoons. We watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks from a nearby field and headed home. It was a blast.





Austin the vampire:
Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July! We can't wait to spend it with you, Mom, Dad and Mike, NEXT YEAR! Love ya!

Happy Easter!

"He is risen! He is risen! Tell it out with joyful voice. He has burst his three days' prison; Let the whole wide earth rejoice. Death is conquered; man is free. Christ has won the victory."

-from "He Is Risen!" Cecil Frances Alexander

(click on photos to enlarge)

What a great weekend....

That was not meant sarcastically, it really was a great weekend. Friday night I dragged Matt to our church building where they were holding some dance lessons in preparation for our Ward Sweetheart Dance in a few weeks. We learned to cha-cha-cha away. It was fun and kudos to Matt for going, even though I know he really, really, really did not want to. He was a great sport.

Then on Saturday....hmm, I have no memory of Saturday, just a nice, relaxing, calm day. Oh, wait, it was Valentine's Day. I knew something was going on that day! Maybe because Zack woke me up at 5:30 am asking if he could get up now. I said no way. Finally, after he had been begging for an hour, I let him get up at 6:30. I could hear him doing something, but I was too tired to investigate. (Must have been all that cha-cha-cha-ing.) Finally around 6:45 I got out of bed to discover that Zack had made Valentine cards for the whole family and hidden them around the house. Mine was taped to the stairs and said: Mom, I luv you. :) So Zack and I made a Valentine's breakfast while everyone else slept. Everyone one got a new book and some chocolates. Later that evening, we ate Cafe Rio takeout and watched a movie; my favorite kind of Valentine's Day!

Then Sunday, after church, my sister and her family and my brothers came over and we made sushi for dinner. (Ok, since everyone doesn't like Sushi, we made some other stuff too: gyoza, fried rice, stir-fried veggies) It was all so good and we spent about an hour on the webcam with my parents. The majority of the time, the kids were showing off their dancing and screaming skills. Since it was midnight in Uruguay at the time, we tried not to keep them too long, but we could have chatted for hours. It was really fun. As the evening was winding down, we had a surprise (wink, wink) visit from our neighbors in an effort to get one of my brothers to meet their sister.

And Monday, another nice relaxing day. Matt watched the kids while I ran some errands, I always for get how fast I get things done without six little feet running all directions wherever I go. :) Later in the afternoon, Matt's parents surprised us by dropping by and we ended up taking the kids to Chuck E Cheese. We had never been there (okay, since we were little kids) and the boys were so excited and loved it. What a great weekend, eh?

Happy Valentine's Day from Zack

(Zack, ready for school on 2-13-09)

*The last two afternoons have been dedicated to getting Valentine's cards ready for Zack to take to school. He decided on Transformer Valentine's that come with a heart-shaped sucker. He was very discriminating in deciding which card went to which classmate. The yellow Bumblebee cards that said "Bee Mine" went to his favorite (read: ALL) the girls. I asked who he thought the cutest girl in his class was. He said: Izzie, no Madison, both of them. And Maya, and Sydney. They are beeootiful. I said but who is your favorite? He said, Izzie because she is so nice. And Madi, but he mostly just looks at her.

*The boys received cards that said, "We make a great team!" Speaking of, Zack's favorite friend from school, Cade, came over to house to play yesterday for the first time. He and Zack had so much fun together. They have another friend, Braxton, who completes the trio. The two of them were telling me that when Braxton is not at school it means trouble at recess. I asked why and they said because the "grills" as Zack calls them, will chase them. I asked what makes a difference when Braxton is there? They said when Braxton is there, they run. :)

*When Zack came home from school yesterday, we were walking home from the bus stop and he said, "Mom, I have to wear a red shirt tomorrow."
"Why? Is it red shirt day?"
"No," he said, slightly exasperated, "It is our Valentine's Party and I want to look nice."
"So you want to be dressed nicely tomorrow?"
Zack: "Oh.Yeah."

The Christmas Wrap-up

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! On Christmas Eve we decided to go and spend the night at Matt's parent's home due to a ginormous coming snowstorm (which didn't ever really show up). I packed up the car while Matt and the boys played in the snow. We went to my grandparent's home first for the annual Christmas Eve party...then on to the Sorensen house. The boys were pretty tired and went to bed really well. Santa got everything set up and then the younger boys proceeded to cry ALL NIGHT LONG. Neither is sick or anthing. It was truly a horrible night. I was never so glad to hear Zack wake up at 5:45 am and start asking to go upstairs. We waited until 6:30 and then headed upstairs. They boys were very patient waiting for dad to set up the camera:
And we would like to welcome Darth Vader and Indiana Jones to the family.

All Austin cared about was the candy in his stocking.

And we waited until we were back home to set up the gift that will save my sanity this winter:


We had a great time visiting everyone and except for the lack of sleep, we had so much fun having a Christmas sleepover, we loved it!

We are just taking it easy and cleaning out closets and junk and doing little projects around the house, eating leftover Christmas candy and watching all of our new movies. Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Story

There are several new posts, so feel free to scroll on down!

This is one of my favorite Christmas stories of ALL time.

Once there was a little boy who couldn't wait for Christmas. His name was Matt. On Christmas Eve he was so excited that he couldn't sleep. He knew that Santa was on his way and had lots of toys and goodies in his sleigh. He waited until his parents had gone to bed (after midnight) and snuck back out to the Christmas tree. It was obvious that Santa had already come. Now, being a good little boy, Matt, never thought to disturb the gifts under the tree. He knew he had to wait until 6:30 when everyone could get up. So instead of breaking the rules, this little schemer snuck over to the clock on the wall and moved it ahead four hours until it read 6:30. 6:30!!! Time to get up he shouted! Santa had been here! He ran to each room until the entire family was awake. His bleary-eyed, but accomodating parents (who felt like they had only been asleep an hour!) couldn't argue with the clock, so everyone gathered and Christmas began. Oh the joy! Presents galore and no lying in bed for hours waiting! Around 10:30 (aka 6:30am) exhaustion was starting to creep in. Somehow, somewhere, someone, discovered another clock with a different time. (apparently in the Christmas frenzy, no one noticed that it was still dark at 10:30 am) What!? That dang broken clock! The family went back to bed, overhung with Christmas joy and lack of sleep.

This story cracks me up. And Matt is still very proud of his resourcefulness at the age of ten. I commented to him that I could see Derek and Austin perpetrating such a crime someday. But they wouldn't let Zack in on it. He would probably talk them out of it or tell on them for being dishonest. Good times.

**Addendum**
Matt just informed me that it was not the family room clock he changed. IT WAS HIS PARENT'S ALARM CLOCK. He snuck into their room, crawled to his dad's night stand and changed the alarm to wake up FOUR hours early. Since the family always opened presents in the front room, where the is no clock, no one noticed for a while. John, is that how it went?

Oh Christmas Tree

Just a little shout out to my slickdealing hubby. Matt found this Christmas tree after Christmas last year for $25! Regularly $250, pre-lit from Sears. I love it! Our older tree is much thinner, it is currently residing in the family room. And yes, I know there decorations are few and far between. I only decorate where little fingers can not reach. Thanks, Matt!

Because It Has Been a Long Time Since I Posted Photos

My boys checking out Grandpa S.'s Christmas Village:
Look at his eyes!
Zack flying through the air:
Derek studying the newest Lego magazine.

Thanksgiving 2008

Today was an interesting day. We had been planning on celebrating Thanksgiving with my grandparents and a few aunts and uncles today. However, last Saturday, my cutie little brother Jamison went back to the hospital with pain and vomiting. They admitted him and thought he was having some post-op issues. We expected him to be there one night, maybe two. It turned out that he developed some kind of blockage that wasn't allowing him to digest, hence the continuous throwing up. They have been trying to get it worked out, slowly but surely.

Yesterday the doctor decided to shut down his digestive system completely and put the tube down his nose, to his stomach that sucks everything right out, and put in a pick line. (Both things he had right after his surgery two months ago. Very unpleasant. Last time though, he was still groggy from surgery when all these procedures were done. This time he was awake and miserable.) Matt and my brother Chris took the older boys to the dollar theater last night while I spent time at the hospital. (I swear I know every nook and cranny of that building). Poor Jamison was just miserable. Just discouraged that he is back where he was two months ago, discouraged that he will not be going to Uruguay on Weds. as planned.

Matt brought the boys back after the movie and we all visited with Jamison a while. The plan had been to go to my Grandparents then head back to the hospital and spend the rest of the day with Jamison. As we walked out of the hospital last night, we all looked at each other and decided that we would skip out on Thanksgiving this year in order to have someone with James all day. None of us would have any fun with him all bummed out. Since it would be several hours in driving time and eating to get to the grandparents, I decided at 8:30 last night, that I would make us a "fake"Thanksgiving dinner instead. So, luckily, I had a ham (which was supposed to be my contribution to Grandma's meal). And I think I put together a pretty decent meal, spur-of-the-moment. We had the ham, potatoes and gravy (the gravy was from a mix, I am not a good gravy maker.) layered jello, rolls, yams (sent down via my brother from Matt's sweet mother.) Mmm, what else, stuffing from a box, (ick) and pumpkin and chocolate cream pies. It all turned out pretty well. And this way, one of us was with James all day. Chris spent the morning there. Matt and the kids and I went over at noon and stayed until 2ish. We came back and ate and then Chris, David and I took some games over and stayed with him until he kicked us out at 9:30. We had so much fun telling stories and playing games. We even got James to crack a few smiles! We had a surprisingly fun, low-key day, pretty relaxing. For not turning out the way we planned! I hope everyone had a great day! (as you can see from the photo, we did not take a picture pre-eating. We were too impatient.

Holiday Traditions Blog

I am starting a separate blog about holiday traditions/food/decorating ideas, etc. Just a fun place to share ideas and maybe start some new family traditions! If anyone would like to be a contributor/blog author, please leave me a comment and I will email you. I am always looking for fun things to do with my boys so I would love lots of input!! And I would love lots of participants!!

This is Halloween, this is Halloween.....

Should it be naked baby Tarzan?
Or Tigger?
A Studly Pirate (who can't keep his belts or dreadlocks on).
We have Harry Potter, Captain Jack Sparrow and Tarzan/Tigger. We went with Tigger for Matt's work party, since it is warm and who doesn't love a baby in a loincloth? And obviously Austin likes going naked too. We'll go back to Tigger when we actually go out Trick or Treating. And for the record, at Zack's school party today I dressed up as Sarah Palin. I thought I looked pretty awesome, but I was the only mom dressed up and I think the others all thought I had just come straight from work. :)