Dean's List

Nathan is never one to brag about himself. He is just not a boasting person, but since he has done something that pretty difficult to do I am going to do it for him!! If you can read the small print from the picture you will find out that Nate has been placed on the Dean's Honor List for his "superior scholastic record". (which were all A's including a A+). He has been working so hard toward his MBA which in is hard enough to get, but to be getting one from the University of Chicago is a completely different story. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments, which he continues to do every time he leaves to attend school every Saturday. Our family is looking forward to him finishing (which isn't for two more years) and having our Saturday's back together.

Thank you Nathan for all your hard work and diligence you put toward school, work, church and our family. We love you and admire all that you can do!! Clayton : "Way to go Dad, can we go for ice cream?"!!!

Traveling is CRAZY!!!!

Traveling is traveling. If it gets you to your destination then it has full filled it's purpose. But, traveling is also CRAZY!! I have done my fair share of CRAZY when traveling, biggest example: flying with two kids while 8 months pregnant alone with lay overs in 2 different airports totaling over 8 hours in airports CRAZY!! But obviously I will do anything to get me to a vacation and to see family members. Take my vacation to Arizona. Nathan found some great tickets to get me to Salt Lake City. The tricky part is that we are going to Arizona right!! This how it all worked out. 3 Tickets for me, Clayton, Hayden, and Justin is having a free ride on my lap. Fly out of Milwaukee WI to Chicago O'Hara airport. This I thought was CRAZY, seems it is better for me to waste plane fuel and drive to a different state only to fly back into Chicago to catch the connecting flight. O'Hara is the closer airport to me but flying directly from O'Hara was $200 more per ticket so we took the 15minute in flight plane ride, from Milwaukee to O'Hara. At O'Hara we board our plane to go to Salt Lake city where my mom and dad will be picking us up and we will be on our way to Phoenix after the ten hour car ride. Again, I am fine with this because I will be with family and go to Arizona, what's a little traveling time.

My boys are great travelers and mind well (for 6 and 4 year olds). They had fun with their cousin Eli who went with Mom and Dad to pick us up. We came into SLC at a good time, 2PM not way early and not way late for my parents to pick me up from Idaho, but it is a little late in the day when you need to put an additional ten hours worth of driving behind you. So we drove into the night. Justin is great in the car, and I was able to borrow my brothers car seat so I didn't have to luge it around the airport (HUGE PLUS) but, Justin was off on his game and only slept for the three hours of driving I contributed. Sore, tired, sick of junk food, and a major headache so worth it to pull up into that Thompson Family Arizona Retreat!!

I think the only down fall after you have just finished traveling and you have reached you destination, full of excitement and thrills waiting to happen, you have a lingering voice in your head saying "You know you will have to travel back don't you? You'll HAVE to travel back!" CRAZY VOICE!! This voice can be pushed back to the far end of the brain until the days go by and your travel time is approaching.

We will have to drive the ten hours back, say goodbyes, check bags, go through security with three kids alone, have a different airport to navigate around (Denver this time), wait the four hour layover, board the second plane to end up in Milwaukee and drive another hour to reach home. Justin was feeling a lot better after taking him to the immediate care and being confirmed that he had a double ear infection, so I wasn't too worried about him or my other two boys being good for me. The CRAZY thing happened while driving back to Utah. WE RAN OUT OF GAS!!! Are you kidding me! We left the Arizona house at 2 in the morning to get into Utah to make my flight back home and on the way we ran out of gas. My sister Sophie was driving and Dad told her to stop in Nephi when she saw the sign for it. Dad went asleep and I was taking care of bays and to Sophie's credit I didn't see any signs for Nephi anywhere either, only Mona next three exits same as she did. While there is nothing to really call "Mona" just exits to a few houses here and there, our car starts doing a pulsing motion and is slowing down. Sophie is not braking the CAR is STOPPING! She pulls over to the side of the road and is coasting until the car finally stops and will not start again. It is 1:00PM and my plane leaves at 2:54PM!! CRAZY!! We are not far from the airport, but with no gas we have a problem. Dad calls the State trooper and they dispatch someone to come help us. Time is ticking and we have no idea how long any of this is going to take.
When something like this happens, all you can do is laugh and try and fix it. I am always amazed at how my parents can handle CRAZY things happening. My dad runs his hand through his hair a few times and tries to figure out who to call. AAA? no we don't want to be towed. 911? but we aren't in serious danger we just need gas. 411? for a number to the police hmmm will that work? ending up using 911 and politely asking for the state police number. Mom is in the back playing a game with Clayton and Hayden calling family that was traveling also about our CRAZY predicament. Sophie was really sad but not her fault, it could have happened to anyone. Me, I was outside putting the last things in my suitcases so we could be ready to fly through the airport when we happen to arrive.

Nice Mr. Utah State police came and sat in his car which felt like forever then called someone else to help us and left. Again, on the bright side of all this we were able to watch some cool dynamite explosions they were doing on the side of the mountain where we HAD to pull off at. Must have be some sort of test being held because we saw four fire trucks parked and two police cars that pasted us heading to the mountain where over ten bright explosions on the side of the mountian all done in a row. A truck came up behind us that the policeman sent at 1:30 and gave us two gallons of gas. And where do you think the nearest gas station was? THREE miles up the road! THREE MILES, A CRAZY THREE MILES!! We were on our way again and arrived at the airport at 2:45 and my plane was to board at 2:52. We said our quick goodbyes and then booked it through the airport, not even being helped at the security or anything, but found our gate and boarded the plane at 2:57 PM. PHEWWWW!! We still had a long day ahead of us, but I was glad that no flights were missed and we were on our way. We started our day at 2 in the morning in Phoenix Arizona and traveled through Utah with a running out of gas stop, stayed a while in Denver Colorado with layover, landed in Milwaukee Wisconsin, and drove home to Lakemoor Illinois at midnight. That is 22 HOURS of traveling people!!

CRAZY as this travel day was I would do it again! I spent an awesome week with family, had some good talks with my mom and dad, went through alot of states and have a great story that I can tell! Thanks to Mom and Dad who were willing to pick us up and enjoy part of the CRAZINESS!!

Not my Justin

This is so not my Justin!!! For the first couple of days on our trip Justin was a bit cranky and a HUGE mommas boy. He started to act shy with things that normally make him smile and wanted me to hold him a lot when normally he wants down to crawl around and play. At first I thought he needed to catch up on some sleep since he only had 1 to 2 hours worth of sleep for the whole ten hour drive down, but as he became more cranky and uncomfortable I could tell something was up and I had a big hunch it was an ear infection. look at cute Ryder he doesn't even know what to say to that crazy boy next to him!

Justin loves the water and doesn't care if he gets splash ever, so again this crying thing on my shoulder in the warm pool, Not My Justin.

I ended up taking him to an immediate care that was ridiculously slow!! Four hours it took, two of which were in the room they take you to and say "The doctor will be right in" Really?? When next week?? The room was so small that they used the side corner to counter top making a little desk to set things on. Justin is crying and I have gone through my whole purse worth of crackers, cheerios, toys, and pointing out every poster they had in that room. I was irritated, Justin was obviously irritated and still no doctor.

When Mr. not qualified enough to get a real job at a hospital walks in, he takes one ...ONE look at Justin and says "He has a disease." Excuse me, 20 seconds in the room and you are trying to diagnose my child with a disease verdict! CRAZY!! I was way more than irritated now. "Yeah see how red his checks are? He has fifths disease." At which point he gets out his i Pod and does a quick search to show me pictures of the claimed disease. These pictures are huge rashes with open sores on the child face, so not even close to what Justin's cheeks were. I said "No, he doesn't feel good and has been rubbing against my shoulder for the past two hours in this room." The Dr. would not drop it and went into explaining that it is viral which is not treatable by medications and a lot of parents make the mistake of giving their child cold medicine under the age of 2 as he gave me a look questioning whether I have given Justin some cold medicine.

That was it, I responded saying, "Justin has never received any cold medicine, only infants Tylenol and you have said that things that are viral are not treatable by medicine and need to take their course, so what I am concerned with are the things that are bacterial borne and can be treated by medication mainly for his ear infection I have no doubt that he has. Medication so my son can start to feel better."

At this the Dr. finally looks into Justin's ears and does confirm he has two ear infections one quite red. Oh really, Doc? You don't say!!!!
What a nightmare but Justin got his medicine and by the next day I got my Justin back!!

Here is my Justin all happy and smiling again!! Oh and so disease free! What a joke.

AZ Spring Training

Chicago White Sox vs. San Diego Padres Since I played Softball all through High School, (three time all American, and third in state thank you very much he he) I am all for a game of baseball! I will admit it is hard for me to watch any baseball on TV though. Unless a team is in a series, it is slow to watch and with so many games it seems pointless until the season is almost over. Watching a game live is completely different.

Dad treated me to the game which we arrived during the sixth inning (bummer) but we scored some great seats and had a really nice view for the lawn purchase price tickets we had so that was again, SCORE!

Here is dad and me enjoying some $4 malt shake when CRACK a fly ball comes directly at us. Both with spoons in hand we try to catch it but never was able to stand up in time, while the guy seated behind me stretches over dad spilling his slimy beer all over my dad! Drenched his hat and went all down his back! Clumsy beer spiller didn't even get the ball it was another guy two rows up that had stretch forward to snatch the fly ball. Stretch forward, as in right above our heads! If only we weren't scooping up the really good chocolate ice cream into our mouths we would have seen the ball hit and could have stood up to get it, but no such luck even with all that beer spilt over us. Still if was fun just to be that close to the action!! Thanks Dad for a great afternoon!!! Oh, and the Padres ended up winning the game.

Spring Break in Arizona

Because there were a lot of activities we were able to go and do while in Arizona, plus a few crazy stories, that I am going to break them up a bit with their own separate posts so bare with me!

First I'll start with what we would do at and around the THOMPSON ARIZONA RETREAT, as I like to call it. This retreat is owned by my dad and his brothers who farm together, which make having a place to go in sunny Arizona possible and enjoyable for everyone. The weeks throughout the year are split up between the brothers and they can take their families to go have fun and relax on the assigned weeks. Each year the weeks change so it is fair for everyone to enjoy at different time of the year.

BIKE RIDES

It felt so good to be outside with the sun shinning and taking nice relaxing strolls on the bike trails. Clayton just learned how to ride with no training wheels, and I am really impressed how quickly he was able to get it. It took him only two days back at home then he was on his own, so I could see he had a lot of fun being part of the bike ride, riding under his own power. Justin and Hayden had fun in the bike trailer, so much so that Justin feel asleep a couple of times.

The area where the house is located was in full bloom! Orange blossoms filled the air with their mouth watering fragrance and the vibrant colors were a good pick me up from all the cold, wet weather in Chicago. Beautiful!!

SWIMMING...A LOT

The boys couldn't get enough of the pool, and Clay has turned into a good little swimmer! I could hardly get a picture of him, he was diving and swimming so much. Hayden had a blast as soon as he figured out that he could float anywhere with the life jacket he was good to go!! Grandpa Ron is so much fun in the pool. Everyone wants to take turns riding his back and see if they can hold on under water!

Little sis Sophie and Big sister Emily with my adorable niece Quincy

Lil sis Jessa and her family, Trent and stud muffin Ryder!

Silk Dyed Easter Eggs

We have done a lot of dyed eggs lately. It is just so fun to do and there is so much yummy stuff to make with hard boiled eggs, or just eat them plain is just as good! I had to share how fun it was to do these Silk Dyed Easter Eggs. I recently came back from Arizona where I found three 100% silk ties at some estate sales! The ties are what you use to create some unbelievable eggs. Just look what they made!

I dyed these with my Young Women Mia Maid class and we were a little anxious to see how they turned out and probably needed give them more time so they are a little light colored but still look amazing! The printable instructions and more examples of these decorative eggs can be found here.

I don't have the pictures of them but our other favorite kinds of dye are: the Tie dye, Marble, and a shiny foil effect you can apply to the colored eggs. These are all from boxes found at any store. So much Fun

Easter Hunt Fun!!

We had a great time at the Easter Egg Hunt we held at our house on Saturday. The weather seemed really iffy during the morning with lots of rain and huge black clouds, but by 12:30 the sun was out and shining making everything beautiful for our party!! Here are all the kids lined up for the hunt. Each child was to bring 12 filled eggs and I had them bring them to me on Friday so I could mark them and hide them, because this was not your go get all the eggs you can hunt, it was an egg search! The kids had to find the eggs one at a time looking for the correct letters or shapes that I marked on them. After they found the first egg we all lined up on the porch again to see what was the next letter or shape to find. I think the kids had alot of fun making the hunt last longer.

Thanks to Kelley Rae, the kids played a fun egg obstacle course before the hunt.
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Love all those smiles

Me giving directions to the hunt

You can't have a gathering without some yummy food and good friends!

The ladies all lined up!! Can't wait to welcome all the little ones coming soon to the three expecting mommas all due about at the same time. Wishing them all the best on the delivery day!

The only down fall of the day was that Nate was gone at school. He does so much for us and is very busy lately. We are so thankful for all his hard work and sacrifices he does for us. What a huge blessing he is to our family.