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.

Beautiful SPRING!!

Someone is really enjoying this beautiful weather we are having!!! Justin thought he was so cool playing on Hayden's bike. He looks too grown up in these pictures.

I don't think this is Justin first swing ride, but I can tell it is the first one that he realized he was SWINGING!!!

Not looking forward to the cold front coming our way with so snow in the mix, but we are sure taking advantage of the good mid 50's to 6o's weather right now!

Book Done

I have been wanting to put this book together for a while now. I love looking at all the different pictures of Jesus Christ and am amazed at the talent all the different artists have. I also wanted to have a book for my boys to look at and read during sacrament meeting and learn more about the teachings, miracles, and life of our Savior.

I tried to put the book in order starting with: Creation of Earth, His mother Mary, Learning in wisdom, Christ being baptized, Good Samaritan, Blessing Jarius Daughter

Christ healing the blind, raising Lazarus, feeding 5000, Being fishers of men, Healing the lame, the Beatitudes, Jesus walks on water, the calming of the storm, The last supper, suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane

The resurrection of Christ, Why weepest thou?, Christ visited the Nephities, Good Shepperd, Jesus loves children, Christ blesses the Nephite children

Jesus cares about all our problems and Divine Redeemer.

I was happy how the laminating and binding turned out and hopefully my boys will take good care of this book that I want them to get good use out of!

No it isn't

Mom, I just got mad at my paper because it's not like Clay's. That's why I bited the marker.

Hayden didn't believe me that his face was all blue until I lifted him up to a mirror to see for himself! Classic Hayden!!

Boys love Superheros!!

My boys have always been into Superheros, but lately they have reached a new high thanks to Superheroes Squad Wii Game we can check out from our library for the week. They pick their favorite guy and go to Battle Mode to see who can beat who. Clay is really good at it and I have to try really hard to beat the kid in the game. Hayden seems to always pick Hulk and Clay liked Ironman and Wolverine. It's a game we should probably buy since they love it so much. They also get really excited when they UNLOCK a new character and can try out their moves and powers.So to I decided to suit them up with their own Superhero gear! Hayden wanted transformers since he already had a green Hulk shirt that we made.Clay has really been into drawing lately which is great!! These are pictures that he would draw all by himself. He would pick his favorite page out of a book we had using it as a guide and came up with these! He even put his own Talking Bubble words which usually is Spiderman taunting Green Goblin like "You'll never win" "I'll get you spiderman" "Not a chance" "AHHHHHHH"I told Clay to sign his name on his pictures and that sometimes artist like to hide little pictures in their drawings. To show him what I was talking about I showed him a drawing of the Idaho Falls Temple in my room. Hidden in the river of the drawing there are oxen just like those you would see at a font in the Temple. He thought that was really cool so he hid six spiders in his flying spiderman drawing. His trickiest one was the spider hidden on top of another spider. Genius ;)

4 Things Tag!!

4 things I like to watch:

1: Chuck
2: The Mentalist
3: All sorts of movies; action, comedy, chick flicks, I'm just not a horror film gal I see no purpose in those movies!
4: People, seriously people watching sometime is hilarious! the thought "What were they thinking?" comes to mind alot!

4 Things I am passionate about:

1: My family
2: The Gospel of Jesus Christ
3: Being in a state of continually learning something new or a refresh
4: Finding activities/trips / time to create good lasting memories

4 Words or phrases I say alot:

1: Seriously?
2: Really?
3: I'm good
4: No, not right now

4: Things I learned from the past:

1: It doesn't hurt to try
2: Find the things that really matter and focus on those
3: It is REALLY something to get your feathers all fluffed up about?
4: It is always about serving others around you

4 Places I like to go:

1: Home My own and family
2: Outdoors in nature where you can find that quiet silence (not too many of those here in Chicago)
3: Phoenix, Island Park, Louisiana, Idaho anywhere I can find family and have a party together
4: Temple

4: Things I did yesterday

1: Took Hayden to preschool open house day
2: Vacuumed and dusted, loads of laundry
3: pee diaper, poopy diaper, and repeat
4: Used McDonalds gift cards mom and dad sent for Valentines day

4 Things I am looking forward to:

1: Phoenix Trip in March
2: A hair cut
3: Sunny warm days
4: Nathan to be done with his MBA

4 Things I love about winter:

1: How everything looks frosted with diamonds when the sunlight hits the snow or icicles
2: Snowmen, forts, sledding in Island Park Snowmobiling
3: The, make me feel warm foods: Hot chocolate, steamy soups, fresh bread, hot cookies
4: family game nights together, or a good movie to snuggle down and watch

4 Things on my wish list:

1: Be a bit closer to family
2: Nathan done with school
3: perfect talents better
4: traveling, I will leave it at that I have too many places I want to see to list them ;)

4 people tag

1: Keli
2: Melissa
3: Kelley
4: Tina

or anyone else who would like to share!!!!

Glow N Dark Bathroom

Honestly anything that is glow in the dark is fun to play with, but my boys think it is so fun to make their bath water glow all around them using glow sticks!! Clay told me one time it was like he made his own underwater pool lights for his bath tub.You can get the idea of how fun it would be to go fishing for these bright sticks.

Justin went nuts having his own bath time with all the crazy lights!! He had this routine: Pick up light, say OHHHHH, throw light, which he did over and over again!!