Christmas

What do you do when the pictures you've taken of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are erased by placing your memory card in a camera that isn't working.........?
Well.....you get a little ticked...then you breathe....then you take a couple new pictures and just be grateful you have the memories.
That is what happened to me. Christmas Eve was spent with my mom and family making chocolate dipped pretzels and strawberries. Maddie said, "this is the best Christmas Eve ever". At least I have that memory.
Christmas morning the kids woke us up about 5:30am. They called Nana and Grandpa, and Grandma Oliver so they could come over to see what Santa brought. After opening gifts, Mike made our traditional Christmas breakfast. Yummy as usual. Grandparents went home to relax for the day while Mike spent time putting things together. We all had a great relaxing day, but we also had fun jumping on the new trampoline, playing ping pong, and various other games such as WII Fitness. At the end of the day, the grandparents came back for a nice Christmas dinner. Mike's great Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Keith also came.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday Gage!

Friends came over to surprise Gage and celebrate turning 14.

What did he wish for? Well, he asked for a surprise, so that's what he got. Is it real?????

His birthday lasted several days. One day I checked him out of school to go to lunch at Panda Express then to Barnes & Noble for a couple of new books. Taking the kids to lunch during school has been a fun tradition I have done with them since they started school. Mike took him to dinner & a movie the following day, and Grandpa took him to a movie and lunch a week later. Way to make it last longer bud!

Early Christmas

I got an early Christmas gift this year. My dad worked his tail off this past week to tile the backsplash in my kitchen. He did an awesome job! Now, Mike and I will paint the kitchen over Christmas break. I know he's really looking forward to that (not).

Deck the Halls

It's that time of year again. After Thanksgiving the Christmas decorations come out and Mike goes on top of the house to hang the lights. Oh, how he loves that (not really since he is afraid of heights). Gage and Noah helped him this year while I "decked the halls" and took care of the inside. Our tree is not quite finished in the photo, but that's the last thing to get decorated and I kind of run out of steam. I love the decorations, but wait until the day after Christmas when I turn into a "scrooge" and all of it gets cleaned up and put away until next year:)

Happy Thanksgiving

This year the Thanksgiving Holiday took us to South Jordan to be with family. We decided to stay at a hotel in Sandy with my parents. We had a great time there swimming and hot tubbing in freezing weather. The feast was at Todd & Joanna's home (my brother and sister-in-law). We were lucky to have everyone there with the exception of 2. Keaton was also able to come. It was great to see him. We didn't stay in SL county long and came home on Friday afternoon. It's nice to visit, but "there's no place like home".

New Moon

Kenzie and I went on a Mother-Daughter date on Friday to see New Moon. We went with some friends and had a great time. We had dinner at Bajio. We waited in line 1 1/2 hours, which wasn't too bad. Kenzie is now a new member of "Jacob's team". I am leaning that way as well. I think Bella and Edward need a few acting classes (and a sun tan). I know he's a vampire, but for pete's sake!

Awesome Awards

Cross Country had their awards night a couple weeks ago. While Kenzie's team didn't place in state, she was able to participate and had a great time. This year her teammates voted her "MVR-Most Valuable Runner for the girls. With this award she received a new pair of running shoes. Good job Kenzie!

Gage made the high honor roll for the first quarter of this year. He has been doing great in school. His favorite subjects are weight training and Spanish. Good job Gage!

Stitches!

Yesterday we had a little accident at our home. Noah was outside throwing the football around by himself when things got a little out of hand. He threw the ball high and ran (without looking) to catch it. He tripped and fell on some rocks cutting his knee. As you can see, it's not that bad, but it did require a trip to instacare and 4 stitches. We are happy to say that it has taken us this long to ever get stitches in the Thompson household. We just hope this is the first and the last of them. I have to say how brave Noah was. He just read a book and colored while his knee was being stitched.

Desert Hills Black

Today was the last game for Noah's little league team the Desert Hills Black. They ended with a great win 28-18. The season ended with 2 wins to 4 losses. Noah played quarterback and did awesome! He even made 1 touchdown. Mike was his coach along with some dads of other players. It was a ton of fun watching those kids play and learn the game of football this season. Way to go Noah!

BOO!

We love Halloween around here. What is so great is that you can "be" anything you want to be. My kids love it because they get to dress up as 3 things if they choose. They have the primary party, school party, and the actual trick-or-treating. Maddie was a vampiress, cheerleader, and zombie.









I have a rule for Halloween. You can trick-or-treat if you want when you get older, but you have to dress up. Gage was a gang member.














Noah was a pirate, old man, and a zombie dude. Here he is with his friend Stockton who came for a visit with his family (The Orchard's).







I was a "mad scientist" and an ugly one at that. The YW and YM in our ward were in charge of the primary Halloween party. I am in the YW so I dressed up. This is me with our friend Jeremy. Aren't we so cute!

Cross Country

Kenzie had a great season in cross country this year! Last week was Region. Going to region she had high hopes to qualify to run at the State competition for the second time. She made it. Her team took 3rd at Region which made it possible for the whole girls varsity team to go. Today was State at Sugarhouse Park in SLC. We weren't able to go watch, but Kenzie reported she had a great time. Her goal today was to have fun! We are so proud of her and her determination to do the best she can. Great job Kenzie!

Fall Break

This Fall Break we took a short trip up North to stay with some friends. We met the Orchards when we bought our first little house nearly 16 years ago. We became fast friends. They are an awesome family and we love hanging out with them. Over the weekend we went to a movie, out to dinner, to Lagoon on Saturday, and just hung out. We had a great time!










On Sunday we went to church in North SL . After visiting with Mike's Dad, we took a drive to see the Bountiful Temple and then to Mueller Park. I love the Fall and wanted to get some pictures of the beautiful colors in the mountains.

Dances

Sadies was a few weeks ago. Kenzie's group had dinner at our house. Kenzie is on the top right and her date is next to her (Dalton). She wanted a low stress date so she asked a good friend:)

Kenzie attended the homecoming dance at her school with a boy from her cross country team, Chad Call. He was also the Homecoming King this year.

St. George Marathon

Today Mike and I ran the St. George Marathon for the 4th time (yes, I know we are crazy). We both battled injuries within the last 2 months, Mike's was the I T Band, and I had bursitis in my hip. Mike got a cortisone injection in his left knee 2 months ago and I had one in my right hip about 2 weeks ago (we must be getting old). Last year it rained the entire run, but this year the weather was great. We trained together and planned on running together, which we did until about mile19, but sometimes you have a great run and other days you don't. I am happy to say that I had a great run this year! Mike's time was 4:11:56 and mine was 4:01:49 (woo hoo!). At this time we are both saying we will never do it again. Hmmmmmmm...seems like we've said that same thing before:)

Ahhhhhhh, we're done. Bring on the ice and ibuprofen.

Noah and Maddie made posters for us.

Let me apologize ahead of time, I know all feet, except baby feet, are ugly, but this was my battle wound for the day. I have never lost a toenail, but I have had a few blisters, nothing this bad. My foot was burning and I had a clear blister when I put vaseline on about mile 18, but I was sure surprised to see this when I got home. It's a good one!

Homecoming

Tonight Kenzie went to Homecoming for the rival high school. She knows a lot of people there since she went to middle school with them and ran cross country there in 9th grade. I took her and her friend Monica out for some pictures. Aren't they beautiful? They were picked up for their dates in a black limo. How classy is that! I have to brag about Kenzie's dress. I happened to find it on sale and got it for a steal, $26. You can't beat that kind of bargain shopping.

Football

Today was the first game of Noah's first-ever-little-league-football-season. He plays quarterback and Mike is his coach (that could be a bad thing). Anyway, they played their hearts out but were defeated. One of the pictures shows a coach giving Noah some extra practice on the sidelines and another is of "Coach Dad" giving him a little "pep talk".

Africa

The kids have discovered that in this desert we have a river to play in. We went there for FHE this week. There is a little waterfall and some tiny rapids plus an area just inches deep where they can run and skim board. The reason we call it Africa is because Kenzie used to run the trail right by the river. The trail is covered with trees and with the sound of the waterfall she and her friend named it Africa. We are a long way off from Africa without any lions or hippos here, but the kids had a great time anyway.

Cross Country

The 2009 Cross Country season is well under way. This is Mikenzie's 3rd year running and she loves it! She has already run in 4 meets so far. She has finished number 2 on her team each time. Her goal is to be #1 on her team before the end of the season. She is a tough cookie, trying to be the first girl finished each practice and running hills the other girls wouldn't dream of. She is a great example for Gage. He and 2 friends decided to run with the high school team. They are all in 8th grade, but the high school coach lets them practice with the team. There are only a couple of races for 8th graders during the season so the boys are just practicing for the future. Gage ran in a fun run after one of Kenzie's meets and beat both his teammates. We have high hopes for him and Mikenzie in being they best they can be!