The Thompsons

Maybe I could wrap up August and September 2010

2011-11-23T14:11:00.001-08:00

I thought I should start off with cutie Tyler. What a nut!
So LAST August my awesome cousin Madeline came home from her mission and we got a chance to see her for a bit. It was great to see her again and she is such an fabulous girl! I'm seriously so proud of her for serving a mission, she gave up a year and half of her life to serve. Way to go Madeline!
Tyler is the sweetest and I love a sleeping baby. I found him here on this chair asleep...so precious.
Mason was trying on his new Halloween costume and then fell asleep on my lap...love it!
Carter is my little man. He loves to cuddle me while he is watching tv and this is how he does it. Isn't he the best?!

First day of school for Carter! 1st grade! What!? Such a handsome kid.

He wanted to do a fun shot. I love it.

Mason wanted in on the action...

...and Tyler too.

More cuddling with my boys...before bed. Mason looks rabid, but it's just toothpaste.

We visited our old neighbor from Aberdeen, Allie, and met her baby boy Barrett. So cute...both of them. She is such a sweet girl and her baby is just darling. It was so great to be with her.
These two are such good friends. Mason really gives Tyler a lot of attention and is very loving with him...he also teases him relentlessly, but they have a great time together while Carter is gone at school.
Carter played soccer for the first time and so loved it. I love his stance while waiting for the play to start. He picked number 5 and was sponsered by Drew's Grocery.
His coach was awesome. He was a great guy and made for a fun season. It was a great "first" experience for Carter and us.
My Mason turned 4! He is just the funnest kid. He keeps us laughing all the time, but also drives us crazy. We are so happy to have him.

Hopefully I can get another post done before I leave my Mom's...we are here for Thanksgiving! So fun!

Thompson fun in August 2010

2011-04-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

So fun to be catching up a little! We went to Utah in August last summer and had so much fun with everyone! We just love getting together with everyone!
Can you believe this little girl? Seriously, I could not get enough of her adorableness!!
She is the littlest peanut I've ever seen. She is about 8 months old in this picture and I think her Mom said she weighed like 12 pounds or something like that...My kids weigh that much at 6 weeks!!! I desparately wanted her to love me, but she wouldn't even let me hold her...so sad.
We love our pool time in Morgan. Tyler wouldn't actually get in it without me or Joel, but he had fun on the side.
Mason and Carter loved it. Sadly my little Mase had gotten a sunburn and so had to wear a tshirt the whole time. I would think that would be really annoying, but he was still happy...obviously.
We went to Downata Hotsprings and had a blast. And yes...even I went down the tube slides. A first for me. I'm such a big pansy when it comes to water, but I did it...and it was awesome. Carter even practiced swimming without a life jacket and he was doing great! I need to just say this...so I'm always the one in the picture with the kids when we are in the pool. Let me explain, I am not a swimmer. I love pools though. I will probably not ever be the one taking the picture though because it is freezing getting out and I hate being cold...also that means I would be standing on the side of the pool feeling pretty much naked and disgusting all those who have to look at me. Now you know that unless I haven't even put my swimsuit on yet, I will always be pictured with my boys in the pool as though I am this avid swimmer...sorry.
We also did our traditional trip to Lagoon. I'm so glad we decided to start that tradition. The kids love it so much and look forward to it and you get so much more for your money than going to State Fairs and what not. It works for us.
Here's a shot of all of us at Lagoon. We are camped under this tree because this random rain cloud had just drenched everyone for a few seconds. So weird. Also, Joel is talking to a friend of his he hadn't seen since high school...he is always running into people he knows. So funny.
We seriously just love getting together with everyone. We were grateful to be able to go and for Kelly and Cami for coming and for those in Salt Lake to share their time with us! We missed out on Connor and his family again...hopefully this summer! Joel's parents weren't there either, but this summer they will be coming home from their mission and so that is going to be AWESOME!!
(some of the pictures might look kind of small for the amount of people in them, but if you click on them they'll get bigger...does everyone already know this and I'm just a little slow?...disregard this note then)
...we'll see if I can fit one more post in before I leave my Mom's...

Shafer Family...yes, July 2010

2011-04-17T23:19:00.001-07:00

I am so pathetic! I should have done this forever ago...I'm here at my mom's visiting and so I thought I should take advantage of her computer and get updated. Our computer is seriously so old that I'm afraid to do anything on it and so I haven't done this...anyway. So to catch up. Here our some photos from our Shafer gathering in July. It all started off with getting to meet for the very first time, my niece Addy. I mean, how cute is she! By the way...I shouldn't brag and maybe I'm wrong, but please don't crush my memory Doug and Jackie, but in this picture I have just fed her a bottle of formula which she wouldn't take from anyone else...ever...and then got her to sleep. I would like to think that I'm magic or at least that Addy really just adores me.

Dad and Doug made the game Kuube. I probably botched that spelling, but I like it that way. We played it at our cousins (the Arringtons) earlier and liked it. Good times...yes, it's July and cold, hence the fleece jacket and sweat pants. Dumb. Oh, and the mosquitoes were out. Nice.
Boat time! Look at those darling boys!!
Tyler getting a little driving time.
Cute Addy girl again!
Mason got his cast off in the middle of the trip! So excited...yet somewhat of a let down. I totally thought he would just walk out on his own, but it was, what seemed like a long time before he would walk on that leg...like a week or more!!
Mason could get in the water though now!! Such gross water, but the boys loved it anyway.
Picture time!! Yeah!
Is this really the best we can get with kids? I mean look at how beautiful all the kids are...okay, now look at my kids...Carter=annoyed, Mason=over joyed, Tyler=so upset that someone other than family is there looking and talking to him. Wow.
Best people on earth! So loving those awesome, talented, and amazing girls my brothers married!...hey, and Joel's not so bad either!
Best guys ever! Seriously. Couldn't ask for better brothers.
I mean, right?
Date night! Yes! So nice to get out just us adults. We got a couple of girls to watch 7 kids ages 6 and under and we went out for ice cream and then saw the movie Inception. I had been axiously awaiting this movie for some time and it was seriously one of the best and greatest movies I've ever seen...infact, Joel and I had to go see it again in the theater!
Cute, right?
Told you, funnest brothers ever.
Look at these boys! I could just eat that Oliver up!!
As always, fun on the WII. I love how Mason has no shirt on...just his pj bottoms.
We seriously had so much fun! It's always sad to say good-bye, but hey...right now it's April and almost time for the next Shafer Vaca!! Yes!! Thanks again to Ben and Doug's families for making the trip. It was a great time!

early July...

2010-10-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

Before I post about the awesome Shafer gathering in July, I thought I'd throw in a few random things. Here's Mason with his new green cast...also, that is how he gets around, scooting on his bum or crawling. Still happy though, as you can see.
Our friend Morgan (Ben's wife - Whitney - her sister) came to visit us on their way to California. It was great to see her and her husband and her three darling boys. It was quick, but fun! Such cute boys!!
This is Tyler's favorite thing. When he gets let out of the house, he runs for the scooter and then yells for someone to push him. Grandpa usually gives the best ride and so he usually seeks Grandpa out...

You can't keep Mason down, that's for sure. His Dad helped him figure out a way he could still ride with his brother...good times.
My Carter turned 6! What! Crazy. He's totally 6 and he wanted pumpkin bars for his birthday dessert...and so I obliged...actually, I think my Mom made them...she's nice.

Next up, Shafer vaca!

May and June...

2010-08-30T22:22:00.001-07:00

Rub a dub dub, three cuties in the tub. Sorry, I just had to throw that in there.
The tiny titan is walking! I love new walkers...it's old hat now for him, but back then...so cute! It's a love/hate thing really...love that they're more mobile, but hate that they're more mobile.
Happy 1st Birthday my Tiny Titan!! So, yeah, he turned one several months ago. Most people probably think it is sad that my kids won't touch messy food, but I'm so happy. Here's Tyler trying to decide if he should eat it and how he can without touching it too much. That was his "birthday cake". He did enjoy it...as I fed it to him.
My poor Mason. He broke his leg in early June. He jumped off the couch and landed just wrong! We joked with the doctors in the ER that he did this amazing jump and "ollied" (probably spelled that so wrong) off the side and then flipped and...yeah, nope, just a lame old jump...literally. I also told the doctors I was waiting for CPS to come and have a little chat with us, but they reassured me that they can usually tell and we don't look like those kind of people. I guess that was a positive note...though, they'll call them on me next time because after we got the bill, I told Mason that if he ever breaks anything again, we aren't fixing it.
He was so good about everything. It really was sad and kind of scary. He broke is left tibia in two places and it was a spiral fracture. They had to put him out to cast it because they said they would have to twist it back to the right position so he leg wouldn't heal with his foot sticking out the wrong way...uh, yes, please. He spent the next 6 weeks crawling around wherever he wanted to go. Oh and don't worry, he figured out how to jump off the couch with the cast, so, you know...uh, wow.

Carter graduated...from Kindergarten. Um, sorry, but I couldn't help but agree with Mr. Incredible, I mean, a graduation for Kindergarten? Was this really that hard to pass...? It was cute though.
After Carter got out of school we headed down to California for a little visit with my brother Ben and his family and to see my Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt and Uncle. We had a great time.
These are some pics from a park we went to...Happy Hollow, I think it's called. The kids had so much fun...maybe not so much Tyler, who wouldn't ride on anything (we only got him in there for a picture and then he cried and we removed him), but the other kids had a blast. Look how cute Oliver is!
Carter and Joel loved this roller coaster...as you can see Mason, not so much. I was a little worried that it was hurting his leg, but that was probably just me. (Click on the picture to see them better) We were so grateful to Ben and Whitney for putting up with us for a bit and taking such good care of us!

Mason has such good brothers ...here they are giving Mason a ride. We tied the hot wheel to the wagon and Carter would pull Mason around and Tyler loved to push! See, having a broken leg isn't so bad. (Don't ask why the picture is messed up and I couldn't crop it...I'm still upset)
Dude, I'm totally catching up...before you know it, it will be August on my blog...wait, August is almost over. Aaaahhh...

Let's get through Winter and some Spring!

2010-08-11T16:23:00.000-07:00

We started 2010 out on somewhat of a sad note...Joel sold his Golf. For some reason, we were both sad. Why do we get so attached to cars? The memories...oh well, it had to be done.
Now you need to know...Tyler is not my favorite child...I love them all the same...though I like some of them more than others at times. Tyler just happens to be changing faster than the other kids. So this is pretty much a post about Tyler's growing up...and how stinkin' cute he is...was...well, I think he's still pretty cute.
One of my favorite church outfits...though he was almost grown out of it by the time I photographed him in it!
Tyler loves the tub and if he heard the water running, he came running. This is where we would find him when the other boys were bathing. He would literally dive in...fully clothed, I might add.
We were trying to get a head shot of Tyler for some project I was doing and this was one of our many attempts. It cracks me up everytime I see it.
This is the picture I ended up using for my project. Ty was almost 10 months old in this picture. Look at this kids hair...yeah, he needed a haircut, but I couldn't do it, it was too cute and I wasn't ready for him to look older...no worries, just keep scrolling, he got one...
So here's his first haircut...he was 10 months old.
He wasn't the greatest customer for my mom, but we got through it. See, doesn't he look so much older and different? I miss my baby!
Easter! Can you believe my blog is finally to Easter? Who thought the day would come!
My handsome boys...Mason is 3 1/2, Tyler is 11 months old, and Carter is 5...almost 6
Then I just had to throw this last one in of Tyler. 11 months old and so much fun! You guys wouldn't believe how big he really is now...seeing how my blog is a time warp...

Christmas in Utah!

2010-07-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

So...I'm not going to write much. Sorry...but this was Christmas in Utah! We had so much fun. Let me sum up...
Nate organized this awesome Nativity program. So cool. Baby Jesus was Millie..who was just 3 weeks old and seriously so tiny and cute!
Poger and Tyler were good buds. How cute is Tyler? He was about 7 1/2 months old. I think that is one of my favorite ages. They are so darn cute and such big smiles!!
We went to Down-at-a-hot-springs in Idaho for a swim. Super fun...and super cold. It still amazes me...it's in the teens outside, but the water is like a warm bath. Your hair gets icicles on it and it just seems funny to be swimming with earmuffs and beanies.
Is Tyler so cute in this pic? I would say yes...but I'm his mom.
All the kids took turns with the ski goggles. It was really funny. Simeon even wore them for the Nativity...shepards totally had ski goggles. We had so much fun. We were so happy everyone could be there...even the Johnsons, who drove from Ohio with a three week old baby, to be with us! Amazing. Joel's parents had their "farewell" while we were there. They left for a mission in Barcelona, Spain! So cool...they are currently serving on the island of Malloraca. Um...yea, I think we need to visit them.

Halloween and Thanksgiving...2009

2010-05-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! So, I wish I could get into Halloween, but I can't. Halloween is stressful. I am not creative or talented enough to come up with and do costumes. I let Carter pick his own out this year...well...anyway, they had tons of fun.
I love this picture of my boys. What handsome guys!
My brother Ben and his family came for Thanksgiving. It was so much fun. Here's Grandpa with Oliver and Tyler. Cuteness.
Here's the kids table for dinner. Oliver and Tyler must have been sleeping and missed out.
Here's the big kids table. We were happy to have Aunt Ally join us for the delicious dinner. I made Mom make a ham along with a turkey because I don't like turkey. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Notice all the "staches". Ben and Dad (and Doug) grew out mustaches for Prostate cancer..."Movember". I think they raised money for it or something like that. Sorry I don't know more.
Here's all the Shafer cousins! All the boys...with a girl on the way! These boys have such fun together. We had a great time and we're grateful to Ben and his family for coming. We totally missed Doug and Jackie (they are the ones having the girl..though she's already been born because I am so late in posting this) and we were sad not to have them with us!
Here was our awesome Christmas tree we cut down. It was another 10 footer! So awesome...huge and smelled so great. The kids had a great time!

Family Pics Oct 2009

2010-05-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

What is my problem?!! Why can't I keep up with this blog? For the love.
So here is our family pictures that the most awesome HEATHER MANN took for us...yes, last October. So sad that it's taken me so long to post them. We are so lucky to have her as a friend...with benefits! Heather was super nice to meet us at this totally awesome place she found. She is seriously rad and we love her. She is so fun to be around and just makes you want to smile! She made us beautiful! We can't wait for our next family pics with her! Enjoy...it's a ton of us...

Why do I have all the kids? I love this picture though...candid...

My favorite boys! How handsome!

Okay, I asked Heather to do a picture like this and she was kind enough to oblige...I'm sure after she took it she was like...um, hey Kadi, your kids are as tall as you are and so this doesn't really work for you. It's supposed to just be the adults from the waist up and all of the kids, not almost your whole body...seriously, sad.
COOL!

Grownin' up fast...
My babes!

What a nut!

My sweet sweet!(that's what I call Tyler)
Amore.

A bombardment of pictures...

2010-02-25T21:53:00.000-08:00

Guess what! It's September now on our blog. Fabulous. So my Carterman started school! I know! We were going to wait and send him next year, seeing as how we can't afford preschool...why not do kindergarten twice! This picture was taken when he got home...I would not have sent him with stains already on his shorts...um, yes, I am stuggling with the new dirtyness of going to school...

I never thought I would be one of those mom's who cried when their kid went to school...I was always like, man, I will be so grateful for the break, but when I dropped him off the first morning. I walked him in, found his cubby for his backpack with him, he found his name at his table and sat down and I stood behind him wondering what I should do. He wasn't even looking at me. I finally leaned down and said, "Carter, I don't know what to do, should I stay or should I go?" Without even looking at me he said, "You should go mom. Just go." I was like, oh, well, okay. So, I apparently am no longer needed. I gave him a kiss and told him I hoped he had a great day and then I walked away...he didn't even look back at me. I will admit, as I walked back to my car, I did tear up...lame. He's doing great and loves school!

Oh, my sweet Tyler. He really has been such a great baby. Enjoy these next few pictures of his adorableness! He was about 4 months old in these.

And Mason...oh my Mason. He is the cutest little bug, but such a bugger! He and Carter loved helping Grandpa and Dad rock the hillside along Grandma and Grandpa's driveway.

Just being cute.

My Mason turned 3! I can't believe it! He was so funny about his birthday. We love our little tease!

It is now October and we took a trip to Seaside with my parents for a fun day! Flew kites, played near the water, and even went on the Carousel!

We spent a day at the Portland Zoo! Super fun!

More Tyler being happy...

We went to a local pumpkin patch...not all that great, mostly muddy...my nightmare.

Me and my little Tyler, who is now 5 months old in this picture. Such a happy baby.

This is the view out of our bedroom window. Mt. St. Helens and Silverlake. Is that just beautiful?! I of course did not take this picture seeing as it was sunrise...I have yet to see the sunrise...infact I love that commercial where the guys is like, what is that orange and red in the sky...that's me.

I'm getting closer...we're almost done with October, can you believe it?!

Utah!...in July...

2010-02-06T14:48:00.001-08:00

I'm finally getting around to blogging again and no matter how much I tell myself to just start from now, I can't, my OCD swings and says I have to catch up first. So, here is our trip to Utah this last July! First though...cute Carter! He turned five and is the best! When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he said, "top ramen". Nice...and for dessert..."orange julius"! I can handle that. We love Carter and can't believe how fast this kid is growing up!
We took a lot of pictures, but only of random events. So, sadly, I didn't get any pictures of Connor and Michal's family. Our trips crossed for about a day and it was so much fun to see them! We went to downata hot springs in Idaho. It was so fun. We even got Mason to go down the slide. Once he did, it was all he would do! They loved it!
Here's a shot of a bunch of the gang at the clubhouse, getting a little something to eat after a good swim! Look at all those fun kids!!
We also went to Lagoon! I had never been before and neither had the kids. We had so much fun! We decided to make it a summer tradition when we go to Utah. Forget the little State Fairs, we are going to Lagoon. Seriously, the kids were in heaven. Mason and his cousin Alex went for a little drive.
This is Carter and his cousin Caitlin. Carter had a good time with Caitlin there at Lagoon. He wanted to do all the rides with Caitlin!
Here's everyone on a fun train ride around Lagoon. Mason was also on the train, but he was sitting by me and I was taking the picture. Tyler seemed to be enjoying himself...um, he pretty much slept a lot...
Even Joel got in on some serious roller coaster action! Funny. Actually, we spent the whole day doing kid rides and at the end of the day he ran with Chad and Troy and Will to do some "big boy" roller coasters. Sadly, he didn't have a lot of time...the kids were so done! Next time maybe I won't have a tiny baby and I can do the rides too!
Carter and Mason loved this little roller coaster and seriously did it like 30 times. They would get off and run right back in line...round and round...they were so cute to watch on it! Mason especially made great faces!
We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house with the Fetzer's (Joel's sister Laurel's family). It was really neat...though, I have a hard time going with kids. I feel like I spend the whole time..."Don't touch that!", "Stay by us", "Are you kidding me!? Stop touching that!", "How could you already be so hungry, we just ate!". By the end of the tour I'm not so happy about eternal families...
Seriously, it was such a fun trip! Here is Mason and his cousin Andrew...I mean what else are you going to do after a swim in the pool, play the piano of course. We love going to see the Thompson family! The only one we missed out on was Cami's family...they came a little after us! Bummer. We are already looking forward to next summer...get ready for us Thompson's...
On the drive home we stopped in Pendleton, OR and saw my good friend Shelly. Her parents were so nice and let us stay at their beautiful house over night. This is wicked-awesome Shelly and her super darling little boy Tate! He is too cute...she is holding Tyler. That about sums up our super fun summer trip to Utah! Maybe in a month or two when I get around to blogging again I can tell you about Halloween...Thanksgiving...maybe even Christmas...yikes!

Shafer Fam Vaca...uh, last July

2009-10-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

Well, this is old. I still wanted to post pictures from it though. Last July the Shafer Fam had a vacation together in Gleneden, OR! It was so much fun. We started it out with Tyler's baby blessing. We were so grateful to all those who came, especially Joel's parents, who had just been here and came for just the weekend. It was great though.
I'm not going to write a lot, just let you enjoy all the pictures. To sum up...we played at the beach. Went to the Newport Aquarium. Played some Wii. When we got back the guys went to the Ape Caves and did some exploring...even through the unkown. We just had so much fun being together. Maybe I'll write a little at the end...you know...to sign off...

sweet Tyler

Mason has sand all over his face. Sick.
Doug made a serpent in the sand...what a nut!

I love this last picture! Is Oliver just so darling!? Look at those eyes, just a ginormous (how do you spell that?) lovebug! I could just eat him up! The kids just love to be together and they play so well together. We really had so much fun and miss everyone so much! Good times!!

MIA...

2009-09-24T22:54:00.000-07:00

Man, have I been failing in the blogging business or what...sorry...we are still alive...and due to my OCD, you are only getting a few pictures from last May.
Everything has to be done in order. Tyler looks nothing like these pictures anymore. He has grown out of that newborn look. How I miss him being a tiny little baby. These are pictures from when he was between a week to three weeks old. It's so weird how fast time goes by...
Carter and Mason have been so good to their new brother. Carter is always making sure we haven't forgotten him or left him behind and Mason just smothers him with love, literally! Actually, it's kind of funny, but Mason loves to smell Tyler. He sticks his nose on Tyler and sniffs. He's a nut.
My brother Ben and his family came for a week shortly after Tyler was born and the kids had so much fun together. We were very grateful to Whitney who single-handedly took care of Tyler's chord. It was sick, but Whit was brave.
This is one of my favorite pictures of Tyler. My babies all look like little snapping turtles when they are brand new. I love it! It makes me sad when they grow out of that look.
Joel's parents came to see us as well. I would have posted the picture of all of us together... but, hmmm, Mason was flipping out, Carter was annoyed to have to stand for a picture, and I still looked about 6 months pregnant. I thought this picture of them was great though! We were so grateful to have them come and be with us. We always love their visits.
You should see what Tyler looks like now...he's pretty cute, but then again, I'm his mom. If I ever get around to blogging again, maybe you could see some pics from our Shafer gathering and our July Utah trip. Good times. I have to admit, part of my lack of blogging is because we finally got a digital camera and I don't know how to get the pictures on my blog from my camera...I know, I'm way behind...no worries, I'll learn. I have to go to bed...my head is splitting!

A New Baby!

2009-05-12T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone. We would like to introduce you to Tyler Spry Thompson*: the newest member of the Thompson Family. He came Monday, May 11th at 3:15pm weighing in at 8 lbs 6 oz and measuring 20 inches in length. He also has a surprisingly large amount of hair (for our kids anyway). Kadi is doing well. She went into labor Sunday evening at around midnight and we arrived at the hospital in Vancouver, WA at 5:30am. 3/4 of the laboring at the hospital was pleasant and easy going (epidural), but the last 1/4 made this probably the most difficult Thompson delivery (no more epidural...none). Looks like we have another stubborn kid...he wouldn't come out and was even sideways when he did finally do it. Kadi did an amazing job. I compared it to her finishing her own marathon. We're excited to get to know this guy and have him in our family.
*name possibly subject to change

A little Easterness...

2009-04-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

This Easter was a little quieter than we have had...we are usually in Utah with all the Thompson cousins, but this year we missed out. We took our trip earlier due to Joel's school schedule, anyway...we had a good time with just us...and Grandma and Grandpa.
We hid Easter eggs around the house and the kids had fun searching for them. Once Mason discovered what was inside the eggs he was no longer interested in finding them, just opening the eggs he had to eat all the treats. It was a cold day as you can see...overcast and cold.
Sunday the boys wore their new Easter outfits. Thank you Nini! They look so handsome. They have darling plaid shorts to wear with it, but it was too cold that day. I'll have to post another picture when it's warmer and they can wear the complete outfit...I know, I'm really the only one who cares, but still. Anyway, I can't believe how big our kids are getting...even Mason who still seems so small to me, is getting to be such a big kid. My how time flies. Hope you all had a great Easter!

Spring Break!

2009-03-30T16:50:00.001-07:00

We just had the most fun trip! We went to North Carolina and Virginia for Spring break! First
we went to Raleigh, North Carolina to visit Joel's brother Connor and his family. North Carolina was beautiful.
The weather was perfect. It was sunny and warm the whole time. The kids seriously had so much fun together.
Mason and Ashlyn had a great time together...they were good buds. Carter was so happy to have Dylan to play with. Cute little Corbin did a great job of keeping up with the older kids. I can't believe how big Corbin has gotten. Connor and Michal really live in a beautiful area. They took us to two different parks that were super cool. Joel got to play some tennis. We have missed their family and it was so much fun to be with them.
Connor and Michal were nice enough to let us borrow one of their cars and we drove up to Richmond(actually Henrico), Virginia to visit with my brother Doug and his wife, Jackie. It was so much fun to see them. We got to go to Doug's school Virginia Commonwealth where he is studying to be a dentist. It was cool to see where he's at and a little bit of what he does. I think he looks like he'll make a great dentist. They took us to an animal park...Maymount Park(or something like that) and we drove around Richmond a bit.
The kids had so much fun with Uncle Doug and Aunt Jackie. They loved all the attention...Carter especially loved playing Mariokart with Uncle Doug. Joel and I really loved the area. It is so pretty. We went to eat at Five Guys...which is a great burger place there. They took such good care of us and we loved seeing their home and area and meeting their awesome friends. Hopefully no one was too bugged with me and my slowness...one downside to traveling while
pregnant I guess is swelling...I don't know, I've never swollen before...it wasn't fun or funny. I wish we would have gotten some video
of these guys trying to get up into this tree. It was hilarious...seriously. After a quick weekend with Doug, we drove
back down to Raleigh for a couple more fun days with Connor's fam. They have this super-cool trail right by their house and the kids
had fun riding bikes and throwing rocks in the creek. It was seriously such a fun trip. We were taken such good care of by everyone. We hope we get to go back and visit again soon...we loved the area, but especially the company. We are already missing everyone. The rest of the Thompson family is going to North Carolina in the next couple of weeks. We are sad that we won't get to see everyone, but we were grateful that we got to see Connor's fam and Doug and Jackie! We hope the rest of the Thompsons have an awesome time!
Though the travel days were long it was so worth it. Our boys are pretty good travelers. They did get a little restless at the end of some of the flights, but for the most part they were great. We didn't even have any problems adjusting to the time change! This is what my boys looked like on the last flight...sweet huh! Sadly there isn't much lap left for them. I would say that was the worst part about the traveling...me...being over 7 months pregnant...

Christmas Snow!

2009-01-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

Seriously, we have had more snow this year than I can ever remember having when I grew up here. We got at least two feet of snow! The kids...meaning Joel and Carter...loved it!!! Carter could have stayed outside all day. He had been out for over three hours and I asked him if he wanted to come in for lunch and he said, "Not right now." We
didn't even have the proper winter gear...just tennis shoes, a coat, a hat, and knit gloves. Mason, sadly, is his mom's boy in this way...he doesn't like the cold. We would bundle him up and about 5 minutes after being out, would come in. We were so lucky when Doug and Jackie came and brought snow gear from Jackie's sister Stacey. She was so nice to let us borrow theirs' while they were out of town! Many thanks to Stacey! The guys made this awesome sled run that went from the deck down to the trees by the lake! Carter loved it and everyone went down it...except for Whitney and I. My mom even went, which was
awesome! They built a couple of snowmen and then the guys got to work on the coolest fort! When we lived in Spokane my
Dad made the coolest fort ever...Castle Grayskull!!! It was seriously so awesome...a slide that came off the
roof...windows...steps...it totally rocked! This was almost as cool. It was tall enough for the guys to stand up in! They had so much fun building it. Sadly, it is pretty much gone now, with all the rain we had...though it snowed last night and all day today and so we now have more covering the ground. The guys wanted to have a snowball fight out there around it, but it never happened...sorry guys...it was just so cold out there...
I haven't finished the roll of film that had all our Christmas pictures on it, so I will have to post them later. Here is a little preview...Christmas was awesome!!! Both my brothers and their families came to visit and we had so much fun with them! We love them and already miss everyone so much! I have to say...is this tree just amazing? It is 10 feet tall!!! I totally loved our tree this year. We aren't used to getting snow, so that was a fun addition to our Christmas festivities this year. I got some video of everyone sledding and if I ever figure out how to get it from the video camera to the computer onto our blog, you might get to see it. We hope you all had a super fun Christmas!!

Thanksgiving thanks!

2008-12-15T21:05:00.000-08:00

We had a most awesome time in Utah, but first I thought I should tell you what we are having...a boy. I know. Another boy. I figured it would be, but I admit I was a little disappointed because I really don't think I am having any more kids...not for sure, but pretty likely...so this was kind of a last shot for a girl, maybe...probably. I'm okay though. Boys are so fun and I am all set. The boys are so excited. I hate thinking of boy names though and we are all arguing...sorry, just me and Carter. The kid doesn't even get to name him, so I don't know why I'm arguing with him...Carter wants Max, Mason wants "that one", and I want Spry and Joel doesn't want any of those. I told him we should pull out our old list for when Mason was coming...Tate, Robbie, and I can't think of the other one...it was probably Mason because 3 boy names is a lot to have come up with. Anyway, Joel wants to start with a clean slate...wish us luck. I was happy to see though that the baby is healthy and he was moving all over. The lady doing the ultrasound did say though that I was on my way to another 8 POUNDER! Great...wonderful...I just have to pray that my doctor really will deliver me at 39 weeks this time.
But about our trip to Utah for Thanksgiving...so fun! This was such a great trip. We are so grateful to the Thompson family for all the good food and fun! We especially are thankful to the "Salt Lake Thompsons" for giving of their time to be with us. We know they are busy with their lives and they really spent a lot of time with us, which we totally loved! We went bowling and Carter especially loved that. He didn't want to stop and as soon as we were done wanted to know if we were going the next day too. We played soccer and kickball, which everyone got to participate in...Carter was having the time of his life!
Sweet Mason was just happy to be there doing whatever. They loved being around all their cousins and I hope got to know them a little better. We had a fabulous dinner. I would like to give a shout out to Todd for making a ham, saving my Thanksgiving. I have a problem...I dislike almost every dish served at Thanksgiving dinner, but this year, Todd made a ham and so while those who loved turkey, ate turkey, I got to eat ham and be super thankful. Some of the Hammers (Joel's mom's sister's family) joined us for Thanksgiving and that was wonderful as well. They are such a great family.
We made it to Temple Square and saw all the Christmas lights, which is always amazingly beautiful to me. I always joke that when I pay my tithing I mark on my sheet that I want my tithing to go towards the electric bill for the lights on Temple square. We finished that night off with some sweet hot chocolate at Joel's brother Eric's house. We went and saw the movie Bolt, which was better than I thought it would be. It was just a wonderful trip. We were only missing one Thompson, Joel's brother Connor and his family. We were so sad that they couldn't be there and they were most definitely missed. We love going to Utah and visiting with family. Joel has such an amazing family...he has wonderful siblings and fabulous parents! I couldn't have married into a better family. We can't wait until our next gathering!

belated Halloween...

2008-11-24T09:50:00.001-08:00

First off, I'm sorry. After I wrote my last post I kept thinking that I shouldn't have asked to guess how far along I am. If someone else had done that I would have totally stressed about it and then probably avoided the question. So, that was dumb and sorry and sorry it took me so long to fix the problem. So in the picture I am barely 6 weeks. Crazy. I was so mad. I swear, the deal is sealed and the next day I start showing. I couldn't button my pants anymore at 6 weeks. It would have been nice to have a little grace period where you find out your pregnant and then you get to still have your body and just be happy about it, but no, before I find out I am already starting to get big and then a few days after I'm totally sick. I was praying that this pregnancy I would be put in a doctor enduced coma, but that didn't happen sadly. I am now 15 weeks and still sick...though having periods of relief...so it's gotta be on its way out. I got stopped on Saturday by 3 people, 2 of whom I didn't know, and they said, "Well, you look about due to have a baby soon." (I admit my belly is big, but I don't think I look like I'm almost due) I then told them that I'm only 15 weeks and one of them said, "Oh, do twins run in your family?" So, sadly, I just look big...which is totally dumb considering the baby is probably the size of an apple!!! I don't know why it thinks it needs so much space right now. I'm due May 14th, which feels really far away. We'll let you know when we find out what this little dude is...hopefully soon!
So here are the cute boys at Halloween. Carter picked out his costume this year. He wanted to be a bat...so there he is. He then told us that Mason would be the monkey that Carter wore last year. Mason didn't really want to wear any costume, but when we tried the chicken on that he was last year and then Carter's old monkey costume...Mason wanted the monkey. He had a little more room in it. He fought us a little wearing it, but once he understood the idea that he would get candy he didn't even know he had it on.
This is Carter's wingspan, which is probably why he picked the costume, he liked the wings. We tried to go trick-or-treating around my Mom and Dad's neighborhood and out of the 10 or so houses that are there only 2 were home. Carter was very discouraged and Mason was just annoyed. We went to the Ward Halloween Party after and they did some "trunk-or-treating" and were much happier. I'm terrible with thinking of costumes, so I would like to take this opportunity and give a huge shout out to Old Navy...they have made Halloween so easy for me. I don't know what I will do next year when Carter no longer fits in their cute little costumes...I'll probably be calling some of you who are really good at Halloween for help. Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving!

We've moved...yet again...

2008-11-19T19:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, we've moved again. Seriously, I think we've moved enough now. Joel decided to quite his job with the city of Bonney Lake and go back to school...and look for a job. We are hoping he finds a job really, really, really soon. He is looking in the Portland/Vancouver area. He is attending Portland State University to get a Real Estate Certificate...which is different from a license...he will have to write about that. He loves his classes and curriculum, which makes me feel much better. We are living with my parents in Silverlake (near Longview, WA) right now, until we find a job. Life is a little crazy...but hopefully there's a light at the end that I'm not seeing right now...
This was by far the worst move for us. We have moved 7 times in the 5 years we've been married and 5 of those 7 times I was either pregnant or had just had a baby. It has become a rule of moving for us...if we are going to move then I have to be pregnant or have a newborn. So according to rules, this move was no different...yep, totally prego and such great timing. Though this was a new adventure in that I was just barely pregnant, instead of being between 5 and 8 months, and I was totally sick. Pretty much useless. We have never had movers and I swear next time we move...because it is inevitable that we will...I am totally hiring someone. I don't care if it costs a million dollars, it will be so worth it. This was our most unorganized, unprepared, and miserable move. We are so grateful to all the people in our ward that helped us though. Joel and I are terrible at asking for and accepting help, but this time we had no choice and we had so much help. People watched our kids, dropped by meals, helped us pack and load, and helped us clean our house. Seriously, it was awesome and we felt so loved! We lived in Bonney Lake (2 years) longer than we have ever lived anywhere and were sad to leave our friends and our familiar surroundings. I was also sad to leave our awesome house that I loved to much. All in all things are going to be great...I hope. Joel is loving all he is learning and is excited to get into a career more specifically involved in economic development...such as a consultant or something. We are so grateful to all of our family and friends who helped us so much...Joel's parents even came from Utah to help us move...Thank you!

I had to take a picture...guess how far along I am in this picture...and if you say you can't even tell I look pregnant than my feelings will really be hurt because that is not what I normally look like!

I will try and be a better blogger (though I have been checking all of yours, just not updating mine)...life has just been crazy and I haven't been all that happy about life...but no worries...

conversation with Carter...

2008-09-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

This was a conversation between Carter and I last Sunday at church while the Sacrament was being passed.
Carter is kind of squirming around...
Mom: Carter you're supposed to be thinking about Jesus right now. Are you thinking about Jesus?
Carter: Yes. (matter-of-factly)
Mom: What are you thinking about Jesus?
Carter: Cars.
Mom: You mean like Jesus driving a car?
Carter: No, like he's going to give me a car.

Wow. The car gene goes deeper than I thought. Cars are always on this kid's mind. When I recited this story to Joel later, Carter said that he was actually thinking about how Jesus created cars...I guess that's a little bit better than him giving him a car...what a nut!

This is a picture of Carter on the Sunday back in June when he gave the scripture for Primary. He memorized it and was so cute. He walked right up to the podium with my scriptures, but without me...opened the scriptures up to somewhere and then recited his scripture perfectly. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

The Big House!

2008-09-10T16:08:00.001-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend Joel and I, without our kids, went to Ann Arbor Michigan to the Michigan vs Utah game. Joel's dad had tickets and invited any of us to come. Pictured is everyone who was able to come...top: Dad (Roger) and Connor...bottom: Laurel and Erik, Eric and Michele, and Joel...I was taking the picture.
It was so cool. The stadium was huge. I've never been in such a huge stadium that was so full. There were over 108 thousand people there. Amazing. Luckily Utah won. The score was 25 (Utah) to 23 (Michigan). Utah went into the half leading, but the second half played terribly, but prevailed. I was amazed at how many Utah fans were there. We sat behind some real diehards.
Joel's, Aunt Karren and her family we there as well. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures with them. They are such a fun family and we were glad that they were there as well. It was a quick weekend, but seriously so great. I wish more of Joel's family could have come. We have decided we need to do this once a year...a quick weekend trip with only the adults...NO KIDS! Joel and I had so much fun just being together. We haven't ever done anything like this and it was much needed. Thanks to Roger for the fun trip!

my apologies...

2008-08-28T16:13:00.001-07:00

Sorry I totally melted down and vented for all of you...my mom said that I should put that kind of stuff in my journal and not for the world to read...the only problem with that, though I didn't tell her, is that I don't keep a journal and so I guess this is my journal. So, my apologies. I totally appreciate everyone being nice to me, though, I don't want anyone to feel bad for me, I just needed to vent. I'm so glad that I am surrounded by such awesome people...I have a wonderful family and fabulous friends.
You know me, always have to have a picture. This is of the boys. Their new thing at the time of this picture, which was in June (sadly, notice how in June my boys are having to wear jeans and sweatshirts...welcome to Washington!), was to pretend to sleep on the stairs. Joel decided to join them one day and I thought it was cute. Funny boys.

Reality...bites...

2008-08-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

I'm bugged. I feel like I'm in a rut and...actually, don't really want to figure out how to get out...that would take more work. I love my sweet Joel and love my kids (which is why I had to post cute pictures of them), but why is life so not like on tv. Why are things so hard and why do things not work out the way I planned them to. I always wanted to be a mom. Ask anyone I went to high school with, that was my dream. I was going to be an awesome wife who made cookies and took them to my husband's work and I would make great meals and I was going to have 9 boys. We would have our own football team in which I would be the
center because I figured after 9 kids I would be huge. So, let me tell you how that pans out...I'm not an awesome wife and I rarely make cookies and when I do, we eat them (mainly me). Uh, I don't make dinner hardly...we do eat dinner, just things like Mac and Cheese, Pasta Roni, pizza, chicken (the breaded frozen kind that I only have to heat up) and our veggies consist of either corn or broccoli. Awesome huh. Are you all salivating? Let's see 9 boys...not going to happen. I had no idea what a pain it was to be pregnant and then have to get a huge baby out of my body and then recover from that and then raise
it...yeah, there will never be 9...we may not even make it to 3. In my dream world, which I thought was reality, it was awesome to be pregnant and kids were so fun and obedient and I had tons of energy. Seriously what happened? Why when I ask my kids to come get ready for bed, do they flip out? Why does one take toys from the other? How do 4, 3, and even 2 year olds know how to talk back and why do they actually do it? Why is potty training such a nightmare...is this really that hard of a concept...when you pee you just do it in the toilet and not in your pants. Why do people keep telling me it doesn't get better, just new and different problems with each stage...awesome. Why do toddlers get into everything even after you tell them a million times to get out...why is the dishwasher so cool and the toilet water and the remote and the phone and electrical outlets...I admit, I am totally anal. I make things harder for myself because I want things a certain way...I want a clean and tidy house and I don't want my kids to get dirty because then I have to destain their clothes because I don't want them wearing stained up clothes that I spent money on. Why is it so tiring to be with them all day and why do I keep wanting to get away? Why am I still complaining when it is 5:15 pm and I should be downstairs making some Mac and Cheese or something for dinner...I guess that's enough venting for now...just so you know, I do love my family and they really are awesome...

Good old Utah!

2008-08-12T16:10:00.001-07:00

We just got back from a too short, but super fun trip to Utah. We went to visit with Joel's family and planned our
trip so that we could be there when his sister Cami and her family were visiting as well. Sadly, we missed having Joel's sister Kelly (she is due
to have a baby the middle of August) and Joel's brother Connor(he just moved to North
Carolina) there with us. We hope for a full Thompson gathering soon though! While in Utah we spent a lot of time swimming. My kids had so much fun. Carter and Mason did not want to get out...ever! It took Mason a little bit to warm up to the pool though. At first he just cried and cried and then he cried and cried when we said it was time to get out. Carter took a little bit before he was brave enough to jump in, but once he was, he was jumping in and out
nonstop! Mason even starting jumping in off the edge once he saw his brother doing it. It was so cute. Carter
saw some cousins jumping off the diving board and so, of course, he wanted to and jumped off the diving board (with a float of course) and thought it was so cool...Mason then attempted, but was just teasing us...he never actually jumped off. He would just go to the edge and say "hi daddy". Joel got to do some wakeboarding and even a little slalom skiing. I was super happy because it was so nice and hot! Even though our trip was so short, we had a great time with everyone and can't wait to see them again.

I have to complain a little now...we drove...enough said...okay, not enough said. We had five days over a weekend to go and two of them were spent driving. I am never driving to Utah again. Okay, so I say that everytime we drive and then end up driving again...Joel is too persuasive. This time I might, maybe, be serious though. The drive home was the pits. Mason is at a bad car traveling age in my opinion. He doesn't last long before he gets sick of being in the car and then just cries. We left at 6 in the morning and just before Twin Falls, ID he started crying...we had only been driving for three hours and had, hmm, only 9 to 10 more hours to go. We stopped at Twin Falls and had breakfast where we watched these bridge jumpers jump off this amazing bridge. I don't know if you can see the blue parachute in the picture of the bridge, but it's there. It was really cool, though I told the kids they couldn't ever do that. Then we took a super fun picture of the our super happy kids and the beautiful canyon...pleasant. Then we went through the open house for the Twin Falls Temple which was so beautiful and awesome, but not so much for the kids. Carter the entire time was whining about the cookie he wanted that this nice Sister Missionary promised him after the tour, but that he thought he got right that second...and Mason was just done with everything. It was really awesome though and so cool to be able to take our kids there...serious it was really neat. So three hours later we were back on the road. It's noon now and we still have 9 to 10 hours without stopping to get home. I'll just sum of really fast...my tailbone gives me problems now all the time and I can't sit in the car for that long and then Mason threw up in Ellensburg where morons close their gas stations before 11pm and we had to knock on the locked glass sliding door and ask them as they are counting their till if they would let us in for paper towels and water...Carter then complains about this nasty smell as he tries to bury his face in the side of his carseat and tells Mason "We don't throw up in cars". We didn't get home until after 1am and instead of just crawling into bed, we had to clean up a nasty car seat...seriously, besides the driving, a super fun trip!

I Do it!!

2008-07-29T23:10:00.000-07:00

Hello folks. This is Joel with my first post ever on our family blog and on any blog for that matter. I did want to start a my space page and blog with people from the Middle-east and see if I could help fix some things over there, but Kadi and I felt like it was a little too risky for our us. But hey, if you're from the Middle-east and would like to chat, please feel free. Kadi has been doing this for so long and I've wanted to give it a try. So here I am after Kadi gave me the blogspot lesson. Mason always says now "I do it!" (which is somewhat annoying to both Kadi and I) but that's what I was saying to Kadi tonight. Now I can say "I did it!" too just like Mason does as well. We'll see how consistent I'll be. At least I can say I've done it.

Shafer time...

2008-07-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

We had our yearly Shafer Fam gathering. It was so much fun and as always, not long enough. The first few days were spent building a deck at my parents' house. We all helped out in some way or another...mostly the guys, but the ladies totally played a part.
The adults got to go out without kids one night and we ate at Applebees. It was great and just nice to not have to deal with the kids for a bit.
We spent some time out on Mom and Dad's boat. The boys just loved it. We did a little tubing and Carter, Joel, Kadin, and Mason gave it a try. Kadin was the brave one who wanted to try it first!
Silver Lake is a very shallow lake, but it is more shallow than you might think...we stopped the boat somewhat near an island, but still out there and everyone got out and walked around...even the kids could walk around in the lake...funny huh! Ben and Doug and Joel walked out, seriously more than half way across the lake and then turned back because we were worried they would get run over by boats that were speeding around the lake...
We played a little Bocce Ball which was fun. A game for all ages. I thought this would be a cool shot to take it from the ground with the balls...turned out okay...
My Uncle Chris (Dad's brother) and Aunt Jeannie came for a short time. It was so much fun to see them and get to be with them even if it was for just a short time. They are so much fun and we wish that we could see them more often. I totally appreciate them coming...all the way from Chicago...just to see us.
Dad took the kids to go get the mail. They had fun in the wagon together, though I'm told they didn't last on the way back...
My brothers are the best! I seriously love them so much. They are such good people and married wonderful girls and all of them are so much fun to be with. They are being goofy here, which is typical, but they really are the greatest.
It was hard to get a good picture of all the kids in the hammock, maybe someone else got a better one with their camera. The boys really have a great time together. It is fun to see them playing so well. They are good friends.
It is always sad to say goodbye. Carter and Joel really had a great time together. After they left he had to take a nap and kept asking if Joel was going to sleep with him. Mom made the storage room the kids room for sleeping and so Carter and Joel and Kadin slept in there together.
It was an awesome week and a half! I'm so grateful that Doug and Jackie were able to come too. They are off to Virginia for dental school, which is awesome, but I will miss them so much. Thanks to Ben and Doug and their families for traveling so far to be with us. Thanks so Uncle Chris and Aunt Jeannie for visiting as well. And thanks mucho to Mom and Dad for housing us, feeding us, and putting up with us! We had so much fun and can't wait for Christmas!!!

Funny kids...

2008-06-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

Kids can be so funny. The kids have said some funny things lately and so I wanted to write them down before I forget. Maybe you'll get a kick out of them too. I wanted to
post these pictures because the kids love to go to Jamba Juice. I think Mason is so cute holding his cup...he looks like a little man when we go...he walks
around the store constantly sucking the straw. So funny. Also, I don't know why, but I just thought of this. Carter...and actually Mason too...don't like peanut butter. Weird huh? Infact, if I have even eaten peanuts or anything with peanut butter in it and then go and talk to Carter, he covers his mouth and says, "What did you have in your mouth? It's disgusting. Don't talk." It's hilarious.
Anyway, here are some conversations I have overheard or had...Mason was playing with Carter's Leggo Mack and was taking the pieces off and then couldn't get them back on. Mason would say, "Elp...elp" (which is help) and Carter would say, "I'll help you Mase." and then Carter would fix it for him. Sometimes Mason would get it back on by himself and he would yell out, "I di it." (I did it) This was awhile back, but was so cute to me because they were playing with each other and Carter was being a good big brother.
Another day Carter was playing with his "Car movie cars" and Mason was sitting by him and I hear Carter say, "I wish I could share with you Mase...maybe another day when you get bigger. Okay Mason?" To which my sweet Mason responded, "Okay, Mason."
Carter gets in trouble and has to go to time-out when he hits his brother and Mason loves to tease Carter by taking the cars he is playing with, so Mason had taken some of Carter's cars and Carter then hit Mason and so Carter had to go to time-out. When Carter came out of his room, I said, "What do you need to do...go and say sorry to your brother and give him a hug." As I was saying this, I could see Mason in the doorway and he put down the cars he was holding and stretched out his arms and starting walking towards Carter. They then hugged and all I could see was Carter's back with these two little arms wrapped around him. That was too precious.
Mason loves Carter. Every morning and pretty much all day long I hear Mason calling for Carter...but he doesn't say it very well and it comes out as "Cah-ku". It is so cute.
We were riding in the car the other day and the new Coldplay song came on...which we love...Viva la Vida and so we turned it up and sang it...amazingly, Carter already knows the words, and after the song was over I was saying how awesome I think the the song is and Carter says matter-of-factly, "Those guys rock Mom." Cool.
I love it when kids start talking. This is one of my favorite things. They are so funny and so amazing. I remember when my cousin was just 3 and I would take him with me everywhere because he just cracked me up. He was so interested and excited about everything and it's fun to hear them learning new words and phrases. Carter never ceases to amaze me with the things that come out of his mouth...good and bad...we have to start watching even more how we talk. The other day Carter told me, "I'm just going to freak out and go nuts if you don't do this." Maybe it's just me, but hearing your kid say "freak out" doesn't sound that great...I don't think it's a big deal for me to say (though I guess it is), but I don't like hearing my kid say it for some reason. Anyway...kids are funny.

Visitors!

2008-06-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day weekend we had Joel's brother Connor and his family come and visit. It was so much fun. Michal's (Connor's wife) brother was getting married that Saturday
in Portland and so they extended their trip to be with us for a bit as well. Can you tell in the first picture that all of the kids are Thompson's or what? I think they all definitely have a Thompson look. Corbin is so darling. He
was about 3 1/2 months when he was here and he is such a good baby. So cute. Mason just loved Corbin and would come and just look at him and smile at him and say "baby"...that is
a big step for Mason, seeing as how he usually doesn't like anyone other than me, Joel, or Grandma...I asked him to hug him and he did. It was seriously cute. Carter was in heaven. He loved playing with Dylan. He loved playing with him so much that he didn't want to take naps, eat, bathe, sleep...do anything other than play. They are such a fun family and we really appreciated them coming all the way from Ohio to visit...especially squeezing us in with a wedding and all. It was awesome to be with them and play...we can't wait to see them again.

Ah wedded bliss...

2008-06-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

Joel and I recently celebrated our anniversary. It's been 5 WICKED-AWESOME years and Joel is totally COOL!

Growing up, I always wanted to get married and have a family. I pictured it as being so amazing and wonderful. I had this mental list of all the things my husband was going to be like. Joel has by far, exceeded all expectations. I knew it would be wonderful to be married, but I had no idea it would be this good. I honestly can't think of a word that describes how awesome it is. Joel is amazing. He is the most wonderful man. I can honestly say that everyday, I am in awe of him. He is most definitely the spiritual leader in our family and I am so grateful for him in making sure that we are doing what we need to be doing...though I fight him along the way sometimes.
He is such an amazing father. He loves his children so much and is always amazed by them. He says often, "Aren't these boys so cool?!" He does such a great job of taking care of all of us. He is willing to do anything and everything. I had a really bad delivery with Carter and after I was amazed at all Joel did for me...I mean he did everything. I swear I didn't change a diaper until Carter was 6 weeks old. Joel is a humble man. There is never a disagreement where he doesn't come to me apologetic (even when it's not his fault or problem) and ask what he can do better.

He is a hard worker and is constantly serving others. Joel is totally smooth in the things he does. I remember when we were dating it was so fun to watch him drive a stick or cut up broccoli or roller skate...he's just smooth. He loves to find his way places and as we were dating we were always getting lost around the Portland area...all roads lead to Milwaukie, OR...though I'm not complaing, it's always fun to drive around with him. Joel is so much fun to be with and is so funny. It's hard to get mad at him because he always has some witty remark when I'm about to blow. He is a very doting husband and is always asking me what he can do for me. He treats me better than I ever dreamed of being treated. I love Joel so much. I am thankful for everyday that I have with him and I look forward to eternity with him! He is the best! Joel, you're golden man.

Multanomah Falls...

2008-05-24T12:46:00.001-07:00

Back in April we went with Joel on a work trip to Richland, WA. While there I got to see my friend Shelly and her family. Her baby Tatum, I should have taken a picture, is so adorable. He's this chunk that's always smiling. On the drive back we stopped at Multanomah Falls. We drove back on the Oregon side, on I-84, which is one of the most beautiful drives I've been on. You've got the Columbia River on one side and on the other lush green trees down jagged cliffs...anyway, I think it's pretty. The Falls were amazing.

My boys are getting so big! Carter is more than half as tall as me...I swear my kids are going to be taller than me by the 1st grade...how embarrassing. They are so much fun. I especially can't believe how big my Mason is...it seems like just the other day he was this chunky little baby and now he doesn't even look like a baby...he looks like a little boy. Carter is somewhat protective of him...though sometimes he's the cause of tears...he holds Mason's hand now because he doesn't want Mason to "get lost". It's sweet.

My little sugar cookies!

2008-05-12T16:12:00.000-07:00

I hate to cook and I don't really like to bake, but Carter loves to make sugar cookies...so for Family Home Evening one day we made sugar cookies. Carter and Mason were such good helpers. Mason helps out by eating the measuring cups and taking up space on the counter. Carter cuts out the shapes for me and picks the color of frosting and then I eat most the cookies...needless to say we don't make these very often. Carter is not a big sugar-eater, which is great, but when he wants to make sugar cookies and then not help eat them...you know what happens. He seriously takes one bite of one and says he's done. Mason on the other hand will eat them, but he's not a big kid yet and so doesn't eat as many as I would like him to and Joel is not a huge sugar-eater either. It's definitely more work to make the cookies with the kids, but they sure are cute about it...so maybe next year we'll make them again.

Me...Alone...All by myself!

2008-05-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

Joel is the greatest husband in the world! He let me go and have a weekend all to myself. A few weeks ago in April I flew to Utah...just me. I stayed with Doug and Jackie and it was so much fun! I wish I could post some pictures of my awesome weekend, but I was having too much fun and did not take one picture. Sorry. I needed to get away, not from Joel(I wish he could have come), but from life(mainly my kids, though I love them). It was seriously so good for me. Since I have come back I feel happier and ready to take them on. Life hasn't changed and it is still hard to take care of everything, but I feel better. I got to be in Utah when Ben and Whitney were there and so that was fun. We watched them finish the Salt Lake marathon. I got to see some friends and family that I hadn't seen in awhile. I also went and stayed with Joel's parents' for a night and that was fun too. It was so funny though, when I got to the airport I kept thinking that I was forgetting something...I mean all I had to carry on was a purse. It was so nice not to have to chase any kids around or carry a bunch of extra stuff. People would ask me if I missed my kids and I really didn't...I mean I did, but I was glad to not be with them for a time. I am so appreciative to Doug and Jackie for letting me stay with them and for them giving up their whole weekend for me. They are so fun and I really had a great time with them. Carter was so sweet when I came back. He had missed me...though I think a little too much because for the next few days he wouldn't leave my side. He wanted me to be with him all the time...in the same room with him or holding him. Mason could have cared less. He didn't want me when I came back. He only wanted Joel or my mom, which made me kind of sad, but don't worry he soon loved me again. I'm so thankful to my family who helped me be able to take a short break...Joel and my parents' for taking care of the kids and Doug and Jackie for taking care of me. I can't wait until my next "me alone" weekend.

My Easter Babes!

2008-04-08T17:05:00.001-07:00

I couldn't resist putting in a picture of my sweet boys at Easter. They looked so cute in their new Easter outfits, thanks to Nini. I love how long Mason's shorts are...they're a little big, but he'll totally grow into them. They remind me of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes..."short pants touch my feet okay!" I do like these boys...they are so fun. I complain a lot about being a mom, but really I love these kids.

This was our attempt at taking an Easter family picture. We had come home early from church, since all except Joel were sick, and so no one could take our picture. We had Joel's camera on a timer and it was balancing precariously on the top of a chair. Turned out okay though. Who would think to look at us that we would be up all night and in the ER the next morning...?

Ah...California, how I wish I could afford you!

2008-04-07T17:21:00.000-07:00

I wish we could live in California and be warm...duh, why is California so expensive? Just because the weather is the most desirable, well, dumb. So, let me tell you a little about our trip. Let's start with Sunnyvale and call it Part I. I finally got a good picture of my brother Ben. If any of you have been graced by his presence after about 7 or 8 at night you will recognize this picture. This kills me. This is what he looks like every night and you can't have a serious conversation with him because he just looks so funny and crazed. At night he starts pulling at his hair...I think to get the hair glue out or something, but this is the end result and it is so funny. (by the way, Ben was also in desperate need of a haircut and so this picture turned out even better) I love Ben!
Ben and Whitney so graciously let me and the boys stay with them. They were wonderful hosts and their apartment is darling. Whit has decorated it so awesomely. I love it...love the colors...and my favorite chair, which I spent the entire time in...I should have taken a picture of it. The boys had so much fun together. Feeding time was always...hmmmm, what's the word...
Kadin is such a sweet kid and I love how this picture turned out. He just has this sweet look and he's holding his blue dinosaur that had gone missing earlier. What a kid!
Ah, Carter and Joel just love each other. They really do have so much fun playing together. It makes me sad that we don't live closer to each other...maybe someday. Joel and Kadin were so good about sharing their fun toys with Carter and Mason. We love the Shafer fam so much! Thanks so much you guys!
Oh, yeah, for the bad part. So during California Part I, I got sick...um, sicker than I have been in years. I was so mad. I had come down to see Ben's family and my Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt and Uncle. Well, my Grandpa is getting older and I couldn't really be around him being so sick. I was so bummed. My Grandpa is such a sweet and loving man and I always loved his hugs and I couldn't hug him, even goodbye. Yeah, I cried. I had what I'm sure everyone has had, that awful bug...achy, tight chesty cough, sore throat, lost voice, headache, exhaustion...misery.
So, I'm pushing myself to make it through the airport with two kids (which I'd love to talk about later) where I know Joel is waiting on the other side...and I make it and we fly to Palm Springs (Part II)...where I am still sick. Luckily it is like, 80 or 90 degrees there and so I can be miserable outside and at least be warm. We stayed with Joel's parents and his sister Kelly and her family came while we were there as well.
The kids loved going to the pool. They had so much fun. Carter HAD to wear the float the whole time and was not nearly as brave in the water without Dylan there. We spent most of our time at the pool...eat, swim, nap, swim, eat, one more swim...you know.
This was Mason's spot of choice in the pool. He had more fun playing on the steps. It was hilarious. I should post these other pictures I have. All of them were so cute. I just want to eat him up...
Here is Troy, Todd, and Alex at the pool. Todd showed us a new trick...how to totally splash in a pool. It is seriously awesome and it is seriously the biggest splash I've ever seen. I mean he almost moved the entire pool of water to another location. Amazing. Alex is a brave little guy and he loves the water. He would just walk right off the edge into the water, whether someone was there for him or not.
By Easter Sunday we had almost the whole Thompson family gathered in Palm Springs. It was so great to see everyone, though we were so sad that Cami's family and Connor's family weren't able to come. We had a little Easter egg hunt and Nini got each family an Easter basket of treats. For dinner Nini made a traditional Easter dinner...lamb, lentils, unleavened bread, Bulgar wheat...everyone had to try a little bit and then we had ham and potatoes. Nini and Poger finished off the night talking about the week of the Resurrection. It was great. They are so good about keeping the right perspective and teaching their children and grandchildren.
By Sunday, Carter was getting what I had. He was sick. We were up all night Sunday night...I mean it, all night. He was coughing, or trying to cough and trying really hard to breathe. It was the scariest night of my life. After a whole night of sitting outside with him, taking him in and out of a steamy shower, we were at a loss as to how to help him...so we took him to the ER. Sweet, I know. The poor kid couldn't breathe. It was the scariest, most heart wrenching thing. We would just watch his chest cave and listen to him gasping for air. I wasn't sure if we should take him to the ER, (I guess I just thought, if we just wait another minute it will get better) I figure you only go to the ER if you've been shot, right? Let me tell you how excited I am for that bill to come. Anyway, they gave him a shot of steroids and a breathing treatment and sent us home with a prescription for more steroids...we figured we should put him on a weight lifting schedule while he's on them...you know, take advantage...just kidding...though the steroids caused me much grief. That kid was the most ridiculously out of control kid while on them. I asked the doctor at his follow up visit if this drug could by chance cause behavioral problems...and he said yes...seriously (Hmm, ever heard of "roid rage"?). Don't get me wrong, we had a great trip. We loved the warmer weather and being with family. Though I would like to go back and actually have a vacation. Joel was able to get in some golf and tennis and the night before we left I finally had a little more energy and was able to play a little tennis. Joel and Mason did things right and waited until we got home to get sick...so now we've all had it...well Mason still has it.
By the way, the day after we got back from 90 degree Palm Springs...IT SNOWED! I'm done...seriously.

Is it too early to be a snowbird?

2008-03-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

I'm sick of the winter...sick, sick, sick. I hate being cold and I am cold all of the time. So I have decided that I am going to start living in Arizona with my friend Kristyn from about October to April. I hope she's okay with this...I don't cook, in fact I will be expecting a nice meal most nights...I will organize, but not clean...and I don't babysit...I'm not sounding like that great of a roommate, sorry. I am still deciding whether or not I'm bringing my family...maybe Joel, probably not the kids. They can come and visit. I tell Joel almost everyday that we are moving to Arizona or that he needs to take me to Hawaii. I love the heat...bring it on. This is totally weird, I know, but, I am so cold all the time, even in my house...I essentially have frostbite on my toes...apparently I also have a circulation problem. The point is, I'm freezing and would like to be in a coffin of heat. The boys and I are in California visiting Ben and Whit and the boys, and my grandparents and aunt and uncle. It's warmer, but not enough...we are heading to Palm Springs this week! Hopefully that will do the trick for a bit.

Terrible 2s...I think not, 3 is bad!

2008-03-05T17:40:00.000-08:00

Is it just me or are 3 year olds really hard to deal with? Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, even the one who is three, but he is causing me much stress lately. It's getting a little better, but I keep anticipating another horrid couple of weeks.

Carter was the sweetest and best baby ever and then he turned one and it was the pits. I attribute his bad attitude towards not being able to communicate. He would scream at me and we would just be at each other all day. I didn't know what he wanted and he didn't know how to tell me...it was rough, but by 17 months life got better and I liked him again. He started talking and we could help each other and life was good. When he was two he was great. We had so much fun together, singing songs, running through fields of tall grass...wait, no, that was Little House on the Prairie...anyway it was fun, seemingly carefree. Three started out blissfully and as the year came to a half-way point it started going downhill. I don't know if Christmas and being spoiled with toys triggered this bad behavior or what, but the last couple weeks have been bad.

I've been afraid that I will be on the 5 o'clock news...woman snaps and does something terrible...I can't even finish it, but I've been stressed. Let me tell you how I spent Valentines Day. So, bad day at home with the kids, obviously, and then poor Joel, comes home from work and disagrees with one thing I said and I flipped out and said, "I'm out of here." I dropped off the garlic mashed potatoes I made (which were a pain to make) for the ward dinner and then drove to Home Depot to pick up some "specialty" light bulbs for our stupid light in our bedroom that had been out for forever (annoying, because I had checked like 300 places for these dumb light bulbs and nobody carries them). Anyway, at Home Depot this super cool guy helped me find the light bulbs and then we sat at the patio furniture and talked about rotten kids and how hard it is to be a parent and then he asked me to do him a favor if I had some time. I told him I had all night. He asked me to walk around the whole store and tell him how many employees don't say "hi" to me and ask if there's anything they can do for me and he gave me a card for a discount next time I come. I did and they have a pretty friendly store. I wasn't ready to go back home yet, so I went to Starbucks and had a hot chocolate and a cupcake (nice dinner, I know). I sat there for about 2 hours just staring at the wall and enjoying being alone and listening to the nice music. As I was sitting there I will admit, I had a few bad ideas crawl through my mind...like maybe I should start drinking...wouldn't it be nice to just drown my stresses with a nice...okay, I'll stop there. I was a good girl and pushed those thoughts right on through...

I shouldn't just pick on Carter...Mason is a little annoying right now too. He is super sweet, but he is into everything! He drives me up a wall. I hate having to shut doors and move things around just because there is a baby around, but I can't keep up with this kid like I could with Carter. He is busy. Just recently he got into my paint and managed to spill almost an entire bottle of white paint (at least it was white) all over our carpet and himself, all within a matter of minutes. No worries (well, there was stress, but) we got it all up and out, we hope, with a rug doctor we rented. So, Carter - flip outer...Mason - annoying.

My point was not to have anyone feel bad for me or think I'm bad for having bad thoughts or think my kids are bad...I guess my point was just to vent. Kids are tough...little stinkers, mouthy little stinkers, stinkers who flip out every time you say anything. But sometimes they are wonderful...maybe I'll have to do a post about a nice time we had once...awhile ago...when life was good...it'll get better, right?

...and a Happy New Year!

2008-03-01T13:36:00.001-08:00

Ah yes, what follows Christmas...(which I just finally posted below)...New Years. We went to Mom and Dad Shafer's house for New Years. Doug and Jackie were visiting and it was so much fun to be with them. Jackie and Doug gave Mom some kids super-hero capes that Jackie's mom makes and sells on etsy (they're pretty cool, so you should check them out)...and Carter had fun with it...we put one on Mason and he didn't seem to care one way or the other. He would just walk around doing his thing with the cape on.

Sweet Aunt Jackie was so nice and would play with Carter...meaning she had to run around the kitchen about three trillion times as they chased each other in their capes. Carter had so much fun with Doug and Jackie and like I said, they were so nice to play with him as much as he wanted.

Doug is so funny. This is him trying one of the kids' capes...I wish I had gotten a picture of Joel when he tried them on, but I didn't...sorry Joel, I need to take more pictures of you. We also went to my cousin Stacey's wedding in Portland, which was really cool. We're so happy for her!

We also went to the Mt St Helens Museum just down the road from Mom and Dad's house. It was cool to watch the videos and realize that Joel and I are probably going to die due to volcano eruption, seeing as how we live right next to Mt Rainier, which is next in line to blow!...supposedly. I don't know who we're standing next to...he's covered in ash though...maybe an explorer who was around for a different eruption, not the 1980 one because he looks like he's from another time.

Here is Carter outside the museum. I just thought this was a cool picture.

Mom, Dad, Doug and Jackie, and Joel went for a walk on the trail around the museum...I took the kids home for their naps. I think this is a cool picture...poor Joel didn't have anyone there to hold his hand...what a fun time though. We sure do love being with our family. We wish that Ben, Whit, and the kids could have been there too. We really had such a great time. Seriously family is the best.

Merry Christmas...

2008-02-29T15:19:00.001-08:00

I'm finally getting around to posting some fun pictures from Christmas. We went to Utah to visit Joel's family for Christmas. We had so much fun. It had snowed a bunch while we were there. Carter had fun helping his Dad shovel all the snow around "Nini" and "Poger's" house.

Here is a picture of Joel's parents' house. The snow is so pretty, but far too cold for me.

We took a trip to Downata Hot Springs in Idaho. I was a little leery at first because it was freezing and so swimming in an outdoor pool didn't seem like such a great idea, but it was so fun and the water was so warm. This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. The boys look so funny. They had to wear these ear protectors because it was so cold out...yeah, it was 17 degrees outside.
This is what Mason and I looked like the entire time. We stayed in the pool for over two hours...I couldn't make myself get out, it was just too cold outside and so toasty in the water. Mason even took a little nap while in the pool...funny huh? Our hair even had icicles on it...it was crazy.
Carter had the time of his life in the pool. Once he got his handy dandy float on, he was up and down that slide for hours. I was so happy because he wasn't scared at all and he would just go on the slide with no one's help for forever. It was great.
Here's another shot of him enjoying himself. Even Poger got in and had a good time in the water! That's Joel's brother, Eric, and Molly on the side there as well. I wish I had a picture of Joel in the water, but I wouldn't get out to take one. He had fun and would go down the big twisty slide and come shooting out of it like a spinning rocket...it was cool.
And finally Christmas morning! I love everyone's hair in this picture...the just out of bed look.

There was tons of snow in Morgan and so a bunch of the kids made sledding runs down the hill, they even made little jumps here and there. Our cousin Chad took his snowboard down the runs a few times as well.
Poger was so nice and set up his trains for Dylan and Carter and they loved them! They had so much fun watching those trains and playing with them. I love their hair in this picture too. Seriously, so funny...Utah static + recent nap = this. It was seriously so fun and Joel and I were sad to go. We wish we would have planned our trip better and been there more when everyone else was there...we're sure we missed out on much more fun! We love our family and really have such a good time with them. We're looking forward to our next gathering.

I'm sorry, is Carter 3 or 16?

2008-02-01T16:08:00.000-08:00

Has my sweet this, already turned into...THIS!!!???

Seriously, I'm in deep trouble with this kid. He's already talking back to me. I didn't know that 3 year olds could do that. Here's the story...Mason loves to tease Carter by taking one of his cars he as so carefully lined up and running away with it. Carter then chases him and pushes him or hits him and yells at him. When Carter does this to Mason he has to go to time out. Any time he hits or pushes Mason he goes to time out. So, one evening Mason did his normal teasing routine and Carter chased after him and was pushing him down while yelling at him and ripping the car out of his hands. I went over there and got down on my knees and told Carter he was to go to time out for pushing Mason and he knows that those are the rules and we don't push each other. He then proceeded to yell in my face, "Well I have a job to do!". I said, "It doesn't matter if you have a job to do, you pushed Mason and so you have to go to time out." He then yelled at me again and said, "Well, maybe if you watched Mason better he wouldn't get my cars!" Uh, what...what just happened here...did I just hear that correctly? Wow. I admit I thought it was funny that he thought to say that and was trying not to laugh as I told him that he was probably right, but it didn't matter he was still going to time out and he better not talk to me like that again. The story does have a good ending, so keep reading. Carter then puts himself in time out and stays there for about 3 minutes and then on his own he comes up to me and very calmly says, "Mom, I think next time this happens I shouldn't push Mason, I should just come get you." I was so happy! Yes, that's what you do. I told him he was right and he needed to go and say sorry to Mason and give him a hug. He did and then after a few minutes he said to me from the other room, "Mom, I'm so sorry that I pushed Mason." This kid can be so fiesty and angry, but yet he can be so nice and apologetic. We continue to have run-ins with him, but we are trying to figure out how to get a hold of this before his actual teenage years. I do love that he talks so well, but it definitely is a blessing and a curse. By the way, pretend that I wrote this in December when it happened. I still put it in because this is the only "journal" I keep...sadly I'm not even keeping this up well.

I'm thankful for...

2008-01-03T17:02:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for family at Thanksgiving! Obviously, I have problems getting things done, but give me a break it was Christmas which is totally stressful though such a wonderful time...blah, blah, blah...So here are some pictures from Thanksgiving. Ben, Whitney, Joel, and Kadin came up and we had a great Thanksgiving together! This is what meal time looked like everyday...three times a day. Is it just me, or are these the cutest kids ever?!
The boys were so excited for the new beds they have at Grandma's house, complete with Lightening McQueen sheets. Though they had to sleep in the storage room where it was freezing...no worries, we put about 30 blankets on each kid.
They loved Uncle Ben's stories before bed...even my Joel got a kick out of them. I can't help but smile when I see this and wonder what Ben was saying. Carter has now started telling us stories before bed and they are hilarious. I tried to get sweet Kadin in this picture, but the angles weren't working for me, so the best I could get was the corner of the pack-n-play he was sleeping in.
This is where you would find Mason most the time...doing laundry with Grandma. He loved it and it wouldn't matter where he was or what he was doing, as soon as he heard the door to the laundry room open (which he could hear from anywhere in the house amazingly) he took off running, so happy, to find Grandma and help her out. Unfortunately for me he took this new fun thing to do home with him and I now have to let him help me all the time. He's a good help though and he's so cute about it.
Carter and Joel really had such a good time together. They loved playing with Grandma's trains and have missed each other since then. Mom and Whit made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner...well as delicious as you can get for Thanksgiving food. I dislike almost every dish that is served at Thanksgiving. They did a great job though. I did contribute one dish, which is almost the only dish I like, fluffy sweet potatoes, a recipe from Cami (Joel's sister). I'm not a sweet potato fan, but these are seriously good. Nobody liked them two years ago, but this year, hmm, strangely, everyone seemed to eat them up (except for Whit, who was true to her dislike of them). I am so grateful to Ben and Whit for making the trip up. It was really such a wonderful time together. I miss them already and look forward to our next gathering...only with Doug and Jackie too. Family is awesome!

Oh My Cars!!

2007-12-13T18:37:00.000-08:00

So Carter and Joel were in heaven early in November when we went to the Seattle Auto Show! I just thought I would show you a couple of pictures from the extravaganza. This is Mason...already having developed a love of cars at the young age of 1!
Here is Mason taking Carter out for a spin in the Golf before the Auto Show.
"Mom! Look a Hummer!!"
I believe in this picture we are standing next to Nini's car...I'm not a car person so I don't really know...I'll have to check with the experts.
And finally a motorcycle just Carter's size. The boys seriously had so much fun. Carter was so excited the whole time and of course threw a fit when we had to leave. He knows a lot the cars and their names...it was really funny...and amazing. Good times.

It's Halloween!!...I mean it was Halloween...

2007-11-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun this Halloween. Carter was a monkey and Mason was a chicken. Carter was so excited for Halloween this year. He talked for weeks about how he was going to be a monkey. He
had a great time trick or treating and was very cute and polite. I was so proud of Mason. I thought for sure he would try and get out of his costume and cry and be miserable, but he didn't and he wasn't. He was happy as a clam...or chicken. We went to our friends, the Schrum's, house for the evening (so we could combine candy and make it last longer...though we didn't get nearly

as many trick or treaters as we were told we would). Hallie is their daughter and she and Carter are friends. Hallie was the cutest little pink octopus! After trick or treating we enjoyed some donuts and hot chocolate or cider...a tradition that started back in Aberdeen...our neighbor's, Candy and Andy, would have us over after trick or treating and Candy would have donuts and cider for us, it was such a nice memory and I have tried to keep it up. I also forgot to write about Joel's parents coming to visit us in September. It was such a wonderful visit and we do love to be with them. They brought us their old piano and we love having one here at the house. Carter was so cute when they first brought it in, he stood at the keys and looked up at Nini and said, "Would you like me to play you I'm a Child of God?" We thought that was too cute. We loved having them here and look forward to their next visit!

Before I forget...

2007-10-19T17:04:00.001-07:00

I have to write this down before I forget...Carter seriously cracks me up. He really is such a little ham. This all started Wednesday actually. I took Mason to the doctor for his 12 month check and while there Carter tells the doctor that he's not feeling very well and to please check him. After Carter's third time asking, the doctor checks Carter's ears and mouth and says there are no monkeys in there. Then Carter told him he needed to check his heart too, so the doctor did. Today before Carter's nap he tells me, "I'm not feeling very well Mommy." and then bends over half way and says, "Aaaachooo". He does this a number of times and then tells me that he needs to tell his cars that he doesn't feel good and then tells Dangles, his monkey...(I then heard Carter talking FOR the monkey responding, "Come here, I will hold you.") He's actually not sick, incase you were wondering. What a nut.
Here's the other thing he just did...I was holding Mason on my lap and Carter comes over to climb on too and half way up stops and gives me a sour face and says, "I smell something stink." I told him Mason was poopy. About five minutes later Carter comes in with a play camera and says, "Mommy...Mase...poopy diaper...smile." He takes a picture and then laughs at himself. I died laughing.

Carter is hilarious!

2007-10-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

I wish you could all live with us all the time and hear the things that come out of Carter's mouth. He is seriously the funniest kid...though totally stubborn. He has started talking with his hands and it kills me. Here are some of Carter's usual phrases...please picture hand gestures with each phrase..."You guys, I've probably got an idea..." followed with "Is that a good idea?". He likes to tell me the entire plan for the day, which would go as follows according to him, "So, first I think we should go to the store, come home, eat lunch, play cars, take a nap, wake up, then play some more cars, and then go to two stores and look for cars and then come home and go to bed." When I put him down for a nap he usually tells me, "I'm probably going to wake up at 10:30, okay." For some reason 10:30 is the time for everything for him.
I should have written this for ever ago, but seriously, about a year ago he was saying prayers before bed and in the middle of his prayer he stops what he's saying, looks down at his wrist and says, "Oh man, it's 10" and then something about having to go to bed. We died laughing.
He also is very sensitive to us being mad. The other day I was mad about something and was talking to Joel in a heated sort of way and Carter says, "You guys, I don't think we should talk like this. We shouldn't talk mad to each other." So I apologized and said he was right and then (you have to picture this) he looks down at the floor and shakes his head and says, "Sorry, I just said that." Joel and I just cracked up.
Now for his little temper and stubbornness. When he gets in trouble, he yells back at me, "You can't say that to me!" or "Whatever mommy." or, picture this again, he looks at the floor shakes his head and says, "Just forget about it." This kid has always been one to punish himself...when he was just over a year old he would send himself to his room and shut the door. Not kidding. Now, when I tell him he is going to get spanked, he says, "No, I will spank me." and then he spanks himself. Is that funny, yet crazy?
You also probably know of his love for cars...well he now can point out and name so many cars as we are driving around. It amazes Joel and I. We will be driving down the road and he will say, "PT Cruiser" or "Volkswagen bug"...sometimes we will ask him about cars that pass by and sometimes he says, "Sorry I missed it." The cars he knows best, which we for some reason have tons of in this area, are PT Cruisers, Mini Coupes, Honda Elements, Scions, Volkswagen bugs, and Golfs. He also knows, "mommy's car", "Nini's car", "the missionary's car", and "the Monnier's car". He doesn't know the make or model, but he gets it right every time. The missionaries in our mission all drive Toyota Corollas and every time he sees a Toyota Corolla he says, there's the missionaries car. Nini and Poger have a Nissan Titan and Carter spots those everywhere and calls out, "I just saw a car like Nini's". It really is amazing to us. We even just saw a picture in the newspaper of a car that had crashed and was totalled and Carter looks at the picture and says, "There's a Honda Element." and sure enough the caption said it was a Honda Element. I love it when he gets really excited about it and says, "Did you see that Mom? I just saw a Mini Coupe!!!"
He messes up his pronouns at times, which is kind of funny. The other night he was whining to Joel and saying, "I want Mommy, I want Mommy." Joel asked him why he wanted me and he said, "Because I love she." Sweet. Well, I've dragged this on enough now. I just wanted to share some of the funny things that Carter says. He sure keeps us laughing and amazed.

My Boys...

2007-10-02T14:32:00.001-07:00

I didn't do any posts for my kids on their birthdays and was sort of feeling bad, so I thought I'd do a little shout out for them today...an unbirthday for them both! I can't even believe how fast these kids are growing up. Carter is already 3 and my baby Mason is now 1! I really have such fabulous boys. They are both so easy and super fun to be with. Carter is the funniest kid and Mason is my little sweetie. They are good buddies...though Carter has a bit of a mean streak in him when Mason comes near his cars or playing area, but for the most part they like each other. Carter gets so excited and cheers
Mason on as he reaches new milestones and Mason loves Carter and even yells his name to find him throughout the house. I know, nice, his first word is "Carter" and not "Mom" or "I love Mom best...she rocks". Granted "Carter" doesn't come out totally clear, but it's totally what he's saying. They look so much alike in this picture in the wagon...they make the same faces. Anyway, I'm so glad that I get to be their mom. They are super fun...most of the time.

Uh...Mason...

2007-09-19T15:51:00.001-07:00

Oh my little Mason. Anyone who has held Mason as he is falling asleep or is already asleep has been, how do I say this, touched by his sweetness...literally. This kid is so
funny. When he wants to be cuddled he always sticks his hand in your shirt...anyone's shirt. I was going to put a picture of him with all his different ladies, but he does it with his Dad too, so... I think it is sweet, but kind of weird and he may get too old and still do it and then...yikes. He loves the material of shirts and he grabs it and puts it in his eyes. I've tried to give him soft blankets to put in his face and he pushes them away and grabs for my shirt. He even does this in his sleep...if you pick him up when he is already asleep as soon as you have him he is grabbing and reaching for your shirt to shove in his eye. Don't you think that's funny? He is always doing that to me at church and I swear everyone at church has seen down my shirt, which, luckily there's not much to look at anymore after two kids, but still. After Mason woke up, Doug showed him what's up and to lay off his lady. Mean Uncle Doug...come on...he's just a baby...

All Aboard...

2007-09-11T16:47:00.000-07:00

I am so behind with pictures. Now that we have this blog, I guess I feel like we have to post everything we ever do...and in the order they happen. My obsessive compulsiveness
continues to show itself in more areas than I thought possible. Anyway, when we went to Utah for graduation we took a trip on the Heber Creeper. It was a fun little ride and the boys
really loved it...even the big boys had some fun as you can see...I admit, due to my OCD tendencies, I was a little...hmmm, how do I say this...not wanting to touch anything for fear that it would fall off due to rust and then I would get rust all over me and not be able to touch my clothes or my kids or anything, not to mention the train falling apart and crashing off the track. I know, I have problems. It was really fun though. I do enjoy trains... the
rocky ride makes me want to go right to sleep, and I love to sleep. I love airplanes best...and the more turbulence, the better, just rock me to unconsciousness. One thing that was kind of ironic, if that's the right word...is that you weren't supposed
to bring any food on the train and yet it's kind of a kid thing to do and kids have to eat all the time and they will only eat certain things and never anything that you could buy on the train because that would just make things too easy.
Besides after seeing the delapidated state that they train was in, why would I want to eat any food that was kept on it. So we packed all these snacks for the kids and as soon as we got on the train they were bombarding Whit and I for their treats. So here are the kids with their mouths full of licorice and fishy crackers, none of which were sold on the train. Oh well. They did sell train shaped lollipops for like $20 a piece, which seemed reasonable...right. Even though I complain a bit now, it really was a great day and we all had a super time!

Aaahhh...Graduation

2007-09-06T13:24:00.001-07:00

Here's to the true graduates! Way to go Ben and Doug!! I have the most awesome and smartest brothers ever. Ben just finished his Masters in Acoustics (a physics degree) and Doug just finished a Bachelors degree in Exercise Physiology and then is off to dental school. Oh how I love these guys!
Here is Ben's awesome family who has suffered with him through these last two years. It has been hard work and very time consuming, but they all pulled through fabulously! What troupers!
Here is Doug and his amazing wife Jackie. So cute together aren't they? Jackie has been Doug's sugar-mama...okay Doug works part-time, so I guess she's a half sugar-mama. Way to go with all your hard work too!
Ben and Doug were kind enough to let me tag along. I never walked when I graduated forever ago and so it was super fun to do it with them. I admit, I felt a little dumb, and still kind of do, but it really was so great to do that with them. It wouldn't have been nearly the same to have done it by myself. They are the best!
Here are mom and dad and their graduates. All of their kids have graduated with college degrees...and they even have a Master now!
I had to throw in a picture of my cute boys...Joel, Carter, and Mason! Do all those boys look alike or what?!
Joel's parents so kindly came down for graduation. That was so nice and it's always fun to get together with them. Joel has awesome parents!
And here is the whole brood. Seriously, what a group! It was a wonderful time together and I am seriously so proud of Ben and Doug and all their hard work and accomplishments. I really have the best brothers ever. They truly are amazing.

And the winner for boater of the year goes to...

2007-08-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

MASON THOMPSON!!! Uncle Connor said that Mason was boater of the year after our outing with them at East Canyon. I think it's so funny. Mason loves to be on boats...but he doesn't really show any emotion.

He just takes it all in and sleeps. It doesn't matter what the boat is doing either...it could be going slow or fast or just sitting there, Mason just chills. He doesn't even complain about wearing the life jacket...just takes it all in stride. What a sweetie. (please stay that way...) When I look at these pictures it makes me want to pick him up and cuddle him in my arms. There's something about sleeping babies...doesn't everyone just love them?

This is on the Thompson's water-ski boat. We were driving fast and whipping around while pulling water skiers on choppy water and this is what Mason looked like, his little head cocked to the side. Amazing. The above pictures are from earlier this summer on the Shafer's party barge. We've had so much fun this summer with all our little boat trips...many thanks to the Grandparents and their boats!

So this is a tribute to my little boater...my sweet, chill, Mason.

Thompson Family Fun!

2007-08-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time on our trip to Utah! First off was our visit with the Thompson's. We stayed in Morgan, UT and had so much fun swimming and skiing/wakeboarding at East Canyon. Here is Carter with his buddy Dylan in the, not so, hot tub. Joel was playing with the thermometer sailboat. Nice.
Due to Dylan being such a fish, Carter learned to jump in the water! We were so proud of him. At first he was a little scared to put his face under, but after a little bit of time he would just run right off the edge into the pool, no cares!(as long as he had that float on)
Are these the cutest boys you've ever seen! Seriously, they kill me. Mason is in this serious stage...he's happy and still smiles all the time, but not so much for the camera anymore. I love their little bellies in this picture...why is that only cute on babies? Hmmm...

More fun in the sun. Here is, hmmm, let's see, in the back we have me and Mason, Nate Johnson, Joel, Alex and Kelly Eggersten, There's another baby back there and I don't remember who it is, sorry...in front there is Carter, Michal and Ashlyn Thompson, and Whitney Corbett, and then Luke Johnson. The baby in the back must be Andrew Corbett...that's my guess.
Mason had a lot of fun in the pool as well. Especially when Aunt Kelly let us borrow their floaty. We just stuck him in there and let him go...okay, we checked on him periodically...
We had Thompson family pictures taken during this trip as well. I can't wait to see how they turned out. Here are the boys and I waiting for pictures do be done. We love the Thompson family. They are getting so big. There are 24 grandchildren from ages 13 on down. We have so much fun with them and can't wait to see everyone again at Christmas.

Shafer Family Fun!

2007-08-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

I'm way behind with trips and family fun, so here are some pictures from our July get-together with the Shafer family. We had such a fun time. Here are the boys doing what they love...reading books at Borders. Carter doesn't know what a library is...when he wants to go read books he says he wants to go to Borders. Sad, but true.
Here is Mom and Dad's most recent purchase...the party barge...and let me tell you, it is definitely a party on the barge. It doesn't go super fast, but it's a fun ride and we can all be on it together. This picture is from May when it was a little colder, but I wanted to put a picture of the boat on here so you can picture it better.
We did try a little tubing behind it and as you can see it is a slow ride, but you can do silly things...perfect for Doug! He cracks me up...can you see his foot sticking up? Seriously, what a nut!
Ben and Doug are getting a little crazy! We also tried some wakeboarding behind the barge and it was fun. You could get up, but not do any real tricks. I even did it, but decided against posting the picture.
Doug and Jackie taught us how to play extreme croquet and it got a little "extreme". They had fun though. I understand that team "Dad and Joel" won! Yeah for them. We also played a lot of "London Bridge", a card game we all enjoy.
The boys got a little swim time as well...though the water was a little cold for Mason...whoops. Joel Shafer was in the pool too, but I couldn't get him to look at the camera. He was having too much fun to stop for pictures.
At the end of our trip Uncle Doug gave all my boys haircuts. This was Mason's first official cut. He was a good boy and is so cute. Incase you are all concerned about how red I look in this picture, no worries, I wasn't really sunburned, but for some reason the developed picture pulled out all the reds and pinks...so I look very red. We had so much fun throughout the week. I already miss them so much. I'm glad that we have such a fun family and that we have such fun together!

Shafer family pics

2007-08-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

We just had a Shafer family gathering the last week of July and it was so much fun! I love being with my family and we always have a such a wonderful time together. We took this picture last week and it is so fun to see how the family is growing. I will post more pictures from last week later...
Seriously, I think these are just the cutest kids! You can tell what each kid is thinking...Kadin - "I dropped a smartie down here somewhere...I've gotta find it!", Joel - "Uncle Doug is so funny!", Carter - "Uncle Doug is so funny!", Mason - "Whatever...are we done yet?". I wish we had videoed as we were taking pictures of the kids. All the adults are jumping and yelling and trying to be funny and get all the kids to look and smile and the kids are just sitting there putting their hands on their face or staring at the sky or whatever. It was crazy. This was the best picture Joel got on his camera. They are darn cute though!

Get the faux-hawk off!!

2007-08-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

Uncle Doug had just given all my boys haircuts and then gave them all faux-hawks! I thought they looked so cute we had to get a picture. I have been doing a faux-hawk on Carter for months and everyday he would always ask to have a "cute little faux-hawk" done to his hair, but recently he has not liked the faux-hawk. Infact, we had a serious battle about the faux-hawk one day where he yelled at me to "Get the faux-hawk off!!" a million times. (which is kind-of funny to me because it almost sounds like he's cursing at me, but really that's not funny, but, yeah. it kind of is) It was too late though, I had already done it and for some reason decided to fight this one out and win...I know silly to fight over a hairdo. After an hour or so of screaming and crying and taking time-outs and a little spanking "we" decided the faux-hawk was okay today, but not tomorrow.

I've been tagged!

2007-07-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

Jackie tagged me to do this fun little question/answer thing, so here it is...

places I've worked
1-Weyerhaueser Pulp Mill (Aberdeen, WA)
2-Art City Family Medical Center (Springville, UT)
3-Metropolitan Pediatrics (Beaverton, OR)
4-BYU Salt Lake Center

movies I can watch over and over
1-Ocean's 11, 12, or 13
2-Gladiator (edited)
3-Sahara
4-Fletch Lives

places I've lived
1-Bonney Lake, WA
2-Provo and Salt Lake City, UT
3-Beaverton, OR
4-Aberdeen, WA

favorite tv shows
1-House
2-So You Think You Can Dance
3-King of Queens
4-What I Like About You (embarrassing, I know)

places I've been
1-Australia
2-Ireland
3-England
4-Washington DC

favorite foods
1-Strawberries and Creme Frapuccino
2-Wendy's Vanilla Frosty Root Beer Float
3-Steak and potatoes
4-Roast beef sandwich from Savory Faire (no tomato please)

majors I've considered
1-Health Promotions
2-Interior Design
3-Fashion Design
4-History (well, really I just loved History classes)

places I'd rather be
1-Hawaii
2-Australia
3-On an airplane
4-In bed sleeping

Precious Moments...

2007-07-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

Carter is such a good big brother to Mason. He has really started playing more with Mason and helps me take care of him. We were sitting outside (due to the fact that I am tired of cleaning up potty training accidents in the house...Carter actually has no pants on in this picture, just underwear) and Carter was eating some Crispix and Mason was trying to get them. I gave Carter, Mason's Veggie Puffs and Carter sat and fed Mason. It was so precious. Mason loves Carter and whenever Carter gives him attention he laughs so much and is all smiles.

Carter is such a nut. I have been finding him in the funniest places lately. I found him in this plastic tub, just chillin' eating his "lickerlish". By the way, he loves those sunglasses and very rarely takes them off. He wears them in the house, outside, in the car, in the store...at night...all the time. I think it's so funny.

Mason seriously is so cute. I love his big smile. This is how Mason looks the majority of the time...big bright blue eyes, huge smile, so happy!

A little potty talk...

2007-07-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

So, I need help. I don't understand why it is so hard to learn how to go potty in the toilet. I mean, does anyone seriously like the feeling of poo or pee in their pants and why is that such a hard concept to grasp. I started trying to potty train Carter a week ago last Wednesday and have thus far been unsuccessful. I mean he pees in the toilet, but still fails to mention the fact that he has to go pee...or poo...until it has already soaked his pants, run down his leg, and soaked into the carpet (oh how our landlord would love to read that...whoops). For some reason I am more stressed and bothered by this than Carter. Poo and pee is all I am thinking about...it's been 15 minutes, should I take him to the bathroom again, no I should wait, but what if it's too late, what do I do, why isn't he telling me...oh shoot, I was supposed to feed Mason 2 hours ago and that's why he's getting a little testy! Once again, my sweetest boy takes a side seat to life and I forget to take care of him. Potty training is all consuming!!! I can't think or do anything, but potty training. I feel powerless and Carter is so sick of it. He keeps telling me to stop talking to him and that he doesn't want to sit on the potty anymore (probably because our conversations are soley questions of whether or not he is dry and should we go sit on the potty). We also have to be home most of the time which is getting really old. Oh man...I have to go take him to the potty again...I just wanted to get this off my chest, though I have more...I'll be back.

Ratatpooey!

2007-06-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Uh, I haven't seen the new movie Ratatouille, but um, apparently they are doing publicity for it right here in our garage! What is that your saying to yourself...Disney has come to Bonney Lake, even the Thompson's home! Well, no, but there is a RAT in our garage! Totally a rat! Let me sum up...I am not very happy about this and am currently not using the garage for anything. I semi-love all of God's creatures, just not in my living space (ie - anywhere that I am, be it outside, inside, at the zoo...). I know you are all dying to hear the long story, so I am going to tell it to you.
So one day I go out to the garage, wait you need some background...We were borrowing my Mom's van and had not given it back from when Whitney and her boys came to visit us and the other thing you need to know is that Joel had just mowed the lawn the night before. Okay, so one day I go out to the garage because the boys and I had an errand to run. I open the door that goes from the kitchen to the garage and as I am stepping down the steps I see something out of the corner of my eye skitter under the lawn mower which is just feet from me. I got scared and froze and then I thought to myself, "Duh Kadi, your are so dumb...you always freak out about stuff and you are so jumpy and you are such a loser and...I'm sure it was just your imagination." I then proceed to the car...picture this...I am standing at the driver side door of my Mom's van opening it and the lawn mower is behind me, but up closer to the door to the kitchen. So I start loading the car with the eight million things that I have to take anytime I go out of the house with two kids and Carter has come out and is running around the yard. I am then going back and forth from the house to the car loading all the things I forgot...uh, Mason (who was still in the house), snacks, bottle...guess I need the formula too..., So the kids are in the car and we are off to our errand with no more thoughts of the strange thing skittering under the lawn mower...though there are thoughts of anger toward my sweet husband Joel...how could he mow the lawn last night and make such a mess of cut grass all over the garage floor...AND JUST LEAVE IT THERE AND NOT EVEN PICK IT UP!!! I mean, what was he thinking...and what are all the black things all over the floor, seriously, I am going to have to talk to him when he gets home! (Meanwhile, Joel has been wondering how in the world has the grass that was on the lawn mower been strewn all over the garage floor and more and more of it all the time...weird).
So I come home from my errand and go about my day...later that evening I find that I need to run again to the store where I am looking for Skor candy bars, which no one in Bonney Lake has even heard of such a treat (I finally had to settle for Heath bars, they were for a recipe which specifically calls for Skor bars and I never deviate, but was forced to...uh, the recipe turned out fine, but I am sure would have been better with the correct candy bar!, but I digress) So, I come back out to the garage to load everything and everyone back into the car...Joel of course is gone at a work meeting and Carter is in the yard doing his normal running route...I am standing at the drivers side of the car with the door open and my feet slightly under the van, when a thought pops in my head, "What if you're not crazy and there really is something in the garage...what if it's under the car right now...and your feet are right there...oh my gosh...(panic)." So I step away far enough away from the car so that I can slightly see underneath...and OH MY GOSH THERE IS A RAT!!!!! I swear it...it was huge and took off somehwhere in the garage. I ran out of the garage feeling like there were about one hundred rats in my shirt and pants and I kind of freaked out in the yard with Carter watching and the neighbors driving by and waving. I grabbed Carter and walked up to the neighbor's and asked if they could help me for a second. They were two guys who had been drinking...just a little...they said yes and the brought a hoe and poked around the garage trying to find it and scare it. They couldn't find it, but said we definitely have a rat, due to the size of the droppings all over the floor and the grass he had been spreading around for his nest! Yikes. The neighbors left and I very cautiously jumped into the car and backed it out and then I had to cross the entire garage floor to go back into the house to get...yes, I forgot my poor Mason again. Poor thing was crying in the house, probably sensed the stress we were having outside...or he's sick of getting forgotten. I ran back to the store with the kids and bought some glue rat traps (sick). The whole time I'm driving Mom's van I am petrified that the rat will show up and I will crash and kill all of us in the car...yes, they can nest in cars, just ask Joel's dad who had mice living and doing their years supply of food storage in his Porsche! When Joel got home I told him the whole story and then he told me to stay in the house because when I am around with things like that he says I make him scared. So he stayed solo, all manly in the garage, hunting rat.
It has been a week and a half now and we still haven't caught it, but we also haven't seen any signs of it for days...when I say "we", I mean Joel. I am too scared to even open the door, so I park out front and all the poopy diapers which used to get thrown in the garage and now put by the door, waiting for Joel to come. I just know the moment I open that door that little rat is going to sneak right in our house and then I will have to move out immediately. This has been quite an adventure for Carter and he likes to remind me that we have a rat in our garage, but it has spawned an interest in the new Disney movie for Carter, who now says, "I want to see Ratatouille that has the rat that's like the one in our garage!"

My first post!

2007-06-18T16:53:00.001-07:00

This is my first time blogging, so hopefully I'm doing this right...I have had lots of help from Kristyn Jackson, who actually set this up for me and from Whitney, my sister-in-law, who posted my first picture for me on our profile...and now I am trying it on my own...well, with Whitney on the phone guiding me through every step along the way. Oh, yeah, so this picture is of the cutest little boys ever (I think). Carter is reading to Mason before bed. He is reading Are You My Mother?, which Carter has memorized. It is hilarious because it really does seem like this two year old is reading, but really he just has this awesome memory. I love this picture too because I think Mason looks like a little doll.

2007-06-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a million dollars and could go to the Nordstrom...

I would buy tons of shoes without trying any of them on. Like these perhaps...