Maybe I could wrap up August and September 2010

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

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

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...

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...

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...