Shafer Fam Vaca...uh, last July

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...

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!

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...

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!

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!

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!!