A bombardment of pictures...

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...

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

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!