Tuesday, January 28, 2014

November- Smith's Visit Part 1

(My sister has already posted about this, sorry for those of you who already read about it. :))
The last half of November was a wonderful time for our family!  My sister, Emily, and her family came all the way from Alabama to visit!  This was the first time my whole family had been together in almost 3 years.  They had at least one significant hiccup on there flight here.  My sister left her super $nice$ camera on the plane!  The story thankfully had a happy ending and the camera was found and mailed to my house!  
Sunday, the 17th, was my last Sunday "acting" as Primary President and was also our Sacrament Meeting Presentation.  My sisters kids got to enjoy watching a primary program instead of being in it.  Later that evening, we visited my mom's parents and celebrated my brother's birthday.  
My niece, Kelsey, was already a little jealous of her mommy holding another baby.  So we let Kelsey have a turn too.  :) Anna looks confident she's safe, right?  :)


That night we headed up to Dan's parents' place in Mantua so all of us Thompsons could be under one roof and spread out a little.  We were there Sunday night-Wednesday evening.  
The kids enjoyed some ranger rides! 


We also had some time to be tourists and drove out to Promontory Point where the Golden Spike was driven to connect the Union and Central Pacific Railroads and created the first Transcontinental railroad.   
A cute moment with Dylan and Ben
We toured the engine house where the steam engines are housed for the Winter.  McKenna got to be a helper for the Ranger as a size comparison to the wheels of the two engines.  

The original golden spike is now housed in Stanford, but there is a commemorative rail and plaque where the original spike was placed.

Ben was being super cooperative for a picture. :) 
It was fun to sit around at family dinner that night and talk about how much we learned about the engines and the monument.  
My brother brought up his XBox Kinect and the kids loved playing this funny ninja game.  




There was also lots of baby snuggling!

We even had a paper airplane "contest." 
And the kids preferred these seats while they watched a movie.  
There was girl bonding as Aunt Pickle painted fingernails.  

And of course we had to partake of some delicious cuisine from Maddox!  
I was such a glorious time to be all together in the same house!  We also stayed up late and watched a few movies, kids played a little in the snow, and as my sister would say, we just enjoyed breathing the same air! :)   

November 1st-15th

We took Anna to her first Jazz game 
 She slept a little, but was actually quite fussy most of the game.  Must have been the thousands of people screaming at her.  
 As my time as primary president came to an end, we were preparing for our annual Sacrament Meeting presentation.  SO bitter sweet to leave.  Here are the pictures we took to put in the program.   
Junior Primary (minus 4 kids)
 Senior Primary (minus 1)
 My mom and dad came into town mid November.  We had an nice evening with my dad's parents.  My Grandma Jeanne LOVES babies!  
I love this shot of them looking at each other! 

And she's checking out my dad.  
 Me and the kids, and my sister Mickelle, had a lovely trip to the Zoo.
We got to see the rhinos eating their lunch. 
 Love these three 2-year-old trouble makers!
 Thankfully we had pretty decent weather too!  
 I love it when the tigers are active. 
 The always popular carousel! 
That weekend, Dan took a "man-cation" with his brothers and Dad to St. George.  They watched the U of U game that weekend.  Of course, they didn't take any "blog-able" pictures :)
 While the boys were gone, a few of us girls got together for a pizza night and then some yummy Ugurt!  

Sunday, January 19, 2014

October- Week 4: Well Check-ups and The Rest of the Halloween Stuff

Carving pumpkins
McKenna wasn't afraid of scooping out the goop, but Ben was.  I loved playing in the goop so I could get all the seeds out for roasting!  Yum!
McKenna drew her own face on her pumpkin and we carved it.  
Ben dictated what shapes he wanted and we did our best to interpret.  

Ben wanted his cross-eyed.  
Dan let his creative juices flow after the kids went to bed and carved this Minion from Despicable Me.  

Halloween day, I took the girls in for their well child check-ups.
Anna's 4 Month Stats
Height: 25.2 in (1.7 in increase in 2 months) 80th percentile
Weight: 13.4 lbs (2.3 lb increase in 2 months) 50th percentile
Head: Still 75th percentile
Other October happenings for Anna:
  • We started a bedtime routine (PJs/diaper, nurse, read a book, swaddle and sing a song or two, put to bed still awake.)  
  • Anna found her voice!  Her cry started to get really loud and high pitched.
  • Starting to enjoy and be easily distracted by toys.
  • Lots of sucking on hands.
  • Bears weight on legs.
  • Enjoying her Bumbo seat.  
  • Slept through the night a few times.  Nothing consistent yet. 

McKenna 5 Year Stats
Can't remember the percentiles.  
Height: 42.7 in (2.5 in increase in 1 year)
Weight: 35 lbs (4lbs increase in 1 year)  

This week McKenna had a great preschool Halloween party.
Our traditional mummy hot dog dinner. 
Getting ready to go trick-or-treating.
Thankfully, the weather wasn't too cold, but it didn't take long for our little witch's hands to become frozen.  


**Also, noteworthy this week, Dan was ordained a high priest and called as the first counselor in our ward Bishopric.  A crazy few weeks and months followed.  :)  
At the beginning of October, Dan was called in to meet with the Bishop by himself.  Our minds began to run through all the possible callings it could be for.  We had both been in our current callings for less than a year. Turns out it was a worthiness interview for advancement in the Priesthood.  At that point, the number of possible callings was really narrowed down.  He had a follow-up priesthood advancement interview with a member of the Stake Presidency the following Sunday and we knew big changes were headed our way! I had to start to come to grips with the fact that I would be released as Primary President (I was sad, to say the least).  As it turns out, it was time for our Bishop to get two new counselors and he chose the Primary and Young Women's President's husbands.  Needless to say, they have been very busy reorganizing most of the ward and we're getting used to not having him sit by us during church. Thank goodness Dan's mom is in the ward!

October- Week 4

Chunky little Anna


McKenna had a lovely birthday date with Grandma Sibber.  
Disney Store
Lunch at City Creek food court.   
Treats at Ugurt!
Once again, spoiled by Grandma! Thank you so much! 
The October babies at the Nelson Family party.  

Anna, falling asleep on her own while I was getting ready for the day.  No binki, no rocking.  Poor neglected third child.  ;) 

Dan's work Halloween party.  Anna was already too hot in her pumpkin costume.  




Blurry children in the bounce house.  
Ward Carnival and Trunk or Treat
Don't tell Ben he cheated.  ;) 

So fun my siblings could come too!