Here is a shot of the outside of our beautiful home. (I spy a sweet baby crying his eyes out because his mommy put him down for 3 seconds to take a couple pictures of the outside. Do you see him? He's screaming!) It has 5 garages, which seems like a whole lot, but it ends up being perfect for us. Papa Bill bought the home last year and we're renting it from him. So, he has some of his stuff in the detached 2-car garage and then our two vehicles are in the regular garage. Our house is set off the street with a long drive way to our home. Many years ago the lot was a huge long lot that housed a small brick home right off the street. The owner sold off the front 1/3 of the property and built a home on the back 2/3 of the property, where we're currently living.
Papa Bill put in grass with a sprinkler system, paved the long driveway and put in this beautiful flagpole. (He over heard me saying I'd love my home to have one in front!) Behind that fence (between the home and detached garage) is pour church parking lot! On the other side of the parking lot is a street of homes and then the next street is the boys new school. It takes me longer to drive tot he boys school than for them to cut through on their bikes or scooters. More photos of our home to come...We're still unpacking and decorating!
We had 4 huge, super tall, pine trees in our backyard. But sadly, they were dying. So, we had a guy come out and cut them down. I thought of the great idea to rent a chipper thingy and use the wood chips for the driveway area. (Note to self...NEVER a good idea. Way too much work and effort! We about died of exhaustion!!)
So here we begin the extremely hard feat!
My turn to push them into the machine.
4 hours later with cuts and bruises everywhere...We all took turns scooping the chips into the wheelbarrows. (Even Jackson's friend Lily came to help!)
Will did so much work, we sure appreciate all his hard work and effort those 2 days!! GREAT JOB WILL!!!
So many piles!
Oh man after all that, I don't have a "completed" photo for you! Rats! Well, we plan on planting bushes of some kind soon. It looks real nice and smells yummy too! Please use your imagination! :)
Last week we went on a very fun hike up Mill Creek canyon. It's super close to our house and was a pretty easy walk for my boys to do, even Brig's. We hiked a little over a hour up the trail to the bridge and the stream was located. Jackson brought his friend, Lily along for the day. They were busy picking wild flowers, which later they pressed into a cute book they made and wrote about their adventures. It was beautiful up there. It was cooler up there and we had a blast!!Brig's usually wakes up between 8-9 and starts shouting either MOM or DAD...OUT. His yells get louder and deeper..it's pretty funny. Yesterday morning it's a little after 9 and I'm thinking there is no way he can still be sleeping. I walk by his door and hear him singing. A cute gibberish lyric. I was pretty amazed because he'll play for a short while then start yelling for us to get him OUT. I slowly open the door and he's sitting on his bed with a bunch of candy in his hands and mouth. The wrappers are all over the floor. We're talking like 10 plus pieces! OH MAN! Last night we went to our cousin Ty's birthday party where they had a Spider man pinata. Brigham filled his pockets with the loot and forgot about it. He went to bed shortly after we arrived home, in his clothes no less. He remembered in the morning and was in heaven. Candy for breakfast. Breakfast in bed. How lovely!
After 6 kids...I finally have a nursery! I was so excited about this room, it was the first one I unpacked and put together. Yes, the color of the walls is peach...blah! But other than that, it turned out pretty cute. Simple and cute. I love it. Nathan does too! :)
I've been slackin' on my mini goals. I've been working on a few different ones, just not posting about them. Sorry. The more people I tell, the harder I work at it because I was to succeed and not fail. So, I really need to get back into the habit of posting about them. Here are some I've been working on and completed with flying colors...
I stopped drinking soda for the week, and then stuck with it. I have been soda free for 3 weeks now. (I still want it so bad. Just a small sip. Hmmm, sounds so good!!!)
Take photos of my boys and me everyday for an entire week. Wasn't too hard I feel like my camera is with me almost 24-7, but I made a conscious effort to take one of each of my boys and me together everyday. Turned out great. So many lasting memories.
To make and bake either a homemade meal or dessert everyday for the week. All I can say about that is YUMMY!
Hmmm....I don't remember the others....But I have been a little busy with packing, vacationing, and moving in to my new home in Utah!
Another great activity I started with the boys is memorizing a scripture every Sunday. It's not really a weekly goal, but it's been a great experience so far. We started with the Article of Faith. Before church we talk about what the Article of Faith means and recite it a few times together and individually. We review after church and all through the day until everyone can say it (Will, Jackson, Tyler, Gavin mom and dad). Cute Brigs will mumble a few sentences when it's his turn. It's helped to sing the songs during the week and on Sunday to review with the boys. After the Articles of Faith we're moving on to scripture mastery's. How cool is that?
Ok so this weeks goal...This may sound lame, but I really, really, really need to unpack and organize my office. That's what I'll focus on and do this week!
What are YOU working on??
Happy 4th of July!! (Notice Scott behind everyone almost ready to lite a fire cracker!) We arrived in SLC, Utah on the 3rd at about 8pm. The kids ran around our new (beautiful) home and then we took off to a local park where there was a big fireworks celebration. We met several family members there and had a ball. My boys have seen shows like that many times before, but have never done fireworks on our own. (it's against the law in Cali and in Mesa we're we've lived before) At Nana's house they have down those cite sparklers and poppers, but that's it. The expressions on my boys faces were better than being at Disneyland! They were in heaven and loved every moment of the mini celebration in our backyard. I bought almost $50 bucks worth of fireworks. I know, that's a lot, but it was really 10 years worth I was buying for, right?! :)
Every time Scott would lite a new firework the boys would do magic, like Harry Potter, on it. Notice their cute hand gestures.
We invited some of our favorite cousins to join us on our fun. Aleigh, Angie, Brynnlee and her boyfriend Zac came along. I'm glad they did!
Here is Kelsey and Nater's hanging out with Brynn and Brig's. THANKS ladies for helping with the little ones while I was shooting some pictures!
The boys still doing magic on those fire works. So cute. Below is the first picture I snapped. Look how excited Gavin and Scott are. Priceless.
I love this country and am honored to be an American. Happy, happy birthday to this beautiful country.
God bless the U S of A!!!
When we drove out of Santa Barbara we headed straight for Vegas baby! We love, love visiting that place. We have some great friends, some family, and lots of places we enjoy taking the kids to. This trip was a super quick one though. We pulled in around 6pm and headed straight for the pool. The resort is fun to stay at because it has a kiddy pool area, a lazy river, a regular pool, several huge Jacuzzi....We always have a blast there. We put the kiddos to bed and headed out on a double date with Paul and Laura, Scott's younger brother. Like always, we had a blast with them. The next morning we invited them and their 4 kids to join us one more time to hang out and play in the pool with us.
The kids, and I include Scott and Paul, we splashin' around having a great time. Cute Seth wearing baby Preston's hat.
The playing became wrestling time in the kiddy pool.
Cute Isabell watching how wild all the boys are, especially the dads! Laura and baby Preston chillin' in the water.
Here's Paul teaching the kids to jump like a frog out of the water. It was so funny to watch. More wrestling...
It was fun to be with such great company on a hot summer day splashing in the cool pools. THANKS for joining us Thompson's! We love you!!
Last weekend we had a mini Santa Barbara Reunion slash baby shower. It was held at Cheryl's beautiful home. It was a lot of fun to see everyone, meet their babies, laugh till we cried and ate some yummy food.
Here is Jennica who is expecting twin boys in 4 weeks!! And her cute daughter Sarah Jane.
All of us adults sat around and talked about fun memories and laughed. It was so fun to see so many wonderful people.
Tyler and Gavin eating some yummy BBQ food.
We first started posing together (like normal people) then we ended up like this. Not sure how Michelle and Jenn ended up posing like a bad prom picture...But it was funny!
I like this shot that Scott snapped of us while Ali was taking our picture. Creative.
There was a slip ands slide, sprinklers and a warm jacuzzi for all the kiddos to play in.
Here is Ali and Jess little sisters to some of my besties. They are so beautiful!
Thank you Cheryl and Michelle for planning such a fun mini reunion!
