Thompson Family Reunion 2008

**Edited to add more photos and video's** On day one we arrived in Rexburg, ID around 1:30 pm. We met up with Matt's family and had lunch at Craigo's. It's a pizza and pasta buffet. Just what I needed! After waking up early and only having a granola bar and a few pieces of candy, it hit the spot! Their ranch dressing was to die for! I also loved the sign that's on the bathroom door.



It really wasn't that ugly but it wasn't the greatest either. After lunch we went around Rexburg to tour BYU-Idaho and the new Temple. Before we went to the reunion site, we had to take a small detour to Wal-Mart. About 20 miles from Rexburg, I realized I left my Mary Kay roll up bag at home. I had to get the bare necessities to last me through the week. We arrived in Ashton at 3:00, just in time because we weren't able to go into the lodge until than. Ashton is beautiful! All green farm land as far as the eye can see. The Teton Mountains in the near distance.The lodge that we stayed at was amazing! It's a large old barn that was remodeled. It has 7 bedrooms, 4 baths, a loft that has 16 bunk beds and a theater/game room.



While we were waiting for all the family to show up, we just hung out. Baseball was played. Adults vs. small kids. They didn't keep track of score but the kids were doing really well. Evan enjoyed all the commotion. I had a hard time getting him to eat and him letting me change his diapers because he just wanted to be out there with the kids. When everyone arrived we sat down and had a great dinner. I wasn't too hungry because of our big lunch but I still ate a lot. I had to make up for missing breakfast for Evan. After dinner most of us went to the Green Canyon Hot Springs. These springs aren't out in nature like you think they would be. Instead it's almost an Olympic sized pool with basketball hoops, diving board and it's indoor. Your basically swimming in bath water. It was so nice. Evan loved it! There's also an outdoor pool that's smaller but it was more hot so it was like a spa. It was only 3 ft. There was even a smaller pool in the corner that was ice cold! No one was in that pool. We were daring people to go all the way in it. Our cousin Jessie who is 8 was the only one that managed to go all the way under and not blink twice about it. Matt only got to his shoulders. I only got to my shins. It felt like my heart was going to fail. Other people also managed to go to their shoulders. It was so funny to watch. There are no pictures because nothing was allowed in the pool area but towels. Kind of disappointing. Day 2 we spent the entire day in West Yellowstone. That place is absolutely beautiful. I thought I went as a child but I guess I never been. We took so many pictures. I obviously can't put them all in so I will only put in a few of my favorites.



We saw a lot of Bison and only one elk the entire day. We saw one Bison right on the side of the road scratching his side on a tree but once we got close to it, it started walking down the road.



During our lunch and dinner breaks we would see tree trunks wedged between two trees to make a see-saw. There was one that was for big kids only because the tree was so long.

Before we headed back just Matt, Evan and I went to go see the bears and wolves. Evan loved the bears. He got so excited looking at them. It was a little surprising because this is what we got before we saw them. See picture below



The wolfs were amazing. They howled for us. After a while Evan started to howl with them. I'm happy that we caught it on video


Day three we did a session at the new Rexburg Temple.



The session we planned to go to was full so the one we attended was in Spanish so we had to use translation devices. That was an unique experience. After the Temple, the entire family went to Big Jud's. They are famous for their 1 lb hamburgers. They are really huge! One hamburger fed four people. I wish I got a picture of one but we devoured it before I thought about it. Day four was Sunday so we attended church. Before we left I lost my footing and fell down the wooden spiral staircase. All I can say to that is OUCH!



My shin and third toe look beautiful! After church we relaxed a little bit but than we went to Mesa Falls This is the lower falls.

We than went to the upper falls.

The upper falls were so beautiful. It was cool that we could go right to it. Later that evening we celebrated our Grandpa's 75th Birthday. Everyone was asked what their favorite memory of Grandpa was and what we would say to him. It was filmed and we watched it with Grandpa. The kids than played the game Pin the Tail on the Donkey but instead it was Pin the Hearing Aid on Grandpa. The older kids and adults played Family Feud. That was fun! We than had cake and ice cream!



Happy Birthday Grandpa! On our last day we didn't just drive home. We drove through the Teton Mountains and visited Jackson Hole and The Teton National Park. The Teton Mountains were beautiful at every angle.



It was a great reunion. Matt and I enjoyed every minute of it. We appreciate Devan and Becki for all their hard work in putting on a fun reunion. We can't wait for next year.

On The Road

I love technology! We are on the road going up to Ashton, Idaho for the Thompson Reunion but I'm still able to be on the computer. It gives me something to do while Evan is sleeping! The plan was to get some work in but for some reason I keep losing my remote connection. Oh well! Now I can do whatever I want. Anyways, this should be a fun week/weekend. Sand Dunes, Temple, Yellowstone and being with family. I'm really looking forward to it.

Standing!

Evan stood for 3 seconds on his own today! Sorry it's dark. I wanted to get it on video. You get to hear his laugh too.

Photo Tag

I was tagged by Kortney. Only rule is no cleaning up first. (I'm glad I did a little cleaning up before Evan woke up.)

1. Dream Vacation...Temple hopping across the world


2. Self Portrait...Sorry Evan got in the shot. He wanted the Camera.



3. What my kids are doing right now...Looking at himself at the mirror


4. Closet... Color Coordinated if you can tell


5.Favorite Room... Living Room because of all the pictures



6. Favorite shoes... I love sandals!


7. Laundry Room...Like the bomb shelter to the right?



8. Bathroom


9. Kitchen Sink...There is nothing much in the sink but there are some dishes on the side hehe.


10. Fridge...Needs to be cleaned out


Ok, I think I did pretty good but there are some places where I could be better. I tag Sher, Kate, Bethany, Becki, Emily and Amy. I hope your house is cleaner than mine :)

4th of July Weekend

We are both so exhausted but it was worth it to have a fun weekend. I want to start out by saying Thank You to the men and women out fighting so we can enjoy a day like the 4th.


Not only were we celebrating our Nations freedom, we were also celebrating Leanna's 18th Birthday. We enjoyed our time with her and the family. Before she went off with her friends, we went bowling. Evan was so good while we bowled. He slept the entire time. After Matt's dad kicked out butt's, we went back to the house and had a yummy BBQ. The ice cream cake was extra yummy!

We never made it to the big fireworks because we were just too tired to drive. We normally drive into Nephi to watch them because hardly anyone goes there and it beats driving there to avoid the traffic in Provo. We got to see some fireworks at the Stadium of Fire since we live pretty close to BYU so we didn't miss them entirely. Today was another eventful day. My sister Ellen was baptized. My brother Ammon was the one that performed the Baptism and my Dad confirmed her.



I had the opportunity to sing "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" with my sisters and Ammon's girlfriend. We had a celebration in her honor by having another yummy BBQ. Later on we went swimming. All my family (Felts) minus Dad, Nathan and Elizabeth came. It was a blast! Evan was just too funny. We put him in his floaty and he just takes off! We had a hard time keeping up with him if we were laying or siting in the water. Take a look!



Than here is a picture of Abby and Evan together.

Sand Dunes

On the spur of the moment, Matt wanted to ride out to the sand dunes. We got our cousins Steven and Kevin to come with us. We first stopped to get a yummy dinner before we headed out to the middle of no where. When we got there, we had the whole place to ourselves.



Evan was a little unsure about the new feel of sand but shortly decided he loved it.




He just wanted to crawl everywhere





It looked like he was going to tumble down that hill. He was trying to get to his Daddy.

While I was playing with Evan, the boys had fun jumping off the hills, rolling around, playing king of the hill and just being goof balls.




The Icee's we had on the way home were so good after playing out on the sand. We had a lot of fun with Kevin and Steven.