Stringtown Nightmare Express

Amy invited us to go with her and her boys to this neighborhood train ride. Our husbands were doing scout training so it was fun having something to do together. Its out in Lindon and so much work is put into it and it's free! Can't beat that. Dressing up was an option but a fun excuse for the boys. We wanted to get there early because once it's dark, they do more to scare. I didn't want them jumping out at us :). When we got there the line wasn't horrible but it was very slow. They usually have two trains going but one of them was getting worked on. Half way through the wait they got it working again. The boys seemed to enjoy watching them working on it so it wasn't a huge deal. There was much applause when it was going again though.

As we got closer to our turn we got to watch a Disney Halloween movie in the garage. At this point the younger kids got a little antsy but it was our turn shortly after. Evan loved the ride but Alex didn't. No one jumped out at him and luckily I was able to hold him but I could tell he was scared because he would jump a little when someone came around the corner. After a while he started to cry :(. Evan was all smiles and laughed. I love that he loves Halloween. I just hope this experience didn't scar Alex for life because it was completely innocent.

 

Thompson Bunch (Bryan and Lin September 22, 2012)

Words written by Bryan Thompson
Sung with the Brady Bunch Tune

Here's the story of a lovely lady

Who was bringing up four very special kids.

All of them were fun loving, like their mother,

The youngest one especially fun to have around.

 

Here's the story, of a man named Thompson,

Who was busy with four kids of his own,

They were a very close to each other,

Yet they were all alone.

 

Till the one day when the lady met this fellow

And they knew it was much more than a hunch,

That this group would somehow form a family.

That's the way we all became the Thompson Bunch.

 

Lets go back to January when this all started.....

 Matt was in the bishopric at this time and was on a run with our Bishop. Matt thought to tell Bishop that his dad has decided he wanted to start dating again. Bishop thought of his wife's sister, Lin, who was single and wanted them to meet. It was arranged and the Bishop and his family prepared a lovely evening with dinner over looking snowfall and the Provo Temple at the Jensen's home. Matt and I were invited so we got to see it all from the very beginning.

Bryan proposed to Lin during the Thompson reunion in July.

 He privately asked her with a ring pop...

 and then asked her in front of everyone with the real thing so it could be recorded since Matt, me, our boys and Leanna couldn't be there.

If you are wondering about their attire, this reunion was a pioneer trek. They all dressed in pioneer clothing and experienced what our pioneer ancestors did as they crossed the plains.

Their marriage was was set for September 22, 2012.

It was a beautiful day. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple. This wasn't planned but they ended up being sealed in the same room where Matt and I were sealed :).

Just two 1/2 weeks before their wedding, Bryan fell while moving furniture and cracked 3 ribs. That's why he has an oxygen shadow.

 They had an open house that afternoon at the Provo Library.

Before it started we had a family session done by our good family friend JaNae Lee. She did an amazing job as always! Now I get to introduce our whole family!

You should know us but for those that are new to our blog here's a little run down about us. Matt is Bryan's first son and first born. He graduated from UVU a year ago and has been working at Employer Solutions Group for 7 years and is the IT Manager. He's now in the High Council working with the Young Men. I'm a stay at home working mom. I work for my father doing payroll and accounting. I'm also a licensed Cosmetologist. Evan is our oldest who will attend kindergarten next August. He's excited! Alex is our youngest and is two, enough said!

 



This is Jessica, her husband Jaron and sweet daughter Addie. I now have a niece. Woohoo!! Jessica is Lin's first daughter and first born. She works as an RN at Utah Valley Regional in the Mother Baby Unit. Jaron works at ROI and Addie is in kindergarten.

 

This is Laura, Bryan's first daughter and second born. She works at Aroma Tools and is the traveler of the family. She will be traveling to Bali this next summer. Yes I'm jealous.

This is Kayla and Bronson. Kayla is Lin's second daughter and second born. She graduated from UVU earlier this year and accepted a teaching position at San Jaun High School where she's a drama and history teacher. Bronson is the head mechanic at Montella's in Blanding, UT.

 This is Michael, his lovely wife Julie and adorable son Elai. Michael is Bryan's 2nd son and 3rd born. They live down in Cedar City where both Michael and Julie are going to school at SUU. Elai is 16 months and the cutest thing ever when he smiles. He's even the cutest thing when he doesn't smile :). He just woke up from a nap in this picture.

  

 This is Leanna. Second daughter to Bryan and fourth born. She is currently serving in the Canada Edmonton Mission. She's been serving for 13 months but made her presence in the form of a card board cut out.

 

This is Colter. Lin's first son and third born. He returned from the England Birmingham Mission in April. He's going to school at UVU and works at Abundant Health.

This is Bridger and Randy. Bridger is Lin's second son and fourth born. They're engaged to be married in October.

Bryan and Lin. I love this picture of them. Lin has raised four amazing kids. It's been fun getting to know them. Bryan has also raised four amazing kids and I'm so lucky to be apart of this family. 

I love my boys and niece and nephew!

Can't wait for Leanna to get home!

The whole Thompson Bunch

Oldest to youngest siblings

Matt, Jessica, Laura, Kayla, Michael, Leanna, Colter and Bridger

 



Pioneer Night Fun

 

 

28th Birthday

My 28th Birthday landed on Sunday this year so we waited to get together with family and friends on the 23rd.

That didn't stop Alex from giving me a little birthday surprise after church.

Good thing he's cute

We had a yummy BBQ in our backyard and all the little kids swam while the adults talked and ate. I got a lot of birthday love and enjoyed spending time with people I love. Bryan was in charge of the camera to take pictures but we didn't take the camera off video from the one above so all we have is video of me opening presents. He thought he was taking pictures lol.

I will just put up one. Alex gave me a gift card to my favorite clothing store, Down East. Matt hid it in his hiking boot to throw me off.

 



10 Year High School Reunion

Yes, Matt and I are old and both had our 10 year High School Reunions.

For those that don't know, I grew up in San Diego, Spring Valley to be exact. I went to Monte Vista High School. Home of the Mighty Monarchs. No, we weren't the butterflies as Matt loves to call us :). We were Lions.

This is the only picture I have of my alma mater. Fun times with friends there but wasn't able to attend my reunion due to our busy schedules. I heard it was fun. I hope to be able to catch the next one.

Matt grew up in Spanish Fork and went to Spanish Fork High. Home of the Dons (snigger). Even the late President Gordon B. Hinkley wondered who came up with that mascot ;). No it was a great mascot. All of Matt's siblings are Dons and my brother Ammon.

They had theirs at the school. I don't remember who catered but it was really yummy! We were too busy having fun to remember that detail.

These are two of Matt's best friends growing up, Travis and Weston.

 Matt with other friends

 We had a little too much fun taking pictures.

Time flew these past 10 years and before we know it, our 20 year reunion will be here. 

Philmont Day 7 and 8

Thursday was our last full day at Philmont :(.
Matt woke up bright and early to go on a hike with the Perry's and Sis. Strain. They woke up at 4:00 to hike Lovers Leap to watch the Sunset. I would have loved to come but I love my sleep and I didn't want someone to have to take care of our boys when they woke up, so I got a full nights sleep :).

When I woke up, this day had to be my favorite morning.

I was worried about leaving Alex because of what happened yesterday but the head Nursery Instructor reassured me that he will be fine and they will make the best of it. They're awesome! Matt also helped by telling me that he will go get the boys from their classes before he goes to his second meeting just in case I didn't come back in time, which I didn't. This was my first activity outside the compound. I got picked from the lottery to ride horses :) We got started late due to some scouts out riding during almost half of our time there but I thought it turned out great because it didn't make us be on the horses for a long time to make myself hurt. I didn't walk funny :). I had a lot of fun on my horse named Dragon Fly. She was beautiful!

 It was a beautiful day too!

Here's the group of ladies I got to ride with.

 

Luckily I got back before Matt's next meeting. I just played with the boys waiting for him so we can eat lunch together. Alex had a great morning in Nursery so there was nothing to worry about.
After Lunch we took the boys back to their classes and I headed to the last meeting for the spouses. There I got my picture and a cool patch. They talked to us for a little bit and gave us instruction on another meeting that we got to attend with our spouses. During that meeting Matt and everyone else was recognized for completing Philmont Training. He got a certificate, more patches, a scarf and a fun Bolo Tie. His is of a Scottish man named Scottie. It's fun that he has that because his father went to Scotland on his mission and he has ancestors from there.
All the guys had a photo op with all their Philmont souvenirs.

After that meeting we had a final meeting with our Stake and a few other wards and had a Testimony Meeting. We all got to bare our testimonies.

Till dinner we had free time. We bought more patches and souvenirs to remember our trip. After dinner they had an Closing Ceremony where everyone had the opportunity to do a skit with their groups. Evan did a little patriotic skit. Alex would of been up there with him but he stayed with us of course.

A lady from my group made up fun lyrics to the Book of Mormon Stories tune

Matt and his group sang a beautiful song from the Hymn book. At that point it was too dark to record.
The rest of the night we got our stuff ready to head home in the early morning.

Day 8
After Breakfast we got our remaining possessions in the car and headed home. It was bittersweet for all of us. Well Matt and I really. We were excited to get home and get back to our routine but sad to leave such a fun place. Evan had too much fun and just cried as we were leaving. We hope we will be able to return again some day. We made great timing getting home. We didn't caravan like we did on the way up. We got back into town early enough to stop by our parent's place to tell them about our week, give them presents and Matt's dad was able to tell us about the Thompson Reunion that we missed. Matt's dad proposed to Lin :). We're having a wedding in September!
 

Philmont Day 6

Happy 4th of July!

During our morning Family Programs the boys got to do their normal free play, play with play dough, snacks, sing Beach songs for Beach day and play outside.

 I took a Dutch Oven Cooking class, which was a lot of fun. They put us in 3 groups and each group made a different dish. My group made Al Gratin Potatoes and the other groups made Monkey Bread and Cherry Cobbler. We got to talk amongst each other while we waited for them to cook and once they were done we got to eat them. The Potatoes and Monkey Bread were really good! I'm not a fan of Cobbler so I didn't have any. They gave us a packet of different reciepes. I'm looking forward to trying them. The class took the entire morning program.

I got the boys and waited for Matt to get done. We had lunch together and Evan fell asleep again :). Matt took Alex to Small Fry and I stayed with Evan so he could sleep a little longer. I had a Women's Meeting in the same room so it worked out perfectly but I ended up waking him up before it really started so I could get him to his activities. When I dropped him off I saw that Alex was asleep on the floor while they were watching a movie.

I went back to the meeting that was taught by the Becks. Another wonderful meeting that inspired me. The last 5 minutes of the meeting I received a phone call from the Nursery. When Matt dropped him off he wasn't too happy about it and cried until he fell asleep. When he woke up he cried even more and he just wasn't having any fun. The only reason they really called me is because they thought he was dehydrated and he wouldn't drink his water. There was still another 30 minutes till it was time for them to be picked up so I just stayed in there with them. Alex calmed down and started to play.

Evan still loved to rough house with the male nursery instructors.

We met Matt at the Handicraft place because while I was with the boys they told me that Evan went and worked on an apron but Alex didn't get too so we were able to do that with him. Evan painted his hands and put them on his apron. Alex didn't like the idea of using his hands so we did his feet. Turned out really cute.

Every time we go to Handicraft, Evan always poses by this green dude :).

We then followed them to the play ground. They took a break and went and got hot chocolate. Yes it was hot outside but it didn't stop them.

 I wanted to take pictures of them in their 4th of July shirts. Evan was being silly and started the Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil and See No Evil with out me telling him too.

 But instead of the See No Evil, he gave me a nice smile :)

They played a little bit more and then we had to take them to the Greensward Lawn so they could get ready for the parade.

It's a good thing I got pictures of Alex in his costume before hand because he lost interest while waiting for it to start and didn't go. We got another kid to wear it. Actually we got more then one to wear it.

Sis Esplin and her presidency were at the front of the parade.

Bro. and Sis. Beck followed close behind. Since all the kids were in the parade, they were throwing candy to all the parents :).

I missed it but this little cutie wore Mator in the parade. She is the Strain's youngest daughter. She wasn't too happy because we took her bottle away so we could put it back on her.

 Andrew Jaramillo had fun wearing it the rest of the time.

After the parade we had dinner out on the lawn. They served Buffalo Sloppy Joes and Chicken. We just stayed on the lawn and visited and played with frisbees that they gave us. We also went to the branding station that they set up and got other leather bands that we bought branded.
Before the group broke up we took some pictures. Alex is actually between the both of us. We had to laugh seeing that he isn't in the picture at all.

I stayed with the boys a little while longer as Matt and some of the other guys went and took the tour of the Villa since they don't get as much free time as us women.
We had another relaxing evening in our tent with the boys while they had a Western Dance. Evan did go to a little bit of it with Matt while I went to the Dinning Hall so Alex could get his cereal before bed.