Fire scare

I am so grateful to have an inspired prophet who tells us to be prepared. Last night there was a fire on the bluff above us at the end of our subdivision. It began as a brush fire but quickly traveled up the bluff to several homes. It was a 4-alarm fire which quickly became a "general alarm" fire which means they call out all firefighters. It was jumping streets, and people were evacuated with no more than a moments notice. Several people weren't even able to get shoes on before they left! While we were comforted that we were not in any immediate danger due to excellent preventative measures taken by the firefighters, I was grateful that we had 72-h0ur kits ready at hand. As a few neighbors packed up their cars with their important items I realized that there is more to be done to be prepared, but I was grateful that we had a few essentials ready to go.

http://ktvb.com/perl/common/slideshow/sspop.pl?recid=11803

It was so devastating to watch as several families watched their homes burn in front of them. A total of 10 homes were burned literally to the ground, there was one death, and several other homes were damaged. Such a devastating experience for so many, and a cruel reminder to get all things in order.

First Day of School

Well, the school year got off to a great start - I can't believe that Sam is in Kindergarten, let alone that Linc is in third grade and Emma in sixth grade! Time flies. Here they all are for the traditional first day pictures!

The only tears we had were when Sam realized that we were driving him to school -- he has been waiting to ride the bus for years! Also, Tessa was a bit devastated when she realized she wasn't staying at school. She was convinced that all of the fanfare was for her!

My greatest blessings

On Saturday we took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda at the dollar theater. It was quite an adventure: Standing in line hoping there would still be seats, trying to balance what feels like 50 sodas while you walk to your seats, shuffling seats 10 times to make sure everyone has a good view, comforting the child with the spilled popcorn, wiping melted chocolate on your pants because there are no more napkins, ahhhh... But then the movie starts and all seems to be going well. Tessa loved it...for five minutes. Then she loved running up and down the aisles seeing if her voice could echo. That's when you do the speedy dash out of the movie theater and start walking along the shops that sit next to the theater.

I finally made my way to Deseret Book (hey, I had to do some primary stuff anyways, right?) Tessa loved that too. She especially loved walking with her hand out to her side realizing that she can swiftly knock about 40 things off the shelf before mom can react. She was giggling and having a great time while I scurried around trying to pick up all that had been knocked down.

It was at that point that I looked up and saw this print: I knew I had to have it immediately.

Suddenly the situation seemed almost enjoyable. We picked up a few things, made our way to the side walk, played some peek-a-boo, ran around for a bit, and I listened to her squealing and giggling and tried to memorize it so I would never forget it.

I can't wait to go to the movies again.

Swim Team

Summer is in full swing, which means mornings full of swimming. Emma and Lincoln do swim team, and the kids love it. It gets us up and out of the house relatively early so I love it too. Each week they have a swim meet which lasts about four hours. It really is fun to see how the kids have improved since last year, but we have absolutely loved seeing their confidence increase. Here are a few pictures of the kids at the last swim meet. Emma does freestyle relay, freestyle, and breast stroke (her favorite by far). Lincoln also does freestyle relay, freestyle, and breast stroke, but he also has added butterfly this year. We were really surprised that he wanted to try this because he really hasn't ever learned to do this stroke. When we asked if he was sure he wanted to try this he said, "Yeah - it's fun to try new things...right, mom?" How do you argue with that?

Catching up......

Even though I would love to feel like I am catching up, I have given up on ever being truly "caught up." The last little bit has been hectic to say the least. I know that everyone has crazy schedules, and our house was no exception. However, here is a brief update on a few of the highlights that took place over the last two months.



1. Emma finished her soccer season. I wish I had pictures to share, but because Ted was coaching and I was always at baseball, the games that I got to see where few and far between. However, she had a great season and did great!




2. Baseball - what a great season! Lincoln's team really did well. Not only did the accuracy of their throws and catches improve dramatically, but they all worked on knowing how to play truly as a team and make the best play. It was a fun season for Lincoln to play, and it was fun to watch as well. In addition, Sammy was "bat boy". He took his job very seriously and made sure that the bats and helmets were neatly lined up at the beginning of every inning. As a matter of fact, they started one game early and Sam was about three minutes late - when he got there the coaches all commented on how neat and orderly he kept things, and without him it was a confusing mess. It made Sam feel extra important, and he loved every minute of it!

3. Emma finished her Showtime performances. Each year we are more amazed at how her abilities and confidence grow. What a great time they had, and it was fun to watch them perform various Broadway songs.

4. Ted's bike race season started! He has done several time trials, a 50 mile race, and the Sugarhouse criterium. He did great in all of them. The 50 mile race made me a bit nervous because there was an extremely steep hill that even with brakes on and staying towards the back of the group to avoid going too fast, he was going 46 mph. The kids LOVE watching for dad, and Sam has mastered what his helmet looks like and can often point him out before any of us can see him. Still more races to come, but here are some pictures of the most recent: Sugarhouse Criterium.

5. Extending the patio. We realized that we needed more room on our patio, and we needed to get rid of a tree that was too big for the space. We also had to have some fence removed and....you get the picture. We decided to do this ourselves - and we are glad, now. During the process we kept wondering if we were nuts. We are still waiting for the thyme to really grow in between the rocks, but it is coming along nicely, and we have already enjoyed several dinners outside.

6. Gopher trouble. This seems to be a yearly battle with us. This year it got so bad that every day we would awake to four new gopher holes - our yard was thrashed. We decided that drastic times called for drastic measures. The poison hadn't worked. The traps weren't doing anything. So we called Burrow Busters. You can see their website at burrowbusters.com to get the real idea of how they explode the holes, but essentially they pump some gas deep down into the hole and then spark it. The spark ignites the gas, and the tunnels explode/implode, and hopefully eliminate the gophers. However, the tunnels were so extensive that they exploded all underneath our garden, our neighbor's garden, and around our sprinkler boxes. The sprinkler boxes were completely destroyed, and a few pipes were broken. Those have since been fixed, and we have been relatively free of gophers. We did have a few gopher holes after that, but this time the poison seemed to work - at least we are crossing our fingers that it did.

7. Family pictures - yeah! - sort of. Actually it was a pretty pleasant experience. I am always wondering what we look like as there are about eight people trying to get one 1-year-old to smile and look at the camera. Maybe the perfect picture is actually the picture that truly depicts the family, which is not perfect at all. At least that is what we are hoping. Here is one picture of all of us together, and one that will show you about the best smile we got of Tessa - you'll note that she isn't smiling.... I haven't gotten the pictures of the older kids yet - but here is a good one of Sammy, too.

8. Sammy graduated from preschool. We all LOVE Mrs. Patricia. Seriously, she is the nicest person I think I have ever met in my whole life. Sam loved preschool, and this sets the stage for how excited he is to be in kindergarten riding the bus with his older brother and sister. Here is a picture of Sam with Mrs. Patricia at graduation. He is growing up so fast!

9. Visiting Utah and seeing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! We also just got back from Utah where we got to see Grandpa Thompson conduct a few songs of Music and The Spoken Word at the Conference Center. It was such a wonderful morning! I forget how powerful the Mormom Tabernacle Choir is - it really was great to see him up there!

10. The older kids just started swim team this week - and they have been swimming even though it is only 46 degrees outside (they are tougher than me). We'll have pictures of their meets in the future.

How crazy life gets, but how grateful we are for all the wonderful opportunities that have come our way! Here's looking forward to another couple of crazy wonderful months!

Tessa is walking!!

Actually she is running, but I have been so delinquent in posting that this clip just shows her taking a few of her first steps. This isn't a great video in that it is fuzzy, but I was running to try and catch her first steps on video. Now she may be running away from you, like when you are trying to change a diaper or if it is time to go inside. However, she is so happy to be able to keep up with the big kids that she is mostly just running - all the time. She is running to go play outside, running to get in the bath, running to keep up with the kids, and sometimes just running around in circles. We love the sound of her pudgy feet padding along the ground! At any rate, she is on the move!

Those sneaky leprechauns.....

Those leprechauns are pretty sneaky. Each year the kids are sure they will catch them, but so for no such luck. Each year they put out their shoes by their doors in hopes of a leprechaun filling their shoes with candy. They also wake up and hurry and rush to look in the mirror because if the leprechaun kisses your cheek then it leaves a shamrock on your cheek (for most of the kids this is a smear of green by the time the morning comes around, but it is evidence of a kiss nonetheless). This year that crazy leprechaun also dyed the milk green. Here is Sammy displaying all the evidence of the busy leprechaun. Happy St. Patrick's Day!