Be Our Guest

This little guy thinks he needs two bedrooms. Apparently one room is needed to house his toys and clothes. The other room, our guest bedroom, is for sleeping.However, I don't blame him. Why sleep on a toddler bed when you can enjoy a big comfy queen sized bed.

If any of you would like to make the trek out to our home and be our guest, the little man will surely give up his lap of luxury. The bed and side table were previously my grandmother's. I painted them an antique white. The desk is from the thrift store. A $45 find. The chair is from a consignment shop. I covered the headboard and chair cushion in the same fabric.
This mirror has been several colors. At first it was black, then I painted it gold, and now it has new life in cream.

Please come and be our guest. We would love to have you. We will even turn down the sheets and leave a mint on your pillow.

Coupon Commotion

As of yesterday and for the next two days Smith's is doubling coupons. When I discovered this while reading Sunday's newspaper I was ecstatic. At 12:05 a.m. I was at my local Smith's with about 12 other crazy coupon shoppers making out like bandits. We were the only shoppers in the store. I kind of felt like I was on Supermarket Sweep. Do you remember that show? Running around the store, trying to find the sale items. Below is a sampling of some of what I purchased. Almost everything I purchased was on sale. I also bought some produce and 6 gallons of milk. My total came to $199.50. After coupons the total was.... Gotta love that! So many free items I could hardly contain myself. Candy bars, tuna fish pouches, yogurt, salad dressing, mustard, toothpaste and more. It was worth going to bed at 3:00 a.m. this morning to get these good deals.

Summer?

Why is it that winter seems to drag on and summer flys by in the blink of an eye. Easton is very distraught just thinking about it. He has been having such a fun summer and will be starting pre-school once the school year begins.Easton has enjoyed frequenting several local carnivals. Apparently the carnies and germ-infested rides don't deter this little dare devil. He would ride on all the rides if he were tall enough. What is summer without going to a parade or two? It took all my willpower to not jump out in the street and help Easton gather up candy. He did a pretty good job of gathering goodies, with some help from his cousins. He's still young yet.

Easton ran in the Kid's Fun Run and I don't think it was that fun for him. Halfway through the race he threw in the towel and had a mini melt down. However, he managed to pull it together and finished the race. I guess we'll have to do a little training for next year.
Each day we try and have mini-school. Pants are not required at this school-just come as you are. Easton loves to put on his backpack and come knock on the door to the "school house" located in the guest bedroom. We spend about 30 minutes (or as long as I have patience for) learning about the ABC's, numbers, colors and more.

This crazy guy doesn't slow down for a minute. Not even to try and get a family picture taken.

Little Miss Marielle

Look at that face. Oh how I love my baby girl. She is quite the chub weighing in at 13 pounds 10 ounces which puts her in the 95th percentile for her juiciness. She is in the 85th percentile for her length at 23.5 inches.

I haven't yet finished decorating her room. I'm waiting to get a dresser and side table which will help me determine where I want to hang things up. I purchased the fabric online. My mom made her bedding and I made the curtains. I love this toile. Actually I have a deep love for all toile and would probably wallpaper our house in toile if Clint would let me. But alas, his love of toile does not run as deep as mine does so I'm lucky to have Marielle's room in toile, my craft room in toile and our dining room chairs upholstered in toile.
I painted the walls in a light cream color and then did a pink accent wall. We had a guy in our ward come and do the crown moulding. We actually had him put up the crown throughout almost our entire home. I will have to post pictures of that later.

She is my little angel now. The first two months were a little rough- I'm not going to lie. She would wake up every two hours at night to eat and didn't sleep all that well during the day either. At night she seemed especially fussy and suffered from a bit of acid reflux. However, at two months I moved her into her crib and out of our room and now she sleeps 6-7 hours at night. It is heavenly. Plus during the day she sleeps like a champ as well. After she wakes up from a nap she has about an hour of wakefulness and then I start our little routine to put her back down. If she gets tired she gets fussy- she needs her sleep.

Look at those chubby little legs. I can't get enough of this girl.

So Blessed

Marielle is now two months old. On Sunday we had the opportunity to bless her. Clint gave her such a beautiful blessing. My ever-so-talented mother made her beautiful blessing gown out of the same material my wedding dress was made out of. Almost six years ago Clint and I were married and to have Marielle's blessing gown created from the same fabric I wore on that very day we created our family was so special to me. Thanks mom.

Shots from the luncheon held at our home following the blessing.

I created a dessert buffet for our guests to help themselves to yummy treats from following the meal. We had ham, cheese potatoes, coconut strawberry salad, maple glazed carrots and seven-layer salad for dinner. The buffet featured chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing, macaroons and an assortment of pink candies.

It was such a beautiful day. I am truly blessed to have two sweet little children and a wonderful husband. I am grateful all of our family was able to attend.

3

Easton celebrated his 3rd birthday on June 30th. I'm a little slow at posting-as per usual. When we asked Easton what he wanted to do for his birthday he replied "roller skating!" We told him he could have a roller skate party if he went poo-poo in the toilet. Well, he did- and has yet to do it again. Ugh. However, on a side note- Number 1 he has got down. No accidents, even at night. Now if I could just get him to go number 2 because Clint and I are tired of cleaning out dirty unders.
I digress- so we had a roller skating pizza party and Easton loved it. I made him this roller skate birthday cake to match his party theme. I made the skates by filling two empty soup cans with batter and baking them along with the cake.


We were at the rink for over three hours and when we went to leave Easton had a huge fit. He loves to party. I made this edible centerpiece for the party. It's mint chocolate suckers I made from candy melts and stuck into floral foam.
Easton received so many fabulous gifts from his family. Thanks everyone. The next morning following his party was like Christmas morn. He came into our room bright and early while we were still sleeping and wanted his toys out of their packages. Apparently the skating did not wear him out enough the night before.A fun time was had by all.

I love my sweet little guy. He is full of energy and keeps me busy but he keeps me laughing all day long too. He has a love of 'junk' including ear plugs, rubber bands, combs, old credit cards and more. He likes to call me 'Ma' for some reason. He just loves to dance and when we are driving if I try to dance with him he says "No Mom." I guess I don't have the right moves. Happy Birthday Easton!!

4th

For the Fourth of July my family came over, including my aunt from California, and we had a weenie roast. Easton loved the fireworks show we did in our front yard. Each time Clint lit a firework Easton would turn and look at me to make sure I was taking pictures and then he would immediately ask to see the photo. The sparklers were also a hit. He was a little nervous of the glowing sticks at first but he quickly caught on.

I am so grateful to live in this amazing country. I feel so blessed for the freedoms I enjoy and the sacrifices that were made and continue to be made to make this country what it is. I love America!

Put me in the zoo

The whole Thompson family (minus Rafe) was able to join us for a delightful day at the zoo. Even Grandpa Mark and Grandma Debra came out. Of course, it was not easy to get them to pose for a photo so this is the best we could do. My dad wore his Wranglers just in case he had to bulldog an escaped rhino. Plus he heard from Brett Favre that they are “real comfortable jeans.”

"Tokyo...this is Easton...do you copy?...over" (I promise I didn't teach him this)

Easton, your wingspan will never even get close to that of a gorilla.

No comment.

Marielle didn’t get to see many animals but she did have an animal sized poo that exploded all over her outfit. The good news is that Grandma Debra came to the rescue and bought her a nice Hogle Zoo onesie.

Taylor was kind enough to lift Easton to see many of the exhibits. This happened to be the bear exhibit...as you can see he is tightly gripping a fencepost. He may have remembered what happened to Luke Wilson's character on the movie Anchorman.

We’ve got this nice monkey backpack/leash to keep Easton from getting into trouble. And who better to hold the leash than his younger cousin Jane.

Here's another cute picture of the Easton and the cousins...oh...and Thad.

Big surprise. Out of the hundred animals on the carousel, Easton chose to ride the wild turkey. I guess birds of a feather do flock together after all.

The day at the zoo was capped off with an enchanting train ride.

Happiness is this right here.

Life Begins at Eighty

Congratulations to Grandma Glenda who had her eightieth birthday party a few weeks ago. It was a lot of fun to attend her party and socialize with her thriving posterity.


Easton and I really enjoyed the delicious food served at the party.

Charisse and Marielle had a pretty good time as well.

Truman Madsen, 1926 – 2009

When Charisse told me that Truman Madsen had passed away a few weeks ago, I felt like I had lost a close friend since I have spent so much time listening to his voice. I first heard Madsen’s lectures on Joseph Smith when I was on my mission in Italy. Since then I have listened to those tapes and some of his other lectures hundreds of times. I relied heavily on his material when I majored in Philosophy at Utah State. He was probably the main reason why I majored in Philosophy in the first place.

Anyway, when asked why he spent so much of his life studying the life of Joseph Smith, he responded that Joseph Smith was a window through which he could see the Savior. Well Truman, thanks for letting me look through your window.