Family Time in Logan

The family all came down to Logan to do some temple work. The kids came over to my house while the adults were off partying.

Greg bought this silly little "decision maker" toy. You ask it a question, and then let the pendulum swing until it stops on one of the answers (definitely, maybe, try again, etc.) They played with it for a good 20 minutes before Alex decided that he had had enough waiting for cotton candy, then they all got up and went into the kitchen to see what they could find.

They finally found the cotton candy machine, and spent another good 30 minutes or so making cotton candy.

Then we went for a walk to the park around the corner from our trailer park. Alex, up front with Greg, while Aidan stayed back with me. Their personalities kill me.

They had fun playing and climbing.

For the record, I DID NOT condone this behavior. I told them to not jump and grab on while it spun around, however, once I left with Aidan, leaving Greg in charge, he let them do it....haha

This was a fun toy...until Aidan went flying off and hit his head. I do have video, but it's over on my instagram page if you want to see it. It was funny, but sad at the same time. Poor kid! He and I left early and went to get some ice for his head.

After the park, and once Greg and the other two got there, We pulled out some water guns that we had. We couldn't find our water balloons, so the guns would have to do. They of course had fun, especially when it came to squirting m. Little punks! You can see that they enjoyed getting Greg too, which was funny because he had the hose.

After water guns, their parents came and we all went to Pizza Pie Cafe.

Aidan's battle wound, with Shar's stank face in the background.

And a picture of all of us who were there. Just missing a few spouses and Kandyce's kids (who were at their Grandma Kaylene's house, because my parents didn't think we could handle 5 kids! Psh, they under estimate our abilities. Only 1/3 left with any injuries, so the odds were clearly in our favor!)

Left Side: Me, Aidan, Lilli, Kenz, Ben

Right Side: Dad, Mom, Kandyce, Brady, Ashbee, Alex

Photo Cred: Shari

It was good to see family again and we miss them all so much!

Family Time in Cokeville

June 10 my sister & brother-in-law picked me up in Logan to take me to Cokeville for some family time. My entire family was there, with the exception of my little brother Kennan, who is currently in Florida, and some spouses. It was a lot of fun to see everyone, and to spend some time back in Cokeville. I forget how much I really loved growing up there.

This is how I felt about my safety, being in the car with two crazy drivers....

This view never gets old.

The boys were nice enough to let me sleep in the back room, while they slept in the living room. Remember how we could sleep wherever, whenever we wanted? How nice would that be.

Oh Alex, such a beast! We had a nice pillow fight, and then he came into the gym with me where I taught him the proper way to hold your hands when playing volleyball...Wrist & hands people. Wrist & hands always! He's such a goofball.

Liam pretending this was a motorcycle. He would pretend to put a key into the ignition, start it, while making motorcycle noises then fly down the ramp. He is his father's child.

It was a beautiful, rainy day in Cokeville. Liam is enjoying licking the rain off of the rails. Gross kid.

Walking to Grandma Norene's house.

The other reason I went to Cokeville was for a volleyball tournament. While I wish I was able to play, I wasn't able to. I will also write more about this over on my other blog, but it was a great day, and I loved seeing all the support from those in our small community!

The Thompson team. Sisters, Cousins, Sisters of Sisters, and Friends of Sisters.

Sunday was a nice relaxing day. I slept in (oops! ;) and when everyone came home, I went out to the swing set with the kiddos, Liam, Myka, & Aiden. Lots of fun was had.

Kandyce on the left, and Myka on the right. Total twinners!

It was a great weekend, and always fun to spend time with the family, and especially the nieces and nephews.

Zoo Fun

Back when my sister and her kids were still at my parents they came down to Logan to see us one more time before going home. We went to lunch at Chick-fil-A, then Greg and I took the kids to the zoo. We had a lot of fun. Those kids are so goofy! (Also, these pictures are completely out of order, but it's all good.)

If you didn't know, Logan has a zoo. Not even kidding. It's full of birds, and ducks, and basically any animal you would see in your backyard in Wyoming! It's not very big, but Greg and I enjoy it, so we took the kids and just had a lot of fun. These two are crack-ups, and Lilli is so dang smart. She knew things about the animals that even I didn't know.

It was pretty funny watching these kids do this jump. They are too funny.

I think this was my favorite part of the day. I posted a super cute video on instagram a while back, but being the good aunt & uncle we are, we spent about $1.00 to buy some duck food for the kids. They had fun feeding the baby ducks and trying to pet them through the fence. It's so funny what little kids find entertaining. Their laughs were the greatest!

Basically every photo I try to get of Greg & I....

There is also a park right next to the animals that the kids had fun playing at.

We were watching the turtles, and one of the turtles got really close to the fence. Alex was trying to reach through the fence to touch it. Greg told him that if the turtle bit his finger, we'd have to cut off his finger. This was his face.

He really did have fun.

Me & Alex. He was so funny because he kept saying, "I'm so bored!" But then when his mom came to get him, he started crying. He mostly wanted to go back to our house to fill up on junk food! But it was a lot of fun spending time with the kids. They live too far away and I don't get to see them near enough!

Water Balloon Fun

I've got a few minutes before I have to start getting ready for work, so I thought I would post briefly about some of the fun I've had with my niece and nephews this summer.

My little brother Kennan got his mission call the end of May, and went through the temple the end of June. My sister and her kids were still at my parents so they came down to go with him. Greg and I got to watch the kiddos.

It was so dang hot outside. Seriously. But we walked to the park that's just on the other side of the block. It was too hot, so the kids (and Bre) only lasted a little while.

After dying of heat at the park, we walked back to our house where we had shaved ice and cotton candy. A LOT of cotton candy.  (It was mint flavored, so that's got to be a bit more healthy, right?)

If anything, they at least love us for all the junk we fed them.

After that we just kind of sat around trying to decide what to do. It was still really hot,s o we went outside to sit on the porch. Our sprinklers were on, so we told the kids to go run through the sprinklers. Then I remembered that we had a bunch of water balloons in the house, so we got them out. They were a huge hit! The kids had so much fun. Alex kept saying, "This is the best day ever!" Of course, when you're 6 you don't have many days to compare to, but it was pretty great.

They had fun throwing the balloons at each other, but the best was throwing them in the air and having them burst when they hit our awning. It would rain all over all of us. They thought it was hilarious.

We did that for about an hour and a half. They are such fun kids, even if they can be stinkers. At least being an aunt, you know you can love them, spoil them, discipline them if necessary, and if you get sick of them, you can send them home! ;) JK. They are the greatest.

They thought Greg was hilarious. Aidan kept saying, "Uncle Greg is funny."
I think even Greg had fun.

A Simple Photo

I was in Cokeville visiting family, and while we were waiting for dinner, my nephew Aidan wanted to go play XBox. Since it was Sunday, Nana (aka, my mom) didn't want him to, so she told him that she knows how much he loves to draw, and I was artistic (ha!) and maybe I'd like to go draw with him. He was so excited, and went into the playroom where Nana and Papa had a table and chairs just his size, plus crayons and paper. So we set to work creating works of art. He taught me how to draw a city with Spiderman (his favorite). It was so fun. I just sat and watched him and his creativity just go crazy, and it was amazing. I loved how thoughtful he was with his art, and how he would get frustrated sometimes, but I wanted him to just keep going and know how great I thought he was doing. I enjoyed every second of it, and really will cherish this moment forever. I'm glad I was about to share it with him. It also made me want to be able to have those same moments with kids of my own someday. Whether it be spending time drawing, or doing something else they're interested in, I want to be there to work with them and continually encourage them to keep going.

Bear Lake w/ the Kiddos

Shari and her kids have been up for the summer, and I wanted to see them at least once more before they left. We decided to go to Bear Lake. I love watching the kids play around outside, and just have a fun time. Here are some pictures of the fun day! 

Alex  --  Uncle Kennan turning Alex into a merMAN

Aidan

This is about as much into the water as they went. They didn't like being in the deeper parts as much as being on the sand.

Aidan was doing this...not sure what it is, but it was pretty funny.

Alex -- little stinker

Look at that beautiful brown skin...JEALOUS!

So full of spunk and attitude...and I really wish I had a swimsuit like hers!

Uncle Kennan taking care of the boys.

Kind of looks like a tropical beach...almost...

Shari and mom in the water -- Kennan chose to stay on shore

Aidan chowing down on some cheetos

Shari and her kids on the left, all but Kennan on the right.

 Loved this shot. Kennan and Aidan, and Shari and Mom are the two dots towards the top.