End of March, Beginning of April

March 27th was Easter Sunday. While everyone was posting pictures of their cute kiddos, I took this one of mine. He has to get up early to go to High Council meetings, then has a little time between his other meetings. I did have to wake him up to help me, so I felt a little bit bad about that.

It was also my baby brother Kennan's 19th birthday. He is currently serving an LDS mission in Orlando, Florida. I still can't believe he is that old. Seriously, whenever I have dreams with him in them, he is still just a little boy. It's crazy he's all grown up and has already been out 8 months.

And my sister sent me this cute picture of her kids on Easter Sunday, as well as the cutest video of Myka twirling in her skirt. Love these little cuties!

The best part about March/April is that it still snows! And sometimes it snows quite a bit. It's pretty fantastic.

This just shows how excited I am about the snow (and how awesome my hair is!)

So, funny story. Our regional manager comes up on occasion, and occasionally his boss is with him. So this particular day both of them were there, and I was in talking with Mike, and Kevin knocks on the door to interrupt, and brings in this sweet lady that I had helped the day before with a few IRA's (because I'm the "IRA expert"...Cole...) Anyway, she handed me this card, and thanked me for helping her and her husband. It was the sweetest thing, and let's me honest, her timing couldn't have been better. I love those parts of what I do. I am grateful that I am one of the few who knows IRA's so I can sit down and spend literally an hour talking with and getting to know sweet people like her, then running out in the snow & wind to sit in the car while her husband signs papers. Those days usually outweigh the less than awesome days. I couldn't have asked for a better job, well, unless there was a job that allowed me to get paid to stay home, or to be on the beach all day. ;)

General Conference was that next weekend, and it was pretty fantastic. I love hearing the leaders of our church speak. There were some pretty amazing talks, and I'm glad I was able to listen to them all.

In between the Saturday sessions, we did some cleaning, and Greg found this picture of me & my "German Friend" Jana from my senior year of high school. The year we had only 7 people on my team, and one of them was her, someone who had never played basketball before. But it was honestly my favorite year. I loved all the girls on the team, and we had some great memories (like beating Encampment at home)....Yeah, that was pretty fantastic. Or the time I swore in German (having learned that from a German foreign exchange student the year before, and Jana gasping at me. Some fun times. I'm sad that I lost touch with her.

We made our semi-annual trip to get ice cream. This time we went to Coldstone, where we spend way too much money on ice cream, but we had a great time together.

Mom stopped by and brought me this Lemonade Frosty treat thing. It was quite delicious, and was good to see her. Thanks Mom!

Apparently April 13th is National Peach Cobbler Day, so naturally you have to make Peach Cobbler, even if it's 10:30 at night. 

And lastly, they were doing some updates on our work website, and under my profile i had to laugh when it said "Breanne reports to Nobody"....Muah hahahaha....my plan is finally successful. And yes, I did put that as my personal information, because I'm cool like that!

Kennan's Farewell

I keep saying that I'll do a better job of keeping up with this, but I am not so awesome at this. But here we go, throwing it back a few months to when I last saw my baby brother.

August 8 was the Scleroderma run (which I PROMISE) to post about eventually, but it was a great start to fun weekend spent with family. After the run was over, I headed back to Cokeville with my parents & Kennan. The rest of the family slowly trickled in. Brady & Ashbee were there, Kandyce & Clay and their kids, and McKenzie & Kyler. Extended family also stopped by, Laurel & her boys and Kathy and Heather. Laurel's boys spent their time out on the 4-wheeler, while the rest of everyone just kind of did their own things.

I watched Myka chew on toys.

 

Then I went outside and played with Liam and the kittens.

Then Papa & Liam played golf. Papa would hit the ball, and Liam would go get it. Pretty sure dad got the better end of the deal here.

My cousin Tyson (who is my age and used to live with us...also I haven't seen him since he got married) came out to the house with his wife and their 4 boys. Liam loved it. He loves having friends to play with.

We were playing at the play set, and Tyson's oldest boy went on the monkey bars. Liam thought that would be fun, so he climbed up the ladder and wanted to try. I was the only one out there. That would have been an epic disaster. Luckily I talked him down and told him to bring his dad to help. He kept saying, "You can help me." Sorry buddy. Wish I could.

We also got to celebrate Liam's 3rd birthday with everyone there. He's just the cutest. Not gonna lie, he may be my favorite (though I think I say that about all my nieces and nephews.) I just love that little guy.

Here are a few shots I took outside my parents house. It's so beautiful out there.

That night Trevor came out to visit for a little. We all just sat around talking. It was fun having him there. He was always in our lives, and he and Brady were the best of friends. Kandyce was at the sink, and Trev taps Brady on the shoulder telling him to squeeze the sprayer thing, then Trev turned on the water and sprayed Kandyce. We all got a good laugh at that, then Ashbee decided it would be funny to put a hair time on it so whoever the next person who turned on the water would be sprayed.

Luckily I got video.

Good times.

The next morning we went to church where Kennan spoke. It was good to hear him and be with lots of family.

Me and Liam before going to church.

Ashbee, Kenz, Trev & Brady singing...and yes Clay got after me for taking this picture during church.

After sacrament meeting I headed home with Clay & Kandyce to wait for church to get out before going back in town to the park where we would be having a luncheon with family. If you can believe it, I only took this one picture. I had fun playing on the playground with Liam and Ryan (Tyson's kid, who is my favorite!), and Jordan (Tyson's other kid). Fun times & cute kids.

I didn't even get a picture of Kennan & I before I left, so I stole these pictures from home. I still can't believe my baby brother is all grown up, on his own in a new state & bigger city. He'll do great though.

The kid on the left is how I still picture him.

A couple of weeks after Kennan left, I was helping a kid at work and I was talking to him about how he was up here for school and this was his first semester and he had just gotten home from his mission. He said, "Orlando, Florida." And I said, "No way! That's where my brother is." It was fun to talk to him for a minute about his mission. Small, crazy world.

The Rest of the April....

Well the rest of April kind of came and went. The weather has been so random. A day after the amazing snow storm, it looked like summer. I was eating in my car because the breakroom smelled like popcorn and was making me nauseous. (In case you wondered).

Kennan had a track meet in Smithfield, so I went and spent the day with my parents watching Kennan run. It was a beautiful day and I got quite sunburned. It was fun to be able to watch Kennan run, and jump. None of the rest of us Thompson's had any abilities other than not dying while running long distance. I don't know that we were necessarily amazing at running, but we sure tried and were part of only a few who could do it.

I had to drop Greg off at the jail for the first time. His High Council position is over the jail branch. I dropped him off bright and early, went home, tried to read the lesson for that day, but decided to take a 20 minute nap. An hour later (10 minutes before church), I woke up. I made it before the opening hymn was even started!

Sometimes I'm surprised that my co-workers just don't kick me out. Well, I guess they do throw me under the bus anytime someone from corporate comes up. Somehow it always comes out that I'm the one who does the pranks. Funny story, yesterday our CFO came up and was talking to us, and at the end he said something like, "Have any of you ever choked any of your co-workers out?" Two of my co-workers pointed at me and said, "Yes!" So I responded with "twice." There's only 32% accuracy on that. It's more of an inside joke. But then Steve also told him that if there were any pranks, I was behind it. Our CFO said, "Really? That surprises me. I took you as more of the quiet, innocent type." I tried to argue that I was, but my co-workers told him the truth. They do it all the time. So, I have to get them back some how!

With Caleb leaving us, I had to make him a going away present that he would always remember us by...

So, every now and then we get the pleasure of helping some of the USU football players that come into the credit union. I just helped this good looking kid that came in and had some questions. After he left, Caleb asked me if I knew who that was. I didn't, so he told me he was a football player. That of course led to a good discussion with the rest of my co-workers. Said football player was going to be coming back the next day, so we were all ready for him to come in. Donna and Kim hadn't seen him the day before, so when he walked in, I looked at both of the girls and nodded his way. They checked him out, and we all got all sorts of giddy like little Jr. High Girls. He isn't the first one that we've all had crushes on. We have some really great "tight-end" jokes. We are pathetic.

Switching gears. I have been slowly trying to de-junk our house. Especially our kitchen, which has food from about 10 years ago. I was going through one of our drawers, and when I pulled it out and started taking out the napkins and crap that was in there, I saw this....

I literally thought it was some gremlin. I don't know why. It scared me, then I busted up laughing when I saw what it was.

As mentioned in a previous post, I celebrated my 5 year work anniversary. When I cam to work the Monday after, I got this....The poster is still hanging by my station.

And lastly, I got my hair done again. I was going for a Rose-Gold look. Sometimes I see it, sometimes I don't. I felt bad because I kind of rushed my sweet friend Tami because I was going to dinner with some friends that evening, but I love it. It's different, and has been a very long time since I have been this light. I wish I could afford to have my hair done at least once a month!

As I mentioned, I went to dinner with some of my closest friends to say goodbye to one of our beloved. We had a great time laughing and reminiscing, and none of us wanted it to end. It got awkward at the end, because really, none of us wanted to say goodbye. But, we did. It's sad to see him go, but he's still "with us" in a way. I'm happy for him and the chance that he had to move up and on. He'll be great where he is, and hopefully he'll find him a wife! ;)

Also, this is the end result of Caleb's gift. I liked how it turned out.

State Basketball 2015

The first weekend in March I had the opportunity to go watch my baby brother, Kennan, at state basketball. I had told my mom when I went to his last home game that if they made it to state, I wanted to go watch him. Since dad has a "Gold Card" for coaching for 500 years, his family gets in free to all state events. I was super nervous the week of regionals, then super happy when they took 3rd at regionals.

So the next week, mom came and picked me up on Wednesday after work so we could head out Thursday morning for Casper.

I didn't know, but my little sister McKenzie was also coming. Party!! We got all festive and painted our fingernails orange.

The next morning we picked up Grandma, who I also didn't know was coming. It was bound to be a party now! I sat up front with Dad, while Mom, McKenzie, and Grandma acted like teenagers in the backseat.

It's been a while since I took the forever long trip to Casper. I forgot how long and boring it is. It was still fun. I love traveling, so the only thing I could complain about was my sore butt.

We got into Casper and checked into the motel, then went to McDonald's for dinner, then up to the Event Center. Oh boy. It's been forever since I've been there. First thing both Kenz and I noticed was that they changed the seats. They are blue instead of red.

Oh, being back there, though. So many memories! Mostly volleyball memories, but a little basketball. It was fun to be back. I can't believe my baby brother is a senior. He's the last one, so there's no one to watch anymore.

Kennan didn't know Kenz or I were coming, so it was fun to surprise him. He has always loved the game of basketball, and has turned into quite the ball player. I was glad I got to watch him one last time.

They played Upton for their first game. They started out really good, but then slowly lost their rhythm. Kennan ended up fouling out, which was super sad. I really wish I could have sat next to him on the bench and tell him to keep his head up. Unfortunately they lost that first game, but the good thing about State is that it's double elimination, so he had at least one more game.

Brady and Ashbee also came. I'm serious when I say after that weekend, I'm quite convinced that I am adopted!

Kenz and I shared a bed, and she totally cuddled with me. Brady and Ashbee were in the other bed, so we had some fun talking about funny things, and apparently some old boyfriend I didn't know I had. Lol, good times....good times...

The next game was the next day. If they won they would have another.

Kennan did awesome! Hit quite a few three's, and can dribble and has major ball control. It was so good to see him play so well.

Casper College...Some more great memories there. Volleyball mostly.

We also got to watch the girl's play. It is so fun seeing them run the same offense I did when I was in high school. They have a good team, and made it to the state championship game.

Saturday was the last day for games. Kennan played again at Casper College. They were playing Snake River again. Kennan played really well again, however, they were not able to win that final game. It's always sad to see that, but I couldn't have been more proud of him. He's such a hard worker, and I'm sad I didn't make more of an effort to watch him throughout his high school years.

We stayed to watch the girls play in the championship game. It was a super intense game throughout. Finally in the 4th quarter they started to play better and come back. They ended up winning. It was so exciting. I was so happy for those beautiful girls and their amazing coaches! I love the coaches that I grew up knowing. They are such amazing men. I'm glad to see them still coaching.

We headed home after the game and got home about 3 in the AM. It was a really fun weekend, and I'm so glad that I was able to go. I don't know when/if I will ever go back for state basketball, so I'm glad that I got to go at least once more.

Since we got home so late, Dad said, "Maybe we'll just sleep in and tell people that we didn't come back until today." So naturally I slept in. I was the only one. Everyone else went to church.