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.

Aggies, BYU, Halloween, & Thanksgiving

New Year, New Resolutions....like blogging more frequently to avoid massive catch-up posts! :)

I had a day off in October, and decided I would clean the house. Of course it turned into a bigger mess than actually cleaning, but I did find this cute gem. Pretty sure Kennan drew it while I was at Western. (Hence, the red jersey). Too cute, right?

I'm still lucky enough to work Saturdays. I have a tendency to not get out of bed early enough, so this is a rush to shower and get out the door attempt. First time in a while that I've kept my hair wet and scrunched it. Kinda like it...

  

Greg & Marcus the Carcass

I had to go to the mall to search for my Halloween costume, and we decided to get lunch here. It was...ehh...okay. I had the fish & chips. Fish was okay, fries were soggy, but the mushrooms were excellent. I'd go again just for those.

This is pretty much what work is like....and no, I did not write that.

Dad and the volleyball team have been coming to Aggie games for a while now (we did a couple of times when I was in High School even). I met up with them and really enjoyed going. I was thinking I needed to get me some season tickets for next year, however, the benches are too low, and I doubt I can convince Greg to go with me.) Once in a while is fun though.

DFCU is part of the USU Special Spectators program, which means we get so many tickets to go to football and basketball games. Back in August-ish, our manager asked if we wanted to go to any of the games. One of them was against Wyoming, so I took those. It's been a very long time since I've been to an Aggie game, like since early high school. Ironically, it too was against Wyoming.

I got to be on the field before the game, and that was pretty neat. Not going to lie, I kind of miss being in the "lights", or on the court  playing in front of people. It's quite the experience. (Also one reason it's hard for me to watch any team lose.)

Oh, and Greg went with me. I was afraid it was going to be super cold, so I dressed extra warm. It had rained all day, but the weather was quite nice, and only drizzled a little on us. Overall a fun night. We even stayed through the 3rd quarter.

Little-known fact about me:I rather enjoy being a pain in the butt to my co-workers. Steven really despises BYU, so I thought it would be fun to buy a BYU shirt, and the next time we were allowed to wear our game-day gear, I'd wear a Cougars shirt. It happened to fall on Halloween, so as part of my brilliancy, I would wear the Cougar shirt, with a sign that Steve actually wrote that said, "Kick Me" on my back, and call myself, "A BYU fan in Aggie territory." I'm super creative.

It was $5. Also, a youth XL. #score! (Also, turns out it's one of the more comfortable shirts I own! and Yes, I have worn it more than that one day!)

The Oldies getting our pictures taken, and yes, Donna literally kicked me.

One Direction came out with a new Album. It's my favorite. I am obsessed!

Leaving work after it's dark is a bit scary sometimes!

My part of our "turkey"

Our branch turkey

Our Thanksgiving was just lovely. Slept in, watched TV, Greg cooked the turkey. It was delicious. We didn't cook near as much as we normally do, but it was enough, and it was really yummy. Lots to be grateful for.

This is our family photo for this year! Turkey-day 2016.

We went to the Hunger Games after eating. The cowboys were not doing so awesome, so I think Greg just wanted to get out of the house (even though he watched it on his phone while waiting for the movie to start.)

Great movie. SO much better than the book (that I didn't even make it through). Really well done. Of course, I love Jennifer Lawrence, so that helped a bit too.

An Anniversary & Graduation

The 27th of May was our 10th wedding anniversary. Crazy, right? That's nearly more than 1/3 of my life. We've had our ups and downs, but we've only grown closer. Yes, we drive each other crazy, I'm sure, but isn't that what married people do? I love him lots!

From when we first met in college at Rock Springs - November 2004

We didn't do a whole lot as we both worked, then I headed to Cokeville for Kennan's graduation, but I came home to these pretty flowers.

When work was over on the 27th, I headed home to get ready to head to C-ville. My friends Brittney and Camille are both down in this area, so I asked if I could get a ride home with them. I haven't seen Brit in a while, as she and her husband moved to Oregon a couple of years ago, and just recently moved back, and even though Camille is in Smithfield, I very rarely see her either. So it was a lot of fun driving and catching up with them. I'm grateful for such great friends who I can get together with and just talk like we haven't been apart forever.

The graduation itself was fine. I can't say this enough times, but I seriously can't believe my baby brother is old enough to graduate. It's just not real to me. I've forgotten how long graduations can be, and there were only 19 graduates! But it was fun to watch the graduation video and see the kids grown up through those picture, then to learn what they would be doing after graduation. It's just crazy to me!

All my siblings were able to make it. My sister-in-law Ashbee has a little brother who is also Kennan's age (weird family connections with Brady & Ashbee ;). But I got to see my oldest sister and her kids who I haven't seen in quite a while.

I had asked Mckenzie to take a picture of Kennan and I, and when I asked her later to send them to me she sent one of me hugging him. I was so happy she did, because I have one from exactly 11 years earlier of Kennan hugging me at my graduation. Looks like one of us has grown a little bit. :) I still picture him that small, and seriously, any dream I have with him in it, he is about that age. He's been such a fun younger brother to have, and so incredibly talented. He can sing, play the piano, french horn, trumpet, compose music, play basketball, football, and run track, and so much more. He's pretty amazing.

I spent the rest of the evening and the next day in C-ville so I could spend time with my nieces and nephews and siblings. I had to share a bed with McKenzie who likes to cuddle with me, and I had to avoid the THREE dogs as much as I could. Too many dogs in a house that was never allowed to have pets once upon a time.

Myka being so dang cute. She was waving her arms and talking and Alex says, "She's like a gorilla." He's such a dork!

 The kids playing in this old creepy shed behind Gram's house.

Cute little blue-eyed baby girl. She's getting so big!

Liam absolutely loved Alex & Aidan. He followed them around and wanted to do what they were doing. They're all so fun and cute. I just love them!

And of course Lilli. She's just getting so big! Love this little girl.

It was a great couple of days, and it's always so fun seeing my nieces and nephews. I hate that the twins and Lilli are so far away. I'm also grateful that Kandyce will bring Liam and Myka over whenever they are in town. I absolutely love those kiddos.