New school year

Kire just started first grade 2 weeks ago.  He loves it, I knew he would.  H also started tumbling & flag football.  He loves climbing walls & monkey bars and anything he can so I knew he'd be great at tumbling.  I don't think he cares much about football, but all of his friends are there and he gets to run around with them.

 

Jack started preschool.  He is so smart and social, but school has been a little hard for him. He goes on Tuesdays & Thursdays which is when I work so my friend gets to drop him off, but I think that is better for him that I'm not the one to leave him.  I put him in tumbling too and he does not like me to leave his side, so maybe if I had someone else take him he would do better.

 

Kael is still the squishiest shiniest little thing.  He freaks whenever someone opens the door and tries to run outside.  He also loves animals.  This is him at our back fence trying to see the dogs next door.

Getting into a schedule has been good for everyone.  While Kire is  at school and Kael is napping I get to spend time with Jack and when Kire gets home we get to read and work on homework together.  Kire and Jack get along better now because they are not together all day long.

Another football season has started which basically means I am a single parent.  Erik is still the head football coach at Northridge High and they are 5-0 so far this season.  We have made it to a couple of games this year, but trying to control 3 kids that want to run away from me is not fun.

Kael's pics

At his 1 year check up Kael was 21 pounds and 25% for height and weight. That suprised me because he still looks to chubby and squishy, but he's proportionate.
He is running around like crazy and freaks whenever a door opens, he loves to go outside. He loves being pushed around in his little car and Kire & I take turns pushing him around on a trike or skooter.
We think he has finally said mama and dada. For a while he would babble, but we couldn't be sure he really understood what he was saying. Now he'll say it occasionally. I swear the other boys were more vocal by now.
He loves to carry around the electric toothbrush and throws a fit when it turns off. Then he runs to me and says, "uh uh uh," really frantic until I turn it on again.
My friend Jody just took some pics of him and I put them together in a collage so it spells out O-N-E

Goodreads

I go through periods where I'll read like 3 books a week, then go a few months without reading. I've been reading a lot lateley and have found some fun books. I swear everything I read is YA fantasy, so if you like that kind of crap enjoy my recommendations.
 
Firelight by Sophie Jordan:
Humans turn into Dragons and are hunted. Dragon falls in love with a hunter. Sounds kind of lame, but I really liked it. It's a series so I'm starting the second book.

 
Graceling by Kristin Cashore:
Set back in history with knights & castles. People are "graced" with special gifts and hers is the ability to kill/survive. The king uses her as a weapon until she fights back. Also a series.
 
Birthmarked by Caragh O'brien:
The 3 first born children each month are given up to the city, who control everything. She's a midwife and tries to save her parents from inside the city walls. Series.
 
Insurgent (Divergent #2) Veronica ROth:
This was the second book I'd been waiting for. Set in the future, reminds me a lot of Hunger Games.
 
Pandemonium (Delerium #2) Lauren Oliver:
Also love this series. In the future kids go in for a surgery once they reach 16ish which cures them from "dilerium" so they won't fall in love and have to face heart break.
 
City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) Cassandra Clare:
Why don't Jace & Clary just get it over with, seriously, do it.

I go to goodreads.com a lot, so find me on there and we can share recommendations.

Crystal Hot Springs

Friday we took the kids to Crystal Hot Springs, it's just outside of Brigham city.  I told Erik we need to go more often because I was the cutest, skinniest girl there.  It's kind of white trash.  But they have 2 big water slides and the boys can go down them, unlike the other pools around here where you have to be 4 feet tall to ride alone.  And there's no line for the slides so we just ran up and got on.

It's fun to go in the winter because the pools are natural springs and so warm.

South Weber Days

Last week we had our little town South Weber Days.  Kael had to enter the baby contest of course.  It was cowboy themed and he won for the kids his age, just like his older brothers.  He just smiled at the judges with his cute little dimple and walked across the stage and it was over for the other kids.  So we rode in the parade on a bale of hay with the other winners.  I hate parades, but this parade is always fun.  It's just like 1/2 mile long down the main road in town and all of the floats throw candy and shoot water into the crowd (which isn't usually allowed at parades).
 The boys did mutton bustin at the little Rodeo.  I didn't think they'd really do it, but they loved it.  Kire's sheep ran fast to the other side of the field and he held on for a while, but it wasn't long enough to win a medal and he was dissapointed.  Jack held on for a few yards, fell off, brushed himself off and asked to go again.

 Cache & Kire

and

Jack & Jayde

 Jack getting ready to go!

Kael's 1!

My sweetest Kael turned one today.  He is still the sweetest, happiest, chubbiest thing.  He's my favorite and I love him so much.  He's been standing for over a month and just the past couple of weeks has really started walking.  It is so cute to see him stumbling around, but I hope he doesn't get skinny too fast.

Says: Mama & Dada
Loves: his soothie binky & muslin blanket
Food: anything, obviously, but loves strawberries & cottage cheese
Nicknames: Skinny & Kaely Whaley

I wanted to make this darling monster cake I saw on Pinterest.  I decided to ask our local bakery if they could make it, they did and gave us the mini cake for Kael free.  It was so worth it.

I made the cake pops and will never make them again, biggest pain ever.

Lots of cousins & friends over to celebrate!

Our awesome friends lent us their bouncy house so the kids had a blast.

Kael feeding me his cake.  He played with it and ate his eyeball cake pop, but he really loved his playdough ice cream cone.

After his ice cream he didn't really care about his presents but Kire & Jack helped him open them.

 He got a couple of stackers toys, and a book.  We already have so much so we kept it pretty simple.

Camping & Bear Lake

Our friends the Davis's invited us up camping with them where they have some property in Sourdough, past Huntsville.  They have a nice big trailer, a paddle boat & 4 wheelers we got to play on.  I forgot our tent poles so we had to stay in their little 4 man tent, but it was nice and warm. Saturday morning we woke up to 2 moose right outside of our tent.  The bull looked in the window and circled the tent.  I should have been more afraid but I was just trying to find my camera. 

Kire has become quite the fisherman and caught 8 fish.  Jack even helped Erik catch one too.

We are not really into camping, and don't know jack, so it's fun to go with people who do.

2 Days later we went to Bear Lake for a couple of days.  We'd heard about a hike up to Bloomington Lake we decided to do.  No one told us how cold it was up there so we were unprepared with our flip flops and shorts.  We covered up with towels and blankets we had in the car.  The boys did great, but Erik ended up carrying them both on his shoulders and I got to snuggle Kael.  The lake was beautiful and worth the hike.

Most of our time was spent at the pools at our condo, but we went to the park and Bear Lake too.  I love going there, it's as close as you'll get to the beach in Utah.

Thompson Reunion

 Last weekend we had the Thompson reunion.  The festivities begin at the gravesite of Erik's grandparents in West Warren, UT.  From there each family member carries an olympic torch for a section of the road that leads to a park.

There are over 200 members of this family, and we each wear shirts with the number in which we joined the family.  Erik's grandparents are 1 & 2, then their 6 kids and in order.  Erik is #30, I'm 139, & I think Kael was #195.

 Once at the park each family (6 brothers and sisters) presented their family flag.

 Then the games begin.  Here is Jack & Kire doing the tug of war, boys against girls.

 Kire and Jack with their medals (canning lids).  Kire won several events in his age group: sprint, hurdles, and riding a tarp sled with 3 other kids while Erik & 2 other men pulled.

 The following day was filled with volleyball, water fights, carnival games, crafts, and more contests.

 Kire & Kael lounging on the porch.

 Hey Kael, are you the cutest little bug I ever saw?

All of this craziness was a little overwhelming when I first joined the family, now it's wonderful.  Who else can say they ran the olympic torch down the road, or leg wrestled, or cooked white mush for breakfast during their family reunion?

St. George 4th

We spent the week with my mom and sister Julia's family in St. George. My mom drove down with us and kept Kael fed and the boys busy.  I gave in and let Jack sit in the back for a little while. FYI:  Did you know babies are supposed to sit rear-facing until 2 now !?  That'll be fun.

Here are the boys hiking the slot canyon.  This is their very favorite place to hike.  They can fit through these tiny cracks and love to go off the trails and explore. 

Kire caught his first fish (outside of a trout farm).  They were so excited.  It was on his first cast into this little pond and he reeled in a blue gill.  Erik cut his hand on the spiky fins and they didn't catch anything the rest of the trip, but Kire was so thrilled.

Kire is a funny little kid.  He's pretty mellow and easy going.  He's going to be quit the outdoors man.  He'd rather sit and fish for hours or hike & camp than play sports.  Erik & I didn't grow up doing much camping or fishing, so we are learning together now.

Jack is crazy.  He has no fear.  He started doing flips off of the rocks into the pool.  We're in trouble with him.

I freakin love Kaels shark body suit.

Here's the boys at the splash pad.  It was so funny to see the boys personalities shine through while we were there.  Jack will run through the fountains and get drenched, while Kire just kind of tiptoes around the water.  And Kael's already climbing over rocks and trying to follow his brothers.

 Julia & Trevor had to take us to their favorite place Irmitas.  The owner started talking to me in Spanish, I'm pretty sure she thought Jack was Mexican.

Short little trip but it was great to have Erik around and spend all day at the pool together.

NYC

Erik's brother Bryant just graduated with his PHD from South Carolina and got a job as a professor at West Point Military Academy in New York.  He asked Erik to fly out and help them move across the country, so we decided to make a trip of it.

West Point Academy campus

I flew out Wednesday with Kael.  They live North of the city in a beautiful little town near Cornwall, west of the Hudson.  Kael was awesome, I was worried how he'd do on the plane.
Thursday we left Kael and went into the city and saw a Yankee's game.  Erik's dad has connections and got us $300 a seat tickets for FREE!  We were 16 rows behind the Yankee's dugout.  We could see faces and hear the players, it was the highlight of the trip for me, and I don't even care about baseball.

Erik & Bry

Friday Erik & I took Kael into the city and did some tours.  We went to the Top of the Rock, a beautiful look out ontop of the Rockefeller building.  I would have loved to take a tour of NBC studios and see where 30 Rock & SNL are filmed, and see Jimmy Fallon live, but we couldn't take Kael.

Time Square

Top of the Rock

Saturday we took the train back out to the city & took a boat tour out to see the city & the statue of Liberty.  That was well worth it.  We went through Central Park & China town and all of the famous areas.

       

Sunday we took a drive upstate towards Cold Spring.  We went hiking and stopped by some beautiful old churches.

This is one of the churches we stopped by.  It was so cool and looked straight out of a movie with all of the tilted gravestones, some of which were from the 1700's.

 This is the veiw off of his brother's back porch.  I never thought of New York as being so green and beautiful, but once you get out of the city it is gorgeous.

I had been to New York about 15 years ago with my dad, but Erik had never been, so it was fun to go again.  Everything is really interesting, but I decided I would rather sit on a beach than spend time in a busy city.  It was so good for Erik & I to spend time together and to spend time with  Bry & Teresa and their 3 boys.