Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Sweet Baby Body

Hannah is growing up so fast! During the last three weeks here in Utah, she has started clapping her hands, waving, and occasionally standing (briefly) on her own. She also has loved toddling around Nana's house assisted by the little walker that used to be Andrew's. It won't be long before she's walking on her own and then running, so her sweet chubby baby body probably won't be around much longer. My friend put it best when she said, "This is the only time in a girl's life when a pot belly and thunder thighs are the cutest thing ever!"

Last weekend, at a swap meet in Las Vegas with Bryan's family, I saw the most adorable little pink boots for Hannah. They were soft and fur-lined with cute little flowers on them. I was so excited! I found Hannah's size and slipped them on her foot (not an easy task, because she has thick feet that she clenches in a ball whenever I try to put shoes on her!) They fit perfectly on her foot, but there was no way I could get the zipper up around her cute chunky ankles (cankles!) I even tried the next size up, hoping that I would have better luck with the zipper, but to no avail! The owner of the shoe booth watching us smiled and laughed, "Ahh, GORDITA!"
I love that sweet baby body!

Fun with Cousins

Sadly, our Utah trip is quickly coming to a close. We have had so much fun spending time with family and old friends that we haven't seen in a long time.

The last time I remember our kids playing with their cousins, Jaden, Ashlyn, and Cadence, was at Logan's first birthday in 2006 before we moved to Ohio. When I saw them again this time, I was so amazed at how much they have grown! Our kids are very similar in ages, so they really had a blast together! We were able to spend a morning together at the Treehouse Museum in Ogden, then breakfast and church together on Sunday, and enjoyed their company at Danielle and Spencer's wedding reception too. Before we left, we also stopped at The Pie for yummy pizza and visited Uncle Kelly's family together.

Firefighters Ashlyn, Logan, and Andrew at the Treehouse Museum

Andrew and Jaden building an archway
Jaden showing his piano skills to Uncle David/BryanAshlyn and Andrew dancing at the reception
It was so good to see you, Russ, Angela, Jaden, Ashlyn, and Cadence! Thanks for all the fun!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Thompson Family Portraits

Since we had the whole Thompson family together for the first time in almost three years (and since the last Thompson family photo was missing a new spouse and three grandkids), we took the opportunity to have some new photos taken.



Portraits by PointeDigital photography.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Festival of Trees

The Festival of Trees is one of my favorite Utah Christmas traditions! I was so excited to get to go last week! This was my very favorite tree this year. It was a life-size Grinch dressed as Santa with the decorated tree and toys and gifts stuffed in his sack. SO cute and creative!
We took a break and enjoyed delicious warm cinnamon rolls and cinnamon sugar scones. You could smell them almost immediately when you walked in the doors; how could we resist?! Silly Andrew chose popcorn instead.
When Logan sat down and looked at his scone and popcorn he announced, "Now that's what I call a MEAL!"

Monday, December 8, 2008

I Should Have Known Better...

...than to trust Logan in the back seat with a full box of Kleenex!

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

I had been physically SICK about this day for about a week, just dreading how awful traveling alone with three young children on an airplane would be! I imagined that by then end of the flight, every fellow passenger would seriously hate me! That is, if I didn't loose one of the kids in the airport before we even made it to the plane! (I purposely dressed them in the brightest colors they had, just in case I had to look for them in a crowd.)We made it through check-in and security relatively quickly, and got to the terminal in plenty of time. Andrew and Logan loved watching our plane prepare for our flight and asked lots of questions (most of which I didn't know the answers to). They couldn't wait to get on the plane!

This was the boys' second airplane trip, but the last one was over two years ago, so they didn't remember it very well. They were very good and stayed busy most of the time watching The Clone Wars DVD, and coloring with their ColorWonder markers. Hannah took about a 30-minute nap at the very beginning, and then was pretty good until the last hour when she got a little restless and squirmy. Luckily, I had plenty of snacks to keep her from having a total meltdown.

Overall, it wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined it! I don't think we made a single enemy on the plane. We are so happy to be here in Utah with all our family! Now I don't have to worry about the flight home for three more weeks...

My First Ponytail

Monday, December 1, 2008

Christmas Lights at Shaker Square

Saturday night, we visited Shaker Square to see the Christmas lights and Santa Claus.

Paiton loves her cousin, Andrew. It was so fun to have Deb and Paiton stay at our house with us this weekend.

The kids were so excited to see Santa. Logan asked Santa for a "big red truck." Hannah pulled Santa's beard (yep, it was real). When it was Andrew's turn, he pulled out a handwritten list (front and back!) that he read to Santa. That sure made Mrs. Claus laugh. The thing he wants the most on his list is a Wii.
This was our only Ohio Christmas activity this year because tomorrow, the kids and I are
GOING TO UTAH!!!

We get to spend three weeks with our families for my sister's wedding and Holiday festivities! We are so excited! Sadly, Bryan can't join us until December 11th. (Wish me luck on the plane! Eek!) We'll miss you babe!