Livi and other tragedies

I love Alivia, I really do, but she is my most precocious (to put it nicely) child. A couple days after arriving in Provo, my mom gave us some childrens vitamins. As they were past the expiration date by two years, I threw them away. Later that night we were watching a movie when Christian noticed she was eating some of them. After checking the internet and properly freaking myself out about iron poisoning I decided we needed to get them out of her. Scott acted like he knew what he was doing and told me to give her some milk and then he gave her a raw egg to drink. She drank it happily down. So we tried some really hot hot sauce. She didn't even make a face. He was out of ideas so he told me to stick my finger down her throat. Scott, who cannot handle vomit without losing it himself, ran out the door. She barely even bit me. I don't know whether it was the fact mom and dad were both paying attention to her or what, but she was rather unscathed by the situation. She didn't even cry. I, on the other hand, will never buy vitamins again.

Our favorite place to visit anywhere we've lived is the library, so we made our way over there a few days after moving in. They asked for our names and then the librarian informed me we had a $35 fee from last time (over 7 years ago!!!) and we needed to buy replacement cards at $2 each. Unbelievable! Even foreclosures are wiped clean after 7 years, but not the library!

The last tragedy is the job market. Doesn't seem to be a whole lot better here. There are more jobs but also more people. But something will work out soon, I can feel it.

On the whole, we're doing well. Life has settled down into crazy routine. We just try not to think of AZ too much.

Beverly Hillbillies take 2

Moving is always a pain and exhausting, but this move was much more so! I don't know if it was having a newborn or a few more kids this time or what, but it was an ordeal. It took me longer to get everything packed, thank goodness my parents showed up to help. And then my in-laws came with a trailer to load up all our stuff. Thompsons are truly amazing when it comes to moving things. For instance, Scott managed to squeeze our couch, lounge chair and 3 children into our van for a 9 hour drive. We've also moved a porch swing, entertainment center and a list of other items you would think could never fit into a minivan. Anyway, as you can see in the pictures, they did it again! I was trying to take stuff off and give it away or throw it away, but they kept going around and picking it back up and piling it back on. I had to leave early because I was going crazy watching.

BUT--they made it! And only one box fell off. Pretty good. Thanks so much to Nick, Gator and Dad, who not only had to load up the truck and drive it, but had to put up with me running around like a crazy woman. Anyway, we're working on settling into our new home. We have had a pretty constant stream of visitors so far. It's nice to be around family and be loved so much.

More goodbyes

This last weekend we went to Mesa for a last visit to the Bowens. It's hard to believe that we're not going to see them again for awhile. Hopefully they'll wind up in Utah! They have the habit of following us around. We will miss visiting Phoenix, too. It's so beautiful down there in the winter and we'll miss the temple, swap meets, La Tolteca and parks in the middle of the night because it's too dang hot during the day. We went swimming and hung out on Friday night and then went letterboxing the next day. Thanks for putting us up!

Soran is getting so big and social. She loves to smile at people and coo at them. The kids are bored, bored, bored because summer break has been going for a whole week now. It's nice to have them home and getting to know them again. Sometimes school is so busy I feel like they are growing up without me. Time to start packing, though. We leave next week!

Primary activity

The kids had a primary activity today and had a lot of fun despite it being cold and rainy. They had 3-legged races, jumped through tires, potato sack races, tug of wars and a pot game where they balled up and got swung by the arms. We will really miss this ward and area. We have made some really good friends we will miss a lot. I haven't started packing yet because then it will sink in.

Soran has started smiling and Christian and I spend about an hour in the morning making her smile and talking to her. She is still such a good baby and I love her to death.

Livi's official!

Alivia has been acting two for awhile now, getting into everything, saying uh-uh to everything and being terrible but oh so cute. The only thing keeping her alive. But on the 28th she became official and we had a little party for her on the 29th. We had the Henlines over for a last get together and cake and ice cream. The kids each gave her a present they had raided the toy box for and she got clothes and a doll from Grandma and we gave her a princess phone with a purse. She had a hard time figuring out how to point her lips in order to blow out the candles. Happy birthday, sweetie!

Thompson reunion

We had a great time at the Thompson reunion this last week. We went up to Utah and got to visit with all of Scott's family and enjoy some good food and good times. The drive was kind of long as our TV broke and so the kids were a little more restless. The first day we went and checked out schools with the kids. They are really excited about the one we found, but it's 20 minutes away, so it will be a challenge getting them there. Scott and I went out for our 11th anniversary!!! that night and went to Bombay House and watched Wolverine (thank you Alexis) and then soaked in the hot tub. The next day we went and saw Ian. He looked really skinny, but good. That night I got the flu and so went to my mom's for some much needed sleep while the kids slept in tents and had smores at Holly and Nick's house. We went to church on Sunday, played games and blessed Soran. Monday we hiked up to Stewart falls and had a picnic and took pictures. Then the highlight of the trip--Chuck E. Cheese's where the kids went through over 600 tokens (thank goodness Grandpa works there and gets them for free). Tuesday the guys went golfing and the girls got to go to a movie and out to eat (my favorite part--no kids!). Overall it was a great time and thanks to Mom, Dad, Nick and Holly for the good memories.

Fathers & Sons, Mothers & Daughters

This past weekend was the Fathers and Sons campout, which Scott was in charge of, and Amber's dance recital. Scott was relieved it was the last one he has to do for awhile. It's quite a bit of work (for both of us). Christian is the kid in the striped shirt that looks like he's going to get burned. Honestly, I'm surprised more little boys aren't lost/maimed/burned/a long list of other possibilities on these camping trips where no women are around. But I know they love it.

My sister Xela made a surprise visit from Utah with her daughter so we had a fun night at Amber's recital and then went home and had pizza and watched a movie. Amber is such a good dancer and you can see she loves it. We didn't have the camera so didn't get a pic until after. No, we didn't give her dead flowers. It just took awhile until we got a picture with them. I had to include one of my new baby, too. She's getting cuter and fatter all the time!