Thompson Economic Stimulus

Today Amber's girls were here playing and everyone decided they wanted to color. We discovered Mia had used all but 8 pieces of paper so they were all stressed about not having enough. Until........they came up with an amazing plan to color pictures and go outside and sell them. They informed me that the proceeds earned from the art sale would come to me so I could in turn purchase more paper. Thank heavens...I had no idea where I would come up with the funds for another ream ;) The decision was made to stand outside in the front yard and try to sale the pictures in the traditional "lemonade stand" style. Complete with yelling, "Pictures for sale. Come and get your pictures. Only 25 Cents!!!" Annie decided they would give this a try for 20 minutes at which time if they hadn't sold at least 3 pictures they would try the door to door approach.
After 20 minutes and no sales, the assault on our closest friends and neighbors began. Robert was our first victim (that's what you get for living right across the street).
He was a great sport taking time to thumb though them all and choosing the ones he liked best. Then he handed the girls a handful of coins! They couldn't believe their luck!!!!! I stood inside and took pictures and laughed. Thanks for being such a good sport Robert!
After Robert's they hit the sidewalk and tried every house up and down our street. I found it pretty amusing but those stinkers raised $5.42! Once they saw the numbers they quickly changed their minds about giving it to me for more paper. We divided it evenly among the workers and everyone went home with a little bit of change in their pockets and big dreams for the dollar store.

Mia's Field Trip

This last Thursday Mia went on her first field trip. They went to the Tree House Museum and to say she was excited would be a HUGE understatement! Matt chose to go with her and take charge of a small group of rambunctious kindergartners. Here's his little group. Megan, Mia, Lilly and Kinley. I'm sure he had his hands full with these 4.
They got to learn how to milk a cow. Water actually came out of the udders so they would know when they were doing it right.

They played Indians inside a tee-pee.

And she even got to play the part of a bunny in a rousing rendition of Little Red Ridinghood.

They finished the day off with lunch in the cafeteria at school. What kindergartner wouldn't love that? Mattie survived the chaos and everyone had a fantastic time!!

Visiting the Peterson's & Staci's Shower

Friday night after hanging out at the hotel for a couple of hours we went over to Staci's mom's house. They had been at the temple that evening with Stori and were kind enough to invite us over for dinner when they got home. After an all day drive to get up there it was AWESOME to see Staci and her family. They couldn't have been any sweeter to us. Wow! We miss Staci and Dan so much. It was worth the drive to get to see her. We had french dip sandwiches and talked and laughed. Mostly we laughed about the joke we had played on Russ and Dan over the phone on the way up there. We had told them we took the wrong route to Billings. That we had gone through Boise but we pretended that we didn't realize that was the wrong way. We had them worked up pretty good about us being lost and having no idea that we were going to take an extra 3 to 4 hours to get up there. They were very concerned for us. After awhile we came clean and told them we were on the right track and we'd be there in about an hour. Staci and her family were in on it and got a good laugh along with us. (we'd let Russ and Dan sweat it out for an hour or two).Celeste was pretty worn out from the long drive so she stayed behind at the hotel while we visited that night. It was fun to see them all but we missed having her there.

Staci's shower was the next day. We packed up so we could head home as soon as it was over. They had yummy, yummy food, some of the best strawberries I've had in my life! It helped too that her grandma prayed in the blessing on the food that all the calories would be taken out of it. Ha!! I'm incorporating that into all my mealtime prayers from now on! (I was a little embarrassed that I laughed out loud when she said that in her prayer. However, I wasn't the only one! Her Grandma is a BLAST! )

We played some cute games too. It was fun to meet some of Staci's friends and neighbors. They were all such great people.

She got some really cute stuff. I love to see all the cute clothes they have for little girls. Judging by all the darling stuff she got, Isla Jo is going to be one cute little bug!

My Mom sent up the quilt she made for her. I love that she makes all of the grand kids quilts when they're born. My kids still love the ones she made them.

We hated to leave, it went by so quickly. I love Staci. She's such a great person and she's perfect for Dan. We're so excited for Christmas to come so they can come for a visit and let us get to know Isla. We love you guys! Thanks to Staci's family for being so kind and welcoming and thanks to my sisters for a really great road trip. Lets do it again soon and have Mom and all the other sisters join us, maybe some place a little closer ;).

Ultra-Quick-Sista-Trip

The ladies in my family were invited to our sister in law Staci's baby shower on May 1st. The catch: in Billings, MT. Dan and Staci live in NH so our chances to see them can be few and far between. So we thought we'd gather up anyone of us that could make the 8+ hour road trip (each way) and head up there. It ended up being Celeste, Kirsten, Amber and I. We had a fun time but would have loved it if all the other gals could have come along. We put the address in the GPS and off we went at 7:00am,. I took this lovely picture of Amber as she was driving. She drove the whole way up there! On the way home we took turns to give her a break.

Here's Celeste texting. We kept in good touch with our husbands as they took control of our various homesteads in our absence. We stopped a time or two along the way for gas and in Butte for lunch.

We did a little bit of this like Kirsten. Sleeping in the car on a road trip is just part of the plan. That's why we all brought along pillows.

We got to our hotel just after 5:00. Kirsten figured out the timer on my camera so we took a couple of pictures of all 4 of us. We went out and did some shopping for a couple of hours and then back to our hotel to wait to hear from Staci. Her sister Stori had gone through the temple that night. Our plan was to head over to her mom's house after they got home and eat dinner with them and hang out.

This picture pretty much sums up what we did most of the trip.......ATE!

Later that night after getting back from the Peterson's we did facials (this is Celeste and I with our shinny peel off masks).

Amber and Kirsten with their clay masks.

Celeste did foot massages for all of us...HEAVEN!!!

We went to bed about 12:30 and got well rested for the shower and the long trip home right afterwords.

We took this picture as we were checking out. This is all the stuff it takes for 4 girls to be gone overnight. Wow!!

We had a really nice time. Our hotel was less than a mile from Staci's mom's house. It was nice to be so close.

Spring Soccer

I asked Mia in March if she wanted to play soccer again this year. She promptly said no and then hesitated. Then with this quizzical look she asked, "Do they have treats there like last time?" When I told her yes she quickly changed her mind. Behold the Orange Dragons. She had a lot of fun running around with the pack. She didn't ever kick the ball except once or twice when it accidentally bumped her foot. I love watching kids this age play! Her favorite position to play was goal keeper. She loved to dance around by the net. She even made some pretty good saves when her coach reminded her what she needed to do. I took this picture as she was about to do a twirl in her fantasy dance routine. While playing goalie of course. It was a fun little spring season. I wish Matt could have been home in the evenings to watch a game or two but I guess that's what cameras are for.

Easter

Easter Sunday began with the kids getting up early to find out what was in their baskets. They went outside first thing (in their pj's) to play with the bubble wands. When I went out to check on them a little while later we had quite the collection of neighbor kids running around the yard. Looks like the rest of the kids around here got up early too.
It was General Conference that day (Yay!!! church in our jamies!) but we still had the kids get dressed up to go to Grandma & Grandpa Elggren's.

There we had our big egg hunt with a TON of candy. I think some of the kids have even found extra pieces randomly in the yard since then. There was a lot out there.

Madden really got into this year and came away with a nice size stash!

Mason got so much he was more than willing to share the goods. I think this picture was only about 1/2 way through the hunt. Trust me, he had a FULL basket in the end, as did the rest of the kids.

We had a great day! It was nice to spend the morning at home listening to Conference. And of course later to see family and be together.

Gracie's Garden

Today marks 6 months since Grace passed away.I can't speak for anyone else but for me it seems like it was just last week and a hundred years ago all at the same time. We still miss her and feel her absence so deeply. I hope the lessons I've learned through this experience will stay with me forever.

I went in Amber and Gary's backyard today to take this picture of Gracie's Garden. I love this little sanctuary they've created. It's such a sweet part of their yard. The flowers are so pretty and when you look at them you can't help but smile and think of Gracie.

We love you and miss you!

I need to catch up!

When Matt asked me to show him how to do a post on the blog before I left on my ultra-quick- sista-trip to Montana last week, I thought I'd scored! Well my exact thought was "Awesome! See April? If you go long enough without updating the blog Matt will eventually do it for you!" I'm lazy by nature.

He did post a really sweet happy birthday to ME and every last detail is spot on!!! Not really, but I melted from it's sweet offerings all the same. Thanks Mattie! I love you!

I haven't felt much like detailing our lives lately but I think I'm getting back in the groove. I still need to post about Easter, Mia's soccer, field trips and the aforementioned ultra-quick-sista-trip. So since Mattie didn't take over completely as I was hoping, I've got a lot of catching up to do. Soon, I promise.