Family Photo (minus David)

Okay, I have one more thing to add before I call it quits. My favorite thing about the holidays is having the whole family together. This year we were all here except David (who is on a mission in Georgia-I missed you Dave!). It was so fun to spend time together, and watch the cousins get to know each other better. Last night we got together again for dinner and games and to take a family photo. It was too hard trying to find a time when we could all go to a studio, so we just had our good friend, John Latteier, come over and take a few pictures for us. They turned out pretty good. I have a few ideas for editing, but until I figure that out, I just wanted to post one of the pictures. I LOVE it! It has been a long time since we have had a picture together.

Okay and I have to add this picture of the grandkids. We were laughing hysterically while taking this one. All the kids were screaming for some reason. Look at my mom, superwoman, holding three babies while trying to keep Kira from escaping the photo. It was classic!

Overwhelmed!

As you may have noticed, I haven't updated my blog in a while. I hate it when this happens! Now I have a whole list of things I want to get on here, and the list overwhelms me and I can't seem to motivate myself enough to get started. All the editing and cropping photos, trying to figure out what goes where, all the while wishing I knew how to do all of this better. So instead of leaving the computer yet again without posting, I decided to throw this video on. It is just a cute little video of Cody trying to scoot. He has been so close for a while now, but he just can't seem to figure out how to go forward. I am a little relieved that he is taking his time with this step. Once he starts moving I will be chasing TWO!

Perfect Day in Kamas

Last week we had some good weather, so we decided to take a trip up to Kamas to see the horses. We don't get up there nearly enough anymore, and each time we do get to go I am reminded how much I love it! It was such a beautiful day. Ty was so excited to go for a ride. He loves the horses. Anytime Ryan asks him what he wants to do, he says, "um....go ride the horses." Of course that makes Ryan a very proud Papa. So besides it being a little chilly, we had a good time, and I took way too many pictures.

Ty learning how to reign a horse. He is getting pretty good.

Ty going fast!

I LOVE this picture! This is Ty's first time riding Cinco all by himself. Well, as close to all by himself as I will allow.

Ty had fun playing with this cat too. It was a really friendly cat, and he put up with all of Ty's teasing.

This was another one of my favorite photos of the day. The cat came out of nowhere and jumped on the pole. It startled Ty.

And this is what Cody did the whole time. Hung out in the Baby Bjorn. He was such a good boy despite the chilly wind. I can't wait until we can get up there again. Although it might be awhile now that the snow has finally arrived!

New Do

I am a little embarassed to post this picture, but my sister wants to see my hair. I hate posting pictures of myself! I chopped all my hair off on Saturday. I spent a lot of time on the website makeoversolutions uploading pictures of myself, and putting different hairstyles on to see what I liked. This is what I came up with. It is so different from anything I've done before, but it is fun. I took this picture myself, so it looks a little goofy.
Kat just cut her hair short and inspired me to do the same. I like the cut, but I think I will like it more when it is just a little bit longer. Sorry for the scary photo!

Brotherly Love

One of the things that brings me great joy in motherhood is watching my boys interact and play with each other. Even though Cody is only 5 months old, I can see the beginning of a great relationship. Ty adores Cody, and I think Cody feels the same way about Ty. Of course they have their moments when they bug each other, but for the most part they have become good buds. First thing Ty does when he wakes up in the morning is runs to our bed to snuggle with Cody. He has all sorts of nick names for him, (which he either picked up from his Dad and I, or made up himself) and they include Mandoozer, Dewey Doo, Code Man, and his favorite Coco. When Ty comes in the room, Cody gets a big smile on his face and starts wiggling around like crazy. I have been trying to capture pictures of their playing together, but as soon as Cody sees the camera, he can't take his eyes off of it. These are a few that I have been able to get.

And then Cody spotted me. He is fascinated by the camera.

I had to add this one too because it was such a cute smile from Cody.
Cody gets lots of kisses from Ty. It is so cute! I know they aren't always going to get along. They will get mad and have their fights from time to time. But the times when they do get along and play together like this make it all worth it!

For Diane

This post is dedicated to my mother-in-law. This is Ty singing his made-up songs about her dogs, Chica and Sierra. You'll notice it sounds a lot like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and he isn't real creative with his lyrics yet. He sings about the dogs A LOT!! He really does love them, I just wish I could get him to express that love in ways other than chasing them around the living room all day every day. He is getting better though.

Another Oooops!......

You may recall a previous post titled Sanitizer Mishap, where I had discovered a new found respect for sanitizer after Ty destroyed my new table with it. Well, although devastated at the time, I got over it, and it really wasn't all that bad. Ty wasn't satisfied. Having reached the "Terrible Two's" that everyone talks about, he is into everything. If I don't jump the second he asks for something and get it, he takes matters into his own hands. He can climb on anything. So the other day while I was feeding Cody, Ty found some pretty finger nail polish. He had seen me use it a couple days before, and had actually talked me into painting one of his fingers. I regret that now. He decided that he was going to paint his own fingernails. Although he didn't follow my example and have something under his hand before he started, and he decided to use my brand new, slightly marked up, table to work on. While he did paint his fingernails, and his hands, and his clothes, he also managed to coat my table pretty good too. Now if you thought sanitizer was a good destroyer, it is nothing compared to finger nail polish. In the few minutes it was on my table, it took the paint right off. Other places are still decorated with the pretty red color. All day I saw that nail polish sitting on the counter, and I didn't think anything of it. I never told Ty he couldn't play with nail polish. Now I am really devastated! My slightly marked up table now looks like a piece of Ty's artwork. Any more ideas?

Who's Who?

When Cody was first born, I didn't think he and Ty looked very much alike. I still don't think that they really do, but when I was looking at these pictures the other day, I was surprised at some of their similarities. I showed Ryan, and he thought that the pictures of Ty were Cody. I thought that was funny because when I look at them I don't think there is any question who is who. I decided to have a little contest to see if they really do look more alike than I think they do. So, let's see if you can tell them apart. These are pictures of Ty and Cody at 5 months old.

#1

#2

Let me know what you think. Oh and by the way, these were both pictures of them trying cereal for the first time, hence the mouths covered with food.

The Monkey Song......and a bonus feature

Ty is a little singing machine these days. He sings all day long and all night long too. When we put him to bed, we hear him singing until he falls asleep. It is pretty cute. This is my favorite song that he sings. Somehow I ended up downloading two videos at the same time, I don't know how I did it. The second one is pretty cute too. It is Ty and his cousin Summer playing together. Ty kept telling Summer to watch him, and she was laughing her head off. It was so cute. The video stops pretty abuptly because Ty about knocks himself out in the end.

Pirates, Ponies, Pumpkins and more......

We had such a fun Halloween! Ty really got into it this year. He was so excited to put his costume on and go trick or treating. He didn't really know what that meant, but he liked the part about treats. I tried to get him to pose for some pictures before we went around our circle, but he was to distracted by the kids across the street dressed in their costumes, so this was the best I got.

Isn't he a cute pirate. We taught him to say "Hi me hearty," and when asked what a pirates favorite letter was "Arrrghh". He would have been happy just going to the few houses in our circle, but we went for more. We went up to my mom and dads house to help with the traditional scones. My mom gives out scones for Halloween. They are so yummy. So while I helped make scones, Ryan took Ty and Cody to a few more houses.

Here is Cody ready for his first trick or treating experience. It wore him out and he had to come back and take a nap. Ty came back and began eating all of his candy. Luckily it only lasted one night, and now he has forgotten about it. The night before Halloween, we carved our pumpkins. Ty loved helping, as opposed to last year when he just sat back and watched. His only request was that the pumpkins were happy.

Ty only touched the seeds one time, and then he wouldn't do it unless he had a spoon. He wasn't fond of the slimy feeling.
Ty is becoming stubborn and won't look at the camera and smile. It's a good one of Ryan though.

Here is our finished product. Two smiling, happy pumpkins.

And this one is for my mother-in-law Diane. These are her two daughters, Chica and Sierra, that we are taking care of while they are on their mission. I know she is missing them so I thought she would like to see what they did for Halloween. For some reason Ty thought it was hilarious that we were telling Chica to sit. Ty loves these dogs, unfortunately, they don't feel the same way about Ty. And that sums up our Halloween 2007. What a fun day!

Soothing Cody

Ty can't stand to hear Cody cry. Any time Cody is crying, Ty either pretends to cry himself, or keeps repeating, "Oh, Cody's crying. It's okay Cody." Unfortunately, Cody likes to make his presence known most of the day. Ty has come up with his own ways to try and help him. It seems every time I come into the living room, Ty is trying out a new technique on his baby brother. Some actually work pretty good, others he gets in trouble for. (i.e. laying on Cody, trying to pick him up, or dumping all the toys on his head.) Here are a few of his soothing techniques that I have caught on film.
Here is Ty reading to Cody. I thought this was so cute! Ty made himself a little seat, and was really reading his book to Cody. Okay, well he can't read, but he has memorized a lot of it so he really was telling the story.
Ryan didn't want me to post this picture. I guess he is embarassed for Ty. I think it is pretty cute. This is Ty trying to feed Cody. He lifted his shirt up and said "milk cody". When I was little I used to always sit next to my mom while she was feeding one of my younger siblings, and I would pretend to feed my doll. Ty is a boy, so maybe Ryan is right and I should discourage this. I don't know. I still think it is cute.

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And here is Ty singing to Cody. Ty just recently started singing and I love it. He actually knows quite a few songs. This would be a whole lot cuter if Ty wasn't couging through the whole thing. Yes, Ty is sick AGAIN! This cough is awful, and he has an ear infection too. His singing is still pretty cute though, and he even got a few smiles out of Cody.

Bye Bye Binkie

Can you believe it? We actually did it! It came to a point where the "binkie bink", as Ty calls it, was causing more bad than good. Ty would throw it when we would put him to bed, and then cry and cry because he wanted it back. We would have to keep going in and finding it for him. He would repeat the same thing all through the night as well. We kept playing this game with him, and it got me so frustrated that I finally said enough was enough, the bink had to go. So two weeks ago, I started telling him that the next monday we were going to throw the bink away, and the garbage truck was going to come and get it. Then we would go to the store and he would get to pick out a new toy to sleep with at night. He was actually very excited about this. I was dreading it, but knew that his sleeping couldn't be any worse than it already was. So, last monday, after Ty got up, I told him today was the day he would be a "big boy", and throw his binks away. We gathered all the binks in the house, and Ty took them out to the garbage.

Then Ty helped me wheel the garbage can over to the street. I made sure that he saw the binkies in the bottom of the garbage can.
We then had to wait for the garbage truck to come take them away. I felt that this was a very important part of the plan. He had to actually watch the garbage truck take them away. Finally the garbage truck came, and Ty was still very excited about the whole thing. He loved watching the garbage truck empty the garbages. He yelled very enthusiastically, "bye bye binks!"

My mom came up with the cute idea to go to Build-A-Bear and let Ty pick out a new teddy bear, so that is where we headed next. Ty had a lot of fun stuffing and bathing his new bear. We made a recording of me singing one of his favorite songs, and put it in the hand.

Then we headed back home to try for a nap. I had just planned on him not taking one because I didn't think it was possible without his bink. Surprisingly, I was wrong. He pushed the button in the bear to play his song about 100 times, and then he fell asleep. He didn't make a peep that night either. When he woke up in the morning, he asked for his binkie, and we just reminded him that the garbage truck took it away, and he is a big boy now. That was a week ago today, and he has only asked for his bink a few times. He has had a few rough nights trying to fall asleep, but nothing worse than it was before when he had his bink. I never imagined it would go so well. I always stress about things way more than I should. Ty has made most things so easy for me. He is such a sweet boy.

Here he is holding his new bear, who he named Ty. Goodnight Ty and Ty. We love you!

Halloween Preview

I just can't wait until Halloween to share this picture. We took a couple pictures of the boys in their costumes to send to their Grandma and Grandpa. They turned out pretty cute. I am spoiling it for John and Diane though. I am not going to post all the pictures we are sending though, that way they will still be surprised. Here is my cute little pirate, and my little pony. Ty loves that he gets to hold a sword.

Our New Ride

I was very excited and very surprised to get this fancy new stoller for my anniversary present. My husband is way too nice to me. Now that I have my double-wide, I am finally able to go for walks and eventually runs with the kids again. I saw this stroller and fell in love with it, but it was way more than any stroller should cost. I had talked myself out of it, but couldn't find another one I really liked. When Ryan brought it into the house I was shocked, and I couldn't justify spending that much for a stroller. Ryan talked me into keeping it, and I guess that will be my incentive to use it A LOT! I LOVE it! It is the best stroller ever! Thank you Ryan!
Ty was pretty excited to try out the new stroller. He couldn't even wait for us to get it set up. When we finally did get it set up and I took them for a test run, he wouldn't let me stop. He kept telling me "more, more, more."

And here we are all ready to go. I couldn't figure out how to adjust the lighting on this photo. So sorry it is so dark.

Happy Anniversary!

Okay, so I am a little late. Just pretend that the date at the top of this post is September 24. Ryan and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary last week! Look at us now. We are a family of four. We have had so much fun the last 4 years, and we look forward to the many years to come. I planned a secret celebration for us and it was all I could do to not spill the beans because I knew Ryan was going to LOVE it! My mom watched the boys for us, (thanks mom), and we headed up to Kamas. Ryan didn't know what we were doing until right before we left. I packed a fancy dinner of chicken mignon, baked beans, and fresh vegetables. I cooked the chicken before, and wrapped in tin foil. Then I packed two back packs with our special "Thompson Family Tradition" dinnerware, (a wedding gift from Gary and Marilyn Hansen), Sparkling Cider, Stuff to make a fire, and a cake for dessert. Then we saddled up the horses and rode up the mountain. It was such a pretty day and we were surrounded by the beautiful fall leaves. We found a nice meadow and made our dinner. It was such a fun little picnic! We played a couple rounds of Skip-Bo while we waited for our food to cook. Then we ate and headed back down the mountain. It was just perfect! Just our style! Thanks for the best four years of my life Ryan. I love you!

Cute Boys

Ah, what a sweet face!

Oh! What a cute smile!




They are cute most of the time, but after a LONG day I had to sit at the computer and look at their pictures to remind myself of this. Today they were not so cute. Ty was in a bad mood due to the fact that he doesn't think he needs to sleep anymore. He lays in bed every night talking and banging on the wall until at least 10:00. After a few days of that he is missing his sleep and not his usual happy, easy going self. Cody was grumpy for some reason and didn't think he needed to sleep at all either. They are both sound asleep now and I am getting my much needed break! I am sure tomorrow will be a better day. They really are the best little boys ever and days like this are few and far between from the good days. So I just want to let my cute little boys know that I love them!

It's Snowing!!!

I can't believe this weather! It is September 29, and it is snowing! Maybe my memory is bad, but it seems like the first snow is always around Halloween. Regardless, it was a fun surprise. Although I am definitely not ready for the cold!

Big Boy Pants!

Ty decided one day after reading his "Potty Time" book that he wanted to use the potty. I went along with it but I didn't really think anything would come of it. Sure enough, he went potty! I was shocked. I didn't know for sure if I was ready to potty train him. He has made it really easy on me though. He has been using the potty here and there for the last few weeks. Then his cousin Sam came into town and Ty saw his "big boy pants". Ty thought they were pretty cool, and he decided he wanted some too. So on Monday we went and bought some "big boy pants". He had one accident on Monday, but hasn't had one since. He feels so cool wearing his new underwear! I can't believe how well he is doing. I am sure we will have some more accidents, but I think he has done really well so far. Way to go Ty! And thanks to Sam for inspiring him!

Thompson Through and Through

I have learned over the years that when making cookies for the Thompson's, it is best not to cook the dough. In fact, every member of the family would be much more excited if I handed them a huge ball of dough, rather than an actual cookie. I rarely see Ryan eat a cookie after I have cooked them, but he always eats his fair share of dough. I noticed that without any encouragement, Ty started doing the same thing when he would help me make cookies. Throughout the whole process he tells me "Bite". The other night we made some cookies together, and he got his usual bite of dough at the end. Apparently it wasn't enough because when I came back into the kitchen this is what I found.

Ty had pushed the bucket of flour over to the counter so he could reach the bowl of cookie dough. He is getting too tricky. I am going to have to find better hiding places now.
Here he is enjoying his huge scoop of cookie dough. He looks just like his Dad in that picture.

Go Utes!

Okay, so the title doesn't really go with the outcome of the game, but we had a lot of fun on Thursday preparing for it. Ryan could hardly contain his excitement. He was checking the clock nonstop all day. Game time couldn't come fast enough. To kill some time, he took Ty to the University bookstore to get matching jerseys. He got Utah gear for all of us.
This is how I found Cody when I went in to get him up from his nap. Ryan snuck in his room to give him his new football. Ryan and Ty were singing Utah Man all afternoon. Ty is getting pretty good at singing it himself.

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Now isn't that a proud papa! Is it a little ridiculous that my two year old knows the Utah Man song? This might be a case of serious brain washing.
Here we are ready to watch the game. Too bad the Utes couldn't pull off a win to make this day perfect. Oh well, maybe next time.

Kiddie Kandids

We went to Kiddie Kandids this morning to get some pictures of the boys. We wanted a few of them separate, and then some of them together. Unfortunately, Cody has become very scared of his brother lately, and cried every time we tried to sit them together. So we will have to try again another day. We got a few pretty cute pictures. I am really excited for a photo session we are going to in January with a photographer named Skye Johansen. I saw her website on my friend Whitney's blog, and I love her work. Check her website out at skyejohansen.com. Here are a couple pictures from today.



Sorry, that is as big as I can get them. Of course we had to get some pictures in Utah gear now that football season has started. I have lots of pictures of us getting ready to watch the game on Thursday, but that is for another day.