Wednesday, March 5, 2014

I love to see the temple, we went inside today!


What an amazing and exciting time to be living in this area! The Gilbert Temple was dedicated this past weekend, and I'm still feeling a little "hung-over" from the spiritual high!

Todd left early Sunday morning to sing in the choir that performed for the cornerstone ceremony at the first dedication session. Our beautiful and talented neighbor, Britney Rohner, conducted that choir and asked Todd if he would participate. Of course he jumped at the chance. After the ceremony, President Monson commented that they were "excellent". Todd was able to watch him from about 30 feet away interacting with many of the children who were watching the ceremony. I'm regretting my decision to stay home with the kids. I could have taken them over to watch Todd sing and catch a glimpse of the cornerstone ceremony, but it would have required getting five kids ready by 6:45 in the morning. My goal was to try to stay as spiritually-minded as I could that day, and I didn't think an early morning rush like that would have helped. Still, it might have been worth it. 

Todd was given the opportunity to take us inside the temple for the 3:00 dedication session because his calling has him working closely with the Stake Presidency. I still feel a little guilty about it because I know so many people in the stake who deserved to be there. We were put in the back of a group of people that they led up to the third floor to watch the session in one of the sealing rooms. By the time we got to the room, all the seats had been taken, so an usher took us back to the second floor and put us in the chapel. I knew the celestial room was on the second floor, so I was trying to explain to Easton and Evi that President Monson would be only a couple of rooms away from us. As it turns out, we were seated near the aisle and could look out the doors across the foyer to where the elevator came up. We all got to see President Monson and President Eyring walking to and from the celestial room before and after the session!!! It was so neat! Both men stopped in the foyer after the session and waved to everyone in the chapel. President Monson even gave a thumbs-up. I got misty-eyed because I had been praying all week that this opportunity to be inside the temple for the dedication would have a profound impact on my kids. I'm so glad we were able to sit where we did so the kids could see those great men and feel of their spirit.

Here's a link to a great article with great pictures of the cornerstone ceremony. Todd is on the front row, third guy from the right of center:

http://www.ldsmag.com/article/1/14020#.UxVxcudPLak.gmail



Here's a link to a video of the Cultural Celebration the youth of the temple district put on the night before in the pouring rain. Skip to about 16 minutes in.

Gilbert Temple Cultural Celebration

Posted by Kristi at 1:44 PM 0 comments

Thursday, October 31, 2013

In the last year...

...we've had a baby and bought a house! Those are my excuses for not posting in so long. It's been a great year!


This is the only picture I really have of myself pregnant. I wasn't very good at documenting with pictures the past couple of months.


Pryce Lyman Thompson. He has the same initials as his paternal grandmother. He's about the most perfect baby boy in the world.


One month old! His favorite thing to do is stare at the ceiling fan, sleep, and eat.

Todd and I were very surprised to find out in late February that we were pregnant. We had been to a fertility specialist and were waiting to hear back on the offer we put on the house before we proceeded with fertility treatments. We saved a lot of money by not jumping the gun! We call Pryce our miracle baby.

The pregnancy went really well, with no complications, and I was able to deliver him naturally without any drugs. That was a really neat experience that I couldn't have done without the support of Todd. Postpartum was pretty rocky. I became really swollen a couple days after the birth and I came down with Bell's Palsey, which is temporary partial paralysis of the right side of my face. It looks and feels like I've been to the dentist to have a cavity filled, except it lasts six to eight weeks. On top of that, my milk came in really late, which was kind of a nail in the coffin when it came to breastfeeding. I was pretty disappointed it didn't work out better. We were so grateful for the support of both our mom's, who came and stayed to help out. I think I could have very easily slipped into postpartum depression, but was able to avoid it because of the love and support of family and the wonderful friends we have in the ward.

Our house was another exciting development that's taken a lot of work and time the last couple of months. We closed on it last April after submitting the offer last September. We spent the whole month of May tearing out nasty flooring and disgusting carpet and replacing it with new tile and carpet, and painting the whole house. My mom came and helped with the painting, which was a lifesaver since I grossly underestimated the time and energy it would take, especially while five months pregnant. We are really pleased with the results and still have several more projects to finish, like painting the kitchen cabinets, finishing the baseboards, and landscaping the huge backyard. Here are a few pictures.



This is just half of the backyard. I think it's just under 1/3 acre, which is huge for a typical Arizona lot. We have grand plans which include a sidewalk all around the lawn for the kids to ride bikes, lots of citrus trees, a new chicken coop, and a huge space for square foot gardening. I can't wait till I can look out the window and see green instead of dirt and weeds.

This was the front entry with the nasty flooring and dirty white walls. The pictures really don't show how grimy the place was when we first got it.


Front entry after the wood tile was installed and the painting completed. The paint color is Benjamin Moore's "Revere Pewter", and I absolutely love it. Best paint color ever! The baseboards still need to be caulked and painted.


View from the kitchen to the family room. You can see the ugly vinyl and light blue carpeting that we ripped out with gusto.


Kitchen floor with the new wood tile. I really loved the way it turned out. It's perfect for Arizona and is great at hiding the dirt. I'm planning on painting the kitchen cabinets a light cream and maybe replacing the counter tops that are a really worn dark gray laminate. It's on the back burner right now with Pryce being so young.

So that's what's been going on at the Thompson's the last couple of months. Now I can quit giving myself a guilt trip for not posting on the blog for so long.

Posted by Kristi at 3:04 PM 2 comments

Monday, December 3, 2012

EVMCO Christmas Concert

This past weekend we had Todd's family in town to enjoy the EVMCO (East Valley Mormon Choral Organization) Christmas Concert. Todd has been participating in this choir for the last year and a half, and we've both been impressed with what a great opportunity it's been for him to rub elbows with some truly talented musicians and be a part of such a great organization. The choir and accompanying symphony put on a first-class show. Here's their website (which Todd built. Yes, shameless brag moment!). 


Love this man! He looked GOOD in his concert attire.



After the show, I took the Thompsons out for some Mexican food. I had to take their picture next to the Christmas cactus. Only in Arizona! Easton and Evi were freezing in the 70 degree night, and the Idaho folks were lovin' it!


Posted by Kristi at 12:51 PM 0 comments

Miramar Air Show

Over fall break I took the kids to San Diego to visit Grammy and Poppy, and the Miramar Air Show just happened to be scheduled for that weekend. It wasn't too far from Grammy's house, and it was free. Check and check.

It was so cool! And I don't even consider myself an airplane fan. The day we went, the Blue Angels put on a show in the afternoon, so we stuck around to watch. They flew so close to the ground and the crowds, it made me kind of nervous. But it was soooo neat! And sooo LOUD!!!! Livy wasn't very excited about all the noise and spent most of the show with her head buried in my shoulder and trembling.

There were also dozens of planes parked on the tarmac that the kids could climb in and out of and explore, plus lots of yummy carnival food. All-in-all, a really fun, cheap day!






Posted by Kristi at 12:37 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Arches National Park

After our very wet night, we headed to the park. I had only been there once several years ago with my best friend Emily as we were driving out to BYU, and I was looking forward to seeing it again.

We decided to see the arches that were only a short hike since we didn't think the kids were up to long hikes that morning.

The Sand Dune Arch was only a quarter mile from the parking lot. You had to walk through this rock formation to get to it. It was neat!


The kiddos really enjoyed climbing all over the rocks to get to it.


I felt lucky to see it in such a pristine condition. Since it had rained the night before and we were one of the first people there that morning, all the sand underneath it had no footprints and was perfectly smooth. 



I felt a little bad taking this picture and messing up the sand.
It was only a short hike to another arch nearby, so we started down the trail thinking this was going to be the last arch we would see up close.

About two minutes after I took the picture above, Easton tripped and fell into a bed of cactus.


He had cactus spines in his arms, legs, and bottom.


We had to turn around and go back to the van to get my tweezers and spent the next half hour pulling spines out of him. Poor kid. I ended up making him change out of his pants in the parking lot and just threw them away. There was no way I would be able to get all the spines out of them.
By this point, Todd and I just looked at each other and started laughing. It was either that or start crying. We knew we wouldn't be able to stay much longer at the park with the heat and the schedule to get home at a decent hour since the kids started school the next day. So we took as many pictures of the park as we could from the van and decided we'd have to come back when the kids were older.






Posted by Kristi at 10:07 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Camping in Moab

On our way home from Idaho, we decided to go the long way and visit Arches National Park and drive through Blanding and Bluff, Utah. Todd's ancestors helped settle that area and neither of us had been there. I figured we had used up all our bad luck on the drive up and thought we were due for some trouble-free, fun vacation time. Ha ha.

We had reserved a campsite in Moab, UT for Saturday night and planned on spending a couple hours the next morning seeing the park, before it got too hot. I kept my eye on the weather report because the last thing I wanted to do was camp in the rain. There was only a 30% chance of rain, so we decided to risk it. How often does it rain in the desert, anyway?


It was a great little campsite. It had running water and bathrooms, which made it a winner in my book. And the view from our site was beautiful with the red cliffs in the background.

At around 9:00 that night, just as it was getting dark, a storm rolled in. We had thunder, lightning, wind, and torrential rain that didn't stop until four in the morning. We had two scared little girls sharing our sleeping bags the whole night, and I was worried our tent was going to get blown away. We didn't sleep much, and had to pack a soaking wet and muddy tent and damp sleeping bags the next morning.

We had really rotten luck with camping on this trip.

Posted by Kristi at 10:06 AM 0 comments

Friday, August 10, 2012

Great memories in Rexburg

After the fiasco of getting to Rexburg, it was great to just relax with the family for a while and watch the cousins play. Cousins are the best. They picked up right where they left off, and I hardly saw them the whole time we were there because they were too busy playing.

On Sunday evening, Livy fell outside somewhere and came running inside with a deep gash in her forehead. None one was around when she got hurt, so we're still not sure how she hurt herself. I'm guessing she tripped on the stairs. I took one look and knew we'd be headed for the ER. We came back with five stitches in her head. I'm still waiting for the bill. Livy was a trooper and didn't fuss at all while they sewed her up. Gotta love pain meds!


The next day we headed up to Island Park to go horseback riding. We did the same ride last year and had so much fun, we wanted to do it again. 


 I was riding behind my cute nephew Gavin the whole time. We had a fun time chatting and enjoying the beautiful scenery. There really isn't much that's prettier than Idaho in the summer.


Later on that week we ventured to Idaho Falls and spent the morning at their zoo. It was small, but just the right size. By the time the kids and adults were getting hot and tired, we had seen all we wanted to see. Gavin, Dawson, Kylie, and Livy loved their double strollers when they weren't fighting over who got to sit in the front.



Posted by Kristi at 3:53 PM 0 comments
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