Beautiful Morgan

This precious little girl is just so beautiful and infectious that I couldn't help but take a million pictures of her perfect little face. Rachel didn't want Morgan to stain her white shirt, so she was given vanilla ice cream. It looks like vanilla suits her just fine!

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Brenden, Paris, Morgan, and Sophia enjoy a yummy Thrifty's ice cream!



Now that Auntie Rachel is such a close neighbor, we have been able to find more opportunities to get together! On this day we went to lunch and then to Target for some pet essentials. What is a hot summer's day without a little ice cream to finish it off?

It's All About the Family!

Mike, Amber, Paris, Brenden, and Sophia at the Sundial Bridge.


Meredith with Dominick and Camille outside the Shasta Caverns.

Sophia, Camille, Andrea, Layla, Paris, Eddie, Dominick, Billy, and Brenden after our Shasta Cavern tour.

This year's reunion was a complete success. We really missed those of you who couldn't make it. It was an extraordinary week! Just about every night turned into movie night, karaoke night lasted well past 11:00pm, the food was spectacular, Eric brought a "parachute" that was an instant hit, and poolside was a constant party. Since so many of us were missing this year we decided not to call this our "Family Photo" but instead, the reunion photo! We are so blessed to be a part of such an awesome one-of-a-kind family! Thanks goes to Kori and Meredith for all of their hard work and planning! The only way we could possibly improve on this week would be to have everyone present! As always, it was a blast, and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Thompson Reunion 2008!

First things first... thank you so much to a WONDERFUL Grandmother and Grandpa that made this nearly perfect week possible! We started the week off with a small "60th" Anniversary party for the two of them. They actually just had their 59th anniversary, but Grandmother wanted to celebrate the 60th just to make sure that she got to! Kori had the great idea of having a cake made for them with their wedding picture on it... isn't it beautiful!?

Fun in the sun! It was HOT, and believe me... we took advantage of the pool! It seemed that every free moment we had was spent in the pool. Also... just about everyone took their turn trying to conquer the "bull!" Even Grandpa took a crack at it... and eventually succeeded! You can't keep a good cowboy down!

What to do? What to do? Well, let's see, the Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay, tour the Shasta Dam, karaoke, treasure hunt, talent show, Shasta Caverns boat ride and exploration, movie nights, and homemade popcorn! How did we even have time to swim?

Thompson Olympics 2008! We broke up into teams, each person on the team competed in an event. The events were milk chugging, bubble blowing, marshmallow stuffing... and of course; bull riding. Brooke won the milk chugging contest, Andrea blew the biggest bubble, Andrew stuffed the most marshmallows, and Dad (David) rode the bull the longest. However, honorable mention goes to Andrew who was his own team and competed in ALL events. He rocked it!

First REAL day of Summer Vacation!

So... how did we spend our first day of summer vacation you ask? Well, we cleaned house, pulled weeds, washed off sidewalks and then thought that after all of that HARD WORK that we deserved some FUN! So we ate popcicles, followed by some face-painting. Ever since I did the face painting on Easter my kids have been begging me to do it again. I brought my paints to school on the last day and spent 2 hours painting most of the kids' faces from Kindergarten through 3rd grade! This time, it was just me and my 3 sweeties at home, so they got some VIP treatment from mommy. Brenden wanted me to paint him as Wall.e the robot, but I just didn't know how, so he opted for the clown instead, and Paris of course asked to be a cat. Sophia loves anything purple and frilly, so she went with the butterfly. It was a fun first day at home with my kids. I'm glad that summer is finally here! Yay!

A Visit with Grandma Elsie

On Sunday June 8th, Mike, myself, and the kids ventured down to Merced to pay Grandpa Elsie and Grandpa Frank a visit. Grandma looked and sounded great. We talked to her for about an hour and let her know about all of the things that kids have been up to. She was happy to have visitors. We plan on visiting far more often! Frank is pretty sick, just laying in bed unable to talk. We will be praying for him and his comfort.

Brenden Graduates Kindergarten!

June 5, 2008 Brenden Michael Thompson graduated Kindergarten at Knights Ferry School! He's been asking about this day since his first day at school, and now that it's here he can hardly believe it. Yep, my little man is offically a 1st grader. I don't think that I can believe it! My kids are growing up too fast! Paris and Sophia had their hair twisted up in pin curls and as they described it: "felt like princesses." Papa surprised us and showed up for the big day too! At the close of the ceremony each Kinder was given a HUGE lollipop! Of course Brenden was very proud of that! He vowed to eat the whole thing all by himself.

Happy 2nd Birthday Dominick!

Adorable Dominick turned 2 years old on Saturday May 31st! We were at the Wetenkamps celebrating Jared's recent achievment, but still took some time out to sing to him. He is just so precious! We are blessed to have this little fella in our lives! Happy Birthday Little Man! We love you SOOOO MUCH!

A Fun Weekend!

Rachel and Morgan came up for the weekend to attend Kate's graduation and also to party with Jared Wetenkamp who graduated the academy! Congratulations to Jared for all of your hard work! He has requested that we now refer to him as "Officer Wetenkamp."
Rachel and Meredith went for an early morning run on Saturday morning, and while they were gone Morgan stayed and played with the kids and I. She is just such a beautiful girl that I couldn't help but snap a few pictures!

Mike and Amber Hike Half Dome!

So... for Memorial Day Mike and I ventured to Yosemite with some boyscouts from our ward and hiked Half Dome! It was my first time, but I had a blast and did pretty well. We got within 2 miles of the summit when we had to turn around due to snow. It rained on us the whole way, so when we came across snow we were not surprised. Although we didn't reach the top this time, it was still well worth the trip. Once my hips and knees heal... I'll be up for it again!

Pictures just don't do it justice!

Cousins at Play!

Camille, Dominick, Billy, and Layla all came over to visit while Jared, Brooke, Meredith, and Mike went to see the new Indiana Jones movie.


Paris picked out a book she thought that Dominick would like and they sat on the couch together while she read it to him. Dominick loved the pictures; they spent close to 20 minutes sitting together enjoying the book.




The girls played "Mickey Mouse Club House" while the boys played superheroes, transformers, monster trucks, and trains. (they just couldn't make up their minds!)




The night ended with a movie and some cuddle time. They all piled in my room and watched "Bee Movie." I turned off the lights and by the end of the movie everyone was asleep except for Sophia and Layla. Those girls have energy to burn!

Softball and T-ball Season are FINALLY over!

Since the end of March Mike and I have been running between Paris' softball schedule and Brenden's T-ball schedule. They are on two different leagues which of course means two seperate teams. Paris' coach is very demanding and requires 2 - 3 practices a week in addition to her 2 games on Saturdays. Most often Mike and I would have to split up just to get them to the places they needed to be. Now that it's nearing it's end I can say that it was fun... but I'm ready for the break! Paris received a metal during closing ceremonies. This was her first year playing softball and she did a wonderful job! She worked hard and was one of the fastest runners on her team! (That's a Thompson thing) Brenden hardly paid attention at all of course, but did improve quite a bit from last year. He has great coaches that give him opportunities to play positions other than outfield! As you can see, one game he was the catcher! He has one more game and then closing ceremonies and he'll be done with his season too! Bring on summer break! Whoo hoo!