The Thompson Family

Happy Birthday x 2 and no braces!

2011-11-14T18:05:00.001-08:00

We have had a busy November so far in the Birthday Department.

Allison turned 10 and Kendra turned 12.

Also, noteworthy is that Kendra got her braces off!!

Just in time for Mom and Dad to pay for braces on Allie. Yee-haw.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:33:00.000-07:00

The King, Construction worker, and a 50's girl

Alex is here!

2011-10-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

Alexander William Thompson made his debut on Thursday, October 13, 2011 @ 6:58am.

8 lbs 12 oz and 21.5 inches long

Snow anyone?

2011-10-06T19:34:00.000-07:00

We got our first snowfall Wednesday afternoon/night. It started as rain and changed to snow. Just about all of our doors were frozen shut on the vehicles...the kids had to climb into the van through the back hatch!Luckily, we will double our temps from today to 60 degrees this weekend and hopefully dry everything out.

Volleyball

2011-10-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

Kendra is turning into a great Volleyball player! She sure has enjoyed playing volleyball at the middle school this year. Go #30!

39 weeks

2011-10-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

39 weeks today, 1 week to go! And we can't wait!

First Day of School

2011-09-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

Update part 2

2011-09-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

The kids getting ready to enjoy fireworks on July 4, 2011

Our family was invitied to go camping with the Prengel's....we had a nice evening and the kids got to goof around

I was able to catch this cool shot of the train right by the billboard in early September. Almost looks like I planned this.

Next, the Silver State Classic Challenge was back in town for the Fall race. Bubba and I like to go check out the cars they have on display in the park the day before the race. Unfortunately, this year a local racer died when his car was traveling 200mph and blew a tire.
Ely Times News article here.

Update...part 1

2011-09-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

Fishing down at Sunnyside in May (yes, May...it was cool and we got snow the next day...go figure). Bubba was the only one that caught a fish.

Kendra was in ther Wizard of Oz play at the end of 5th grade. Steff did an incredible job getting the costume and makeup put together. Many people didn't figure out it was Kendra until the end of the play.

Dorothy, Scarecrow, and the Wicked Witch

July was pretty busy for Matt this year. It started with his Boy Scout Troop marching flags in the Ely parade on July 4.

Then it was 7 days of camping at Camp Fleischmann in Chester, CA. It was a great week except for the drive...it was 450 miles one way. Below, here's Matt on his way to a 2nd place finish in the Leader's Climbing Challenge. More Camp pictures are here on Matt's Boy Scout blog.

Here's the group from Troop 71 with beautiful Lake Fleischmann in the background

Next, Matt and Bubba were out camping with the Ely 3rd Ward Father and Sons campout. This was Jr's first time out camping since he was just a little guy.

Kids enjoying a rare rainy day here in Ely by playing in the mud

Next, our church held a Father and Daughters campout where the girls got to shoot BB guns, slingshots, and make bracelets out of leather. It was a great time and the girls loved it.

We also attended a Bike Safety Seminar where the kids learned about bike safety and maintenance

First Day of School

2011-08-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

A long overdue update....part 1

2011-02-19T17:07:00.000-08:00

Our old front door was such a mess. It was only 30" wide so moving appliances or furniture in/out was a real knuckle scraper. It leaked water, cold air, and looked horrible. After some looking around on Youtube for DIY videos on door replacement and watching a few shows, I felt ok at giving this a crack myself. When Steff and I pulled the door out, we found a section of rotten subfloor that we had to address also.

Before

In process

New door

All in all, it was a good project. It went just as we had planned and we only had minor surprises, nothing too major. The best part was that we saved money by installing it ourselves.

I was able to pick up this used tire from work and thought the kids would love to play around on/in it. Boy, was I right...they loved it.

This thing is a beast and took a little tractor action to get it moved around in the backyard

Next, we roll into October and my deer hunt. This was my first deer tag and with some help from a friend, I was able to bag one. We were down to the last day of the season and had to make a pretty good hike to even get close to this guy.

Our truck is parked here...getting out to the deer was no problem, but hiking back was a different story.

Now at the truck and looking back, here's where I dropped the deer.

Next, we had Halloween

Yes, we're alive!

2011-01-19T17:22:00.000-08:00

A post to update what we've been up to is on the way! Stay tuned....

First Day of School

2010-08-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

We started the school year today with cool temps in the 40's. Kendra is in 5th grade and Allison in 3rd.

A busy August so far...

2010-08-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

Allie finished up soccer camp...

We had some great sunsets...

A nice 12 year anniversary dinner....

Ran a 5k race together (Steff shattered her previous 5k time by almost 4 minutes).....

Later that evening we went to a Major League Soccer game to see Real (pronounced Re'al) Salt Lake vs the Columbus Crew...

Awesome stadium in Sandy, Utah....

The opposing team firing on the Salt Lake goalie, Nick Rimando...what an awesome save!

Here's the zoom and he's off the ground!

The next day, we rode the Trax rail from Sandy to downtown SLC...Bubba sure liked the "train"....

Later that night, we took a tour of the LDS Conference Center. What an awesome place! Looks much different in person vs on TV. After touring the garden roof, we grabbed this shot before dark.

Happy Anniversary to us!

2010-08-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday will be 12 years for us!

Family Camping

2010-08-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

This is a late post, but in Mid-July we took our annual family camping trip to Great Basin National Park. My sweet wife went up ahead of time (since I had work), scored us the best camp site in the whole place, put the tents up, and had dinner cooking when I got there.

Allie provided some entertainment for the evening with a puppet show

Then, she read us a story she wrote.

50 Mile Hike - Schell Creek Expedition

2010-07-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to go on a 50 mile, 5 day hike with my Boy Scouts and other Scouts in our stake from June 28 to July 3. What a great exerience! Since 2010 is the 100th anniversary of Scouting, our stake wanted to do something special. It had been 14 years since the last 50 miler. I had been dreading this since January when they announced the plans, but as the miles wore on, I realized it wasn't really that bad and was going to be a great opportunity for me to interact with the youth, see some great country, and get in shape!

Our hike began at Mattier Creek and ended at Cleve Creek. We hiked along the Ranger trail on the Schell Creek Range and hit a top elevation of 10,538 feet.

On Monday, we hiked 8 miles and camped at Teapot Springs.

Tuesday, our longest day, we hiked 14 miles and stayed the night at East Creek.

Wednesday, we put in 10 miles and ended up at Timber Creek.

Thursday, our shortest day, we hiked 8 miles and camped at Berry Creek.

Friday, our final day, we hiked 12 miles and didn't get to Cleve Creek camp until 8pm.

Luckily for us, we had support staff that met us at each camp that night to bring gear and cook us supper, breakfast and provide us a lunch on our way out the next day. Some of the highlights from dinner during the week were Fried Chicken, Lamb, and Prime Rib. When's he last time you hiked 10 miles and got a supper like that? We were certainly spoiled and grateful to all those that hauled gear and cooked.

The first half of day one was full of uphill action like this. We had to climb pretty high to reach the Ranger Trail

Team 71 on Day 1

Day 2 had lots of down hill as we dropped into the Duck Creek basin

Our Team running the flag ceremony Wednesday morning before hitting the trail

Thursday had 3 creek crossings...this was the largest. Some of the crew jumped and others ran across on larger boulders upstream

After a long day of hiking, this is usually what happened first once reaching camp...everyone headed to the creek to soak

This is our last day as we head to the top. This was a neat place to stop since the quakies were so tall

As we pushed to the top on Friday, we found this cabin near the 3 mile mark. Good place to stop and do a blister check

Moleskin and bandaids applied, now headed to the top.

Say what? Snow? In July? YES! This shot was taken at about 9,600 feet and due to the cool temps and massive amount of snow this past year, we had to cruise over this snow bank. This will likely still be here when the first snow flies in a few months

This was taken at mile # 46...this dude has some sweet leg muscles

See the 2nd farthest back mountain range in the middle of the shot? We started on the other side of that 5 days ago. Yeah, it's a long way.

Ok, so I got a few blisters. I was in trouble Monday night because I had already picked up a blister on each heel...and it was only day 1. So, I took care of them all week until Friday. The massive uphill climb just really killed my heels and got the blisters fired up again. The only way to keep the moleskin on was with duct tape. Pretty sweet, huh?

Group shot on Friday just after we stopped for lunch. Wheeler Peak (13,058 ft) is in the background. This is the saddle (10,058ft) with Spring Valley behind us and Duck Creek basin behind the photographer.They boys were ages 14-18 and represented 5 different Varsity Teams and Venturing Crews in the Bristlecone District.

After lunch we had 7 hours of downhill to reach camp. We pretty much had to blaze a trail all afternoon. Here, we're side-hilling it to get to the ridge

Finally made the ridge and we're working our way down. This is my favorite shot...Mt Wheeler in the top left and it shows just how big the ridge was and what we had to deal with to get down

I wasn't the only one glad to get home. My sweet family had made this Welcome Home banner for me. It was nice to get home and shower (took 45 minutes to scub a week's worth of dirt off me), shave, and relax.

This was our Expedition patch I created. After 52 miles in 5 days, I certainly earned this one!

A rotten 4th of July

2010-07-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

Well, our 4th of July was rather crummy. The kids were wrestling and Kendra ended up with a broken wrist. She broke it in two spots. Luckily, the ER moved rather quickly and got her some meds and put a cast on. The next checkup is in 3 weeks and hopefully they'll have some good news for us.

St. George Trip -- Spring Break 2010

2010-07-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to St. George, Utah, over Spring Break. I recently realized that we'd never posted any pics from the trip, so here are a few of the things that we did! They include dinner and checkers at Cracker Barrel (Dad's favorite), Fiesta Fun Center, Jumpin' Jack's (a warehouse full of bounce houses), a visit to

Snow Canyon State park, and more!

Memorial Day

2010-06-06T14:06:00.000-07:00

We had a nice and relaxing Memorial Day this year. We worked in the vegetable garden, cut the grass, and went hunting for garnets at Garnet Hill. In just an hour or so, we came up with a handful of garnets.

Easter 2010

2010-04-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

Cross-country ski trip

2010-03-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to take some of my Scouts on a ski trip. We'd had a few practice runs at cross-country skiing here locally to get the hang of things. Our journey started in Beaver, Utah at 7:00pm at night. We set out under the stars with our headlamps on and a backpack. Skiing at night was actually pretty neat and not as tough as it sounds. The 3 mile trek took close to 3 hours to complete. We finally arrived at the cabin, and supper was ready along with a warm fire. After a few hours of sleep, we set out to try our downhill skills at a small hill behind the cabin. After some quick lunch, we headed back towards our vehicles.

This place was loaded with snow....that's the 2nd floor window. The guides had to dig a trench around the other side for us to get to the door.

Here we go...the ski jump is built and ready

Here's my attempt at the jump....I totally crashed and burned before even getting to the jump! Most everyone fell on the downhill portion so it left tons of potholes right before the jump.

Here's one of the boys that actually made it over the pothole and to the jump....unfortunately, this was the result most of the time for them.

Here's one of our leaders....he actually does really well on water skis so that helped him get some air on the jump, but the landings were a little rough.

Beautiful country

Headed home

Birthday

2010-03-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I turned the big 3-5 at the beginning of March. Had a delicious cake that my beautiful wife made and got some camping stuff for gifts.

Jr is trying to figure out this card that makes noise when it's opened (makes the sound of a toilet flushing, thanks Mom!).

Caught somebody trying to sneak a bite of cake!

Snowmobile trip

2010-02-21T16:35:00.000-08:00

A couple buddies and I headed over to Utah for a "guys weekend" to play in the snow. This was my first time on a snowmachine, and I think I did ok (hey, I only got stuck twice). The snow was deep (in some spots it was up to my waist when I stepped off the machine) and the hills were steep. Those snowmobiles will go just about anywhere! What a blast!

This is probably my favorite picture. When I did this jump, it didn't seem like I was that far off the ground. The part you can't see is over to the left where this run started...it was about 50 feet below and this jump was at the top after you blasted your way up the hill. Yeah!

Valentine's Dinner

2010-02-14T20:18:00.000-08:00

The National Honor Society from the highschool had a Valentine's Dinner Saturday night, so we called over a sitter for the kids and went on a dinner date. The food was yummy and it was good for us to get away by ourselves for a bit. (P.S. My face is sunburned from taking the scouts out earlier in the day x-country skiing)

Growing up too fast!

2010-02-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

Last year it was braces, now it's glasses. I guess she'll ask for the car keys next!

Happy Birthday, Steffani!!!

2010-01-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

My super cute wife had her 34th Birthday on January 12. We were able to whip up a cake for her that Buddy on "Cake Boss" would be proud of!

Happy Boy

2010-01-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday, Bubba!

2010-01-14T18:01:00.000-08:00

On December 31, Bubba turned 2!! Yeah! He's such a sweet boy and much different than our girls were at this age. His favorite things to do are to play basketball (on the Wii and with the small indoor hoop), read books, and get into everything his sisters are doing.

December

2010-01-14T17:45:00.000-08:00

We had a great December. Lots of fun playing in the snow and a really good time at Christmas!

We started out December with Allie's baptism.

She turned 8 in November, so I was able to baptize her on Dec 5.

Jr snuggling on the couch

Christmas Day finally rolled around and we were up and at 'em @ 5:30am!

Of course Jr had to shoot the BB guns just like his big sisters.

We went out of town for a bit and everyone was happy to eat at IHOP!

Photo shoot

2009-12-03T14:52:00.000-08:00

We had a good Thanksgiving this year. That morning, we went out and cut down our Christmas tree and then our girls got all dressed up for some pictures. I found this old cabin that looked like the perfect background for a few shots.

Of course Jr couldn't sit still long enough for pictures, so he decided to start harrassing the girls....this one turned out cute.

Happy Birthday, Kendra!

2009-11-22T08:54:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Kendra's birthday in Las Vegas this year. She turned 10!!! Can you believe it? She was excited about the new clothes and new watch she received. On Saturday, she got to experience her first "big person" rollercoaster at the Circus Circus Adventure Dome. She rode it 4 times in a row and didn't puke!

Happy Brithday, Allie!

2009-11-18T16:06:00.001-08:00

Allie celebrated her 8th Brithday on November 3rd. We love her so much and had a great time with a family party.

She also got to pick her favorite dinner for the occasion, so we had pink pancakes!

Here's my helper while I was making the cake. He wasn't sure what to make of the mixer in action.

Update

2009-11-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

Well, October and November have been busy for us. Just seemed like we had something going on all the time. Here's a few pics:

Family Day at the Mine was a blast this year. The kids enjoyed checking out the haul truck and the girls especially enjoyed their custom pink hardhats.

Our heater went out in Oct and this was my helper to get it fixed

Our first garden at the new house turned out rather well. We had 70 or so carrots, 181 potatoes, and about 30 ears of corn. A garden here is much different than back home in Virginia...it takes a lot more effort and patience to get things going here due to our limited rain fall and colder temps.

This was our first snow of the season on October 4 and it only lasted about a day.

We went out with some friends to do some pine nut pickin towards the end of October. Had a good time and got lots of good pine nuts. I was the designated "tree climber" so we laid tarps on the ground and I climbed up and shook the trees. Lots of fun, but quite the workout too.

All the girls had fun having "girl talk" and checking out the Indian Petroglyphs

Here we go with Halloween. We had a good time carving pumpkins and getting lots of candy too.

Not sure what's going on here...I had a request to make a "crown" and she wore it all afternoon. I guess she felt like being a princess while getting her pumpkin fixed up.

Soccer

2009-10-09T10:34:00.001-07:00

Our girls are playing soccer in the community/youth league this fall and are doing really well. i was kinda surprised at how much they have improved since last season.

In the season opener, Allie scored a goal for her team and Kendra scored 2!

Allie headed for the goal (of course, she's wearing pink! Gotta have pink on everyday!)

Here's Kendra charging for the goal -

This next set of picture is kinda neat. Kendra was moving in for another shot on goal and I was in the right spot for pictures. With my trusty EOS Rebel on the multiple shot setting, I got these:

Notice her tongue hanging out...does that make you run faster? I don't know, but she gets that from her Mom.

She was doing good on this drive until the Big Meanie knocked her down!

Mt Wheeler

2009-10-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

Back in September, we planned a Boy Scout activity to close out the summer. Unfortunately, only 1 Scout was able to make it. We camped at Great Basin National Park and then set off the next day to tackle Wheeler Peak. The hike started at 10,000 feet and we hit the peak, 13,064 feet, about 3 hours later. It was tough due to the thin air and a couple guys that were out of shape (who, me?). Anyway, it was fun and had been a hike I'd wanted to do for the last 2 years.
This is kinda a neat picture. Stella lake (glacier lake) is below my right elbow and above that you can also see the clouds. A storm was moving in so we basically hiked through the clouds on our way up after the first 2 hrs.

Back to School

2009-09-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well, the end of August brought the beginning of the school year. It was a little earlier than usual due to the district starting their 4-day school week. Kendra started 4th grade and Allie is in 2nd. They were so excited to start school, I don't think they slept at all the night before. Their clothes were laid out and bags were packed a week before school started.

Here's my cute wife. With the massive budget cuts in our state, her position as a counselor was cut and that put her back in the classroom. Here she is on the first day getting ready for her afternoon English classes:

Here I am headed to one of my night classes...it's Accounting so maybe that's why I had a hard time putting a smile together.

11 Years down, Eternity to go!

2009-09-20T21:34:00.001-07:00

Steffani and I celebrated our 11 year Anniversary on August 7! Thanks for putting up with me and being the best wife ever!

Then:

Now:

We had a nice quiet evening without the kids and even went the the Jailhouse restaurant for dinner:

Allie

2009-09-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

We all know our kids do crazy things from time to time. I just happen to catch Allie wearing her bonnet - but it really wasn't hard to catch her...she wore it all day long for about 2 weeks.

"Mud Town"

I ordered a truck load of dirt for the garden and other odd jobs around the yard earler this Spring. Well, one day I walk out and find this. The kids have spent all day out there making mud pies and playing Mud Town (whatever the heck that is). I wondered how long they could keep this up and it turns out this lasted just about all summer.

Bad Boy

2009-09-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

I couldn't help but take a picture of Jr when he got in trouble. Here he's trying to sneak out of the "corner". He's generally a good boy, but sometimes he needs a time out.

Playhouse

2009-09-20T20:49:00.000-07:00

We had a great summer and had a perfect ending when Mom and Dad came out to visit. Dad helped me build this playhouse for the kids...and they love it.

Here's the finished product:

(Notice the cool looking flags. Thanks to my great wife for the idea and letting me loose on her sewing machine . Sorry, no pics of me sewing the flags, but it did happen!)

1 year Anniversary

2009-07-29T09:16:00.001-07:00

Time has flown by....it's been a good first year working here at the mine. I really enjoy my job, the people, and getting to check out all this cool equipment we have around here. Below are some pictures of my first year:

This is one of our open pits...

Family Day Sept 2008 - tires on these haul trucks are 13 feet tall.

Again, our girls by one of the haul trucks...

This is our largest shovel...in March it was moved to a new pit on the property

Here's Shovel #1 working with a smaller shovel (orange) behind. The portable power poles are visible as the shovel is electric.

It takes 3 scoops to fill one of these haul trucks - the trucks usually carry 250 tons of material.

This is what I walked into a few weeks ago...some rebels had "foiled" my office after I left.

Dump truck and loader time!

2009-07-23T12:50:00.001-07:00

A mysterious package arrived from Papa in the mail this week. When Daddy opened it up, two shiny yellow toys emerged, much to the delight of Bubba! Papa had located and refurbished two of Daddy's old Tonka trucks: a dump truck and a loader. Below, you can see father and son having lots of fun!

Bubba especially enjoyed dumping the loads out of the truck!

It took him a little longer to figure out how to dump the contents of the loader, but he had a ball pushing it around! He will have great fun loading up rocks in the yard and dumping them!

Bubba's new bike

2009-07-23T12:49:00.001-07:00

When Grandma came back from Salt Lake this week, she unveiled this new RadioFlyer bike for Bubba. He was so excited! He loves watching the girls ride their bikes, and now (he thinks) he can keep right up with them!
This is one of the most characteristic faces of Bubba that we've managed to capture on film so far! He's always full of big laughs (like the one you see here) and full of delight and enthusiasm for everything.

Time for bed

2009-07-23T12:48:00.001-07:00

This sweet picture was taken as I was trying to capture Bubby for bed time. As soon as I said "Night night time," he made a bee line for Daddy. Apparently, he thought Dad would save him from his inevitable fate!

Camping!

2009-07-23T11:52:00.001-07:00

We recently embarked upon our first family camping trip since Bubba's arrival. We went to Mt. Wheeler and camped at the Upper Lehman Campground. We hiked, cooked over the fire, attended a campfire program, explored by the creek, and fished at Silver Creek Reservoir. The girls even completed the Junior Ranger program and were sworn in as Junior Rangers.

Allie caught a rather big trout, as you can tell by the effort it is taking her to hold it up!

The fish were also biting for Kendra!

The girls being sworn in as Junior Rangers.

Allie is proud of the hot dog she roasted over the fire!

Kendra cooked a hot dog for herself and her brother. They both enjoyed them immensely.

Matt set up the tent. It ended up being a little closer quarters than anticipated, but everything turned out well!

Kendra cooking hot dogs, while Matt oversees the fire and the beans and corn on the grill.

This is our family in front of Stella Lake. One of two glacial lakes on Mt. Wheeler. We hiked to this one (about one mile up the mountain). As you can see by the scenery, it was well worth the trip.

Mom and the girls on the trail to Stella Lake.

Matt carried the baby up the trail in the "Bubby Pack." Bubba greatly enjoyed seeing the mountain, the deer, and the trees from this perspective!

Braces

2009-07-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

Kendra is showing off her newly acquired braces in this picture. She is pretty proud of them!

Success Loop

2009-07-23T11:49:00.001-07:00

This picture was taken in a field of wildflowers up on Success Loop. It was absolutely beautiful up there this year. We will post some more pictures of the scenery later.

Tractor help

2009-07-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

Kendra has always been Daddy's helper. In this picture, she demonstrates her skill at operating a backhoe. She is Dad's shadow, and his right hand "man," as you can see.

Golf

2009-07-23T11:45:00.001-07:00

The kids got the opportunity for a golf outing with Grandma. Despite their limited practice at golf, they both did fairly well, and had lots of fun. Allie getting ready to tee off.

Bubba loved the golf cart and had lots of fun eliminating all putting for Mom and Grandma. We ended up with great scores!

Kendra and Allie also loved the golf cart and enjoyed turns driving it.

Birdhouse

2009-07-23T10:45:00.001-07:00

Kendra built this birdhouse as part of her Faith in God requirements. She had a great time working with her dad. When she was done, she gave the birdhouse to a neighbor of ours.

Early Summer in Ely

2009-07-15T13:22:00.001-07:00

Early summer this year in Ely has been amazing! The cool weather and abundance of rain has created incredible beauty in this part of the country. We have had amazing wildflowers everywhere...even in our back yard!

Even the cactus plants have beautiful blooms!

Big Hugs

2009-07-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Bubba gave Daddy some great BIG HUGS on Father's Day!

At the Park

2009-07-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

Mom and the kids took a picnic to the park about a week ago. Bubba really loved playing on all of the equipment, especially the slides.

Of course, it didn't take him long to decide that he was much too big for the "baby toys." He soon had to go down the big slide that his sisters were having fun on!

Allie chillin' on the monkey bars...

Kendra is just hangin' out...

4th of July

2009-07-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

The girls enjoyed watching the parade. They had flags to wave and red, white, and blue necklaces to wear. They managed to gather a little stash of candy that was thrown from the parade participants, too!

Daddy and Bubba at the parade.... Bubba especially enjoyed the fire trucks, horses, and of course, he loves ANY kind of flag!

He even got to meet Smokey the Bear!

Pistol Pat's Basketball Camp

2009-06-19T08:40:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the basketball camp that both Kendra and Allie attended. I will post more later!

An Outing with Dad

2009-06-19T08:16:00.001-07:00

We decided to do some bike riding as a family this summer (which necessitated the addition of a seat for Bubby). This is a picture of his first ride with Daddy.

New Additions to the Family

2009-06-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

This spring brought two new additions to our family...two little kitties! These are the girls' first pets. Allison named hers Snowflake, and Kendra named hers Shadow.

We decided to let the girls have some kitties, but we didn't tell them. We wanted it to be a surprise, but we were having trouble finding any cats. Then, Matt's boss came in one day and said that one of his barn cats had kittens and asked if we wanted any. Matt told him yes, and we were able to get the kittens just after Memorial Day.

The girls still had no idea they were getting kittens. Matt brought them home in a box, put cute little collars on them (complete with little bells), and told the girls they had to go clean up the garage. Kendra was kicking a box out of the garage to put in the trash, when low-and-behold, there were kittens in it! She squealed and was so excited that she scared the kittens to death! The girls have had lots of fun with them since then, even pushing them around in their baby strollers! As you can see, even Bubba gets in on the kitty action!

Bubba and the Corn

2009-06-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

This was Bubba's first experience with corn on the cob. He attacked that cob with relish! He gnawed on it until there wasn't much left at all!

Fun at the Mall

2009-06-17T11:19:00.001-07:00

The kids had lots of fun riding the carousel at the mall. This was Bubba's first ride, and he loved it!Bubby also got a chance to ride in a "race car" stroller at the mall! As you can see, he quite enjoyed the experience!

Student of the Week!

2009-05-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

Allison was chosen as Student of the Week at her school! She was so excited to come home and tell us all about it. She also got her picture published in the local newspaper. She was chosen because she is always friendly and cheerful! Good job, Allie!

Salt Lake City 5k

2009-05-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are...we ran the 5k together in Salt Lake on April 18! We'd been training together since January on the treadmill and since our weather was so horrible around here, it was late March before we actually got to run outside. Overall we did well and were able to finish the entire 3.2 miles - Matt with a 32:09 and Steff with a 37:19.

Kendra also ran the kid's marathon...it was only .62 but she enjoyed training with us at home and running with the other kids. She told me after the race that she wasn't even tired or didn't even feel sweaty. She didn't like my repsonse when I told her she could run the 5k with us next year!

Bubba says Hi

2009-04-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

It sounds like he says "Hi"....see what you think.

SLC Children's Museum

2009-04-23T17:19:00.001-07:00

On our last trip to Salt Lake, we checked out the Children's Museum at the Gateway. Kind of a neat place.

Having a good time playing TV reporter...

A BIG grin at the drawing center...

Allie having fun at the market...

Kendra on the rock wall...

Having fun in the playhouse...

Here's Bubba checking out the boat...

Matt Jr

2009-04-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of Matt Jr acting like a nut while in Salt Lake City, Utah back in February.

Union Station, Ogden

2009-04-13T11:01:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, we took the kids to a rock show that was held at the Union Station in Ogden. The girls loved seeing all of the different rocks, gems, and fossils. However, one of the highlights of the trip for them was getting to climb on the train outside the station!

Boy Scouts

2009-04-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Matt's Varsity Scouts received several merit badges and rank advancements at the recent stake-wide Court of Honor. There are not a lot of young men in our ward, but Matt is working hard with these three to help them attain the rank of Eagle. He loves scouting and does a lot with his boys, so I'm sure we'll be posting more scout pics this summer!

Bubba's 'Do

2009-04-13T10:43:00.001-07:00

Some mousse, daddy, and a comb can be a dangerous combination! Doesn't Bubby look cute with his spiky hair? Nice 'do, dad!

Daddy's Birthday

2009-04-13T10:20:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm pretty late posting this, but I wanted to get some pictures from Matt's birthday on the blog. We made a "Happy Birthday, Daddy" poster to hang on the wall, and we made a fun cake, decorated with jelly beans.

As you can see, Matt had plenty of help blowing out his candles. Of course, he may have needed it, since we put all 34 candles on his cake!

2002 Winter Olympics Silver Medal

2009-03-25T21:37:00.001-07:00

While in SLC for the RF concert, we ran into these gals in Dillards. Shannon Bahrke and Ani Haas were signing autographs and chatting with everyone. Shannon received a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in the mogul event. Ani is a rising star and both gals are training hard for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Shannon and Ani were nice enough to chat with our girls, sign the February 09 copy of Salt Lake Magazine for each of them, and pose for pictures. Kendra and Allie got to wear an official Olympic Silver Medal around their neck.

Rascal Flatts

2009-03-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

Been a while since we've had time to post anything - just been kinda busy. This is from the end of February...Rascal Flatts was in Salt Lake so we dropped off Matt Jr with Aunt Nina, Uncle Dale, and their family to watch him for a few hours and the rest of us went to the concert.

Well, I can't seem to get the video to upload, so I'll have to post some pictures until I can figure it out.

After we parked and started to walk in, Kendra noticed all the transport trailers (we'd kept it a secret from the girls until then) and knew exactly what we were doing...we were able to keep it from Allie a little bit longer though. There must have been 20 tractor trailers outside of the arena...couldn't figure out why there were so many trucks but after seeing the show, I realize why. They put on an awesome light show with 3 huge L.E.D boards behind the stage, tons of lights hanging and a stage that covered about 3/4 of the floor in the Energy Solutions Arena.

It was so much fun b/c we like country music and our girls like it too....they knew just about all the words to every song. They really liked when the confetti cannons went off and balloons were dropped from the ceiling.

Valentine's Day on the Slopes!

2009-02-16T14:07:00.001-08:00

Ok, so for this Valentine's Day, Matt asked if I wanted to take a trip somewhere (just the two of us!). Of course, it took me all of about two seconds to deliberate.... So, we decided to do something we'd never done before...SKIING!!! Above, you can witness Matt's first solo run down the slope (with no instructor present).

My first run was a little more on the comical side, as you can tell! I chose to not use the poles, since they just got in my way and tended to make me a little off balance.

This view from the ski lift shows a little bit better the size of the hill that we conquered during this first trip. We couldn't believe that we actually skiied down this thing after just a couple of hours of instruction!

This is us on the ski lift.... We have a score to settle with this lift next time. Let's just say that getting OFF the lift is a little harder that we anticipated! We had a great time, and we can't wait to go back!

Kendra's Basketball Debut

2009-02-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

Kendra started Jr. Jazz a couple of weeks ago. During her first game, she surprised us all with her skills! She scored two baskets and stole the ball a couple of times. The funny thing is...she did it all with a huge grin on her face!

During Ken's second game, she again scored two baskets, played some great defense, and got open a lot more on offense. Look out, WNBA...

Fun in the Snow

2009-02-16T13:06:00.000-08:00

Snow, snow, and more snow! We've seen TONS of it this winter, much to the delight of the girls! After this last snowstorm, we decided to put some of the Saturday chores on hold and go out and have some fun in the snow. Kendra built a snow fort to help protect her from a head-on attack...

Allison had no problem with a full frontal assault on Kendra's fort. She attacked with snowballs and showed no mercy!

As you can see, she even tried to use snow "ammo" that was almost as big as she is!

We even made a pretty huge snowman, complete with tennis ball eyes, geode buttons, and a straw hat! What a great day!

Icicle, anyone?

2009-02-07T18:41:00.000-08:00

Check this out...a couple of weeks ago, we went to Salt Lake City for the weekend...we came home to 6 inches of snow and some monster icicles! This one is about as tall as Allison.

Freezer Burn

2009-01-18T09:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I opened the freezer to get out some chicken for dinner. I turned around to put the chicken on the counter, and when I went back to close the freezer door, I discovered that Bubba had found a new place to explore. Can you believe that he could get in here? What a stinker! -Steff

Happy Birthday, Steffani!

2009-01-16T19:37:00.001-08:00

Ok so Monday was Steffani's Birthday. So I told her I had a "meeting" at work all afternoon so there was no need for her to try and call or email me. Little did she know, I came home at 1pm and made a cake.

It turned out rather well, but I figured out the hard way why they say on the cake box to added "softened" butter. Yeah, a stick of butter straight from the fridge into the mixer made it interesting! Ooops! -Matt