Summer Recap of 2014

Wow! It has been months since I last blogged, but I have a good excuse for at least some of those months. Not to get into too much detail, here's a quick overview of what we've all been up to since Springtime.

* From the middle of April to the middle of July, I was taking 6 online credits from BYU-Idaho to renew my teaching certificate. I realized that since they are good for 5 years, it had indeed been 5 years and was expiring this September. I kicked things into gear so fast, got interviews done in the nick of time, and got registered. I would have my classes done before it expired and would be good. Flash forward to the end of August/beginning of September . . . I completely forgot to send in my renewal papers!!! I was beyond freaking out. After a couple phone calls made, LUCKILY, they have a month grace period, but leave it to me to procrastinate, again. I did get it sent off though before the end of the grace period, so now I'm just waiting for my certificate. Let's just say it's been a stressful 6 months. During classes, I was trying to fit in studying and papers to write during naps and bedtimes. Clay never saw much of me :( He's wanting to get his MBA here soon so he just says that's what's to come for him in the near future. Just glad it's done and over with. At least for the next 5 years.

*I surprised Clay for Father's Day with an introductory flight at the airport in Enid. He got instructed on the basics and was in the pilot's seat before you knew it. He was able to take off by himself, fly, and get some help with landing with the instructor next to him. I was in the back seat feeling sick the whole time. Clay's always thought it would be awesome to get his pilot's license, but after doing this and knowing how much time and effort (and $$$) into it, that was just enough for him :)

*It was actually right before the flight that we went to this indoor shooting range, owned by a guy in our ward. It was very helpful as it was live ammo and real life scenarios that would be projected onto the wall. You would literally be yelling at the robbers, etc. and the person in charge running the system could trigger what would happen based on my reactions. It really put things into perspective. 

*Kort has been doing so good and memorizing the Articles of Faith. He had passed off the first four here and got candy for each one. He has since gotten up to the 9th, which I have been lazy on helping him, otherwise he might have passed them all off by now! He's such a smart little guy and loves singing  along with them in the car. 

*We have moved once again! Hopefully this will be final. We are now in southern Oklahoma (Ardmore) where Clay is the Operations Supervisor for the wind farm here. We had movers come and pack everything and had hired cleaners, but after all was said and done, I would have just cleaned the house myself than have them come back because they didn't do the job right the first time. 

*Clay drove down with the movers while I stayed behind with the cleaners. Clay got the truck unpacked in one day and headed back to Enid. We were going to Idaho for a couple weeks between jobs and decided to drive, so once Clay got back, we just left and chose to drive through the night hoping it would be better with the boys sleeping. 

*AND never do I want to do that again (although we obviously had to drive BACK to Oklahoma). I realized I'm horrible at driving long distances at night, the boys didn't sleep well at all, woke up as soon as the sun peaked and well, the rest is history. 

*We came to Idaho for Bailey's blessing (Quinn and Kaitlyn's) and met up for dinner by the Falls with Justin and Sara. We drove the bike down which was awesome, but by the time we headed back home, it was pretty chilly.

*We met up with Mom, Dad, Brittney and Louis, and Gillian at the Idaho Falls Zoo. It was a fun time just being together since I hadn't seen Louis yet, it was the 2nd time ever seeing Brittney, and been forever since seeing Gillian! The boys had so much fun!

*We headed north to camp in Island Park and what's a trip there if we don't just keep going to West Yellowstone! It was literally a drive there, go to the candy store, walk around for a couple of minutes, and headed back to the campground (like a 30 minute drive). It was worth it though :)

*We finally made it back to Oklahoma to our new place. We had gone to church once and the next day we had visitors (the Nuzman's) who came and brought these yummy cookies! It was much needed! We've been doing pretty well at getting adjusted to the place. Our ward is super friendly and have been so kind to invite us (ok, me and the boys since Clay's at work) to pool parties and what not!

*Our good friends from Enid, the Leach's, stopped by on their way home from Texas, while we also got to make some new friends. 

*It was my 10 year High School Reunion which I didn't go to, but this is one of my favorite pictures of some of my closest friends. Miss you all!

Another trip to Idaho!

Back at the end of February, Clay had some time off of work (paternity leave?) that he hadn't used so we figured we'd use it before it was gone in March. We mainly went for him to help his parents clean out the old house. Clay worked most of the time, and Carol and the boys and I ran errands or were lazy at home.

We had dang connections in Denver, but luckily the boys weren't absolutely unmanageable. HOWEVER, Kort somehow managed to slip past the flight attendants when we were getting off the plane and hop in the cockpit! Ummmmmmm. The other pilot was on his phone and telling me he was ok, thank goodness! I really wanted to whip out my phone and take a picture, but I don't know if that would have been pushing it too far?! Anyway, oh I wanted to whip Kort's butt for that. ha ha

Griffin learned to climb the stairs! We don't have any at our place so who knows, maybe he could've a long time ago. He did fall down once though. Yikes!

Kort REALLLLY wanted to ride in the dump truck, so we let him! He LOVED it! Probably because he didn't have to be in his car seat and wear a seatbelt. Whoops. 

We took advantage of our favorite babysitters and had a couple of date nights!!! Quinn and Kaitlyn asked us to go to Craigo's, whatever it's really called now, and then to the movie!

This is what we saw. Loved it. Kept me in suspense the whole show. 

This is what they did to the barn. The shingles were a pain.in.the.butt. That's what took most of the time. They found out later they could've just take a back hoe to it or whatever type of tractor and destroyed it. 

We finally got to do a session at the temple. It's been a while since doing one of those because of time and the boys. 

It was a great break!

Kort's first dentist visit

One day at the beginning of April, I noticed Kort's bottom front tooth was loose! I obviously looked up the age when kids started losing teeth. All I kept finding was that four was the earliest for kids, but the norm is around age seven. Well, we knew something was up then. On a Sunday morning, it was all swollen around the tooth. We talked to a General Dentist that is in our ward and asked what it could possibly be. He said probably an abscess and we should take him to a children's dentist. That night, that bump on his gums had what it looked like puss wanting to come out, but yet thick and not runny, whatever. I know, disgusting. He said touching it hurt.

Monday morning, all the swelling was gone. His tooth was still loose. I made a call to the children's dentist and luckily they got him in that afternoon. I kept telling Kort that they were going to take pictures of his teeth and then we could see how cool they looked afterwards. Obviously he had no idea who or what the dentist was, so he went with it. However, once we got there and they put him in the chair to take x-rays, he was not having it. They did have it real kid friendly and told him he could have an ice cream after, he still did not want to sit there. They went to the next step. They cleaned his teeth.

He would barely lay still long enough for the lady to clean and floss them. Luckily they had some bubblegum flavor fluoride stuff or whatever it was. The dentist came to look, but didn't do much because he needed x-rays to fix the problem. So, back to the "chair". It took 3 ladies to hold him down and to take one simple picture, and they barely got a shot of his loose tooth. With that info, the doc said there was an infection beneath his tooth that was eating away his roots, so the tooth would have to be pulled no matter what. He said it was most likely due to some sort of "trauma", getting hit in the mouth, etc. I have no idea when that could've happened or what from, but I guess something did happen.

Flash forward a couple weeks later, we worked on making his tooth more loose because we knew he wasn't going to go back and have the dentist pull it out. Finally one morning, I was using my tweezers to kind of work with it, I just twisted it a little and out it came! It didn't hurt him at all. The only part he freaked out on was me trying to put a kleenex in his mouth to stop the bleeding, which ended shortly after.

We told Kort about the Tooth Fairy, so he put his tooth in a zip lock bag and that next morning the Tooth Fairy brought 2 quarters!! He's been pretty excited :)

Train Museum

The Train Museum kind of started out what we thought would have been boring, but it ended up being pretty cool. People that used to work on the trains here back in the day have donated several items so it was neat hearing the history about them. Kort loved seeing all the different set ups of trains! We had a quick tour, as the main guy wasn't there, but it was perfect seeing how Kort has an extremely short attention span. We checked it out mid January, just after Clay's birthday. The pictures pretty much sum up our visit :)

They also had those rail cars that require two people to "pump it" I guess you could say. Clay and I got on that and boy, was it hard to get it going :) It was lots of fun though. If it weren't so windy that day we would have spent more time out in the yard.

Clay's big 3-0!

I wanted to do something special for Clay's birthday this year since he is, afterall, leaving his 20's and going into a new decade ;) I loved the thought of doing a birthday week, and his birthday was on a Friday, so it worked out great.

I had tags for each day that said "Something to . . ." KEEP YOU WARM (his favorite socks), WEAR (new Doc Martens), EAT (jar filled with Riesens). I gave him a bouquet of 30 suckers saying "30 sucks, but can still be pretty sweet". I had a couple other things but I have forgotten. It was a fun week to spoil him and have him looking forward to getting something each day :) 

I'm so proud of Clay! He's such an incredible hard and honest worker. I'm forever grateful for him being able to support our family and making it possible for me to stay home and raise our boys. I'm thankful for him being born :)

Kort turns 3!

I can't believe my baby is three years old! Since we had just gotten back from Idaho, we had a simple birthday for Kort. I tried being sneaky and put balloons against his door held in by streamers, but that didn't really phase him when he opened his door in the morning. ha ha I made some Mickey pancakes for him for breakfast which is what he always asks for now with the ears :)

We went bowling, which he loves!

Took him to Chick-fil-A! He loves those waffle fries like his mama, and he got to play in their kids area and it was super hard to get him to finally come out ;) ha ha

I attempted to make this peppermint ice cream cake, but it was way too sweet even for me! The missionaries came over and surprised Kort with a remote control car! He LOVED it! Kort's favorite is Elder Garcia, which out of no where Clay started calling him Gomez, so Kort goes back and forth calling him both. ha ha

At least he did better with the candles :)

That night, being New Year's Eve, Clay and I were really bums. We left the TV on, didn't watch the ball drop, and didn't even play our usual Wackee Six! What?!? Yeah, it was a busy Christmas so it was nice to just relax :)

Here's Kort's stats compared to his 2 year check up:

Height: 39 inches = 81% (up from 35.3 inches)

Weight: 34.2 lbs. = 73% (up from 29.2 lbs)

I'm surprised he's actually up in the top percentages now! He's filling out, even though he's still skinny and tall. As for his speech, he is talking our ears off now. The last few months he has really increased his vocabulary and can ask/answer questions and carry on a conversation with us. He's jumping, hopping, exercising like us, loves his cartoons, is beginning to get an imagination with his toys, takes forever to eat his meals with being a somewhat picky eater, loves being outside (when it's warm enough), still is non-stop and hardly sits still, BUT, we LOVE him!

He made the cut to Primary by one day! Here's his first day!

It was hard his first few Sundays and he would just cry and not want us to leave him, but our friend, Erica, is the Primary President, so she was super nice and helped him feel a bit more comfortable and let him help out with a game that first Sunday. 

Our cute lil' Sunbeam :)

To wives: Before you were Mommy

As I was browsing through Facebook, I came across this article that "I am LDS" had shared. First off, I am horrible with words. I stumble trying to find the right words to use, my lack of extensive vocabulary (if that even makes sense), and sharing my feelings and putting into words. I'm working on it though. Secondly, because of what I just mentioned, this lady puts pretty much my exact feelings into words of what I've been feeling lately. Absolutely so much of it is true as well with the part that she's talking to the men. You'll understand when you get through it.

When we found out that we were pregnant with my son (now 4), my husband and I became one of those "new parent" couples. We researched together, shopped together and made every choice surrounding the arrival of our new baby together. I’m talking right on down to the discussion of which wipes would represent the Thompson household. We went with Pampers if you were wondering. If there was an amazing-race-like-show that somehow incorporated preparing for a new baby, we would have been all over that. We were a team.

To greater prepare ourselves for baby boy’s arrival, we even took one of those courses for new parents offered by the hospital.

The class and the instructor couldn’t have met our expectations any more perfectly. The sweet gal who led the class was sprightly, informative and gave entirely too detailed descriptions of her own deliveries. (Say that three times fast.) After learning everything from diaper changes to natural labor techniques, our 8 week course ended with a certificate and a tour of labor and delivery. We were prepared to become parents. We had the copied paper and our names written in sharpie to prove it.

But what wasn’t covered in that course, what would have been infinitely more valuable than any one bit of information we received in those few weeks, would have been the offering of a few simple words.

If only our instructor had sat us down and said, "Ladies, before you were Mommy, you were his. Men, before you were Daddy, you were hers. Remember this. Hold on to this. Keep these words precious to you."

I wouldn’t have understood her. I might not have even understood her a few months later. But four years down the road, I would replay those words over and over in my heart, and I would know exactly what she had meant.

So if I could teach that class, if I could go back and instruct the bright-faced, greatly pregnant women and their overly eager husbands, I would say this:

Ladies, there will come a day when your husband walks in the door and you do not turn around. You will be preoccupied with filling up sippy cups and wiping booties. You will shout over the running bath water, “Hey! Glad you’re home.” But it won’t mean what it used to mean. It won’t be full of eager anticipation to spend time together. It will be full of expectations to aid in the demands of the family. “Glad you’re home,” will more properly translate, “Thank goodness for two extra hands to help me.” And “Praise the Lord I might get five minutes alone.”

Ladies, there will come a day when you spend every last ounce of yourselves on your children. The demands of life and the babies will come before any other priority. What little of yourself you have left at the end of the day will be used to crawl into bed before someone is awake to need you again. The thought of doing anything else after the children are asleep will sound impossible and your handsome husband’s happy smile had better mean he is willing to get up with the baby and nothing more.

The husband that once completed your heart will be just one more person who needs you. The charming things that you fell for will go unnoticed. The daily grind will become expected.

Men, there will come a time when that beautiful bride sitting next to you hasn’t showered in days. She will be at her wit’s end wearing other people’s food and poop on her clothing. She will need to hear that she is beautiful, but she won’t listen to you. She will need to know that she is still lovable, but she won’t want you near her. When you arrive home after meeting the demands of work, you will be expected to meet the demands of your family. Your wife will hear none of your exhaustion, and you will see none of hers.

Men, you will call home to ask a quick question and anticipate a two-minute conversation. Half of it will be spent listening to your wife talk to your kids. As a matter of fact, you will make it no more than a few sentences in to any conversation ever before your wife spurts out direction to your children.“Don’t climb that!” or “Don’t sit on your sister!” You will become accustomed to these outbursts, but you will forget that there was ever a time when you had her full attention.

But Ladies, when Mommy becomes your name, remember this man. Remember that you are his wife. Remember how much you love and appreciate him in this moment. Remember his dedication to your family. Remember his love and devotion to you. And then, when the days are long and you need a break, fall into his arms.

Men, remember your bride. The care and love that she has given you will soon be spilled over to your children. Her love for you will not change. Give her the grace to be enough even when she doesn’t feel like it. Remember when your days are long, hers are too. Remember her. Fall in love with her again.

Remember each other. Remember the two that made the family. Let the Lord lead you both together. Because when the days are endless and the hours short, it will only be his love who keeps you together. It will only be his mercy that gently guides your hearts as one. Hold tightly to one another, and even more tightly to the Lord. There is no greater adventure for you to experience and no greater gift than to walk through parenthood with your best friend. You are a team. Every single day.

When they had heard these words, perhaps then, I would offer a certificate. Something that they could hold in their hands to remember that they were prepared.

So, to my friends, a reminder. Something for you to hold onto. A cue to look into the aged eyes of the one you love and see the one for whom your heart fell. May our words be sweet. May our hearts be received. And may we remember the love of our youth.

I couldn't have said it any better. I plan on sharing this with Clay for Valentine's Day :)

Thanksgiving

Yes, I realize Thanksgiving was what feels like months ago! I'm super behind on blogging. However, Thanksgiving was laid back and not much went on. Our good friends, the Leach family, invited us over, even with their family, to have dinner with them. I'll admit, it was so nice not having to cook a turkey and everything else. We used the morning to put a few things together, and relaxed until it was time to go.

The food was delicious! Company was great. Kort LOVES going over to their house, or as he puts it, "Duke's house". They have a giant dog that he gets giddy over. And the girls just adored Griffin and gave Clay and me a break from holding him. After dinner, well, mostly a late lunch, they were planning on doing some black friday shopping at Wal-mart.

Clay and I didn't really have anything on our lists to go deal with the rush of shoppers so we just went home. For some reason, I really just wanted to go and check things out. Clay tried finding a babysitter, but obviously it was Thanksgiving day and everyone was with their families. I got to Wal-Mart and was in and out within maybe 15 minutes. I will never do that again. This wasn't a "there's no one here!" fast shopping trip. I could barely get through the aisles and even out of the store. I was looking at blu-ray players or x-box 360 kinects so I then went to Kmart. Wasn't as bad, but they didn't have those. I now realize why we haven't done this sort of Black Friday shopping. I'll go when the rush is over or if I absolutely know I can find what I need and it's the cheapest there. But I am definitely more of an online Cyber Monday shopper :)

I think with going overboard with the Halloween decorations, it put a damper on my fall decorations. Fall is usually my favorite time for decorations and Thanksgiving just kind of came and went. But I've been trying to always have an "Attitude of Gratitude" throughout the year, and not just at the end when it's so close to Christmas as well. We are truly blessed. There are many things we can easily take for granted and we don't realize it until we lose it. I hope that I can always be thankful for all the little and precious things
life has to offer.

Black out

Warning: This post is for my own remembrance. :) Monday started as an ordinary day. Got the boys breakfast, folded laundry, and then the plumbers came over to look at/fix our water heater. Got them going with what they needed, put Griffin down for his nap, and put cartoons on for Kort. I went out to the garage to call Clay and have him explain things to the guys. Ten minutes or so pass and I'm just watching them work on things, etc while leaning up against the tool bench. Out of nowhere I find myself starting to get dizzy and blacking out. I made sure to not have my legs locked, and I tried to take some deep breaths hoping this would pass. The thought of just sitting down crossed my mind but I didn't. The next thing I know I'm on the ground being held by one of the guys asking if I'm ok. 

What just happened?!?! I apparently passed out for about half a minute. I remember being asked a few questions before I really lost it. Joey asked "what's your passcode?" referring to my phone and luckily I was able to answer even though it took a bit to think about it. He proceeded to call Clay. Good thing he had already talked to him so his name was the last number called. Clay answered jokingly with a "what?!" and Joey said "your wife just passed out." Clay couldn't believe it. By about that time I started coming to and so he gave me my phone. I just kept saying "I don't know what happened". I told him to just come home so he left right away. I went inside and sat on the couch, cold, shaky and pale. The guys finished things up, kept checking on me, and then waited inside for Clay to get here. 

I remember being asked if I was military and then something about a snowboard. That was the last I heard. Joey had asked Clay if I had any medical conditions, was diabetic, etc. Nope. Anyway, Clay finally made it home and relieved the guys. I couldn't have been more grateful for their help. I don't know what would've happened had they not been there. Would I still have passed out? Also, I have since gotten rid of having a passcode on my phone :/ ha ha 

I had a dr. appt. for later this week but thankfully they got me in an hour after I called. Explained the situation to the nurse and doctor, but basically it was most likely just a freak incident. I got my blood tested for my thyroid which was what my original appointment was for along with checking if I was anemic or dehydrated. I was feeling much better by the evening but am taking it easy for a few days. 

I know Heavenly Father was watching over me and those around me. The boys were just fine while this all happened and took great naps that afternoon so I could get some rest. I'm so thankful for those two men who were so caring and concerned and helpful. I plan on at least calling their boss or something and letting him know how great they were. Anyway, so that's my story. First time ever passing out. Weird thought, kinda scary, and almost seems like it didn't even happen. The end :)

Cheers to 6 years!

Six years!! It still seems like such a short time that we've been married, yet I feel like I've known Clay forever and have always been with him :) 

This last year together has been full of emotions. It was the beginning of Clay's new job which has created the opportunity for being home more often and not working long hours leaving me less stressed and more happy ;) Clay got to deal with my crazy pregnancy hormones even after Griffin was born. We finally made it back to the temple after it being not a whole lot possible while I was pregnant. We made it happen with having to take the boys with us, not having a babysitter, and did initiatories while taking turns watching the kids. 

With being married towards the end of the year, this is sounding like a year in review ;), but it was a great one! 

Clay surprised me with these BEAUTIFUL flowers! He knows I think flowers are lovely, but I'd rather not have them because I hate that they just die and feels like a waste of money. Am I pathetic for thinking that?! Haha Regardless, I still love that he surprises me with them :) I surprised him with this framed "love story"! 

He also made a fabulous dinner of chicken alfredo and had a relaxing night after the boys went to bed. 

We actually went out and celebrated the weekend before. Our friends invited us to the play, Dracula, at the local theater. They got a babysitter and we brought our kids to their house, and go figure, our boys were the only kids still up at ten when we got back. About the play...um, we didn't really know the whole story and so it ended up being pretty crazy/gory(realistic fake blood) and just weird!! It was nice just to get out on a date, finally!!!

I'm so blessed to have Clay as my best friend and to have been sealed with him in the temple for eternity!! He gets me. He knows when I need space, comforting, love, attention, help, relief. He understands the language of women simply because of me ;) He is incredibly patient with me, an amazing father to our beautiful boys, so much fun to be around, makes me laugh and really I could go on forever. I look forward to our never ending story!

Griffin at 7, 8 and 9 months

Mickey Mouse is getting smaller and smaller!

At 7 months, he:

-Crawls everywhere

-Pulls himself up to things

-Has 2 teeth

-Loves his solid foods

-Says "da da" all the time

At 8 months, he:

-Starts to walk along the couch

-4th tooth about to pop through

-Loves to "talk" (yell) with his brother

8 month stats:

Weight: 17.8 pounds = 16%

At 9 months:

-It's hard to get him to sit still for anything, or lay for a diaper change

-Has 4 teeth

-Loves his finger foods (bread, puffs, graham crackers)

-Walks by himself when pushing something in front of him

His 9 month doctor appointment stats:

Height: 28.5 inches = 58%

Weight: 18.6 lbs = 17%

Head circumference: 45.1 cm = 43%