Over the river and through the woods...

This is the scene in our car on our way home from visiting Grandma on Christmas day! Megan was also asleep seconds earlier!!!

And the winner is...

NOBODY!!!

I don't think that I would ever guess a SCORPION either!!! Russ found it and showed it to the kids last Saturday! The crazy part is trying to figure out where it came from and how it ended up in our BASEMENT!!!

Maybe we will put diamond glaze on it and mail it to Ben!

Successful Hunt... Well sort of!

Zack, Meg & Russ went out hunting last Saturday. Meg and Zack both had tags and Zack shot his at 8:30 that morning. I think that by the time they finally hauled this huge cow to the Excursion they were all exhausted! Needless to say there will have to be yet ANOTHER hunting trip so Meg can fill her tag!!!

I have a contest for you all...

Whomever can guess the dead creature that Russ found in the basement...

will get to keep it!!!

We've just heard from Ben!

Sorry, he insists on writing in pink ink!

You might have to click on each picture to be able to read them!

He sounds good though!!!

Winter Dance

Zack had his winter dance last night. This is his date Jenica.

From what I understand she helped to make her dress!

This is one of the few pictures that I have seen Zack in that he looks a little short! He said that they had a good time and were safe on the snowy roads last night!

Last Goodbye's

It is hard to believe that all of one's STUFF could be whittled down to THREE suitcases!

We stopped for lunch at the Chuck-A-Rama in Draper and after we sat down and were eating a family came in and they had a missionary that they had just picked-up FRESH from the airport!!! We kinda just guessed a little and eaves dropped a little and then as we were leaving we talked to them for a minute. They asked about Ben and we told them we were dropping him off in an hour... their missionary had just come from New York City that morning and still had his ID badge on! He asked Ben if he needed a hug. It was pretty funny!

The curb side service at the MTC is great!

No funeral to go to any more!

This is the missionary who helped us drop Ben off.

There wasn't really any time for tears!

One last perfunctory wave goodbye for Mom!

We will see you in TWO years Ben!!!

Tuesday night @ the Steeneck house!

Tuesday night Megan had a choir concert at 7:00. All of her friends couldn't believe that she made her own skirt!!! She has a solo and did a great job!

At 9:00 we met with the Stake Presidency for Ben to be set apart as a missionary. It is now official! One last picture of the kids!

This is Ben trying to be taller than his LITTLE brother. Maybe he will grow on his mission and catch up... you never know, MIRACLES can happen!

Thomson Christmas Party

Monday night we had the Thomson Family Christmas party at our house. It was so funny to see all of theses shoes at the front door! (only 1/3 of the total shoes!) There were 38 of us and we had a ball! Laura was in charge this year and everything was fabulous!

This is the THIRD attempt at getting a picture of Laura... It is pretty bad when it is easier to get a good picture of the BABY!!!

Pumpkin Pancakes

Saturday the 5th we spent the day as a family. (our last one before Ben goes to the Missionary Training Center) Russ made some fabulous pumpkin and choc. chip pancake with cinnamon syrup & we watched movies and just played all day!

Stringing the lights!

We have not had Christmas lights up at our house for at least 6 years... Last week Russ got them out and decided to put some up. Ben is a mountain goat and loves to climb all around the roof. I have to go inside and cover my eyes! I wonder who will help Russ next year???

Previously posted

Here is the final product from the 4 foot frame that I had previously posted! I got the idea from www.joysofhome.blogspot.com and decided that it was a perfect fit for my basement redo!

Not bad for $10, a little paint, stain & vinyl!

Hunter Girls!

Megan had TWO antelope tags this year... she got both! Morgan went with her and Russ. I don't think this will be a regular occurrence, usually she isn't the avid hunter... but we will see.

Megan actually posed the antelope so that it's tongue was hanging out! This from a girl who constantly wears 3" heels and fingernail polish!!!

D I find!

I got these finds at the DI today!!! What do you think?

I will post the finish products later!

Does anyone know anyone who wants to

TRADE re-upholstery services for crafts???

Adam Lambert?!?

Friday night we went to a Halloween party @ my friend Cami's. I had a hard time coming up with a costume.. (cause I don't like to dress up). Russ was going to be Frankenstein... but at the last minute we changed to THIS... Adam Lambert & one of his groupies!!! It was sooo funny, the more makeup I put on Russ the more I giggled! It just did not look like my hubbie!

Dejavoo!!!

Have you ever had one of those moments where you see something and it brings back sooo many memories...NOT necessarily good ones??? Today was one of THOSE days!

I went to college @ Utah State University... in the fall the would have a INFESTATION of these little Box Elder bugs... OR I I like to call them little red devils!

They are harmless little bugs... BUT you would be sitting in class and the person in front of you would have them crawling on their back! I was always nice enough to flick them off of the unsuspecting victim BUT I always knew that if they were crawling on the person in front of me they were more than likely on my back also!!! EEEWWW!!!

(NO Laura we do not have an infestation... I only saw one!!!)

NINETEEN!

Where have all of the years gone??? It was just yesterday that we went to Logan Hospital to have Ben. I didn't believe the doctor when he said that you had red hair... both Russ & I were tow heads!!! So strong and handsome!!! You were always so independent... learning to walk... doing things yourself... It is nice to see you make these grown up decisions now as you become a man. Thanks Jeanette for the fabulous picture!!!

Is it who??? or hoot???

This is the cute owl ipod cozy we made Friday night. Everyone had a different ipod so they were all different sizes and shapes! TOO CUTE!

Party! Party!

Morgan & Madison.

The dead girl who got run over & the dead ballerina... see any connection here?

Laura always comes up with the cutest crafts for us all to do... I will post mine tomorrow!

Leftovers!!!

See anything that looks like it might be lost?

Finishing Touches

The Thomson Halloween party is an annual get together with any of the NON hunters in our family. Because of SWINE FLU it got changed to our house this week. I love having family and friends over... but with every crazy thing going on in my life my house needs a DEEP cleaning DESPERATELY!!! I vacuumed, washed light switches, put the gym back together etc... and put on a few of the finishing touches that I had been wanting to do, but not finding the time for!

I need to find some cute gourds for my table topper... but I LOVE the mum topiary!!! The wreath I had, I just added the letter & the ribbon! Cute idea I saw on Ucreate I think!

Sweet Fifteen!

We celebrated Meg's B-Day last week. WOW Fifteen! She is still my big helper and beautiful (not little anymore) girl! She is an excellent student, who I don't have to bug or prod to do her homework! LOVE YOU!

Life lesson...

This past week has been... oh, not so good! Morgan & Brayden were sick last week, but they got over it fairly quickly. Megan & Zack started on Thurs. kind of, & Russ started on Sunday. He got Zapped! He has been home this whole week! (He even missed out on hunting on Monday, his day off!) I have been threatening since Tuesday.. and Ben started yesterday!

It's hard when our large family gets sick! IT TAKES FOREVER TO GET RID OF ANYTHING!!!

ANYWAY.. on to my reason for this post.

Last week my visiting teachers learned of our woes! They called me and said that there was a present on the porch for us... (they didn't want to risk the gumbah!!!) Dinner, desert and enough drugs that I didn't have to go to the store!!! One of my children (who shall remain nameless for fear of embarrassing him!) commented on how great "THE CHURCH" is. He recognized that this gift was divine design... I am SOOO thankful for fabulous visiting teachers who came to our rescue!!! They not only took care of our needs, but gave one of my children a life lesson!

A trip to the salon...

Last week my friend Cami opened her cute little salon @ her house. I had won a set of glitter Gel toe nails at our wards service auction so Megan & I made an afternoon of it. Megan had her fingernails done. They look really cute!

The best laid plans...

You know when you have a to do list for the day & inevitably you hear a loud bang, thump or whack coming from the other room??? Well that was our day today! Morgan was hanging on on of the towel hooks in the bathroom upstairs (because of course it could hold her weight!!!), and broke the metal hook. This sent her crashing down to the tile floor which ensued the loud whack and crying!

She came and found me (thus a test of how badly they are hurt... if they can make it to mom... it must not be too bad!!!), and I gave her a love, she turned to leave the room and I SAW THE BLOOD!!! We calmly went into the bathroom to see how bad it was... Yep, a few stitches were needed...

This is one of the main reasons for the lengthy story... if you are squeamish DO NOT SCROLL DOWN!!!!!

THREE staples were all that were needed. None of our kids have actually had staples before... they were kinda cool.

It is pretty bad though when tears are avoided because of the promise of being featured on the BLOG!!! She will have very scary hair tomorrow cause she cannot get it wet for 24 hrs. My guess is a pony tail in the back will do the trick!

When you do this... You get this!!!

When you make 16 of these...

You get lots of this!

I went out today to do my LAST tall witch (I don't even get one!!!) and before I could start sanding... I had to take a pic of the little colorful sawdust mountain!!! It reminded me of Lake Powell!

Temple Night

Wednesday night we went with Ben to the Bountiful Temple for the first time. It was a little surreal going to the temple with my baby... but he did a great job and I really look forward to going with him to the temple regularly before he leaves for his mission.

Thanks to everyone that was able to be there with Ben. It was so great to be surrounded by family!!! I imagine that is how Heaven will be!!!

A trip to the eye doctor!

It has been almost a year that Russ has really started to have a hard time with his vision. (READING!!!)  Today we finally went to the eye doctor's.  He gave a a very through eye exam... and I have a slight stigmatism... and Russ needs reading glasses!  HE said that both of our conditions would get worse as we get older!!!

After we donned our very fashionable eyewear, we needed to go to Target to pick up a few things.  We started in the women's sock section where there was a fabulous sale on the little toe socks that I wear with my Sunday shoes... well with BOTH of us having our eyes dilated... NEITHER of us could make out the sale price!!!  We had to depend on the kindness of strangers to tell us the prices on the little teeny price tags!!!

BOY, DO I FEEL OLD!!!

Family Picture

It's that time again... the one everyone fears!!!  The dreaded extended family picture!!! 

We have the date now all we need is the color coordination!!!  Vote for your favorite color combination in comments!  Erin voted for autumn colors... what is your choice???