I did it!

So I never thought I could say it, but I am all caught up with my stocking making for the year! Here is just a look at another one of my stockings (this one I would not recommend making) but it is fun!

Again, I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas, enjoyed with your families surrounded in the love of our Savior.

Here Comes Santa Clause!

Here is my latest project. I have been on a project frenzie since the completion of my test- my project freeze. Here is Ashlyn's finally finished stocking. Now I just need to work on my own. However, at this rate it might have to wait until next year. I have found that creating my own "pattern" is rewarding, yet time consuming (I am a pour pattern follower.)

Santa will be visiting our house this Saturday because he knows we will not be here on Christmas day. Dylan is very excited that the day has finally arrived, one he has been waiting for for three months. When he sat on Santa's lap he asked for a Mack (cars) and a bell (polar express.) So if there is anyone who wants to join us for Santa's first visit of the year, we would love to have you!!!

Happy Holidays!

Proud Parents

Here is just one of Dylan's many "funny faces." Dylan is transitioning from nursery to primary. So the "moonbeams" get to go to part of primary. The primary in our ward has been working hard on learing their articles of faith. Each week a few children, who want to, can go up to the microphone and "pass off" an article of faith of their choice. Last week Dylan really wanted to go up. I told him we needed to work on it. Within a few days Dylan was ready. Today we was so excited. He practically ran to the podium and sang his first article of faith with brilliance. He is the first moonbeam to pass one off. How proud we are of him! He now says he is ready to do the next one!

I received my certificate in the mail yesterday. I am now officially

Michal E. Thompson, CCLS

I also have been called as a nursery worker. Just when I thought I could finally listen for two of the three meetings! I should be more careful what I think about next time!

It's Official!!

I have spent the last three months living, breathing, and worrying about my Child Life Certification Exam. I traveled to SLC to take it at the beginning of this month. I felt prepared until I actually took the test. It was very difficult and I had talked myself into believing that I didn't pass. However, all my hours (and Connor's) and all the money I put into it finally paid off! I PASSED!!! So I am now a certified Child Life Specialist!!

Leaves, Leaves and more Leaves!!

This is for all my friends in Boston who wish they had a house (or even a yard), and also for my friends and family who live in the dry West who wish they had greener vegetation.


This picture represents what I did today- ALL day! This is 1 of 5 piles of leaves that I raked in the BACKYARD alone- and only two weeks worth of leaves. I promise that this pile is bigger than it looks in the picture (taken by Dylan who refused to come out and be in it- pretty good for a three year old)! But it didn't end at making huge piles. I then had to rake them onto a tarp and pull them to the front curb. I decided our curb isn't big enough. I also didn't realize how heavy leaves are! By the last few loads I also had a couple of kids on the tarp as well. I didn't know it would be so hard to juggle leaf raking and two kids in the cold! So nap time, and a little TV really helped. It didn't help that my Dylan, with his three year old curiosity (those with three year olds know what I mean) asked why we have to rake the leaves. It really made me rethink the worth of what I was doing.

Most of you are probably wondering why a 7 month pregnant woman is raking so many leaves. Today was one of a VERY FEW dry, and amazingly sunny, days here. I had to take advantage of being able to rake dry leaves, wet ones are even harder to rake! I also have a husband who gets home after dark and I wanted to spare him the hours in the dark. To top it off- our "leaf guy" comes any day now to suck up our leaves.

So to all of those who don't even own a rake- I envied you today!!

Moving Again!!

I know we just got to Cleveland. However, Connor's employer, Eaton, has already asked us to submit our request for next year. We were hoping we would be able to stick around for his second rotation, but the plant here in Cleveland is not included in the program. So we will be in Raleigh, NC next August. For all of those who need a break from the cold weather next winter, we welcome you all! We also wanted to get a taste for the entire country before settling down back in the West! So to add to our adventures of the Northeast, the Midwest, now we will see the South!

An adventure into Upholstery

Here is my latest project. I found a cute kids chair at a garage sale for $3. I was so excited about my find. But Connor was not too impressed. So I set out to recover the chair. Not bad for my first time huh? However, I think I should have sent Connor out to find the new fabric! Amazing how passionate a man can be in home decor!

My Sweet Little Girl!

I know this is the moment you have all been waiting for! We finally figured out our picture problem. We thought we had a virus on our computer and so after a lot of help we corrected the problem. So I have added some much needed pictures to our past blogs.

These are just a few of my favorite pictures of Ashlyn. I hope they make you laugh as much as they did me! She really loves to be like Dylan. So here she is in his underwear, in his pajamas, refusing to wear clothes like Dylan, but then also loving chocolate like her mom. She has even showed interest in the potty. It is still a work in progress but she does like to try to pee standing! I will let you all know how that goes!

I have also changed our blog background. However, On different computers it views different. Please let me know how it looks on your computer so I can make adjustments!

5 Things for my soon to be three

I've been tagged in a round about way. Here are 5 things I want my kids to know before they grow up:

1. You really are a child of God, who loves YOU. Trust in his love and his timing. Be worthy of His blessings and never underestimate the power of the atonement. Let the scriptures and prayer be your daily comfort.

2. I will always love you no matter what mistakes you or I make.

3. You will always be good enough. Search for your gifts, embellish them, share them and you will be the best you.

4. Strive to make yesterdays filled with happy memories and tomorrows complete with joyous anticipation.

5. The best way to lift your day is to spend it with those you love and to enjoy a little sugar in all it's forms! (or maybe this one is to make me feel better!)

Incredibles in the Making

Dylan is my extraordinary child. Starting last winter Dylan has officially refused all my attempts to get him into warm clothes. I know he is made for the outdoors, but the shorts and the t-shirts just don't cut it in our Boston and Cleveland winter climates! If I do, by chance, get him into warm clothes, upon returning home I find them strewn all over my kitchen floor (the entrance from our garage.) And he has already begun to redress himself in his favorite- shorts and a t-shirt. However, this Halloween season I found a new way to get him into warm clothes. His Dash costume is made of a warm sweat set and he has been rather fond of it. He has worn it a few days in a row- but at least he is warm! So we might be sporting the Dash out fit a few more times this winter. Getting it washed might be a challenge- but isn't that always the case with kids clothes?

Ashyn sits only to watch one thing- Jack Jack attack. So when she learned that she got to be Jack Jack for Halloween she was rather excited.

Here's to a happy Halloween!

I added a picture of Dylan's carved pumpkin. He refused to carve anything but a car! And his pumpkin is posing with his favorite cars.

who knew a bed could be so exciting!

Finally we have found Dylan a bed. He has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor ever since we moved here. We haven't felt too bad since the distance to the floor is not very far. We have searched high and low for the right bed. Either they were too expensive or too massive. Thanks to a great Visiting Teacher I found the right bed at Costco. And for an amazing price. So we are excited to say that Dylan no longer sleeps on the floor. Now we just need to get ourselves off the floor (we too don't have a bed, just a mattress.)

Just recently Dylan has been saying Lightening a little different. I don't know where he got it, but he talks about Lightening all the time, but now with a Southern accent. So it is "Lighten'in." It is quite adorable. His cars STILL are his pride and joy. They now talk to each other. Which really throws me off when I am in the other room, thinking he is talking to me. Then he gets angry when I reply to his talking.

Ashlyn is a super funny girl. She just loves to be like Dylan. If he laughs, she laughs too. If he runs around the house like crazy, so does she. But she is so fun and entertaining.

Sorry again for no new pics. We still don't have a working camera.

Our Big News

Okay, so I know not everyone knows but we are excited to welcome a new little boy the end of January into our family. Dylan was very excited to learn he was going to have a little brother. Ashlyn of course thinks she has a baby in her tummy too.

Crazy Kids

I just wanted to do an update on all the funny things our kids are up to.

Dylan 3 1/2: is slowly getting back to normal. He can't run or ride his bike nearly as long as he could before. I think it will take a few weeks to get it all back. He is supper skinny now, which is so weird to see him go from a little body builder to skin and bones. His shorts don't always stay up now. But he is back to asking TOO many questions and making so many noises and sounds. He loves his cars and we bribed him with some new ones for taking all his yucky medicine. He takes them with him everywhere he goes in a little Cars bag. Dylan lived on Dora and Diego shows during his sick weeks (I have now been converted to the DVR), but I think he overdoesed on them. He is back to no napping and staying up till 9pm (while he was sick he slept 20 hrs out of the 24in a day!). I should watch what I wish for! He has stayed dry at night time for a few days in a row. I excitedly announced to Connor that Dylan stayed dry "all night long" and Dylan replied, "like Mack." All of you who know the cars movie well enough might know exactly what that means! We also have a few places of flooring that are creaky. Dylan said that the "floor farted when dad walked on it." Dylan is all about red. He loves red anything. Dad doesn't mind because he says it is because Dylan bleeds red (a Ute fan deep down) but it is because of Lightening McQueen. He has to have a red bowl and a red spoon for breakfast every morning. I find myself washing the same dishes regularly by hand to have them ready for him. And he wants only the red popsicles and red drinks. To my dismay he will only wear his Cars shirts and underwear. Those two shirts go really fast. Luckily we have plenty of underwear. He also loves to have his toe nails painted (to Dad's dismay) but Dylan and I compromise- if he lets me cut his toe nails then I will paint them. Fair trade to me!!! But of course he wants them red and Connor thinks this will lead to gender issues in the future. Yesterday he wanted his fingers painted and Connor just about died. But you know how three-year-old's are- they don't let it go until you say yes. So currently, Dylan has red fingernails. His favorite thing to eat is brownie dough. We make it with powdered eggs just in case. Dylan has also gotten really savvy with the computer. He loves to look at toys on the Internet but he calls it "checking his email." He has also enjoyed playing different learning games. Today, while watching conference on the Internet, Dylan announced to me that "Dad was not sharing his computer" with him!

Ashlyn 18mo: Is still only saying a few words but gets by with her signs and grunts. Dylan announced that he wants to name our new baby Erik- his best friend in Boston. Surprisingly she got that out and loves to say Erik all day. She works hard to keep up with Dylan and wants to do everything he does- even jumping off the couch, wrestling with dad and climbing up on tables. She is so stubborn and feisty. She can get really scary when she gets angry. Dylan does a great job of putting up with her hitting and scratching when she gets mad at him. She recently has figured out that she can bug him, and loves it. She will take his cars on purpose and run. She loves to wear Dylan's clothes. So there are days when she either has his PJ's on or his underwear on over her clothes. She has to have her own little bag with cars to carry around like Dylan. She doesn't watch TV much but she can get through the first race on the Cars movie. There are these cute twin cars that are Lightening's "biggest fans" and twice do this teeny bopper scream for their idoled Lightening. When they scream she does her own little high pitched scream. It is very funny. Her little personality is really coming out as she has gotten older and she is very fun to tickle. She also is a shoe fanatic and loves wearing any shoes she can find. She is already turning into a gorgeous little girl, her eyes are this amazing blue and she here eyelashes reach up to her eyebrows. Good thing she has a big brother for the future!

These two keep us on our feet and we love them more than words can tell.

I've Been Tagged!

I guess not only am I literally physically slow now, but slow on the blog thing too! So of course Melanie tagged me!

4 Jobs I've Had:
1. A nursery assistant (did all the odd jobs, but learned to love the plants)
2. TA for a Child Development professor- I loved helping all the students, not so much grading the papers!
3. Research Assistant for Prof In child Development- now I appreciate research!
4. CNA secretary- best job ever, flexible and study acceptable

4 Places I've Lived:
1. Devner, CO (go Rockies, Nuggets and Broncos)
2. Provo, UT (go Cougars)
3. Boston, MA (go Sox)
4. Cleveland, OH (go Indians, Browns, Cavaliers)

4 Favorite TV Shows:
1. Dancing with the stars (a weekness from past days)
2. Dora or Diego- keeps Dylan busy for what feels like a whole minute
3. CSI- the mystery
4. ESPN- actually a curse to our new house!

4 Vacations I've Been On:
1. Utah- it is only a real vacation when you have family!
2. Denver- and you don't pay for a room!
3. New Port, RI- you gotta go!
4. Hawaii- it's been too long

4 Favorite Dishes:
1. Chocolate
2. Fresh fruit
3. More Chocolate
4. Mexican anything

4 Places I'd Like To Be:
1. On and outdoor adventure with my sister, Carrie
2. A place where kids never get sick!!!
3. At my parents house
4. In Morgan, UT

Tag:
1. Katt
2. Carrie Miller
3. Jenny Judi
4. Jeanine

Crazy Three Weeks

Our camera is currently out of commission, so we don't have any new pictures to share right now. But we do want to thank everyone for their prayers and their thoughts for us. We are all finally feeling better. The kids are doing much better. Dylan still has trouble being as rambunctious as usual. But he has lost so much weight. He is now back to sleeping very little- but I should be thankful.

For those who don't know- we have been in and out of the ER three times between two kids. We still don't know exactly what was wrong but we do know that Dylan had strep throat at some point. Our pediatrician says if it was only strep, then she has never seen anything like it. Both kids where extremely dehydrated from diarrhea and vomiting. Dylan's lasted two weeks. Ashlyn had the same symptoms plus a croup cough, but test results said she had no strep? Dylan slept away most his days and said or did little. So we are glad to have some of him back. We still have some recovering to do.

Right before all this Dylan got his first black eye. We do have a picture we will have to post at some point. He and Simeon, his cousin, ran right into eachother. His eye swelled shut in seconds. He couldn't see well for a few days and then we had a rainbow of colors. He just now is looking normal again. But it was all kind of funny.

Last Trip Before The Job!

We had so much fun in Utah! Dylan learned to swim on his own (with help from his floaty), we went to the zoo and on the Alpine slide, and we loved just playing with the cousins (and the dogs of course, Skeeter and Roudy).

Ashlyn's room

This is a picture of Ashlyn's room. Jenny, does the rug look familiar? Thanks for the great addition to our new home.

This is the one bathroom is the house, but it works great.

Here is our new house in Cleveland

Hey Everyone!

We are enjoying our new house and job in Cleveland. We live in a town called Wickliffe, about 5 minutes from Cami and Nate in Euclid. My commute to work is about 23 minutes every morning. We are in the same ward, a newly created ward called the Euclid Ward. I was just called as Cub Den Leader in our ward, so I'll work with the 8 to 10 year olds including Luke! Dylan loves his new room and so does Ashlyn (I wasn't able to get a picture of her room because she was asleep when I took them, but I'll post one later). The yard is great, both front and back. It's fun to have the golf course right there behind us as you can see in the pictures. Work is going well. They gotten me involve in a bunch of projects, some are small, some are much bigger. I like the people I work with and the environment at work is great. I'm still learning to navigate such a big company, but it is coming along. I've got 2 weeks under my belt.

We have good neighbors on both sides. One is a woman who's husband is in Iraq, but will be home this fall. She has two children, 4 and 2, Leah and Dominique. Dylan loves playing with Leah and Ashlyn loves the dog they have that she can see through the fence. Well, check out the pictures below, we'll post some more too.

Ashlyn

This is a great picture of Ashlyn. This was also in the Public Garden last fall.

Dylan

This is Dylan at the Boston Public Garden. It was taken last fall.

Graduate

This is graduation day at Boston University on May 20th. This is Curtis and Carlos, 2 friends in my class. Curtis and I became good friends during the program. We played a lot of ping pong and our families hung out (he has a wife and daughter who played with Dylan a lot). It's hard to believe the MBA is all over.

This is at the Cambridge 2nd Ward Halloween party. Dylan occasionally will correct us when we call him Dylan saying, "I'm Dash, not Dylan!"

Entering Blog World

This is our first blog. We thought since Joel and Kadi were doing it we might as well too. We are excited to share our lives with you all. We are excited about finishing our year in Boston. It has been a fun adventure and we have made some great friends. We are also ready to be done with the city life. We have decided never to live in this kind of neighborhood again, no matter what. We are kind of sick of Dylan and Ashlyn having a parking lot as a playground. There are parks close by, but we are excited for our new house in Cleveland with a yard, playground, and access to a golf course. Plus it's on a nice street and great neighborhood. We will post pictures when we get there. This is my last week of my MBA program! By Wednesday night I will have my MBA in the bag! Then next week it's off to Cleveland for some training. Then the next week all our stuff gets packed up to be sent to Cleveland, while we come to Utah to see everyone! Below are some pictures of our time here in Boston. Halloween - we dressed up as the Incredibles, Dylan was Dash, I was Mr. Incredible, Michal was Elasta Girl, and Ashlyn was Violet. There is also my graduation picture with some friends in my class.