Discovery Kingdom

We had an awesome trip to CA last month and already the kids are begging to go back. I think I'd like to make it an annual tradition. We went to the Discovery Kingdom (Marine World Africa USA as it was called back in the day). Since I was pregnant and the kids are still little we mostly stuck with the animals and the kiddie rides. Our first stop was the tanks of dolphins. A little known secret: take a comb with you and slowly scratch the teeth with your nail against the glass. The dolphins LOVE it and hang around to check it out.

The Shark Tunnel: The boys disappeared and I found them taking another turn on their backs looking up at the sharks. The people around them thought that was definitely the best view!
Brenna added her fair share of finger prints to the glass.
Tiger going after meat in water.

Butterfly Land:
Brenna LOVED this place and was checking out all the butterflies that were overhead. . . so was Grandma. =)

Grandma and Grandpa Thompson with grand kids

Me and Brenna

Kevin is such a ham and was blowing kisses and waving to the crowd. Jeff first tried this ride with the boys but was so heavy the helicopter wouldn't go up! haha so the ride attendant let the boys have another turn without getting in line again. This is called the "I've had it and want to get out of here" face. Brenna was such a trooper since she didn't get to nap this day.

Robin's Wedding

So here am I in all my pregnant glory with almost 3 months left to go. Within the month people will start wondering if I've past my due date. I went to my friend Robin's wedding here in Orem. She's from my home ward and they'll be living nearby.

Make-a-Wish 1 Mile Run

They had a mile run at the elementary school for a girl dealing with brain cancer. It was really fun to have the WHOLE family involved!

Uncle TJ playing leap frog with the kids while waiting for the race to start.

We all had numbers, even the kids! Here's Jeff and Brenna showing theirs.

Since I forgot to pack a stroller for Brenna, she had a first class ride on Jeff's shoulders. He ran with her the whole way. What was so funny was that she didn't try to hold on to him and just let her arms bounce and flap during the run. I had to stop looking at them or I would laugh so hard I couldn't run. And of course Brenna sported the serious look the entire run.

Here's our group: Nana,Papa,and their 4 kids with their families. 14 1/2 in all! (Cousin John was there and took our pic)

Me and the girl(s)?? After the run I thought I had put myself in labor. Ryan ran the whole thing and finished 1st in our group and Kevin was a sport and ran/walk/was carried for it.

Halloween Part 1

We had a Halloween party at Jamie's house (sister-in-law) that was so much fun. Kevin - cowboy, Ryan - pirate, me - black widow, Brenna - cat. Jeff was a scout and actually had to go to scouts that night so missed out on the party.

Happy Halloween! Part 2

Here's Brenna in my cat costume. Face paint compliments of Ryan.


Here's Brenna with "her" stash. Just don't tell her it's mostly her brothers' candy.


Ryan and Kevin didn't want to wear their costumes on Halloween. Kevin went for last years Rooster and Ryan was into a scary vampire/stuntman. Did anyone else have problems keeping their kids in the same costumes?

Dr. Seuss play

Nana took the grandkids to see Seusical the Musical. Very fun and we had front row seats which gave Kevin a great view. We had celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving over at the Bitters where Kevin had his fingers smashed in a door. During intermission one of the stage hands threw out a few clovers into the audience and Kevin got one. He was so excited and forgot about his smashed hand and slept with it that night.

Did you all know that the clover that Horton the elephant holds has the tiny city Whoville on it? Sure, but did you know that it is one and the same Whoville with the GRINCH? I had never put those two places together! (Horton Hears a Who and Grinch Who Stole Christmas for those who need a refresher)

More Costco Tales...

I was at Costco last Saturday with Ryan. I always end my shopping spree there with "Ok, gotta get outta here before I buy anything else."

Then at the checkout we saw a man in his 40's with a loading cart FILLED with food. 9 cases of tomatos, 6 boxes of cereals, sugers, flours, oils, 4 cases of olives, etc. I pointed him out to Ryan and asked why he thought he had so much food. (I was expecting a nice little conversation on food storage or such.)

Ryan replies: "Oh he didn't get out of Costco fast enough."

On a side note, some other guy teased the man about his food asking if he had some insider info about the second coming. To which the man replied VERY seriously, "No, I just have a very large family." I then thought of my friend Glory and her family of 13 kids and what their grocery trips must have been like. =)