A few more honored guests!

(For Debbie!)

So I didn't crop these pictures after I scanned them, sorry! Last Wednesday we had Elder Cook for dinner. I struggled a little bit with coming up with something to fix . . . only because I didn't do enough research on him! As we were sitting down, I looked on the back of his picture and read that he served as an area authority (or something) in the Philippines! I could have had my husband make Adobo. Oh well, as it was, he played sports and so I served finger foods (like a tailgate party.)

I don't know why, but I think Elder Bednar has been my kids favorite so far. They talked about him ALL NIGHT! Part of it was that they thought his name sounded funny (great respect--I know!) Or maybe it was because it was FHE so we had dessert the night he came! Since Elder Bednar was the first president of BYU-Idaho, we had a potato bar. He also went to Germany on his mission, so we had German Chocolate cake for dessert. I have to admit, he has probably been my favorite also. He has such a love for the scriptures, it encouraged me in my passion for them also.

I was so excited for Jeffrey R. Holland. I love listening to this man speak. He went to England on his mission (I don't know how to make Fish and Chips) He lived in Seattle, and back east. He started the Jerusalem center. There is a wealth of food possibilities in all of those. Mostly fish though, and I am not a huge fan. In his bio story that they published in the Ensign after he was made an apostle, there was a quote by his son: "Matt says his 'fondest memories from childhood are at the dinner table. Every night was a kind of family home evening filled with laughter, compliments, encouragement, interesting conversation, testimony, teaching, and expressions of love. You always knew Dad was happiest when he was at home with his family.'" I loved that! So for dinner I made food we love, and after we learned about Elder Holland, we told jokes. It was a lot of fun!

After we are done with our special guests, I plan on having a night were we try to list everything we remember about these sacred men. Since my children are so small, I think I will cut out some clip art of things that represent them, and try to match them up. I thought I was inspired to do this for my children, now I know that it was for me! I can not wait until conference. I now know these men so much better--I feel like at conference, I will be having friends come into my home!

Dinner with latter-day apostles

I know you have all had to answer that question a time or two, "whom would you have dinner with, if you could have dinner with anyone in the world?" Sometimes you add the line, living or anyone whom has ever lived, but you get the point! I decided that leading up to General Conference, we would have a special guest to dinner every night. I also decided to go in reverse order--just to mix things up a little bit. Our first guest was none other than Neil L. Anderson himself! Josh calls me every night before he heads home from work and asks what we are having for dinner and if he needs to pick anything up. The first night of this, I simply told him that we were having a special guest for dinner. I told him that Neil L. Anderson would be joining us. He sat speechless. There is a family in our ward that is really good friends with him, and he has spoken at one of their son's "non"-farewells. He asked if I had called the Nixon's to get his phone number. I laughed and explained to him that it would be his picture on a chair.

But, that we would learn about him. Elder Anderson happened to serve a mission to France and he also served as a mission president in France so we had French toast for dinner (stretching it I know, but yummy nonetheless!) We learned that he has four kids like we do and that his wife is named Kathy. We learned that he went to BYU and Harvard. We also learned that he lived in Florida. My kids were very worried that he had been eaten by an alligator in Florida. We explained that he was still living, and was alive and well. :)

The next night we had D. Todd Christofferson for dinner. We learned so much about him. My favorite was that he had went to the Sacred Grove to pray about the church, and to gain a testimony of his own. He said that he prayed for an hour and nothing happened. A couple of weeks later he got a strong revelation that the church was true. He stated that through that experience, he knew that you didn't have to be somewhere special to gain a testimony, that God could answer your prayers even in your own bedroom! Also as a youth, his mother underwent surgery to treat her cancer. Although she survived and healed, simple daily tasks had become difficult for her. She loved homemade bread so Elder Christofferson had his grandmother teach him how to make it. He made bread on a regular basis until he left for college. So I made homemade bread and chili for dinner that night. We are only a couple of days into this, but I am loving it. I don't know if my children are getting ANYTHING out of it, but I am. I love having a special guest every night. I also thought about doing this with ancestors or historical figures. Something to spice up the dinner hour!

Apostle Memory

So here is another way to get familiar with the apostle's faces and names. You can play a game of memory with their faces. Bonus points if your child can name them. If your children are old enough to write (mine are not), after a match is made, everyone could write down the guess of whom the picture is of. You could keep score that way, along with a bonus point for making the match. Just print off a couple copies of each sheet, cut them out and you are good to go! I think they may also have some on sugardoodle.net (not sure though)

Getting ready for General Conference

I love that Turner is getting old enough to really do some fun General Conference things with! Max's birthday happens to fall on General Conference and I am not quite sure how we are going to be dealing with that yet. All I know is that it won't interfere with our conference weekend. I think that it is important to get familiar with the general authorities. If we treat them like most of the world treats celebrities, they will be excited to see them on TV. So all of our Family Home evenings this month have been, and will be, directed at getting better acquainted with the men speak to us on behalf of God.

When I was young, my mom taught us the quorum of 12 apostles by singing a song. I have been teaching the same song to my kids. It is sung to the tune of 10 little Indians or the Books of the Book of Mormon in the Children's Songbook. You can get on the website LDS.org  and download the music without the words. Instead of singing the books of the Book of Mormon though, you sing: "Packer- Perry- Nelson- Oaks- Ballard- Scott- Hales and Holland- Bednar- Cook- Christofferson and Andersen They're the council of the 12."  We have a picture of all of them so they also can associate faces with the names. I have loved this song and knowing all of the General Authorities in order throughout my life. I hope my children do too!

Stay tuned for some more General Conference preparation ideas!

Why the silence?

I wish that I could promise that I would never go so long without posting again--I won't. I wish I could say that I just didn't have anything to say--I can't. I wish that I was just having so much fun in life and didn't have time--I wasn't.

Life is just hard right now. I thought that the first year of twins would be the hardest time. It doesn't seem so hard now! I guess I haven't blogged much since the twins started walking. Wow! I thought that they were destructive before! It seems like the harder I try to keep up with the mess, the worse it is. You would think, if you walked into my house today that I never vacuum, sweep or wipe things down. I did all those things today. I am exhausted!

I also have been having some health problems that I have eluded to earlier. I finally went to a doctor that would listen to me (I went to one before and he just said that I have twins and that is why I am so tired), and found out that I have some stuff going on with my liver. I have to carve time out everyday to take care of myself.
That is HARD for this momma. Good new is that I am feeling so much better, bad new is that it is going to be a long road. So I hope that I can find time to blog more, but if I don't, now you know why!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday today in preschool. We dressed up like Dr. Seuss characters, ate green eggs and ham, made oobleck, created seuss-ish characters, painted Thing 1 and Thing 2, hopped on pop etc... it was a great day!

Dr. Seuss is my hero! I love his books, and what he has done for Children's literature in general. If I could have a wish, it would be to have a gift such as his!

Random Max moments

 There is just no way to describe my little Max. He is a middle child extraordinaire. Lately he has been pointing out to me that he doesn't get as much attention as the other children. The other day he asked why I was always talking to Turner, and how come I didn't talk to him as much. Well, kiddo--your brother asks one million questions a day! I am always answering them! These moments here were when he grabbed the babies and asked me to take pictures of him with them. This kid is a joy, and I hope I can try to remember that even though he doesn't ask for attention, he wants it just as much!

My four little sets of footprints in the snow! They all liked it except Amelia! My barefoot crazies!

T-rex

Apparently, T-rex went tromping through my house. These are his tracks. He stepped on a baby, and it is blood squishing out of her. Yes, I have three boys.

A random moment in the Thomson house

 I know that this coloring on these photos are weird, but I no longer know anything about photo shop. It is crazy to me that I once was a professional photographer! The children have sucked out of my head everything I use to know, and the technology is just plain crazy! My sister has taken some photography classes and was throwing around words I have never even heard of before! Anyway, that was totally random! Her are some pictures of my crazy daughter, being crazy (and not very modest--sorry we were about to get her dressed and she wanted her tutu on . . . well, this is what happened next!)

Crazy little girl! I love every girly girl moment of it!

My Austrian kids

 When my parents were in Austria, they bought this little traditional dress for Amelia. Then she also bought Cooper this fabric and buttons to make him a little authentic shirt. The last time that my parents visited, my mom brought this German hat that belonged to my brother as a child. We attempted a little photo shoot. I need to try again when they might be in a little better mood, but we did get some cute shots!

L--is for the way you look at me!

Valentine's day this year was fun. We had a fun party with the preschool kids. I love all of the valentine exchange and the sugar cookies and just plain celebrating love!

We bubble painted, and then cut out hearts from the bubble paintings and made valentines to take back to our families. The kids loved being able to blow bubbles through the straw. It was a huge hit!

For Josh I put a balloon above the bed for every year that I have know him. We met in 2004 so there were nine balloons. On each one, I put a post-it note with something that I loved from that year. 

Here are my bubble painting valentines. I made one for each of my kids with a fake mustache attached. They had a lot of fun playing with the mustaches for several days.

The whole crew! I love all five of these people with all my heart!

For dinner I made our traditional heart shaped pizza but instead of bread sticks, I made bread hearts instead. 

Josh and I like to do our Valentine's date before or after the actual day. After last year when he took me to Iggy's sports grill and to go see Tron in 3-D, I decided that I was in charge of the Valentine's date this year. We went to an Indian food restaurant (no TVs anywhere), and dancing with karaoke. It was a very nice night :)