Reggae brought me peace.

One cold March day in 2011 my little boy had to have surgery. It was a minor routine surgery. Nothing to a mom is minor or routine. Especially the first time one of your children has to go under the knife. I reached out to some friends who have medically fragile children for tips, hints, and just something that would help me get through this experience.

That morning I remember walking into Primary Children's Hospital. As I walked in, the line from a song came to my mind. "Don't worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright." With the phrase came an immense peace. I am sure that I had heard the song a few times before, but it wasn't a song on my playlist. The phrase played over and over all day. (Crazy fact: a song stuck in your head like that is called an earworm--don't believe me? Look it up!)

The night before Josh had given Cooper a *Priesthood blessing. After that blessing, he gave me one too. He blessed me that I would be calm and have peace. That calm and peace came with the one phrase from this song.

The next day I looked it up--the song is called, Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. I am not opposed to Bob, but not something that I routinely listen to. I was so thankful that this  reggae song could bring me such peace.

I was sitting here editing photos and the song came on. It is now downloaded into my favorites playlist. I am still so thankful for the day Reggae answered my prayers and brought me peace and comfort. I thought I would share! (Now if only the song would bring me peace about our current government situation.)

Summer highlights

I really didn't take a lot of pictures this summer. As I am sitting here on a snowy day, I am wishing I had more. No worries though, I am AZ bound in less than a week! I get to relive some summer before putting it completely away for the season. Here are some of the previously un-posted highlights (besides our trip to CO that I still need to finish editing pictures!)

 Turner enjoyed playing a season of soccer. I decided that I wasn't a very good soccer mom. I really would get upset over stupid things and I hated my Saturdays being dedicated to whenever Turner's game was. But my view on organized kids sports is another topic for another day. they sure were cute out there!

 Dedicated family always watching! Max decided that it wasn't for him though. So funny!

 Summer seems to be one big marthon sometimes. But we did get a little bit of time to stop and at least look at the flowers!

 The kids tried to eat a chocolate cupcake at the company picnic. The heat was more than those little cupcakes could handle. Cooper didn't seem to mind, just those of us that had to clean him up!

 Our yard has been one big dirt pile this summer. Our kids have been in heaven!

 Cooper was just copying the things he saw us adults doing (for a long long time!)

 But it was so worth it when our garden was in full bloom! I will be posting more pictures of our fun garden. It for sure was such a fun part of our summer. 

 Just hanging out with my kiddos is the best part of my life!

 Cooper and Amelia are getting into EVERYTHING! I really should check on them more often when I can't hear them. Can you tell they got busted on this one by their dad (they are much more afraid of him than me!)

 We love our tradition of going to the drive-in at least once a summer. This year was to see planes. It was cute. I would have enjoyed it more if a huge truck didn't park right in front of us. We go every year yet always forget that we need to get there earlier!

Waiting for it to get dark at the drive in was a very pretty!

The neighborhood kids!

 We weren't the only ones in the neighborhood that did some major yard work this summer. 

 Mustache mania at the Thomson household. I love having late church. We get a chance to just hang out with each other as a whole family that we really don't get any other day of the week.

 Turner was just leaning over my shoulder as I worked on this post. He said, "I miss those summer days." The heater kicked on simultaneously and I thought, "So do I son, so do I!"

First day of school!

Because I homeschool, I often miss the little traditions that I had as a kid surrounding the first day of school. We would have *Father's blessings the night before school. We always had new clothes and we would pick our favorite new outfit to wear that first day back. And we always took first day of school pictures. As a homeschooler, there is usually a start of the new school year. I will often try to ease into it. We tried to implement my old-traditions but it was really like putting a round peg in a square hole--it just didn't seem to fit quite right. This year we decided to do a homeschool program called Harmony. They support Homeschooling families by offering several different programs. The program we chose is called options day. Turner goes and takes electives one day a week while Max stays in one classroom, with one teacher. It is so fun for them, and a great break for me. Turner is taking awesome classes like Lego Robotics, Fun in the outdoors, Piano, Pottery, Around the world in 80 days and science. They love it. I loved doing my old traditions!

Turner sometimes has a hard time with new things. It was hard to even get a pretend smile out of him before school. I wish I would have had my camera ready after school because that is when his big-true smiles were abundant.

Amelia and Cooper didn't want to be left out. They were going to my friend's house and they wanted to take their back pack--just like the big boys. They are so cute!

Turner didn't want me taking pictures at school so he let me take this picture around the corner of the front door. He didn't want me to hug and kiss him either. I respected his wishes for a few weeks before I mandated that if he wasn't going to kiss me in front of his friends, that he better do it before he got out of the car!

This is Max's little class and adorable teacher. I love her! Her name is "Miss B" but somehow the twins have taken to calling her "Miss Piggy" I have no idea why!

So finally Turner relaxed a little and let me take a picture of him in his first class. This is one of his best buddies!

This is the Lego Robotic's teacher aide. His tie is pretty rad!

I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of all of the bureaucracy that comes with using a public program. The people are amazing to work with though and they try to make it as easy as possible. I do love the little co-op that a couple of my friends and I are doing. We all read the same book to all of our families and then get together and do some activities that surround the topic! So fun--I will have to write more about that later!