Called To Serve

It takes great Faith for a young man or woman to leave their home and their family to spent time in the service of our Heavenly Father

It takes even more Faith for a grandma and grandpa to leave their
15 grandchildren +
5 sons
2 daughters
2 son-in-laws
4 daughter-in-laws
brothers
sisters
mother
and numerous friends
to spend 18 months in the service of their Heavenly Father in a third-world country.

My parents got their mission call today... they have been called to serve in the

Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission

for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Why are they doing this... because they love their children and grandchildren so much and they know that their family will be blessed for their service.

I am so humbled by the spirit that they convey and their willingness to serve not only their Heavenly Father, but me and my family.

Mom and Dad, thank you so much We love you and are so excited to embark on this mission with you!

Halloween Week

I haved decided that Halloween is one of those holidays that can last a week. There was something halloweenish going on every day this past week, but it was a lot of fun. Here is a snapshot of what we did. On Thrusday It was Tom's birthday. We also had a ward party that evening and eveyone there sang to Tom and he didn't even blush to much, he was such a good sport about it. Happy Birthday Tom we love you so much!


On Tuesday Emma had crazy hair day at school for red ribbon week. This is the hair do she choose. It is sprayed orange and sparkly. I just love her face in the first picture it fits the hair perfectly.


Happy Halloween. This was actually Halloween evening right before trik-or-treating. With Halloween on Saturday the kids had to wait all day to out but they came home with plenty of loot. Madison told me hers was going to last until next Halloween...we shall see.


I was able to help at all of the kids school parties. At Emmas party we play don't eat pete. bingo. read a story. and had cookies. It was kind of crazy with all of those kindergarteners in costume, but it was a good time. In Madison's class we made a special witches brew and also played game and made crafts and had treats. It is so fun to go and be a part of the kids classes just for a little while.

These pictures are from C.J.'s class parade. He is such a cheese ball when you pull out the camera. He had a great time and was tellimg everyone that he was a nice skeleton-pirate (the only way we could get him to wear the costume was to tell him that it was a nice costume, but my the end of the week he was trying to scare everyone by saying argh and holding up his finger like a hook) such a funny boy. It was a fun week... bring on the next holiday.

October Tradition

The next few months are full of tradition for our family. Here are just a few of the things that we have done this month so far. Last night for FHE we carved our pumpkins as you can see from the pictures C.J. liked his as more of a jig saw puzzle than anything. Emma loved eating the inside of her pumpkin while Madison just tolorated it and C.J. wouldn't even touch the squishy stuff.



Emma has learned to ride her bike without training wheels and is very proud of herself. We knew that she could do it for a long time, you know when they can ride their bike and the training wheels don't even touch the ground, she just needed to find the confidence in herself. Now she is awesome at it. Now she has decided that she would like a bigger bike for Christmas specifically a Horse bike....Santa might need some hlep with that one.

Last saturday the kids had theri annual leaf party at grandma and grandpa Thalmans house. It was the perfect day for it and the leaf pile was huge. Grandpa also got the motorcycle and four-wheeler out so the kids could go around and around in the backyard it was a fun time.

Our family also took a trip to the pumpkin patch all of us found pumpkins that were "simply perfect" as Emma would say. We rode on the tractor and also the train. It was a fun time for all of us. Now if we can just survive this next week of Halloween parties, parades, recitals, and Toms Birthday we will be doing great! Happy Fall

Fun Fall Pictures

So the kids are out of school for fall break for the next two days so I decided that I wanted to take some pictues of them, they were less than excited about it, but with the bribe of a trip to the dollar store they put on their smiles and we were off. It was only about 50 degrees out but they toughed it out and the results are worth it!

Gooseberry and It's a hard Knock life

Well, we sruvived Goosebery. Madison and I spent two days in Goosebery learning about wildlife, preventing forest fires, and learning how to use a compass, well Madsion learned, I have never been able to figure those out. Tom came up for dinner on Thursday night and then Annie Bangs made her appearance, after a few tears and a long night in a cabin we made it home. We had a great time. It was one of those full circle moments for meI went to Gossebery as a 3rd grader, and now my daughter has been. good times!



Madison danced at a JV football game with her summer dance group. The dance was so much fun and the girls just love performing it. They danced to a Hard Knock Life from Annie. All of the girls were dressed like orphans and they did an awesome job.
The top pictures is of Madison and three of her cousins that were in her dance class. These four girls always have so much fun together no matter what they are doing.

Back to school

Madison started 3rd grade last wednsday. She has been having a great time. When my mom asked her if she had a friend in her class she said "No, I have lots of them". She was so exctied to go back to school and has been constantly talking about going to Gooseberry next month and has been singing songs about Annie Bangs. What a fun time for her, but am I really that I can remember in detail my experience at Gooseberry.




Emma was so excited to start on Monday! She met some new friends and even rode the bus home (I went to pick her up from school and she started to cry becasue she wanted to ride the bus home) She has ridden the bus to and from school every day since. In her class there are only 7or8 girs and the rest of the 24 are boys...good luck to her teacher.






C.J. went to his first day of pre-school today. He was a little unsure if he wanted to stay when I droped him off, and I have to say the I wasn't sure if I could leave him, but he had a great day and can't wait to go back tomorrow.

After taking C.J. to pre-school I had 2 hours and 15 minutes to myself it felt really wierd, I didn't know what to do, so I shed a few tears and started cleaning, I am not sure if I am going to like this. The house seemed so quiet, but I am sure I will get used to it. I sure was glad to go and pick him up.

August so far..

So far August has been pretty busy, and I know that it will get even more crazy with school starting this Wednsday. We are trying to squeze every drop of fun out of our summer. This past weekend we were able to go to a Conder family reunion (Toms moms family). We went and stayed at a girls camp in Heber City that is owned by the church. It was such a neat place to vist. I am always blown away to see how many different properties the church owns. Each family had their own cabin to stay in. The one drawback was that none of the bunkbeds had pads on them so we spent the night sleeping on a sheet of plywood, so Tom and I didn't sleep at all, but it surly didn't bother the kids. There was a lake at the camp so we got to go out in a canoe and paddle aroud it the kids loved it and the canoe was pretty steady. There was a sand box on the beach that the kids loved to play in. On saturday we were suppose to do a challenge couse but due to the rain we spent the day playing bingo with m&ms. We also played the newleywed game and I am proud to say that we tied for 1st place! If we had only know the color of eachothers toothburshes we would have had it. It was a good time, and Madison found a friend in Toms cousin Amy. When she found out that Amy was Toms cousin not hers we as shocked. It was great to see people that we only see every few years.


We went to the county fair! It was fun to see all of the animals. There was even a bear show with huge black bears. The kids got the pet some of the animals and watch some noisy pigs fight. They also got to learn how to be a farmer by picking apples, gathering eggs, and digging up potatoes. There were also animals there from the local animal shelter and the kids were sure that we needed a new puppy, I was able to talk them out of it, but just barely.



Madison got her ears pierced! She has been begging for about a year and we decided that when she turned 8 she could get them done, so she has been 8 for a few months and she talked us into it. She choose emerald earings because they are her birthstone. She didn't even wince she was very brave and it very good at taking care of her ears. I am still in shock that she is 8!