A Baptism and A Blessing!

Oh My! Surely these are two of the most handsome guys your've ever seen. Cute Seth was baptized on Saturday June 21, 2008. Uncle Kaleb and Uncle Nephi both spoke at his baptism and all his cousins and Grammy Redd sang special songs. It was a great spirit filled service that was attended by angels. Right after his confirmation we handed our cute little Kai into the blessing circle and he received his name and a blessing. According to reports he just looked up at his dad and smiled the whole time. He surely is an angel. Most of the "Redds" were there as we were in the middle of a family reunion, and most of the Thompson's were able to come. Loved having all of that family there. Seth waited a month to be baptized because he wanted to be baptized in Utah where Brig and Katry had been baptized. I am so glad that it worked out so well. We had a big pasta bar dinner with everyone before the baptism and brownies and ice cream after. It was a lovely day and I felt as if I was an eight ounce cup that had gallons of joy being poured into and I just couldn't contain all the happiness I felt.

Cross Country Pitt Stop #2- Nauvoo

We love Nauvoo! Since its our favorite place in the Midwest, we just had to brave the rising flood waters to visit it one more time. This year we went on a mile long handcart trek. It was definitely not a walk in the park. We pushed and pulled while the wheels creaked as we rolled along. Creak, creak, creak, creak was our song. I really appreciated the fact that it wasn't a lovely stroll. We pulled it up steep climbs and and held it back from rolling down bouncy, bumpy drop offs. We even pushed through three stream beds. Of course our only cargo was our precious little fellows, so it was much easier than if it was loaded down with all of our earthly posessions. We read little vignettes of journals from pioneers along the trail. It was very touching. I am so glad that we had that experience. The kids favorite stop in Nauvoo is the Pioneer Pastimes. They have loads of pioneer games for the kids to try their hands at. The kids and I mastered the game of fox and geese. We walked on stilts, threw hoops, raced up ropes and tons of other fun things. The Nauvoo band came by and we danced and marched to their patriotic beat. It was delightful. The high light of the trip is a night at Sunset on the Mississippi. It is where all the young and elderly missionaries entertain us with skits and music. It is always a hoot.

Cute little pioneers!

Cross Country Pitt Stop #1- St. Louis

We pulled out of E-town on the morning of the 14th. We drove four hours to St. Louis and went right to the science center. A big thanks to all the residents of Missouri for a nice big, free center. We also visited the St. Louis Zoo. I don't seem to have any pictures of the day- but we loved it, especially cooling off in the nice super refrigerated penguin exhibition.

Westward Ho!

Pioneer Handcart






On June 14, 2008 we headed out from our fabulous home in Kentucky. Of course I had to cry as I walked through each empty room and remembered great memories in each one. Packing up the home was a memory best left in the past. Actually it wasn't that bad- just very time consuming, and I didn't have to do anything but watch and then clean up when it was all over. Brig spent the entire week at Scout camp, and our amazing friends the Chadwicks took the "middlers" during the day. That was such a blessing. We spent the week saying teary goodbyes to all our friends. We are grateful for our good friends and everything associated with our "Old Kentucky Home", thats a song for those of you that don't know. :)

Modern Handcart

Look Who's Smiling

Love this little Smiler. He is our Cutie Kai!

An Interview with Birthday Boy!

How old are you now Kaleb? Four
What is great about being four? I can ride a bigger bike
What is your favorite food? sausage and cheese pizza
What is your favorite song? I Am A Child of God
What do you like to do? Play some games, like Go Fish, play with baby, Mumry (memory) Game, wrestle with Dad, read books, read scriptures, I like to brush teeth, and I like to say prayers, and I like to go to bed.
What is your favorite dessert? pie and ice cream, root beer floats
What is your favorite scripture story? Nephi and the boat
What is your favorite present? the big bike, my scooter from christmas, from santa claus give me that, I like the three year old bike too
What is your favorite color? yellow and light blue, and dark blue
What is your favorite thing to do with your family? play soccer on the grass with goals
Four Words to Describe Kaleb
1. Hilarious
2. Cute
3. Kaleb says "Wild"
4. Whiney and "Fiesky" another Kaleb word
A conversation with Kaleb:
One night, shortly after Kai was born I was feeding him on the couch with the other kids around me. I was still quite sore and so I had to bite my finger while grimacing at the pain. Kaleb looked at me with a very concerned expression and said, "Mom...is he eating you?" We had a good chuckle over that.
We love you Kaleb!

Holiday World & Splashin' Safari

For our last Hurrah in Kentuckiana we visited this great park. It was very clean and with free soft drinks the kids were in heaven. We had a great time and loved the rides and water slides. I am afraid that I am an amusement park junky. I love them! Good times!