Happy New Year 2010

Happy 2010!

We got together with our dear friends Mike and Sue. This has been our tradition of our families getting together to bring in the New Year for years (at least every year that we are in GA). Now since the kids are older they have their own parties to go to. Our two children made it back in time to toast sparkling apple cider with us at midnight. Another one of our traditions is playing cards~the game Frustration~and Mike ALWAYS wins.....I think I won once in the last 10+years....so it was a HUGE deal when I won on New Years Eve!! So huge that we had to take pictures of the scorecard and I had to rub it in his face (literally).....Mikey was such a good sport about it and let me enjoy my "moment".....We had fireworks right after the ball dropped and our toast.....None of the pictures of the fireworks up in the air came out, so I just have a few of the sparklers and shooting them off. The picture of Sue with her sparkler, she is on the phone wishing her daughters at college a Happy New Year. It was a fun fun night and so thankful to bring it in with our children and our best friends~Mike and Sue!

Remembering Grandma and Grandpa Echols

While we were in Enterprise Alabama visiting Uncle Sonny, we also went to visit Scott's parents gravesite. We hadn't been over there in quite a while. We took a wreath to place on their grave. They were killed in a plane crash when Scott was 11 years old. They have been greatly missed by him and his sisters. My children have also missed having them as Grandparents. We are so thankful and feel blessed that we will see them one day. Families Are Forever......

Uncle Sonny

We went to Enterprise, Alabama on December 30th to visit Scott's Uncle Sonny and Aunt Maggie. He is Scott's Mom's brother. He was diagnosed last year with Progressive SuperNuclear Palsy. This is a very rare disease that is somewhat similar to Parkinson's Disease but it is very progressive. There is no cure nor much that is really known about the disease. He seemed to know us or at least light up at our visit. I think at times we could see glimpses of the Uncle Sonny we used to know. This is a man who has always been very physically active and the hardest worker you will ever meet. He was a helicopter fighter pilot in the Army, he worked for NATO and wrote training manuals for future fighter pilots. He loved to play tennis, jog and stay busy. He kept the most beautiful, manicured lawn you would ever see, and grew the most magnificient roses that had to be the prettiest I have ever seen. He volunteered in the community as the head of the hurricane disaster relief program. He also gave of his time growing roses and landscaping at several areas throughout town adding to the beauty of the streets and Visitors Center. He served in his church "The Church of Christ" and has always been an example to everyone. He has always been willing to help anyone that he could. It was sad to see him physically held back by this disease, but his personality still shone through. He sang for us and we loved seeing him smile. He is very lucky to have Aunt Maggie take care of him. She goes to the Nursing Home promptly around 7am each morning and stays all day. It is very evident the love she has for him and also his love for her. She ensures that all of the wonderful staff are taking good care of him. That nursing home has to be the cleanest, nicest one we have ever been to. That is something to be thankful for. We really enjoyed spending the night with Aunt Maggie and visiting with her and with Uncle Sonny. The next morning we also went to visit Scott's parents gravesite. It was a wonderful trip....we love you Uncle Sonny and Aunt Maggie!

Christmas Day

At home for Christmas Day.....a great way to spend it with family! We made Christmas goodies, my famous red velvet cake, lemon meringue pies, brownies, cookies and Morgan made gingerbread cookies. We worked on our Gingerbread house too.....it turned out okay~at least we had fun decorating it! We didn't make our fudge this year, it seems we just ran out of time. Scott made a huge turkey that was delicious (even though it took forever for it to cook!) and we had our traditional Christmas lunch. My parents and Randy and his family came over. I loved having them and so thankful they were close by. I feel really blessed that we got to spend a lot of time over the holidays with them. We enjoyed a lazy morning of opening gifts and taking pictures in our Christmas pajamas. Everybody liked theirs and it was cute to be matching and the guys didn't complain......a Christmas miracle!! lolol

Thompson Family Christmas 2009

My family got together on Dec. 19th this year at my brother Randy's house to celebrate Christmas. It's been a few years since we've had everyone here and it was great to have us all together. I had to work until 7pm so I got there a little late and came in my scrubs.....after seeing how tired I look in the pictures, I probably should have changed clothes and freshened up a bit~but oh well, I didn't want to miss out on the festivities. We had lots of good food, and fun catching up on each others lives. We also exchanged gifts with my parents. My Mom still carries on the tradition of giving each of my siblings and me "Turtles" candy. That is something she has been giving us ever since I can remember, our favorite candy at Christmas. They also give us quite a few $ to have fun with. The grandchildren were so excited that they each got $50 bills, they quickly discarded the gifts with it and went around showing off their money~they were rich! and was already planning how to spend it! We took lots of pictures and I have put together a scrapbook to have printed for each family to remember our celebration this year. As the years go by, these family get togethers become more important to each of us.

Christmas EVE

On Christmas Eve we went over to Randy and Lori's to eat dinner with them. Lori's brother and parents, my parents and my family were there. We had a nice quiet evening remembering our Saviors Birth. We watched a devotional on BYU TV that was narrated by Walter Cronkite and music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was a lovely peaceful evening that got us into the true spirit of Christmas.

Phoenix AZ Trip

School this semester has been very busy and tough.....so I couldn't wait for finals to be over. When the opportunity came for me to take a trip out to Phoenix to visit Britt, I was so excited! I left the weekend after finishing finals and came back the next weekend before Christmas. It was a quick trip, but filled with fun and relaxation from school and work. The evening I left was a very foggy, rainy day and my plane was delayed over 2 hours due to the weather. It was tiring for me, and late for Britt to pick me up, but her sweet Dad came with her to get me. Her son Cody was a sweetheart and gave up his room for the week and also stocked his small fridge with my favorite drinks~Diet Dr. Pepper~I felt very welcome, comfortable and right at home! I loved meeting her kids and family~they all welcomed me into their home. We did some digital scrapbooking~Britt helped me learn lots of new things......We went to the Mesa Temple Lights on Monday evening. It was beautiful to see all the lights and the nativities from around the world that was in the visitor's center. There were also outdoor Nativities that were just incredible, the pool of water was beautiful with the way the lights hit it and a choir also performed Christmas music. I loved the 3 Wise Men and the camels.

The next day, we had lunch with several of the "Chicks" at the best taco place ever! I will definitely want to go back to El Ricos on my next trip. It was great to be with all the ladies again, they are just awesome! Then we went to get pedicures and I still have my snowflakes on my toes~they are so cute! Britt and I had lots of fun Christmas shopping, we went to a local boutique where I found Morgan some great jewelry and a purse for Christmas. One afternoon, we met Monica at Deseret Book and then went for yogurt at her favorite yogurt place~yummy!

One night, we went to a "Rockin Christmas Concert" with the Wilson's, Britt's parents and her brother and his wife. They are all lots of fun and I loved going with them. We had fun dancing along and getting into the Christmas spirit. Alan (Deneen's husband) wore his Dr. Suess Christmas hat with Christmas lights on it.....he was so funny and kept me laughing all night. He took us to the most awesome pizza place that had the best White Sauce pizza I have ever eaten! The owners are from New York and they definitely know how to do pizza.

On my last night there, several ladies from the cruise stopped by to see me. I got to see Suzy and Mercedes! Amy and Monica came by also and Deneen lives right across the street (so I was lucky and got to see her each day!) It was like being back on the cruise.....I loved that they all lived so close and were able to stop by! Such fun and amazing ladies!! I wish they all lived close to me......I would want to play and visit with them all the time!

My last morning we went out to take pictures with a Saguaro Cactus, I couldn't leave AZ without a famous picture with a cactus! We also stopped by her parents house to tell them goodbye~they are wonderful, it was great to finally meet her Mom. It was a wonderful week! Thanks Britt and your family for hosting me! Ya'll are AWESOME!