Update!

It's been a busy week!

Monday



Camen and his friend Brodie started a week at the BYU All Sports Camp. They had a great time playing soccer, tennis, gymnastics, football, baseball and basketball. The highlight was the endless supply of food (aka junk) in the all-you-can-eat cafeteria. He ate doughnuts, sugar cereal, jello, cake, root beer and ice cream! (No worries though, it's not difficult for a seven-year-old boy to eat like that and then head back into the heat to play for a couple more hours.) He listened closely to Bronco Mendenhall and BYU atheletes like Jonathan Tavernari.

Tuesday




Notice the top tooth that has drifted to the center of his mouth and is barely even attached. Camen has had the good fortune of having all of his other loose teeth literally fall out. However, this one was just hanging on for dear life and he refused to let anyone help him. I spent days encouraging him to pull, tug and twist it, but this little stubborn tooth was not cooperating. I couldn't stand it any longer and with the fairly good excuse that it was too dangerous to play tennis with a dangling tooth, I resorted to putting Camen in a loving headlock and pulling it out. It was only momentarily traumatic and I'm certain that I prevented him from making a trip to the Primary Children's Hospital to have it removed from his lung. :)

Wednesday



We went to Seven Peaks Water Park with Thomson cousins! (That is Naomi, Savannah and I went to the water park. I left Mason with a babysitter, Camen was at camp, and Russ was at work. It's the only way it could have worked for me, until we have more confident swimmers or more helping hands two kids about all I can handle.) Savannah and Naomi loved the slides, the wave pool and the lazy river! My cousin Keltie is six years old and she did a great job of teaching the girls how to float face down in the pool. We are going to have to get them together more often, it's too bad they live 800 miles away!

Thursday



We hosted a "Birthday Barbeque" for Roxanne and Leticia. They have been friends for a long time and they were both born on August 7th! This year Leticia and her husband Ben flew in from Virginia for a nice vacation and birthday celebration. We knew Leticia's family in Colorado and then we both lived on Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. For two years we drove to early morning seminary together and Leticia and I ran cross country for Randolph High. Old friends are the best!


Friday




Russ continues reading "The Chronicles of Narnia" to the kids. (I think it's very nice to have activities and traditions that are just for dad and the kids.) That day we also did a little shopping for school and Naomi went to the doctor for her final shot before kindergarten.

Saturday



We hiked to Stewart Falls with Russ' parents, Ben, Becky and Addy. It's a popular hike that is between 3.5 to 4 miles long and approximately runs between Sundance and the base of Mount Timpanogos. There's plenty of traffic on the trail, so much that we ran into Ben Skinner (a friend from our mission), Russ' coworker, and teenager from our neighborhood. I've hiked this at least twice before and remember it being a very easy "kid friendly" hike, after all, half the hikers are under the age of nine. It wasn't until I hiked it with four kids of my own that I learned it might be kid friendly but not necessarily parent friendly. Two hours is a long time hike when you are three or under, then you get to the Stewart Falls and need to turn around and hike back. It was an adventure! Mason was certainly the most content of all of us. He sat peacefully in the backpack enjoying the view and had a couple naps along the way.

Thomson Family Reunion

July 31 - August 3rd

The Thomson Clan gathered in Utah for the "Every-Few-Years Family Reunion". The descendants of my grandparents, Rulon and Marguerite Thomson, came from as far south as Phoenix, Arizona and as far north as Alberta, Canada. Grandma and Grandpa Thomson had five children and today their posterity includes 24 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren. My Grandpa passed away in 1980 and my Grandma followed in 1993. We miss them and for us it is a joy to be together and to honor them and the good lives they lived.


At the reunion we also welcomed my Great Aunt Norma, some of her kids and grandkids, and some honorary "adopted family members". We had so much fun camping, playing, swimming, eating, listening to stories, and just being together!

That weekend we attended church and during the Sunday School lesson the teacher covered the scripture Alma 37:6 where it says, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." I had been thinking about this throughout the reunion. My grandparents didn't do anything that was particularly worthy of the world's acclaim, but they did raise a great family that continues generation after generation. While discussing this with my uncle I learned that they were also humble members of their own local congregation. Uncle Larry said, "The entire time I knew [Rulon Thomson] he was a greeter at the church, never a bishop or a stake president, just a greeter. But, look at what they left."

They did the simple things, they prayed, they taught their children from the scriptures and they built their family foundation upon the rock of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There was love in their home. The served others and taught their children by example.

Through small acts they left a happy and loving posterity that continues in the same tradition. All of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are active in the church, and even though we are far from perfect we are all trying to follow the perfect example of our Savior.

I love being with my extended family! For me, it's a huge blessing to be surrounded by so many people that I love and admire. I am strengthened by their faith and I recognize the lasting influence of a good mother and a good father doing the small and simple things.