Wow! I can't believe how time goes so fast! I haven't been here since June 7th! Wait WHAT!? The rest of our summer was great! Our summer weather didn't go away til middle October! =o It was fun to keep the summer alive, but it was hard to go back to school when the weather was still nice! haha
I started a Nanny Job on August 18th! I have 2 kids, David and Stella and sometimes Sam(when he's not at school!) Hard work, but very fun! The kids are fun to be with! It brings out my own child self! Taylor sometimes says I act like a 9 year old boy! She and my cousin even named me "Tommy."
Taylor started a nanny job as well! She has one little 3 year old girl! She's starting to apply to other places, seeing how the mama's pregnant and Taylor's not going to be doing as many hours! I'm hoping she applies to Dutch Bros! That's about the only coffee place I get coffee at! Either the coffee my Mom makes, or Dutch Bro's coffee! Mmm! Will I get discounted coffee?! Hopefully! I love their White Chocolate Mocha, but I started to switch it up a little bit! I usually get the Dirty Chai now! It's Chai tea, with a shot of coffee in it! Mm.. They don't show it on the menu, so you have to personal ask for it. I never knew about it, until one of the guys working there said they make dirty chai's! The other place she's applying to is Wal-Mart! Nah, just kidding! =)
When our winter weather finally hit, it hit hard! We had snow BEFORE Thanksgiving! And once again, "Wait WHAT!?" We got 7-9 inches of snow DOWN IN THE VALLEY! =O Bogus Basin opened on Thanksgiving day! So crazy! So many people said they've been in Idaho since 80's/90's and they have never seen this kind of weather. Needless to say, we were snowboarding by Taylor's birthday(December 7th)

Christmas. I love Christmas time! When our church brings out the Christmas hymnals, warms my heart! One of my favorite christmas song is "Come All Ye Faithful"

All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee,
Born this happy morning,
O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord. 

Do you ever feel, when you're singing a song, you just are overcome with joy and you feel like you're going to burst? When I sing this song, I feel like I'm going to burst! My heart swells up and I just gotta smile! 

It's been hard for us kids to get all of the other kids presents, so we decided to draw names, and keep it a secret! Do you know how hard that is for kids ages 9 and younger? haha 

It was so fun to see the younger kids' faces! Challis is starting to really understand things, so seeing her face when she got stuff? Cutie. =)

Well, I better stop now before I get carried away! I'm definitely going to get back in this next week and update you all! 

Zach's coming in on Wednesday and, Lord Willing, Grandma and Grandpa Dockter will make it in for the weekend!! =) 

I hope all of you had a great Christmas! Farewell! 

Hey my blogger friends!
I'm back!! =)
awhhh. Sweet, sweet Summer! Idaho has not had very warm June weather! It's been rain. rain. rain! But today, the sun broke through. It was gorgeous today!
Last thursday, some of our family friends from North Dakota came into town so we had a birthday celebration for my dad on Friday! I made a tiramisu layer cake and it was quite delicious if I may say so myself. It must have been a hit with everyone else also since I sold my first cake the next day to some other great family friends! That was a busy day, but a lot of fun! The more and more I spend in the kitchen, the more I want to keep baking and cooking. It's so...I don't know..Wonderful being in the kitchen, baking, knowing that I'm making people happy with my food! Wasn't it said, "The way to people's hearts, is through their stomaches?"
Well anywho, got a little off track. So Dad, mom and our friends left this Sunday for a fishing trip! They will be back Tuesday.
So Taylor and I are home with all of the kids! We were worrying about how it was going to go with Challis and sometimes Jadyn but, actually it's gone quite well! Challis and Jadyn slept through the night and have been great during the day!
We met Alesha at the park today for a picnic! It was so sunny, warm and nice! It was a beautiful day and a wonderful day for the park.
Well, guess what?!?! I figured out how to get pictures on here!!! Actually Taylor figured it out! It is so easy! I can't believe I didn't figure it out earlier. So...yep! You guessed it. I'm going to post pictures. I'm going to post a few pictures of my sweet 16 on the "Sweet 16" post and then just random pictures of our family!
I hope everyone is doing great out there. Enjoying their summers. =)

Romans 11:36- "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

I got my new camera lens just a few weeks ago. It's a 55-200mm sigma lens and I LOVE it so much! This is one of the pictures that I took with it! 

mama and Challis! We all went to the park one day and Challis LOVED it! =)

Nolan got a ripstick for his birthday(May 11th) The day after he got it he was already AMAZING at it! It's crazy how good he's gotten in just a short amount of timeHere's Nolan on his bike! He got it about a month ago and he really enjoys getting out with Dad and going for some rides! Shea loves tennis! She started, I think last month and she really enjoys it!! She's being taught by one of our great friends, Colleen Barrett! If you're interested in doing tennis go to her facebook page(Boise Tennis Academy)
Taylor and I took some tennis lessons from her last summer and LOVED them! I would love to start back up again! Colleen is such a great teacher and I really had fun at the lessons!

Taylor and Dad! Dad got 2 cakes for his birthday this year! =O Taylor made him this butterfinger ice cream cake and then I made him the tiramisu layer cake!

A couple of weeks ago, Mom found a box full of 12-18month clothes for Challis! It had the swimsuit that they got for Taylor and all of us wore it(well except for Nolan!) This tie-dye outfit was in there, also! I think it's been around since Shea! =)

Sweet 16

Hey Bloggers! I know, it's been such a long time. I love having this blog but I never seem to be able to get on here and just write! But, I'm here now!! =)
May has been pretty busy for us!
Let me tell you all about my birthday weekend in Cascade!! We headed out there Thursday(29th of April) but had to make a few stops first! We ran to Albertson's and got some sparkling cider, then to the bank, then to Les Schwab to get new tires!
We got to the cabin around 6-6:30pm, and went in to check it out. Pepper Spray all ready, of course! The cabin is so adorable! Very cute and cozy! We turned the heat on and started bringing all of our stuff in!
Once we got all of it in, we headed into town and got some Subway for dinner.
We got back to the cabin, ate our dinner, and watched a movie!
We didn't do much the first night. We watched a few movies, drank our sparkling cider, laughed, talked, took pictures, and finally, at midnight, did a "cheers" for my birthday!!!
We stayed up and finished our movie, then headed to bed.(the pepper spray sat right on the nightstand by my bed!)
We were planning on sleeping in the next day(my birthday!), but, our plans got changed when 7:50am rolled around and I got a birthday call from Victoria! ha ha! Needless to say, I "ignored" it! ;)
After that, we got up, got ready, and then took off for the day! By the way, we woke up to the snow, so that was pretty awesome! We went to the Pancake House for breakfast. We had heard that if it's your birthday you get a huge cinnamon roll for free! It was delicious and HUGE!
After breakfast, we went to a few thrift stores. It was a lot of fun, just walking around McCall shopping with the locals! Once we had gone to a couple stores, we headed to a little "beach" by the lake and took pictures. The view is gorgeous!
All day I had been looking around for a few candles so we could have a candlelit dinner, but to no avail! Finally, at the last thrift store we found some!!!
We shopped around for a little bit, then headed back to our little cabin! We watched another movie(man, we're watching a lot of movies this weekend!) then Taylor made a delicious birthday dinner, which we ate by candlelight!
After dinner, we cleaned up, then started another movie. A little ways into the movie we decided we should go get some ice cream! We went and got some birthday cake ice-cream. Once we got back to the cabin, Taylor tried to find some birthday candles but could not find any! We decided to hurry and stick a match in there! ha ha! =)
Saturday morning, I got up and made breakfast. I made french toast but with cinnamon swirl bread! mm mm mm good!
Once we were ready, we headed up to Brundage Resort where we met Hudson to snowboard with! Brundage got a lot more snow so they opened the resort up for a bonus day! The snow was AMAZING! Powder everywhere! I took a few nasty falls because of it but it was definitely worth it.
We went in, got some lunch, then went back out for a couple more hours.
We took off around 3-3:30(they closed at 4:30pm)
Taylor and I headed back to the cabin and Hud headed back to his hotel. Taylor and I both showered and got ready and a couple hours later met Hudson for dinner. It was very yummy!
We were planning on heading back home after Brundage but talked with our parents and got to stay another night!
Sunday morning, once we were ready, we went outside for a walk and took pictures! We headed back to Boise around 2:30. We were excited to get home, but still were definitely going to miss the little cabin!

Well there you go! That was my amazing "Sweet 16" weekend! I hope you enjoyed reading this!
Well this will probably be all for now but I will hopefully be back within this week to write more about our month of May!

Isaiah 41:10- "So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Here's my cinnamon roll! It was SO good! It was so huge we pretty much took almost the whole thing back with us! haha

Well hello all you bloggers out there! I know. I know, I haven't written anything for awhile. This household has been bussayy! =)  
The past couple weeks I've been putting together a sleepover/surprise party for one of my best friends. Victoria! We did a lock-in at our church and had two wonderful chaperones! It turned out really neat! I've never got to plan anything like that, so that was lots of fun! It was a little stressful at times trying to make sure it stayed a secret and a little tiring, but if I had another opportunity, I would, whole-heartedly, do it again, in a heart beat!  
Challis has been growing like a weed! She just turned 9 months on the 20th of April! Crazy, huh? I know! Just over the last couple weeks, she's figured out how to climb the stairs, no, wait, she's been army crawling but has figured out how to do the actual crawl, then go into a sitting position, hang on!, also, she started pulling herself up on things. Alright, now you can let it out, *gasp!* I know, right? She also, maybe it's wishful thinking on their part, says, "mamamama," "dadadadadada," and "taytaytaytaytay!" She's very ticklish, she loves to laugh, smile and be around her siblings! She's definitely brought a lot of joy into our lives!  
Just this past Monday, it seemed like any other ordinary day. When 3pm rolled around and Nolan comes barging through the garage door yelling, "Grandpa and Grandma Thomas are here!!" No one believed him. We were all saying yeah right! Go back outside(ha ha) He was pretty adamant so mom decided to check it out! Sure enougt, there they were, standing in our garage, talking with my dad! =O Apparently my dad's known for some time now, but hasn't said a WORD to any of us! It was a very nice surprise! They stayed for a few days at our house, and then at Kris's. Jadyn's 3rd birthday was last Wednesday, 14th! It was fun having Grandma and Grandpa here for her birthday! For her birthday party, which was Friday, 16th, we got a princess castle jump house! All the kids LOVED it so much. They were in it the majority of the day! She wasn't very happy when the guy came to take it back the next day! She said it was hers! uh oh! She's the little spitfire in our family! She can be naughty sometimes and just crack you up the other times! =) Grandma and Grandpa just left this past Saturday. =( We had a great 2 weeks with them!! We were all really sad to say goodbye but we're also really excited to see them at the end of June for our family reunion in South Dakota!!  
Well, we haven't done too much since they've left! Just starting getting back into the schedule and getting ready for summer! Just this Sunday, my best friend, Victoria, and her sister and my sister, Zabrina and Taylor took me out for my birthday! They planned a scavenger hunt of things I had to do to get my "presents." Like singing my order at Tully's Coffee Shop and clucking like a chicken all through the "Lollistop" Shop while they got me my lollipop! I got the weirdest looks! ha ha! I had to do a couple more things and then we finished the day off at Idaho Pizza Company..mmm! It was an amazing birthday present! I will always remember it!! My birthday is this Friday and my family haven't said much about what they're going to do. I started getting a little sad, since it will be my "sweet 16" until Taylor told me she has something planned! I've known she had a surprise for me for a couple of weeks now but she would NOT tell me! It was killing me! She finally told me this morning! One of my dad's friends has a cabin up in McCall and... Taylor and I are going there from Thursday through Saturday!!! I'm way excited! It's going to be awesome! Also, the pancake house that is in McCall has HUGE cinnamon rolls and they give you a free one if it's your birthday! Guess what we're doing on Friday?? =) I will definitely let you all know how it went when we get home, hopefully post some pictures, too!  
Well, that's it for now! I hope you all enjoyed my second post! I'm having so much fun with this!...Oh! Don't leave! You're still here right? Okay, good! I want to do a verse of the day when I do my post so I'm going to start right now! Hebrews 11:1-"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see"

First post!!

Well, Hello! We're the Thomas Family!
Let me tell you a little about the making of our family!

John and Patricia both grew up in North Dakota. They met in 9th grade at Sawyer High School, and it so begins!
They dated throughout their high school years!
After high school, John started attending NDSU(North Dakota State University) to get a degree in pharmacy!
Patty wasn't sure what to do after high school in the area of college so she decided to join the military. (Army National Guard)
In 1988 she went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for Basic Training. Right after, she went to AIT(Advanced Individual Training) in Fort Lee, Virginia!
In 1989 she came back home and went to college. One weekend a month she spent training with the National Guard.
In September of 1990 she was called to war in Desert Shield/Desert Storm and was deployed to Saudi Arabia. Right before she was called, John proposed!
War broke out on January 16, 1991.(read all about it here:  http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2020.html)
She was able to head back home in March of '91.
John and Patricia were married on June 21, 1991!!
They went to Myrtle Beach for their honeymoon. John's family was having a family reunion in Kentucky, so they headed there after their honeymoon! After the reunion, they headed back to North Dakota and made their home comfortably in Fargo, North Dakota.
On December 7, 1992 their firstborn, Taylor Brooke was born!
Shortly after(16 months to be exact) their second child, Tori Amidon was born on April 30, 1994.
In May of 1996 John graduated from NDSU!! Right after he graduated, the four of us packed up and moved to Boise where John started a one year residency on July 1st!
After his residency, in 1997, John got a job as a pharmacist at Saint Alphonsus.
In the summer of 1998, we moved into our new and current house!
On June 16, 1999, Shea Elizabeth was born!
On May 11, 2001, Nolan Michael was born!
Patty homeschooled Taylor until 2nd grade, then sent her to Joplin Elementary School. Tori stayed home for one more year, then for her second year she followed Taylor. They stayed there for another year, then Patty took them out and started homeschooling again!
On February 13, 2004, Samantha Rae was born!
Then, on April 14, 2007, Jadyn Marie was born!
And finally... On July 20, 2009, Challis Kristine was born!
Now, we're up to the present!
One more very important thing you need to know about us is that we are Reformed Christians. We believe that God has paid for all of our sins through His precious Son, Jesus Christ and without Him, we are hopeless! There is NOTHING we can do to save ourselves! Also, that "Not even a hair can fall from my head without the will of My Heavenly Father."(Heidelberg Catechism Q. & A. 1) Meaning, God has predestined us and is all knowing.

Well, here's the first post! I hope you've enjoyed this and I hope you come back to read(and look at all our pictures) to learn more about our beautiful, amazing, wonderful, blessed, and sometimes crazy life! =)