Cheeto Cheeks

One thing I've learned during our many years of marriage is to never take my husband shopping with me. We end up spending far more money when he goes than if I were to go by myself. Also, I've learned that for some reason men always think bigger is better

For example, the other day we used a one-day pass to shop at Sam's Club. Glen couldn't control himself and kept throwing things into the shopping cart. His eyes lit up when he saw a HUGE barrel of Cheese Balls. A small bag of them would have been more than plenty, but having the "men mentality", he thought if some would be good, then more would be better.

He put the massive, 35-servings-worth of cheese balls container into the cart claiming he was buying them because Brooke would love them.


Sure enough, Brooke did love the cheese balls. She loved to carry around the container that is almost as big as she is. When it came down to the actual eating of the cheese balls...she wasn't quite the fan of them that Glen had hoped she would be.


Some people in the family got the brilliant idea to see who could stuff the most cheese balls into their mouths. And the winner is...???


Let's just say that after being introduced to the new cheese ball treat, Brooke decided she'd stick with the original Grandpa treat of popcorn--her favorite!!!

A Big Day For Ben

April 15th was a big day in the Thomas family and it wasn't because it was tax day. It was the day Benjamin Malan Thomas got his mission call.

Our mail carrier so kindly delivered it that morning--instead of the usual after 5 p.m. delivery--so that we could get down to Provo in good time to hand it over to our son. He got his first glimpse of it in the parking lot of Olive Garden where the family met up for dinner.


Sarah was on call that day to be ready to jump in her car and drive on up from Cedar City when she heard that the envelope had arrived.


Ben made arrangements with his college friends to meet up in the lobby of his dorm building at 6:45 p.m. for the official opening of the letter.


Glen got busy calling Jacob and Abe on both his cell phones so that they could be a part of their brother's mission call as well.


With both brothers and their families listening in on the phones in Glen's outstretched arms, and Dallas ready with the video camera, and family and friends all around, the time finally had come for Benjamin to open and read his mission call.


He has been called to the Singapore Mission. He will learn the Indonesian language and will report to the MTC on July 1st.


He spent some time talking to his brothers and their families about the call. He was pretty excited that his hope to serve in a faraway country and learn a different kind of language had just become a reality.


After his friends left, the family took a few minutes to soak in the news.


Then we decided to go to YoZone to celebrate!! YUM!!!




That's where our son took a few minutes to write his acceptance letter to The First Presidency.


He's very eager, willing and anxious to serve. He'll be a wonderful missionary and we are so proud of him and love him to pieces!!

THE CALL IS HERE...

As some of you may already know Ben recieved his mission call to the Singapore Mission.

Kim will be posting a review of the pictures of the call but I know all of you were waiting with baited breath wondering who won the contest.

In 5th Place Jeff Excell 3350 miles away with his Japan guess
In 4th Place Brittany Nethercott 3178 miles away with her Mongolia guess
In 3rd Place Jen Tenhoeve 2911 miles away with Korea
In 2nd Place Caleb from the Chiropractors office 1678 miles away with his guess of Hong Kong
And the Winner is...................................................................

SANDI PITTARD 1485 miles away with her guess of the Philippines. Congratulations Sandi.

A Wedding and A Crash

Glen and I found ourselves on a little road trip the past couple of days with our destination being Rexburg, Idaho, for Brittany Isaksen's wedding. Her new husband is Aaron Nethercott.


Here are the Nethercotts, the wedding couple and the Isaksens.


The bride and groom are filling their plates at the luncheon.


And enjoying eating their first meal together as husband and wife.


It was a little blast from the past to see some of our Georgia friends at the wedding. John and Diane Peterson are now living in Colorado and they brought Christopher and picked up Karen in Provo on their way up to Rexburg.


They also picked up Heidi Schulzke in Provo and brought her along with them. Heidi, Karen and Brittany are all Ben's age and they used to play together when they were little kids. Looks like they are all grown up now...


Behind Heidi and Karen in the food line is Darin Isaksen.

Heather Isaksen was able to eat a quick lunch while her baby daughter, Reagan, was entertained by the table decorations.


Sandi and Homer Pittard, some more Georgia friends--who are now living in Smithfield, Utah--were also there. They were helping entertain Heather's baby while visiting with Larry Isaksen and us.


I was able to get a picture of Travis and Martin Isaksen, but didn't get one of Nathan. He was busy photographing and I missed him. I also realized that I didn't get Glen in any picture as well. Oops!! He really was there with me.


I got a picture of me with my Georgia friends: Sandi Pittard, Debbie Isaksen and Diane Peterson. We were blessed to have such great friends when we lived in Woodstock, Georgia and it was so fun to see some of them once again!!


While we were gone, Rebecca called to tell us that Glen's sister, Maurine and her husband Ray Hull were in the news. Someone had crashed his truck right into their living room and caused a lot of damage to their home. We were so thankful Ray and Maurine were not hurt, especially after Maurine told Glen that she sometimes can't sleep and goes out and sits in the chair in their living room. If she had been sitting there when this happened, she would not be with us today.

I have the evening news set to tape every night and so when we got home, we checked to see if we happened to have the news segment involving Glen's sister and we did!!

Where Will BEN go on his Mission????

It is official. Ben completed his mission paperwork on Wednesday. He completed all of his interviews and his paperwork goes in to SLC today.

Now let the guessing begin.

And to add a little spice to the guessing...

Announcing the "Where Will He Go Contest".

The person that guesses the closest will win, yes you got it WIN a $25.00 gift card to the restaurant of my choice. All you have to do is register your guess on this website.


Here are the rules.

Each family member is allowed only one guess.
You must be known by us, or be known by a member of our family. (Sorry to the Japanese man that is posting on the website... You just can't win.)

The winner will be decided based on Google Map.
In the event of a tie, I will flip a coin.

Good luck on your guesses.

The Pampered Sick Girl

Let's just say that this past weekend was definitely not the most eventful we've ever had together. We were both still sick and were happy we had nothing going on Friday or Saturday so we could just hunker down at home and rest and be lazy and try to get over what was ailing us.

My husband was such a kind man and suggested we watch some movies together and insisted that I be the one to make the selection--every single time. What a great guy! After watching 3 definite chick flicks, I had mercy on him and chose "A Knight's Tale"--which had some action mixed in with the romance.


When our neighbor, Debi Winder, learned I was sick, she brought over a care package with a warm citrus/honey drink in it and one of her favorite movies. It was all Glen could do to sit through "Emma" with all the women in the movie chattering nonstop and getting into everybody's business. When he saw the photo on Debi's DVD...


...and learned it was a 2-disc/300 minute movie, he absolutely refused to watch it with me. Believe me--I've enjoyed the nonstop chatter as it's kept me company through some very long nights of not being able to sleep. I just might be so inclined to also watch the 75-minutes of special features on the third disc.

I had so hoped for us to be feeling better on Sunday so that we could go to Mom's for her monthly birthday dinner party, but I woke up that day feeling worse and didn't want to spread our germs. So, we canceled on her delicious meal. Once again Glen was the best husband in the world as he put some food in the oven for our unplanned Sunday dinner.

There are so many kind people around here and they continue to take pity on us. Diane Stewart brought over this food basket of chicken corn chowder and French bread for our dinner Monday night.


Yesterday I finally made a turn around for the better and ventured out of the house after a whole week of being a shut-in. We wanted to take advantage of the last Two-fer Tuesday special at Paradise Bakery. Bill and Jan Evans bought their meals and then we got our Two-fer free and so we continue to enjoy the kindness of others.

Today my Mom and Dad drove down here to take me to lunch at Applebee's. It was great to have someone to eat with and talk to in the middle of the day.

It's not been fun to be so sick, but it's been kind of nice to be pampered. I have the best husband and the best neighbors and the best parents in the world!