MELE KALIKIMAKA!

We finally did it! A picture of the entire family taken today!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Some Great Shares - Thank you for these great pictures!

Shauna @BYU
Shauna & Chantal







Shauna, Mandy, and cousin Claire at Girls' Camp







Scott, Kristen, Shauna & Alex in SLC near the temple.

Laura, Ariel, and Paige at the park.

Daddy @ his Bishop Party.

Nate & Sarah's Family 2007

Going on a picture hunt. Going on a picture hunt. Gonna get the good ones!

It's really sad. Some of my favorite photos were taken on cell phone and they just don't enlarge well. I think I need a better camera. Oh, yeah, and it would be nice to find my phone!!!!

I spend quite a bit of December culling through all the pictures we've taken trying to find the good ones. Before digital cameras, I would order 3 sets of pictures when I took film in. A set for me, a set for Mom & Dad Thompson, and a set to share and put in the kids photo albums. With the use of a digital camera and our cell phones it became harder to share with Grandma and Grandpa. Mom and Dad didn't go online very often and cell phone screens are very small.

Christmas 2005, I started the tradition of giving them a folder filled with plastic sleeves and printed pages of all our best pictures. The format allowed me to caption and tell the stories behind the photos. My only problem now is my poor quality photos from cell phones and our bad living room lighting. I appreciate all the friends and family that share their wonderful photos of us and make my job easier. Thank you! Thank you!

Last Year's Nativity

Every year for Christmas, we do a reading of the Nativity and our little ones dress up. Mandy, Lin, and Paige were "Shepherds".

Sariah and Makayle were "Angels" holding cards for the audience to recite with them.

Baby Carter, just a month and a few weeks old, portrayed the "Baby Jesus".

Ariel portrayed "Mary" and Mathew was our "Joseph". The kids are always so much fun to watch and love dressing up. Shauna wrote an excellent program and chose beautiful carols.

Ariel's Boo Boo

Ariel had an accident on Sunday. She was at Rachael's trying to retrieve something off the play house. Ariel caught her foot on their brick planter and fell down with a "pop" to her knee.

After icing it the night before, she still couldn't comfortably put weight on it. Monday we were off to Kaiser where she was x-rayed. She was very lucky, just a sprain. She is currently sporting a leg brace and crutches.

Ariel is smiling ear to ear and thinks it's a grand adventure as long as the pain medication is working. Oh well, with six kids I'm really lucky she's our first to use crutches.

Post Thanksgiving and Pre-Christmas

Mele Kalikimaka everyone! Here is a picture of our 2007 tree and the lovely Ariel. Sorry this is hard to read. For some reason, the program isn't allowing me to put spaces in between paragraphs. Sorry!

Our tradition is to decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving Day after our 2 p.m. Turkey dinner. This Thanksgiving, Daddy cooked the entire meal while Mommy cleaned and decorated. Our dinner included: kalua turkey, kalua pig, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberries, strawberry lemonade, Costco rolls and pies. Sarah made green bean almondine and a cream cheese strawberry jello. Aunty Lahapa and the Kelsall family also stopped by with food. Yummy!

We were so happy to have Shauna home from BYU to join us. We had a nice leisurely meal and enjoyed a fun day of being together. Makayle, Paige, and Lin especially had fun playing with the Fisher-Price Nativity and the new Play Mobil nativity from Aunty Laura O'Hare. Our neighbors, the Deckers, were thrilled to have Randy home from training for the special day. His Sea Bee (Naval Engineer) Reserve Unit will be shipping out to Iraq after Christmas.

Sarah and Shauna braved the crowds on Black Friday. Sarah was kind enough to wake up early and get our pre-lit trees. Shauna and I set up the tree on Saturday. Sarah and Daddy had all day rehearsals for our Stake's production of "The Forgotten Carols". Sarah is in the Choir. Daddy directed and will be singing the Shepherd's song. We're happy Grandma and Roger will be driving out to see the show and visit favorite spots in San Diego.

We're happy Shauna is coming home in three weeks. It was hard to take her to the airport last night. She loves BYU but misses home. We miss her. She will graduate in 2009 :) Yeah!

Good luck with your Christmas prep everyone!

Old Friends

I am playing on Shauna's new MacBook viewing her great collection of pictures when I ran into two that put a smile on my face. Here are pictures of Jan and Fred. Thank you Jan and Fred for making my life in Utah so much fun. Your love, humor, and support helped me make the transition from youth to adult. Thank you for youthful exploits and grand adventures. I hope Shauna is blessed with friends as true as you. I do know she loves her Uncle Jan and Uncle Fred.

Daddy's Bishop Party :)

Tonight our ward is holding a special dinner to honor Lin's service as Bishop of the Cypress 4th Ward. Lin was a very warm, compassionate, and dynamic Bishop. It was fun to watch him work. Lin kept his executive secretaries busy! They were with him for Sunday & Tuesday night interviews, Wednesday night home visits. Daddy sometimes had Stake Meetings on Thursdays and ward activities on Fridays & Saturdays. It was a busy time! He still worked full-time at Bellflower High School but cut the number of clubs he advised to find extra time.

Daddy served as Senior and Transient Bishop for part of this time. He gave special workshops to the other Stake bishops on how to help plan and conduct funerals and how refer to people to health and social services. Joel Brandvold, Terry Bunell, Dan Miller, Barry Dalton, and Bob Shaw each served as executive secretary. Counselors were Lee Dickenson and Kory Mikesell from 2002-2005; Darryl Jones and Joel Brandvold 2005-2007. Dad served under President Brassfield and President Wynder.

During Lin's tenure:

• Shauna and Daddy went to Nauvoo with the Youth and Shauna went to Palmyra with the Young Adults.


• Daddy called President Weng to teach a Mandarin Gospel Doctrine class and instituted Fantastic Fridays with Bishop Chen.


• Tina allows us to host two 14 hour Book of Mormon read-a-thons to complete President Hinckley's challenge to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.


• Daddy is given a glorious backyard "Extreme Makeover" by President Kerry Hargan, Thad, Nate, and the Young Men.


• The Andy and Barbara Gallagher family investigate the church for almost two years, are baptized, and sealed a year later in the Newport Temple.


• Daddy, Uncle Kory, and Andy make sure our ward and stake have comprehensive emergency plan.


• We participate in Newport Temple fundraising, tours, dedication, and celebration. Jennifer and Shauna get to dance for President Hinckley. Mommy and Daddy are seated in the temple foyer for the first dedicatory service and get to see President Hinckley and the other general authorities.


• Virginia Chalk, Antoinette Chavira, and Nancy Shaw serve as wonderful Relief Society Presidents during Dad's time. The Welfare Commitee, especially Pat Kotter and Dinah Collier really help ease Lin's burdens. Carmel is a happy spot of progress as Lin works with many members battling mental illnesses.


• Daddy conduct 28 funerals for so many wonderful families. He was happy to serve them and to comfort them during difficult times. Papa Tekurio's funeral was especially memorable and blessed.


• We were treated to two Cypress Stake Bishop's Retreats. One held in Anaheim with a special day at Disneyland and Club 33. Several years later, we went to General Conference in SLC.

On the home front:

• September 8, 2002 - Lin is called to serve as Bishop.


• June 11, 2003 - Baby Lin is born!


• August 2003 - Tutu is hospitalized, almost dies, and is comatose for 6 weeks.


• December 2003 - Tutu comes home. Malia nurses Tutu & Baby Lin.


• Early 2004 - Tutu learns to walk again and her iliostomy is reversed. Paige is born!


• Fall 2004 - Nathan and Sarah move to CA! Shauna drops out of Oxford and starts at Cypress College.


• October 2004 - Stephany passes away and leaves her entire estate to our family. What a great blessing.


• 2005 - Lin is physically ill for most of the year. Given a special blessing.


• 2006 - Laura is born in August and Carter is born in November!


• 2007 - Shauna starts at BYU. Lin is released as Bishop. Grandpa Rudy passes away. Our beautiful ward gives Lin a loving recognition and thank you dinner with the Tekurio's group performing.

Our adventure is done but we hold many wonderful memories in our hearts. We are grateful for so many blessings. Thank you to all of you who helped and blessed our lives.

Jodi News

Last night Rex called in tears. The worse case scenerio has happened with Jodi's skull fracture. They spent 12 hours at the hospital yesterday for examinations and testing. Jodi will go in for surgery on Friday. They are very frightened. Apparently, there is fluid leaking, discoloration, and swelling near Jodi's temple. The doctors fear that the plate size piece of skull that they reattached to cover brain has become infected. The treatment is to take out the piece and to treat her with antibiotics. Her brain will only be covered by her scalp and her safety helmet for the next 6 months as she heals. The doctors will then use a plate to cover the hole. All of this is very dangerous. Please keep Aunty Jodi in your prayers.

More Vacation Please!

Now that we are back in school, I am going through major vacation withdrawl. I love having a husband who teaches school. It's fun to have us all on vacation at the same time.

To immortalize Vacation Time 2007, here are pictures from our Spring Break spent at the beach in Carlsbad. It included a great day trip to see Uncle Fred and Uncle Jan in San Diego. Pictures include Laura at eight months. Mandy & Ariel in the pool. Ariel with seaweed extentions. Lin buries the treasure named Ariel. The last picture is Mandy, Laura, and Lin enjoying the sunshine, surf, and sand. We all had a nice and restful vacation.

Happy Birthday Carter, Makayle, and Aunty Hapa!

November is a big month for birthdays in our family. The first three happened this week. November 2nd is Lahapa's and Carter's birthday. Carter is one and Aunty Hapa is even prettier ;) Makayle turns 6 today-November 3rd. We celebrated at the park on Juanita. It's a family favorite. It was nice to have Grandma Shelley and Grandpa Kent Taylor here to celebrate as well. Grandma Taylor helped Carter eat his cupcake. He is so cute with frosting in his face. Makayle is absolutely beautiful!

Little Lin loves costumes. He used to dress up almost everyday as Tigger, the Red Power Ranger, a pirate, Buzzlightyear, or a bee. Paige often joins him as Pooh Bear or a lady bug. You would think this would make Halloween fun and easy. It actually makes it a lot harder. Lin can never decide on a costume. He changed his mind several times before deciding on Scooby-Doo. Laura dressed as Cinderella (a great choice that allowed her to still play with her belly button). Ariel was a pretty goth witch. Miranda was a punk rocker with a mohawk. Sarah was the real hit as Elphaba from Wicked. (Gotta see her blog.) We had a fun time and love Halloween!

Aloha family and friends! Just a little place to record the adventures of Lin and Malia's 'ohana.