Two Very American Girls

Abbie and Daisy have been saving their tokens (rewards they earn for good behavior, extra chores, good deeds, etc.) for nearly a year to buy American Girl dolls. Tripp suggested that we take them on a trip to the American Girl Doll store in California to pick out their dolls (mommy was all for ordering them through the mail). I was a little worried that Abbie would have a tough time choosing a doll...she struggles with decisions...and would miss out on all the fun of the store. The day finally arrived that we were planning on going to the California. Early that morning the doorbell rang and this is what we found outside the door....

two beautiful American Girl Twins waiting for the girls! In fact, it was the twins that belong to our dear friends Emma & Susannah Boyle. These darling young women are the ones who introduced Abbie and Daisy to American Girl Dolls and always kindly allowed the girls to play with their dolls when babysitting them at their house. As Abbie would say, they "Doorbell Donged" us and left the dolls for our girls with a sweet note about how the dolls wanted to come live at our house and visit the American Girl Store with us. Abbie and Daisy were in complete shock with their mouths hitting the floor. They couldn't move. I finally told them to go pick up their new dolls.
They loved those dolls all day and night...carrying them absolutely everywhere. We couldn't ask for sweeter friends than cute Emma and Susannah.
We left for L.A. later that day. Tripp booked a fancy hotel for the girls to make a trip a little special. He even let them order ice cream in the room before bed.
The next morning the kids brought their dolls to breakfast the the darling staff found a table for all of us to sit at and even gave the dolls cups and saucers for their "tea".
After arriving at The Grove, we took a minute to stop and watch the beautiful fountain before diving into the American Girl shop. I thought the girls might struggle with their choices but Daisy went right to Julie and was ready to go and Abbie looked around a tiny bit but really had her heart set on Kanani. With that, we bought the dolls and booked appointments for photos and hair appointments and started looking around for clothes.
After shopping for clothes and books (we read in the library for awhile and picked out a couple of books) we took a break and tried our first Pinkberry. Yum.

Then it was back for final choices on outfits (both girls earned extra tokens to buy some clothes with) and hair appointments for each doll. So fancy.


It was a beautiful day so we decided to sit outside in the park for awhile and wait for our tea time. Of course our dolls needed some fresh air as well.

Tea was pretty cute. The girls didn't love the food but they did love having their dolls right up at the table with us and having miniature tea sets to use with them. Super fun. It was a great way to end the day. Daddy totally got suckered into the entire affair and we left the store with an extra bike, snow cone stand and outfit I told the girls they had to ask for at a birthday or Christmas time. I have to love that daddy loves his girls though.

Both girls zonked on the drive to Paul and Laura's house. I don't remember the last time Abbie fell asleep in car. She just doesn't sleep in the car anymore so I know she was really pooped out.
At Paul and Laura's we were introduced to a new Wii game (at least to us) Dance Dance 2...or something like that. All the kids played and loved it.
Cooper is such a love. Don't get me wrong, we adore all of Paul and Laura's kids but there is just something about little Cooper. Daisy always says, "Cooper is so cute...and I am too." He just went up to Tripp and gave him a huge snuggle.
Cooper and Daisy playing their version of Connect Four.
Seth was game man. He kept getting out games and trying to talk people into playing with him. Cooper and Daisy were usually on board. Seth was always nice enough to go along with it even though they didn't usually know what was going on. He's a good seed that Seth.....
A big "Thanks" to Paul and Laura for ending our weekend on such a high note. It was a lot of fun staying with them Saturday night and it was super cool of them not to care that it was really just one night. They didn't fuss over the short trip and us just crashing after the AGS experience and trying to squeeze in a visit. We love that group....

Mother's Day Weekend

We hit the road after Abbie's game last Saturday morning and spent the weekend with Mama & Papa Thom in Cedar City. Tripp wanted to celebrate Mother's Day with his mom, which I thought was awfully nice and set a good example for our kids (hopefully they will follow his example when they grow up!)

I had a bunch of other photos...Tripp and Papa Thom setting up his huge new TV, the girls playing tons of Mother-May-I with Mama Thom, and a few more but I can't find them anywhere. I even had some from church Sunday. Tripp with his mom & dad....so sad. I guess I erased them by accident...rats. Here are the two I did manage to save (thanks to Project Life)...Saturday night dinner at The Pizza Factory and our decorations on Mama Thom's Mother's Day breakfast plate.

My Favorite Thing...

Abbie said at Disneyland (actually screamed from her horse while riding the carousel),

"Disney....I love your land!"

Abbie Thompson, age 5

The Happiest Day on Earth

Last week Lindsay, Sam and I took the wee ones to our favorite place, The Happiest Place on Earth. Lindsay wanted to take Nate to Disneyland for his birthday but didn't want to go in August when it is boiling hot and the lines are long. She wanted to go in May, on a weekday and she wanted us to go too (because if you want a little...why want want it all, right?). Our family hadn't planned on anything like this so we really didn't have the dough but some serious stars aligned and Tripp was in town(to stay home with Kyle & Kramer), thought I needed a little Disney cheer (which I had to admit I did), we scored a major deal on a three room suite through Tripp's corporate account, my dad then insisted on paying for our gas (he loves it when his daughters plan something together...gets all misty eyed) and to top it off, a coworker of Tripp's offered to get four of us (the most expensive four I might add) in for free! I couldn't believe our luck. We all must have really needed this happy jolt or the time together or both because these things don't just happen every day (or at least in my world). Lindsay made bags up for the kids for our drive...they were all smiles at the beginning of the long drive.

We stopped in Ontario for a little mini golf before we had dinner and hit the sack. Sorry about the buns photo Sam but this cracks (excuse the pun) me up. Abbie hit a ball into the bushes and they were digging through them looking for it. Look at Abbie at the bottom peeking in. Aunt Lindsay did find the ball.
The next day we hit Disneyland bright and early and had a full, fun day. Thunder Mountain and the Matterhorn scared the -Bleep- out of the kids but otherwise, a great day. We didn't really take that many photos but when I went to load them on the blog it was too many to post them all so this is a random "Smash-up", if you will, of our day.








Tired kids on the way home. We drove home that night after the park closed. I thought it would be tough (especially after eating a carmel apple, my favorite DL treat that turned out to be a poison apple and gave me a terrible stomach ache) but with two sisters to chat with it wasn't too bad. And Tripp tickled my head when I got home to help me wind down and fall asleep...the perfect end to our Happiest Day on Earth.

Spring Break

Spring Break flew by this year. Abbie's big art exchange started off the week along with a doctor appointment. The next morning, her piano teacher's daughters, Scottee & Hadley, came over for a long overdue playdate. That evening we had plans for bowling with the Gublers (or half the Gublers), but there were leagues playing everywhere so we hit Metro Pizza then King Put instead. I don't think anyone was too disappointed.

Wednesday morning Kyle left to visit with his mom and we headed out of town for Reno. It took us the entire day to get there but the girls made sure to play with their favorite toys before they went to bed that night.

During our visit, we did the regular Reno things (library storytime & dress-up, Deli Towne (which is now called BellyTowne in our family), tennis in the backyard, watering Grandma's plants, taking Kramer for walks in her neighborhood and to Great Harvest, visiting with Aunt Sue, visiting with the Legarzas) plus we added in a few more including Abbie's first tennis lesson, decorating eggs, and a trip to Starz gym for an Easter Egg hunt and then open gym.

We did a little "Peeping" and "Egging" while we were there and Aunt Susie never fails to disappoint with her box of dress-ups and this time a play house to color. She even surprised the girls with new outfits upon our arrival!

Before we hit the road Sunday, we had a chance to sort through the girls' Easter loot (both the Easter Bunny & Easter Beagle visited plus Grandma gave them a gift for their bears) then inhale a yummy breakfast. It was sad to leave but luckily summer isn't too far away!