Annual Salt Lake City Trip

We extended our annual summer trip to Salt Lake City this year...10 days total!  Leslie always says to stay as long as we like but at some point we are going to push it too far and she is going to kick us out!!!!  Visiting Salt Lake has turned into the highlight of the summer for our family I think.  We love seeing our family there and visiting all the super fun places Utah has to offer.

Tripp was able to stay with us the first few days.  We decided to visit the space museum at Gateway and see an Imax movie about the Artic.  Abbie, in particular, loved reading about every single planet.  The movie was lovely...but a little sad for us soft-hearted moms!  As usual, we made a stop at Tripp's favorite, The Red Iguana, and had the pleasure of Tina, Gary and Emma joining us.  Emma filled us in on her trip to China.  Tripp had to leave Monday morning but we enjoyed church Sunday with Leslie, Taffy and Jessica then taught them how to "Treasure Hunt"...three successful finds and sadly one bee sting (sorry Taffy).

Tuesday we checked out Hogle Zoo and the new Polar Bear.  The zoo in general was wonderful but the new section with the seals, otters, and the darling polar bear was outstanding.  Going with Ashley, Will, Leslie, Amanda, Josh, Maddie & Chase just made it more fun.

Wednesday we met the Butlers and the Morgans (their darling cousins Morgan and Memphis) for a day at Temple Square.  We toured the Beehive House, ate lunch ate the Lion House, visited the Church History Museum (especially fun!) then headed to Liberty Park for a little cooling off in the canyons water park.  What a fun day with our favorite girls (in Las Vegas or out).

We weren't sure if it would happen or not but daddy did make it home Friday night.  Leslie had a BBQ at her house for an "Marz" family that wanted to join.  We had a medium sized crowd and a great time. At 9 pm Josh talked Tripp into playing Scrabble with him.  Sucker....

Saturday we took our annual trip up to Sundance.  We missed our Sundance partners, the Fairbanks, so dearly but it rained almost the entire time we were there so it was a trip cut short.  Next year it will be beautiful weather and we will have our beautiful friends back to enjoy it with us!!!!!!

Of course we did some of our normal SLC things as well....swimming (Ashlie's pool, the South Jordan Rec Center) played with cousins, shopped at Gardner Village, hung out in Leslie's garden, had dinner at Aunt Tina's, played with Maggie & Sophie, etc.  The trip actually felt too short.  We might stay two entire weeks next summer....

4th of July

Every year we go to Duck Creek with the Marz family for the 4th of July.  Sadly, the wildfires took their toll on our part of the wilderness this year and although we were blessed and didn't sustain any damage, the part of the forest that houses our cabin was shut down for the holiday weekend.

Originally, we thought about staying in Vegas for the actual holiday then heading up to the mountains the day after.  Instead, we did our laundry, freshened up our house and headed back to Cedar City to spend a few more days with the Thompsons.  Everyone outside of Scott's family was still in town so we just extended our family reunion by a few more days.

Small town holidays are really fun and the 4th is no exception.  We all watched the parade, hit a town park for games then set off our own fireworks as well as watched city fireworks that evening.  What a fantastic day!

50th Wedding Anniversary

We had the pleasure of attending Tripp's parents 50th Wedding Anniversary this past June.  Elizabeth was working hard on setting all the plans in motion and making sure that every last detail was looked after.  All the kids had a "To Do" list which made the entire event quite a breeze and absolutely lovely. Not to mention, what a fun weekend with all of Tripp's brothers and sister.  

Friday night was a small, unofficial family reunion of the Harley & Helen Thompson kids and grandkids along with some pre-decorating.  Then Saturday was fun + decorating and the big night.  We all traveled from somewhere to be there and cute Lori even came while having contractions.  She didn't end up delivering little Preston for another week or two but she was quite a trooper that entire weekend..I could tell they weren't little fake pains.

There are so many cute stories to recall and memories to record but one of the neatest parts of the event was the arrival of Elder Scott Peterson and his wife.  Elder Peterson introduced Helen & Harley to the church all those years ago, baptized them and has always stayed in touch with the family.  They have known him since he was 19 years old!  He has an amazing family and lives in Vegas of all places and is still very close with the Thompsons...with Scott Thompson named after him.  What a difference one missionary can make.

There were thousands of photos from the weekend to sort through so I randomly chose a few to post.  The first group are blasts from the past but I love them.  The second group is from a family photo shoot we had Saturday morning and the third group is from the event itself, Saturday night.  There are so many cute photos of my nieces and nephews but sadly, many are blurry or I'd just be piling on more and more.  I especially love some of my nephew Will...he is the oldest of 7 boys and just a handsome, darling kid.  Lookout girls!

Summer Update

This is just a little of what we've been up to this summer courtesy of Instagram....

1.  Playing with friends.
2.  Father's Day paper airplane contest.
3.  Daisy Scout Camp at Mt. Charleston
4.  Fun with friends at Lake Meade
5.  Our first Geocache find aka "Treasure Hunt"
6.  Swimming at the MultiGen with cousins & aunts
7.  Abbie's first time on the water slide
8.  Sleeping in and watching cartoons in the morning.


As usual, Tripp has been gone the majority of the summer so every second he is home, we relish.  He is our favorite person and we just soak up his wonderfulness when we get to be around him, even if it's less than 48 hours.  Luckily for some of us, summer doesn't last forever!

San Francisco

Tripp has been on the road since two weeks before the kids got out of school.  He's made it home for most of or at least partial weekends but summer is a travel season for him and luckily we just keep busy enjoying time off and invitations from friends here at home for fun.  Last week, he had meetings in San Francisco for four days and asked if I'd like to meet him the remainder of the weekend.  I heart SF and a few days without the nuts seemed workable.  Our super great friends Josh & Mallory agreed to stay with the girls and Kramer so we were set.  Tripp's group was scheduled to spend the day at the PGA Event on Thursday and since Tripp has been to so many he was able to take a pass and we got to spend an extra day together.

We started the day at one of my favorite places in SF, AT&T Park.  I always wanted to go to Candlestick Park as a kid and never got to.  I had classmates in the stadium when the earthquake hit, which sort of freaked me out hearing about it later, but I've grown to really love this stadium.  This is now my third game, which isn't many by some standards (Legarzas, you can laugh now) but I have been twice with my best friends and now once with just Tripp and each time has been marvelous.  Sadly, the Giants lost.  But we loved every second of the game.  Great weather, relaxing atmosphere.  Baseball is just a wonderful game to watch live.  Can't beat it. (Thanks for the seat suggestions Martin)

After the game we just strolled around the city for awhile, shopped a little and just really kind of walked.  We love walking around SF and just checking it out.  We never really end up far from anything and it always works out.  It was leisurely and nice.  For dinner, we contacted our restaurant go to gal, Katie, who never steers us wrong no matter what part of the city we end up in.  She suggested John's Grill and it was fantastic.

 We were right around the corner from the start point of a cable car run that would take us right back to our hotel so we hoped on.  They are fun to ride at night with the breeze blowing in your face.  All that fresh air made Tripp hungry again and we took a short walk to check out the galleries by Ghirardelli Square then stopped in for some ice cream...Tripp's favorite SF treat.

The next day we walked along the wharf, and all it's terrible tourist shops, for a chance at lunch in the Ferry Building in the Embarcadero.  I love the sailboats on that side of the bay and there was a great view while we waited for our table.  After lunch we poked around for olive oil, macaroons, honey and other wonderful delights.

After making our way back to the hotel I was pooped and cold (the weather had definitely turned).  Tripp got a crazy idea that we needed to rent a Go Car and drive around the city and soak in all the facts we didn't already know about the different areas.  It seemed harmless so I figured why not.  We spent nearly four hours in our Go Car in the wind and cold.  I felt like I was in a sidecar.  But I did hear some interesting facts about the city and got to squeeze in a short visit to the Japanese Tea Garden.  It was quite an experience but I'm opting for biking across the GG Bridge to Sausalito and into the Red Woods next time.

 On our last day we walked to Chrissy Field, one of our absolute favorite places in SF.  It's such an amazing beach.  We've never seen so many kids and families out for a day of sunbathing and water play before.  But there was the usual dog brigade running up and down the beach and jumping into the water to fetch balls and frisbees.  We had to have seen 50+ English Bulldogs that day...must have been some sort of gathering.  It was astounding.  One sweet little white bulldog was the spitting image of our Tilly.  The views of the Golden Gate Bridge are just to fantastic and the beach walk it second to none.  Sadly, we had to catch a plane so with the 8+ mile round trip walk, we didn't have to time hang out in two of our favorite places...The Warming Hut or Sports Basement.  Next time perhaps.

We can never get enough of San Francisco and can't wait for an opportunity to go back...although the girls have made it very clear they want to be invited next time as well.

Last Day of School

It was the last day of school for these two cute BFFs...now it is on to first grade!  They loved being in the same class this year and having the time after school for playdates and park time.  I know they have different teachers next year (although Abbie doesn't yet so we'll wait for her to find out when the official letters come out at the end of summer...)which makes this year together all the more precious.  They are getting to be such big girls!

Abbie received her Kindergarten certificate and an award for Citizenship.  She told everyone she wants to be a Paleontologist although she sweated over it...she tells me daily that there are too many fun things to do when you are a mom!  They also sang a darling song about moving out of Kindergarten and moving on to first grade that she has been teaching Daisy for the last couple of weeks.

These are a few of her friends...some of the girls and her buddy Boston.  They stood in line next to each other all year.  He has some pretty hilarious sayings for a 6 year old and she likes to come home and test them out on Daisy and me.

This is Mr. Rosensteel, her favorite person next to Daddy.  He has been a fantastic teacher and gave her a ton of confidence and love.  He also noticed that she could work harder than what she was doing in class and challenged her to some extra reading which she loved.  Can't say enough about our second year with Mr. Rosensteel (Kyle's Fourth Grade Teacher).  We hope to see him again in second grade (his new home).

As usual, school was a half day so we headed out to Boulder City for the afternoon.  They have a fantastic park that isn't too crowded and a ton of fun.  Lots of friends joined us for the afternoon.  Big kids, little kids, medium kids, babies...it was a great afternoon.  We came home wiped out, again.  It is our favorite last day of school outing but it leaves us exhausted every year.

And with that, we will wake up tomorrow and start our summer vacation.  Can't wait to sleep in a little and hope the girls feel the same way.  We have a play date with Ruby but otherwise plan to take it easy before we jump into swimming and playing and Wacky Wednesdays, and free movies and all the other summer activities next week!

All in one day....

This cute girl is Leila, one of Daisy's besties...well really the only one that isn't her sister's friend or someone's older sister or a friend that actually lives somewhere else.  They have been in preschool together, enjoyed many a playdate and couldn't dance without each other (as her mom and I found otu the hard way!)  

Sadly, this picture was taken yesterday when Leila dropped by to give Daisy a last hug "Goodbye" before she moves today.  Her dad finished medical school a few weeks ago and off they go to the Midwest and residency.  We really need to stop making friends with these med students...that is two friends in two years for the Doodle.  Leila is telling us about her fire pit and we are suckers for a good fire pit so we may drive out to visit them sometime but until then, we have plans to be really great pen pals.

These darling friends are Emma and Susannah (no specific order).  My girls have been in love with them for years.  I think the twin learned how to babysit by watching my daughters at their house.  Anyway, we found out that they were awarded solos in their spring concert last night (I'm discovering that reading Facebook every few week does have it's advantages) so we made plans to attend.  Abbie, in particular, was so entranced by the entire performance.  She loved it all.  Daisy liked the boys barbershop quartet the best!  Emma and Susannah did such a fantastic job.  We were so proud of them and proud to know them!  The girls picked out flowers to give them after the performance (like their daddy does) and were so excited, and a little shy, to give them the flowers.  I couldn't ask for two better role models for my daughters.