Congrats Paul Thompson Family!!!!

On the birth of Preston Cole Thompson, 4 p.m. today. 7lbs. 5oz., 20 inches and super handsome.

Paul, Laura, Isabelle, Seth & Cooper - we are all really excited about the new member of your/our family. Can't wait to snuggle him!

Lots of love- Tripp, Ali, Kyle, Abbie & Daisy (we'll leave Kramer home, along with the peanut butter, just in case).

The Happiest Holiday on Earth

For Abbie and Daisy's birthdays, we planned earlier this year to take them to Disneyland. Kyle was scheduled to visit his mom for the Thanksgiving holiday so Thanksgiving Day seemed like the perfect time for the girls to have an all girl day at the Happiest Place on Earth (we are usually running around trying to get fast passes for the big rides so the girls spend a ton of time just hanging around outside all the "Mountains").

Abbie's birthday gift from mommy and daddy was a new princess dress from Disneyland. After buying our tickets and securing our locker, Abbie and I headed to pick out a dress while daddy and Daisy went on the carousel. Abbie picked out a pink Sleeping Beauty dress and talked me into the princess Minnie hat as well. She received so many compliments all day long. The Disney employees were so cute to her every time they saw her, addressing her as "Princess". She has worn a princess dress to Disneyland since she was really small but for some reason I really recognized all the attention they gave her on this particular visit. I figured the hat would last maybe an hour but she wore it the entire day. Daisy wore her Alice dress for about 15 minutes in the hotel then made me change her into a normal dress. It's a big size so we'll keep trying...

Our first official family ride was Dumbo. A big hit with both girls...

We spent some time in Fantasyland, riding the tea cups, Small World...

then it was off to meet the princesses. We've never waited in line for this before and it was quite a line (the longest of the day...probably an hour while we were in it but grew to 1.5 and longer) but man was it worth it. Abbie LOVED meeting the princesses. And they were so darling with her.

First up, Jasmine (which Tara swears isn't really a princess but Abbie loves her all the same. We'll see what Tara says when she has a girl!)

Then, Ariel. This princess was absolutely lovey. I mean so charming with Abbie. I had tears coming down my cheeks watching the interaction. We have a video of them twirling together, maybe I'll pop it up here sometime soon. Anyway, this princess deserves a gold star, pat on the back, huge Christmas bonus if you ask me.

And last, but not least, Sleeping Beauty. She was really sweet to Abbie about wearing the same dress. She even got Daisy to come say "Hello" and be in a photo.

After the princesses, we spent some time in Toon Town. We played in Goofy's house, met Minnie Mouse, visited Mickey's house and met him as well. After visiting Daisy & Donald's boat, it was time to head out, have a little lunch and visit the Winnie the Pooh ride.

The girls eating their Tigger Tails while waiting in line to meet Pooh Bear.

We rode the Pooh ride several times, then headed back to Main Street for the parade...another thing we never do. Daisy was cranky but Abbie was fine with the wait, especially with a huge bag of cotton candy to keep her busy.

After the parade we rode the Storybook Ride, Peter Pan, KC Junior's Train, the Carousel again, the Tea Cups again then headed to a new restaurant for dinner. A BBQ joint opened this year in the space next to Thunder Mountain (they closed the fry cart though - bummer) where they used to hold family reunions, etc. We decided to give it a whirl. Abbie got serenaded by Tex Tumbleweed and got to ring bells with some of the other western entertainers.

Dinner was fun. The kids loved dancing and singing with the show and it was nice to sit down for awhile. After dinner we hit the Pooh ride a few more times then went back for a couple last rides in Fantasyland, including Alice in Wonderland and Small World (one last time). They have all the Christmas lights up and Small World is especially beautiful. It even has a special show going on at night while you wait in line...really fun and pretty.

Tired girls were done about 9 p.m. We hit the huge store at Downtown Disney on the way back to the hotel then fell into bed. So much fun. Many have asked, but no, there wasn't any turkey just the normal delicious treats. I guess we could have gnawed on one of those huge turkey legs but I'll happily just wait until next Thanksgiving. Abbie, in particular, really had the time of her life. She enjoyed every second of our day.

Sadly, all that fun doesn't come without a price. I woke Friday morning with the stomach flu. We delayed our return home until the early afternoon but eventually had to check out of the hotel. Tripp got sick late that night and has been down all day. Enough said.

Greenspun Grandparents' Day

This morning was Greenspun Junior High School's annual Grandparents' Day. Students get to invite their grandparents to school for an assembly, tour and pie. Kyle was excited that he got to join the festivities and miss some morning classes.

MamaThom and PapaThom drove in yesterday afternoon and spent the evening with us. They met up with my dad, then Kyle this morning for the festivities. According to MamaThom, Kyle was a wonderful host taking time to sit next to each grandparent, showing them around the school then chatting with them over pie. He has mentioned to me a few times how excited he was to get out of class but he really digs his new school and I think he must have enjoyed filling them in on all it has to offer. I honestly think he appreciated that Tripp's parents made the drive from Cedar City to join him (MamaThom is on baby-watch...Laura's baby is due any day and she is heading to Northern CA to lend a hand!!!!) and that my dad took time off work this morning, delaying his departure for SLC. He actually got that they wanted to hang out with him, made sacrifices to do it and he appreciated it...big steps for our 12 year old son. I'd say, all in all, it was a huge success.

For the Record...

this is what a four year old looks like.

Abbie turned four today. Her dad and I really can't believe it. It really doesn't seem like that long ago that I was in a bed at Valley Hospital watching Pride & Prejudice all night with Julliette, the OB nurse, while Tripp sawed logs on the fold out next to me. We couldn't wait for our baby's arrival and she just didn't want to come. Now, she can't wait to do anything. Waiting of any kind for her is absolute torture.

At four years old, Abbie likes: noodles, pink/purple/red, Busytown Mysteries (a tv show), Barbies (she really wants one for Christmas - yikes!), clothes and shoes, her friend Ruby, Nancy Drew's boyfriend Ned, school (Miss Joy, her classmates, learning), books, The Leid Discovery Museum, The Springs Preserve, her primary teacher Sister Anderson, dancing, her family, Disneyland, her grandparents (all five of them).

At four years old we love: her smile, how excited she is about life, her love of reading, how much she misses her brother when he is gone, her crazy fro, that she loves the Busytown Mysteries so much, her pure joy with school, her love of Heavenly Father/the scriptures/primary/saying the prayer at meals, that she already has a life-long BFF, Ruby.

A Date at the Mall

Many of you know I am not a fan of the mall. My daughter, however, is a huge fan. She loves the Galleria Mall (The Sunshine Mall) and asks me every week if we can go.

For Abbie's birthday Lindsay and Sammy invited her on a trip to the mall to pick out a gift. They love the mall and to shop so spending a couple of hours roaming around isn't painful for them. Thank goodness for sisters.

Abbie's big afternoon was today and she has been asking and talking about it for a couple of weeks. This was possibly the longest morning of her life, waiting for 12:30 and her aunts to arrive.

Lindsay told me she was eating a Cup of Noodles or Ramen or something similar in the car and Abbie wasn't fond of the smell of Aunt Lindsay's noodles. She definitely got her sniffer from me. They took her to a bunch of stores to find one she liked to pick out a gift. None of them were up to snuff until she found Claire's. I guess it has a princess section in the back and she told them, "This is my favorite store!". She picked out a princess backpack, like her friend Halle from school, a crown, a mask and a necklace. They even bought her an enormous lollipop from the candy store. I think, in her short almost 4 yr. old life, it was the best afternoon ever. Thanks Linds and Sam.
On a separate birthday note, Abbie's teacher, Miss Joy, scheduled her to bring the snack Thursday so we made special yellow flower birthday cookies with sprinkles. Her class sang "Happy Birthday" to her and Miss Joy even gave her a present (we are saving it for her birthday). How sweet of Miss Joy to make Thursday such a special school day for Abbie. She felt like a princess.

One Day in Reno

For Mother's Day Abbie & I gave Grandma Sandy a special day visit. We promised to fly to Reno for the day and spend it doing things with her. Grandma's birthday is Friday so we flew to Reno yesterday for our Mother's Day visit and pre-birthday celebration.

To say Abbie was excited about "our special day" is an understatement. She has been talking about it for weeks and that morning she could hardly focus. Going to the airport to ride a plane and visit her Grandma for a day was such a special treat. She hardly grouched or complained all day long, and that is quite a record for her lately.

Grandma picked us up from the airport and we went to her house to play with her toys for awhile. She has lots of stuffed animals that Abbie loves to play with. She had a Grandma's House snack of butter on a rice cake. I couldn't get her to eat that at home but she's happy to eat it at Grandma's house.
Then it was off to a pottery painting store where Abbie and Grandma painted Christmas ornaments. We met Aunt Susie for lunch at The Stone House then Grandma picked a movie for us all to see, AstroBoy. It was a little scary for Abbie but she loves eating popcorn and drinking fruit punch.

After the movie we went back to Grandma's for some more play time. Susie brought dress-ups for Abbie and she played most of the afternoon and into the evening with the dress-up and stuffed animals.

Grandma made dinner and it was time to eat, clean up and head to the airport for our flight home. Abbie and I were pooped but we had a wonderful day trip to Reno. She was a good traveler until the very end, when she just pooped out. Our plane didn't take off until 8 p.m. so the flight home was tiring. After landing, we walked to the parking garage for Tripp to collect us and Abbie said, "Mom, I'm so tired of walking. I just can't go another step." Some business travelers in front of us thought that was pretty funny...they must have had a long day as well.

Hallelujah

That's right folks, we have grass. This project has taken a really, really long time to complete. From complete demolition of our backyard to the flagstone and now the grass probably over a year.

We had grass before the demolition but it wasn't well cared for by the previous owners and was always just shy of dying. We tried to re-plant a few areas but finally decided if it was going to be done, we needed to start fresh. So if we were going to start fresh, we might as well tear out the entire backyard and get rid of all the trees and plants we hated and put in trees and a garden we actually wanted. Then, my parents had a pile of unused flagstone on their driveway that they were kind enough to give us and we got started. But as with anything Tripp and I do, we don't jump in and go. We really need to think everything through and make sure it's what we really want because goodness knows we are doing this again, ever.

After a lot of sweat and aching muscles, the main portion of the backyard was finally finished on Saturday afternoon. We still have lots of trees and more garden to plant but that will have to wait. Other projects and a good long rest are calling our names. I have to be honest, Tripp did all the work. I was simply support staff. But he couldn't have done it without the help of these fine fellows: my dad, Wes, Kyle, Mason & Miles Putnam, Steven Brooks, Clay Treese and Sean Gubler. Thanks to you all. Your help is appreciated and will forever be remembered when we frolic on the grass.