Daisy Doodle Bob

This is a small update about our dear girl, Daisy. As some of you might remember, she is named after my favorite flower, the "Happiest Flower" Meg Ryan proclaims in You've Got Mail. Unfortunately, our little Daisy is more of a stinker bully than a happy flower. Abbie asked me the other night something about if Daisy would still be a part of our forever family ever though she is a bully. I'm sure it's a phase she will grow out of but she isn't always the nicest girl to her family. She and the time-out chair have become very well acquainted. But don't worry, if you aren't a member of her immediate family, you are in the clear.

Tripp and I realized a couple of weeks ago that Daisy understood Abbie's name is Abbie Marz Thompson but we referred to her as Daisy Elizabeth Thompson and she said (very seriously I might add), "No, my name is Daisy Doodle Bob." I guess all the years of calling her Daisy Doodle or simply Doodle have caught up to us. When she was really little and couldn't say her own name we just called her "Bob" because she could say it too. I suppose it all adds up and comes back to haunt you eventually. She is slowing starting to accept that her name involves Thompson.

True to her stinker nature, she has been a pill about the potty. She knows perfectly well how to use it, just didn't always want to. Wasn't scared, or forgetful, just didn't care. After cleaning out way too many poopy underpants, I finally told her that Miss Lori doesn't allow girls who poop in their underpants into dance class. That seems to have done it. She REALLY wants to start dance Monday so having an actual accident is all we get now days.

And finally, her hair. She hasn't wanted me to put more than a bow (if even that) in it. In fact, she pretty much insists on running around with it looking like a fro explosion. Today she asked me to put her hair in piggies. I'm not sure how long it will last but at least today, it doesn't look insane. Her hair is actually pretty long, almost as long as Abbie's (which most people are deceived by) but hers is even curlier than her sister's so we have a lot of crazy mess going on each day.

And that's it. School starts Monday (yuck), along with dance. Soccer has been going for about a month now and soon piano will start up as well. So long lazy days of summer....

The Big 1-3

"Are you old enough to be the son of a 13 year old?"

"Why, yes, yes I am."

Just a little Phineas and Ferb humor. With Abbie's current obsession I have to laugh or I might cry.

Back to the big news...Kyle turned 13 yesterday. Grandma Marz didn't fail to mention that now he is officially a teenager. We were hoping to gloss over that part of the celebration (well, actually totally ignore it). I don't think either of us is really ready for Kyle to be a teenager and honestly, I'm not sure he really 100% wants to be one either.

Kyle is in love with rollercoasters so Tripp took Kyle and three of his buddies to AdventureDome all day. Although no one puked (refer to last year's birthday post), a couple of the boys did turn green part way through the day and eventually sat out a couple of the rides so Tripp bought some tickets and rode at least one ride with Kyle. Someday Kyle will make a friend that is in love with rollercoasters as much as he is. Where is Aunt Sam when you need her?

After the day of indoor amusement fun, they came back for pizza and the rest of the family joined us for cake and presents. A little later in the evening, Tripp dropped all the boys off at the church for their mutual activity.

Back to Abbie's Phineas and Ferb obsession...we have a CD of the songs from the show and she knows them all. She has been wanting to sing one to Kyle for his birthday and she finally picked what she calls the "Sad Song" and serenaded him over eggs in the morning to her rendition of number 14 on the CD about an evil nemisis.

The photos aren't that great. At one point Tripp sent me a text telling me that he was working on photos but getting them was like getting a photo of the Sasquatch. That's a group of 12/13 year old boys for you.

Happy Birthday Kyle. Here's to another year!

Welcome Back Kotter...

My sister, Samantha, officially finished nursing school today. But possibly more significant than her graduation/pinning is the fact that we will actually start seeing her again.

Sam graduated from BYU several years ago with a degree in Social Work. When she decided to skip the Masters in Social Work and pursue her R.N. instead, she entered this crazy fast track nursing program that takes a year to complete. In the ceremony today, they mentioned that only a select type of student can really make it through a program like this. Nursing school is hard enough for some people but this program is really not meant for most. Sam definitely inherited the school brain in our family (I don't think Lindsay will disagree with me on this) and has always been able to not just do well but absolutely excell in school without much effort. Anyhoo, although we didn't see much of Sam at all, with her scientific brain (another thing Linds and I don't have) and her photographic memory (oh ya, that either), Sam did awesome and this last year and graduated at the top of her class.

So, a hearty congrats nurse Sam...and welcome back.

Our Week In Reno

Better late than never, below is a little recap of our trip to Reno. I loaded up the girls and Kramer and left town Tuesday morning for the long, long drive north. Grandma had dinner ready for us upon arrival. Then, everyone needed to get their wiggles out. Kramer let Grandma throw balls for him (he has never wanted to play fetch before) and the girls danced around in her living room.

We spent the week visiting with family and friends. Aunt Susie had Wednesay and Thursday off work and Abbie in particular was looking forward to her collection of dress-ups. She also brought along a craft each day for the girls to do.

Abbie can't visit Reno without a trip to the dress-up library. We always luck out and visit during one of their storytimes. Abbie and Grandma went in while Daisy and I worked on puzzles.

We spend a lot of time in Grandma's front and back yards. The girls forgot about the sandbox this year but ran around a lot, watered flowers and plants and played tennis. They also took Kramer on lots of walks around the neighborhood and colored Grandma's entire driveway.

One of the highlights of visting Reno in the summertime is a trip or two to the lake. A huge "Thanks" to Dr. & Mrs. Riley for inviting us to their beach house twice (they were out of town). We really enjoyed our two days at Tahoe. Tripp flew in just in time to spend one day with us. We don't visit the Southern California beaches much so spending time with the water and the beach was a special treat for the girls and one I have especially fond memories of growing up.

And it wouldn't be a Reno trip without some time with Dr. Legarza (that's right...Katie is plastered and mailed all over Reno as part of a St. Mary's Hospital Cancer Center campaign. She is the only person in the world who could be less thrilled about the attention than I would be. From from an advertising perspective however, she's a gem. We lucked out this year and Martin didn't go on the Legarza campout so we got to see him as well. We did overlap with some annual golf tournament (second year in a row) so he missed our morning at Magic Carpet Golf but it was really, really nice to have dinner with the entire Legarza family Friday night. They couldn't have been more gracious. Their bulldog puppy Yater gives wonderful slobber kisses and the girls had a great time with CJ and Maddy. Minature Golf the next morning was funny...gotta love Magic Carpet. And we won a free game so we'll all be back there again next summer. And Caedon was SO NICE to Abbie. He was just absolutely a gentleman and so kind to her Wednesday at the lake, then Friday night teaching her to eat artichokes then asking her to come play video games Saturday afternoon. He sure made her day (after having a big brother who likes to push her buttons). I'll never stop wishing we lived closer to them (and not only because Katie is my oldest and closest friend).

So the trip is over and the girls are already talking about what we will do next year...sure sign of a success. Thanks Grandma for all the fun. Kramer liked coming too.

Thank Goodness They Live Two Doors Down...

One of Tripp's good friends had a birthday party tonight at his place. Tripp was out of town but the girls and I went anyway. They enjoy seeing people other than me once in awhile (it gets old being with mommy all the time when daddy is away). Things were going well and the girls were playing on the swing set for a couple of hours. Just as it was time for us to get ready to go, I noticed a splinter in Abbie's hand. Not a huge surprise since Sean and Tripp built that swing set about five years ago and its bakes in the Vegas sun every summer.

Tripp is the master splinter extractor in our home so having him gone was the first bummer. But I figured I could get it if I worked at it. Sadly, it was in there...deep. It was pretty long and there wasn't anything exposed. I needed someone to hold her while I dug. That was the second bummer. Luckily, Lindsay and Wes live two doors down (no exaggeration...exactly two doors down) from Sean and Aimee's house so I marched the girls down there for my reinforcements. Wes held Abbie while I worked on the splinter. I wasn't having any luck with the tweezers so Wes and I started talking about getting a needle and Abbie FREAKED out. We quickly started calling it a splinter extraction devise and promised we wouldn't use a needle. Wes got the SED and held Abbie's head away while I dug the splinter out. Once I got the SED it didn't take too long. Lindsay had a Curious George band aid and Popsicles and we called it a night.

Thank goodness they were there and willing to help. I can to a lot on my own but this would have been too much. Thanks Wes and Lindsay. I really, really appreciate it.

Summer Vacation

We took a small family vacation the first week and a half of July. Tripp spent the previous week and a half in Scotland so it was nice to have him back and. We started off in Duck Creek at the Marz cabin. Everyone was there and we enjoyed our second year celebrating the 4th up in the mountains. Then it was off to Salt Lake City for several days of fun, family and friends.
At the cabin we: went fishing (Kyle caught the first fish), rode 4-wheelers, played on the rope swing across the street, made crafts (thanks Aunt Sam), attended the Fire Fighter's Pancake Breakfast, watched the 4th of July parade (Ali, Tripp, Lindsay, Sam, Wes & Ryan) participated in the 4th of July parade (Grandma, Papa, Abbie, Nate & Daisy (in the cabin car) and Kyle who lead the parade), made and threw paper airplanes off the loft, played lots of Sequence, generally got to hang out and have a nice time.

In Salt Lake we: stayed at Aunt Tina's house, swam in her pool, went to the Zoo with the Butler girls (we miss them again already!), Kyle FINALLY rode the zip line (although I'm still not sure he weighs enough), visited Wheeler Farm, fed the ducks (at Wheeler Farm), went to the Aquarium in Sandy, spent the evening at Lagoon, made a trip to IKEA, had a family BBQ at Aunt Leslie's house and generally had a great time.

On the way home we stopped by MamaThom & PapaThom's house for a short visit. PapaThom taught Kyle how to make the ammunition for his 12 gauge rifle (I think). Kyle figured it out and got really good at it really quick...still not sure how I feel about that.

A few items to note:

*Kyle was asked to wear his Boy Scout uniform and lead the parade with the other scouts. I told him it was his choice. He decided to do it then ended up being the only scout there when another one drove by, saw he would only be one of two, then bailed. Kyle did it all by himself. I was really, really proud of him.

*Abbie really didn't know what we were doing when we went fishing. When Kyle caught the fish and she saw it squirming in the net she screamed her lungs out and ran as quick as she could to the back of the boat. It took her awhile to calm down.

*Abbie loved playing with and reading to baby Ryan...she is smitten.

*My Aunt Tina is great. She was such a fantastic hostess and really got to know the kids and went a bunch of places with us. My kids really love her (and all her toys - especially the air hockey table).

*Seeing the Butler girls was so much fun but it just reminded us how much we miss them during the summer.

*Abbie got startled by a monkey at the zoo then really didn't want to be around the animals. She spent the majority of our trip to the aquarium hiding behind my back.

*My cousin Jen had a friend visiting that joined us all at Lagoon. Thanks Theresa for bringing Connor (age 11)...Kyle had a blast and can't wait to see him next summer!

*Abbie's first ride at Lagoon was the "Egg Drop" (not sure what the real name is). Abbie hated it and struggled with rides the rest of the night.

*Kyle made friends with Tina's dog Sandy. She slept with him the second night we were there.

*My Aunt Tina and Aunt Leslie have beautiful gardens.

*We got to see Paul and Patricks' families on the way from the cabin to SLC. Unfortunately, we didn't know they were in Cedar so we couldn't stay for a long visit and playdate.

*The kids enjoyed hanging out/seeing their cousins (Nate, Ryan, Isabelle, Seth, Cooper, Preston, Saige & Garrett) and I loved seeing mine (Rick, Ryan, Nolan, Ashley, Jennifer, Michael + spouses + kids).

Evening At the District

This afternoon I decided to take the girls to the District this evening for a small picnic and a ride on the carousel. They always want to ride it and with Tripp out of town and Kyle visiting his mom we had nothing stopping us. I got in touch with Lindsay and Sam and both were interested in joining in. I got there a little early with the girls for a picnic. They loved playing on the grass, lounging on the blanket and dreaming about which animal they were going to ride.
Then everyone joined us and we headed to the carousel. My girls were all smiles (they've been a little blue lately with daddy, Kyle and Ruby all away).

Lindsay suggested a trip to Ben & Jerry's after the ride. Abbie & Daisy never turn down ice cream so off we went. After the cones we wandered over to the live music and the kids danced for awhile. Daisy fell asleep within seconds of getting in bed tonight. Sometimes the best of times come out of plans that were never really plans at all...