A Thompson Baptism

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to be invited to and attend this darling boy's baptism. Tyler, our 8 year old nephew, was baptized by his dad, Scott, on Saturday in Salt Lake City. What a fun day. He was all smiles and we had the best time sharing the day with both him and his family. His little brother Brigham is in the photo with the girls and that guy is something. Tripp and I couldn't get enough of him...or his five other brothers for that matter. We miss those dudes.
This is the entire family crowd. Lori has a lot of cousins that live in the area and it was fun to meet and chat with them. A few even drove in from Santa Barbara! But the girls had the best time with their cousins. Especially Will. He is two years younger than Kyle and such a great kid. The girls are missing Kyle so much that Daisy would just seek Will out and open her arms and Will just knew that meant she wanted a hug so he would open his arms up wide and pick her up and hug her (who knows how many times). What a good seed. Tyler hugged her a bunch too. I just love those kids. Such a handsome group...and Lori and Scott aren't too shabby either!

Scott and Lori live right near where my dad grew up. The Stake Center it was held in was the building my dad went to (I think). I remember the old pipe organ. Anyway, Tripp was nice enough to drive me by my grandparent's old house. It's not there anymore....a lot of houses in that area have been torn down and new ones built in their places but I walked down to the old creek behind the house and thought about the best Grandpa in the world and having fun with my cousins on the back lawn. It was nice. (Don't worry, I knocked on the door of the house and asked the owner if he minded if I trespassed....I'm certainly not the first, or last, Marz to have done so).
Next stop, lunch at the Red Iguana with Leslie and Will. It's becoming a regular stop for us. Just can't get enough of that mole. The girls were sad that Ashlie moved out of Leslie's house and we wouldn't see her while we stayed there but Will was a nice substitute.

After lunch I let Tripp take a rest and I drove the girls out to Gardner Village to see the Witches. We didn't have much time but it was a lot of fun and the fresh cool air was grand.


That evening we were invited to Tyler and Jackson's birthday party at a gym. I tried to take photos but it was gymnastics chaos. The girls had a blast though. Afterwards, we had tacos (courtesy of Lori's sweet mom) at their house. Yum! We hung out for awhile and checked out their rad garden and chickens. It was so fun to see them...can't wait for the next time.

The next morning, we slept in a little (Leslie included) and packed and had a little breakfast and the girls got their last chance to love Maggie & Sophie before we hit the road. Daisy, in particular, LOVES Leslie's dogs. They are just her size. I keep reminding her that we actually have a dog of our own but she likes these dogs and actually cries for them at home. Luckily, they seem to like her too so it has worked out alright so far. Leslie is sweet and patient with them (the girls) and lets them love her dogs to pieces. I love her to pieces.

Pies, Pies Anyone

That's right, she's back. This is our little sales lady, Abbie. She sold enough Entertainment books to earn herself this fabulous blow up chair(among other things)...the only one in the Kindergarten class. Now she's back, helping the teachers sell pies. They are trying to earn money for classrooms I believe and as she told me today, "I'll do anything for the school." So she made her list (really, she made the list on her own so if you got her call or are about to get it she put your name on it herself) and began preparing herself on the new sales materials.

She only has three days to sell them so thankfully, we won't be at this for two weeks. But she is determined to win her class the ice cream or pie party promised for most pies sold. Watch out Bartlett, Kyle's little sister may blow his sales records to the moon and without step(mom)s help this time (thank goodness).

We Finally Held....

Bootsie, aka, Miss Posie Pye Butler and we are charmed for sure. Abbie and Daisy now ask me every day if we can play at Ruby's house so they can hold the baby and if Daddy can go to China on one of his business trips and bring one home for us.

I tell them Bootsie needs a rest and we will have plenty of chances since we'll know her for the rest of our lives and to take the other one up with Daddy.

Katie

"A true friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." Author Unknown (at least to me)

The Dazzling Daisies

The fall soccer season started a few weeks ago. Abbie decided last spring that she was done with those rascal boys and wanted to give a girls team a try. She couldn't have landed on a more fantastic team. The Dazzling Daisies with Coach Angie is just the most darling team I've ever seen. Coach Angie buys all the girls practice shirts with their names on them and has sticker books made where they put a sticker on each drill they practice every session. What little girl doesn't love filling a sticker book every week?

She names all the skills with Disney names like "Pluto Pass" and "Daisy Dribble" and plays all sorts of princess games and Disneyland games. But I've never watched Abbie take in so much skills practice in an hours worth of time...even at skills camp. And the girls on the team are great. No girl drama here (phew). The parents seem to be low key and fabulous as well. Less gossip, more just watching girls play soccer. We are in soccer heaven.

Daisy even found a friend to play with...Anna's older sister Sophia is happy to play with Daisy during practice time. It's been a dream. But a little bittersweet as well. This is the first season in who knows how long (years) that we haven't been out three times a week with Kyle and the Eagles. It still seems surreal. The only bright side...his team changed quite a bit over the summer. The long time coach isn't coaching the team this year and several players left for league teams so if there was a time to split, I think this was it. But we still miss watching Kyle play...he is a natural and is so much fun to watch.

Labor Day Weekend

We spent the holiday weekend at home catching up on chores and projects. Nothing special or unusual. The girls spent their last three day summer weekend frolicking in the front yard....

Two Down

Two down, lots to go. But Abbie is one tough customer. I didn't know her tooth was really that loose until she complained it hurt last night and I tugged it out with three pulls.

Bring it on Tooth Fairy. Abbie got a five dollar bill this time (I'm thinking the TF was taken off guard and didn't have any smaller bills) and a quarter for her sister. She is really turning into our toothless wonder.