Hello!
I am forcing myself to get this out on Sunday, because we will be out of town for the next two Sundays! We have successfully survived our first week of summer. It was a full week, that's for sure. I wish I could sleep for 24 hours straight, but here we are! Overall, we have had a good week. One huge improvement over last summer, is that Ziggy is letting the kids take him on walks without me! Both Marshall and Bridget have successfully walked him this week on their own. He is still reluctant to leave the house without me, but he will go with them! Yay! The kids have definitely enjoyed the slower pace of the summer. They have enjoyed playing games in the mornings with me or with each other. Those are definitely good times. I wish we were all getting to bed earlier though!
I think I will recap person by person, in no particular order.
I completely forgot to mention in my email last week that on Friday night of last week, Bridget found out she made student council for her 6th grade year. She was SO happy! Over 50 kids ran for student council, and they only picked 12, and we are just so happy it worked out for her. One of her good friends she made in 5th grade, Claire, also made it. There are six boys and six girls and I think this will be a great experience for her! Out of all of us, Bridget has probably had the most full week. She had a goat show in Logan on Friday, and so a lot of prep work went into that. On Tuesday afternoon, she and I went down to the Garlick's so she could shave her two goats. This is something that I loathe, but something Bridget seems to enjoy! No surprise there. Bridget and I spent almost three hours at the farm and came home covered in goat hair. She did all the shaving completely on her own. I was just there for moral support and to calm the goats down and hold them. It is no small feat, I must say. Bridget shaved Luv Bug first. She was a stubborn thing and it was a real pain for Bridget to do her legs. Through it all though, Bridget remained completely calm and unruffled. There were other people there also shaving goats, so two teenage girls were able to help hold Luv Bug while Bridget was able to do her face and neck! I find this to be so stressful! One wrong move and there goes a goat's eye! Bridget handles it all so well though! After Luv Bug, Bridget had to shave the baby goat she would also be showing, Lottie. Lottie was a pain to move around, but once she was on the stand, she was 100% cooperative. She was such a good little goat. I helped Bridget hold Lottie while she shaved her head and neck and a kind mom snapped some pictures and sent them to me. I love them. This goat stuff is so wild! I was so relieved to leave the farm on Tuesday afternoon with both goats shaved! On Thursday evening Bridget and Cambria went to the farm to feed all the animals, including the cows. When they were done, Cambria's mom brought them both here, we finished loading up the van, and then I drove up to Logan with Bridget and Cambria. We didn't get there until 9:30 pm, and of course the girls wanted to swim. Finally, by 11:30 pm, the girls had played in the pool, showered, read and lights were out. We had a short night with me getting up at 5:45 and waking the girls up at 6:15. We had breakfast at the hotel at 6:30 and had checked out by 7:00 am. on our way to the fairgrounds. Our first three hours there, the girls washed all the goats, touched up shaving jobs, and changed into their show clothes. It was definitely an eventful morning. The Garlicks didn't have enough goats for Cambria to show, but she still wanted to come with us and check it all out. It was great to have her there and she was so wonderful and helpful to Bridget. It was a LONG day. We were at the fairgrounds for 11 hours. I am no expert in goat shows seeing as this is only our third one, but it did not seem the most well run! The judge was so thorough for showmanship (this is where the person showing the goat is being judged). The oldest group of kids was in the ring for 40 minutes with her! Bridget's age group was the last to go, and she spent 25 minutes with those kids. Bridget did a fantastic job though and placed 3rd out of 8. Luv Bug was fairly cooperative and Bridget did a great job. After that, they moved onto judging all the goat classes and that is where things really got bogged down. Luv Bug did not place highly, she is on the smaller side for a doe, but the baby goat Bridget showed took 2nd in her class! Lottie was something else in the ring though. At one point, as Bridget was holding her collar, she completely flipped herself over and fell on the ground. She was not the only crazy baby though. Anytime a baby was in the ring it was nothing but pure entertainment. Things were finally over after 6:00 pm. I was so relieved! The girls were exhausted! I had snuck away to the van in the middle of the day for a delightful nap, and I had not been standing nearly as long as they had. They were so beat. We went through the drive thru at Wendy's, and after some dinner and Frosties they perked up. Before we dropped Cambria off, we stopped at the farm so Bridget could feed the cows again. This farm girl! We got home about 8:00 pm, and were so happy to be home! What a day! Bridget showered soon after we got home, and slept for about 12 hours that night! She had to feed the cows one last time on Saturday morning. One cow proved to be a bit impatient and gave Bridget quite a nudge from behind as she was walking with his food! In other non-farm related news about Bridget, she has had a great week. She has basically taken over the Gabb phone as her own. She is texting and calling her friends pretty much on a daily basis, which I love. It is cute because they will text each other about what time to call each other. :) Bridget and Avery went to Lagoon on Wednesday afternoon and had a great time. Bridget also had horseback riding this week. Last night she went on her birthday outing with my parents, dinner at Arella's. She was in heaven. And then she went to a late night with Avery and Claire. Quite the week for this growing up girl!
Rachel has had a good week too. On Wednesday afternoon she had her first piano lesson with her new teacher. She has been looking forward to this for weeks! She had a great time and according to Rachel, and her teacher, things went great. Rachel has been wonderful about practicing at home, and because she knows so much from Let's Play Music, she is playing ahead in her books and discovering songs she loves. It has been fun to listen to! On Wednesday evening Rachel went to a big dance party. It was hosted by two families whose backyards are connected and they invited a bunch of the dance teams over from the studio. Sara's mom dropped them off at 6:00 and at 8:00 I texted the mom to ask when I should pick them up and she told me 10:00! What?! Rachel and Sara had so much fun though. They had pizza, snow cones, other treats, played games and ended with an outdoor movie. Talk about a night! On Friday when I was in Logan, I had arranged for Sara's mom to come and pick up Rachel and Gretchen at noon. They were there until 5:30 when Richard picked them up. I have been told all weekend that they had the best time. Bless Meri for taking on two additional kids to help me out! One funny thing I have to write about Rachel, but first a quick backstory. Marshall and Ziggy have a rocky relationship, which is entirely on Marshall, who teases and teases. On Friday night I told Marshall to stop because he was only encouraging Ziggy to bite and if Ziggy were to ever bite someone not in this family, we would have to put him down. Fortunately, that got Marshall to stop, and he seems to have taken it to heart! Well, yesterday during breakfast, Marshall brought this up, and without skipping a beat, Rachel looked at Marshall with the most serious face and said, "How about we put you down?" I get this is not a great thing to say to someone, but it was hilarious with how she said it! We all cracked up laughing, even Marshall.
Gretchen, for the most part, is loving the summer life. She loves having her sisters home to play Barbies with her. She loves that so many people are willing to play Sleeping Queens with her anytime she wants. Now if only she would love letting me brush her very long hair, I would be happy. I told her last night it will be a miracle if she makes it through the summer with long hair! The tangles! Plus she sucks on it, which just makes it 100 times worse. Richard heard me tell her that and immediately got up and took over brushing her hair after her bath! Ha! Gretchen had the BEST time at Sara's house. Sara has a younger sister, Kenzie, who just finished kindergarten. They have never met each other before, but they hit it off and Gretchen was in heaven. I was pretty sure Gretchen would have fun down there, as Rachel always does, but the fun surpassed what I thought was possible! I think we will do more of these playdates this summer! Today Gretchen was supposed to give the prayer in primary. She has been practicing all week, and even though I was up there with her, the people were too much for her and she caved, so yet again, I ended up doing her assignment. Little Bear. Oh, one funny thing about Gretchen, last night as I was helping her get ready for bed she said, "Why aren't you letting us be YouTubers?" Ha! After I explained my reasons she said, "Well, when I get married, I will be on YouTube." :)
Marshall has had some highs and lows this week. I'll start with the high. :) On Wednesday morning he was finally able to go to the Bountiful Temple and do baptisms. It has been 11 months since he did this last, and I am so glad an appointment finally worked out for him. With Richard being at work, I invited my Dad to come with us, which he was so gracious to do. Marshall said it felt good to be back in the temple, and that made me happy. Also, I am pretty sure my Dad was mistaken for my husband, which is not the first time that has happened! Marshall had soccer tryouts on Tuesday and Thursday evening. On Tuesday they played in cold, hail and rain! On Thursday they played in hot weather, so they got it all. The way tryouts turned out was not what any of us were hoping for, so we have had to work through that. This whole last year, Marshall played with two teams, his regular team and his coach's higher level team. His coach has been telling him for awhile now that he would be moved up to the higher team after tryouts. Well, for whatever reason, a ton of boys showed up for tryouts for Avalanche, lots of boys from other soccer clubs. And in the end, Marshall didn't quite make the cut for the higher team. It was a blow, and an emotional roller coaster Thursday through Saturday as it all got sorted out. In the end we gave Marshall the choice of quitting soccer, moving to a different club, or sticking with Tyler on the lower team. He chose to stick with Tyler, which we will support. That team also added quite a few new players from other clubs, so we will see what happens. I commend Marshall for not quitting, and sticking it out, even though its not the spot he wanted. We have talked to him about being a good leader and continuing to work hard and be someone Tyler can count on. There are also enough returning players that Marshall seems excited about coming back. But I do have to say though, as parents Richard and I are disappointed in the club, and somewhat in Tyler. Even this higher level team is not a top level team. Sure, it is nice to win, but their wins aren't dictating anything outside of whether or not they move up a division between the fall and spring seasons. They aren't playing in huge tournaments, or anything crazy. I just think it is dumb that they completely went off this point system, without any supposed wiggle room for Tyler to choose Marshall who he has known and worked with for four years now and knows well, and who has played double games for all of the fall, winter and spring season over some other kids who just walked in and has some better skills than Marshall who they know nothing about besides his soccer talent. I just think its dumb to do that with a mid-level soccer team! Anyway, that is all I will say on that subject! We are proud of him, and we will see what soccer is like this year!
As for Richard and me, we are tired! Our kids stay up too late, and clearly need us too much in the evenings! Ha! How will we survive all their teenage years?! Our highlight of the week though was going to see Top Gun yesterday. That movie is amazing. I did not even nod off once, I was wide awake the entire time! It was completely gripping, and I would go see it again in a second! If you have not seen it yet, I highly recommend! Go now!
Richard had yesterday off, but he did have to work today. We missed him, but he got home about 5:30 and we have enjoyed a lovely evening outside eating dinner, having FHE, and the kids are all currently playing on the playset. A lovely summer night.
The kids and I leave early next Sunday morning for a trip to Wisconsin and Michigan and from there we fly to California where Richard will pick us up for a week with the Toneys in Newport Beach. It will be an epic 13 day adventure. Here's to the best! We love each one of you.
Love,
Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)
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