A little of everything...

Anybody else ever feel like you have nothing to blog about? Then I download my pictures and realize that the blog has neglected to mention Owen's birthday celebration (coming soon, I hope) and shenanigans like this...
I know, you're thinking, "Where is this little girl's mother while she's getting into trouble?" I have no excuse. This little girl is so girly. She has adopted a pair of my shoes that she walks around the house in all day. She does have good taste: metallic gold peep toe heels that look fabulous on her. She loves purses, baby dolls, make up, jewelry, bows and princesses. She is learning her colors, but the only sure fire answer at this point is PINK. She also has to eat on her pink plate for every meal. After 2 boys, this little one is definitely a fun change.

This is Kirt's Christmas light creation this year. Not the best pic, but another homage to the Utah Utes. Kirt had these up 2 weeks before Thanksgiving.
Kirt volunteered me to come up with something in lieu of an Angel Tree for his work. They needed gift tags for people to take and purchase a gift for a charity that provides for children with cancer. But the office is 50% Jewish, they wanted something non-denominational. I know most people could bust something out in an hour, but I am not crafty. at. all. So it took longer than it should have, but it was a fun project. Families were invited to the office last Friday to help wrap the gifts and the kids were excited to go. As I pulled into the office, Kirt called and said that we were the only family showing up. Don't worry - it gets better. We walk in and a girl says, "Where are the rest of your kids?" I give her a puzzled look. She says, "Somebody told me that you guys have 8 kids." I respond flatly, "We only take the 3 cutest ones out in public." Seriously? 8 kids? I know 3 is a lot for some west-side-californians, but 8? Not to mention that Kirt looks like he's 26.

Obligatory Halloween Post

These kids really had the hang of trick-or-treating this year. There was no running in the houses this year or putting candy from their buckets back into the people's bowls. I think I only saw 1 face plant and they were all so sweet and thankful for the candy. 200% better than last year, can't wait to do it again.
Kalia goes to school with Owen and Tessa was invited to participate in their trick-or-treat event. She had a blast and they had full buckets! Still can't figure out where my pictures of Owen went. (I think my mom got some, so somebody download them for her and send them over!)I dumped all that candy into our trick-or-treat bowl and it was a good thing, because we had a TON of trick-or-treaters.
All the kids in their costumes right before our church Halloween party. Sadly, the only one I have of all the kids together. Cal went trick-or-treating with some friends so that the little ones wouldn't hold him up. He cleaned up in the candy department. So once I finish all the goodies my mom baked while she was here for Halloween, I'll be dipping into his Halloween treats. Thanks again Mom, I couldn't have done Halloween or everything else this weekend without you!

Utah at UNLV

We met in the middle with most of Kirt's family for the Utah game. Vegas weather was beautiful. We had a blast swimming, bbq-ing and eating. And best of all, the Utes pulled off a win.
Several attempts at getting pics of the kids in their Ute shirts were largely unsuccessful, but we pulled a few out of the many.
Leave it to my kids to pull a crazy face when everyone else is participating. True character showing through.

4th Grade

It's official. We have a 4th grader in our family now. Cal still let me walk him to school this morning and see his new class. The kids (and parents) don't find out who their new teacher is until the first day of school here, so there was a lot of excitement and nervousness. Luckily, Cal likes school for the most part and with his 5th year at this school, he's made some great friends. I've already had a mom call and ask if one of them can walk home with Cal tomorrow. Here's to a great year!

Disneyland Baby!

We had been waiting all year to get to Disneyland. Finally, my mom, Aunt Jenny and Isaac came to visit and we made quite the day of it. It was a great day. Although Disneyland is for the kids, there is nothing like being a parent and seeing your kids enjoy it all. It really is a magical place. It was a little bittersweet without Grandma Peterson. We know how much she loves Disneyland and I can't help but think of her as we go through the park and the shops. We're looking forward to our next trip with her.
Beginning of the day. Tessa wasn't feeling so great, but with a little medicine she was quite the little trooper.
The kids with cousin Isaac in California Adventure. The day was HOT, but the lines were short so we were determined to make a great day of it. Unfortunately, we didn't stop long enough to take many pictures.
Tessa is a wild card when it comes to the Carousel. She always wants to get on, but sometimes freaks out when the ride starts moving. She loved this one and went on it a few times while we waited for the other kids to go on the big rides.
Owen took a two hour nap in the middle of our day. It worked out nicely, because we closed the park down leaving the parking lot just after midnight. The kids were great the whole day and fell asleep by the time we got on the freeway.
The Nielsen's joined us for a bit and the girls had so much fun on Small World together. They giggled and pointed the whole way through.
Toon town. This was right before we got stuck on the roller coaster for 15 minutes while they had "technical difficulties". There was a silver lining: when we finally got off the ride, we were given a fast pass to any ride in the park. Nice!
I had my camera on the night time setting to see if I could get the castle in the picture. With the long exposure, this was the result. Looks like Owen is a hologram.

Shout out to my Utah Peeps

In case you haven't heard, Brooke White's new album is in stores now. You'll want to go get your copy because she's coming to Utah next week for a meet n greet and CD signing. Monday, August 17, she'll be at the Barnes and Noble at 7157 Plaza Center Drive in West Jordan (84084 if your using your navigation) at 5pm.
The CD has been on constant repeat in our car and home. We absolutely love it - even Tessa is requesting 'Radio Radio' as we're driving around. So get down and meet her for yourself and tell her I sent you. They've just announced some tour dates as well, so she'll be back in SLC at Avalon on Sept 26. You won't be disappointed. Seeing her live is unlike anything you've seen before.
She's also doing other dates around the country in the next few weeks, so if you're not in Utah, visit her myspace page for more details.

Summer just got cooler

We've been trying to locate one of these water slides so we were excited when Bonnie called and said that RC Willey had them on clearance. The problem was - how do we get it here from Utah? Remembering that RC Willey also had stores in the Vegas area, we called Bart and asked if he would pick one up for us. Then our friends, Josh and Gabrielle (aka Yosh and Gay) were making a trip to St. George the next weekend and agreed to snag it on their way home.
Thanks to Bonnie, Bart, Andria and the Hansens for getting this here. We've broken it out a few times and the kids are having a blast. We're looking forward to many more water days in the back yard with our friends, so give us a call if you want to come play!
Tessa is doing a great job climbing her way to the top and flying down the slide. Owen is already doing flips off the top. Cal is trying all sorts of new tricks. We're also hoping to do 'Mom's Only' day when we can play without those pesky kids getting in our way.
Grandma Leslie came down for a fun little weekend trip. We accomplished a trip to the fashion district downtown, re-planting my flower beds, kids pictures and as always, she gladly took the kids while we enjoyed a dinner without spilled drinks. Thanks Mom!

How Californians celebrate Pioneer Day

We decided to take advantage of a little lull in Kirt's work and spend a long weekend exploring California. We left early Thursday morning and drove straight to the Bay area. We spent the rest of the day and part of Friday morning at Fisherman's Wharf, a trolley ride to Chinatown, a drive down Lombard Street, and a visit to the Golden Gate Bridge. Vacations always mean food, so it included a visit to Taylor's on Embarcadero, clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl from Boudin's, Tricia's mini donuts (twice) and peppermint hot chocolate.
We have been to San Francisco at least 5 times and at least 3 of those visits were in July. We always forget that it is freezing, no matter what time of year. The fog over the bridge just seemed to add to the experience.
Chinatown was more tricky to navigate this time. The streets are lined with little nick-nack shops with merchandise spilling out onto the sidewalks. The kids had to grab at the samurai swords at every. single. store.
Friday we drove down to Santa Cruz. They have this great boardwalk on the beach with lots of rides and carnival food. (I still haven't had a fried twinkie or oreo - are they any good?) We couldn't figure out why there were so many people there that day. Parking was a nightmare and when we finally made it to the boardwalk we discovered that we were there on Free Concert Friday. The headliner was Eddy Money - let's just say there were a lot of acid wash, perms, feathered bangs and I may have seen some L.A. Gears with 4 colors of neon laces in them.
This carousel has an added feature. The riders are supposed to reach up and grab a metal ring from the arm that drops down and try to toss it in the clown's mouth. It was oddly fascinating to watch the people and their intensity as some people tried to grab 2 or 3 rings at a time.
Saturday we drove down the coast a little further to San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach. It's a long windy road down Highway 1 and most of it is along a cliff. Cal was not a fan, but it's always a beautiful drive. Sunday we stopped in Solvang, which is an interesting little Danish village just north of Santa Barbara. We had our first taste of aebleskivers (pancake cooked into a ball) and I think we'll be back on one of our food tours down the California coast.
All in all it was a great trip and ended like this. Owen and Tessa were so sweet with each other watching out for one another as we walked from lunch in Santa Barbara. I hope they spend more time like this as they get older.

Life with boys that love baseball...

Thank goodness for glass replacement companies that come to your home and take care of everything right in the driveway. I only had to make 1 trip to the grocery store like this.

4th of July

Grandma and Joni with the kids waiting for the parade to start. It's a good thing the Hooper Parade didn't start until 10:45 and we only had to walk about 50 yards to get there or we may have missed it. Perhaps the best part of this holiday was that we all slept in and got some much needed rest toward the end of our Utah adventure. (Actually Kirt did miss it, but in his defense, he worked 36 hours straight to get a big deal closed and catch his flight to Utah.)
Logan and Libby let us borrow their motorcycle and scooter and we had a blast. All the kids got to ride with Kirt or Grandpa. It took a lot of convincing, but we finally got Joni on one of the bikes and it was hilarious. After she got the kinks worked out she did great, but those first 6 seconds were touch-and-go. I don't have a picture probably because I was trying so hard not to pee my pants. Luckily for her and the house, everyone walked away safely.
Below: Cal even rode the motorcycle by himself. I didn't think he could do it, but Kirt gave him a shot and he did pretty well. Hopefully we didn't tear Jon's lawn up too bad.
Tessa is almost a year older than Redd but I think they weigh about the same. Can't wait to see Redd (and the rest of you) next month.

Welcome Home Elder Peterson

Kirt's youngest brother Sean returned from his 2 year mission inUruguay for the LDS church at the end of June. The kids were so excited and made some fun signs at Grandma Peterson's the night before. I'm sure the sign was about Sean because his name is the biggest, but the Peterson's love their sports, so all of the family's (or Cal's) favorite teams were represented. (The grandkids made most of the sign, but I know I see Joni's handwriting on there too.)
Bailee has been counting down almost as long as Bonnie, so it was only fitting that she hold the sign.
Everyone (except Joni) was surprised to see Bart walk out with Sean. Bart re-arranged his flight to get in before Sean and waited at his gate for over an hour to be the first to see him. It was great to see Sean again and to watch him get to know the kids again.

Out of Town = Out of Touch

We recently returned from visiting family in Utah and I may get around to downloading those pictures soon, but this post is well over due. My friend Hilary is on a new show on Oxygen and you've got to see it! 3 episodes have aired already, but they are re-running it like crazy, so you should be able to catch up. "Dance Your Ass Off" airs on Monday night. (Yep, you just read profanity on my blog, let's be honest, you knew it was going to happen sooner or later.) Get caught up quick because I went to the taping that airs on Monday, so keep any eye out for the girl in the audience wearing an outfit borrowed from another reality TV star. Here's the clip from a few weeks ago. Hil is seriously amazing!

School's (almost) Out for Summer

Here in SoCal, school goes a little longer than other places and we're closing in on our last week of school. I'm actually looking forward to it. We've got a few little trips planned and there's always adventure to be had with these 3 monkeys! At the last assembly of the year Cal was given the Principal's Award for "Academic Achievement and Citizenship." Of course, Kirt and I are super proud of him, but I think you can tell from the picture that Owen and Tessa think that Cal is pretty special too!

Another week in the life...

Grandma Leslie and Uncle Logan came to visit and do a little celebrating for Logan's high school graduation. And let me tell you, my Mom deserves to celebrate. Logan really made her sweat for a while there! They flew in just in time for me to go to my first Hollywood fashion show while they watched the kidlets. (Pete Wentz is one tiny little dude.) We did lots of hanging out, eating and a little shopping just for fun while they were here. Thanks again mom and Log!
This pic is at The Grove. Quite a successful trip that included lunch, lots of treats from the Farmer's Market and finally - quilts for the boys beds. Not bad after 2 years in our house - right? We're getting there.
We've spent a lot of time at Cal's school lately helping them build their CO2 rockets and today was the launch. It was a blast and something that the kids will definitely remember. The whole school came out to count down the launches for the 3 classes that participated.
I loved this picture of all the kids looking into the sky. Cal had just pulled the cord that released his rocket into the air. They were supposed to run and try to catch their rocket before it hit the ground - that was unfortunate for the group of 2nd graders that were sitting where Cal's rocket was headed. Cal almost dove on top of the poor little souls.

No picture, but yesterday was Cal's last baseball game of the season. Before we sent my mom and Logan to the airport, Cal was telling them what he would do if he were caught in "a pickle." I just laughed and said that we'd see if he was that brave if he were ever in that situation. Fast-forward 2 hours and there Cal was - caught in a pickle between 3rd and home. He was hilarious - I wish I was a good enough writer to explain his dancing, hand shaking movements as the catcher threatened to throw the ball to 3rd. Cal had a look in his eye that said,"C'mon, just throw it already!" The whole crowd was on their feet, the catcher finally took the bait and threw the ball and Cal took off for home. He slid into home (he wouldn't have it any other way) and everyone went nuts. That was the final run for his team this year and an exciting end even though they lost the game. I think it was the highlight of the season for Cal (and maybe me too.)

June, so far...

Today my baby turned 2. All day we've been saying that it can't possibly be true, but the calendar says it is. She's been singing Happy Birthday with us all day like she knows it's all for her. She had lots of presents, phone calls and texts from friends and family. She's one crazy little girl but we wouldn't know what to do without her. The other night at Kirt's softball game she climbed at least 5 feet up the back stop. Just one example of what a nut she is!
The kids before church this morning. Actually, church had already started but we made it a little late.
Tess with her new Cat in the Hat from Grandma Jackie. Do you think she liked it?
Last, but not least, Owen had preschool graduation this week. Luckily he has no idea what graduation means because he has 2 more years of preschool. They let all the kids dress in cap and gown and give each one of them their own special award. Owen won the award for most athletic. When we asked him what it means he says that he is the champion and that he runs the fastest. Way to go O.