Courtney

 On Saturday John and I were both working on various projects and the girls were looking after Matson.  After awhile Matson comes running in to talk to me.  He's all smiles and says, "I Courtney".  The girls had dressed him up in a dress (Emily's shirt), put make up on him, put bows in his hair (which he would NOT allow), and painted his nails.  He was going around telling everyone he was Courtney.  It was so funny!  Matson was super pleased with his fingernails that were painted yellow.  He said "Kelsie made these" and showed them off to everyone!  Today he turned to John to show off his nails again and said, Kelsie made these!  Then turned to Kelsie and said, "you made these!"  He was so proud of Kelsie's abilities to turn his fingernails colors!

The girls sure loved turning their brother into a girl for a couple of hours!  I did the same thing to my baby brother and he survived so I know Matson will be okay!  :)

Sand Mosaics

My favorite thing about the whole summer is "NO FRIEND DAY".  It sounds bad, but most of my neighbors do it on Wed. and I LOVE having a whole day of just my kids.  We fill it with fun projects...baking, crafts, etc... and I love having the whole day together to do whatever we feel like doing!   This week we made use of all the sand and shells we brought back from Bear Lake and did sand mosaics.  The kids had a ball and their finished creations were awesome...but I didn't get a picture!  I'll post pics of Bear Lake soon...hopefully before Matson's b-day...but no guarantees!  Summer if flying by.  :(

Island Park Vacation 2012

After our family reunions in Idaho we headed to Island Park for our family vacation.  The kids love staying in my Grandparents little A frame cabin and seeing Uncle Drew's plays.  We had a longer stay there this year which was so nice.  This post is picture OVERLOAD so watch out!  But here is a brief rundown of our trip for my sake.  

Day 1:  We arrived in Island Park, went 4 wheeling with Drew and family, had delicious pizza at Mack's Inn, went swimming, and headed to the cabin to get settled for the night!  I had NEVER been 4 wheeling and it was so fun.  I even drove the 4 wheeler (against my better judgement) and loved every second of it...although I was terrified the whole time!  I'm not much of  a thrill seeker.  :)

Day 2:  We got up and headed into West Yellowstone to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center.  It was a lot bigger than I remembered and the kids enjoyed it.  It wasn't Bear World...but it was a nice change!  We saw bears and wolves and lots of fun displays.  The kids even found themselves trapped in a bear trap.  See pictures below.  Then we walked around West and went to the Penny Store (our favorite)!  Then we headed back to the cabin and found that my Grandma and Parents had arrived.  John and my dad went out looking for cabins to buy (John is obsessed with having a cabin in Island Park).  Then we headed to the playhouse to see 3 Amigos!  My parents and Grandma LOVED it and it was fun to share Mack's Inn with them!  Thanks for coming with us!!!  We all stayed at the cabin together which was super fun!

Day 3:  We bid farewell to the grandparents and headed to Quake Lake.  The kids loved it (much too John's displeasure) because he doesn't know why I love it SO much.  We didn't get to see the houses in the lake which was a bummer though.  Then we went back to West to the Grizzly Center and got to see some different bears.  The wolves were very active this time which Emily enjoyed.  She loves wolves.  Then we went to the cabin for naps and High School Musical movie time.  We went back to Mack's Inn for a delicious dinner, and great entertainment.  We laughed our heads off during Home School Musical.  Drew is one of a kind and the kids loved it!  

Day 4:  We cleaned up the cabin and met Julie, Ellie, and Sterling at Warm River.  We fed the fish and ducks, chased the seagulls (Carter and Ellie's favorite part),  toured Johnny Sack's cabin, went on a little walk, and took some amazing pictures (which mostly involved John and I fighting over our camera that we both LOVE way too much).  :)  Then we said good-bye :(  to Ellie and fam and headed to Rexburg to the splash park.  We played, got soaked, dropped a key to Grandma, and I got lost getting to her house (I've been there a billion times).  Then we went home!  It was a painfully long drive (I'll spare you the details, but our kids HATE car rides.  We were happy to get home to our own beds, and happy to see our kitty survived without us, but we already miss Island Park!  

 Four wheeling with Uncle Drew!

Our family outside my grandparents cabin.  We love that view!

Mack's Inn...waiting for the play to start.

 Matson with his "2 GRANDMAS"!  Matson was DELIGHTED the entire trip that he had 2 grandmas in one place!  He walked around saying "1 Grandma, 2 Grandma" and pointing at them.  In the mornings he would go around telling everyone who would listen, "1 Grandma sleeping, 1 Grandma AWAKE!"  I can't begin to convey his exuberance...but if you've spent any time with our Matson, you know just what I mean! 

Emily, Grandpa Peterson, and Carter at the playhouse.

 The kids and crazy Uncle Drew...the 2nd night.

 On our way to Earthquake Lake.

Look at what the bears did to these garbage cans!  Pretty cool.

 Feeding ducks at Warm River.  Love my baby boy!

My kids and Ellie.  They all adore her!

Emily and Ellie

Touring Yellowstone with baby brother.

 Emily's favorite Wolf (her favorite animal).

Seeing the Bears at the Grizzly Center.

Caught in a Bear Trap! 

On the deck of Grandma's cabin in our jammies.

This one was for Aunt Carol, mom.  :)  Matson climbing the stairs to the loft!

Our family before getting ready to leave beautiful Island Park.  It was an amazing vacation and we can't wait for next year!

Peterson Reunion

While we were in Idaho we attended my Peterson Family Reunion.  I hadn't been for a few years and it was very fun to see family that I hadn't seen in a long time.  It was a very long, hot day but it was nice to be there with family.  We had lunch together and then went on a tour of a historic pioneer village which was really neat.  Then we visited, played games, and had a Dutch Oven Chicken dinner.  This is the kids with their Great Grandma and Grandpa Peterson.

This is all the Peterson clan listening to the tour guide for the pioneer tour.  The tour was very well done.  The kids got to do hand on pioneer activities and they shared lots of fun stories about the pioneers in this area.

 Cousins playing on the covered wagon.

 Emily was chosen to be a helper and she got to dress up in pioneer clothes and help spin wool.  She was in heaven.

The kids got to sit in old school desks and learn all about school during pioneer times.  

Grandpa Peterson did a great job of entertaining Matson all day which was a great help to us.  Matson is a busy little handful but Grandpa kept him happy and busy all day.  Matson has a special bond with Grandpa and really can't get enough of him.  Every day when he wakes up he asks me, "GO Grandpa's house?"   If my mom stops by to visit he hardly lets her in the house before he says "where Grandpa?"  It could be considered a bit offensive, but he sure LOVES his Grandpa!

Grandma's Birthday/Vacation Begins

We started off our vacation by going to Idaho for Grandma Hansen's 88th birthday party!  We had a few bumps along the way.  We found out the night before we left that our little airconditioning problem was a big, expensive problem that required ordering parts so we ended up leaving a lot later then planned.  As soon as we got the van back we threw our stuff into it and headed off.  It wasn't until we were almost to Malad that John turned to me and said, "what did you pack your stuff in"?  Anyway, it's a really long story but we ended up in Idaho without any of my clothes for our week long vacation.  After some deliberation we decided our best option was to head back and get it.  Crazy, I know.  So we pulled over to wait for my parents.  We switched their luggage to our van and my parents joined me and the kids on the rest of the trip to Idaho and John headed back to Utah to "retrieve the package" as he likes to explain it.  :)  Luckily, Grandma Durrant took pity on us too and went and picked up my bag and met John in Salt Lake.  We really appreciated everyone who helped us this day...there were a lot of you!  In the end, we all made it to Idaho, I had clothes, and the kids and I made it to Grandma's 88th Birthday and were were so glad to be there! 

 We stayed two nights at my grandma's with all my family and it was a fun time.  The kids enjoyed experiencing the country life and spent their time going on walks, swinging with Great Grandma, skipping rocks, etc.. 

Carter and Matson chilling in Grandma's gazebo.

 All the cousins skipping rocks with Grandma Peterson.

Showing off their Big Bro and Lil Bro shirts, thanks to a great Gymboree clearance sale!  :)

I loved spending a few days with my Grandma and getting to spend time at her house which just happens to be one of my very favorite places in all the world!  Happy Birthday Grandma!

Building with Dad

 John was working on building some shelves for our garage (HOORAY!).  Carter was right by his side through the whole process.  He LOVES to help his dad.  He had all his tools out and was helping dad saw and hammer.  But he encountered a problem:  he didn't have a nail gun like dad was using!  Next thing we know he had ran inside and pulled out his Nerf gun and he was ready to work!  He helped nail those shelves up with his powerful gun and he didn't stop until John was done using his nail gun!  It was so cute!

 Measuring and sawing with dad.  Carter stayed right by John's side all day as they built the shelves and he loved every minute of it.  We love our new shelves and I love how entertained Carter was for the whole day.  I told John maybe he should build something every Saturday...he wasn't too keen on that idea! :)

That's our boy with the evil glare.  We love this boy!

Father's Day

The kids made John breakfast in bed and had all kinds of cute cards for him. At church they sang the cutest song that our new chorister had written and the kids were delighted.

That evening we had Grandma and Grandpa Durrant and the Schreiners over to celebrate our dad's.  The kids put on a really cute Father's Day Talent Show to entertain us all.  :)