Worth the Wait!

After the longest 2 months of my life we finally got a visit from Daddy. 10 wonderful frantic days filled with fun, family and food. Thankfully I got him to myself for the first 24 hours and it was heaven on earth. I am reminded what a charming, handsome, funny, thoughtful man I married and I'm so thankful that this last leg of the higher education journey is almost over. Only 2 more weeks and we can start our next adventure.

Little Pioneer Children

I love Pioneer day! It's such a great celebration and I've missed it being in Texas. Cedar put on a great parade this year with entries from so many different wards - ranging from silly to creative to absolutely beautiful.
Daddy's lap is almost never empty these days.
Ksenya loves to watch the dancers and has always loved the bands.
Kabe loves the candy and has finally figured out that he has to run faster than the bigger kids to get some. He's also pretty good at sharing what he collects.

Morning Boys

Kabe got to get up early one morning to help Daddy and Papa Horse with a work project. He was super excited to get to be part of the manly fun (chainsaws and all). Don't let Daddy fool you - he was just as excited (the second picture I took the expressions were swapped). So fun for my sweet boy to get some alone time with his Daddy. Later he told me that they talked about "boy things" and did "boy jobs" and had some good "boy time". What good boys.

The Sweetest Thing

The hardest thing I've had to do without Tyler is go to church. For some reason it's miserable to sit there without him and to try and "wrangle the herd" without the Daddy back-up. Grandma is a wonderful helper, but she's just not Daddy. In fact, no-one can do for my baby what his Daddy can. It was so sweet to sit with him at church for 2 Sundays in a row and enjoy the harmony that happened when Brig sat on his Daddy's lap - quietly. Amazing! Can't wait for that to be a regular routine again. Also, thanks to Grandma my kids are organized and excited to take their scriptures to church and I no longer have to pack around coloring supplies and magazines. Sundays can be so sweet!!!

Here, Kitty, Kitty

Funny story: When I was in college I got this hair-brained idea that I wanted a cat. I found a rescue cat that I thought looked like just the thing and then put together a pitch for my family - drafting a proposal and everything and convincing a tough crowd (my brothers and mother included) that this would be a good thing. I loved the cat for about a year.

Fast-forward 10 years: I hate that cat. It sheds and pukes up hair-balls and has a stinking litter-box and is in all other ways completely repulsive and disgusting. No problem right? It's my cat? WRONG! It's now my Dad's cat and he's completely smitten to the point that "dumb kitty" as she is affectionately referred to, has him wrapped around her furry little tail.

Dumb Kitty provoked me the other day by leaving a chunk of hair and skin on the floor and so I retaliated in the way that any self-respecting woman would. I shaved Dumb Kitty. As in, naked. Though, I'm not without a sense of humor and did leave a tuft of hair on the end of her tail that makes her quite resemble a lion and encourages my youngest son to try to pull on it each and every time he sees her.


In my defense, Dumb Kitty doesn't seem phased by the experience at all, in fact, I think she's quite comfortable with her new look. Silly Kitty, silly Mommy, good story.

Daddy's Camping Trip

Daddy has been waiting all summer to go camping so when he arrived it was one of the first things that got put on the schedule. Brigham has learned that the quickest way to get naked is to get dirty - after a romp in the mud he is stripped down so he can get back in the car, doesn't seem to mind too much does he? He is also the biggest fan of tent sleeping - so much so that there's very little sleep involved. Rather, he runs around screaming and squealing in delight bouncing (literally) off the walls of the tent.
Kabe is the king of weird faces and loves camping - the dirt, the sticks, the rocks, it's little boy heaven.
Ayvri has to pick flowers wherever we go and loves getting dirty just as much as the next kid.
Ksenya learned how to make flower crowns and can turn anything into a game. She is very helpful and hates getting out of her sleeping bag in the morning - no matter how warm it is.
Daddy is our hero who always manages to compensate for the things that Mommy inevitably forgets to take with us. This time it was the shovel and hammer. Mommy was also responsible for turning our 2 night camping trip into a 1 night camping trip. On night 2 we set up the tent in the backyard and let the kids camp while Mommy enjoyed her soft mattress. On my 5th pregnancy I'm just not as resilient and adventurous as I used to be.

Hey Girlfriend!

We finally got to spend some time with a few of our long lost Cali cousins and Miss Belle found a bosom friend. These two are so fun together and were constantly dancing and dressing up and running wild all over the place. They had us laughing the whole time. Don't let the height difference fool you - they're only 4 months apart and two little peas in a pod. I'm so thankful we got some time with Jan'l and her kids! SO MUCH FUN!

Handsome Baby

I can't believe how big my "baby" is getting. Sad to think in just over a month he won't be the baby anymore. He has also decided to try to talk to us which I just love. He now says "nana" (banana), "bah" (ball), "Dada" (Daddy), "Mommy" (my favorite person in the whole world who I need to give me food), "Papa", "Mama" (Grandma), "No" (nose), "Toot toot" (truck - go figure), "uh-oh", "owie" and a few others I can't remember right now.

He loves to be read to, for a few minutes at a time and although his attention span is short, he likes to point to the words and pictures he recognizes. He loves to get lost in the raspberries, picking and eating to his little hearts content. He gives great hugs and kisses and loves to show people his belly. He has also started a bad habit of taking his pants off in public.

How I love this sweet sweet boy and can't wait to see how he adjusts to another little in our family.

Winding Down

Tyler took Part IV Board Exams in May. Since we moved the week before this exam he really didn't have time to study so when scores came out he was sweating it a little. He's such a smarty of course he passed! Since he wasn't here to celebrate with - we made cupcakes to celebrate and ate them for him. Congratulations Daddy! We are so proud of you, only 39 days until graduation!!!

p.s. the middle one was frosted with his score, but he's such a humble fella I just couldn't post that so I frosted it and ate it immediately . . . my own little sacrifice :)

Fire up the Grill.

Time to BBQ at Grandma Horse's house. Brigham has learned the game Ring Aroung the Rosey and loves to play - in a group or by himself. He'll spin around until he falls down and then laughs and laughs.
As we are playing outside the sprinklers come on and every woman takes the opportunity to yell at the kid that did it, then Papa Horse peers out of the porch and we realize he's the tease running the faucet. Is it any wonder where every Petersen boy got it?
Here's my own little tease - who loves to explore at Grandma's house and usually finds something interesting (in this case it was an axe with which he was planning to chop down a tree - thankfully caught before the mayhem began).
Of course we must celebrate with Ice cream cones, and Brig had to find the perfect secluded spot to enjoy his. I think he was hiding from me so he wouldn't have to share.
We're so glad that there's finally grass at Grandma's house and we love to play duck duck goose and tag and Frisbee. It's so quiet and beautiful and nice to let the little ones run around without their shoes.
Kabe and Peter decided to play army and they marched around the yard with swords forever. They are two peas in a pod and so funny. We decided we can only let them go 5 minutes without checking on them when they're together, 15 is just too long (see the axe reference above).
I asked Ksenya to pose for the camera and this is what she did. The little turkey was sick of being photographed I guess, but the bum is cute enough I took one anyway.
The Frisbee got stuck on the roof and Papa lifted Kabe up to get it. He was so proud of himself and had to make muscles over and over before he started crying like a little girl at the thought of jumping off. Thankfully - Papa helped him down and he was reassured of his hero status again.

Free as a Bird!

Happy Independence Day! Here is the herd we followed to the parade - all decked out in their red white and blue's. Needless to say we caused a scene everywhere we went, with murmurs of, "Now THAT's a lot of kids!" and "Look at that!" all around us. Yes, this is Utah, but even here this many children causes a little stir.
We needed festive fingernails for the occasion - thanks to Sharpee for making this Mommy's job just a little easier!
What fourth celebration is complete without snow cones and cotton candy? This little girl was in sugar heaven with her first introduction to the sticky poison.
Yay for sisters. I haven't seen this one in quite a while (my Ayvri was a baby since we really got to hang out) and it's so great to have her and her herd here for a few weeks!!!
Another silly Ayvri - can't get enough of this girly. I also loved that the kids all sported their cowboy boots with their shorts. Yes, we're rednecks, and that's ok!
This little boy just can't get enough of Aunt Amber's new puppy Teddy Bear. Poor dog didn't get any peace all day.
Brig decided at one point he was done and screamed like a girl for a solid 10 minutes while everyone around us at the park looked on in a, "where IS his mother" fashion. When he stopped he ran over to me and said, "mama!" very happily and they all looked in disbelief. I know, I could have intervened, but we were outdoors and I figured he just needed to let it all out. Don't judge.
Here's a happy Mama-son combination - I think he might look a little like her, what do you think?
Papa took to policing how far out into the road we could go after the police man on the motorcycle honked politely at Kabe three times while Kabe stared on in complete oblivion.
Had to. Sorry.
Here's the Lion's Club truck. Why did I add this one? Well, pretty much to tease my big brother who is now officially and unequivocally OLD! I mean, don't you have to be old to be in the Lions club and wear the yellow vest and all? Well? That's him, hiding behind the guy in the cowboy hat . . . flipping burgers and selling balloons and running the dunk tank. I'm so proud!
Brig didn't much care for the sirens on the fire trucks either. Pretty much he was terrorized.
Guess how many of these kiddos belonged to our herd? 12 . . . yep, you heard me . . . 12! And Grandma wanted to buy them all a balloon (whereupon I pointed out all the devastation that could follow), whereupon she agreed to buy them popsicles later instead.
Another cutie - her mother got up early to make her these darling bows . . . show off!
I can't get enough of her face.
Girls - gotta love em. In this case gotta love the orthodontist that will treat them someday.
One of my favorite faces - "muscles" as I lovingly refer to him as, is always (ok almost always) happy to see his Aunt Toni and never hides from my camera.
When it's all said and done we march back to the car, very sticky and happy, albeit a little hot.
These are the cutest little patriots I've ever seen! So fun to share one of my favorite holidays with them. I'm also SO thankful to be back in a small town where the festivities feel much safer and more personal and I'm not constantly on edge. It was also nice not to have to suck down cigarette smoke all day long and not have to pay for parking. I loved being a Texican, but I'm a small town girl.

Happy Campers

We got to go camping for the first time this year at Yankee Meadows - a beautiful area complete with mountains, trees, and even a stream running through our campsite. Uncles Heath and Seth constructed this nifty rope bridge that got hours of entertainment out of the myriads of kiddos we had in attendance. The stream was also responsible for 6 pairs of lost shoes I think. The kids loved crossing the stream and most of them got wet in the process. Little Ayvri lost her pants by lunchtime each and every day and enjoyed true redneck camping in her panties.
This particular pair started out white, but thanks to the very black mountain dirt she had a lovely gray snuggie in no time. These very same panties also ended up in the bottom of the biffy (that's hick for port-a-potty). She wasn't sure how they got there but was thankful for the fresh pink pair that she got to wear after that. Such a cute little bum.
This was the kitchen area where Brig pretty much lived the entire trip. Good food was plentiful and the rows of coolers and boxes made perfect little tables for all the littles to eat on.
Camping hair has never been so cute as these two twinners. The second Ksenya saw the bandanas she decided she needed her hair like Aunt Jeri's and asked me a dozen times if she looked like her Aunt. I think there's a little mutual affection going on with 2 of the most beautiful funny girls I know.
Papa enjoyed tormenting each and every little and Ayvri, who has taken to calling him her "silly Papa" enjoyed being tormented. She especially liked being hung upside down. Don't worry - Papa got tormented too, Grandma tried to lock him in the biffy.
These are my happy campers the first night - it took a while to get them clean enough to put into their sleeping bags but they were happy as crickets and slept very well (albeit they all crammed into a big heap sometime in the night and poor Kabe got to be on bottom). The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold and we slept very well thank heavens!
Lots of hiking took place - mostly lead by Aunt Aimee (our resident educator) and Papa (our resident Boy Scout). Crossing logs and streams made the hikes adventurous enough for our most daring and darling campers.
Searching for wildlife droppings and bugs Papa had quite the audience. He is so much fun and they all just adore him.
There was lots of educatin' going on and the kids learned all about Poopine (lupine), Fluffy Flat Firs, Sharp, Square Spruce and Pokey Packet Pines.

We draw a lot of attention everywhere we go with the herd of littles - all within just a few years of each other and mostly blondies. Surprisingly there wasn't a whole lot of fighting.
Look - they're all the king of the rock!
Time to take a breather in "the meadow" . . . words cannot express how many references to Bambi we heard throughout the trip.
Back at camp Grandma organized the chairs in Sunday School format. Needless to say, there aren't enough chairs here for all the littles but somehow we managed to get them all fed anyway.
Another great adventure was the four-wheeling. The first day we were educated by the forest ranger on the rules and regulations of said recreation. So we sent Aunt Aimee to town to buy some helmets and enjoyed hassle-free wheeling for the rest of the time. This little guy never did want to get off the wheeler and every time someone left without him he punished his mother severely.
Uncle Heath's hammock was never empty either, in fact I rarely saw it with less than two or three kids piled on one of the uncles. Uncle Rich enjoyed having a little sing-along time with this group. We also enjoyed watching Uncle Seth dump a bucket of stream water on a sleeping Maji.
Here are the Mama's on the wheelers. Probably not the most daring, but definitely fun. I think I even impressed my little dare devil Ayvri with how fast Mommy can drive - while Ksenya dug her fingernails into my sides.
By day three my kids were getting pretty beat - Ksenya ended up with a whomping stomach ache and checked out for a few hours while Ayvri fell took a catnap in the shade.
Kabe enjoyed whittling for the first time (highly supervised) and carved himself this wooden knife which was then used to reenact the near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. Uncle Seth was Abraham and Kabe got to be Isaac. After the first performance he kept begging all the adults to sacrifice him. I guess it's another generation of likening scriptures :)
These two have a love/hate relationship - look at the one on the left, determined, persistent, but controlled. Now look at the one on the right, yep, that one's mine - completely freaking out about the possibility of losing his chair when there are 17 others surrounding him. He has a mother, she does occasionally bathe him.
What an amazing, wonderful, exhausting adventure. Can't wait to do it again . . . . . next year :)