Our last days of summer....

Elliott starts school tomorrow, July 26th.  He will be a first grader, in the dual language, Spanish Immersion program at his elementary school.  Today, he and I went to meet with his teachers and he starts his day, every day, with Spanish.

I am so excited and so nervous for him.  We both walked away from our teaching meeting with lots of questions and a little confused.  And, we forgot to look where the bathrooms are.  When you go to school all day, you need to know where the bathroom is.

First grade, can you believe it?  I remember the day this boy was born, the day I had to leave him at the hospital and the day I got to bring him home.  And now, he's six and a half and starting first grade.  I told him that I might cry tomorrow. He looked at me like I'm the biggest idiot he knows.

Since our "summer" was only three weeks long, we have tried to cram in a lot of stuff and this week has been no exception. 



We went for a walk around the lake and got mysterious bug bites all over our heads and arms and saw fish.



Elliott lost his fifth tooth and I made little tooth fairy monsters for the boys with my new sewing machine to celebrate.



We went with cousins to check out the floats for the Pioneer Day Parade, stand in long lines for balloon guns and then proceeded to pop our balloon guns. Oh, and Wyatt won a pack of gum in a ring toss game.



Side note: I do not EVER want to build a float.



The babies were not impressed with the floats!



Batting practice and bat eating practice with dad the night before he had to go to scout camp.





Pick nicking, nose picking, and so much swimming we sprouted gills for the 24th of July celebration.



Wrapping up the last days of summer in one of our favorite places, on the floor at grandma's house watching dumb cartoons with Uncle Willie. And, learning how to plank.

Third Annual Petersen Pioneer Day Extravaganza!

Yesterday was the third summer in a row Ross and I have hosted my extended family through my dad's side for a food fest and for the third time in a row the party and the food did not disappoint.  Ross and I decided to grill steaks for the whole crew, nearly 30 people, and everyone else brought so much delicious stuff that my giant island nearly ran out of room.

I hope everyone had a good time.  I had a good time.  My kids had a great time playing with all their cousins.  And, I'm real happy my mom convinced me to have the party in the evening instead of mid-day because it was so stinkin' hot that we would have all roasted at an afternoon party.

Speaking of roasted - we ended the evening making smores on the fire pit, in 80 degrees.  They were tasty.  They were fun.  Quinn didn't quite know what to do with his marshmallow.

Thanks to all that came.  I wish I would have remembered to take more pictures.

Cousin Camp at the Farm

On Friday, we decided to brave another one hundred degree day and head to the farm at Thanksgiving point because we knew it would only take us about 15 minutes (okay, maybe 45) to look at all the animals, ride the horse and the wagon and head to lunch.

Lunch.

The real reason we even decided to do an activity in the first place.  You see, food is pretty much the center of our lives.  And a good coke.  Yes, french fries and cokes.  So, we plowed our way through the heat and ended up at lunch.  Then, to Cabella's.  For the air conditioning, some wacky Asian tourist playing with pop-gun watching, and the air conditioning.

We pretty much could have skipped the farm and just wandered around Cabella's.  The kids wouldn't have known the difference between the dead and stuffed and the alive and frozen because it's hot.

Anyway, it was fun.  We were happy to have Uncle Willie tag along as the unofficial older children nanny (he got lunch out of it so I hope it was worth the trip).  And, there isn't anything better for me than hanging out with my sister and brother for the afternoon.

And, there was a chicken that didn't have any feathers.  That was pretty freaky.

in a nutshell....

Ross got a new to him truck. Since we sold Shavy Jones he's been looking and looking. He sold his truck and found a new one in the same week. Lucky guy. It's got 4 doors and doesn't feel like we are riding in a semi. Also, Quinn likes it.

I'm pretty sure that my children never pay attention at church. I'm pretty sure that most the time I don't manage to pay too much attention at church. But, last week, one of the speakers said, "Nauvoo" and Wyatt turned to me and said, "Mom, that guy said Naboo!" as excited as could be. Who knOO they talked about Star Wars at church.

Last week we met one of my cousins and her kids for a couple of hours at the West Valley City pool. We had a great afternoon and a lot of fun. Auntie Haley volunteered to avoid her bathing suit and stay home with the little boys while I took the other kids. It was a good day.

After dinner and swimming on Wednesday night at my grandpa's I had to run to the post office in Magna. Magna may have the most beautiful sunsets.

On Thursday, just before the morning doldrums set in, we decided to trek to the local 7-11. I didn't realize until we started walking and looked at my phone that it was nearly 100 degrees outside. We got our slurpees, stopped quickly at the park, found a tiny pine cone and got home as quickly as we could. Holly hot, batman. The first thing the boys did when we got home was take off their undershirts and me? I had to change too. Even with a dry shirt, sweat was still dripping down my back for a good 30 minutes later.

Grandma Camp

My mom has always taken a little bit of time off of work in July.  This year, she's decided to host the big grand kids for a few activities.  She is calling it "Grandma Camp".  My boys have been talking about Grandma Camp for weeks and their Maiden Voyage activity was last week - a trip to the DUP (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) Museum to see the two headed lamb, a trip to the Disney store for a bunch of crap, and lunch at Liberty Park.  That trip was without moms.  My boys came home wild and exhausted and ready to just move in with Grandma.

Yesterday was activity two of Grandma Camp.  First, we got a flyer in the "mail" (e-mail) giving us our marching orders.  This activity involved all the kiddos and their moms.  The boys were so excited.

 

We met at the designated time and place, did some car seat and booster change-ups and headed up the canyon to Silver Lake at Brighton.  It was a beautiful day and a good 10 degrees cooler up in the mountains.  We walked around the lake, saw some critters and butterflies and beautiful blue dragonflies.    We saw some fish jump, got bit by mosquitoes and had a picnic with a chipmunk in the shade.  The big kids struggled with so many flies and bugs, leading us into a great discussion about why real camping is dumb and our picnic lunch food may not be the kind of stuff others would pack (donuts and diet cokes, anyone?) but it was so much fun.

It was a great way to spend the day and I was glad that Quinn and I got to tag along.