July 2012

We did lots of fun stuff over the 4th of July weekend. Nicole and her family came to visit. One day they came, along with my sister, Mickell, and my mom, to Pocatello to spend the day with us.

 We started with lunch at the park.

After lunch we all went to Ross Park Aquatic center to swim.

Kaydence, Camryn, and Marley

Kendra and Kaydence

Corinne and Marley were so cute. They were two little peas in a pod.

We brought a few snacks for us to much on.



Kaydence, enjoying some chips.





Kendra



 Marley and Corinne couldn't choose between eating chips or playing in the water. So they kept going back and forth. They would run and get their hands full of chips, then run back to sit in the water.  They were pretty fun to watch.



Such cute little friends! Don't they just make you smile?

 Mickell and Camryn swam together in the big pool.

These two had slide passes, and went down the big water tube slide over and over again. I think it's safe to say that they had a blast!

 Connor and Kesler chilled together. Nicole and I were trying to keep them out of the sun, but they got tired of their car seat carriers. So we had to use our ingenuity. Can you find the babies?

Our adorable baby boys

We all had fun at Ross Park.

Later, we got together at Kim and Monte's house to celebrate the 4th of July.

First the kids played outside until it started to get dark.
My dad brought a bunch of fireworks, and gathered all his granddaughters to start with snaps.

Then we moved on to sparklers.

Camryn

Kaydence

Marley and Corinne



Kendra

Then Grandpa got out the snakes. 

Then we all got cozy our little firework show.

Grandpa put on a great one for us.

After that, Monte got a fire going and we all gathered around to roast marshmallows.

Uncle Travis and Kendra

Kent and Corinne

Camryn and Kaydence

sisters

We all had so much fun, all day long. We love spending time with family.

I have to throw in a few pictures of Connor. 

He is such a happy, smiley baby. He sure likes to coo and babble too. We all love him to death!

Happy July!

Lagoon

Kent and I got a babysitter for Corinne and Connor and took Camryn and Kendra to Lagoon. They loved it so much last summer and have been looking forward to another trip. We had a blast! I didn't take any pictures (I was too busy having fun with my girls), but I wanted to share a little about our trip.
Do you remember last year? Camryn and Kendra were scared by the big rides. We spent most of the day in the kids rides. Well, this year was completely different. We started in the kid area. We slowly worked our way to bigger and bigger rides, more specifically, bigger and bigger roller coasters. Our girls thought they wanted to try the Colossus.

 I thought they could do it, so we headed over. As we were in line, Kent expressed that he thought it would be too much for them. I urged us to try it, and we all ended up getting on. Remember that Camryn is 7 and Kendra is 5.

They both said they liked it, though Kendra did not want to go again. Camryn wanted to try all the roller coasters. She even went on Wicked.

Wicked

She said that was her favorite ride. She wanted to try the new Aerospace ride too. Kent went on it with her first. She loved it and wanted to go again. I rode with her the second time. I was shocked at how fast and scary it was. She loved every big ride she tried.

Kendra was limited by her height, but she went on lots of big rides too. She loved the swinging boat that scared her last year. She also went on the big swings (a ride she didn't even try last year).


We were so proud of our girls and how brave they were. We had so much fun together. They are already asking when we get to go again, so we will all look forward to the next time.

Boys

We have girls, beautiful girls. Kent and I have always known that this means that someday, we are going to have deal with boys. Still these experiences always seem unexpected.

I have already shared about Camryn's BFF, then how he later wanted to be her boyfriend. Well, apparently moving up to first grade also meant moving on. Camryn says that Brayden went "koo koo," which I think meant crazy. She said he was always acting weird. I tried to explain to her that it was probably just how he acted because he liked her, but she had just lost interest in Brayden. Camryn did want to have a boyfriend this year though. We shared quite a few talks about this. We talked about what it meant to her have a boyfriend and such. She didn't have a particular boy in mind, she just wanted a boyfriend like one of her friends had. Camryn is a very smart girl, and agreed that she didn't need a boyfriend right now, though she admitted that part of her still wanted one. She would just be friends with the boys at school. So I thought we were going to make it through another year without too much boy trouble.

But the unexpected happened, and it wasn't Camryn.

Kendra got her first kiss.

Kendra and Corinne both got really close with the family that watched them while we were at work and school, really close. This is a picture from Easter when our kids joined them for an Easter egg hunt. Ian is in the white on the left and Noah is in yellow in the middle.

We noticed that Kendra and Noah played really well together and really seemed to like each other. Well, one day they were playing house in the backyard, and apparently Noah gave Kendra a kiss. Ian ran and told on them.

The next day, we went out to eat pizza with their family. Kent kept trying to give Noah a hard time about it. Noah was so embarrassed. Poor boy. I guess that will teach him not to kiss one of our girls.

So we are now living in Pocatello, and a new boy seems to have a crush on Kendra. As I said, Kent I expected boy trouble. I just hope we can make it through the next 16 years. Please pray for us.

Connor--One month old

Just lots of cute pictures, taken while Connor was one month old.



Grandma Petersen and Connor
May 27

Chillin' with Dad
June 12



June 12

 Corinne sure loves her baby brother. She likes to help take care of him as much as she can. She has brought him blankets and toys, and even tries to help change his diaper. Last week she got to try to feed him a bottle. She calls him "big boy" and "little man," just like I do. We just have to watch her so she doesn't try to pick him up by herself. That has happened twice, and Connor ended up on the ground both times. He's going to have to be tough to make it with 3 older sisters.

Corinne and Connor
June 13

June 13

 Mickell came to watch Corinne and Connor for us a few days this summer.

 They shared some good bonding time.

Grandpa Parkinson and Connor
June 16

June 16

 I sure love my two handsome men!

Ready for church
June 16

June 17

Connor is so stinkin' cute. I am so happy he's my baby.

Camryn's First Grade Field Trips

I am going to do some catch up blogs. I'd like to cover some things I've missed. One of those things is Camryn's first grade field trips that I was able to join her on. Going back to elementary school is fun, especially with my kids! Back in December, I got to join Camryn on a field trip to the local fire station.

 The fire trucks were pretty cool! We'd never seen them this close up before. They let all the kids climb inside and through one of the fire trucks.

 The firemen told us what it is like to be a fireman, and they gave us a tour of the station. We even got to see their bedrooms, and how the station is a home away from home.

This firefighter showed us how quickly he can get dressed in all his gear and be ready to go in an emergency.

 He was super fast!

 It was a fun day, and we learned a lot!

The next field trip I got to join Camryn on was the end of year field trip in May. All four first grade classes walked to the park for a play day. The teachers brought various things for the kids to play with. Each child got a bottle of bubbles. Camryn had fun blowing bubbles with her friends.

 We were moving to Pocatello the day after this field trip, so we knew it was Camryn's last day to see her friends. We made sure to get some pictures.


Elsie and Camryn



Camryn and Josie



Alex, Camryn, and Jorgie

 After playing with bubbles for awhile, we headed over to the monkey bars. Camryn is awesome at the monkey bars!

 Later she played duck, duck, goose.

 She also spent some time holding and showing off her new baby brother.

 Just before going back to school, we all ate a picnic lunch on the grass. I packed this apple as part of Camryn's lunch. This apple is a special apple.

Camryn lost a tooth eating this apple. She said she didn't notice when the tooth fell out, she just noticed at one point that is was gone. We searched for the tooth but could not find it. We concluded that Camryn most likely ate her tooth along with the apple. All part of a nutritious meal!

I really enjoy seeing Camryn with her friends and getting to meet so many people from her school. The thing I like most is getting to spend time with Camryn, though.

Hopefully there are lots more school field trips in my future!

Connor's Blessing Day

I am so far behind on blogging. Life has been busy, as usual, but even more so lately. We packed up all our stuff, and moved to Pocatello. We moved our stuff on a Friday night, and I had to go back to work the following Monday. In addition to my regular 40 hours, I have had lots of drive time, filling in at pharmacies all over. Kent has also been busy, first finishing up our old house so we can sell it, then starting his volunteer hours for school. We moved 4 weeks ago, and our new house is still full of boxes. Someday we will get all moved in.

I have lots of things to blog about, but I am going to skip forward to last Sunday, July 1, 2012, the day we blessed Connor.

 It was such a special, special day. He looked so handsome in his little white outfit.

This outfit is extra special. It is Dane's. It is the outfit that he was blessed in, and sealed to my parents in.

Dane, on his blessing day
June 1994

I was able to be there in the temple, kneel at the altar, and hold Dane's little hand on my parents hands while he was sealed to them. It is such a special, sacred memory for me.

Sealing Day
August 1994

Connor's blessing day was a very emotional day for me, and many members of my family. Connor is the first boy born to our family since Dane was born, and we gave Connor Dane's name, as a middle name. Dane really was such an awesome, wonderful person. Dane's loss has taught us how valuable life is. We all want to hold Connor, and love him, and never let him go.

Many of our family members came to share this special day with us. Camryn, Kendra, and Corinne we so happy to see Kaydence, Marley, and Kesler.

Joy gave Connor a bath, then I got him dressed just before it was time to leave for church.

 My handsome little man!

LaRee seemed to love holding Connor as much as I do (which is really saying a lot). She never wanted to give him up to someone else. It made me smile to see the way she watched my mom holding him during sacrament meeting. If she couldn't be holding him, she was at least going to be looking lovingly at him.

We all headed over to the church. During sacrament meeting, Kent was able to give Connor a name and a blessing. My dad, Jonathan, Travis, Bruce, and Howard were all in the circle with him. Kent gave such a special blessing. It made me cry, and I noticed that I wasn't the only one. Even Kent was very emotional about it.

After church, we came back to our house. We got a group picture before lunch.

 We barbecued hamburgers and shared a lovely spread of food.

My mom and Bruce

Kaydence enjoying one of my mom's staples, monkey bread. It is a cinnamon and sugar delight!

Grandpa had to get in on some of the delight! 

Nicole and Kesler

Jonathan spent lots of time playing with his nieces. They love it! I just hope his suite jacket made it through unscathed. He was rolling around with them and everything.

Me and Connor with Nicole and Kesler

We had to get a picture together with our little men.

Thank you to everyone that shared this special day with us.

  We all love this little man so much!

Kent's Pre-school Report Card

We were going through some things, and came across this. We laughed so hard, that I thought I would share it. Those who know Kent well will appreciate it.