We have grass!!

(As soon as we have a bit more grass to show I'll post some pics of all of the landscaping.)

Camping at Bonanza

This past weekend we went to a family reunion. It's for my dad's side of the family and has been a yearly event for longer than I have been around. I thought it was so strange when I learned that not all families get together once a year for a reunion. I have many great memories of the Peterson Family Reunion and I'm glad that my kids can go now and make great memories of their own.

This year, like many of the past ten years, we have had the reunion at Bonanza campground, about 30 minutes from Stanley, ID. There is a ghost town to visit, hot springs to sit in, and lots of forest to sit and relax in. The kids had so much fun playing in the dirt with their cousins, staying up late, and eating endless junk food. The kids and I got to sleep in my parent's tent trailer where it was warmer so that made nights much more enjoyable than they have been in the past. Scott was pretty happy about being able to sleep in a tent with no one else except for my brother. Lucky. Actually the kids did great the whole trip and we had a fun weekend.

Katie packed into the back of the van.

Jace and his buddy Uncle Matt.

The kids at Custer (the ghost town). While we were there they were celebrating Custer Days with food, free ice cream, a gun fight and other festivities.

Even Gage had a good time and did great. I'm so grateful that he's such a mellow baby.

Here's a few other pictures I have taken recently...

We found these cool things at the craft store. They are tiny little balls (they almost look like beads) that you soak in water and they grow into these slippery, wet balls. They are made for decorating...putting in vases and things...but they feel really cool and are lots of fun to play with. I think it would be so much fun to fill a tub or swimming pool with these and lay in it.

The kids played with them forever today. The only drawbacks are that they do squish apart and make a mess (which Jace found out pretty quickly), they bounce when they fall on the ground (meaning little squishy balls everywhere), they are hard to pick up off of hard floors (they're so slippery that they either pop out of your fingers or break), and they disappear in carpet (next time I may get colored ones). I think next time they will be an outside activity. But they are lots of fun, and pretty clean when they aren't smashed. I'm sure we'll do them again.

Jace had so much fun that he fell asleep. : )

I had an apron making class for Relief Society today. I made 2 little aprons for Katie and Jace and I'm going to have the kids decorate them with paint. They were actually pretty easy aprons to make, which is good for me since I am easily frustrated at the sewing machine. In fact, they were so easy I'm thinking of making one for myself.

4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July week. Scott had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off so we were able to get a lot done around the house and spend lots of time with family doing parties, potlucks, BBQ's, and fireworks. We also got our yard started. The sprinkler system and a lot of the landscaping is finished now. We had a concrete pad put in our backyard today, and by the end of the week we should have our grass planted. I can't wait until we have a yard! I miss grass!

As usual, I forgot to bring my camera to most of the big events, but here are a few recent pictures of us all.

Gage is 3 months old and is smiling and laughing now. It's so cute! Katie has done so well to help me take care of him. If it weren't for Jace attacking him every minute, having three kids wouldn't be nearly as hard.

Gage and his cousin Wade, who is just 2 1/2 months older.

Scott's brother came over for the holiday from Cheyenne. The kids had fun playing with their cousins. (Jace, Macie, Katie, Gage, Raegan, Wade)

A rare picture of the two of us.

Jace in the Allen's backyard. He is such a funny boy. I can't wait to have a yard so he can run some of his energy off outside.