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.

Update at last

It has been the craziest few months...first a baby, then moving and settling into a new house. I feel like there's an endless list of things to be done. However, I'm so glad our original house buying plans didn't work out. When we first put an offer on our house the closing date was March 31, just a few days before Gage was born. But since we decided to finish the basement - plus all the inevitable building delays - we didn't close until May 29. It was still hard with a 2 month old, but it would have been impossible with a newborn!

Anyway, we are loving our new house. It is so much better than anything we have ever had before...and it's ours! We have so much room to grow and I love that I can put things where they should go (as opposed to food storage in the closets and pots and pans in the laundry room like we had in Denver). The only bad part is that there is so much more to clean, and since we live in a mostly empty subdivision there is a ton of dust. But the good outweighs the bad and we are happy.

We also hope to have a yard soon. Dirt, rocks, and weeds just don't cut it. The kids love playing in it, but it will be so nice to have grass and trees and a garden. That's our next big plan and hopefully we can get that going in the next week or so.

Here are a couple of pictures of the house. Sorry they are kind of boring, but I really don't have much to show. That entryway table is really the only decoration I have up...decorating is one of the many 'to do's' I have on my list. Plus, most of our house is empty space. We are severely lacking in furniture, but it does leave a nice empty basement for the kids to run around in. I'm excited to get this house furnished, but I have to keep reminding myself...one thing at a time.

Our bedroom. It's a huge room and the rope lighting in the crown molding is a plus.

Our one and only decorated area, and it's actually not even finished yet. I'm not quite sure what else to put there, but I think it's missing something. My favorite part is the picture that you can't really see because of the flash, but it's of the Sacred Grove. Scott gave it to me for my birthday and it is so beautiful!

Part of our living room and the kitchen/dining area. I love having all of this area open to each other and the kitchen is great. I've always wanted an island and it's nice to have a desk area for our computer to go.

Our living room...another view.
The kids are adjusting to their new surroundings. They've actually been a little difficult since we moved, but I think all the craziness kind of threw them for a loop. Jace is especially naughty, but I'm pretty sure that's mostly just the way he is. Besides beating up on Gage and throwing food, he is chewing on everything, from library books to clothing to game cards. I find spit wads all over the house. The best remedy for him is to get a ball and run around with him in the basement or go outside...anything to release all that boy energy.

Katie's also been more defiant lately. Just becoming more independent I guess. However, she's also a big help with Gage...singing or reading to him and showing him toys. I get a lot done with her help. Some days I'm at my wits end, but then I have to remember to be thankful that I can stay at home with my kids. Not everyone has that luxury.

Gage is doing great. I just took him in for his 2 month appt and he weighs 14 1/2 lbs and is 25 1/2 inches long, both at about the 95% for his age. He's so much bigger than my other kids! Jace better watch out...when Gage gets bigger he is going to deliver some serious pay back for all those face squeezes and head bonks. Gage is smiling a ton now and even laughed for the first time yesterday!

One of his first smiles.

This was taken today, and it's of his first real bath. I actually tried to give him a bath when he was just a few days old in a little tub, but it was a disaster. He kicked water everywhere and then pooped. Great. So I have been sponge bathing him or hanging him over the sink for baths every since. Today I finally decided to try the tub, and of course he peed the minute he got into the water. But he liked sitting in the tub and I think we'll finally make the transition for good.
Jace is our extremely messy eater. You probably can't see, but he has chili all over his face under the chocolate.
Katie and Jace with their beloved Uncle Matt.
The three hooligans.

We're still here...

We have moved! (We just barely got internet today...finally!) We closed on the 29th and moved in the next day. It is so good to be finished with it all! We've unpacked almost everything and now I'm just working on putting out the decorations.
So far we love it here! It's so nice to have all of the extra space and the kids loving having more room to run around in . Our ward is great and we've met some nice neighbors. Looks like we're going to like it here!

Our own Benjamin Button

Gage is experiencing some early male pattern baldness. He had a beautiful head of dark hair when he was born, and then it all started falling out...from the front to the back. It's stopped falling out so fast now and I don't know if the back will ever fall out. Hopefully that shiny spot in the front grows in soon. I guess it's a good thing his face is so cute! : )
Here are a few new pictures of our house. It's almost finished! Scott is doing a walk through with the builder today so hopefully we'll be moving in a couple of weeks.

Downstairs family room (the opening on the side goes into the hallway and to the stairs)
View of the other side of the downstairs family room. It was such a long skinny room that we decided to break it up with an arch. We'll use one end for TV and couches, and the other end for a play area and one day maybe a pool table.

Finished upstairs family room. I love having the carpet in. It makes it seem like a home!

As for the kids...they are all doing much better, just some lingering coughs and runny noses. Gage is sleeping well at night, but is still a little stuffed up. The pediatrician said on Friday that Gage just has a regular cold, his lungs sound fine. I was so relieved to know that he didn't have the nasty RSV that has been going around!

A long week

It has been quite a week. Sunday was good. We blessed Gage that day and had fun spending lots of time with all of our family.
The rest of the weekend and all of this week has been spent battling sick kids. First Jace had a fever, now a cough and runny nose. Katie was actually the one who didn't get very sick...just a little cough. Gage is the hard one. He has had a stuffy nose all week. Now he has a cough. I'm taking him in to the pediatrician today to make sure it's not getting into his lungs. Poor little guy! I feel so bad for him. He's so little to be sick.

All of this has made Scott and I really tired too. Long nights of snuffling, coughing, and trying to clear out Gage's nose has kept us up at night. Three kids has definitely been hard this week! Hopefully they'll all start feeling better soon and we can get back to normal.

On a lighter note, carpet was put into our house this week (sorry no pics of that yet) so we are almost finished. We hope to move in Memorial Day weekend, but we'll see how long the touch ups and inspection stuff takes. Anyway, here are a few long promised photos of our house. I'll take a few more now that the carpet is in and post them soon.

Master tub

Master bath

Entryway

Kitchen

Family room upstairs