Makenna is 11!

We were all so excited for Makennas birthday.  Usually I say I cant believe my child is __ on their birthdays but this time I felt like Makenna certainly should be 11 by now.  She is wise and mature beyond her years, and becoming such a beautiful young woman inside and out!

On the morning of her birthday we enjoyed toaster strudel for breakfast and opened up her gifts.

She had the best reaction to her great big stuffed bear... (I think she liked it ;)

 Kevin and I joined her at lunch at school with Chick Fil A.  When she was home she excitedly recieved this edible arrangement sent by Oma and Opa.  Then she chose family dinner at Olive Garden.  For her birthday activity on the weekend, she hung out with best friend Emmie.  They went to eat at Panera then to play on the indoor surfing machine and finally to swim.

I think she had a fabulous birthday which this fabulous daughter of mine totally deserves.  Lots of love and birthday wishes Makenna. Love you!

A Weekend Divided

A few weeks ago Kevin took the older kids on a roadtrip back to Nebraska to see the big BYU /Nebraksa football game.  They had a blast and really enjoyed being back with our Omaha friends.  Brayden spent a lot of time with Carson and Makenna got to visit with Ally.  She spent time there rather than going to the game.  Kevin enjoyed the visit with old friends as well and loved going back to our old ward.  We do love Nebraska.  BYU had a great time too so the trip was a big success!

I tried to entertain the younger two kids at home with some more fun that normal activities.  I took them to Sharkarosa wildlife ranch for an exotic animal experience.  I think they had a good time.  Afterwards we got pizza and then went for a swim to cool off.  We had a fun weekend as well but were very glad when the rest of our family returned!

Perot Museum Fun

This year I decided to get a membership to the Perot Museum downtown, mostly to have something to do with Emmitt when he doesn't have preschool.  When the girls heard about it they wanted to go too so a few weeks ago I took them on a Saturday and had a great time.  After the museum we walked to Clyde Warren park to have lunch at the food trucks.  We had a fun day!

Back to School 2015

Today was a successful first day of school for Brielle, Makenna and Brayden.  These kids were loving summer and did not want to go back but they were cheerful about it this morning and much less worried/ stressed than last year.  All in all it went pretty smoothly.  We are still working out our schedules and transportation but its nice to be back to business.

Ready to go... (except Emmitt who is in his pajamas...he'll start his preschool in 2 weeks)

Kevin took Brielle into her school and took these pictures.  She was so happy to walk past her old teachers classroom on the way to her new class.  She is very loved by Mrs Cortez.  She'll have a great time in her new class though because she has two of her good friends, Addie and Kylie in her class with her, and she says her new teacher seems very nice.

Last bit of summer fun

Heres a last few pictures of some summer highlights

Top row: kids @ a Rangers game, kids @ the Gardens,Brielle at horseback riding lessons,
Bottom row: Kenna on the flow rider, Makenna at horseback riding lessons

Canada

We spent a big chunk of our summer up in Canada so that the kids could have plenty of cousin time.  I was gone for 3 1/2 weeks and Kevin joined me for one of the weeks.  I traveled by myself with the kids and marvelled at how big and old they are.  At the airport they could all be responsible for their own luggage and belongings and entertainment on the plane.  I have arrived!  It was an easy trip.

Some of the many fun things we did included picnics up in the mountains.  This was at Bragg Creek.

For Family Home Evening we played the "candy bar game"  It was a big hit for all the kids.  Everyone ended up with a candy bar in the end.

We headed down to Cardson/ Hillspring for a Reunion on my mom side.  It was descendants of Nils Andrew Peterson and it was at Hillspring.  We slept though at my grandmas house in Cardson.  It was neat to go back to those places I havent been to in a very long time- and fun to show them to my children.

Inside my Uncle Myron's house.  These animals on the wall are a childhood memory for me.

This is the house my mom grew up in.  It was built by my great Grandpa Nils Peterson.  He first built the basement then gradually built on to it.  Then eventually my Grandpa moved his family in to the basement and Nils moved upstairs.  By the time my mom was born, Nils and his wife had moved to lethbridge and the house belonged to my Grandpa Peterson.  It is on a farm in Hillspring and it looks the same as I remember it as a child- inside and out.

The Canada Day Parade in Hillspring

After the parade, the reunion people went to a park for lunch and play.  Here's the whole Peterson group.  Its not a very great picture because I took it off facebook, but you get the idea ;)



 Emmitt wasnt feeling well at all and fell asleep on a blanket.  I always have to capture these rare moments - because they are hard to otherwise believe ;)

I am so glad we had some time with my grandma Matkin.  We stayed at her house for the Hillspring reunion.  She is 91 and still very bright and busy.  She had us all playing cards late at night.  And at home I play scrabble with her online almost daily.  Her mind is in great shape!  Im glad my kids could meet her again and hopefully remember her always.

 More of the Reunion in Waterton...

And  back in Calgary Kevin flew in to join our party.  We celebrated birthdays.  I made his usual cake and he outdid himself by actually making me an ice cream cake.  It was awesome!

 And heres some shots from our day at Calaway Park...

One of the fun activities that mom surprised us with was renting these big balls that you could roll around in and bump into each other with.  We all had a lot of fun with that.

And just a few random shots from other fun things we did- including Plinko, at the Grigors ward stampede breakfast, climbing at Tommy K Play, riding the train downtown Calgary to the Devonian gardens, and other picnics at the park.

All in all, a great trip!

Krispy Kreme Adventure

Sometimes in life you do things that are crazy... like spend the night camped out at Krispy Kreme donuts to earn free donuts for a year.
Kevin and Makenna and Emma Thomas did just that.  They were crazy and in the end very tired but they spent the night there in the Krispy Kreme parking lot and earned their punch card.  The girls slept in the back of the van and Kevin mostly just stayed up all night.  It was a crazy but memorable adventure.

And here they are at about 4:30 in the morning, getting their first batch of free donuts.

The girls slept most of the next day but when they got up we went to Bahama Bucks and they showed off their new shirts that they "earned"  (and the pic of Dallas is just for fun)