Back up to the Kearl's Cabin

Our friends, the Kearls, invited us (along with 4 other families) up to their cabin for a sort of "End of the Summer BBQ". Not everyone was able to make it, but those who went had a great time! We barbecued and chatted and ate and the kiddos went exploring (and found bones!). We sat by the fire and talked and loved seeing the fall colors in the trees of the canyon.

The kiddos took turns seeing how long each of them could sit in the mountain, stream water (they have a stream that runs right by their cabin - they have dug out some sand so that there is a little pool there). It was FREEZING! Cole was the only one to go under and I swear - his lips were blue. 

Reagan held the record (even over the teenagers) for one minute (it was really more like a minute and a half) up to her neck. Then, Cole had to push the boundaries by going under - crazy boy! No one else dared go under and it's probably a good thing - Cole may have frozen his brain :)

When Cole finally came out, he sat by the fire, but he actually melted part of the bottom of his shoes because his feet were so cold that he couldn't feel the warmth coming from the fire. Ugh! From frozen to burnt - this boy is one extreme to the other :)

Next week, the Kearls are going to be locking up and winterizing the cabin. We're so lucky to have been invited to join them several times this summer - it's a great place to be!

Fall Decor

Our Fall Decor came up in August. I know it is early, but I had to take down the red, white and blue of 4th of July, so, rather than put something else up for 2 weeks, we jumped straight into fall. It's funny because my friend, Brenda, kept saying that you can't decorate for fall until there is a chill in the air. I'd said "It's fall!" and she would say "It's summer!" Oh well - school starts and I consider it fall :)

We found these little, candle filled pumpkins with gold on the top at Bath & Body Works this year - SO CUTE!!!!

A lot of our decor just was the same from last year. That's all good - I love it!

I kept up the fairy lights and put fall pics of us up - Reagan and Cole sliding down the slide at Cornbelly's or playing in a pumpkin patch or throwing leaves around - Cole actually placed the pics and the leaves - he was excited for fall also.

I left up the white, flocked trees and I had some brown and gold ornaments, but Cole insisted that there needed to be orange ornaments. No biggie - a couple of clicks on Amazon and they were here in 2 days.

Oh - and when we were at Bath & Body Works, we saw this "Welcome Fall" sign. I liked it much better than the one we had there - so, we moved that one into the kitchen and put this by the fall tree. Yay!

We put our Venetian glass in the middle of the dining room table and, with the gold on it, it matched perfectly!

More fall pics in the curio cabinet. I'm surprised how many of our pics are from Cornbelly's. 

I was walking around taking pics for the blog when I was PHOTOBOMBED!!! Silly Coley Bear!!!! 

We LOVE fall! I may have to make a loaf of pumpkin bread and take it to my friend Brenda with the stipulation that she can only eat it if she admits it is fall :)

Happy 15th Anniversary!!!!!!

September 5th marked our 15th wedding anniversary. We woke up to find that Reagan had put signs and paper chains around the main floor. So sweet. We spent part of the day rushing to get ready to get to Reagan's assembly. Then, we planned to go to our favorite restaurant that night - La Calle. We have left Reagan and Cole alone for short periods of time, but my sweet sister, Amber, called a couple of weeks ago and asked if they could watch our kiddos on our anniversary since they would be in town. Love her! On that day, it was no small feat - we had Reagan at home doing homework while I took Cole to get a haircut. Amber and Jared met me at the haircut place and took over. Then, they needed to come home and get Reagan, get the kiddos dinner and then take them to karate. After which, Amber had a baby shower at the park by our house and she took Reagan with her to that while Jared stayed with Cole. Don't forget that homework had to be taken care of in the middle of all of this  somewhere. Ugh. Of course, it all worked out and Reagan and Cole had a blast!

Meanwhile, we had a leisurely dinner and walked the grounds of the restaurant. We came here for one of our first dates and it has been my favorite place ever since. The French food is great, the atmosphere is wonderful and the grounds are gorgeous. Plus, it is so close to home. Yep - another wonderful celebration here.

We came home (while Reagan and Amber were still at the baby shower) and found Jared and Cole playing laser tag. We always tease Jared that he really is just a big, ten year old. Well, this may have solidified our argument. I'm not sure who was more into the game - Jared or Cole :) Check them out:

I had to follow them around to the back yard to get more video:

So, it was a wonderful, low key, family filled anniversary and we wouldn't have it any other way. We loved going to celebrate for dinner, but were happy to return home to our family. It's been an amazing 15 years and we are so blessed to have each other and our little ones. Adding extended family that helps take care of us just increases our joy and happiness. Here's to the next 15 years Steve (and the next, and the next, and the next). I couldn't love you more!!!!!

Reagan's First Ambassador Activity

I posted previously about how Reagan is on the Ambassador Council. Well, they had their training at the end of the last school year and at the beginning of this school year. Now, each day's 4th period is Ambassador Council for her. They created a theme for their Council and had a banner made up and they were asked to come up with a fun way to introduce the members of the council to the rest of the middle school. I kept asking if we could come and see it and she said we could not. Then, the morning of the assembly, I received an email from her staff advisor that invited the parents. It was a mad dash, but we made it. She was confused to see us there, but was glad we were there.

It started out a little rough as the 8th graders were supposed to introduce their council first, but they were having technical difficulties, so, they decided to have the 7th grade go first. They weren't exactly ready. They scrambled and put on their show.

Basically, they called students out of the audience and had them on teams. Then, they described one of the Council members and their hobbies or activities and then had a slide show to ask which of two, proposed Council members it was. One played the guitar, one was a swimmer, one was on the cheer squad. Reagan's said that she had taken 7 years of karate and earned her 2nd degree black belt. Then, when they guessed, right or wrong, she came out in her karate gee and did some kicks and a yell and posed in a black belt stance. However, because of the shortness of time, she just put on her gee over her school uniform, so, it looked a bit odd. She did a great job, though. At the end of the game, the Council lined up and showed their theme and their banner. Yay!!!!

2018 Petersen Family Reunion

Last year, the Petersen clan all got together on Labor Day at the park by our house to visit with, celebrate and encourage our BIL Mark who was battling cancer. We also invited all of Mark's family. It was so nice to see everyone and get caught up that we decided to make it an annual thing. This year, we invited the extended Petersen family - Steve's uncles and their families. We had a wonderful time!

Cole was SO excited to see his cousin, Drew. Those boys scootered all around that park. Then, Reagan and Cole pulled out their hooverboards. Everyone had a great time with those as well......even Steve's 90+ age uncle :)

We, intentionally, did not have assignments or organized activities. Steve didn't want it to be work for anyone. We just reserved the pavilion for the entire day and told everyone to come when they wanted to and to bring their own lunch.

It was a great time! It was so fun to see everyone and catch up. Of course, we missed our Mark, but we could talk of him and reminisce. We also enjoyed getting caught up with our extended family and cousins.

Yep - I think this could be a regular thing. Not everyone will be able to make it every year, but as many as can, we will love to see!!!

Fun at Airborne.... With Daddy!!!!

We LOVE Airborne. We don't go as often as we would like, but we always have a great time. We decided to head to airborne and Steve and I were just going to watch, but then, he decided to join the kiddos - they LOVED it!!!

First, they just jumped in the main area and had some fun. Then, they moved into the big kid area where you have to be taller and there are more obstacles. 

It was fun seeing Cole set the pace and Reagan and Steve trying other obstacles. Reagan was being very attentive to Steve - showing him where to go and what to do. So cute!

Steve kept up with the kiddos well. He tried everything they did. Obviously, with a bigger and higher center of gravity, it wasn't as easy for him to move through the obstacles.

Then, they headed over to the Ninja Warrior course. Steve opted to just watch for this one.

Some of the obstacles are getting easier for Reagan and Cole as they get bigger and can reach further or climb higher. Other obstacles..... not so much :)

They each went through the course a couple of times - never cleanly. Oh well - maybe next time :)

They take one obstacle at a time and see what they can do. I'm so glad there are foam pits to catch them when they fall :)

This course has a super short run up to the warped wall. Some of the bigger teenagers made it, but most people didn't. Even on the Ninja Warrior show, there is more of a run up to the wall. Oh well.

After the Ninja Warrior course, they headed back over to the big kid area for some more obstacles there.

Cole is an animal. He will try anything. Plus, he joins in with whatever group of kids is on an obstacle - he doesn't seem to know that he isn't in their group or doesn't belong because he is too young or whatever. He's always been like that. We've been coming to Airborne since they were itty bitty and I can remember Cole running straight to the dodgeball area and playing with teenagers. He wasn't afraid and he had no compunction about how big (or how unwelcome) he may be. He just jumped in and started playing. Eventually, he played like an equal. That boy cracks me up!

Reagan, on the other hand, is much more reserved. She will try things, but not like Cole. She also is aware of who may already be on an obstacle and respects other people's spaces. Cole.... not so much!

They were all having a great time and I was loving watching them.

We spent quite some time in this one area where they could jump up to a platform and then jump down and into the pit. There were these little platforms on the wall. Cole kept trying to step to them, but his legs weren't long enough. Finally, he was able to jump to them and then...... sit. All he could do was sit there until he jumped down. It looked sort of boring to me, but they were there for a long time and several other kiddos tried to do what Cole did, but couldn't. I guess that may be the draw :)

Yep - we went home with 3 sweaty and tired kiddos, picked up some dinner and watched a movie. What a great day!!! Thanks Airborne!!!!!

A Crazy, Summer Rainstorm

Summer in Utah can bring amazing rainstorms. Well, tonight, Mother Nature put on quite a show. It was pouring!!! It was pelting our roof and our decks. Crazy!!

Reagan and Cole decided to do a "rain dance" to keep the rain coming. They were surprised to turn around and see Steve filming them :) Oh well - whatever it takes to get the water we so badly need along the Wasatch Front.

First Day of School!!!

It's here!!! It's here!!! It's the first day of school!!!! Reagan - the big, mature, grown up middle school, 7th grader - was ready to go.

Cole - the enthusiastic 5th grader - was ready as well.

I can't believe how fast the summer flew by, but here we are. Since we had already met our teachers and picked up our car pool slips, there was no "walking in" on the first day of school. Our friends, the Kearls, and we will be carpooling again this year. It's perfect - Brenda takes them to school and I pick them up. The bus program should be up and running soon, but for now - we'll each drive one way.

Brenda sent me this pic the morning of the first day and said "This was the only picture I could get - when I dropped the other 3 off, they ran like rabbits into the school." It's all good - if they are excited, we are excited! 

Bring on the new school year!!!!!

Heading to Park City with the Shapiros

Of course, we had to hook up with our friends, the Shapiros, before school started. We decided to hit Park City and repeat our fun on the Alpine Slide or the Mountain Coaster. Unfortunately, we had an obligation that evening, so, we only had so many hours. Park City was totally crowded and we were afraid that the line for just the Alpine Slide would take the hours that we had to spend.

So, we opted to go bowling instead. We hit a bowling alley in Park City and had fun chatting and bowling. Then, the kiddos had to hit the arcade in the bowling alley before we could leave. Cole and Vic had an air hockey duel :)

We wrapped up our time together at ColdStone for ice cream. We love the Shapiros. All the kiddos are back to school next week, so, this may be our last get together for a while as we all adjust to our new schedule.

Elementary School Orientation and the Last Day of Summer Break

Well, THAT day finally came - the last weekday of summer break. We have had a GREAT summer and, I guess, it had to come to an end sometime :)  We were going to go to Elementary Orientation and meet Cole's teachers, but we wanted to do something that morning. So, we decided to hit Color Me Mine. It's a place where you choose a ceramic piece and you paint it. Then, they fire it or whatever to bake on the paint and you go a week later to pick it up. We've been there several times before, but not in a few years. We made our reservation and headed over.

Cole decided to make an IronMan mask. I guess you could put things in it because the face part is separate from the rest of the mask for the head. It looked great.

Reagan decided to make a picture frame for a pic of her and her bestie Sophia. She painted it with two different colors and their initials. It looks so pretty.

I decided to try to copy a Halloween plate that they had on display there. I had to use stencils and trace things and freehand some of it. Not sure how it will turn out, but it doesn't matter - we had a great time anyway. Then, we headed over to Great Harvest to get loaves of Cinnamon Burst bread for Cole's teachers (and one for us too). It turned out that the loaves were fresh out of the oven, so they couldn't be put in the plastic bags yet - they were too warm. Plus, Great Harvest was changing their rewards program from a card to an online system, so, I needed to use all the punch cards I had. Well, we left with like 8 loaves of bread. We took two to Cole's teachers, one to an administrator that we love at school, two to ladies in our ward who are battling cancer and one to our sweet Bishop. That left us with two for ourselves. Yay!

Cole was lucky enough to get Miss Gray for his 5th grade teacher this year. You'll remember that she was his 3rd grade teacher at Challenger. After that year, when we told her we were jumping to APA, she started looking for jobs elsewhere. She interviewed at APA and was hired. We kept in touch last year. At the end of last year, I knew we wanted Cole in her class. I spoke with the Elementary Director and told him how she would know how to push Cole and make sure to challenge him. He directed me to another administrator who said "we don't take requests". Well, I knew that wasn't right because I spoke with lots of parents during our first year and heard of several requests that were made. So, then, I spoke with his 4th grade teacher and requested she do what she could and I spoke with Miss Gray. She said "I'll take care of it." Yay! Then, she texted me at the beginning of this week and said that she hoped to see us at orientation, but that technically, Cole didn't have to "meet" his teacher since he already knew her. YAY!!!! We will love being in her class again!

Plus, Cole has tested into 8th grade math, which is pre-algebra and he has passed all of the reading levels, so, he is now in LBDI, which is a novel reading and writing class. His spelling class is above grade level too - he is a smarty pants! :) 

Miss Gray's instructor is Miss Cook. We didn't know her, but were excited to meet her and get to know her. 

This is going to be a great year! I'm excited for the changes Reagan will have in 7th grade and for the progression that Cole will continue in 5th grade. Yep - bring it on!!!! The only drawback is that I'll miss having them with me all day to play. Oh well - I guess I'll adjust :)

Just as a post script, our Color Me Mine pieces turned out beautifully!!!! Check them out:

Reagan's picture frame looked great with the pink and the purple.

Cole's Iron Man looked amazing!

Wonder what he'll put inside.

My Halloween plate turned out ok too. Yay!!!! What a fun time we had that day - meeting teachers, making crafts and delivering bread :)

Playing in the Yard

We have been watering in the yard each night - by hand - in order to try to get the dry spots that appeared during our trip. With our water leak, some parts got WAY too much water. Other spots didn't have enough sprinkler coverage and started to turn brown. So, we head out each night to put a hose or a sprinkler on it.

We have all loved being home and being in the yard. Reagan and Cole have loved being able to just play. Whether in their jammies or in their swimsuits (to run through the sprinklers) or in their regular, play clothes.... it's all fun!

Steve and I were talking one night and reflecting on how they used to play. He decided to play "Red Light - Green Light" with them. They played this all the time when they were little. So funny!

Steve always tells them that he built this yard for them to play in. It is a wonderful yard - even if it is a lot of work :)

Middle School Orientation

As I posted about before, Reagan had to come home early from girls' camp to attend Middle School Orientation. She had to be at the school at 8 and be dressed in her uniform as they were taking school pictures for the yearbook (really - even before the first day of school???). She and I went to orientation together. They had all the parents there and introduced the teachers and the administrators. Then, she and I went to her classes according to her schedule. Each class was only 8 minutes or so, but we were able to meet the teacher and get some information about that class. She has mostly honors classes - Utah Studies Honors, Secondary Math Honors (basically Algebra), Language Arts Honors, Science Honors, Latin, Health & PE, Ambassador Council and Women's Choir. I asked at the front office how she was in all of these honors classes and the lady said "That's all we teach here - honors classes." Alrighty then. Eight different classes in eight different rooms with 7 different teachers. She is going to HAVE to be organized to keep her assignments and things together. Plus, different days have different classes that she goes too. Not sure I could keep everything straight, but let's hope she does. After meeting her teachers and getting her locker and paying her fees, I left her there for an Ambassador Council meeting.

I'm not sure I've posted about this before, so I'd better catch up. Last school year, Reagan was nominated by the 6th grade teachers to be an Ambassador. The best I can see is that it is sort of a student government thing. They have campaigns they do to help the student body, they hold activities and do things at the assemblies. She was super honored (there were only 6 students nominated) and wanted to do it. So, she attended a three hour training before the end of the school year and then another training the day of Orientation this year. Then, her home room will be Ambassadors. They will be able to use their home room hour to plan Ambassador activities and to coordinate their Ambassador efforts. She is super excited about doing it and I think she will be great.

I can hardly believe we have a middle-schooler. Gulp! She is in a different building than Cole - on the same campus though - and will have a different schedule. She can do it, though. We are so excited for her! Go Reagan!!!!

Reagan Goes to the Temple... Again

Reagan has continued with her goal of visiting the temple once a month. This time, she went with the rest of the youth from our ward. 

Way to go Reagan!!! Keep it up!!!!

Working in the Yard

So, since our yard is so big and steep, we have always had yard guys take care of it for us. At the beginning of the summer (mostly in order to get ready for Reagan and Cole's end of the school year party), we had landscape guys plant a bunch of ground cover and weed in the flower beds and waterfalls. The problem was that weeds were back immediately. Steve thinks that they just didn't do a very good job trying to get the weed at the root because then it would take longer to grow back and they wouldn't have a job to do again. So, we decided that we, as a family, would do the weeding. Our regular guys would still mow and edge, but we would weed. So, we bought a bunch of tools and set out to spend one hour each day/ 6 days a week working in the yard. We told Reagan and Cole that we would pay them for their time weeding. 

It did take a TON of time, but it was actually fun to be together in the early morning, outside, in our beautiful yard talking and planning and working together. Of course, once we completed weeding a bed and moved on to the next one, the first one had more weeds coming up - ugh! We had to double back and get the big ones. I was sort of tormented by the super long weeds in the flower bed by our mailbox. I kept going back to that bed - I HAD to get those stinking weeds. We also trimmed lots of the plants in the waterfalls and cut branches and trimmed back bushes. Good thing Steve knows what to trim and what not to trim. He knew just what to do.

Cole found two bunnies living in a lavender bush in our front yard. They were soaked from us watering the ground cover, but they wouldn't come out. When Cole sort of "forced" them out, they hopped away. We kept seeing them, though - usually at dusk. He researched and found that they were called pygmie rabbits. Ok - alrighty then.

Our ground cover still had not fully "taken" by the time we left for Europe, so we hired Jackson Kearl to come to our house and spend an hour every night watering the ground cover. It was also a way to have someone check on the house each night. When we returned home, we resumed our weeding schedule.

During the end of July, there was a particularly hot period of time. Plus, we had smoke filled air - from fires in Utah and from fires in California. We didn't go outside much and didn't even go out to weed. All the news stations said how awful the air was for your lungs and to not be outside if you didn't have to. So, we didn't. Then, one day, our yard guys came to the door and asked if we knew that we had a sprinkler on in the middle of the big waterfall. We didn't. He said "Come to think of it, that sprinkler was on when I was here last week." UGH!!!!! THAT would have been good information to know!!!! We ran outside and realized that it was a broken sprinkler valve and that the sprinkler had been running for at least a week. We couldn't turn it off. We pulled up the city water reporting site and saw that it had been going for over a week. Our water bill for that month was projected to be $2100!!!! Ugh! 

We called a repair guy who ended up being out of town and sent another guy in his place - not what we wanted, but at least it was someone. He fixed the valve and three more broke. He fixed those three and another one broke. I guess there are huge water pressure surges in our area. Several of our neighbors have had pipes break and have had floods. We have 21 sprinkler stations and seemed to have so many problems. We knew there had to be a better way, so, we started researching "smart" sprinkler systems. We decided on one, ordered it on Amazon and scheduled the installation. The installer actually suggested a different system, so, we ended up going with two controllers that have 16 stations each. The controllers connect to our wifi and we can control them from our phone. We can also remotely turn on or shut off a station or an entire controller. The controller reviews the weather and knows when to not water because it has rained or because it will be freezing that night. It is not perfect, but it is much better than what we had. Plus, the city was kind enough to give us a credit of $500 toward our water bill so it was only $1600 that month. (Gulp)

We finally had all of our sprinklers going, but we still have coverage problems where certain areas are not getting enough water. We will have to go station by station and head by head to see where adjustments are needed. It is definitely a work in progress. We love this yard, but it is a lot of work and a lot of resources to keep it nice. Good thing we saved money on weeding....... right? :)