Katie's Wedding

Troy's little sister (formerly known as Katie, but now attempting to railroad us into calling her Kaylyn) got married the week after Christmas. She was a beautiful bride, and the wedding luncheon, wedding ceremony and reception went off without a hitch. We are still amazed and a little freaked out that Katie moved all the way to Washington D.C. just to meet and marry a guy from good old Viewmont High. 4 out of the 5 Peterson siblings married fellow Viewmont Vikings. Pretty crazy.






We snapped a few photos during the wedding of events, of varying quality. Let's hope the professional photographer fared better than we did!

Lauren was dying to hold the bouquet, so we finally relented and let her hold it for a few minutes. We all stood ready to stop her in case she tried to pull it apart or pop off the roses, but thankfully we were able to return the bouquet to its proper place without incident.

The photographer lined up the older grandkids on the floor to take a picture. It was much cuter from the front and we can't wait to see how it comes out.

Lauren hates to be left out, so when she saw the big kids getting their picture taken, she had to get in on the action.

You would think we would have learned our lesson about these bride-grandchildren photos. We have yet to get all of them to look at the camera at the same time, much less smile. Oh well.

Cole wouldn't forgive us if we didn't include a "kissy-smoochy" picture. For a guy who complains that girls are yucky, he sure does like the kissing at weddings.













Cole holding his newest cousin, Andrew Martin.

Winter In Idaho

Since the day we arrived in Idaho Falls last May, people have been warning us about winter. We heard all about the bitter cold, the deep snow, the lack of snowplowing, and the infamous volcanic dirt that they throw on the roads in place of salt. After the fifth or sixth time, we stopped paying attention. Now that we are in the throes of winter, we get it! We now know why people take their summer recreation so seriously here. It is super cold! But with the cold comes a lot of wintertime fun. The kids have been really happy playing in the snow - snow forts, snow men, sledding, snowballs - all the good things that come with winter. There is even an upside to the unplowed roads. Check out the pictures below to see what we mean.

Has it really been Ten Years?

Being pregnant didn't seem to lend itself to a beach vacation, so we decided to go to Carmel and San Francisco for a few days instead. We had a great time in Carmel and Monterey with our long-time friends Matt and Amy MacKay. On the first day of our trip, we flew into San Francisco and drove down to Carmel. We had dinner at a great local restaurant called The Fishwife - we were a little nervous when we saw the building, but its outward appearance doesn't do it justice - the food was excellent! After dinner, we drove to a state beach in Carmel. To get there, we drove through a residential neighborhood and just parked on the street and walked down to the beach. It was one of the prettiest sunsets either of us has ever seen, and we could have sat on the beach and watched the waves all night.

We stayed at the Quail Lodge Resort in Carmel Valley for the first night of our trip. The service was amazing, the resort was beautiful, the golf course was breathtaking (I wish that my golf game was as spectacular as the scenery), and the spa was super-relaxing. The lady that did Jamie's facial was VERY friendly and told her all about her love life, but she did a great job. Overall, a wonderful place to stay and very romantic! After golf and the spa, we left the Quail Lodge and went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. There was a lot to see at the Aquarium and it was the perfect choice for something to do on a cold, cloudy day. After the Aquarium, we took the 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach. It was amazing to see how the other half lives, and the views were beautiful.

While we were driving on 17-Mile Drive, Matt and Amy got a sad phone call from home saying that their youngest was injured by a heavy stone fountain that had seriously damaged her thumb. The rest of the day was a little stressful as Matt and Amy tried to find a quick flight home to Salt Lake. There were no flights available for less than $1000/person on such notice (you have to love the great service provided by the airlines!) so they had to endure a sleepless night until they could get out the next day. We felt bad that they couldn't fully enjoy the surroundings - we stayed at the Tickle Pink Inn that sits on the cliffs south of Carmel. The view of the beach and the ocean was beautiful, and the sound of the waves crashing below added to the great atmosphere.

After dropping Matt and Amy at the airport in San Francisco, Jamie and I did some sightseeing in San Francisco. We saw all the old favorites - Ghiradelli Square, Chinatown, Union Square, the Trolley Cars, the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street - and then went back to the hotel pretty exhausted after walking all over town. When we got back to our hotel at Embarcadero Center, I realized that it was the last Friday of the month and time for the Critical Mass ride in San Francisco. It was also the last Friday before Halloween, and the crazies were out in full force. There were at least 1,000 riders, many of whom were decked out in Halloween costumes. A lot of super heroes, cross dressers, and even Pee Wee Herman, complete with the biggest bike I have ever seen. Right before the ride started, two guys pulled up on their bikes wearing nothing but briefs. That is strange enough, but then they whipped off the briefs and started the ride. Don't worry - we won't post pictures.

Despite the horrifying sights in San Francisco, we had a wonderful time and would highly recommend a trip to Carmel and Monterey!

We realized after our trip that taking pictures is not our strong point - we need to be more aware of picture opportunities - but we did take a few!

THE WORST BLOGGERS EVER

We are the worst bloggers ever. Our last post was a cruel blog joke. We deserve the blogspot equivalent of the guillotine. I wish we could say that we would make it up to you, that our next few posts will make everything ok. But we can't. Life in Idaho in November just isn't that interesting.

With confessions out of the way, we'll try to catch up on the last few months.

Coming your way...soon !

Hey there all you blogger fans...something wicked awesome is coming your way. Just not tonight. I am too tired to download it all. But I just wanted to get you excited about us posting a new post SOON! In the meantime, thanks for all your great reads on your blogs. I am loving them all.

First Haircut

Yummy! Lauren enjoyed her favorite food, yogurt after a long afternoon at the beauty salon. It was so fun. Girls day out. My hair dresser cut Lauren's hair and styled it so cute. She brought out all of this natural curl somehow. I just sat and smiled from ear to ear. She is so yummy!

Yellowstone or Bust!

This last Saturday as we sipped our hot chocolate and watched the snow start to flurry down from our kitchen window we (the Peterson Family) all decided it was a perfect day to venture out as planned and visit Yellowstone. We were sure all the animals would be coming down to feed and prepare for winter. The leaves were suppose to be gorgeous and we had nothing better to do as a family.(The Utah game wasn't on Dish Network). Unfortunately, when we made these plans it was the day before and it had been a toasty high 70's and we were all geared up for a great Saturday. The snow is no deterrent to a child we found and we were soon on the road to Yellowstone - no matter the weather. We made it all the way to Island Park where the magic of the car ride wore off and we were all ready to take a break. Funny thing the gas station/bar/service station/restaurant we stopped at happened to have 1 cent candies...a thing of the past I thought. It made the trip all exciting again and we decided according to the dropping thermometer in our car that 32 degrees was chilly enough and we stopped at the coolest, closest next stop. Big Springs in Island Park. We were the only ones there. (I can't imagine why). Still, I have to admit that it was really cool and a rare chance to be there alone. The gigantic trout were starving and jumping out of the water at any food thrown their way. The kids could have cared less about the temperature and we played at the springs for a bit. Troy was as giddy as the kids were at the fish. It was quite the sight. It was really fun...fun enough that Yellowstone was no longer a necessity of the day. We started for home and took a detour at Mesa Falls. It was awesome. Again we were the only ones there again but the water was still so warm from the recent weather that it was steaming all over. Very cool. We hiked our little hearts out and marveled at the wonderful pace of life we have somehow discovered back into our lives. It is so easy to forget about how important it is to enjoy the small moments. The waterfalls got Troy reminiscing of college days at Ricks and he mentioned another waterfall called Cave Falls. So we ventured on over to there. It was such a beautiful drive, the last part was slightly hard to see when it started to snow so hard it was a white out. That's when we saw a sign that welcomed us into Yellowstone Nat. Park. I laughed that we somehow made it to Yellowstone even though we thought we had talked the kids out of going there. Obviously it was snowing in Yellowstone and no animals were out for us to see, but we sure did have fun discovering beautiful parts of Idaho and all the great water falls of Idaho. Idaho...what a great and crazy place. Scary how much it actually grows on you.