A Bit of Summer Vacation

Kara enjoying a sparkler on Pioneer Day

From the "Things Kids Do When Mom & Dad
Aren't Watching" file: diaper decor

We went to a lake on Saturday with Joy's family. Once Amy saw her cousins having a blast in the water, she forgot her fears and splashed around right along with them. She and Rachel and David played shark together, which was basically a swimming version of tag with one person as the shark rather than "it." Kara was a little timid at first too, but before long she was "swimming" back and forth from shore to Mom & Dad. Both girls made more progress at being comfortable in the water in one afternoon at the lake with positive peer pressure than in two weeks of swimming lessons.

Joy and Brenda had a nice little getaway last week. We left the girls with Joy's sister's family and went to Cedar City. Woohoo! We saw Twelfth Night at the Shakespearean Festival and the next day Harry Potter. Both were awesome. We also drove through Kolob and up to Cedar Breaks National Monument. If you've never seen it, we highly recommend it. It's completely indescribable.

Interesting stuff:

-Snow sculpture championships

-Badly translated product slogans


QOSROIT: What is your favorite natural wonder?


Love,
The Petersons

Mmm...mmm...good!

Kara on her bouncy ball

No. these are not storm clouds.
It's smoke from a fire that started
yesterday afternoon about 30 miles south of us.

Kara was pretending to race from the kitchen to the front door on her bouncy ball. When she reached her goal, she shouted, "The crowd goes wild!"

When Brenda was a kid, she found great delight in grossing out her dad by eating marshmallows in applesauce. Quite tasty, actually.

Amy is following in her mother's footsteps. Yesterday she invented a new delicacy: crackers with ham, cheese and banana slices.

Joy is thoroughly disgusted by his daughter's culinary masterpiece.


Interesting stuff:

-Do you support a ban of dihydrogen monoxide?

-Salt Lake City's tap water is the best

-More affordable solar power production through the magic of carbon nanotube complexes and Buckyballs


QOSROIT: What is the strangest food or food combination you've ever eaten?


Love,
The Petersons

Kids' toothpaste tastes a little too good these days...

A spectacular sunset brought to us
by our friendly-neighborhood wildfires

The best position for drawing pictures

Kara came wandering out of her room the other night (when she was supposed to be sleeping) asking for a wash cloth. She had opened and emptied two tubes of toddler toothpaste all over the front of her nightgown.

The girls started swimming lessons this week. Amy took right to it, even after being timid through the whole thing last summer. She went all the way under the very first day this time.

Brenda's PDA had a near-death experience this weekend. Joy managed to resuscitate it, but most of the applications have to be reinstalled, and a lot of data was lost. Brenda is counting her blessings, though. At least she doesn't have to go back to pen-and-paper grocery lists.

Now for an item from the there's-something-you-don't-see-everyday file: Joy nearly hit a deer (yes, a deer) on a road in our neighborhood this morning.


QOSROIT: How technology dependent are you?


Love,
The Petersons

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Amy & Daddy working on the bike

Kara and her friend Kate enjoying fireworks

For some unfathomable reason, Kara is convinced there is a spider in her belly button.

Brenda loves to tickle Kara's spider.

Amy has decided that she prefers to address Mom as "Mother," just because.

Joy is enjoying his summer smorgasbord of US national team and RSL soccer games.


Interesting stuff:

-Blind Melon for cats


QOSROIT: What is your favorite patriotic song?


Love,
The Petersons

Extreme Makeover: Master Bedroom Edition

Before:

After:

Joy and Brenda spent last weekend painting the master bedroom the lovely shade of Laurel Mist (row 3, col 2). It was a lot of work, but well worth it.

When we went to the library park last week, Kara was fascinated by their big ride-on lawn mowers. She said, "I see two lawn maulers!"

Amy is learning to ride her bike without training wheels. She told Dad, "I'm never having training wheels again!!"


Interesting stuff:

-The art of pencil carving

-Lego sports stadium

-Have you ever wanted to kick down a door? Now you can!


QOSROIT: Laurel Mist is a dumb name for a paint color. Can you think of a better one?


Love,
The Petersons