Summer Days

We have been trying to get in as many playdates and fun outings with friends before Aubrey starts preschool in a couple of weeks and our calendar gets more full.

I will miss her, but we are both excited. Aubrey loves social situations and learning so I think it will be a great thing for her, and I'm excited to spend some alone time with Cora. Her preschool is twice a week from 9-12 and a big bonus is it is close enough to walk! Her school got amazing reviews and they have really small class sizes that I am excited about. I'm not excited about how expensive it is but thats what you get living in the Bay Area :)

Banana ice cream and sprinklers on a hot afternoon. Aubreys "best" friend Faith and their friend Princess. Faith also has a little sister Cora's age so our families match up great.

 This is Lucas and Cora. My good friend Natalie has two little boys. Aubrey and Max (below) are about the same age and are the best little buds. Lucas and Cora are not close in age at all, but he is so sweet to her. We looked back yesterday and saw them holding hands. Cora was pretty proud. 

We always love a good trip to the BMX park. I have learned to have us all wear old clothes because we get filthy. 

Swimming and a LinkedIn dinner night with Dave and Liz and their sweet little girl, Olivia. These three giggled like crazy all night. 

A fun morning with my friend from the BYU accounting program, Lisa, and her two little boys. Aubrey and Blake played SO well together that we are going back again next week.

Cora and Miles took some time to warm up, but we will get them to be friends. Cora's classic "say cheese" face. We need to work on getting her real smile.

And... even though we love getting out and meeting up with friends, I also love the days when I just get to hang out with my girls. I love watching them grow together as friends.

 We always visit the duck pond after the library. Our library trips are getting shorter because Cora is at the lovely stage where every time I turn around she has pulled 5 books off the shelf. In about two minutes they completely fill up my bag and we get out of there as quick as possible before she does too much damage. 

At the park. Pretty much daily. Year round. 

Peterson Photos

Of course while my whole family was together, we had family photos taken. Cora was a stinker, Aubrey loved playing model again, and Steven is glad he now has a break from family photos until Christmas when his whole family will be together.

We took the pictures at night, but it was still so hot. Luckily, you can't really tell how hot we all were, and we got a few good shots!

 The whole family. I loved the scenery. We took the pictures up in Charleston, which is pretty close to Wallsburg. 

With my siblings. I'm glad I have them.

Those eyes. They are gorgeous. However, she seems to take after her father in her love of family pictures... can't you tell?

Trent was the only one who could manage a smile. 

They love their "papa."

The kids had a great time throwing rocks on the train tracks.

With my mini-me. 

This was probably my favorite shot. We don't have too many mother/daughter pictures, so this is special.

I have felt spoiled lately with all the nice professional pictures we have had taken. I love looking back at the pictures we get. Life changes so fast, and I want to remember the little moments. 

Utah Trip: Part 2

One other fun thing we did before Steven arrived was go "camping" aka... cook dinner and marshmallows over a fire. That is about the extent of our family camping, and I will happily keep Aubrey believing that what we did was camping for a while longer.

In the two hours we were there, they got completely filthy. And had a blast.

The first day after Steven arrived was the fourth of July. It was blazing hot, but we spent the morning at the Colonial festival in Orem. I really enjoyed it. As a Canadian, I always feel a little ashamed of my American history knowledge, so I like to learn more when I can. 

We went swimming at the Provo Rec center (twice!). That is a cool place and it almost made me want to move back to Provo. I even got to sneak away and swim laps both times. Here is Trent jumping off the cliff jumping wall.

I celebrated my 28th birthday. I'm a lucky girl because I always get to celebrate my birthday with my whole family. Other than Cora being up like 500 times the night before (and she almost never wakes up at night) I had a great day. I even convinced Steven to go see "The Fault in our Stars" with me while the girls had a grandparent date.

We went to BYU...

Steven visited with two of his old bosses at the Law Library. 

Of course our BYU trip included eating at the Cougareat and buying BYU shirts in the bookstore. Hot pink of course. It couldn't even be light pink... she insisted on hot pink.

We spent a lot of time hanging out in Wallsburg. I love that place. My dad had a great time on the gigantic riding lawnmower. 

We fed horses with my aunt Heidi..

Had a fun night with Jason and Shanna...

Saw my friend Fallon and her family. We have been friends since we were six years old.  We went to Elementary, Junior High, High school, and BYU together. Now we live apart, but it is always great to get together.

And... this is long enough. We had a great time. I have spent the past week weaning the girls off of daily ice cream and late bedtimes which has been super (not) fun, but it was completely worth it- we made so many great memories!

Utah: Part 1

We just got back from a really fun vacation with my family in Utah. We are really lucky that we get to stay up in Wallsburg when we visit. It is so peaceful and quiet. I love where we live, but I really miss the open space.

The first week of our vacation, Steven stayed home and the girls and I traveled alone. Aubrey was so proud with her little rolling suitcase. She dragged that thing all over the airport. Which was... mostly a good thing. She would run ahead, often banging into peoples legs as I hurried behind with Cora, but for the most part traveling with them wasn't too bad. Maybe I have just become the mom who is oblivious to how wild her kids are? Either that, or they really are getting easier as they get older.

As soon as we arrived, my mom took us shopping. We got the girls little mini maxi skirts, and Aubrey is now pretty much obsessed with wearing it.

We then spent the next few days exploring all our old favorite places and finding a few new ones too.

We visited the children's museum in Salt Lake. I think we seek out a children's museum wherever we go. They are just great for little kids. We had to drag the girls out of there after 4 hours, so we definitely got our money's worth.

 lol... I sent Steven this picture and told him that Cora missed him. He wasn't too impressed.

 The girls loved spending so much time with their cousin Zach. Cora, especially loved having a buddy close to her size.

My dad and I went in a wind tunnel that simulated a hurricane with 80 mph winds. I should have brought a hair brush for after that one.

We of course went on a few quad rides. The girls LOVED riding the quads, especially once Steven showed up and took them way faster than I was comfortable going.

We spent a very warm and crowded day at Seven Peaks. My family can never get enough swimming.

And.. we ate. A lot. We went to the train place in Heber more times than I care to admit. Those shakes are pretty darn tasty..

That is how we spent our first few days in Utah. We missed Steven, but I felt ok knowing that he was at least getting fed at work while I was gone. That didn't stop him from eating leftover lasagna four days in a row, but it could have been worse :)

Nursery

Cora turned 18 months old today and went to her first day of nursery. Because these girls are exactly 2 years apart, I had Cora wear the same dress that Aubrey wore on her first day in nursery:

Aubrey. She looks so little! I like looking at this picture to see that Aubrey also went through the awkward toddler hair phase. I'm never quite sure what to do with Cora's while it grows out.

Cora. This is Cora's "say cheese" face. She is very willing, but it doesn't quite capture her real smile.

Sisters:

And... I was just glad that these pictures were taken at 9:02 am and we (mostly) made it to church on time. Steven had a 7 am meeting, so I was on my own. The girls stayed up way late with friends and getting us all out the door on time was a struggle. They both squished their fingers in the closet door and Cora had a blow-out in the tub. Of course. 

I was worried about nursery with Cora since she was such a clingy baby and loves her mama. But, she has really grown up lately, and she was completely fine. She played happily, didn't seem to care that her parents weren't around, and was just a sweetheart.

And speaking of growing up, along with that independence has come the 18 month-old attitude. I also have the wiggliest kids around and I'm dreading the flight alone with them to Utah this weekend.

At 18 months old Cora:

- Has mostly transitioned to one nap. Still takes 2 some days and she is great at putting herself to sleep. She sleeps 10-11 hours at night and about 2 in the day.
- Starting to fight me on her vegetables. She likes to throw her food on the ground and say, "I drop it" but I've caught on to that one...
- I'll try not to be a proud parent on this one, but her language abilities are really impressive. She is starting to put two word sentences together. I guess it helps that she has a sister who is always talking :)
- She is getting pretty tired of sitting through all of Aubrey's lessons, so I signed her up for her own gymnastics class starting in July. We did a trial class and she was beaming from ear to ear that it was finally her turn.
- She is a sweet, loving little girl. Always coming up and giving me kisses, and saying, "love you."

We love our Cora! Can't believe she is now closer to two than one.

Traditions

When we were first married, Steven and I had a regular Saturday date night. We would always go out for dinner, and for our whole marriage, Saturday is the one night of the week I don't have to cook.

Once we had Aubrey, for a while, we just continued our tradition. And then... Aubrey turned into a wild toddler, and we kind of turned into a public hazard at restaurants. Luckily, that happened around the same time Steven started working at LinkedIn.

So, for the past two and half years, we have been getting take-out and bringing it back to LinkedIn. The girls can be free, we get all the frozen yogurt/drinks/snacks we want to go along with our meals, and we have a great time. It has become kind of a family tradition and one that I will definitely miss if we ever leave.

 Steven at his desk. Aubrey loves to go up there and pretend to "work."

The exercise balls and beanbag chairs keep this little lady happy.

And, Aubrey is getting pretty good at the little rock climbing wall...

Another one of our favorite weekly events is Friday playgroup with all our friends. This last week, we went to the Emma Prusch farm park. Always a hit. 

Love these two. 

The big event Aubrey talks about was watching a pig do his business. Aubrey was very offended that he didn't wash his hands :)

She sat on this tractor for a reallllly long time. I could barely pry her off.

Park days with friends (Aubrey and her best little buddy Faith), swimming, gymnastics, and of course baking with mom are also an integral part of every week.

The big things are fun, but I love to remember the little parts of every week that make up our life here. We are blessed.