Growing Up

Aubrey had her first day of preschool today. Where has my baby gone?

 Because Aubrey's birthday is in December, she still has two years before she goes to kindergarten, even though she is almost four. I'm glad for the extra time I get to have her around.

But, instead of doing three-year-old preschool, and then pre-k, the teachers at her school have decided to put her in pre-k twice. She isn't quite at the same level with the other 4-year-olds on some stuff, but socially she is definitely in the right place. 

Cora missed her so much. She was crying "sister, sister" on the way home after we dropped her off. I'm glad these two are close.

She loved it! When I picked her up, she was playing with a whole bunch of girls.

Aubrey is an incredible girl and I have been reflecting today on how blessed I am to be her mother. When she very unexpectedly was born 6 weeks premature, of course I was worried about her future. Premature babies often struggle, and Aubrey was very tiny and weak. She needed oxygen and I never thought we would get her off that feeding tube :)

But, she is so healthy and talented, and I am very grateful. Here are a few videos of some of the crazy things she has mastered lately. 

The monkey bars. She still loves her weekly gymnastics class.

Swimming. This video was taken about a month ago, and she has already gotten much stronger. She is currently working on the dolphin kick and treading water. I'm currently working on keeping Cora from jumping in the pool during all our her lessons.

And, Steven's proudest moment as a parent. Aubrey learned to ride her bike! I love those balance bikes- she is seriously a little pro and she is only three. It took her about a week to get the hang of pushing off, but she is quick now.

I can't believe how fast she is growing up. I'm sad, but mostly excited. I'm loving the sweet little friend she is becoming. 

Camping

Our family went camping this weekend. A lot of people go camping, and it's no big deal, but this was a big deal for us!

Steven loves camping. I love all the things you do camping (biking, hiking, s'mores)... but lack of showers, the insane amount of stuff you need, gross outhouses, etc. kind of outweigh the benefits to me most of the time.

My family went camping exactly three times the entire time I was growing up. And... I'm pretty sure my dad set the tent on fire one of those times. The Peterson's are not campers. We are hotel people.

But, a whole bunch of families' were going together, it was only for one night, and I don't want my girls to turn out as sissy as their mother, so we went. And, we had a great time. Aubrey cried and cried when we left.

I didn't do great in the picture taking department. In fact, I took just one of us setting up the tent. We went to the Coyote Hills regional park, which was great. It was right near Fremont, so just a quick drive away, but you didn't feel like you were in the middle of the crazy Bay Area metropolis at all.

We had such good helpers.

Luckily, Natalie sent me a few more pictures. We went to the park visitors center where the girls got to pet a snake. I was so proud of Cora. She was nervous and took a few tries, but she did it.

The girls were in heaven playing with all their friends. Cora is normally quite clingy, but she did great going off and playing. Aubrey was in her element. At one point, we looked up, and saw Aubrey running as fast as she could across the field with her sleeping bag trying to sneak it into Elle's tent so they could have a "sleepover." We are seriously so lucky here. There are so many great people.

Can you tell California is in a huge drought? Everything is dead and brown.

I may have promised to go camping again. I honestly wasn't really looking forward to the trip but I had such a good time.

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 :)