New Bed

A few weeks ago, Cora figured out how to climb out of her crib. That was a sad day. I am completely amazed at people who manage to keep their kids in cribs so long. Aubrey climbed out at 18 months and Cora made it to 20 months. Maybe I should stop taking them to all those gymnastics classes?

Anyways... since Cora's method of climbing out involved a dramatic face plant into the ground, we were forced to turn her crib into a toddler bed. It has been a rough few weeks sleep-wise around here. As Aubrey tells everybody, "Cora likes to have a slumber party every night."

When we switched Aubrey to a bed, she was kind of scared and would run to the door and pretty much stay in her bed. Cora... could care less where we are. She gets into EVERYTHING. And, keeps Aubrey up at night. And climbs into Aubrey's bed at six in the morning. Ugh. Aubrey has even been taking naps a few days a week because the poor girl is so tired. I'm hoping the novelty wears off soon.

She is pretty adorable even if she is trouble.

And... a few phone pictures because that is all I seem to take now.

Some of Aubrey's school work. I love watching her learn new things. Her little preschool is really amazing. I'm so glad we found that place.

Fun times with friends. Aubrey had poor Max dressed up as a princess from head to toe by the time his mom picked him up.

They always want to wear my clothes. And my shoes.

We joined the YMCA so we could have a place to take the kids swimming. We have also been enjoying their kids classes. I took the girls to a dance class on Friday. Aubrey took it very seriously...

And Cora spent a half hour inspecting her belly in the mirror.

It feels like life just keeps getting busier, and I'm not doing the best job at documenting it.

We are so excited to go to Disneyland next week as a family. I think I can guarantee that I will take hundreds of pictures there. 

Running

I just finished my first official 10k race this morning! I would be feeling all relieved and accomplished, but Steven and I have signed up for a half marathon on November 1, so I have that training in my sights now. And.... the thought of more than doubling what I ran today makes me feel very tired. Let's pray all the training pays off!

I still don't know if I can call myself a "runner" yet, but here we are. I have never really been a distance runner. I did sprints and track until I was 14, but running was always something that seemed not very fun and painful. I have always been active and done pretty much everything (spinning, cycling, swimming, soccer, yoga, etc.) to stay fit without running.

Back in May, my good friend convinced me to run this race today. It was a 5k/10k race, so I agreed and thought to myself, "well... I at least need to make sure I can run the whole thing!" So I started running and signed up for the 5k.

Once I started running and watching my 5k time go from 31 to 26 minutes, I decided that maybe running wasn't such a horrible thing and I decided to run the 10k today. And now, the more I run, the more I love it. I just may become a runner for life.

As a mom, I am loving having tangible goals outside of motherhood. On crazy days, I love to put in my headphones and just run away. It clears my head, and I am getting faster. I'm still new to running, but I think that if I put in the time and work, then I have the ability to run some decent times.

Anyways... the race today was fun but not what I was expecting. I woke up this morning and my stomach hurt. It hurt a lot. I thought that it was just pre-race jitters, but it became clear when I got to the starting line that I was not feeling my best. I definitely need to figure something out for future events, because I did not feel good.

I got to the run and had a great warm-up chatting with friends and stretching.

Then they lined everybody up, with the 10k runners in front, then the 5k runners, then the 5k walkers. There were about 200 women there with about 40 running the 10k.

We started out and I watched three ladies just sprint ahead really really fast. They were clearly going for like 7:00 minute miles, which was definitely way faster than me. There was one other girl who ran just ahead of me the whole race, but I stayed and finished in 5th place the whole time.

The first five miles my splits were between 8:20-8:55 minute miles and while I didn't feel good, I was doing pretty well. Then at about mile 5 my stomach really started to hurt. I was frustrated because my legs and lungs felt great.

 I have been running 5-6 miles a few times a week, so I was frustrated that I was struggling. My last mile was 9:38, which was way slower then I was hoping. But.. I pushed through and managed to finish in 55:22. My goal time was anything under 56 minutes, so I met my goal!

I'll admit that I didn't feel great at all during the race, but I definitely learned a little bit about how to push through when in pain.

I had the cutest little cheerleaders at the end of the race. I love my family so much, and I was so excited to see them.

After the race, I grabbed some water, and we took some more pictures with friends:

Then Aubrey and Cora practiced racing through the finish line, and we went home. It was a great morning, and I look forward to future running events. I seriously never thought that I would ever say that, so it feels great :)

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!