Sept 13 through Sept 19

Theme for the week...Our House. We have lived in our home almost seven years! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. I think it's interesting to look back at pictures of my parents home and how it has changed over the years. While, we have changed a few things in our home since we moved in...a little paint, finishing the basement, and changing furniture a little, for the most part it hasn't changed a whole lot since we've lived here. Here's a pictorial tour:

Sunday, Sept 13


An outside few of the house...I took this after I pulled out the flowers for the winter.

Monday, Sept 14




The family room and kitchen areas.

Tuesday, Sept 15


Master bedroom and bathroom.

Wednesday, Sept 16



Ben's room.

Thursday, Sept 17



Natalie's room.

Friday, Sept 18


Downstairs family room.

Saturday, Sept 19





The downstairs bedrooms...
the bathroom, exercise room, play room, and my craft room:)

Sept 6 through Sept 12

Sunday, Sept 6

Monday, Sept 7



We came home from running errands and Natalie decided to watch TV while I prepared dinner...a few minutes later I heard soft snoring coming from the couch. Must have been a boring movie!

Tuesday, Sept 8



Since school started, this is a typical scene in the evening at our house...Ben doing homework at the dinner table while I finish preparing dinner. Natalie doesn't want to be left out, and so finds her own "homework" to do.

Wednesday, Sept 9

The tomatoes in our garden our slowly coming on...which means homemade salsa and Sweet Red Pepper Relish. I haven't canned salsa for a long time but my friend taught an Enrichment class on canning tomatoes and shared some great recipes. So with a dozen tomato plants this year, I'm trying them out!

Thursday, Sept 10




The stores are already preparing for Halloween and putting out treats and costumes. Ben and Natalie had their first pieces of Halloween candy today...Yum! Natalie was wearing it our her lips...accidentally. And Ben wanted to show his off "train wreck" style...ugh!

Friday, Sept 11



Tis the season for preserving...Beckie's mother in law has a farmer in Farmington that she gets fruit from every year. She was kind enough to get some for me too and this is what I started with on a Friday evening...3 bushels of peaches and one bushel of pears. The canning begins and...

Saturday, Sept 12



...after a late Friday night and early Saturday morning, I had 30+ quarts of peaches and 15 quarts of pears. Whew...I thought about doing another bushel of pears but I just can't muster up any more canning ambition this week!
I've got more peaches to freeze and more tomatoes in the garden!

Aug. 31 through Sept. 5

Sunday, Aug. 30



Ben and Natalie got new Sunday shoes this week and kindly modeled them for the camera before we headed out the door!

Monday, Aug. 31



Just another harvest picture for you...the garden's doing well!

Tuesday, Sept. 1



Natalie is so good at emptying out toy bins and playing all kids of fun things. Today she emptyied out her hair assessoroy bin and made herself look quite cute! Headbands make great belts!

Wednesday, Sept. 2

Thursday, Sept. 3



Natalie started preschool this week. She was so excited and has been anticipating it all summer. We do a little cooperative neighborhood preschool where several mom's take turns teaching once a week. She has a fun time and learned all about our sense of smell!

Friday, Sept. 4



We went camping with the Lee's and Peterson's this weekend and enjoyed a fun night in the canyon. We roasted marshmellows and played games and then head to bed in the tent. The kids actually slept really well and loved camping!

Saturday, Sept. 5



We hiked up to Donut Falls this morning...Ben did well going up but was a little grumpy heading down...Natalie was spoiled and got carried most of the way there and back! It was a fun hike though and the falls were pretty!

Aug. 23 through Aug. 30

Sunday, Aug. 23



We hosted Peterson FHE tonight and Ben and Natalie decided to show off their "Chicken Dance". Natalie's been practicing it at her little Wee Sing class on Wednesday's.

Monday, Aug. 24

For Bryan's day off today, we took Natalie up to the zoo. They have several new baby animals...an elephant, giraffe, tigers, and snow leopards. We took Aunt Jen and Bryson along as well. It started out cool and overcast but ended up being rather hot. We enjoyed one last showing of the bird show before the summer's over.



Tuesday, Aug. 25



We've tried to head outside after dinner to enjoy the last of the warm summer nights. The days are starting to shorten and we want to enjoy the light evening while they last. Being outside in the summer though often means dirty feet! The picture doesn't quite show all the dirt..they were pretty black!

Wednesday, Aug. 26



Even though Ben's moved on to First Grade and loves it, he still likes to get out his Kindergarten portfolio and movie and reminisce about being in Mrs. Craven's class.

Thursday, Aug. 27



Natalie has enjoyed playing with Haydn this week..he was sick last week and she's missed her little buddy. She was excited to have him come over to play now that he's feeling better.

Friday, Aug. 28



Ben loved wearing his goggles in the tub this week and trying to view the toys underwater. He worked up the courage to stick his face in the water but not after much careful planning of how to plug his nose and make sure his goggles wouldn't leak!

Saturday, Aug. 29




We spend the evening outside after dinner while the kids rode their bikes and scooters up and down the street. Natalie calls this little push toy her "scooter" and actually rides it quite gracefully like a scooter. Ben raced up and down passsed her. Good times!

Aug. 16 through Aug. 22

We had a really rough week at our house this week and taking pictures just didn't happen...I was reading on a friend's blog how everyone seems to post their best on their blogs but that just isn't always how things are. So, I thought I would just make a little note that while we have lots of good moments and many things that bring joy and fun, sometimes life is just hard and that's okay. I feel like I want this 365 journal to show the ups and downs. There is much to be learned in our trials. This week has definitley been one where I have reflected on what is really important and what am I doing as a wife, mother, and woman.

August 9 through August 15

Sunday, Aug. 9




We don't usually have dessert after dinner, except on Sunday's. Summer dessert is sweet and simple...ice cream cones! You can see how much the kids loved them as they wore just as much on their faces as they put in their tummies!

Monday, Aug. 10



Natalie loves having friends over. Today she rediscovered our little baby wading pool and invited Rachel to come over and cool off. Silly girls posing for the camera!

Tuesday, Aug. 11




Thanksgiving Point has $2 Tuesday's in August. I decided to take Natalie down to visit their farm country but when we got there I was surprised to see incredibly long lines! We ended up at the Children's Discovery Gardens since it had the shortest line. We enjoyed it for the first little bit but then as the afternoon heated up, we were both ready to get out of the sun! The first picture was at the start of our visit but by the end, Natalie wasn't interested in smilng for any pictures not matter how beautiful the flowers were!

Wednesday, Aug. 12



We've been walking to school every morning. Ben and several of the other neighborhood kids ride their scooters and the Mom's follow behind and try to keep up. It can been a bit of craziness sometimes with all the bikes and scooters and Mom's with strollers heading down the main street to school. We often end up scraping a kid or two off the sidewalks some days but it's lots of fun most of the time!

Thursday, Aug. 13



A little harvesting...tomatoes, peppers, carrots, zuccinhi, and lemon squash.

Friday, Aug. 14



Just a random silly face on a Friday afternoon.

Saturday, Aug. 15


The kids ended up emptying Natalie's closet and carting it all downstairs to play while I worked in the basement and they tried to stay quiet while Daddy slept. Thank heavens for the toy organizers we have which makes cleaning up pretty easy!

August 2 through August 8

Sunday, Aug. 2



This year we planted some giant sunflowers in our garden and one of them bloomed today. They have grown to be quite tall...some of them tower over me and this bloom is the size of a dinner plate. They have been fun to watch grow. They definitely love the sun and I love watching them at different times of the day. In the morning the buds are facing the east, at noon they are straight up and in the evening they are facing west. I forget somtimes that they are living creatures and do what they need to feed, grow, reproduce, heal and fend off bugs. While these sunflowers have been fun to grow, I discovered that they attract all kinds of beetles, moths, bees, ladybugs and even squash bugs. Luckily I haven't had squash bugs this year but they have been eaten a little by the sunflower beetles. We'll see how they turn out...they may not be something I repeat on account of the bugs!

Monday, Aug. 3



Last spring we planted 3 fruit trees and this year the peach tree budded and produced some little peaches. I thinned them down quite a bit but let several grow to see how they turned out. Bryan picked them today and whilte they are small, they sure taste great!

Tuesday, Aug. 4



This is what happens when you mix poor table manners and grape Kool-aid! Natalie and Ben were being silly at dinner and playing with their drinks. In a fit of laughter, Natalie's mouthful of grape Koolaid exploded all over her...quickly putting an end to the laughter as you can see. While I hope she learned her lesson, I'm sure we haven't seen an end to poor table manners at the Peterson home!

Wednesday, Aug. 5



Natalie sure has missed her big brother since he started first grade...she loves when he finally comes home and is willing to give her some attendtion. After a long day for both of them, they snuggled up on the couch to watch a movie together...I wish every moment could be so sweet.

Thursday, Aug. 6



Haydn is one of Natalie's favorite playmates and she asks daily for him to come over and even insists on being the one to call him. They love to empty her closet and pretend all sorts of things. Lately they love to play "Disneyland" and dress up as the princesses to sign autograph books.

Friday, Aug. 7



My friend, Michelle, has sent me a few pictures this week from Kindergarten that she took. This one was from Mom's and Muffins Day last fall. It's funny how things in the past can seem like yesterday and like forever ago at the same time. It feels like I blinked and Kindergarten was over...Ben even looks so much younger in this picture. I guess it's like trying to hold onto a handful of water...eventually it trickles out between your fingers. Try as I might, I can't keep my kids from growing up...I just wish it didn't happen so fast!

Saturday, Aug. 8



As I mentioned last week, my kids love getting a hold of the camera and taking pictures. I now have many pictures in my photo gallery that look like this...maybe I need to sign them up for a photography class?