Happy Birthday America!

Our America turned 6 years old on July 3rd. For her birthday we went to see Kung Fu Panda and had a lot of laughs and even spilled half the bag of popcorn like we always do when we go to the movies. She got her 2 wishes come true for her birthday. One, she has been dying to have the monkey Webkinz because it's "pet of the month" for July. And two, she has been wanting a bike for months. She had a small one someone had given us that she's been riding but it is just way too small for her now so she would always be bugging Orion to let her ride his. So now she has her very own bike and can't get enough of riding it. We love our Meri!

Playground Complete

Well our back yard is coming along. After much hauling of sand from our driveway out front - many calories were burned in that activity by all of us, and Shawn using his engineer skills to put together our Costco playground, it is now complete! Hooray! The kids are loving it. And I am loving that I can send them out back to play. It is so fun. Our next project is to get the sprinklers and grass in around it.

Trip to San Ramon

As soon as school let out we headed to San Ramon for Tiffany's wedding. She looked beautiful and happy and we had a great time at the reception. The girls loved having matching dresses with their cousins and the boys tolerated putting on a tie. We had a great time hanging out with all our family there. We spent a week there swimming, making root beer with Grandpa, playing with him and all his Legos, eating his homemade donuts, going to one of the Redwood Forests, going to the Monterrey Aquarium, and getting in plenty of play time with cousins - oh, and we can't forget getting sick with the cousins too, yes, the barfing kind. Ugh! But it didn't last too long so it wasn't too bad. Shawn and I had a wonderful night out going to the Oakland Temple, then to Olive Garden, and then to see Prince Caspian. It was such a treat! So much fun! Thanks so much to Matthew and Amanda and Alicia for watching the kids that night. I have more pictures, but they are on a disposable camera because our battery died right after the wedding so I will try to post more later. It was a great trip. The kids were upset to leave. It's just so much fun there! Thank you so much Dad and Cheryl and Matthew and Amanda for having us! It was so nice to relax and unwind. I was feeling very pleased that I got Ethan's baby book finished and I finally got to read New Moon and Eclipse while I was there too and LOVED them both! It was such a fun way to start our summer!
kids with the happy couple, boys with cousin Chance, Jess with cousin Andy, Meri with cousin Mady

Last day of School

Here are the kids on their last day of school. Yes, I made them all wear their school t-shirts to show school spirit. It has been a great year. The kids have all done really well this year and worked hard. We were blessed with wonderful teachers for each of them and it's just been a really good year. Even though it was an adjustment with the move last summer and making new friends and missing old friends, it has been good and a good growing year for all of us. This fall Brayton will be a 5th grader - his last year in Elementary school - I just can't even believe it! Ethan will be in 4th and Orion in 2nd. Meri will be in 1st grade which she is thrilled about. She can't wait to see her brothers at recess she says.

Spring Recital

We had our Spring Piano Recital a couple weeks ago. The kids did so well and it was a lot of fun to hear them play. Even Jessi played something!

T-ball fun

Orion and Meri recently played on the "Knights" team for T-ball. This was our first time doing baseball and they just loved it! Orion's favorite was playing 1st base and Meri's was catcher. They really had a ball!

Jessi turned 4!

May 17 Jessi turned 4 years old! She's getting to be such a big girl! Her birthday was on a Saturday so we spent the day together as a family working in the yard, eating cake and opening presents. Oh, and had McDonalds for dinner. It was a great day! As you can see she still is crazy about Ponies and Littlest Pet Shops. We love our Jess!

ready for sand

Well, are all ready for the sand. Here's the area we have for it. The wall and border are in place and the sand with be delivered tomorrow! So the playground will be up shortly! Yahoo!

Ethan the 9 year old

On May 4th Ethan turned 9 years old! We celebrated his day Star Wars style per his wishes. This year he has been crazy for those Star Wars Galactic Hero guys. We had Princess Leia Hair Do Cinnamon Rolls, Bossk berries, and Chewbacca Chocolate for breakfast. Then went to church as it was Sunday. Then came back home and made Wampa Waffles topped with Sith Syrup and Bith Butter. On the side we had Jedi Jiggle, Greeto Cheetos, and Yoda Soda. It was a really fun day and we are so grateful to have Ethan in our family!

a baptism and a baby blessing

Last week we made the trek up to Oregon to see our nephew, Nathan get baptized and our newest nephew, Kurt have his baby blessing. My sister Tess and her husband Ryan also came out from Idaho to be there too. We had a ball. Here's my sister Krystal and her husband Dave with their kids Derek, Nathan, Lauren, Kurt, and Nicole.
Next, is Krystal with little Kurt. His blessing was right after Nate's baptism. He was so cuddly and fun to hold. I just couldn't get enough of him.

It was so much fun to see my 3 sisters. I miss them so much a lot of days. The 4 of us went out for dinner together after everyone was bedded down that night. I just love them. Another highlight for me was going shopping at RWB with Krystal - the famous thrift store there in Clackamas. I got some great stuff and great deals - my favorite was the clip on ties for the boys - 50 cents per tie! It was also wonderful to see my parents. I hadn't seen any of my family since last July when we had our reunion - right before we moved into our house. It's just not enough to only see them once a year!

The next picture is of all our kids with their Pederson cousins right before Nate got baptized.

The bottome picture is newly baptized Nate. It was so much fun to see our family. Tonight at dinner the kids were planning out our culdesac. They wanted all their grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles right on our street - and no further. :)

birthdays and cousins

As a bonus to our trip we got to be at cousin Isaac's 2nd birthday in San Ramon and then the next day we got to be there for cousin Derek's 6th birthday in Molalla, Oregon. Isaac's was cars and Derek's was Lego. Way to go Alicia and Krystal on the cakes! They looked so great! And they were quite delicious too.

Jandi and Tess mini marathon!

My 2 little sisters (who are all grown up now) have been training for a mini-marathon for awhile now. So this weekend that we were there in Oregon, Tess and Ryan also came out from Idaho. The morning of the marathon it actually snowed! Here's Meri out at Krystal and Dave's in the snow! So, even though it snowed for some of the run, Jandi and Tess pressed on. Here they are coming to the finish line and we were waiting for them. Kenny and Ryan had the Rocky music blaring and the kids fell in behind them and ran with them as they finished. It was awessome!

California Poppy fields

Well, we finally made it out to see the poppies. They are just beautiful this year. When we occasionally make the drive down to Lancaster you can see off in the distance just this huge mass of orange. It's so pretty! The day we went it was super hot and there was some talk from other sight-seers of rattle snakes so Meri was not feeling so hot about sticking around - hence the sad face in the picture. The bright sun made it hard to get good pictures with out lots of squinting, but it sure was beautiful to see!

feet bath

Jessi's favorite activity lately is doing feet baths. She just loves it! I often find her in the bathroom running a bath in the sink for her feet. Her Aunt Tess loved doing this as a kid too! It's funny how we inherit various things from our family!