Richard

This past Thursday night Brandon, Peter, and I went and celebrated the HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT of Uncle Richard (as Peter would say). Richard graduated from high school and we are so, so proud of him. It was a long road for him fraught with many obstacles, yet he received his diploma in spite of them. Yea!!!

Richard, you have:

Courage
Determination
Persistence
Self-Motivation
Fortitude
Resolution
Endurance
Tenacity

and Spunk

We are so proud of all that you've accomplished. Way to go dude!

Hurrah for Saturday

In celebration of my Mom's 53rd birthday we went as a family to the Oquirrh Temple Open House. It was so amazingly beautiful inside! I was surprised with the size of the temple because it's smaller then Provo or Mt. Timp. Regardless, I enjoyed every moment. It was oodles of fun to take Peter on his first trip to the Temple. I hope it will be the first of many, many, many trips for him.
The day was a little overcast, but we managed to dodge all the rain showers while we were outside. After the temple we had a picnic at Amy's apartment complex. We weren't able to dodge the raindrops there though so we had our picnic inside.

After eating we were able to successfully figure out how to do a video chat with my brother Kent. He is stationed in Ft. Gordon in Georgia and we haven't heard much from him since March. It was so nice to see his face and hear his voice all at the same time. As you can imagine, my Mom was so happy.

One of those weeks - already

It is only Wednesday, but Brandon and I feel like the weekend will never come. For us each day has crawled by at a snails pace. On Monday night and Tuesday night we helped two families move from our apartment complex. We both have stiff joints and sore muscles because both families lived on the third floor. We have another family moving on Friday morning so I'm not sure if we'll be able to help with that one. Thankfully though they live on the second floor if we do end up over there. It was Peters first time helping someone move and he did a great job.

This week we also found out that I made a budget blunder and as a result we got $66 of penalties. Ouch!!! We also found out that Brandon missed the deadline for the $1200 tuition reimbursement program that UVU offers to any employees that are enrolled in an MBA program. Dang! Needless to say, we both are wishing we could go hibernate in a big cavern in the mountains until next year. Anyone want to join us?

Growing older and bigger hurts

This past week I finally decided that Peter was ready for the BIG tub. He was getting so squished in the little baby tub with no room to stretch out his little piggy toes or splash. Here are a couple of pictures we've taken of Peter and his tub. In a lot of ways it's been hard to see my baby grow up.

2009 Thomas Campout

Sorry that I've been MIA for a little while. We went on the annual Thomas family camping trip this past weekend and had a TON of fun. Peter wasn't quite sure what was going on most of the time, but he did better then I expected. The nights were a bit nippy so we bundled him up really warm and he got to sleep under a ton of blankets. It was a lot more work to go camping with a little one then it is to go camping without one. Sorry Mom for not helping more - I wish I could have had two extra hands.

We all enjoyed our time and I'm almost caught up on all the laundry. Here are just a few of the 200 pictures we took while we were gone.

Our awesome campsite

Cousin Kiersten running down the hill overlooking the campsite

Cousin Zackary running down the same hill

Dad feeding Peter mashed bananas

All bundled up and cozy for the night

Taking a bath in Grandma's shower

Cousin Tyler, Bran, and Peter at the beginning
of the annual Treasure Hunt

Cousin Morgan is a hungry gal

Peter loved it when Uncle Richard held him

Cousin Zackary with bugs - BIG FAT GREEN WORMS!

Grandpa and Peter just chillin'

Bran after no shower for 3 days

Swimming at last

My heart has been full of sorrow since Memorial Day because our apartment swimming pool has been "closed until further notice". Waaaa. I've been anxiously counting down the days when it would open for the season. Apparently the managers of our complex have run into some problems regarding new pool regulations for 2009. It's soooo sad. The sparkling water shimmers and gleams at me every day whilst I languish indoors thirsting for the refreshing feeling of the cool water flowing over me.

Today I had finally had enough temptation. I got myself and Peter dressed and drove to the nearby Recreation Center to enjoy an alternative water source. The indoor pool wasn't nearly as refreshing, but it tempered my cravings for the time being.

In other news, last week Peter started rolling over on his own. It's fun to see him rolling whenever he has the desire. He also likes to play peek-a-boo with you. When I have a blanket nearby he will purposely cover his head and wait for me to say "where's Peter". He will then jerk off the blankets and give me happy smiles and big giggles. I love it. He makes each day an adventure (sometimes for the good and sometimes for the not so good).

Today I made him barley cereal for the first time and he loved it. He was slurping it down almost faster then I could keep up with him. What a hungry hippo. So far the only thing he doesn't seem to like is green peas. He takes after his father in that regard. Bran is admittedly proud of that.