Nativity

For Christmas this year we went to California to be with family.  It was nice to be able to see family and watch the boys play with their cousins.  All the kids have grown so much since we lived in California.  My favorite part of the trip was watching the kids participate in the Nativity.  Each Christmas Eve the Peterson family does a nativity play.  This year was a hit.  All the kids enjoyed it and looked awesome.  I hope it is something they remember.

Trey was Joseph this year and only found it a little awkward! 

Makai was a Sheppard, but really wanted a gift the the wisemen.  

Kyle was a wiseman

Tyler was Nephi and loved it.  Kory was a wiseman too--I think.

One thing for sure...all the kids were great and the costumes were awesome.

Makai's 5

We still can't believe that Makai is 5!  He grew so fast.  We enjoy the boy he is.  He lives for Lego's!!  In fact, on multiple occasions he has said, "Mom, if the brothers die can I have all their stuff...like their legos?"  I then try to tell him we love them more than their stuff, but he isn't convinced.  We spent his birthday this year driving to California for the Christmas break.  Therefore he got to open his presents a day early.  Meaning, his legos a day early.  He was so excited for his birthday we had to make a chain about a month before so he could take a link off everyday.  I got so tired of him asking if it was his birthday yet.  Of course, the process has already begun again.  Poor kid doesn't have a concept of time.

He enjoys playing by himself with legos and would do it all day if I let him.  He usually has a lego guy with him wherever we go.  Sometimes I can convince him to leave it in the car, but usually not.  He has lost a few and it always leads to major tears, but those little guys are hard to find in stores when he puts them down.

He is learning to read, but it is a slow process.  He is pretty good at math and can do basic addition and subtraction.  I think he is happy he hasn't started school yet, but he will be ready by August for sure.  If I can get him to leave his lego guys home.

He hates shoes.  If he can he takes his shoes off anywhere we go.  He says they make his feet hot.  When we get to church, his shoes come off.  In the car, his shoes comes off, the second he gets home his shoes come off.  In fact, once while at the movies he was wearing flip flops.  After the movie we all left the theater.  After a while I looked down at his feet and noticed he only had one flip flop.  I asked him where his other one was and he said, "In the movie.  I couldn't find it."  He had no problem walking around with one.  Thankfully, they were still cleaning up and we were able to find it. I am hoping to get him to be able to keep his shoes on before school starts.  It won't be easy after summer. We are trying with church--primary!  This also helps with, Truth/Lie.  After church I will ask him if he kept his shoes on during primary.  Once he lied to me and told me he did when I knew he didn't.  Finally I told him it was more disappointing that he lied than that he took his shoes off.  Now he will tell me the truth that he did take them off.  Hey, at least he is getting some lesson out of it.  

He asks 'Why?' A LOT!  After everything actually.  Example:
Me:  "Makai it is time for bed?"
Makai; "Why?"
Me:  "Because it is late and we need to rest our bodies?"
Makai:  "Why?"
Me:  "Because we need rest so we an do what we need to tomorrow."
Makai:  "Why?"
..."Why?..."Why?"...
Me: "Goodnite Makai!"

This took place last night at 11:00pm!!  He hates to go to sleep!  He stays up the latest of any of the boys.  Of course he sleeps in too.

Makai loves people too.  He has no problem talking to anyone.  Checkout clerk, doctor, dentist, random stranger.  He will say things like, "Excuse me.  Do you like my lego?"  To a random person at any store.  I love this about him.

We love Makai.  He is my buddy.  I will miss him next year when he goes to school, but am so thankful for his sweet personality.

Band

Music is something all our boys enjoy.  Tyler and Kyle are both in band this year and enjoy it.  Tyler still plays the french horn and Kyle has decided to play the tuba.  Tonight was their concert.  They both did a good job.  Kyle's personality fits the tuba.  I will say Tyler's band was good, except the trumpets were horrible, but not as horrible as the oboe player who just squeaked through every song--and rather loudly I might add!  I love the oboe--one of my favorite instruments, but that kid needs some one on one help.  It was too bad it made the rest of the band sound not as good.  Tyler however--he was great!;)

TUBA!!

French Horn

 

Kory 10

Kory is officially 10!  Still hard to believe, but it is true.  I gave him the option this year is f picking out his own gifts or having me buy them.  He opted to pick out his own gifts.  I actually offered him cash to which he responded, "How much cash?"  Yep, he is 10.  No longer a fool.  He picked a lego set, two nerd swords and is still waiting to find his 4th gift.  I beleive he wants a poster of a specific football player. My mom sent a gletter to ft, but the mail messed up and even after a week it still isn't here.  she tracked it however and it has been all over the u.s.  Right now I beleive it is in Washington. It has also been in Arizona, New Mexico, utah, came through denver, then went to Washington. Have no idea what is going on.  Maybe it will get here one day.  It is the Maze Runner book series. I think the fact that it has been a maze getting here is kinda funny actually.

Not sure how he does this with his eyes, but he does.  Love you Kory.  

Measurements

Head:

Tyler: 22 and 1/2 inches

Kyle: 22 and 1/2 inches

Kory: 21 and 1/2 inches

Trey:  20 and 6/8 inches

Makai: 21 and 1/2 inches

Neck

Tyler: 13 and 1/2 inches

Kyle: 13 and 1/2 inches

Kory: 11 inches

Trey: 10 and 6/8 inches

Makai: 11 inches

Waist

Tyler: 32 and 1/2 inches

Kyle: 33 inches

Kory: 25 and 1/2 inches

Trey: 23 inches

Makai: 22 inches

Arm

Tyler: 30 and 6/8 inches

Kyle: 29 and 1/2 inches

Kory: 25 and 1/2 inches

Trey: 21 and 6/8 inches

Makai: 19 and 2/8 inches

Wingspand 

Tyler: 72 and 5/8 inches

Kyle: 66 and 2/8 inches

Kory: 56 and 3/8 inches

Trey: 50 and 5/8 inches

Makai: 44 and 1/2 inches

Height

Tyler:  70 and 2/8 inches

Kyle: 64 and 3/8 inches

Kory:  54 and 7/8 inches

Trey: 49 and 7/8 inches

Makai: 43 and 6/8 inches

Weight

Tyler: 140.8 lbs

Kyle: 141.8 lbs

Kory: 70.4 lbs

Trey: 53 lbs

Makai: 49.8 lbs

Ages

Tyler: 13 and 6 months

Kyle:11 and 9 months 

Kory: 10 in two weeks

Trey: 7 and 4 and 1/2 months

Makai: 4 and 10 months

Note to boys:  Be really nice to Makai!  

Sandwich

I love this boy!  The other day he was hungry and said, "Mom, can I have a sandwich?"  I told him sure and he said, "I can make it!"  I asked him if he knew what to do and he said yes.  I then watched him make his own PB and J sandwich.  He even put everything away when he was done and said, "See mom, now you don't have to make sandwiches for me anymore."  Bitter, sweet.  He is growing up on us. I just adore him.  So thankful he is in my life. 

Colorado

Before school started up again we decided we needed to sneak in a quick get away.  We planned to leave on a Friday, but I got asked to speak in Sacrament meeting the Sunday we wanted to be gone, so we left on a Monday.  We didn't really have any huge plans, but a break from the norm and any adventure we could find.  Monday we drove to Colorado Spring and checked into our hotel.  We had other plans to camp, but with weather being the way it is in Colorado, we checked the weather forecast and it was suppose to rain which made camping sound miserable!!  

We decided to go take a tour of the Olympic Training Center. We had been there before, but never taken the tour.  We wish there would have been more athletes practicing.  We only saw one--a shooter and that wasn't exactly thrilling to watch.  However, it was fun to watch a fun movie they showed that really emphasized the Paralympics that brought me to tears.  

After the Olympic Training center I noticed there was a tour of a Chocolate Factory and well...nothing sounded bad about giving that a shot.  We took the tour and to be honest we were all sick of chocolate at the end.  They handed out samples, but by the end it was just too much.  Everyone loved the snazzy hats they gave us to wear.  

That night we drove West because I had booked us a trip to go White water rafting the next morning.  We found a tour group that had a trip that was safe for kids.  Monty and I went rafting once when we were still dating and enjoyed it.  I've always wanted to take the boys, but they have never been old enough.  Well, now they are!  

Tyler was not to sure about the idea.  

Kyle was up for an adventure.

Kory wasn't sure about this idea either...

Can you tell how thrilled Makai and Trey were!

Family shot before the adventure down the Arkansas River!

  

Off we go.

Kory, dad, and I having fun

Now everyone is having fun.

At this point everyone was having fun and kept saying, "Mom, I can see why you wanted to do this!"  We traveled with another raft and in that boat 4 people fell out on one rapid...including the leader.  Dad was holding Makai and Trey with all his might.  Those boys were not going anywhere!  We did get stuck on one or two rocks, but our leader was good at what she did and VERY strong.  We were in good hands.  It was a fun adventure.  

  We didn't know we were going to raft so we didn't bring our swim shoes.  We did however go to Wal-Mart(the only store in the whole town and bought the only swim shoes they had).  Tyler and Kyle were not thrilled about having to wear these pink swim shoes, but did.  They felt much better when the boy from the other group was wearing them too.  He was pretty relieve to see them in them too.  

We spent the afternoon driving through some cute towns like Salida, CO and got some really good ICE CREAM.  We fell in love with the town.  Then we drove back to the Colorado Springs area.  We passed Manitou Springs.  Last time we were there we saw the Manitou Springs incline.  I really wanted to climb it not realizing what it actually was, but we found a parking spot and decided to try.  We talked to someone that said it took him an hour.  As we started we thought maybe it would take half hour or so.  HA!!  We had no idea what we began.

 This bad boy is one mile straight up and increases in elevation by 2,000ft in that one mile.  The altitude is no joke.  We did okay breathing wise, but there were some people from out of town and the thin air was killing them.

 The steps just keep going and going!!  Just when you think you are at the top there are about a hundred more stairs.

It ended up taking us and hour and a half to get up.  It was much darker than we thought it was going to be, but I will never forget the moment we reached the top.  Mind you, Makai climbed the ENTIRE way up without complaining.  He was a total trooper and their were some stairs as big as him.  I kept asking the boys if they wanted to stop and they said, "NO!  We are not giving up."  When we got to the top Tyler walked up to Makai, tapped him on the head and said, "Makai, you are the coolest 4 yr old in the whole world!"  There was a lot of family love at the top after we did a hard thing.  It brought us closer together as a family.  

The way down was another adventure.  We heard on the way up that there was a trail you could take down instead of having to use the stairs.  The only problem was it was dark, and we didn't know where we were going.  I did have my phone which has a flashlight(whoever invented that feature was a genius).  However, what no one knew was my phone was running low on power so I didn't know how long it would last.  We set off the way I thought the trail was.  We decided to stop and say a prayer that we would get down the mountain safely.  I am not sure what way we took, but we met up with a trail and another person who said we were going the right way.  It ended up being a four mile hike down and it took us an hour and a half.  So, it took the same amount of time to go up one mile and down a 4.  Makai walked all of that too...with only a little complaint.  We were all done when we got to the car, but everyone had a blast!!  

We came home, showered and all slept like babies!! 

We spent some time at the Academy this trip.  We watched the hokey team practice, the girls basketball team, and the boys soccer team.  The cadets had started school so we watched them in formation to go to Lunch.  We took a tour of their new exercise facility.  It was just as awesome as the Olympic training center and had a lot more athletes.  We went to a trampoline gym in the springs that had all kinds of trampolines to jump and play on.   All the kids loved it.  

The boys love to visit the academy.  They have so many questions.  I have no idea if any of them will go there for school, but they enjoy learning about it and respect their dad for going their.  

We were glad we got to get away for a few days.  It is fun to hang out as a family and enjoy our wonderful state.  

Pool Fun

 One of the fun things about our neighborhood is the pool.  It occupied many hours this summer!  

I LOVE MY FAMILY

Could I be any luckier!?  Love them!!

Trey's Tooth!!

Trey--his TRIPS to the dentist for one crazy tooth!!  Several months back Trey had a cavity filled.  My dentist told me he went down as far as he could and hoped he got it all, but wasn't 100% positive when filling in a cavity for Trey.  Sure enough, about 9 months later he began complaining about it, so I made him an appointment and they preformed a root canal on the tooth.  About two weeks later while bushing his teeth I noticed the all so recognizable GUM BOIL. I knew what it was because Kory ended up having a tooth pulled because of one, so I made him another appointment.  The only solution was the pull the tooth!

I must say he was pretty brave for such a huge tooth.  It had a lot of root left on it.  The dentist offered to make him a necklace out of it, but Trey wasn't up for it.  Next week we return again for yet another appointment to put a spacer in the area so his other teeth don't shift forward.  Our dentist joked that he set a record for the most work done on one tooth!!  

Home Projects

home Projects are always fun.  This summer we completed two of the home projects on our list.  The first was a New Kitchen Floor.  Our floor wasn't HORRIBLE, but it had some problem areas and needed to be replaced.  Monty and I had been to Home Depot and Lowes about 10 times looking at flooring.  We'd had two people come out to make estimates on the floor, but nothing was starting.  One day Monty told me he was leaving on a trip for work and that meant I needed a project!  I like to keep busy when he is gone and we had already agreed to do this project so I took matters into my own hands, watched a few YOUTUBE videos and started pulling up our floors. I will never forget Monty's face when he walked in the house.  He said, "Wow.  I guess we are putting in new floors this weekend!" It happened to be right before Mother's Day weekend, so it turned into a Mother's Day gift which was fine with me because I LOVE it.  So much better than our old floor.  Monty and I worked hard for a couple days and got it done!  In these pictures you can kinda see the before and after.

 

The second project was a necessity project.  The people who lived here before us put a fountain in right by the front step compromising the ground underneath and causing the step to sink.  A rain gutter that wasn't properly aligned led to another part of the entryway sinking just enough that it was a safety hazard.  Thankfully for us there is a new member in our ward who happens to be a structural engineer!  He saw the problem and offered to help us fix it.  Such a nice guy!!  So, for the last two weekends(Saturday's) this is what we have been doing!

About 7:30 in the A.M. excited to start! You can see just under Trey where it was sinking.  

The sinking step!  it was about a 13 inch step at this point.  

I had a YW service project that morning and come home to this!

The boys had a blast doing this part of the project!

We tried to get concrete delivered that day, but the plan in town was closed so Monty opened and mixed over 6,000lbs of concrete!  My hero!!  He was not excited about the job, but did it!  

Finally finished about 10:30 at night.  The Troopers!!

There was a slight miscalculation and the step was about an inch lower on the right side than on the left, but our buddy fixed it with this bright idea! I am actually glad we messed up because I love the detail on the step. We filled in the whole that was once a fountain and love the result!

Bronco's Seahawks Rematch!

Ever since the Super Bowl my boys have been waiting for the Bronco's-Seahawks Rematch!  Lucky for us we have some friends who have season tickets to the Bronco's games, but didn't want to go to the pre-season game.  Well, my boys did.  Our friends were really kind and actually found us a few more tickets, so we only had to buy a ticket for Makai.  We sat in different areas, but had a blast.

Ty and Ky.  I learned that night that they don't mind standing up for what they believe in!!  The only Seahawk fans in the stadium and proud of it!!(this was taken during a LAME thunderstorm!  They made the players go inside for about an hour--I never did see any lightning!)

My partner--he was a little whiny, but we had fun.

Post game!!  Tyler is a good sport!  

Since the Bronco's are Kory's team he got front row seats!!  He was pretty jazzed to see Manning play in real life!!

I hear trey was pretty whiny too, but I just think he is cute!

Great view!! Memorable night!!