K is Three

T- This is my baby girl, Miss K, or KK as she calls herself. She spells her real name K.T.L.Y.N. She turned three about two weeks ago. My baby is officially not so much the baby anymore.
H- Heart. She has a giant piece of mine, and her smiles melt mine almost every day. I love her so much.

R- Reasonable? Not so much. Everything she likes needs to be hers. She says "NO". A lot. But, she is really good at sharing gum.
E- Every girl needs some purple. And Dora the Explorer. I love that K has opinions on how everything should be. She had been planning her third birthday party for months. On the list of requirements was a Dora cake, and a friend party. Both successfully accomplished.
E- Excitement. K makes life exciting. She has a spunky personality. I can't get enough of her cuddles and hugs. She wants to be bigger than she is and I am willing her to stay little for just a bit longer. I love being her mom!

And lots of pictures for all the die hard fans of all the present and party action. K knew exactly what to do this year. She didn't want any help opening her presents, or with the candles on her cake.

The purple Dora cake- per request of course-

Some present action:

And some of the party guests- including Londyn, Aunt Carol and Uncle Ken Busbee, Grandma and Grandpa Petersen, Uncle Richard, Uncle Mark, Aunt Suzy, Cousin Jack and of course Ethan and Erin too.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

We had the opportunity to attend the open house for the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple last week. It was a great experience to be able to be in the temple with my family. I am grateful for the blessings that the temple brings into my life, and for my eternal family.

Growing Up

Erin lost her first tooth on July 20! My Bearto is growing up! She had it pretty wiggly for a while and had me keep checking to see if it was loose enough to pull. We tried three times the day before, and it finally came out on the second try the next day. She was so excited to wrap it all up and get it under her pillow. The tooth fairy came and brought her a dollar. Now we are just waiting for the other bottom front tooth to fall out too. Any day now...

Before-The last picture with all the baby teeth.
After- You can clearly see the first tooth hole.
All packaged and ready for the Tooth Fairy.

Zoo Fun

Our zoo pass expired at the end of June, and I wanted to get one more use out of it for the season, so I packed up the kids and we headed to the zoo on June 30. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! We packed a lunch and got there early to beat the heat. We saw all of our usual favorites and of course had to ride the train too. Some pictures from the day:

After we had enough fun at the zoo we headed up to Ogden to see my grandparents. They took us for a yummy lunch at Lagori's Pizza and then we headed back to their house to visit for a while longer. The kids played in the apple tree and with the few toys that are left around the house. Grandma and I looked at old albums full of pictures that I now want to scan and preserve. It was a wonderful visit and I'm glad my kids are old enough to have some memories of their great-grandparents.

Fourth Festivities

We had an awesome 4th of July this year. The festivities actually started a few days earlier at the Hot Air Balloon Launch. Ethan and Erin got the chance to go inside the air part of a balloon before it was all the way inflated, and Ethan "piloted" a balloon by pulling on the burner a few times. It was awesome to see all the balloons up on the ground even though they couldn't take off due to wind conditions. Our favorites were Smokey the Bear, Tony the Tiger, and all the Red, White, and Blue!

On the night of the 3rd, we headed over to the Sidewalk of Fire, hosted by two awesome families in our ward. There was a children's parade, treats, rocket launcher fun (candy, rockets, glow sticks- thanks honey!) and then a fantastic legal fireworks display. The city had fire trucks driving through neighborhoods making sure people were safe. When they got to ours they decided to stay awhile. They said it was the best party they had seen all night.

And for the FIRST time ever (I know, really, the first time) we took our kids to the Grand Parade on the morning of the 4th. It was fun, and made more awesome by the fact that a friend saved us some spots close up to the street. Favorites were the fire trucks, royalty floats (Erin), the zooming tank (Ethan), helium balloons (K), and the LDS missionaries float. The kids were done before it was all the way over, but we made it to the end anyway. Just a bit too hot and steamy. I don't anticipate the parade becoming a tradition, but we did go. I'll leave it up to the kids next year.

Later in the afternoon we took the kids downtown to check out the booths and pioneer recreations. K fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep in the stroller for most of it. Erin got her face painted with a sparkly butterfly and Ethan purchased an awesome bow and arrow set. Ethan tested out a pillory, and we also had to buy some snowies as it was sooooo HOT.

It was a fun holiday this year. I'm glad we got out and did all the things we have been wanting to do for the past 10 years but never did. I hope you all had a great holiday too!

Lagoon

About a month ago it was Jeff's company party at Lagoon. Jeff and I hadn't been for 9 years, and we had never taken the kids. We all had a great time. Ethan was tall enough to ride everything in the park. Jeff and I took turns taking Ethan on all the big coasters while the other one took the girls on some smaller rides in kiddie land. Erin was a great big sister and rode with KK on the little rides. She said she was glad she wasn't tall enough to do some of the big rides so she could be with K. What a sweetie!

Things we learned at Lagoon:

* Erin is afraid of heights. (Ferris wheels are scary!)
* Katelyn makes awesome faces on roller coasters, and then asks to go again.
* Ethan is a daredevil and will do anything at least twice.
* The haunted house was creepy and lame.
* Katelyn will ride the ladybug bop all day while giggling if allowed.
* 70 degree weather makes for really long lines.
* Being dropped from 217 feet in the air is really fun for mom and Ethan.
* Twelve hours wasn't long enough to do everything we wanted.
* Katelyn likes riding chickens on the merry-go-round.
* Funnel cakes are yummy.
* Getting soaking wet on the second ride of the day was not ideal for Jeff. Ethan loved it though.

Ethan's Room Makeover

BEFORE: White upper walls, blue lower walls. Dinosaur border in between. Originally decorated for Ethan at age 3. Ethan and his friend Trey had lots of fun tearing off the wallpaper border. K and Erin were big helpers too. Ethan and Erin even got in on some of the painting action.

AFTER: Camouflage paradise. Ethan's Grandma P made him a new comforter and matching pillowcase for his bed. Two walls are a deep green and the other two walls are white. The finishing touch is the camo net hanging from the ceiling over his bed. A lot more grown up, and 9 year old approved!