Day 2 - Animal Kingdom with the Pittard's

Day 2 with the Pittard's was spent at Animal Kingdom. It was a very hot and humid day, which tends to happen more in Florida than us "Westerners" care for, but overall the weather is great. I thought we were going to melt on this day. As a parent, I like going to Animal Kingdom because the park closes early. It is nice to be able to leave at a reasonable time and not have to tell the kids they can't go get on one more ride. We were able to go back to the campground and swim. The swimming pool was really warm. It felt about as warm as bath water...ahhhh...I hope the warmth was not due to some kids' healthy kidney function, but I like to think it was from the Florida sunshine.

I'm glad Jasmine was smiling. The heat was making us a little cranky. And a cranky/moody Jasmine is not what anybody wants to deal with for very long (very long being more than 4.7 seconds...trust me on this one!).
Dominique is browsing around the gift shop. His Grandma Peterson would be so proud how he spent time in a Disney Park store!

I wish I could ride around the park in a stroller. Do they make these in a larger size?? I am not that big and could probably squeeze in one built for children. I think the bigger trick would be to convince Donovan to push me around in it all day. It would make an interesting addition to his Honey-do list.

The four boys enjoying their jawbreakers. What a bunch of suckers!! lol We love you guys!

Day 1 - Crescent Beach with the Pittard's

My sister (Laura) and her family couldn't have come to town at a better time last month. Donovan had just left for the week to attend a conference in Monterey, CA. I don't like it when he leaves town, and I am left alone with the kids However, this time I had company thanks to Laura and her fam. Monday, August 10, we drove to Crescent Beach, which is a little South of Jacksonville. The kids had a great time with their cousins and loved being at the beach.

Below is a picture of Jasmine and Trent.

Jyllian and I walked along the beach collecting seashells. Jyllian had a great time, but she didn't like the salt water going up her nose (not that I can really blame her).

The boys (Dominique, Dreyton, Grayson, and Trent) enjoyed themselves trying to be surf dogs while riding the boogie boards.

My niece Paige and her friend Gracie. You should have seen the number of Florida teenage boys weeping when these two hotties left the beach that day!

The kids had fun making sand formations. Fortunately, there were not many cats to come along and make "deposits" in the creations the boys made.

Here's Dominique sqiunting from the sun and enjoying the beach. We really had some fun that day and were glad to spend some time with Laura and her family. Thanks for visiting, Laura.

Magic Kingdom- Aug. 1st

Our annual passes to Disney World expired in August, so we planned to visit all four parks before they expired. We picked August 1st to go to Magic Kingdom. I thought it was going to be a day full of crowds and long lines, but it was quite the opposite. We actually cruised through the park and even saw places we hadn't seen before. The Tiki Tiki show is something my children will pass on in the future, but I thought it was a fun show. It was a very enjoyable Saturday with the family. We woke up early and got home late, but the kids had a great time.

Here we are in the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. I loved this movie as a child.
Jyllian and Jasmine were excited to ride the Jungle Cruise.

I guess Dreyton didn't want Dominique to sit too close to him. Dominique decided that today would be the day to start riding the "bigger" rides. Too bad Space Mountain is under renovation, because he said he would finally ride it. Dominique even rode Thunder Mountain. He does not like drops on amusement rides, so he passed on Splash Mountain. Dominique is great to have with us when he declines to ride because he watches Jyllian while we hope on the rides she can't.

Of course, I had to have a family photo. I know the kids just love me for this. :) I'm very sad my passes expired, but I'm sure I'll figure out a way to earn money to buy them again (or at least con Donovan into getting some in the future...I mean, he can go without something, can't he??).

July 24th BBQ

This is my last post for July. I'm finally caught up from my trip in UT! We had one last BBQ before we headed back to Florida. It was nice having Wayne and Anne (my in-laws) come to my parents home. There is always plenty of food, and it was delicious...with lots of fresh Utah corn.

This year my dad grew 30,000 ears of corn. Two of my brother-in-laws worked for my dad over the summer to help farm the corn. They took care of the corn, and it turned out great! I wish I could have been able to freeze it and bring it with me home to FL.
My sister (Laura), my brother (Jeff), my mom and dad were just enjoying each others company in this picture.

Jyllian was able to ride uncle Jeremy's horse. It was her first time riding a horse. She was hanging on to her cousin Sierra very tight.

Jasmine also enjoyed riding the horse. We told her maybe next summer she could learn how to ride by herself.

Bailey, Sierra, and Jyllian are all the same age. Jyllian really had an enjoyable time with all of her cousins.

Lott Grandkids July 2009

I told Anne (my mother-in-law) her birthday present would be late, but I didn't tell her what it was. You see we had to be in UT for this picture to be taken. My sister-in-law, Amanda, is a wonderful photographer. Each time I visit, I have some pictures taken. I hope next summer we can have a Lott family picture. It would be really nice to replace the old one on my shelf.

Top Row: Isabel, Dreyton and Dominique
Bottom Row: Jyllian, Meg, Mattison, Baby Emma, Jasmine and Ethan.

Dominique is now in 8th grade. It's hard to believe he will go into high school next year.

Dreyton is my 6th grader. He has always seemed older than his age.
Jasmine is now in 3rd grade.

Jyllian just started Joy School and she loves it. She really wants to ride the bus with her big sister.

My children are all getting so big.

Alicia's Wedding Day

On July 18th, my sister Alicia was married to Tyler Harvey. We drove to Manti early Saturday morning for the wedding. Here Donovan is outside the Manti temple waiting for Alicia and Ty to walk out of the temple. A lady asked him if he was a pilot. I guess I can see why she asked him if he were a pilot. Do pilots wear dark glasses? Jyllian and Jasmine are playing on the temple grounds.

Jyllian is sitting and looking cute.

Here is the whole Peterson bunch on the steps.

From left to right: Alayne, Janae, Annette, Alicia, Laura, Julie and Shannon...all seven girls.

We left the temple and had a luncheon in Fairview. After the luncheon we headed to my parents' house for the backyard reception.

This is a picture with all of the spouses and my parents.

This is a picture of my family with the groom.

All the sisters at the reception.

The flower girls took several rides throughout the evening in the carriage. It really was a Cinderella-like wedding.

Here are all of the nieces with Aunt Alicia.

Back view of the dresses

It was very difficult to take the picture with the groom and the nephews, so Alicia and Grandpa had to step in and hold the little boys.

One last picture of my family at the wedding. Let me tell you it was very difficult to put that frilly dress on Jasmine. It was even more amazing to get her hair curled and place the flower wreath on her head. But she ended up loving it after she saw all the other cousins looking just the same.

Family Picture Day

Each year my mother thinks it is important to get a family picture. I'm not talking about my immediate family, but the whole Peterson family. We are a very large family! There are ten children in my family, and we are all married. There are now twenty-eight grandkids and two more on the way (Julie and Jeremy's wife, Amanda, are both expecting). Someone has been pregnant in my family for the last ten years. We usually only have a couple of days to get this picture, because I live in Florida and Alayne lives in Rexburg. This picture was scheduled for July 16th at 7:30pm. Donovan was supposed to board a plane at 8:00 am that morning, but he decided to sleep through his alarm clock (as he had only had 2 hours of sleep for each of the previous two nights). Luckily, he did wake up in time to catch the next flight that left at 12:00 noon. It put him into SLC around 6:00pm. He arrived just in time to have this picture taken. We were going to have to photo shop him in. All because these two fell in love.... Love you mom and dad!

All the siblings with mom and dad.

And we can't forget all of the out-laws...

A picture with all of the grandkids.

And finally a picture of my family (Donovan, Janae, Dominique, Dreyton, Jasmine and Jyllian).

Utah- July 2009

While we were in Utah, Karen gave birth to little Emma. Here she is with Grandma Lott.

Dominique turned 13 in UT. Grandma Lott was soooo nice to make him a red velvet cake (it's his favorite). This cake is made from scratch, and it takes awhile to make. I was glad Grandma offered to make the cake because I really didn't want to. I can never get this cake to turn out the way Anne does. Dominique wanted to see the movie, "Up," so we took him and some cousins. These four boys ( Dominique, Dreyton, Tyler, and Grayson) can really stir up trouble. They decided it would be fun to go bee hunting in Grandma Peterson's back yard. They each took their turn getting bit by yellow jackets, but they kept trying to capture the bees. I'm not sure what the fun is in that, but it kept them occupied for a couple of days.