Getting that 4th of July Excitement!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE July 4th. It rivals Christmas as my favorite holiday. Really, it does. I think part of why I love it so much, (aside from truly being thankful to live in such an amazing country and having a day to remember why I AM proud to be an American..thanks Lee Greenwood!) is because of the years and years of tradition on that day! Nothing too elaborate or extreme...parade, picnic at my parents house, (good food, catching up with my cousins, swimming in the canal, frisbee golf. horseshoes) and then of course our AMAZING fireworks! Ahh, I'm getting chills just thinking about it.

Here are a couple pictures of the Ghosts of 4th of July's past to go along with my new blog background. I hope it gets you all in the spirit of the 4th! And there will be a proper post of that days activities....I just had to get a head start!

And just so you know....Jenn and family.. You WILL be greatly missed. But I am thankful you are getting something really great for sacrificing this day! That goes for Doug & Rebekah too, and any of the other Peterson clan that's unable to come this year. We do welcome with excitement Amy & Noah, and the Turnbulls! And I HOPE Grandma and Grandpa Andrus make it too! Hint!

Shots from 2006...My how we've changed since then! Landon was only 7 months old...

2007. I was 8 months pregnant with Presley! She was born August 2nd, so this will be her first official 4th. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Summertime!

Here's a look at what we've been doing the last couple of weeks. It seems that summer may here to stay! Let's hope...it's taken long enough to get here!

Item #1: Haircuts! Matt cut Landon's hair and I LOVE IT! It makes it so nice not to really have to do it! The girls are a different story! Parker got 6 inches cut off and Pacie- well I didn't measure it, but let's just say that Scott ACTUALLY cried when the first few cuts were made. Her hair has NEVER been this short, but I like it and it's growing on Scott too! It's just a nice change for summer and hey, it's hair! It will grow back....

Item #2: Matt's football game! I LOVE summer football. Matt was just voted to the All-Star team for the area. His championship game is next Saturday night, but we had a blast watching them win this semi-final game. I have a picture of Parker and Matt just like this right before he left on his mission. Parker is about 7 months old...I should find it and scan it in, but I took this one just for Matt and her to remember how far they've come! Grandma and Grandpa Landon came to watch Matt too. It was a beautiful night and they won 34-6! Go Lionz!

Item #3: RACING! Scott hasn't been able to race very much this year-due in part to the girls dance schedule, but now he'll start a little more. His first race was in Rupert, ID and he did great! He took first in the +30 Pro class and 2nd in the +25 Pro Class. He's still super fast and looks great! His kids (and his wife) love to watch him in his element. He really is amazing on a bike!

Congrats from Parker..... And from Pacie...............

The next generation of Taft racers.....Landon! He is already obsessed with bikes, loves to be on them and just wants to be sitting on the bikes, helping daddy work on the bikes, anything to do with it, he LOVES it! It will be fun (really scary) when he's old enough

to start racing

.Little Presley was filthy as could be-and proud as could be too!

Item #4: Swimming! Even in our own backyard they love to swim! Here's just a few pics...they were freezing, but had fun despite the water.

Lots more summer fun to come. I LOVE it!

Wonder how I'd fare today?....

So in the 1930's I'd be superior! Surprised what with all of the ironing and mending questions! Saw this on a friend's blog and thought it would be fun to take!

What kind of 1930's wife are you?

65 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

Fathers Day Early

So I've been wanting to post these pictures of the kids, but didn't want Scott to see them before Father's day. I'm doing a handprint/picture collage for him. He's out of town racing today and tomorrow so I know he won't see them! Anyway, I took these the other day and thought they turned out pretty well. I love my babies! So thankful to be a mom and thankful that my kids have such an amazing dad! We love you, Scott. We hope that your Father's Day Weekend starts out amazing...(Well, you're riding and racing, so I'm sure you'll love it.) Sunday will be great!

Presley- 10 Months

I LOVE her little beaver teeth!Parker- 6

She is looking more and more grown up to me every day.

Pacie- a couple weeks away from 5

I can't believe she's starting Kindergarten in the fall!

Landon 2 1/2

Our lone little man in this house of girls!

Alternate options that didn't make the cut but that I wanted to share!

Here is the finished product. For the quote in the middle, I used one of my favorite Mary Englebreit quotes...or one she uses anyway. It says:

Nothing is so strong as gentleness;

Nothing so gentle as real Strength.

Happy Father's Day, Scott.

Thank you for being such an amazing daddy to your kids. They all adore you! You are and always will be an example, a role model, their friend, and their biggest fan. We Love You!

Catching up with Courtney....LONG OVERDUE!

My long lost friend, Courtney Chapman (Marsh...sorry I'm still not used to the married name!) was here in Idaho from Washington DC for a couple of weeks and she came to see me! She brought her darling kids over to our house for a couple of hours to play. They are both so darling! I was so happy to meet them finally. Will and Landon were wrestling most of the time-just being little boys! We did have to pull out the lollipops to get them to try to hold still for a picture, but

we manged to get a few!

I love how Will has Landon in a head lock!

Too cute!

After the festivities with the kids, we got babysitters and had some "girl time". We went to the Snakebite for lunch. (all of you not from IF, make it a stop when you come to visit...it's so good!) Off to Babe's bakery for dessert (yes, we milked our time together).

We decided one afternoon was not long enough to catch up, so the next night we met at 10:35 for a movie (What Happens in Vegas) We laughed our heads off! Then off to (apparently) the only place now open 24 hours in Idaho Falls, Denny's. Our waitress was completely annoying and we saw some of IF's finest...thank you cowboy corset woman.....but had such a great time. We left there at 3:30 am and then sat in Court's wonderful mom's driveway until the sun came up. I think I got home around 5 am. What a fun night we had...just talking and catching up. I am still waiting for pictures we took at lunch to post, but I wanted just to say how much I had missed my friend and I am so grateful we got to re-connect.

Courtney, you amaze me with your strength-and the grace with which you handled the news of your house fire. I love you!

I LOVE my son.

Really, the following pictures need little explanation. However, for journaling purposes, I will do a little. I had just gotten Landon out of the bath and was getting a shirt to put on him when the phone rang. It was my good friends from England (The Dann's) announcing that they were coming over for Christmas. (HOORAY!) I hear Landon on the phone and realize he's in the office. So I go to him to get him to hang it up and here's what I find. The ENTIRE contents of the paper shredder emptied all over the office. Needless to say, it hadn't been emptied in a while. Seriously? I LOVE my son!

I wish you could see his face because really there was no remorse at all. Just pure elation at being able to throw tiny bits of shredded paper about the room. Notice it's even on the book shelf...it took a while to get it cleaned up. And I'm still finding bits every day!

Congrats Brigg!

This past weekend, my cousin Brigg was baptized. It was so fun to go and be there for him and to see our "Utah family" that we don't get to see too often. The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins (Payton, Elle Belle, Bailey) and I had so much fun seeing everyone and being able to go on a pop run...simple pleasures! I miss my aunts and uncles that live there-and especially my wonderful grandparents. Love you!
My sweet grandma and grandpa Andrus. My kids call them grandma and grandpa "Tug" as in "tug on the mutton". You'll have to be a direct family member to understand that one!

My beautiful aunt, Amy. Love you, Aim!

Parker, Pacie and Elle. They had so much fun, flying!

My sweet dad with our Little Darlin' Ooh. We love our Gramps!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had so much fun this Memorial Day weekend, despite the incessant rain. We went to our friends (the Nulph's) cabin in Island Park and basically did a lot of nothing! Our kids all played and had fun and we just chased them around, talked, watched a few movies, played Guitar Hero and ate! (Thanks again to Tyler for bringing Guitar Hero so that Scott would be inspired to go and get one for us. We LOVE it! I know we are behind the times, but better late than never, right?) Oh, and we were able to get out on a couple of 4-Wheeler rides too. I'd have to say that was the highlight of the trip. Here are a few pics. Thanks again, Ty, Dev, Coop and Pax for such a fun weekend. We appreciate your friendship!

Ready to Ride with Dad! Thanks again, Devri for the supply of warm clothes for Presley!
The girls and Cooper


"Ya got mud on your face...
We didn't have much luck on the trails! As soon as we were back in on one, we'd get stuck in the snow! Tyler and Scott did a lot of getting machines
unstuck!

I am so thankful for two girls so close in age. They always have a friend around to play with. I hope it always stays that way!

In memoriam of Pacie's pink necklace she lost on our ride....

Of course, Landon was in HEAVEN on the 4-wheeler. Scott let him do the throttle one time and he would just gun it as fast as it would go and let out a little "woo-hoo" scream. It was so funny. And of course, Scott was so proud!

Little Presley all tired out after a long ride. I especially like her daddy's socks pulled up over her jeans to look and function as leg warmers...