Intermountain Suzuki String Institute

McCall was lucky enough to participate in the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute held at Juan Diego Catholic School in Draper. It was a week filled with amazing violin instruction from musician from around the country and world. We were excited to see Jenny Oaks Baker -- McCall's favorite -- and Michael McLean, Jesus Morales and the Fry Street Quartet members, among many other amazing instructors, over the week. It was a great week, I learned a ton and so did McCall. Saturday we wrapped up with the final concert. It was so great to see McCall stand up their with the other students and perform. She is amazing and we look forward to seeing her continue to develop her talent. She promised one teacher she would never, never, never, never, never, never, never stop playing violin. The only problem is Elizabeth keeps asking for a violin... Dad better get that second job!!!! :-}

The Big First Birthday

Claire turned ONE this past Sunday. I knew when I delivered her that her birthday would always fall around Father's Day and I was worried that she'd always have to battle it out with a husband who thought it was his day to be catered to -and- low and behold on her very 1st birthday we had to contend with Father's Day...but our families were supportive and came to wish her the best on this most important first year. And Erik was fairly good about jumping in to help set up and get ready for the party too. So there is hope.

Claire was super cute (of coarse) and we all enjoyed seeing her expression with the first bite of cake. She didn't seem to want to get too dirty with cake but still seemed to enjoy it pretty much. Claire seemed pretty confused about the whole gift think. We are always telling her not to rip paper (usually the paper is attached to a book), so I think ripping the paper off confused her but she is enjoying the gifts (and the monetary gifts from grandparents to put in savings).

We are so blessed to have her as a daughter and can already tell she is bound for amazing things.

More Birthday Pictures

We tried to get some photos with her sisters but Claire just wasn't in the mood -- but we still adore them!!!

Easter Dresses

Grandma Kay purchased some beautiful dresses for the girls for Easter and I told her I would get pictures of them...it didn't happen on Easter Sunday but I did get some taken and am finally posting them so she and all can see....

(Click on picture to see enlarged version)

More Easter Dressess

More More Easter Dresses

Thanksgiving Point

Thanksgiving Point is one of my favorite things so I thought I'd blog about it today. This year we purchased a family pass and it has been so great. We get to visit the Gardens, the Children's Discovery Garden, the Animal Farm and the Dinosaur Museum. When we want to invite a family member or a friend, they get half price on thier ticket. The Cafe has great food and really yummy ice cream too. And all of this is just a hop, skip, and a jump away. The girls and I just love to run over there and walk through the gardens or ride the ponies. It is such a great place and I feel so fortunate to have it so close by that we can utilize it as we get to. I can't wait for us to be through with this week when we wrap up dance and swimming lessons and can be free to go to the gardens in the morning to walk. So....we love it and think you should too!!!

http://www.thanksgivingpoint.com/

Little Women

I love the story of Little Women. McCall and I read it together (a condensed version for youth). And we love the movie. So we were so excited when Grandma Kay told us a few months back that she bought tickets for McCall and I to go see it at Hale Center Theater. We went to see it this past Thursday. It was a musical play and was SOOOOO good. We had such a good time and appreciate Grandma taking us and also taking us all out to dinner before. It was so fun and nice to have a girls night out -- I really needed it. Grandma also bought us the book and I am anxious to finish my current book so I can read it again!

Swimming Continues

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted. I have been so busy with the end of school and time just flies by. I have been driving to Orem everyday for swimming lessons for the past month and I am blowing through our gas budget. (Not that I have a specific fuel budget, we just have a certain amount to spend and when we get close to our limit we tighten our spending in other areas). Anyway, I am so done with running around each day and can't wait to get back to our regular routine where we have fun time (down time) together with the girls. I feel like I've been in turbo mode the past week. It's been annoying. Only one more week of swimming and we'll be done for the summer! HURRAY!! Look at this cute picture of Elizabeth underwater. She is just the cutest thing and is so brave.

AMEN

So all of our children are simply amazing and everyday they do something that simply leaves us speechless at their intelligence and abilities.

Recently...McCall with her conceptions of math and particularly algebraic concepts. Elizabeth's courage as she gets into the water each day and overcomes her terror of it. Her teacher is so impressed with her bravery and her trust in others even though she had a horrible experience, she still listens to the teacher, trusts her and does what is asked even though her heart is racing with fear the whole time.

And then Claire. She has made the typical sounds and words of mama, dada, ba (ball) etc. but in the past couple of weeks she has added "AMEN". It is the cutest thing and I don't know if it's appropriate to video a prayer but I am going to have to because she is just a doll the way she says it. Claire is so happy and I just can't seem to get enough of cuddling her.

Scrabble

So I just have to put my plug in for scrabble (on my ipod) it has got me through some long nights! I still don't know if one of the abbreviations the computer uses is fair but when I remember what it was, I'm going to look into it! Oh, and what's the deal with Zen --- why can't I use that! You could always pawn off the Z using up an ever prevalent E or N. Come on, who in this day and age doesn't recognize ZEN as more than just a name...come on, it's a state of being! :-} Erik gets so annoyed when I start complaining about the computers words and just rolls his eyes but honestly I'm so jealous of the little tricks the "computers" uses!!!! I think I'm going to down load Sudoku so I can start finding excuses to "be waiting" and then necessitate the need to play a game. Yes, I am going to install the BofM too, so I won't be completely wasting my time in every waiting room or during the multiplicity of lessons I find myself waiting at. So if you want to start something you'll love but wish you'd never started, contact your local web and download Scrabble!

The difference good friends make

So they are totally charging the swimming instructor with Child Abuse from Negligence. It has been such a rough road, poor little Lizzy is still so scared of SWIMMING. It is the S*%@# word at our home right now - she keeps saying I don't want to go swimming. It's been an emotional roller coaster. We are so glad she's okay and it was so terrible going through the whole thing and now the charges and the interview with the DCFS worker and all just made it so real again. Last night I was up most the night worried and sick about it again. I couldn't get out of my head the situation and I kept thinking of how terrified and scared Elizabeth must have been. It just makes me cry and I wish I could just take it all away for her. Thank goodness we have the gospel in our lives and can rely on the compassion of the Savior in whatever situation we may go through. I know He's holding her right now.

So last night I was with some of my girls friends and can I just say that even though it's hard to keep in touch -- with our own families and all -- it is still so great to get together and talk and renew those friendships with women (that sounds old)...Girls who have compassion and love for each other. I came home appreciating that support and also aware of what others are going through and how to help, while most the time the only thing to do to help is just to pray for them but I just really appreciate the people who I have had the privilege to know! It amazing the difference good friends make.

Not another accident

Well, I guess Elizabeth has designated herself as the one in the family who will be accident prone. As if the past week hasn't been difficult enough the poor thing has scrapes all over her face. She and McCall were out playing on the play set while Erik and I were making dinner on Saturday. Both came running in crying, Elizabeth had walked right behind McCall as she was swinging. The crash sent Elizabeth face first into the wood chips cutting her little face all up, with a larger gash across her nose. GOODNIGHT!!! - the poor little thing has been through a lot lately!

The Peterson's have talent!!!!!!!!

Some people spend their life searching for acceptance through beauty, through belongings, but not us....at the Peterson home we have talent. Pure, unadulterated, life changing TALENT! Mom can pick up toys, pens, paper, keys, whatever, with her toes and walk across the room placing them in a basket, or on the counter. (All this with a baby in her arms!) I can even pinch Erik with them! Yes, you are wondering, 'how could I acquire this talent' ... it could take a lifetime of work and dedication to acquire this skill or if your lucky it is something that you are born with, as you can see my daughters have been blessed with this unique and useful talent. Girls, don't tell me your mama didn't give you anything.

Swimming

Many of you may have heard about the accident at Elizabeth's swimming lesson by now. It was so horrible to see them doing CPR on her and I am still having difficulty sleeping and getting the whole situation out of my mind. I can't say too much about what happened because of the current investigation against the swim teacher but we feel so fortunate that I was there to intervene (if the teacher wouldn't) and that Elizabeth is OK! We just hug and love her every time we see her, feeling so fortunate to have her with us. The swelling on her sternum is slowly going down which probably resulted from the chest compressions. They want to follow up with x-rays to make sure every thing's fine and due to the water in her lungs they worried about infection setting in ... but so far it seems like her lungs are remaining clear. We appreciate all the kind thoughts, flowers, notes, and most importantly prayers in our behalf. We feel so fortunate in having the best friends and family!

(The drawing was one of many from McCall's School class - The super hero rescue was cute!)