Lemmon Juice

Last month I was able to witness an utterly joyous occasion.  The marriage of these two loverly lovebirds!  

Lorren was my roommate for two years and is also a fellow Boise-ite.  She's actually from Eagle, but I'll count that :)  She married Scott who I hear is a great guy.  Unfortunately, they met after I moved to Texas and I have really only met him once!  But judging by the smile on her face, and by the stories I've heard, he just might be worthy of good ole Lorren.  It was a beautiful ceremony and Lorren looked absolutely stunning.  They have started their own blog here.  Stalk away.

The other plus was that I got to hang out with these guys all day.  I haven't seen Austen & Matty since we were all 18 and they were waiting for mission calls.  Pretty cool stuff.  I have some nifty blackmail pictures of them that I'll be posting in the next few days.  None of these three read blogs (and probably don't even know this one exists), so I can post all the embarrassing pictures I want!  Woohoo!

Goodbye is the hardest word...

Especially when you can't talk!  Luckily I have baby ESP and can translate what Gavin was trying to tell Rob on the morning he left for the MTC:

Rob, you are the best uncle I've ever had, at least on my maternal side.

Although at times I question the silly things you say and the strange smells you make...

I remain in awe of the way you balance manliness with sensitivity, genius with utter foolishness, and athleticism with unfailing clumsiness.

Now get out of here and teach some people the gospel!

One two punch!  Take that!

Ahh... the wisdom of youth...

Leavin' on a jet plane

The main reason for my trip home was to send off the newest Elder Peterson. 

He packed his bags. He was ready to go.

He was standing there outside the MTC door.

He hated to wake us up to say goodbye....

But we sent him off on a jet plane!  Don't know when he'll be back again!  Oh little man, Mom hates to see you go!

Clarification:

1. Rob kind of packed his own bags... with about three hours of help from me, Grant, my mom, and even Kallene Cutler 

2. It is true that if he had the option, he wouldn't have woken us up to say goodbye.  Rob's not big on being the center of attention.

3. We do know when he's getting back again.  In two years minus two weeks... roughly.

4. He actually hasn't left on the airplane yet.  He flies to the Dominican Republic next week with a layover in the airport that's ten minutes from our apartment.  In his email he wrote, "too bad we don't have a seven hour layover so I could sneak out and go play Zelda with the Tanners."  Amen.

5. Mom really did hate to see him go.  She called me countless times for the next two weeks, wondering why Rob hadn't e-mailed yet.  (As if I knew why) :) 

We're so proud of Elder Petey!  I miss his guts but am so excited for him to have this experience and for the people who are waiting to be taught the beautiful message that he has.  Read more about what Robbie, er, Elder Peterson, will be teaching here.

The Adventures of Baby Gavin

Everybody loves Gavin, and for good reason.  

Bridgette loves Gavin.  (Occasionally too much...)

Robbie loves Gavin, his first nephew.  He is especially happy that Gavin made his appearance before Rob turned into Elder Rob for two years.

Grandpa Mike loves Gavin.  I think in this picture he was teaching him about why bow hunting season is before rifle hunting season.  He may have been disappointed that it took three tries to get a son, but Gavin didn't disappoint, being the first grandchild and being a boy.

The camera (aka Kelsey) loves Gavin!  Especially because he smells like Baby Magic.

Shoot, even the fair loved Baby Gavin!  

The only thing that didn't love Gavin was his hair... Although born with quite the fuzz on top, it didn't take long for Gavin to turn into a regular, Peterson, baldy baby.  Welcome to the club.

Splat!

Remember how the Western Idaho Fair invites feelings something akin to this?

That is why I continue with yet another Fair post.  I lived in Boise for approximately 14 years and I'm guessing I went to the fair nearly every one of those years.  One thing that the Petersons love most about the fair is splatter barrels.  I have amazingly artistic parents.  Not the professional artist type, but the professional origami making, paper sculpturing, doodling to blow your mind type.  Thus, we are drawn to such difficult, yet artistic tasks as splatter barreling.  

There are two splatter choices: picture or frisbee.  Most of us did pictures.  They are cheaper, and honestly, the frisbees aren't all that great...  They hook up your piece of paper to the machine and set it spinning.  I didn't take a picture of any blank papers... but you can imagine.

You can either paint while it's spinning (my favorite technique):

Or you can paint while it is still...

And then see what happens after you flip the switch.

Amusing children and adults alike.  Splatter painting is. the. best.

Grant & I went for the minimalist style.  It was awesome.

Oh, and I would also like to add this gem that somehow got left out of the petting zoo pictures...  But which are you supposed to pet?  The pig or his pet boy?

Just don't tell him tomorrow morning that his breakfast is actually Mabel...

The way you feed my soul, I can... feed your face.

Kelsey Tanner & Grant Tanner are (were) the luckiest people on the planet.  Why, you ask?  Considering that said Kelsey & Grant Tanner have not visited Boise since December of 2009, what are the odds that said Kelsey & Grant Tanner would be visiting Boise on the very weekend that the Western Idaho Fair was in town?!  Something like 1:150!  Oh man, my luck is so good, I should be calling radio stations for free money or something!  

We took off for the fair with these munchkins

And these flying monkeys... (it was the first Wizard of Oz group of organized citizens that I could think of besides munchkins...)

And went straight for the second best part of the state fair: the petting zoo.  (The best part, hands down, is the food...  Stinky animals are cool, but they don't fill my stomach.  At least, not while they are part of a petting zoo.)

Armed with nutritious (I'm sure) grains, we went to work. That is one darn cute goat.

Even Mama Gimp got in on the action.  Love you Linny :)

It is a wonder those animals aren't total fatties.  

We even found Robbie (now Elder Peterson)'s twin!  B. W. Whiskers.  Man, I don't know if I could have come up with a better name myself!  Except maybe Tilehorn.  Yeah... I think I win.

We even managed to get this beauty of a picture.  My 8 year old cousin Maren took this picture of me and Grant.  You aren't so impressed with my skills anymore are you... 

Up Next: A Mess in a Barrel.  

Oh, and in case you were wondering where that title came from, look here.

Baby Beluga in the Deep Blue Sea

I was in 7th grade when my family moved to the house where my parents live now.  I was excited about the move not because I would get a big room, a new bed, or even because I got to choose the color of my walls (which turned out horribly anyway).  I was mostly excited because we would have a pool!  In the last 10 years, this pool has supplied endless tans, smiles, and pruney fingers (which we call wrinkly stinkly) for the Peterson family and friends.  

When the cousins come to visit, all of whom are younger than the Peterson kids, they spend as much time as possible in the pool.  

Halle, below, is not only a pool junkie, but also the resident ham of the Murphy family.

This is Erin and Bridgette.  They represent the darkest and lightest skin tones in the family.  Now that Linds has grown up and has a baby of her own, she has symbolically handed the family babysitter title over to Erin.  Not really... but metaphorically... Neither Erin or Lindsay know anything about this metaphoric title I just made up...

Halle the Ham

And this is Maren the fish.  Maren is easily one of the fishiest people I know.  In fact, one day, she puked at the fair (thanks to the wonderful Starship 3000).  But by the time we got her home she was feeling all better and hopped in the pool.  I believe she stayed there for 3 or 4 hours.  

She is also a talented diver.

But I need to teach her a little about pointing her feet :)  And yes, according to Kelsey, it is pointing your feet, not your toes.  That's a discussion for another day.

Bridgette stayed in the pool for quite a while...

And had the soggy non-swim diaper to prove it.  After a while we took her diaper off and just let her swim in the buff.  I have some adorable pictures of nakie swimming Bridge... but didn't want to end up like the Demaree's of Arizona (how ridiculous) .... so I left them out of this post.

She had fun jumping off the side into Erin's arms, but was a little reluctant at first.  

Maren and Emory (in the background) spent their time diving for torpedos.  A fun activity, although not one I could easily take pictures of.

And to be honest, I'm not sure what Mason was doing... but he was there!

Writing this post, I had the song "Baby Beluga" stuck in my head.  My mom used to sing this song to us (and still does).  Watch this video to relive my childhood with me. Aren't you so glad I bless your life with random youtube videos that have little to no connection with anything else on my blog?!  Really, what is better than a baby whale on the bottom of the ocean, sleeping peacefully under a wool blanket?