Utah Trip

Hey Everyone! This is Joy. Jim and I hope that everyone has a safe trip to Utah and takes a lot of pictures for us. We will keep all of you in our prayers for safe travel and protection. We look forward to hearing the adventures that occurred and seeing pictures of family on the blog! Love you all and have fun!! :)

Father's Day

For Dad's Father's Day gift this year, we went to Greenfield Village where we had lunch at the Eagle Tavern and then watched a baseball game played by the rules of 1867.  No mitts and no cursing.  Here are some pictures that I took.

Springtime

We've had a pretty nice spring here in Michigan.  Here's a few pictures from our family.

Harvey played soccer this spring.  To start here are the pictures of Harvey enjoying soccer that are BIG FAT LIES!

He was the strongest player on the team (he got 7 goals in a 15 minute game) and his ball handling skills are amazing.   Much better than mine ever were.

BUT, he hated soccer!  Well, he hated it during soccer practice, afterwards he swore he loved it.  He cried the entire hour the first week. Things got better, a bit, as the season went on but we didn't even end up being able to stay the whole last practice because he was being so miserable.  So here are the pictures of what soccer was really like.

He's crying in that last one and then scored a goal two seconds later.

Harvey graduated from preschool last week.  He was so excited that Grandma came.  He said it made it like a real graduation.  Isn't the pencil sketch pic cool?  I've been playing around with our photo editing software.

 The lady in blue is Harv's fantastic teacher, Miss Becky.  We've really loved her.

Other than soccer, the other major adventure this spring was going to my friend Alison's wedding.  This was the wedding I beaded all the flowers for.  Harvey was the ring bearer and I was the Maid of Honor (I refused the title "matron").  Shirley essentially ended up making my dress.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!  It turned out great.  Here are some pics from the wedding.

It was a great wedding.  Climbing the tree was Al's idea, and, yes, the girls are in their stilettos in the tree.

I have new pics of Walter but I don't know how to convert a pdf to a jpg.  I'll have Kurt post it later.  Walter's doing great, he's definitely a kicker.  My gestational diabetes seems to be under control and I'm feeling pretty good most of the time.  We're sloooowly working on getting baby stuff ready.  Hopefully we'll be mostly set up when he gets here.  Not like he'll notice.

See everyone in 2 1/2 weeks!

pictures, pictures, pictures

 Noah's preschool "graduation"

 Sweet jester hat Dad made Noah

He also made this hat, but Lucy liked it better as a necklace.

 Dad had a water balloon fight with Noah-the balloons just bounced off of them, though-he LOVED it.

Jack Henry Peterson

Here are some pictures of the new baby.  I hope you enjoy them.

new things in the country

The Quicks (our landlords) were given two little kittens over the weekend.  We've spent HOURS with them.  They are adorable.  Both are females, and Addie got to name them.  One is Miley and the other Curley (although why she's Curly, I have no idea).  They are identical twins, I swear!  We can't tell them apart, so we'll never really know which is which. 

Little kittens may be the most adorable animals in the entire world.  Wish I had some better pictures for you, but they don't sit still for very long!

New thing #2: Macie's haircut.  It was shaggy, and growing in all crazy, so today I had it cut.  The above picture is the best I have so far (which isn't saying much) but I will post a new one soon.  She looks so cute.  It's stacked in the back with a sharp a-line cut.  Just in time for her third birthday coming up on June 5th! 

New thing #3.  Swinging teddy bears from the trees.  Hillary gave us a book last summer which has all these simple ideas of things to do with toddlers.  It's been fun to have, and Addie was just DYING for the rain to stop the last couple of days so we could do this.  Teddy bear tether ball was a hit!

Greenfileld Village with Chelsea

Yesterday I met Chelsea's class at Greenfield Village for a field trip.  Hillary went too, so here they are on the porch of the Firestone Farm and Chelsea trying on a hat in the millenary shop.  It was a beautiful day and we had a great time (at least I did).

Sad day

We said good bye to Meg today. She started to not be able to breathe very well and her tongue and gums were turning blue. I rushed her to the vet where we decided it was best to put her to sleep. It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I don't ever want to have to choose to take another living beings life again. Charlie was able to make it before hand too since it was about 4:30pm. She went quickly and peacefully, in our arms. That gives me some comfort. Knowing that she was wrapped in the arms of those she loved and who loved her helps me feel a little better. We brought her home and buried her in our yard. It will be another sad day if we ever have to move from this house and leave her behind. I never knew losing a dog would hurt so bad. What's worse is watching my kids hurt too.

Happiness is....

having a great mom who loves and cares about you. Happy Mother's Day to the best mom EVER! Love you so much!

Comments for the family

Addie has something to say to each of her cousins, and some aunts and uncles thrown in for good measure.

ALEXIS: "Alexis, maybe I could come at your house one day."
MERRIT: "I love you."
MAKAYLA: "You're my best friend."
CHELSEA: "You could come at my house."
JAXSON: "Jaxson, do you love bugs?"
HARVEY: "Harvey, do you love to chase birds?"
NOAH: "You're my best friend."
LUCY: "When you grow up, you can play with me."
UNCLE KURT: "Kurt, you love our whole spirit.
AUNT KARI: "I love you, Aunt Kari."
UNCLE JIM: "I love to pet kitties."
UNCLE CHARLIE: "I love to eat healthy stuff, like broccoli."
AUNT HILLARY: "I love your cats, Aunt Hillary."

Now it's Macie's turn to share with her family-

AUNT HEATHER: "I love to see the temple."
ALEXIS: "Food about her." (aka, What is your favorite food?)
MERRIT: "I love to see Mom."
MAKAYLA: "I love to see the door."
CHELSEA: "I love to see the computer."
JAXSON: "I love to see shirts."
HARVEY: "I love to see arms."
NOAH: "I love to see that" (while pointing to our laptop)
LUCY: "I love to see a phone."
UNCLE JIM: "I love playing kitty."
AUNT KARI: "I love to see phones."
AUNT HILLARY: "Dog bag."

Merrit's track meets

For those of you who might be interested in going to one of Merrit's track meets, here are when they are happening. May 3 at home May 7 at home May 10 at Fenton High School May 14 at Linden High School May 17 at home May 21 at home May 23 at Davison High school May 30 is a meet by invite only at Davison high school All meets begin at 4:15 p.m. He is running the mile and doing the long jump or sometimes the high jump. He'd love the support if you could make it. I'm not sure if there will be a cost.

Where have we been?

Since we've moved to the country, I barely get on the computer anymore.  If it's not something I can easily do on my iPhone, I just don't do it.  Wow, I'm such a technology snob! 

We've been busy, but not necessarily doing anything blog-worthy.  Jason's still working two jobs, and since we've moved WAY out here, he's been driving a lot.  He's been working two days each week in Chesterfield, south of Richmond, and it takes him an hour and a half to get there.  Next week, though, he goes back down to one day there and will pick up another day each week in Fredericksburg!  Yay!  He'll finally FINALLY be up to four days in this office! 

We're still waiting on our original house.  We've seen tons more, but still like this one the best, Greek column and all.  It's only been 3 months since we made the offer on the short sale, but it has felt like much longer.  We took Mom and Dad to peek in the backyard, and it made me feel good that they liked it.  Sometimes you just need that outside confirmation.  :)  Our lender says we could close mid-June, but we were previously told end of April, mid-May, etc, so we're not holding our breath.  It would be bad timing in June with the reunion, but we'd certainly make it work.


Here are the kids snuggling in bed with all their blankets, Mom made them all.  Carson is especially attached to his blanket.  He gets upset if his sisters pick it up.

Carson is getting big.  He's been walking for about a month, and LOVES the freedom it gives him.  I've had to be much more aware of when he's outside.  I used to just put him outside on the patio and he'd stay there, pushing the toys around, but now that he walks he wanders everywhere. 

He likes the goats a lot, but only when they're behind the fence.  He's finally brave enough to feed them out of his hand.

Jason and I took a beginner hang gliding class last month.  We bought it on Groupon.  It was such a blast!  Jason was really good, he went up about 20 feet and glided nearly 200 yards.  I was ok, the instructor said I was quite good for my first time, but I didn't go nearly as far as Jason.  It was so fun, though, and definitely something we could get into doing when our kids are older.  That was a spectacular date!

 The girls love living here.  This picture is from over a month ago, when we first discovered the swamp on the property.  It's a favorite spot of ours (although I did have a tick bite a few weeks ago, so we're very careful now to check for those...ewww).

 My first roasted turkey...mmm...  I have always a had a fear of raw poultry, it is so gross to me, so this was especially challenging.  I decided to tackle it one afternoon and it was WONDERFUL.  I've made it a second time, too, and it was even better! 

 Macie loves helping out around the house, when she's in the mood.  :)

 Addie's hair is getting so long, and I love playing with it.  She wants to cut it to her chin, so I've convinced her to wait until it gets long enough to get to locks of love.  She still has a couple more inches to go, so I've bought myself some time. 

We've been very involved with Addie's preschool. It's a co-op, so the parents do a lot of helping.  I just love it, and Addie does too!  We invited her entire class to our house, and eight of the other fourteen came, along with their siblings and moms!  It was so fun to have them over, meet our goats, jump on the trampoline, and play in the swamp! 

 Her preschool goes on a lot of field trips.  Here they are at the resevior, right after they caught tons and tons of frogs.  Her preschool is awesome.

 As you know, Mom and Dad came to visit!  We visited tons and tons of historical sights around town, and were exhausted when they left!  It was so fun to have them here.  They were also here for Jason's birthday, Mom and and I worked together to make his ice cream cake, and we loaded it up with 33 candles!  It was ablaze!

Addie LOVES BUGS! She always has quite the collection.

 And this was from Thursday.  Carson discovered HE LOVES MUD.  It was so cute.  He just kept going back and forth, sloshing around in it, sitting it in, throwing rocks into it, and just doing everything you'd expect from a boy.  Fun times!