COUSINS!!

After Tawna's wedding, we parted ways - they left on their honeymoon and the rest of us drove to Bakersfield for a week by the pool. Mom and Dad couldn't stay at the house, so we basically took over their home for a week with me, Teresa, Laura, Jessica, Sarah, Bryce/Serena (a couple days), Krista and 15 grandkids making ourselves quite at home. It was great. We sat by the pool and watched the kids swim. We left the poolside a couple of times for outings to the park, Murray Farm to pick fruit and Dewar's for ice cream. Other than that you could find us and all the kids in the backyard.

The first day back was also Mom and Dad's first day home for good after 3 months of L.A. living. Bryce and Serena helped the kids make a sign to welcome them home.That day was also Laura's birthday. We celebrated with Norah's leftover birthday cupcakes and by inviting even MORE kids to come swim in the pool.We also got to leave the kids home that evening and have a "girls night out" to dinner to celebrate.Mostly every day, all week looked a lot like this:When the pool felt too cold, they ALL got in the hot tub. That was some nasty water by the end. We think it's from all the kids in it, Brandon reports that Grandma actually pees and poos in that hot tub. Believe what you will.
I have nothing to show for the morning at the park. Mostly a lot of sand was involved. One day we decided to leave the house and visit Murray Farm to pick fruit. I ate my weight in apricots right from the tree and loved it. The kids picked and ate apricots, plums, nectarines and blueberries, but I think loved rolling in a big tub of corn the very best. Picking blueberries. See if you can find "the real farmer" of the group.
Zachy just sat down and started eating. Smart kid.
On to my favorite, the apricots.It's true that the only other thing we were willing to leave the pool for was a showing of the Justin Beiber movie at Laura's house and then a trip to Dewar's ice cream. That Black and White was soooooooo good!It was fun while it lasted. I think we might need to do a week just like that every summer.

The Royal Wedding

We are back from almost 2 weeks in California and are pretty much settled into life again. The laundry is done, we have food in the fridge and suitcases are put away. I also have notice that my kids are back to normal - when we left CA I thought I had the whiniest, most disobedient children. They are happy and obedient and good again now that we are back at home, especially Ava. Hallelujah for that!

We left June 1 to drive to Los Angeles. We had an easy drive and made it to the Los Angeles Temple for Tawna's endowment session on Thursday evening. It's always an amazing thing to be in the temple with so many people that I love.

We all stayed at the temple apartments, which was awesome. Our apartments were close by each other with a courtyard in the middle for the kids to play in and the adults to hang out in after the kids had gone to bed. Perfect.

Friday was Steven's 10th birthday, so we had a great party with most of the cousins at Chuck E. Cheese. Our kids had never been and are now begging to go back and think it is just as good as a day at Disneyland. They had so much fun.

Friday evening was the pre-wedding beach party with the Petersen family and our cousins, the Franklins. What a fun thing to do the night before your wedding, right? Everyone was there hanging out together before the big event. The kids were brave enough to go in the water (frigid), they played in the sand, we had a fire and roasted hot dogs. Hot Dogs!
Dessert - Steven's birthday ding dongs.

This may be my favorite picture of Brielle.
The next morning we all woke up right there at the temple. It was so nice. We hung out and then started the rush to get ready. Katie came to do Tawna's hair and make up. Ava got in on the pampering too with Emily doing her hair. The time came and all the adults rushed off to the temple for the sealing of Tawna and Kory. It was beautiful. Honestly. It was awesome to me to be sitting in a sealing room in the temple with my Dad (especially) and my mom and seven of the nine of us kids. What a miracle. It hit me hard. Tawna looked beautiful and the two of them were very happy. The sealer had us all laughing and also said some wonderful things to them that I had never thought of or heard before. Amazing.

All the kids were dressed and waiting for us outside and ready to cheer when Mr. and Mrs. Petersen made their grand exit.

The girlies.
The boyz.
All the grandkids like monkeys in a tree. Me and my dad. About 6 weeks after his heart transplant. Lookin' good eh?
The Petersens.