The Deer Hunter's Ball

For every 24th of July Cassidy's family has what you might call their family reunion at Millers Flat in the Manti-La Sal National Forest.  For a few days everyone has a blast with ATVs and playing games.

Cass got stuck in some mud.

 

Some trails are still off limits because of large snowdrifts.

 

On Saturday evening it was time for the Deer Hunter's Ball, this is where everyone dresses up funny and the winner gets the gold cup.  For those who have read our blog before last year it was a dance off composition and we won, so Cass decided to where our trophy.

Sadly we did not win this year but it did stay in the Peterson family. Congrats Jason and Laura.

 

We all had a blast up there and wish we could of stayed longer, stupid work.  But a week later Cassidy and Randi took a short ride up to Heber to see a friend, Megan Smith, ride in a competition.

 

She took a first and a second place ribbon, congrats Megan.

A Day At The Lake

Finally we have had a weekend that is not bad weather or cold so we could take the boat out.  We all had a blast, and so happy Cassidy's parents live so close.

Here are some pictures from the day.

 

Cassidy gave his dad permission to be as hard as he wanted on the tube, and well he got beaten up a little.

"The Peterson Is Coming, The Peterson Is Coming"

So this is our announcement to the world that Cassidy and Randi are expecting their first child. 

 

For everyone's information we are due on the 20th of January.

 

And Randi got one more thing for her birthday that was not on the last post, but we are really excited for our first born.

My Birthday And More

 

I got to spend my birthday at the Jones family reunion so presents and cake were kind of a secret affair.  The rest of the day was awesome though I did lots of crafts with the great grandkids and got to play games that night with my family.  My parents got me just what I wanted a sewing machine!  And good thing Jamie got me a Hobby Lobby gift card so I can go buy fabric to try this baby out :)  Cassidy got me the self healing mat and roller cutter to go with it too.  It couldn't have been a better day!

 

On the way home from the reunion we stopped with my parents and Aunt LaWayne at the Hill Air Force Base Museum.  LaWayne hadn't been since it first opened and my parents had never been.  We had a good time looking at the airplanes outside and inside and learned a little bit along the way too.

 

Taking a break.  There were a lot of people there so at times we were walking pretty slow and to be honest it got a little tiring.

 

This last week back home has been the American Fork Steel Days and with that there are fireworks.  We are also very lucky that they launch the fireworks just a couple of blocks up the street from our house. We also got there a little bit before they started and got to hear the band Kansas playing in the back ground.  Here are some pictures of the fireworks.

 

Cassidy's parents came and joined us in the fun.  The fireworks were beautiful and unlike last year they started on time.

Keeping Up With The Joneses

 

We spent July 4th and a few more days with Randi's family at the Jones Family Reunion just outside of Bear Lake on the Idaho side.  We were so lucky to have a giant house with several different gathering rooms for the 40+ of us to hang out in for the week.  There were games every night with cousins along with a few other activities shown below.

 

BJ did an amazing job taking family photos this year with several different backgrounds and lights.  Too bad you couldn't stay the whole time BJ.

 

On Monday afternoon I did a baby shower for Jamie with all of the girls at the reunion.  We decorated onesies, matched the baby socks, tied a quilt my mom made, and played bingo as she opened the presents.  Everyone was so generous and we had a great time bonding as girls while the husbands watched the kids.

 

Just some of the fun things people did.  My mom planned a tour a honey farm and then over to put flowers on our grandparent's grave with lunch at the state park on Tuesday.  Jamie got car sick coming down the canyon and barfed all down the side of my dad's truck.  On Wednesday we went to Bear Lake to play in the water.  There was also paintballing, shooting (real guns), golf, bicycle riding, fireworks, a special reunion edition of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and several birthdays celebrated.  And how could I forget?  Jamie did a slide show of old family photos and we stopped a couple of times to get fresh raspberry shakes.  

 

Finally, there are now 12 great grandchildren with 2 more on the way so I was in charge of crafts with the kids.  We decorated bags one night to put our loot in from the pinata, colored with glitter glue, and the younger kids make stained glass sun catchers while the older ones made wind-chimes.  I hope the kids had as much fun as I did.  Sometimes it was hard to pull them away from the swing set in the backyard :)  We had a blast getting to see all of our family again and can't wait for 2013 now when we get to see you all again! 

Good Friends and Good Times

 

This last Saturday we were able to spend the day with several good friends that we haven't spent time with in quite a while.  In the morning we went shooting with Kyle and Megan.  Cass and Kyle have both been wanting to go for a while, but we needed it to get warm and stop raining so we could go.  It was a fun morning just being out in the middle of no where with good friends to talk to.  We had several different hand guns, a couple rifles, and some shot guns to keep us busy. 

 

After shooting some my old roommate Brienne and her husband Ryan were in town from Virginia so we met them at a splash park near our house before getting some dinner and heading back to our house to let their kids play.  We only took one picture because I forgot the camera at the splash park, but we had a great time with them and their two little boys.

 

No pictures of our evening activity, but I am so excited about the deal we got that I am going to share it anyway.  Cass and I went to the movies Saturday for only $10 and that included two large popcorns and two large drinks.  There is a cheaper movie theater by our house where tickets are only $3 a piece.  We love it because concessions are really cheap too only $2 for popcorn or a drink.  Normally we split popcorn and drinks and have a relatively cheap date, but this week we had coupons so it was so exciting to each get our own popcorn and our own drink.  The little things that can make life so worth while :)

A Trip To The Center Of The Earth.

This past weekend we decided to take a trip to a national monument that is only about 20 minutes away from our house called Timpanogos Caves up American Fork Canyon.  We got up to the base of the trail at around 1 and they only had tickets left for the last tour of the day which is at 5:30, so we had to burn about 3 hours before heading up the trail.  For the first hour we drove up the canyon to a few reservoirs (sorry no pics) and then up on the Alpine Loop, which is closed still because of snow.  But even with all that we still had to go home for about an hour. 

 

After a long mile and a half climb up the hill we made it to the entrence of the cave. Just for all to know in a mile and a half you rise about a thousand feet, not an easy climb but we did it in 45 minutes.

 

After a little wait we got in a little early and had a blast ducking and squezing through some areas, especially Cass.

Here are some awesome photos we took.

Randi and the "Heart of Timpanogos"

Because of some small areas you got to squeeze through Cass had to turn the bag to the front.

Stalactite and Stalagmite.

This is a tight area Cass had to squeeze through.

 

We both had a blast and would recommend this beautiful cave to anyone, and there are even small children that can do the hike.