Deer Camp

We look forward to October every year because that means that the Petersen Deer Camp will be held. I loved going up as a little girl. My parents would let me miss part of or sometimes the whole week of school and go hang out with my dad, grandpa, and uncles. I have so many wonderful memories of that. My gals also LOVE going up. Gracie started asking about 2 weeks before if it was time and asked multiple times daily. Our October has been SO crazy with one thing after the other. We had about 1 day that would work for us to come up and that was Tuesday the 23rd. We woke up that morning to snow!! I knew that if we had snow on the ground in the Valley then Deer Camp had to be pounded on. My dad called and sure enough there was over a foot of snow, since this was the only day we could go I rounded up our warm winter clothes, checked Brooklyn our of school early, and headed up. (Thanks to my mom for watching Ella for my so I didn't have to worry about her being cold up there.) The gals couldn't wait to go on a horse ride. Pops took us on a good ride and Gracie was proud that she rode the horse by herself- with my dad leading her. (I had a proud mama moment watching Brooklyn handling a horse all by herself and Gracie on by herself too.) There is never a lack for food- my dad and Bruce prepared us a delicious feast! The gals had so much fun playing in the snow and building a snowman with Pops and throwing things in the fire! I am so glad that we made it up and had so much fun!! I am especially happy that my gals get to have the opportunity to do things like this and make wonderful memories!

Pumpkin Walk

The Pumpkin Walk was held over UEA this year- and it was great weather! We had decided that we would take the kids on Monday- it was not good weather. As we left my house and headed over it was pouring and not just a little pouring, a lot pouring. Nat and I decided that we would decide what to do once we got there. By the time we got there, the rain had stopped. We got a few pictures in the cut-outs- attempted a cousin picture in front of the Pumpkin Walk sign- EPIC fail- and started walking around. We had seen about 3 or 4 of the displays when a huge wind started. We looked up to see pieces of plywood from the displays flying end over end through the air. At that point, we decided our children's safety was probably a little more important and booked it the rest of the way. I would've like to have looked closer at the displays- these people are so talented and put so much work into. Despite the rain, we had fun and were glad that we were able to work it in!

I am not going to lie, but I enjoy me some Bachelor so I thought this display was pretty funny!! (After Emily Maynard and Jef with 1 F not working out, I think I am officially done watching it.)

You can see the pieces of the display laying on the ground- these are what were flying through the air

Brigham City Temple pt.2

We had the chance of going to the Brigham City Temple Open House with my family- Sean and Ella were able to make it this time- it was really special to be in the Temple with my little family! One of the highlights for the kiddos was getting to ride the bus up to the Temple- they loved it! It was the last day of the open house so it was SUPER busy- the line was so long!! By the time we got in they kids loved it, but were ready to be done once they saw the fountain outside. A cool little side note- the 1st Counselor in our Bishopric is an artist- an awesome artist. He works for the church and him and another artist did all the artwork/murals in the Baptistry. It was cool to look at one of the murals and see Gracie's little friend Branson in the picture. I didn't notice it, but our Bishop and his daughter were also models for the mural. What a neat experience!

Sometimes (and by sometimes I mean everytime) I wonder why we try to get a cousin picture!

LOTOJA and Yellowstone

My Brother Brian participated in his 9th LOTOJA this year!!! I can't imagine riding my bike from Logan to Jackson! We look forward to this every year and love to go and cheer him on. The gals were especially excited. We left on Saturday morning and went to different spots and waited for him to come by and cheer for him. Gracie had made him a cute little sign and was so excited to hold it up. This year there was a smaller crowd of family to support him- my dad and Sher were his support and me and the gals, my mom, and Sean even joined us this year. Brian always says every year is his worst year, but I am so proud of him that he has done it 9 times! We decided to stay an extra day and come home on Monday, so on Sunday we drove into Yellowstone. We love Yellowstone and Gracie really wanted to see Old Faithful so we did that.

This is Brian and his really good friend Landon, my mom could not get over the fact that they were riding up the canyon carrying on a conversation!

The night before, we had cheered our hearts out for the Aggies on their win over Utah- so the gals still had their tattoos on their faces.

I never am ceased to amazed over the Tetons and how majestic they are!

The gals were excited to have a picture with Tetons and buffalo in it.

These gals sure adore their grandparents and we are so blessed to have them!

As with the Tetons, Old Faithful never fails to disappoint!