Pete is 13!

Pete is officially a teenager! Even though his fluctuating voice and hormones would tell you he's been a teen for awhile we can now consider him full fledged. Bring on the teen years!

Pete is a mix of humor, energy, oddball, ingenuity, intelligence, and kindness all in one. Pete has the biggest heart, and we love him like crazy.

Pete has grown a lot this past year. He's pushed himself with running and continues to go out this summer so he can't have a head start to his fall cross country season. He faced his first cut from sports with basketball last winter, but took it in stride as he does with many things. Pete is liked by many, he gets along well with everyone, and is a great leader. He has a great group of friends and is well liked by his peers and his teachers. Pete is very smart and got himself on the high honor roll the whole school year! Pete became Deacons quarm president at the beginning of the year and continues to impress us in how he leads and serves in his caring. 

Pete started his adventure with braces this spring and it's for sure been a crazy ride with having 9 broken brackets (only have been his fault) and a lot of extra visits since he's gotten them. He's suffering by eating virtually no crunchy food and avoids a lot of things he would love to / have normally eaten. 

This last month plus,  he's climbed rock walls without issue, gone on some crazy roller coasters, and cliff jumped with friends. He never would have done these things in the past, and it shows how much he's grown and continues to conquer and face the hard things in life. 

We love Pete something fierce. He's great at pushing buttons, and being our most physical kid, but it's what makes him our Petey Pete! 

Favorite animal: Monkey / Turtle / (asks mom and dad for a dog a lot)

Favorite food: Orange chicken,  chicken parm 

Favorite snack / treat: yogurt, kit kat

Favorite book: Harry Potter book 5

Favorite activity: Running and Legos

Favorite subject in school: "Dads class" (Ancient History) 

Favorite color: Blue / Gray

What he wants to be when he grows up: Engineer 

Nickname: Pete, squudgy pudgy, Peety Pete, Petree 

At age 13 Peter is 5ft 3.5 in tall! 

Mid June

Coming home meant back to reality. We came home to a bunch of dead grass areas (we think thanks to grubs) in our backyard. We've been trying to combat and fix things since. 

Pete missed the first week and a half of swim team so he had to get his bum in gear and get into the swing of things starting the day after we got home from California. Alice got to have swim lessons this last week. She let her fears win out an wouldn't put effort into swimming in the deep water. She did well with her skills, but she's got to be willing to push herself a bit more and gain some perseverance. 

Casey and I were assigned to clean the temple on the 13th. For some reason I had that the 13th was a Thursday so we went to the temple on Thursday (the 12th) and ended up staying to clean with the Jerome Stake. We went back the next night and helped out again. 

It was free fishing day on the 14th. Casey was awesome and took the kids out to fish. They started up at the Murtaugh resiviour and didn't have any luck with fake bait. So, they went and bought worms and headed down to Dirkies for the rest of the afternoon. They caught a bunch of fish and had a good time together. Pete ended up finding his best buddies and went cliff jumping with them for a bit. We had a very low key Father's day were we spoiled Casey with treats, and good food, and relaxed and hung out together for the day. 

   

  

Kendal made it to FSY this past week. She did get up early a few days to run with her friends, which added to making her days long, but she rallied and still had a good time all week. 

    On Monday we went up to the Collage of Idaho. We stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch. After we got their we met our company and did a little get to know you. After that we went to an FSY orientation. After the orientation we headed to dinner. They had Pizza, Hamburger's, and a Salad bar for lunch and dinner daily with 1 different option so I had I lot of burger's and salad. After dinner we did a home-evening where we played games and did a lesson. Then we went back to our dorm's and did R&R Wich is reflect and review. Then light's out was at 10:30.

    On Tuesday I woke up at 5:40 to go run before we had to meet for the morning devotional. We had our devotional and then went to breakfast. They had eggs, bacon, salad, and cereal for breakfast every morning. After that we did Gospel Study. We reviewed as a Company then did a 30 minute personal Study and talked about it after. After that we went to our morning devotional and classes. We had 2 classes before lunch. They are the same for every session. They are Hear Him!, and Finding Answers to Question's. After the classes we headed to lunch and played games with our company. After lunch we had 2 more classes I chose Celestial Math, and Safe and Secure. The classes were good and I learned a lot. After classes we had flex time and dinner. Me and Netta watched a movie during flex time. After dinner we learned about taking care of technology, and we made a banner and cheer for games night. Then that night we had a dance. I danced with 1 kid. I also learned more line dances that I didn't know before. After the dance we did R&R and went to bed.

    On Wednesday I also woke up at 5:40 to go run. Our councler came and ran with me so that was nice. Our morning was a lot like Tuesday. My classes were different though. Before lunch I went to Well its about time, and revive joy. Then after lunch I went to With the Savior by my Side and HOTL: Ten ways to get more out of your temple trip's. I learned a lot and had fun. We also did the same for Flex time and watched a movie then went to dinner. After dinner we had games night and competed againsed other companies. And we also did a cheer off. We won the games! I almost made it into the finals in Ninja. After that we went to our dorm and got Pizza from domino's! After that we did R&R and went to bed.

    Thursday was church dress. We had the morning similar but after gospel study we separated and did an YW lesson about the Family a proclamation to the world and about self worth. Then we went and did the morning devotional with all the YW in the session. After that we went to lunch. After lunch we went to a talent show which was so fun to watch. I enjoyed it. After the talent show it was flex time and I watched the movie with Netta and went to dinner. After dinner we had a choir concert, evening devotional, and testimony meeting. Almost my whole company gave their testimony and it was very spiritual. Then we did R&R and went to bed.

    Friday I ran, we had our morning stuff till the morning devotional. Then we did a share goodness activity where we did a bunch of small things to learn and share goodness. Then we went to lunch. After lunch we went to the Taking it home showcase where we watched a slide show about the week and learned how to take our experience home. After that we went to flextime. I finished the movie and packed. Me and Netta were on our way to dinner but we saw our company at the swing dancing activity and went. I learned some new moves and Netta danced with someone. Then we went to dinner. After dinner we had a dance. I danced with 2 people. It was fun. Then we had a final devotional which I had to say the closing prayer to. I was terrified but when saying it felt peacefully which meant a lot to me. Then we meant with out company for the last time and had R&R together, did a final testimony meeting, and say goodbye. We were all very emotional and it was sad to say good bye to such a great group of people and the experience. But eventually we had to go to bed.

    Saturday morning I said my final goodbyes to the girls and we headed home. I picked up doughnut's on the way. I loved this experience and it was sad to leave but i'm happy to be home. I learned a lot and had a lot of spiritual growth. I am so thankful to be able to have this experience.

Our friends the Birks came to visit on Thursday. They moved three years ago and have been very missed. We had lunch with a large group of us at the park and then spent the afternoon catching up at the Dansie's house while the kids played in the pool. After dinner they headed out, and I hosted book club for the month. Casey spent most of the day helping Brett and Vanessa strip their roof so they can redo it this next week. (It was hard work, and so hot; he's just the best for helping.) Casey did take Alice to swim for me so I could spend more time with Kate Birk, and he joined for lunch, but headed back that afternoon and worked hard to get their roof un shingled. 

Casey headed out Friday morning to a basketball tournament in Marsh Valley. Pete, Alice and I had an easy going day. We decided Pete's extra days with his cousins at the beginning of the month counted as his birthday present this year so we had a low key morning. I gave Pete his favorite treats and after Kendal came home from FSY we headed into town for lunch at Chick Fill A and a shopping trip to Target where the kids spent the rest of their Disney money from my parents on fun things. I let the kids watch shows (Kendal rested) in the afternoon and we had one of Pete's favorites (chicken parmigiana) for dinner before having cake and watching a movie. 

A few extra's from this last week and a half. . .

Disney Trip 2025!!

 June 2nd Pete's group went from San Diego up to Legoland area and went to the Castle Hotel where David and Anica and the boys stayed at. They swam then went to dinner. June 3rd and 4th were Legoland days for Pete and group (Pete's input: I enjoyed the rides and asking around for pop badges with the boys.) 

Alice had track practice on the 2nd, and her last track meet on the 4th. She ended up only doing three events because she was still not 100% from her walking pneumonia. She did the long jump where she got her best length of the season at 6 ft 6 in. She tripped in hurdles, but still got third place in her heat, and she got 5th in her 100 meter dash (but improved her time there as well!). With having pneumonia / effects from it the whole season it definitely put a damper on things for Alice's track season. She's been running a bit so she can do the one mile race for Good Neighbor Days next month. 

 

We headed out early on the 5th fly out to California for our big family trip! Pete and the boys/Anica picked us up from the Long Beach airport. We dropped off our cars and went over to Downtown Disney for a bit before grabbing dinner and letting the kids have some pool time. 

We woke early to do rope drop at Disneyland on the 6th. We booked it over to Star Wars land to start out our day. We got on the new Rise of the Resistance ride and the Millennium Falcon. From there we went on Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Alice loved it so much that Casey happily took her on it again while the rest of us went over to the Haunted Mansion. From there we went to Pirates and then went on the Pirate ship and the Jungle Cruise before lunch. After lunch we went on the new Minnie and Mickey's Railway Adventure, Thunder Mountain, and some went on Indiana Jones while I took Alice to get custom designed ears, see inside the princess castle and hang out in Fantasyland for a ride on the Merry Go Round and the Tea Cups. We all rode Dumbo and then broke for dinner. After dinner we hit up a couple of more rides and then went up to Star Wars land for the evening. We did the single rider line for the Millennium Falcon and waited for the light show and fireworks show they put on up there. We got friendly with a couple of cast members and they let the kids be apart of the show where they let the kids hold light sabers and "help" make things light up. It was such a neat experience!! We decided to stay for the second paint the night parade. We set up in the area by the entrance that is usually reserved for the first parade / fireworks, but was open for the second one. ( I was lucky to celebrate my birthday at Disneyland this year. Everyone sang Happy Birthday to me at breakfast, and I wore a birthday badge so cast members wished me Happy Birthday throughout the day as well. We did have dole whips and churros to enjoy for the day, but a definite highlight was getting my siblings to reenact a photo from our childhood Disney trip! )

  

   

   

 

  

 

 

We did another early morning on the 7th, but headed over to California Adventures. We started off with Soarin and then went to Pixar Pier to ride the Toy Story ride. Some of us got in line for the Incredicoaster, but it shut down when we were part way through it. The littles road on the Little Mermaid ride and then we all met up over in Cars Land. I got treats for my parents while the others waited in the Cars ride line. We were all able to ride together though! We did the Luigi ride and then headed down towards the Avengers Campus for a bit. After lunch we went over to the Grizzly River Run and then shot back towards the arts area to do Monsters Inc and the boys met Perry the Platypus. We watched the character parade in the early afternoon then made our way back to the Avengers Campus for the Guardians ride and the Web Slingers rides. After an ice cream treat we headed back over to the pier for a few rides including the Incredicoaster and another round at Toy Story Mania. After a later dinner we stayed to watch the color show on the water. A cast member saw our awesome shirts and let us into a VIP area to see the show! We were singing along to all of the songs and having a blast! 

 

 

 

Sunday we let the kids sleep in for a bit. We went back to Downtown Disney. Pete and Alice made personalized Lego figures and Kendal bought a little Lego castle. We had lunch there at a sandwich truck before heading back to the hotel. We made our way to the beach for the afternoon and let the kids play to their hearts content in the sand and water. Alice collected a ton of shells. The kids dug holes, built castles, and had a blast! It was late when we got back so we ordered some pizza and let the kids get in the hot tub for a bit.

We went back to Disneyland on Monday the 9th! We were going to jump up to Star Wars for the Rise ride first, but it said it was closed so we headed to Tomorrowland and got in the Buzz Astro Blasters, and a Star Wars ride before heading up to Star Wars land. We did end up waiting in our longest line of the trip (about an hour) to ride the new Star Wars ride. We jumped on the Millennium Falcon right after as well. We headed back towards Tomorrowland and did Space Mountain, the submarine ride, and Autopia. Alice was not a fan of driving the cars. We did the train ride around the park for a long break and went on It's A Small World. We fast passed a few more rides in the afternoon (Pirates, Thunder Mountain, etc.). My parents went on the steamboat while we did that. We split up a before dinner. Katherine, Alice, and I went up to Fantasyland, and Casey, Pete, and Kendal went over to Tomorrowland to build lightsabers with the boys and go on the Buzz ride again. We watched the Fantasmic water show.  My parents, Katherine, and Andy went back to the hotel while Casey and Pete went with the boy crew back up to Star Wars land to make a droid and watched the shows there a bit. The girls and I tried to head over to see some fireworks near the castle but we didn't have much success. The girls were exhausted (We averaged about 10 miles a day on our trip) so we stopped by a sweet shop after fireworks and then headed back to the hotel. 

 

Tuesday the 10th we flew home. This trip was all thanks to my wonderful parents. They gifted us this adventure together and we're so lucky and blessed that they were able and willing to do this for all of us! This trip was full of so many lasting memories and we are so grateful to my parents for making this happen!  Casey was our master navigator and fast pass guru the whole trip (it was a lot to manage, and he's amazing for doing so).