Peterson Reunion Extravaganza

PICTURE OVERLOAD!!!! WARNING!!!!

We managed to pull it off. After planning for almost a year we had the reunion of all reunions. Out of the 89 descendants that come from the H. Burke and Brookie Peterson clan, 87 of us attended the Midway, Utah reunion. We were missing my cousin, Tanner, who is serving in the Paris, France mission, and my aunt Sherrie who passed away about a year and a half ago. We missed her but know that she was with us in spirit. We all gathered from around the country for 4 days.

We all stayed at the Zermatt Resort in Midway, Utah. My grandparents got each of us our own Villa to stay in and the accommodations were wonderful. It was a very nice place. Thank you so much, Gram and Grandpa Burke. The Resort had a Swiss Alp feel to it and tons off things to do.



These are the two people who started this mass group of chaos. They are both amazing and know all 89 of their descendants personally and by name. They spoke to us several times while we were together and gave many spiritual and enlightening words of advice. My favorite (and think everyone elses) was "to keep our knees polished". My grandpa has always taught us that prayer is a very important part of our lives, and it was nice to have this sweet reminder.

Brookie and Burke


One of the first items on our agenda was the cousin lunch. We had 23 of the 24 grandchildren in one restaruant (Tanner is on his mission).



The poor patrons that were around us had no peace and quiet. It was nice to get together with each other without spouses, parents, and children around to give distraction.

Brynn, Jamiee, Shanon, Tiffani, Ashley, Emily


That evening we got together for a mass picture of the posterity and took a grandkid pic with Gram and Grandpa Burke. We stood in order of age and left a space for Tanner to be photoshopped in.



In 1979, my mom, along with 3 of her sisters (Gayle, Sherrie, and Jana) were all expecting babies around the same time. The four of us were born within 5 months of each other. Shortly after our birth, Gram quickly named us "THE QUADS". We have been referred to as the Quads for the last 28 years and whenever we are together we end up getting our picture taken.

Logan, Brynn, Ashley, Shanon


Since my older brother, Cameron, and his family live in Ohio, we don't get to be together often. So whenever we get a chance to get a picture of all the grandkids together we jump on it. These are my parents 8 grandkids. We could only get them to stand still long enough to hold hands and that was it. They were on the loose.

Jake, Eston, Coleman, Samantha, Riley, Christine, Zackary, and Maren


The following evening we had a night of sing alongs and skits at a local church. When my family gets together, skits are typically part of the scheduled events. The skits revolve around moments in my grandparents lives and usually have a humorous twist with it. Matt was quite the sport. For not knowing the craziness that ensues when all of my cousins get together he was a trooper. He joined in the skits and looked like he actually enjoyed himself. Go BABY!!!



Later that night we hung out in my mom's room and let the grandkids play together. These three were born within 3 months of each other. They were having a good time running around in their pajamas.

Riley, Jake, Sammie


The Zermatt had a great pool with a big waterfall and a lot of fun things to do. Matt took the kids swimming the first night we arrived. They had a great time and didn't want to leave. I took Sammie one other time, but it was a lot of work on my part to get her in the pool, watch her, and coerce her into leaving. So the last night Sammie really wanted to go swimming. I didn't have it in me to go to the Zermatt Pool, so we opted to have a swim party in the jetted tub we had in our suite. Their cousin Jake came over to play as well. The floor was covered in water, but the kids had tons of fun.



We had a lot of fun over the 4 days that we were together and hope that we can all get together again before another 5 years pass. It was an amazing experience, and the party of a lifetime.

3rd of July Bike Parade!!!

On the 3rd of July Matt's friend invited us to go to their neighborhood's bike parade. The kids (mainly Sammie) were so excited. We went and bought a few decorations to make their bikes pretty. Sammie was very specific on were each item of decor went. We had to cover all the green spots in pink streamers.



Eston didn't care so much. Matt had Eston's bike covered in blue streamers and ribbon. Eston immediately helped out by tearing everything off but the ribbons on his handles. Those only stayed because Matt had secured them better.



All I had to do was pretty much sit there and look pretty while Matt did the work.



Robert (Matt's friend) had told us to park at his house and then we could walk over to the beginning of the parade route and start there. Little did we know that Robert's house was near the end of the parade route. We walked and the kids rode their bikes the entire parade route in order to start with everyone else. By the time we got to the starting line, the kids were too tired to participate fully in the parade. Eston ended up getting pushed most of the time on his bike (thank goodness for the handle). If he wasn't being pushed, then he was doing the pushing. Sammie ended up walking most the route while Matt carried her bike. At one point Matt was caring Sammie's bike (with Sammie's help) and pushing Eston on his bike. What a Man!!



When we were 3/4 of the way to the end of the parade route, we dropped the bikes off in the car and decided to walk the remainder of the way. Sammie walked with me and we dragged ourselves into the finish line to find out that they only had 2 Popsicles left. Sammie took one and the lady took one look down the street at Matt and Eston (who were still about 1 1/2 blocks away) and walked the distance to them to give Eston his Popsicle. Eston looked like he was half dead. Apparently at one point while walking with Matt, Eston was holding his drink. While walking he stopped dead in his tracks, stood still for a moment, set his drink down, and started walking again. Caring anything heavier than a feather was more than the poor boy could handle.

We have decided that if we ever participate in a bike parade again, that we will drop the kids off at the beginning with one of us, and the other will be waiting at the end (with the car) to cheer the others on as the come in. It was quite the ordeal.

Busy July!!!

We are alive. We have just had a lot of things going on during the last month that have made it hard to do much on the computer. And the twin part is the least of the list. Our last post in June told you that we were moving. That explains the first portion of our chaos. We did take a break during packing to go to Centerville to enjoy the 4th of July festivities, (which is posted under this one).

The 4th of July was quickly followed by a lot of packing and then moving on July 11th to North Salt Lake. This is were things got crazy. We moved on July 11th, with the help of our wonderful ward in Salt Lake, and had majority of everything unpacked and in place by the evening of July 12th. Having things in order was largely due to Matt's family coming into town and working their buns off. I could have never done a quarter of what got accomplished without them. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU CLINGERS!!!

When they went back to Idaho that evening they took the kids with them. Sammie and Eston were so excited that everytime Brenda called us or we called them, they didn't really want to talk with us. They flew kites, had a bonfire in Grandma and Papa's backyard, and made smores. This was only a small glimpse of the party that the kids enjoyed.

While the kids were gone, I spent those few days finalizing many things for the B&B Peterson Family Reunion in Midway, which was starting on the 16th.
Sammie and Eston got home about 2 hours before we left to head up to the reunion. The reunion will be a whole other post (hopefully).

We have only in the last two days finished the rest of our unpacking and got into a somewhat normal routine. From here out we our boring people with now life, seeing as I am supposed to be taking it easy and not travel much. I will try to post more often, but they may not be too exciting.

4th of July Fun!!!

We started our Independence Day morning out bright and early with a breakfast at Centerville park. We met up with my parents and siblings for a pancake breakfast and then headed over to main street for the annual parade. The front row of our group apparently missed the memo to wear something patriotic.



When we got to the parade route Sammie became obsessed with finding a flag to wave around. her cousin Jake brought one and was nice enough to share with her until she procured her own. She was waving the flag as the emergency vehicles were passing.



This picture was just too cute to pass up. We told the kids to put their hand over their hearts as the flag passed. You can't tell really well, but Sammie not only has her hand on her heart but is waving the beloved flag in front of Jake. I don't think Eston really knew what was going on, but he sure loves to copy anything that Sammie or Jake do.



Sammie was amazed at all the free candy that came her way. This is two of the three bags she collected. She liked the floats but kept yelling to see if they would be throwing treats at her.



Right before the parade started, Matt and I took Sammie to get her cheek painted. She wanted nothing to do with it, and gave a profound no. So we went to the parade with no cheek decor. It wasn't till after at Nana's house when Jake came and proudly showed off the American Flag on his cheek, that Sammie NEEDED to have something as well. Luckily Lindsay was painting a barbie house at the time and produced this lovely floral arrangement for Sammie. (Sammie is always trying at bizarre faces.)



Of course Eston has to do whatever his sister is doing, and needed a something on his face. He sat so still for Lindsay while she painted some firecrackers on his cheek. He may have a lot of energy and always on the go, but when he wants something bad enough he will do what it takes to get it. He is determined.



After the parade we returned home for a restful afternoon at our house. We took the day off from packing and just sat around. In the evening we had decided to go and get some fireworks to light in our driveway. I have an obsession with needing a firework show every year. So Matt being the wonderful husband he is obliged. We invited Dallin (my brother) and his family over to light fireworks. The last 3 years we have gone to Sugarhouse Park to watch their fireworks show, so it was a little scary this year for Sammie to watch since she had never had fireworks so close to us. The whole time she sat next to Jake she was either hiding behind him, or had her hands over her face.



Matt was up lighting fireworks with my brother, but Eston kept yelling for him. Matt came over to see what he needed and Eston went into immediate action. He made Matt sit down, sat on his lap, and immediately grabbed Matt's arms and wrapped them around him as a seat belt while we watched the fireworks. Eston would not let Matt ease up on his grip.



After some ice cream and a wonderful show, we walked over to Westminster College to see the Sugarhouse Park Fireworks show. We had a great day and enjoyed a break from the rest of the chaos.