Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point

 This week our family got to go to Thanksgiving Point and see the Tulip Festival, compliments of our Bishop, who is the CFO there. It was so gorgeous! I'm so glad we got to go! Both of us have always been a tad confused about Thanksgiving Point. We never understood that the huge expanse of gardens are a good 1/4 mile or so from the freeway, nowhere near the main buildings you see right next to I-15. After consulting a map and driving over to said gardens, we both have a much better grasp of what's going on over there.

We wouldn't have had any pictures of the beauty that surrounded us, except that I have recently come to appreciate the camera on my phone. It seems to take pictures that are just as good as our normal camera, and considering that I always have it on hand, it's much more convenient to remember to take pictures. I will likely take many more pictures from now on, and hopefully I will be good about posting them on here! Enjoy!

Isn't it lovely? 

How cool is this? they have grown the grass around the huge waterfalls to be natural amphitheater seating!

I love this picture.

 Peter wanted nothing more than to go explore the big pond that the waterfalls cascade into, but Daddy kept him in line, which he did not appreciate in the least.

 A morning look. He's so sweet!

Peter riding on the dinosaur/aligator/monster creature with his friend Elaine.

 Every once in awhile I'll be doing the dishes or something and I'll look over to see Peter nestled onto the rocking chair, poring over his most recent read. That's my boy!

Peter loves playing in this little playhouse, and he likes to play a game where you first stick your fingers through the mail slot and then he does.

One of our friends was having a family get-together yesterday afternoon, and two adorable boys came over to play in the sandbox. They were very nice to each other and Peter, and I was terribly impressed.

This is a funny thing Peter does that we wanted to catch on camera before he grows out of it. Upon trying to get off a piece of furniture, such as our bed, he'll have slid about this far but starts complaining for help to get the rest of the way down. It's quite comical to see his little feet dangling only a few inches from the floor, and him complaining like the dickens for help to get down. Ha ha!

Update

We'll start this post with Valentine's Day. Peter's Grandpa Perkins brought him a balloon and a chocolate shake. He was so delighted! Mom and Dad got chocolate shakes as well, which we enjoyed even more than he did.


Here he's sitting with Luke, properly attired in his coverall-style bib (IKEA 2 for $5! The ONLY way to go), ready to dig into his shake. Gotta love the surprised/guilty face.

Here is a video of Peter happily banging his balloon around.



This next section will be about Peter and his food.

Here he is, raiding Grandma Wright's cupboard for the Cheerios.


He always makes such a mess when he eats! And it's adorable every time!


He has recently decided he will have no more high chair. Not even a booster. He will sit at the table with us to eat, or he won't eat at all. He uses his wily looks to get his way. Would you be able to say no?



He also loves feeding people. In this case, it was a lovely green salad, compliments of Luke.

Here is a video of him pulverizing his food.



Aunt Samantha went to Ecuador last summer to help work in the orphanages and got two beautiful alpaca wool sweaters.


An interesting mix of red and blue, perfectly demonstrating our family's mixed loyalty. Considering we don't get involved in the whole school spirit thing, though, loyalty might be too strong a word. At any rate, he looks cute in any hat, and frequently dons them on his own. Yep, he pulled it on himself, I merely took the picture.


Here he is in another favorite hat, going outside to play in the snow for the one and only time this winter. The lack of snow was uninspiring for playing purposes, but at least we got to sled this one day.


Pictured here with his friend Andrew.


Here we are, sliding down! I loved it, Peter was mostly indifferent.


He liked swinging a lot better.


Here he is trying out the booster seat Grandma Ce Ce has lent us.


Here he is, trying to work out his abs with Daddy's Ab Roller. Babies are strong!


Last of all, my dear friend Amanda is expecting a baby boy this April. Here she is opening presents at the shower I attended.

The Last Six Months

Keeping this blog updated is decidedly more tricky with a child. Particularly one who hates for his mama to be on the computer. So, here's the last few months worth of pictures and we'll try to be more consistent from now on.

Late last summer we went to the Utah State Fair. It was the first time for all of us, although Luke had been to one in California. It was fun!

Here is a picture of the butter sculpture. I believe they used the amount one could typically get from a Utah dairy cow in any given year. There were some other weird statistics, too. They have a sculpture each year, everyone should go check it out!

Peter loved the pigs. Here he is, pointing to the piglets.

Some samples of Utah's giant pumpkins.

Here's Luke reading to Peter and his friend Aaron.

Peter enjoying the boat he got for his birthday.

Peter enjoying his birthday suit. Aaron and Brigham are truly well-mannered friends. They were all smiles to see him and never said a word.

Luke trying to multi-task, reading the scriptures and holding on to our little wild man.

General Conference weekend with the Perkins. Peter was being as cute as it is possible to be. Love that boy!

Just like Dad.

Playing in the Tupperware with cousin Blaze.

Talking on the phone, his favorite pastime.

All people should have children merely to get pictures like this.

Peter playing with his friend Andrew.

Zonked out on Mom's lap.

He's happy to brush his teeth if we let him do it. Sadly, we always have to take over at some point to be sure of a thorough job, and he doesn't like that nearly as much.

Playing with his sieve cup. He was loving putting his hand out to feel the water streaming out.

A miraculous moment. Grandpa's magic finally catching up with him, a year into life.

Playing with his Williamson cousins in the tent Grandma set up for them.

Pint-sized furniture. Love it!

This boy loves spaghetti.

Getting ready for a winter walk.

The first video is of a unique eating habit Peter used to have, and the second is of us helping him to walk.

That just about brings us up to date, in pictures at least. But where is Christmas, you might ask? Or Halloween? Or Thanksgiving? Surely you took pictures at some of those! Well, it's possible there are some pictures of them, but I don't think we're responsible for any. How lame is that? We absolutely need to do better. However, if I find/acquire any more pictures, I'll certainly post them.