Camping

Jonathan has had this last week off from work, so we tried to spend a lot of family time together. We decided that camping overnight at a campground close to home might be a lot of fun for the little boys. I emphasize "for the little boys" because it turned out not to be much fun for us parents. But oh well, right? It's what we do for our children.

The boys loved running in and out of the tent. The phrase "take your shoes off before you go inside the tent" worked the first time we said it, but they kept coming in and out so often that it quickly escaped their little brains.

One nice thing about the campground was the little park they had there next to the lake.

Unfortunately, the lake was way too cold to swim in, so the boys and Dad just played in the sand. I sat in my lawn chair, taking pictures and soaking up the sun.

The boys made Mt. Rainier out of sand. Dean and Dawson are a little obsessed with Mt. Rainier ever since they've discovered that we can see it from our house and out the car window everyday.

We took a little walk before dinner and posed in front of the campsite sign.

That was honestly the best hot dog I've ever eaten.

Running around a field on our morning walk.

Me, obviously not running around.

Tired family, ready to go home! Nobody slept well and as soon as the kids woke up they were asking to go home. Next time we'll, heck let's face it, there's probably not going to be a next time.

Beach Trip

For the past 3 years, our family has taken a little weekend trip down to the Oregon Coast. We've stayed 2 summers in a little town called Gearhart, which just north of Seaside. We didn't have very good weather, but we tried to make the best of it. Here's Jonathan flying his awesome pirate kite.

 Of course, all the children had to have a turn holding the string.

The best part of the trip was the swimming pool, since it was really too cold to spend much time on the beach. Our family and all the grandkids took up the entire pool. It was a good thing no one else tried to come swim while we were there.

Dean and his cousin Britton spent the whole time doing cannon balls into the pool. It was so nice when Dean graduated from having us catch him every time to him jumping in all by himself. He was very proud!

The boys also loved blowing water out of their noodles and splashing people with it.

One our last morning, Jonathan took the boys on an "adventure," which really just led them to the playground, but they found some seashells and rocks on the way.

5 Mile Lake

Another outing during our family reunion was to 5 Mile Lake in Federal Way. It's a pretty small lake, but it's not too cold and it has a great sandy area for the kids to play on.

Dawson doesn't even care about swimming, he just wants to dig in the sand and get dirty. A true boy.

These are my nephews belonging to my sister Autumn: Jackson, Thomas, and Carter, and my neice belonging to Shelby: Sydney.

My dad, my sister Brittany and her son Duke.

The boys obviously played hard. We've never been able to carry them asleep from the car into the house before, but they were too worn out to wake up.

Family Outing

More of our 4th of July festivities! Our family ventured off to a nearby elementary school for a rousing game of kickball while the little ones rode bikes and played with bubbles. 

My Pops; I love him to death.

Here are my parents with 5 of the 6 of their daughters (Minus Lisha, boo hoo). How precious are we?

And here begins the rousing game of kickball! It was a little

interesting playing with 10 or so little ones, but we made it work.

The kids really had no idea what they were doing. Dawson tried to kick the ball over and over all the way to first base.

Uncle Neil was the mean first baseman, so Daddy had to help Dawson out a bit.

I love that I look like I'm trying to be so dainty in this picture. Really I was trying to kick hard!

After kickball the brothers-in-law played a little Bball while us girlies sat around and chatted. This was quite a momentous occasion having Jonathan out on the basketball court. He has not played since he was 10 and has always been too embarassed to play. He actually had fun! 

Happy 4th

Happy Birthday America! We had a wonderful 4th of July this year. It started off with our ward breakfast of yummy pancakes and ended with a bike parade, which the boys loved. Jonathan helped them decorate their bikes the night before.

We then spent the rest of the day at my parent's house partying. Our neighbor has a really old truck that he always decorates and brings our on the 4th to take the neighbor kids for a ride.

I am so relieved that our boys love fireworks. Dean started off being a little scared, so he sat under a blanket for a while but finally took it off his head and enjoyed the rest of the show.

My neices made everyone festive ice cream sandwich pops.

Here is most of the Pettit family, minus my oldest sister and her family. But the rest of us 5 daughters and families were together for a couple weeks for a little reunion. Lisha, we missed you!