Happy Birthday to Me

This year for my birthday Aaron and I went for a motorcycle ride. I always love riding my bike. 

After we got back from our ride we took the boys to dinner and a movie. 

Happy Halloween

We always have a good time carving pumpkins as a family. Aaron and I scoop a lot of the guts out of the pumpkins but don't ever seem to get to carve our own. Ha ha. Between camera duty and cleaning the guts out I am never in any of the pictures either. I guess I will have to remember that for next year. 

Eli designed his own pumpkin and it turned out really good. He is very creative and a good artist. He was very patient about cutting all the parts out.

 Justice had a very cool pumpkin to carve. He picked it himself from his piano teachers garden. He decided to carve Sonic on it. His design was very cool. Instead of carving all of it he had to shave some of the pieces around the nose and mouth. It turned out much better then the picture shows.

 

Jerimiah's pumpkin had a lot of detail on it and was very cool. He is starting to realize how much work all this fun is! Ha ha. He had to clean out his own pumpkin and was getting frustrated before it was even time to carve his design. He still had a lot of fun with it. 

Buster Bronco and The Grimm 

My Favorite Guys

Absolutely my favorite guys. I just love each of them so much. Aaron is such a great husband and dad, Jerimiah is such a happy kid, Justice is so kind, and Eli is so funny. I'm not sure my life could be anymore blessed then it is. (I would have gladly raised a few more boys, but I am so grateful for the ones I have.)

Queens Crown

 The goggles are a little dorky but they were so nice to have!!! The first time you get hit in the face with a bug  you are extremely grateful for them! Ha ha

 Sigh.... Isn't it beautiful? The pictures don't even really do it justice.

After Eli and I went to Shoshone we headed to Carey for a couple of days to hang out with my sister. Jess and I took the 4-wheeler and rode to a place called Queens Crown. It was very cool. We got to the top just as the sun was going down. The sunset was absolutely beautiful!. I miss the Idaho sunsets. We have nice sunsets in Oregon too, but there is just something about the Idaho sky. Jess and I had a great time hanging out for a couple of days. It's always nice to be with your sister. Love ya Jess! Someday maybe we will live closer to each other and then we will get into all kinds of trouble.

On the Farm

 Eli and I went to visit our friends in Shoshone. Melissa and her family have a farm and we got to play farmer with them for a couple of days. We enjoyed the beautiful fall days in Idaho. Eli and Natalie had so much fun playing together. Eli got a taste of what having a little sister might be like and I have to say I think he was a little surprised. I heard him tell Natalie a couple of times, "can't we play without your sister?" or "she sure is bossy!" Haha... We love you Vanessa!

 Eli and Natalie helped pick pumpkins to sell. They were very hard workers. Who would have thought farming was so much fun for a kid! Eli had to see how big of a pumpkin he could find and carry. Crazy kid!

Homecoming 2012

Jerimiah went to Homecoming this year with Rylee. It sounds like they had a lot of fun. Jerimiah said they danced quite a bit. He is such a happy kid. He is so silly and makes me laugh a lot. We are so very thankful for our teenager!

Saint Andrew's Mission

Our little boy was buried today at Saint Andrew's Mission. The mission donates a place for babies that are born to soon. There is a similar place in Garden City that does the same thing. However, the mission does things a little different. We were notified yesterday that they would be taking Dean to the cemetery today at one if we would like to be there. We wanted to be. When we got to the cemetery Sister Monica met us with his little casket and asked Aaron if he would like to carry his son to the grave. We walked to the grave hand in hand.  The grave was already prepared and the Father of the mission was there to meet us. They were all so kind to us. They blessed the baby and blessed the grave. I've never done any of this before. The other cemetery just sent a note to let us know the baby had been buried and that we could go to the cemetery anytime. I know that we believe differently then Catholics do but through this whole thing I have appreciated the kindness and love we have been shown by the staff at the hospital, Sister Monica, Father Mike, and the grounds keeper. They had Aaron place him in the grave and then we all sprinkled a little dirt in the grave. It made me think of all those women crossing the plains that had to bury their babies along the way. How did they keep going? I hope I can be strong and keep going.

Our Little Boy

Well, here we are again. Saying goodbye to our little boy. I'm not sure why we keep having this trial. I wanted to share some things about our experience, I don't know what else to do. Our little boys name is Dean. This is the name we had chosen for a boy. We were so excited to find out what we were having. Eli knew the baby was a boy. We had a bet and now I owe him $5.00. I feel bad for the ultrasound tech, she knew there was no heartbeat but couldn't say anything. The Dr scheduled to induce last Saturday. After a very long day our little boy was finally born. He was so perfect. His little hands and feet so small. His perfect little mouth was open but he just looked so peaceful. We had such wonderful nurses and our Dr was amazing. It's got to be a very difficult day for them knowing what has to happen and knowing there will be no reward at the end. 

This is his little casket.

These are the flowers that Aaron's mom sent to us. I think they are so beautiful and want to remember them.

This has been and will continue to be very difficult to get through. We feel so blessed in so many ways. We are so thankful for our boys, our family, and our friends. We have a wonderful church family. I have the most amazing husband. We know Heavenly Father loves us. Please know that we love you all and appreciate all that you do. If you feel like calling or writing please do. I just might need to hear from you.

Thanksgiving 2011

Scott and Jenn's family and Nate and Angie's family came to visit over Thanksgiving break. We had a great time hanging out and eating all weekend. The kids had a fun time playing together too.

The three amigos. Crazy boys! Ha ha. They had a lot of fun hanging out all weekend. They loved eating and playing outside. They shot the BB gun quite a bit down at the pond.

Max thought Jerimiah was pretty cool to hang out with. I think Jerimiah liked having a little buddy that didn't talk back.

Its turkey time! Ham too! We actually cooked a turkey this year for Thanksgiving. (I know its traditional but Aaron and I don't really like turkey so we don't usually cook one) It was really good though.

  Sweet potatoes and green bean casserole. Yummy

Little Kate and her mommy too!

All the kids slept in the sun room. We just put a bunch of mattresses out on the floor in there. It worked really good. The kids had a fun time bouncing from one mattress to the other. It's amazing that they ever went to sleep.

Making tamales. Yay! I love tamales. Angie taught Jenn and I how. It was a lot of work but so worth it. Its definitely something you want to make in large batches and then freeze for future use. They are so good!

All the guys out shooting. The kids had to join in too. They were able to set up right outside the house. We haven't been able to do that in a long time.

We had such a great time with everyone this year. Hopefully we can have another big Thanksgiving or other get together this next year. We love spending time with our family. It's nice when they will come out to Oregon to see us! Love you all.

2011 Homecoming

Eli was selected to be the Pennant Bearer for Homecoming this year. He did such a good job. At first he wasn't very excited about it, but after the practice day he said "I think Homecoming is going to be more fun then I thought." His friend Sally was who he walked across the field with, they were so cute.
The announcer told a little bit about each person that was nominated, Eli's was kind of funny... big surprise, I know. 
First Grade Pennant Bearer
Name: Eli Petzoldt
Age: 6
Grade: 1st
Parents: Aaron and Misty
Siblings, name and ages: Jerimiah 14, Justice 10.
Favorite subject: PE
Favorite thing to do at recess: play on the monkey bars.
Favorite food: Ham and cheese sandwich.
Sport: Basketball and kickball. (I had no idea he liked basketball.)
Hobbies: Cooking, building Lego's, playing.

He is so dang cute... and he knows it... I guess I should teach him about humility huh?! I'll keep trying.

Camping in June

All of us girls doing what we do best... Cooking! (OK, there are lots of things we do best!)

 

Little Max was such a good camper. He really seemed to like being outdoors all weekend.

We used the dutch ovens to make pizza and cookie brownies. It turned out really good. I always love cooking in the dutch oven. Everything taste better up camping.

The kids enjoyed the lake being so close to the campground. We had such a great time camping and hope to make it a tradition. Phillips Lake is a beautiful area. I hope we go back sometime.

End of School Concert

My mom

Hi mom! Miss ya! Hope to see you soon.

Justice's tonsil surgery

Justice had his tonsils out on April fools day. His surgery went good and he is recovering well. He is trying his best to eat and drink, and he is doing a great job at it. This poor kid is no stranger to a sore throat so hopefully this is the last really bad one he will ever have.

St. Patrick's Day

This year for St. Patrick's Day our friends Shawn, Melissa, Natalie, and Vanessa came to visit. We had so much fun hanging out and participating in some of the festivities. We went to the smoker on Friday night and watched some amateur boxing. It was really fun. Then on Saturday we went down town and wondered through all the vendors booths. Heppner sure has a great St. Patty's weekend. We always have a lot of fun and it was even more fun this year having someone to share it with. Thanks for coming to visit us!

Winter quilting project

This is the quilt I put together this winter. I used a rag quilt pattern so it looks a little different finished. It is so cute!