Eva Peterson

Everyone loves our new baby. I think you can see the excitement on Maren's face.

Christmas morning

We had a great Christmas. The kids woke up to presents, and a new baby sister. Here are Christmas morning pics, and some of our newest daughter Eva Peterson.

To all our Democratic Friends,

Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially acceptable, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but with the respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country, nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishees.

To our Republican friends:

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! America Rocks!

Royce, Jen, Duncan, Brynne, Maren and unnamed 9 month old uterus dweller.

Fall in Flagstaff

Maren AKA snow white, loves her binkies so much, that she is willing to risk life and limb by pulling a stool up to the mantel to reach the sacred binkies. One is never enough. The only way it would have been more death-defying is if the fire were burning.
Duncan and Brynne helped out in the backyard by raking up all the pine needles off of our grass in the backyard. The pile was big enough, but noone wanted to jump in. Pine needles are kinda scratchy.


Here we see the rare, blond-headed, red-bellied, gogurt sucker in attack mode. Jen was lucky to get away with her life.

Campout and canoe trip

Last weekend we went on a campout to blue ridge reservoir. Brynne got the nickname 'Brynne the Brave' after being the only kid willing to have a 2 foot long snake draped around her neck. Duncan was working on his perfect rowing form, and Maren was pretty much ballast for the canoe. It was a lot of fun.

Girls, girls, girls

Here are some pictures of Jen and Brynne at Brynne's kindergarten graduation a few moons ago and Maren ready for church. Next is a picture of Maren after hearing that some people don't floss their teeth! Jen then made her feel a lot better by showing her what perfectly flossed, brushed, and polished teeth can look like, and she felt a lot better.

Brynne and the Turtle

Here is a picture of Brynne before, contemplating eating the turtle raw, and her post-turtle grin missing a tooth. (That shell is tough on baby teeth). The last picture is her on her first day of school with plenty of energy from all the yummy turtle protein.

Airshow campout

Duncan and I got to go on a campout to the Valley Airport south of the Grand canyon. Duncan drove the tank in, and I flew the plane he is standing next to. We were the main defense of the airport for the weekend. And you thought scouting was all about merit badges! Duncan got his tank navigation, homeland security, and WWII tank restoration merit badge.

Maren the sniper

Maren has finished her sniper training school and is ready for her first assignment. She graduated second in her class. Her first target is the person who beat her out of the first position.

Warhammer Lives!

Royce invited someone he met through the internet over to play a warhammer game. Aric was a little busy and couldn't make it. Duncan told me that it isn't smart to give out personal information over the internet, but this time everything worked out ok. Jen was gracious enough to allow me the time to play, and take up her kitchen for a few hours.

There is also a picture of some figures I have been painting, and my new bat cave (aka Royce's side of the closet).

Now I don't have to spend 20 minutes setting up and cleaning up and can leave things a relative mess. Once again Jen has been gracious enough to allow me the space.

Ward Campout

Friday we went to Willard Springs for our ward campout. It is south towards Sedona. We went earlier in the day to make the most of it. Royce carved Duncan the sword "Sting" from the book The Hobbit out of a piece of wood he chopped off a fallen tree in our backyard. I had read the book for book club and told the kids stories from it at bedtime. Duncan became so interested he wanted to read the book on his own and has used the storyline for imaginative play since. He has also started reading The Lord of the Rings series now. While at the campout, the boys made their own little firepit and Duncan blackened the sword in it.