June 2012

Jeff turned 32 in June. We decided to take and family hike and explore our new surroundings.

We went a bit further than anticipated and the landscape was extra dry because of last years drought.

The girls had fun especially when we decided to take a dip in the lake in our unders.

Coco has met a few of the girls toys.  They were less than affectionate with him.

Sadly Camille got a glue fly trap stuck in her hair and had to get a hair cut.  This is my chop just to get the matte out.  We went the next day to a professional.

In May, Jillian asked to try riding a bike without training wheels.  By June she was completely confident.

I got to fly to AZ and be with the Peterson siblings for a day because Grandpa Pete died. It was wonderful to see the family, especially when were weren't all on our phones.

Coco met some new cousins.

The chapel was full of family and friends of one of the best men I knew.  They all shared stories of my Grandpa. "Sure do love and appreciate you", is a phrase he said each time I saw him.  Although I heard it often, the feeling of love and sincerity was never lost. Here we are at the grave site:

He was buried in St. John's at the same grounds as his father and his father's father.  I learned some wonderful history about my paternal roots.

This is my Great-grandpa Brigham Young Peterson and his wife Stella Jarvis.

This is my Great-great-grandfather Marcor Hanson and his wife Anna.  Marcor came to America on a boat with his brothers. They all kept their fathers first name for their last as was the tradition in Denmark. Marcor chose to use Hanson (father was Han) as a middle name and use his father's last name as his own (which was the American way). He also chose to change it from Petersen to Peterson to sound more American.  Thus making him the first Peterson on America. 

He went to SLC and started his family.  He was called by B.Y. to take his family and settle AZ.  

This plaque is at the edge of the cemetery and tells the story of the settlement. It over looks the valley where the first Peterson hut was.

I loved to hear all the stories from my father of his childhood as he toured his hometown.  We even knocked on his childhood home and got to walk through. 

It was wonderful to see my family even under sad circumstances.

RIP grandpa.

(self-portrait images found on Jeff's ipad)