Snapshot #652: Corn Popper

August 31, 2012.  San Jose, California.  Hazel's gotten pretty good at pushing this corn popper all around the house and the back porch.

Snapshot #651: Family Outing

 

August 28, 2012.  Sunnyvale, California.  This evening we went for a walk in Baylands Park.  Hazel got such a kick out of being able to push her stroller all by herself.  Funny girl.

Snapshot #650: Out of Doors

August 27, 2012.  San Jose, California.  These days Miss Hazel ventures out of doors more and more often and for longer and longer periods of time.

Recipe Diaries: Snapshot #649: Gingered Carrot Millet Muffins

August 26, 2012.  San Jose, California.  Gingered Carrot Millet Muffins.  For Real.  Check out the recipe here. 

Snapshot #648: Play Group

August 24, 2012.  San Jose, California.  We need to do this more often.  I'm thinking I'm going to start a bi-weekly play group for my friend's with one-year-olds.  We do have Park Day once a week...but I like the idea of a play group that can focus on games, activities perfectly suitable for just one-year-olds.  Hazel is constantly learning new tricks from the other babies her age.  She knows she's a baby and she watches other babies intently and picks up on every thing they do.

Snapshot #647: Bath Time

August 22, 2012.  San Jose, California.  That's my girl!

Snapshot #646: Santa Cruz Beaches

August 20, 2012.  Santa Cruz, California.  There are so many beaches in Santa Cruz, I don't even remember which beach this was...but it sure was fun!  Hazel has zero fear of the colossal waves breaking in front of here; she makes right for them and laughs when they break over her legs...if I take her away she goes running back for more, more, more!

Snapshot #645: Farmer's Market

August 18, 2012.  Sunnyvale, California.  This Saturday we hit the farmer's market in Sunnyvale. 

Snapshot #644: Peter August & Emma Sohpia Peterson

August 16, 2012.  San Jose, California.  Sacred experiences over the course of my life have taught me that my ancestors on the other side of the veil are still interested in what's going on in the lives of their posterity here on planet earth.  In honor of and tribute to them, I am assisting my dad with "The Stories of Our Lives Project", an online depository for the sharing of photographs, documents, and letters that begin to tell the story of those close to us who have gone before us.  

Peter August & Emma Sophia Peterson are my great grandparents (my father's mother's father's parents) who were born and raised in Sweden but then immigrated to America as a result of a dream.  Look for updates to their story on their blog at www.peteraugustpeterson.blogspot.com.

Snapshot #643: Carl Julius & Lou Stell Peterson

August 15, 2012.  San Jose, California.  As part of the "Stories of Our Lives Project" I am assisting my dad with the creation of a blog featuring memorabilia from the lives of Carl Julius & Lou Stell Peterson; my grandparents (my father's mother's parents).  To visit the blog and learn more about them and what it was like to live as rural Idaho farmers nearly 100 years ago, go to www.carljpeterson.blogspot.com and don't forget to view documents here.

Snapshot #642: The Stories of Our Lives Project

August 14, 2012.  San Jose, California.  For some time now my father has been searching for the best way to share photographs, letters, documents, and stories from our family history with the entire family.  He's decided on a blog...so I have been helping him set-up and design the blog space.  More info to come...

Snapshot #641: Then and Now

August 12, 2012.  Elba, Idaho.  We found the corner of a church where a photo was taken of my grandmother as a little girl then attempted to capture the same photo nearly 100 years later.

Snapshot #640: The Cemetery Project

August 11, 2012.  Elba, Idaho.  When my dad was a little boy his father brought him and his brothers to the Elba Cemetery to pour cement to mark the graves of two of my dad's mother's siblings:  Cornelia Rochester Peterson (died at birth) and Carl Oscar Peterson (drug by a horse at age 7).  Now, a generation later my dad chose to honor his family in the same way by upgrading those same headstones and teaching his own children the stories from generations past.  It was a good work to do as a family.

This group photo was taken in the "Mormon Cemetery" of Albion, Idaho next to the gravestone of Peter August Peterson, my great grandfather (my father's mother's father's father.)

Snapshot #639: Elba Park Family Reunion

August 10-12, 2012.  Elba, Idaho.  My father hosted a King Family Reunion this year at Elba Park in the beautiful Elba Valley of Idaho.  He chose this valley to reminisce and celebrate the King Family heritage because his grandfather had a homestead just down the road where his mother spent many of her growing-up years.  Elba is an incredibly peaceful valley with panoramic views in every direction.  It was an incredible gift to experience a place virtually unchanged by the last 100 years.