Hinckley turned 7 on August 26, 2008. We celebrated ALL day long! It was great! Hinckley absolutely loves the zoo so we started the celbration off there. Eventhough it was the 3rd time we had been to the zoo since we moved here, Hinckley still had a great time and watched all the animals like it was his first time at the zoo! If you will notice from the slide show, Cinthanie was not in the best of moods that day so she didn't have a great time like the rest of us but I had fun trying to take photos of her! LOL! She laughs about it now but was pretty mean at the time! Oh well, her loss!
We had fun at the zoo and Hinckley had a great time later opening his presents. After dinner and presents we went to a place called Game World where there are bumper cars and a play area which you will see in the slideshow as well. Hinckley and Max love the place - the rest of us tolerate it! How can you not have fun watching your kids having fun?!!!
Happy 7th Hinckley, we love you!!!

Hinckley's Birthday!

LAGOON - July 2008

LAGOON - July 2008

Right after the July Convention in Layton, Utah we went to Lagoon for 2 days. It was the first time we had been together as a family in almost 4 weeks...boy did it seem like a l-o-n-g time! We all had a great time in Lagoon just being together, laughing, having fun and GETTING WET!
One funny thing that happened while we were there was when Greg Sr went with the older kids on a ride and Cinthanie and I stayed in the kids section with Maxwell and Hinckley. Max and Hinck came off of a ride and Hinckley told me they were going to go on a ride that was just next to the one they had gotten off of. I told them to go get in line and gathered up the stroller and Cinthanie and went over to the next ride. But Hinckley and Max were NOT there! Cinthanie and I looked all over but Hinck and Max were no where to be found! I tried to keep cool and not jump to conclusions, but after searching for a few minutes (it seemed like hours) I decided it was time to get help and called Greg on the cell phone (that was a very difficult phone call for me. How do you tell your husband you have lost your children?!!) and went to file a missing children report! While I was in the office filling out the paperwork (yup, you have to waste time filling out paperwork when your child is missing and you want them found NOW!) Greg called and said he had found them. I started crying, dropped the pen and left the office as fast as I could!
When Hinckley told me that he and Maxwell were going on the next ride I misunderstood what he was telling me and THOUGHT he said they were going on the ride right next to me but he actually told me they were going on a ride that was quite a ways away. I didn't realize this and told them to go ahead! When we all got together again I told Hinckley, "If you ever get lost like that again, tell someone who works here that you are lost and tell them my name and Dad's name and they will find us." Hinckley just looked at me and said, "But mom, we weren't lost, we knew where we were!" LOL! They didn't even KNOW they were "lost" and we were looking for them frantically! I started to tell Hinckley never to wander off like that again, but it then donned on me that this was MY mistake, not Hinckley's! He had told me where they were going and I had said yes! Boy, I learned very quickly that I need to slow down and LISTEN to what my kids are saying...ALWAYS! After it was all over Hinckley said, "Ya know mom, when you said we could go ride the ride alone, Max and I got in line and the worker didn't ask us where our mom was and we were all alone and I thought, "We're by ourselves, no mom to tell us what to do, we can do what we want, THIS IS THE LIFE!" What a little toad! I thanked my Heavenly Father from the bottom of my heart that day that HE watched over my boys and kept them safe when I made a mistake and I also thanked Him for such wonderful, independent little boys! And, I try not to tell them what to so often anymore, although I am sooooo good at it! Ha! Ha!
Ultimately we all had a wonderful time and are looking forward to returning next summer!
Here is a slide show of some of our fun pictures from Lagoon -

Fall Season updates on the Petralias!

Petralia family here! - It has been awhile since any of us added to the blog, I decided it was time to do so!

A lot has been going on up here in chilly Idaho. - When we first moved up here, everyone told us how horrifying the winters were going to be. They told us that we would have snow from October - March or April and boy were we worried! Annaleese had something else in mind though. She has been informing everyone that this will be the warmest winter any "Idahoan" has ever seen and so far, it has been!

Over Conference weekend, we decided it was time to get some pumpkins for the fall season! - This year, we took the family down to a local pumpkin patch and let them pick their own! It was FREEZING outside, but Hinckley insisted on finding the PERFECT pumpkin. So we stayed till we found one that was to his liking! - The pumpkin patch was a fun experience. We also came home with corn and even some watermelon (Max did not want a pumpkin he wanted watermelon!) - There was even a miniature hay maze there that the little boys insisted on going through 3 or 4 times! (Even mom got lost!) (Below are the pictures of our pumpkin patch excursion! Doesn't the first one remind you of pictures of Lynnette and Collette when they were younger?!)

It has only snowed twice this month and neither of these snowfalls were bad at all. It was all gone by the next morning! We are hopeful things contiue on this way. (Below are some photos of Max playing in the FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON)

Well, we have successfully finished up Kyani's San Diego convention in the middle of October. It was Annaleese's first big event with a lot of responsibility and she and her co-workers were able to pull off an awesome convention! Distributors have been saying it was the best they have ever attended! - Greg and Annaleese are both glad to have that finished with, and are now working hard planning the next event which will take place in January, in Las Vegas Nevada. We are eagrly looking foward to this. (On the left is a picture of our family and the founders of Kyani, Dick and Gayle Powell, at the San Diego Convention Center where the event was hosted.)

Greg Jr. attended his first dance here at Hillcrest Highschool! He went to Homecoming and had a blast. Now Sadies is next and he has already been asked by 2 or 3 girls! (And the kids thought they would have a hard time making new friends...) - He thought long and hard on how to ask the girl in a really creative way, and finally came up with an idea! - He dressed Hinckley up like a banana and took him to where Hayley (the girl) works. Once there, Hinckley told Hayley "my brother will go bananas if you don't go to Homecoming with him!" Then left without telling Hayley who his brother was! She had to find out it was Greg by him wearing a yellow polo the next day. - It was very cute and although Hinckley said he was embarassed, he did a great job! (Below is Hinck in his Banana suit, Greg with his date, and the video of the asking process!)

Halloween has also come and gone. It was a really fun holiday this year! Usually our family will go out to dinner and a movie, but this year, the kids opted to stay at home, decorate the house really creepy, and scare trick-or-treaters. Unfortunantly Max was the only one who ended up getting scared and not many trick-or-treaters showed up to the house! - We were amazed at how many parents joined in the festivities though. EVERYONE was dressed up and all decked out! It was quite a sight. - We were lucky enough to be able to get our trick-or-treating done the night before at a ward activity. It was nice for the boys to get some candy and experience dressing up, but it was also nice being able to stay inside the next night and just enjoy in each other's company. (To the right is Hinckley and Max all ready for Halloween! We finally convinced Max to wear ONE costume. At one point he had declared he was going to be a scarecrow, Batman, pirate! And below are Max the scarecrow and Hinck the very serious cowboy. He would not smile because he said cowboys don't smile!)

It is now November and Thanksgiving and Christmas are rapidly approaching! All the hustle and bustle of Christmas has already started here, immediatly putting us in the spirit. - Although we will miss all of you on these up-coming Holidays, we will keep you in our hearts and hope you will do the same! We miss and love all of you! Hope to hear from you soon!

-The Petralias-

WINGAPO!!!! Greetings from the prodigal daughter in St. George!!! :) I found out about this family blog and decided I'd let you all in on what I've been up to!!! :) I just resigned my lease for my apartment and will be there until the beginning of April at least! I'm still working at Pasta Factory and am looking for a new job like a mad WOman. The pictures I posted in the slide show are of me in Fish Lake with Gerrick and his family at the end of July! We went for Gerrick's birthday and had a blast!!! ENJOY