Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas weekend. We started by going to the Thurgoods on Christmas Eve where Santa himself made an appearance! Only Dallin was brave enough to sit on his lap:

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and had fun with these good friends.

Then it was time to get home and open one gift from under the tree. The kids hurried off to bed so fast that they didn't even set out cookies for Santa! If only it were that easy every night!

Even without cookies Santa definitely made it down our chimney. Favorite gifts included:

Kenzie: cell phone (finally!)

Mallory: digital camera

Dallin: Nintendo DS (finally!)

Brady: legos and the biggest Nerf gun you've ever seen

We shared a delicious brunch on Christmas morning with our friends the Burks and the Packers. The machine gun was a big hit as everyone ran for cover.

After cleaning up we headed to Shelley to spend the weekend with Mark's family. We enjoyed yummy food, fun games with cousins and precious time with Grandpa. All in all, it was a wonderful holiday for us, filled with family and friends that we love.

Christmas Break at a Glance

Please tell me I'm not the only one with a kitchen counter that looks like this right now. I will say it's a pretty good representation of our life right now, because at any given time you will find:

*a plate of treats from friends or neighbors

*gifts for the kids (these are from primary teachers and secret sisters at church)

*gifts Mark brings home from work (shown here: giant Santa pen and book entitled "What's Your Poo Telling You?")

*two gingerbread houses, made by Kenzie and Brady

*rubber stamps, scissors and paper from a Sunday art project

*the ever-present Legos

*vase left over from roses Mark gave me for our 17th anniversary (should have taken the picture before I threw them away!)

*2 Redbox DVDs ("G-Force" and "Julie and Julia")

*list of books to return to the library this afternoon

*$1 Brady got from the tooth fairy last week

*Christmas cards from friends (one of the best parts of the season!)

*misc. ribbons from gifts unwrapped or to be wrapped

*fuzzy socks (a staple around here in the winter)

*coupons (Amber or Chelsea, they're for Similac, want them?)

*Christmas dish towel (because if there's one thing I've learned from my mother it's that your dish towels must coordinate with the current holiday!)

So that's pretty much our life right now: trying to keep the kids happy, finishing up last minute prepartions and generally enjoying this time of year. What crazy things are on your counter right now?

Regarding Henry....and other winter happenings

Meet Henry, the newest member of the family, born yesterday afternoon while I was snuggled in bed for a Sunday nap. Based on how cold the weather has been I have a feeling he's going to be around for quite a while.

It snowed all day Saturday and through the night to Sunday. It is absolutely gorgeous outside, especially when the sun comes up and goes down and the sky is covered in pink.

Getting the boys out the door to the bus is quite the project. They LOVE the snow!

Dallin had his last basketball game on Saturday and to our surprise they were playing his friend Trevor's team. He and Trevor have been best buds since they were three and played on the same team in Phoenix. We won't talk about the final score of this game, but Dallin did great this year. He scored in almost every game and is learning to use his height to block shots. The "D" on his jersey was an appropriate nickname for his great defensive moves.

We continued our tradition of having a couple's Christmas party. We had about 12 couples from the ward and enjoyed yummy appetizers and fun games (and no, the two men in the top corner are not a "couple" they just really enjoyed guessing how many kisses were in the jar.) Such a fun night!

Santa's Little Helper

Brady has loved getting the house ready for the holidays and wants to help with everything. He wasn't too sure about being up so high on Dad's shoulders, though, as they put the star on top of the tree.

I hate to see my baby growing up. He still lets me snuggle him, but I'm afraid those days are numbered. Last night as I was tucking him in I said, "Goodnight Brady, I love you." He said, "I love you too, Mom. I love you soooo much...you're my one true love." If only those words could last forever!

Three Petersens

After a yummy Thanksgiving dinner with just our family:

I hopped on a plane headed for Denver to see this little peanut:

Luke Nathan Petersen was born last Monday and we all couldn't be more thrilled, especially these two:

Nathan and Chelsea are the sweetest parents and just can't get enough of this little guy. He is such a calm baby with the most perfect face and skinny little bird legs. I enjoyed snuggling him all weekend long.

Welcome to the world Baby Luke! You are definitely our greatest blessing this Thanksgiving season!

Taking Chance

Looking for a good movie to rent? (It seems like there are very few out there right now!) I highly recommend "Taking Chance". Put out by HBO last year, it's based on the true story of a marine Lt. Colonel who chooses to escort the body of a fallen soldier home from Iraq. It's very powerful and emotional to see the care and honor that is given to these brave men and women who give their lives so selflessly. Warning: have your kleenex handy. I don't know if it was since Mark was in the Air Force for 14 years or if I'm just a crybaby, but I found myself crying through the whole thing. Whether you have family ties to the military or not, I think all Americans will be touched this movie.

Halloween Happenings

We had a fun Halloween weekend full of parties, trunk and trick or treating and of course plenty of candy. Even Maple got in on the fun with her very own witch's hat.

Here's our fierce-looking spiderman, BYU football player (he still wanted to be Max Hall, even after going to the TCU game), doctor/dad (can you say "last minute costume so I can still get candy?") and Mallory holding a sign that says "Go Ceilings!" Any guesses as to what she was? If you know Mall's quirky sense of humor you can figure it out.

The best part of the night is always the sorting and trading of treats.

And in other news, we had our first snowfall on Thursday, although nothing stuck to the ground. I'm not ready for winter!

Homecoming Weekend

We're back from a whirlwind weekend in Provo. It was homecoming for BYU, a tradition I don't think my parents have missed since they left the Y over 30 years ago. Of course they've passed this school pride on to the rest of the family (I always say that in my family it was never "if" you go to BYU, but "when" you go to BYU.) We had almost our entire family there (all but Jason's family and Melissa's kids). To say it was crazy would be an understatement...picture 23 people trying to go anywhere together (BYU bookstore, Chuck-a-Rama, Cafe Rio, etc). We had a great time just being together, even if our beloved Cougars never even showed up for the game. The other bad news is that even though we were all dressed so cute in matching Y gear for the game we never got one big picture. You'll have to settle for these not-so-great-ones taken at Lindsay's apt. after the game.

Brandon, Ashlee, Jeff and my dad.

Melissa, Matt and Mark (who has taken the loss remarkably well, I might add.)

Chelsea and Nathan, waiting for a baby boy in December!

Cutie Skylar, who we loved seeing along with Amber's Carter and Sydney (how could I not have taken more pictures?) Thanks for a great weekend, everyone! We love and miss you all.

Mission Accomplished

(Picture taken last winter for my 365 picture-a-day album)

So last night was a monumental event for our family: we finished reading the Book of Mormon. Now you might think I was bragging about how spiritual and obedient we are. We're not. It took us probably 4 years to finish it (no joke). We are so on-again-off-again with our family scripture study that it drives me crazy. We go in spurts when we'll read for a several nights in a row and then we'll go a week without. And let's not even talk about this summer when it didn't get dark until 10:00, so by the time everyone was in the house it was time for bed. Regardless of our track record I'm glad that we can say that we finally finished it.

Apparently Brady is also relieved, since he said to me this morning, "I'm so glad we finished the Book of Mormon and now we'll never have to read scriptures again." Yep, future missionary in the making right there.

Only 12 more hours...

I think I might be more excited for this wedding than I was for my own.

Fall Update

Yes, Fall has arrived in Idaho, but I'm afraid Winter is trying to butt it's way in too quickly! Look, snow on the mountains already:

Fall is definitely my favorite season, but I feel like everyone says that. No, seriously, I really love it and always have. October is my birthday month (22 shoppping days left everyone!) and so many of my favorite sights (leaves changing), smells (yummy candles) and tastes (pumpkin anything) come around this time of year. Fall also reminds me of fun trips we would take during med. school in Maryland when my parents would visit every October. It's so fun to again live in an area where the seasons change.

Here's what we've been up to:

FHE last Monday night at the pumpkin patch/hay maze.

Football, football, and more football. Dallin had his best game yet on Saturday with 5 tackles, 2 interceptions and his first touchdown.

And since I know you've all been so worried about our cat situation, we did get another kitten from a different family in the ward. I think we're naming her Nala since she looks like a little lion cub. Maple is much happier and we're hoping these two stick around for a while!

I Wish I Was Joking...

I guess the good part about taking so long to name a kitten is when she accidentally gets run over in the garage maybe it isn't as hard (although poor Mark was so broken up about it last night he could hardly sleep). R.I.P. Holstein/Dairy, we'll miss you!

In case you're counting, this is the fifth kitten we've had in our family that has either died or run away (we had two kittens in Texas named Buzz and Woody who also didn't make it into adulthood.) We also had two cats, Bailey and Pogo who we ended up giving away to friends for different reasons. Not a very good track record. The girls think it's a sign we should have gotten a dog. (Not gonna happen.)

Kittens: Take Two

Even though we haven't had the best of luck with kittens so far, our friends had another batch and we decided to try again. (Did I ever tell you that our neighbors found Ginger when we were out of town and gave her away to their daughter in Utah? Who does that?) So here are our newest cuties:

Problem is, we can't really decide on names. They are both female, and right now Kenzie wants to name this one Maple. Mallory and I like the name Autumn...she has fall colors so we want something maybe to do with the season.

This one looks like a milk cow, so Mark calls her Holstein (not gonna happen) and I call her Dairy. (A tribute to you, Brandon and Lindsay.)

They are both very sweet and they stay in the garage unless we take them outside to play.

So any suggestions on names? Maybe I'll send something to the winner (how about a new kitten? I hear there might be some left!)

Shortly after moving here last fall I was at Enrichment and they asked everyone who had done any canning recently to raise their hand. I am not joking when I say I was the only one not raising my hand. Believe me, home canning and storage is alive and well here in Meridian, ID. After attempting to grow a garden I knew it was time to take the next big step. With the help of my expert-in-all-things friend Michelle, I learned how to can salsa along with another friend Amy. Look at all this gorgeous home-grown produce (I only contributed a few tomatoes, the rest is from Amy and another friend Malia's gardens.)

This was a major production and it took up most of the day, as well as every inch of my kitchen island.

The finished product; 40 beautiful bottles of delicious salsa to be enjoyed all year long.

While it was a lot of work I thought it was really fun and am excited to try it again!