Petersons



 

The snowmobile has been a LOT of fun for the girls! It has helped a little with the spring fever going on here! Millie is constantly saying how she wishes it was warm enough to jump on the tramp with the sprinkler and play outside but when I said it she couldn't ride the snowmobile if it was warm it made her happy about the weather for about 5 seconds. Miles is interested but is still a little too scared to get on it. Tommy hasn't ever been awake when it has gone out but I'm sure he will be a fan too.

This is the rooster! Can you believe how weird it looks cooked up? As little meat as that rooster gave us it was still such yummy soup!



Millie had Sam over for a sleepover. They has SOOO much fun! I'm not sure that Sam could have ever felt as loved as he did with Millie and Tommy following him around the whole time. He was also super excited about the fact that he was the "only Arnold" at our house. Millie talked about it from the time she invited him until he got here. She also planned to have orange Julius for the sleepover treat which they thought was so exciting. They slept on the big pillow and watched movies.

The tree guy came to cut down the last big pine tree I hope to ever have to murder. It really is sad cutting down these big trees. When we get wood they are always dead but cutting down these big pieces of history is kind of sad. As soon as Tommy saw him out there he yelled "I'm gotta get my toy saw!" He ran down to get it and ran out the door. I followed behind him trying to get his coat and shoes on. Later while Joel and I were hauling it back he came out with no jammy bottoms on, just a diaper, his boots and his chain saw and told us "I'm gonna help you!" I was pretty cute with his black eye and crazy hair. Speaking of bruises, I stepped on the water meter cover while I was hooking the tow strap onto the truck and it was crooked so my leg fell all the way in. I only stopped when my but hit the top of it. It was painful and now I have lots of great bruises too.

 The Arnolds came over today for dinner. It was a lot of fun! I had some of her kids and mine on the way home from church. There were no tracks and 6 inches of snow on the road and it was still coming down and blowing. I couldn't see ANYTHING! I didn't dare stop because I knew I would get stuck so I just tried to stay in the middle as much as I could with Maizy and Bron saying, I think you need to go this way more, no, this way. It was crazy snowy weather. Luckily the Arnolds made it and we had a LOT of food. I guess 8 extra people don't eat as much as I thought they would! Oh yes, and my laundry room and pantry are framed in! My pantry is a little on the small side but I'm sure it will work!
I LOVE YOU ALL!

Hello everyone!  It's been a nice week.  Monday was no school, and Corey had the day off so we finally were able to have a day together.  Corey works most Saturdays.  We searched out a fun lake and playground and just relaxed and had fun together.  The missionaries came over for FHE that night.  The kids really like them.  They're good missionaries. One's from Montana, and one is from Sugar City:)
The rest of the week was the usual running kids around.  Saturday was pinewood derby and Isaac did awesome.  The downside, we didn't get any pictures and we can't find his car.  Apparently someone else picked it up from the table before we could, and no one can find it.  Saturday morning, Maddie tried out for an All Region Choir.  Hundreds of kids tried out and she was so nervous.  She made the Treble Honors Choir and is so excited.  I just love her.
Rest of the kids are doing well.  Luckily no one is sick right now.  The little Sizzle is driving us crazy because she's become extremely clingy and cries through the entire nursery time.  She might not be invited back :(  Not sure why all my children do this.  I do remember, however, that when I longed to be a mom and have children, one of the things I envied was how much children wanted their moms.  I really wanted to be the one that a child needed and wanted so much.  So I remind myself of that when it gets a little frustrating.  This last little baby of mine is growing up too fast along with the rest of them.
Mel, I'm jealous that you have seen my new nephew Grover already.  We have facetimed (that's a word now right?) and he's adorable.
No mission call for my parents yet.  They're going crazy and so are we.  Well, sometimes my mom is enjoying the bliss of ignorance, she's a little worried about where they will go.  It will hopefully come this week.
Love you all!  We have no idea when we'll come next.  Hopefully this summer.  It's good to know everyone's plans:)

I almost hate to post on the blog....my life is so boring...There isn't much to talk about except the weather  ( it's a lot warmer, but we got more snow so the roads are slick :(  )   and work ( go to work, work hard all day then go home) .  I did have a day off on Friday so Lynne and I went to visit Dorothy Walker....I'm her visiting teacher, and Lynne and Mark are her home teachers.  It was really a fun visit...we helped her sort through some of her Christmas wrapping materiels that she wanted to save, then she took us to lunch at Mcdonalds!  She is so interesting to talk to, she reads a lot, and remembers it!  Such a wonderful lady.  :)  After that, Lynne and I met Lori and went to Les Miserables.  The second time for Lori and me,  the first for Lynne.....she really liked it!  I let her borrow my dvd of the 25th anniversary concert, and she watched it before we went....I think it made a big difference....she didn't know much about it before.  Also, more excitement... I read a book this weekend...I know.... my life is almost too exciting for words. :)  It was a really interesting book though.  It took place in Austria from pre WW1 up until the WW2 was starting...almost 600 pages....fascinating!

I love my family!  I hope you are all well and happy!!!!!

SDROFDAR-RADFORDS

Well hello dear family! Forgive me for not writing last week-we spent the weekend out at mom's and didn't even think to open our computers! But here's our week... as boring as it may be to read! :)

 As of last monday, our women's league vball team still hasn't won! haha each week we get 4 different players and we still don't have a setter so it is making things kinda difficult! I don't mind, as long as I get to play. It's pretty much my only form of exercise. (besides bouncing store to the ceiling 1 million times a day and dancing with her to all her favorite songs)!

 On wednesday, dan only had one client so we spent the day at the Madison Library. Can I just say how annoying it is that they keep computers right by the books and the play center?! I spent most of my time trying to divert her attention away from them. She really enjoyed the fish tank, the bean bag chair area, the play center, and the millions of books she could just play with. It was a lot of fun!

 Thursday, Dan worked the entire day (finally, YAY!) so I went with Alicia, Haily, and their kids to "The Craze." It's a place where they have blow up slides, jumping area, a big horse, arcade games, big tunnels like at McDonalds, a gymnastics mat, and tons of floor toys. It was great to just sit on the big fluffy couch and talk to my friends while the kids entertained themselves and got really tired for bed! It's $3 for the whole day so you can take your kids home for lunch and a nap and go back until it closes.
 Our good friends Tracen and Melissa were finally able to adopt a sweet little boy, so I went to the baby shower for little Grover Wesley Peterson on Saturday. He was only 4lb 12oz so he was sooooo tiny! He got released from the NICU the day before the shower so they surprised everyone by bringing him to Idaho. We are so happy for them!!!

After the shower I was able to take Stori outside to play in the snow. It was about 40 degrees so it was melting fast, but at least we were able to stand being outside for more than 4 seconds. Dan went shooting with some friends from the ward while we played so my pictures aren't great quality and her hair is a mess because we stole her hat to put on the snowman haha!

Dan is very proud of himself this week for a very special reason! he has gone 6 full days without a single sip of soda! We signed the contract last Sunday stating that he won't have any form of soda until he reaches his goal weight! So each morning he works out for an hour and each day he is eating much less. 

The official motto is "each day I work out is one day closer to a soda." ha!

And this little stinker still won't eat chocolate, cookies, or any other sweet for that matter. (I lied, she likes ice cream sometimes). BUT, I put a tiny bit of chocolate in her mouth when she was distracted and she gagged until i got every morsel out. Then I gave up and sliced an entire tomato for her to eat. which she downed in 3 seconds. what a weirdo!

the end.

Never-ending sickness

We've spent the week being sick AGAIN.  Took Max and Levi to the Dr. on Tuesday.  Levi had mild bronchitis so we got him on some antibiotics and I ended up in the E.R. with Max because his oxygen levels were too low.  Tyler was out of town for a wrestling meet and was worried sick.  Spent about 4 hours at the hospital.  Max did really well.  He had a breathing treatment, a chest X-ray, and a bunch of medicine- which made him feel a lot better.  Turns out he had acute bronchitis.  Left with 3 prescriptions and a hyper little boy from the prednisone. 

Tuesday night Levi had a really hard time sleeping.  He woke up several times and was up most of the night.  One time he woke up screaming and freaking out.  He kept looking around and getting this terrified look on his face and then he would scream and hide his face.  He kept saying the doggies were going to get him.  It was really scary- almost like he was hallucinating or something.  We don't know if it was from him having a fever or maybe a night terror, but it was definitely not fun.



Sick little boy :(

Taylor stayed home from school Wednesday and Thursday.  Took him in to the Dr. on Thursday.  No bronchitis, just a really bad cough/cold.  Dr. prescribed him with an inhaler which isn't helping much, but I guess it's all they could give him.

Tyler had a wrestling tournament Wednesday night which went really well (they won), except he cost his team a point for getting a little upset at a call that one of the refs made.  With everyone being so sick, he decided to stay home from work on Thursday which I was very thankful for.  I was able to get a pretty good nap in. 

I had my 33 week check-up on Thursday.  Everything is going well with Spider Ryder.  Tyler was able to go with me to the appt.  It's always so cool to hear the baby's heartbeat.

I woke up with tight lungs and a cough Friday morning.  I was trying so hard not to get sick, but I guess the combination of being pregnant, lack of sleep, and taking care of all these sickies made that impossible.  Tyler and Jon are the only ones so far who haven't gotten it this time around.  

Friday at school, Tyler and a few of the other teachers in the Spanish department played "Don't Forget the Lyrics" against some other departments in the school in a pep assembly.  Their song was Ice Ice Baby.  Tyler and 3 other teachers started off singing and then the other two stopped because they couldn't remember the words, but Tyler kept going.  He rapped several more lines and had the entire gym on their feet.  Now his new nickname at school is "Ice-man".  He said one of his students got it recorded on her phone and is supposed to e-mail it to him.  It will be fun to see it if she's able to get it sent.

Max and Levi playing on the i-Pad in the little cubby of the entertainment center-
How can that be comfortable???

Well- that's about it for our week.  Here's to hoping we're all better by next Sunday!  Hope everyone else is doing well :)

IT IS QUIET AT MY HOUSE!

It was a really fun weekend!  Aleisa and her family came to Idaho.....so, everyone else who lives in the vicinity came to celebrate.  We had a belated birthday dinner for Kent's birthday...he would have been 64.   It was so nice not to have any place to go. We just hung out, played a little loaded questions, ate yummy food and visited.  Emmy even came !  She hasn't been at my house for a really long time. 

Still no pictures from the Peterson's

Apparently it is just broken for me? This week was less than exciting. Unless you count 5 loads of throw up laundry on Wednesday exciting. I know I do! Millie got a bug and was sleeping in the same bed as Lilly the night she started throwing up. I don't know how everyone seemed to avoid it but fingers crossed they did. Millie didn't keep one thing down for two days and two nights. Poor little lamb! Maizy was her over reactive self when it comes to throw up and called me Thursday morning from school crying and saying she got what Millie had. I went and got her and voila, she was fine all day. At least she got a clean room out of the deal. The girls are including Tommy a little too much in their play. He loves chapstick and when I was getting ready for church on sunday he saw me put on lipstick and said he wanted princess lips! I told him to go hammer something and he took off saying "I wanna hammer! I wanna hammer!" Today he put on Maizy's crown and said "Mama look I'n a princess". I was sick all day today. Some weird stomach pain that made me nauseous and then my kidneys hurt so bad I just laid there with two cute little owl rice bags Stori gave Maizy for Christmas. Tommy came in and crawled up on me and gave me big snuggles and said "I'n Daddy's Thomas". RUDE! I told him he was Mamas Thomas but he wouldn't budge.  On Sunday Miles sat down at the table and huge tears just ran down his face and he cried and cried. He finally said "I want bean burrito". We laughed really hard when we looked at what we were having. I think he was really hungry and excited to eat and realized he couldn't eat anything we were eating. We realized at that point that we are always praying that Miles will be able to talk and communicate with us but we need to be a little more grateful for how much he can. That made that situation MUCH easier.  Joel finally killed the rooster! The mean one! I refused to go out to feed them again because the last time I went out he attacked me 3 or 4 times! Roosters are scary and evil when they decide they don't like you. I'm glad no neighbors were out because they would have thought someone was being murdered in the coop when it got me! He cooked up to absolutely nothing and his dark meat was as hard as rawhide. The chicken and dumplings we made out of him were SUPER good though. I just have to say, pulling warm guts out of a rooster was much more disgusting than the turkey for some reason. I was proud of my man for at least doing the killing!

Deep in the Heart of Thisblog...

It was so fun to FaceTime with everyone yesterday.  (By that I mean everyone that we FaceTimed with, not that everyone who's anyone was FaceTimed.)  It was such a beautiful day here.  Sunshine and warmth and too much brownies and ice-cream.  Perfect Sunday.

I don't have all of the photos I want to post on the computer yet, so I will just throw what we have up so we don't miss another week of posting.  After that, I will let Kristie do a little dialoguing with the blog so that readers will have something to do.

              spent the first day of our Christmas break in Idaho at work with mom. best part of the trip

hey mom, take a picture of me when I'm like this

hooray for Texas snow

amazing paintings by my artist Corey

           one of our family pictures from the week of Thanksgiving.  We'll post the rest on face book

                                                a quiet moment on the plane ride to Idaho

Stori and Hazel did lots of sharing:)  They didn't ever share their germs though.  Amazing!

We had a few families over last weekend for dinner.  We did a delicious brisket, so now we're true texans. It was so much fun. This is Tyler, he helped with the brisket instruction.  

Well, it's sure hard to catch up after not blogging at all.  We loved our time in Idaho because of everyone we got to see, and the feeling of home we enjoyed.  We did not enjoy the illness, it lasted the entire time we were there.  Isaac just barely got over it actually.  His stomach has felt uneasy for a long time.  However, we had a lot of things work out perfectly and we felt watched over.  In some ways I guess being sick slowed us down a bit so we did more sitting around that we thought we would.  Which is nice, right?  I'm just happy that it seems we didn't share the bug with anyone else (except Mel and Dan probably:( sorry)  We didn't even swap bugs with the Clarkston Petersons.  How did we get away with that?   We loved seeing friends and going to our Stonehaven ward, sledding and four-wheeling with my family, Christmas Eve (which we have pics of we'll try to post later) and fun movies and extra nights at Grandma Faylene's.  Thanks to everyone who helped us, mostly Grandma.  You helped us feel at home and welcome even though we were in a less than lovable way:)  

We loved being with you.  

Since we've gotten back, we have jumped back into school.  The kids started piano lessons at the Rockwall School of Music.  We'll see how it goes.  The nicest part is they all have different teachers at the same time same place.  Isaac is playing basketball and is loving it.  And Maddie just made the swim team! She's way excited and loves being in the water.  It's quite a time commitment but well worth it.  

Corey started his guitar lessons.  He's doing great.  And aren't his paintings amazing!  I can't wait until he illustrates his own book.  

Love you all!  Hope we get to see everyone next time around

We have a Deacon!

We had a pretty eventful week this past week.  Monday Max was so excited to finally be well enough to go back to preschool.  Tuesday through Thursday was spent cleaning and getting ready for company.  My parents and youngest sister came into town Friday evening to visit for a few days.  Tyler had wrestling tournaments Friday and Saturday.  Saturday morning we went down to the Hot Air Balloon Festival.  We got there a little after all of the balloons had already landed, but we did get to see a few that were tethered for rides.  We saw some skydivers, some classic cars, and we rode on two little choo-choo trains, which was kind of fun.  Sunday morning we drove down to the lake to see the balloons again.  This time we made it while they were still up in the sky.  Everywhere we looked there were hot air balloons!  It was pretty cool. 

Yesterday Taylor graduated from Primary, was awarded his Faith in God Award, was sustained and ordained a Deacon, and received the Aronic Preisthood.  We also celebrated his Birthday (a few days late) with Dana Family Spaghetti Sauce (we call it "Fancy Spaghetti"), cake, ice-cream, and presents :)  My Goodness!  Where did the last 12 years go???  Look at our handsome 12-yr. old!

We thought Max was pretty much over being sick, but Saturday afternoon he started coughing again.  Sunday before church he was still coughing quite a bit and not feeling very well.  We gave him some medicine and decided to try to make it through sacrament meeting so we could all be there for Taylor's special day.  Max ended up falling asleep and slept through Sacrament and Priesthood.  Poor little guy!  It's so sad when the little ones are sick :(   If he's not feeling better by tomorrow we will be making a trip to the Dr. for sure!

Some pictures of our wild New Year's Eve Party! And a picture of the pan of poppers. We left them to cool and while we were playing games little people snuck in and pulled off the bacon and ate it!

This week has been tumultuous. Lots of lows and then all highs for my biggest baby girl. Tonight will be her first night in her new apartment. It has been fun having her around so much this week but I'm excited for her to get settled into her new apartment. We helped her move her stuff in yesterday and met a few of her new roommates. This is going to be such a good change. I was talking to the bishop about it today and just started bawling. Ken and I have seriously prayed so hard for just such a change. I'm so proud of her.
 Daphne is having a lot of fun in FFA still.Between that and her position on the stake youth council she is getting to do all the driving she could possibly want! She is trying to get a job and a little anxious to get one.
 Caleb is growing! He is very excited to chart his height on the pantry wall. He also took in his new motorcycle for a tune-up and found out it's broken. Very sad about that unfortunate investment (Man, Ken and I should get medals for all the times we DIDN'T say "I told you so" to a couple of our children this last week! :)
Bron is loving Young Women and loves to have out her scriptures and personal progress book to work on her goals.
 The three little guys are becoming awesome readers and love to do it all the time. They are also loving drama. Their production is the first week of Feb. It looks like it will be QUITE the production haha!
Nothing really new going on with Ken and I! Excited to come see Mom and the Idaho family! Five more days!!!! :)

It's Cold outside!

It has been cold here this week also, but it looks like i can't complain...we have had freezing fog which makes everything icy and hard to see. I bet you all don"'t get that :) i can't believe how cold you have been. That really is insane, i don't remember it ever being that cold growing up! Our low was the 20's this week, on the way home from church it was *29. soo brrrr!!

Grace and Cole had 2 swim meets this week, that is Cole without the cap if you are wondering. They also got to go skiing/snowboarding with Scott on Sat. a guy in our ward got them $10 passes for LDS day at hoodoo. the guy who owns it is LDS so twice a year he only charges $10.00 for the Mormons! :)

I started subbing this week and i really like it. 2 days i was a the intermediate school ( where Tate and Lucy go) tutoring for SFA their reading program, and 1 day in the basic skills classroom. I will be in there tomorrow again. I have met the lady who does the sub calls, and she knows my kids ( and likes them, so good for me! ) so i think i am in the loop now and hope to get called at least 3 times a week. the only bad thing is they call at 5:45 in the morning and I can't go back to sleep.

Grace, Cole and Molly start dance festival practices this week, they said over 700 youth are participating. Grace is doing the swing, Cole 50's and Molly hip hop. It is June 22 if any of you want to come! It was soo amazing last time! Tate and Lucy are just busy being kids, and Scott is gearing up for shipping to start here soon!  I hope you all have a great week! Love you all! Bridget 

Peterson's

Why can't I add pics? When i click on the photo button it doesn't have the spot it usually does to brows to find the pictures. It gives options on the side but I can only get those to open, not a spot to brows to find my card. Anyone else having this problem? The week was uneventful. Well, it shouldn't have been because we closed on our house, but that just means we now have an interest only construction loan and can't do a dang thing! Super good timing for this cold snap! I actually am very grateful for it though so all the icky bugs get killed off but my cold storage turned into a deep freeze and froze my onions and potatoes! I asked Joel if he knew what I was the most excited for about our addition and he said "having your clothes in your own bedroom? Cuz I am! Having a bathroom that will lock? Cuz I am. Having a bathroom with a fan? Cuz I am. Having a bedroom door that closes? Cuz I am" I was laughing at all of them because it is funny how fast you get used to things and don't mind them! I of course explained the thing I am most excited about is having the kids straight across the hall from me! I'm excited to start picking out colors and tile and carpet and vanities. Oh wait, I already bought the one for my bathroom and am so in love with it! We just have to find a place to put it for the next 6 months while we first build it's home! It is way to cold to run outside so I have been doing turbo jam (surprisingly fun) and a couple of miles on the treadmill. We moved it upstairs since our fireplace is downstairs and it is usually a fiery furnace! Tommy has started to say every time he leaves "Mama, I'll be right back". Like today when Joel took him out of sacrament meeting because he was being naughty, as Joel stood up with him he turned around and said "Okay mama, I'll be right back". Love you all and hope to see you all soon!

Cold Snap

It's been pretty cold here in Havasu lately.  It's been getting down into the low-mid thirties at night which feels really cold to us now, but we know it's nothing compared to the negative 15+ weather most everyone else has been having! 

This past week went by soooooo fast!  We've spent pretty much the whole week dealing with sick kids and sick mommy and daddy.  Hopefully it's on it's way out!  The older boys stayed home from school Monday and Tuesday and were finally feeling well enough to go back on Wednesday.  Max was supposed to start back to preschool on Thursday, but he wasn't feeling all the way better yet.  We're thinking he might be able to go tomorrow, but we'll have to see how he's doing in the morning.

Taylor has been working hard at getting the last few requirements for his Faith in God done before his Birthday coming up this week. One of the requirements was to help Primary leaders plan and carry out a Primary Activity- so yesterday we had a "Meet your new teacher Breakfast" for the primary kids and their teachers.  Taylor helped plan the food, decorations, and activities and it turned out great.  We had a lot more kids come than expected so we actually ran out of food.  There were a few kids who came about 45 min. late and were disappointed because the food was all gone.  What do you expect though, right? 

Today was Taylor's last Sunday in Primary.  We sang him a Happy Birthday song and a Farewell song and made sure to have him participate a lot :)  He looked so grown up standing up there in front of the Primary Room.

A few months ago we bought a big, ugly, mustard-yellow, filing cabinet at a yard sale for 10 bucks.  I finally spray painted it a chocolate brown color this past week and we got it moved inside from the garage.  It is so nice to have more room in the garage and to have all of our files and my scrapbook/craft stuff out of our bedroom closet and neatly put in the filing cabinet.  I have been in a "nesting" mood lately and have been organizing a lot and getting rid of stuff that we don't use. 

We took down the crib and moved Levi into a toddler bed.  I think he's doing pretty good, but he's been sick, so it's hard to tell if he's waking up at night because of being sick or because he's in a new bed.

Well, that's about it for now and I've got to go get started on dinner.  We're having Chicken Cordon Bleu casserole tonight (a Pinterest recipe favorite!) and the boys are very excited for it :)

Hope everyone is doing well and not freeeeezing too much!!

SDR, MCR, ARR

member that time that it was -23 degrees? oh ya, that was today! We are getting SOOO ready for summer it's ridiculous! It's too cold to even go to the car to go somewhere fun, so Stori and I spend our days at home dancing and coloring and watching 'Tango.' Last night was our favorite time watching Tangled because we were at mom's house and we all laid on the giant pillows and watched after enjoying some chinese takeout! I am #1 worst mom for letting her watch that movie so much, but it's hard to resist when she asks so nicely "peas tango." I feel very accomplished if I can go 3 days without watching it! :) ANyway

Mel-on monday night I started playing in a women's volleyball league! It was SO MUCH FUN! Mainly because I got to play with the girls that I played with in High School (Charlsee, Lacie, and Kelli). It will be nice to get excersize at least one day a week :) and hang out with some fun friends! 

Dan-slowly started his new job. He has had a lot of trouble getting ahold of clients so therefore he hasn't worked very much. Once he gets assigned some more clients he will be able to put in some more hours hopefully! We have enjoyed our time together though! Stori thinks it's great to have us both home! (our account not so much). :)

Stori-the nursery leaders told us today that she is afraid of the colored goldfish! haha! They said she would pick our the yellow and orange ones only. Such a stinker. She was very helpful in taking down 3 christmas trees yesterday. She took the task very seriously. She also had her first successful real-live pony tail, her first lemonade, and her first ice cream cone. It was a big week for us! haha!

Other than that, we are currently looking to move closer to dan's work. He has to drive SOOOO much and doesn't get that many hours, so we are kinda losing money on his job at the moment. But, like i said, it will get better soon and if we move, it will get even better. I want to live in Rigby area, but he is hoping for Ammon. we'll see.

the pony tail

Looking Forward to Spring

  Well, my house is starting to look more like mid January instead of mid December!!!  Melanie and Stori came to hang out with me yesterday while Dan worked for a few hours, then he came after he was finished.  So thankful for such good help!  ( Stori too! She was seriously a good helper...carefully taking ornaments off  the trees and handing them to me to put away :)  )  We got all of the trees and trimmings packed up and put away....just a few boxes left... the ones I need to leave for a little while so I can find all of the decorations I missed! :)
  It is somewhere between 15 and 18 below at my house right now, and I'm pretty sure it will get colder before the sun comes up!  It makes me sooo grateful for my nice warm house....and especially the part where I park my car!!!!  I LOVE HAVING A GARAGE! 
  I have started making my winter todo list.... the cleaning closets, sorting through boxes and tubs, and organizing everything list....sure hope I get more things crossed off than I usually do.  :)
  I'm looking forward to next weekend when Aleisa and her family come to visit!  It has been way too long since they were here....I think Tyler and Jen were here since they were!  The weekend will also mean it will be that much closer to when Chris will be back from his week and a half of fun Disneyland and Cruise time! ( the first day he was gone, one of the big refrigerators died  :(  )
  Well, everyone have a wonderful week!  I love each one of you so much! 
 

Hey! Things have been so crazy lately-I promise to be better and also to post a longer post at a future time! Emmy has moved out of her apartment from hell--which is an answer to her parent's fervent prayers. It has inexplicably turned into a big, dramatic, emotional mess that we are trying to (without crossing the line--have to keep reminding myself she's 18) help her clean  up. She is here with us this week and then moving into a normal apartment across from campus. SO SO SO happy about this and so proud of her courage in walking away from what she recognized as a less than ideal set-up! But anyway--as I said, a little crazy.  We had a pretty good Christmas here, loved having all my chickies gathered in and just spending time together. New Year's Eve was also fun. For once we stayed in and at home. Made crab nachos, jalapeno poppers, and brownies. We played games and had a lot of fun. I'm opposite of you, Mom--I have taken down my trees but can't bring myself to take down anything else yet! Still enjoying my village and nativities (especially my newest beautiful one, MOM! :) I think we are all better here and looking forward to going to visit Mom in a couple of weeks. Well, if I don't get to bed soon I will hate myself in the morning so I will go. Just a quick update of our highlights this last week or two! :)

The Cold Peterson's

Well...it has been so very cold here just like everywhere else. Except the Texans and Arizonans I guess. The kids went back to school which is always so very sad and Joel went back to work which wasn't AS sad because he was only gone for one day! Now that he is headed back for three nights we are extra sad. :( We get to close on our loan on Friday and we have EVERYTHING ready to go. None of that matters though, because it is just too cold. We have to use water to get the asbestos siding off our house and with the highs in the single digits that just isn't going to happen. Joel cut one of our freaking huge pine trees down from the front yard last Saturday but when it is only 5 degrees it makes clean-up miserable. So half of that tree is still consuming our entire side yard, it is so big! One more needs to come down but again...waiting for it to warm up just a little! We were thinking about keeping it but when we took down the middle one we realized that it is about 80 feet tall but just has about three branches on it! It looks so stupid! I laugh every time I notice it. Maybe we can do that on Saturday? This weekend Joel thought it would be warmer up at Hardware Ranch because the Beav was in the 30's. We were surprised that as we drove up the canyon it warmed up to a whopping 13 degrees. Luckily, we were all bundled up in snow suits and it was sunny so it actually seemed pretty nice. We took a sleigh ride out to see the Elk. The kids LOVED it! There were big Clydesdale's pulling the sled that the kids loved as much as the Elk. I took this awesome video by chance when we were listening to the babies call. They sound like little kitties and I was super surprised. I started video taping when they got loud the second time and followed this one. It was so cute when we realised it was calling to its Mama so it could get a drink and the Mom was coming to find the baby! Loved it! When we got home Tommy poured food coloring on the cheese for the enchiladas when I wasn't looking. GREEN food coloring. UGH! I had to not look when I was eating. Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that at church today we had to sit up in the balcony because it was so full. Toward the end Tommy was of course restless and was looking up behind us at the Arnold's. I turn around and see Aleisa and Ken both leaning forward motioning for him to come see them! It was pretty funny though to see the "deer in the headlights look" they both had on their faces when they saw me turn around, and immediately dropped their hands.
I guess I will have to post the video and pictures later because it isn't working right now. :(

And then it was over........

Christmas Break that is---well at least for Tyler.  Jon and Taylor might get a couple more days.  I guess I spoke too soon in our post for last week, or maybe I really should have knocked on some wood, because a fever, cough, sore throat, & not wanting to do anything except lay on the couch and sleep kind of sickness has been making it's way through our family this past week.  Jon got it first and then Max.  Now Taylor and Levi have it.  Guess who's left??  Yep- me and Tyler. We are both keeping our fingers crossed that we don't get it because Tyler goes back to work tomorrow.  It's been really nice having him home for the past 2 weeks.

Before the sickness decided to come visit, we had a fun New Year's Eve.  We got some fancy glasses for our sparkling apple cider and watched the ball drop in Times Square on the New Year's Rockin' Eve show to ring in the New Year.  Of course that was after playing some games, eating some treats, and getting Max and Levi to sleep. 

Max keeps telling me that my tummy is getting fatter and fatter.  It's a good thing there's a little boy in there to blame it on :)  Tonight it felt like he was doing cartwheels!  9 more weeks.  It seems like kind of  along time, but then on the other hand I know it's going to go by in the blink of an eye.

Maybe it's a common thing to put recently released R.S. presidents into a calling where they work with small people.  Our R.S. president was released a few weeks ago and that's her new calling too :)  Faylene- you will be great in there! 

Durst's in pictures

We had a Great Holiday Break! The Kids were out for 2 weeks, and we watched a lot of redbox! We layed around a lot AND ATE way to much! It was fun having the kids around. We even went to find snow in the hills of Molalla.  We had to drive up a ways but the kids had fun. Especially Lucy. Her and Gage  went non stop they were so sweaty! They still say the highlight were the hot chocolate and donuts.
Cole got his beard beenie that he wanted and has worn it a lot. It fits him sooo well! He also traded in one of his gifts that didn't work for a samurai sword which he loves, and all his friends do to :)
Grace got running cloths, she is thinking about doing cross country. maybe I can get in shape and run with her.Maybe I will be ready for the fun run in July!
We got to watch their first swim meet yesterday and they both did so good! In one event Cole had to swim the 200 backstroke all by himself! He had the whole pool cheering for him! He thought it was pretty neat., I would have been soo embarrassed!
It is hard get things back to normal after christmas, and it has been cold here to, but not like you that is just crazy!! We wish we could have been with you all for Christmas, but not after we heard about the sickness, we haven"t got it here yet! Its is soo fun to hear from you all. Mom i think i can guess your calling! I wish i had that one :)

TWENTYTHIRTEEN

Well here we are in a new year.  I still have my Christmas trees up....I  want to enjoy them for a little while....  I did, however, start taking down the other decorations.   I got a new calling today. I can't officially say, but I will give you a little hint.   I will be working with very small people!  :)  I am  going to miss Relief Society.  :(  I have really enjoyed the lessons!   It's a little warmer today.   Maybe that is a sign the subzero temps are over for awhile....We can only hope!  Love to everyone!

Rad

The last two weeks were kind of a blur. Lot's of family fun time. Lot's of sick time. Last Sunday, Dan took me to the dr to figure out why my back hurt so bad. They ran a lot of tests and I was becoming worse  by the minute. Finally they pumped a bunch of fluids in me because I had been dehydrated from throwing up and not eating or drinking. The minute the fluids got in me I fell asleep and stayed asleep the rest of the time at the dr. They said my kidney's hurt because of no fluids and sore muscles from throwing up so much. But enough of that.

Dan started his new job this week!! YAY! He thinks he'll like it well enough until law school. He is in charge of 7 clients so he'll be working about 35 hrs/week started monday. THey originally told him only 10 hours at first, so we are pleasantly surprised! He also got sick, but only for one day!

Stori managed to stay healthy while the rest of us vomited. Thanks to mom for watching her last sunday! Stori loved having her dad home all day because he graduated and switched between jobs. She got to stay with him all day while I went shopping with mom for about 20 hours on wed :)
She really enjoyed being around so many people for so long, and I feel like she learned so much from them.

We really missed celebrating Dad's birthday this year, but hopefully we will get a chance to do so when Aleisa comes in 2 weeks?? Christmas was so fun despite the sicknesses! We loved being out at mom's house for so long and getting to spend time with family! (we also loved Les Mis and the hobbit)!!! Now I can't wait until the 4th of JULY!!!

The little twin cousins playing and the sick clara who represents all of the sickies out there

This is the kitchen Santa fixed up and gave to Stori. We think he did a pretty good job!

And I just needed to add this sassy picture of Meg because I like it, and because it's summer. I miss summer.

Love you all muy lots!!!