Christmas

We did end up with more than 4 Christmas cards I'm happy to report. I even got an empty envelope from my good friend Megan. That was one of my favorites! I hung it up. When it was all over with, I was just glad we actually sent our cards out because it helped us get in touch with people we haven't talked to in a while...And that meant more to me than just getting cards. We have been getting a lot of snow here. Dad went from building snow forts to sledding hills all over our yard. We had two in the front and one big one in the back. The kids had fun with those.

Mark layed one of the garbage cans on it's side and stacked the snow on top to give the kids a high start. Our front yard is a big downhill so the kids went pretty fast.

Garret and A.J. were too small to get on themselves, so they would lay on their tummys and go(only about 3ft.) face first down.

My mom came to visit from FL on the 20th. It was great having her here to spend Christmas. Thanks for everything Mom!! Christmas was great. I got the white Christmas both my mom and I wanted. It was snowing on Christmas Eve too!! It was so beautiful. Cora woke up at 3am Christmas morning, but my mom told her to wait until 5 to wake us up. I'm not sure what either one of them were thinking, but Cora went back to sleep and didn't wake back up till 7. Here are some pictures from Christmas morn.

We had a great morning, and I think everyone got something they liked. I got a fluorescent orange running cap. I asked for a running hat, and that's what I got. My husband got it from the hunting department at Sports Authority. I have a picture of me in it, but I'm not sharing. I also have a picture of me in my new swim cap with an American flag on the side. But I'm not sharing that one either. I must say it was a very practical Christmas for me. I even got water (big bottles of water). Cora got a new bike, Garret got a dinosaur nightlight, A.J. got a batman motorcycle, Jorie didn't really get anything. She got two toys, but nothing exciting. Mark got a ladder, but he was really wanting a Wii. I'll have to work on that one for his birthday...Maybe Garret's in February. Anyways...Christmas was great!!

Ok...there's my new running hat. Pretty hot huh?? So if you see somebody running down the road in a bright orange hat it's probably me. Don't honk. You'll give me a heart attack.

Peterson Christmas Party

I'm so blessed to have come into such an amazing family. I love you guys!!

Christmas Cards

This year has been a pathetic year of Christmas cards for me. Let me explain why exactly. Julie is my sister-in-law. That's why. Not really, but it does have something to do with it. If you go over to her house you will see she has a lot of Christmas cards. I sincerely appreciate the 4 cards my family has gotten this year (especially yours Kari...it was first!), but there were 2 cards Julie got that I didn't; one from Mark's brother and one from their cousin. Julie explained to me that she was really close with this cousin, and I was fine with that...until I went over to their other brother's house and he had both the cards that I didn't get. It was a family party so I said to the one brother's wife who didn't send me a card, "Did you get my address yet Steph?" I was so seriously bothered. She said yes, and I assume my card is in the mail still. I must have expressed my feelings to Julie because she called to ask me if I sent out cards last year because that could be why I'm not getting Christmas cards. Yes, I did. Then she asked me if I was going to send them out this year. I wasn't planning on it and I told her if I had to send out Christmas cards to get them then I didn't really want them. (I told you this was pathetic) I started feeling guilty so I got a family Christmas picture into the form of a Christmas card and sent them out yesterday. Last night there was a cousins Christmas party. Guess who was there?? The cousin who didn't send us a card. She came up to me and told me she was trying to get my address from Julie so she could send us a Christmas card. I told her all about my experiences, and we laughed. Now, I can't help but wonder how many Christmas cards we'll get next year?? Perhaps you really do have to send out cards to get them because I know we have more than 4 friends in this world. We'll see. One more thing to add here...I just talked to Julie on the phone, and she asked me if I would be offended if I didn't get a Christmas card this year because she didn't have enough. How funny is that??!!!! She hasn't red this yet either.

Christmas Tag

I have yet to do one of these things like this, but I'm bored right now so here goes:

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, but by the time I'm all done wrapping I wish I would have just thrown it all in gift bags.
2. Real or artificial tree? Real
3. When do you put up the Christmas tree? We try to do it the day after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? January whenever I get around to it
5. Do you like eggnog?- No...there is something too thick about eggnog...the eggnog is too thick!! Any drink you can put Rum in and have it still taste almost the same is way too thick.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?- A scooter when they were really big like 17 years ago. I threw a big fit one Christmas because I thought my parents didn't get me one, but it was just hiding in the garage. I was a brat I think.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes
8. Hardest person to buy for? My sister. She buys everything she wants for herself.
9. Easiest person to buy for? My kids
10. Mail or email Christmas- I didn't even do cards this year so I'm just going to take this opportunity to say Merry Christmas to all!! So I guess my answer would be...blog.
11.Favorite Christmas Movie- A Christmas Carol/National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Day after Thanksgiving
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?- I feel too guilty to do that. I can't handle the pressure when somebody is so thankful for something I had nothing to do with. I crack!!!
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas time? Fudge
15. Clear or colored lights on the tree?- clear
16. Favorite Christmas Song?- All the Christmas songs off of National Lampoons Christmas Vacation movie.
17. Travel or stay at home? Stay at home
18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes...Who can't???
19. Angel or star on the top of the tree?- We have a snowman, a star, and something else, but I can't remember....we have six small trees
20.Open presents Christmas Eve or morning? We open one on Christmas Eve and the rest Christmas morning
21.Most annoying thing about this time of year? Well, this year it is all the Campaign 2008 crap going on. I'm so sick of it all!!!!
22. What I love most about Christmas? The Christ-mas spirit and Christmas music all the time, getting a chance to think about what someone might really like and getting it for them (something meaningful and cheap).
25. What is your tradition on Christmas eve? Opening the jammies...spending time with family...taking pictures of the tree with all the presents

A Colossal Sandwich

My boys were watching Higgley Town Heroes today, and on that show the little round people with no legs of Higgley Town decided to make a colossal sandwich. That's all I know about the show today, but after watching it Garret brought me two slices of bread and wanted me to make him a colossal sandwich. He got really frustrated when I had no idea what he was talking about so I told him to go downstairs and pick out the ingredients he wanted for his sandwich. This is what he came up with:

1 banana
honey
mustard
cumin
hot sauce

I convinced him that cinnamon would be better than cumin, and then made his sandwich. He ate it and liked it. How bout' adding that to your recipe blog Julie??

Who knew I was so dang tough??

You Are Trinity

"Touch me and that hand will never touch anything again."

What Superheroine Are You?

I stole this post from both of my sister-in-laws...I might steal yours too if I like it!!

Just a quick thought from President Hinckley, "Be not faithless, but believing. Believe in your capacity to do some good in this world. God sent us here for a purpose and that was to improve the world in which we live. The wonderful thing is that we can do it" What a great time of year as we see Believe all over that we believe in God and his love and our capacity to do good with his help. What a great time to be doing good!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas

This is what I want it to look like outside my window on Christmas Day. Seriously. I want a white Christmas this year. I've never had one, I want one. So I've been praying for that lately since we need moisture here anyway. I figure why not go a little more specific in the prayers and just add in "on Christmas...please". That's ok right? We have been having some fun snow days lately. It has been so much fun for the kids. They enjoy getting out there and making snow forts with Dad. Cora has been trying to make a snowman, but the snow just hasn't been right for that when we get out there. They are getting into the snow or "no" forts as the boys call them. We have one in the front of the house that is igloo style and Cora covers up the entrance with a big snowball at night so no one goes in. It's great. Mark slides the kids into the fort, head first with a garden shovel, has them clear out the inside, and pulls them out by their feet holding the snow they cleared from the top. This a picture of the fort in front of our house. The picture below is the fort down at the park that the kids and Dad made.
On the morning of the first big snowfall we had, Cora woke me up at around 7:30a.m. letting me know the snow was perfect for making snowmen. Now, again, if I were Mom of the year I would have hopped out of bed, gotten my snow stuff on, and made a snowman with my daughter. Instead, I told her the snow wasn't going anywhere and we'd make one later. Well, later the snow wasn't good, and we have yet to make a snowman. Here are some pictures of the first snow day we had here.

You don't put your head in the snow for snow angels when you don't have a hat on. I didn't have a had for Garret so we improvised.

I tied pants around his ears and head. It worked very well actually. He didn't think anything of it. Cora went down to the park to play on the playground when it had all the snow on so I don't have so many pictures of her as I do of Garret. Just in case you were wondering.
Cora loves the snow!! The kids were both so excited to get out there in it. They played for about 40 minutes until.... they were done and crying. They wanted to come inside so bad, but I made them stay out there for a minute so I could take this picture. I'm so mean, but it makes for a great picture. Tonight, Sunday, we went down to Temple Square to see the lights. It was so amazing. There were nativity scenes set up all over to represent different countries. The lights on all the trees...well they start putting them up in August so you can imagine how many lights are up. It was fun. None of the kids cried, we brought hot chocolate to drink, and we went with some new friends down the street. It truly was Heavenly...in all respects. "I love to see the temple..."