Peterson Family

September 2011

2011-11-03T21:10:00.001-07:00

September was our month of going to Cross Country meets. Ashley decided to join cross country and really liked it. She was awesome. Always coming in the top 20ish or higher. Her Papa was so estactic that she was doing it as he did cross country and track in his younger years and always had advice for her before each meet on how to get better. We were so proud of her and of how well she did. We can't wait for next year to watch her excell again.

August 2011

2011-11-03T20:52:00.001-07:00

So we had the first day of school. The kids were so excited to get back to school. Tanis started 7th grade, Ashley is in 4th, and Wyatt is in his 2nd full year of preschool. Mommy was so happy too to have them back to a schedule. Elora couldn't be left out of having her picture taken though so she posed by the door for us.

Our other big thing this month was our Ashley turned 10. She was so excited to open her presents. We had her party a day early because mommy would be at school on her actual birthday. She got some pretty awesome stuff. She was very excited about getting her boombox. And then came the gift that us adults had been dieing to see her reaction from. Her Aunt Kelsie and Uncle Branden bought Taylor Swift concert tickets for her to go to in October with Aunt Kelsie. They had boxes inside of boxes and then finally she got to the last one and saw these 2 papers and had no clue what they were. She was very confused until we explained it and then she was screaming and hugging her aunt. We then had cake and ice cream. I couldn't leave the last picture out of Elora eating ice cream out of the bowel like she did that night it was so hilarious to us.

July 2011

2011-08-17T23:49:00.000-07:00

Ashley with her sparkler

Wyatt with his sparkler

Tanis with his sparkler

This is the amazing desert my sister Christina made. It only took a butcher knife sawing through it and a spatula to be able to taste how yummy it was.

My Tanis turned 12 on the 30th. I just can't believe he is this old. These are only some of the presents he got. Funny boy after opening them all said,"That's it." We told him it was more than any of us ever got. That's just his personality coming out now.

Both sets of grandparents got him a set of very nice new scriptures and had his name imprinted on them. This was a special birthday for him

His big gift from us was Hagrid's Hut Lego set. He was pretty happy about this gift.

I had to add this picture in. Funniest thing was as Linda my mother in law and I were wrapping Tanis's gifts Wyatt insisted that he needed to have this Batman book wrapped for Tanis. It is a book we have had for a very long time. But Wyatt would not here of anything else but wrapping it and giving it to Tanis. So we did and Tanis was like what? We all had a pretty good laugh over this one.

Tanis told us that he want a Harry Potter Red Sox cake. My sister Kelsie has a friend who makes cakes so we asked her to do it and this is what she came up with. It was really cute. Harry is even wearing a Red Sox baseball cap.

Blowing his candles out

Here is a close up of the ball cap

Tanis on Sunday after being ordained a Deacon

Tanis and Derek

Tanis, Wyatt, Ashley, and Elora my beautiful children

Derek, Tanis, Kent (Derek's dad), Bill (my dad)

Elora, Derek, Wyatt, Tanis, Ashley, and Me

Kent, Linda, Branden, Kelsie, Elora, Derek, Me, Chrissy, Virgina,Bill, Tanis, Wyatt, and Ashley

The whole clan that came for Tanis's priesthood ordination. It was a special day. When the Bishop had Tanis come to the stand to be sustained he didn't raise his hand. So the Bishop tried to get him to raise his hand and of course my son had to have an entire analytical conversation with the Bishop about it in front of the whole congreation. Mind you we were having a missionary farewell that day so the chapel was jam packed. I was totally embarressed but what should I expect from this boy of mind. I am so proud of him though for making this choice and following our Heavenly Father's plan.

June 2011

2011-08-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

The first thing in June we have is actually Derek's birthday but we didn't take pictures that day. In our family we now have 5 birthdays in a week at the beginning of June. Elora's was the 5th and on a Sunday. We have 1pm church so by the time we got around to presents and cake she was asleep because there is usually no nap on Sunday. So we took everything home and did it the next day before I went to school. She was hesitant at first about opening her presents but then got excited when she saw what was in them. The blowing out the candles on the other hand she bawled through. Can't believe she is 2 already and growing so much. Not my little baby anymore.

My sister started being a Nanny for another family and made an awesome schedule for the summer. Tuesday was swim day, Wednesday was movie day, Thursday at first was library day but changed to Friday, and Friday at first was field trip day and then it changed to Thursday. I decided that it would be very good for me to do these things with her as I needed to spend as much time as I could with the kids with me being in school. So the first field trip was to the Sea Life Aquarium. The kids had lots of fun. In the end it cost way to much for the little amount of time it took us to go through it. But as the summer went on the field trips we did end up doing were some of the best. Like the next one.

Here is our next field trip. It was to Cerreta's Candy. It was free and the kids got to try what they were making that day. It was a marshmellow dipped in white chocolate and covered in sprinkles. They also got to pick one other piece of chocolate out of the bin. The tour guide was the best and told lots of great jokes. We loved Cerreta's. School is going great still and I can't believe that in 1 year I will be done. It is going really fast in some ways. Sorry for the pictures being so spread out I have no clue what is going on with Blogger right now.

May 2011

2011-06-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

I love this picture of Wyatt and Uncle Branden walking on the beach just wish it was in focus.

We got to go to San Diego for a weekend in May to see my sister Aly and Hyrum get married. Friday night before the marriage we had a bonfire on the bay with Hyrum's family and ours and some close friends that were in town also. It was so cold to us from Phoenix but we had fun roasting marshmallows and the kids loved being able to run around the grass and sand.

Here is my beautiful family at the San Diego Temple. The next few pictures I wanted to have each one have an individual picture and the end result was great but it took help from my brother standing behind me make faces or bunny ears to get the smiles I wanted.

Hyrum and Aly walking out of the temple

The previous few pictures where so funny. With each shot Wyatt just melted. He was done taking pictures for sure. I can't to shows these to him as he gets older.

Tanis and my brother Jason at the reception. We thought they looked a lot alike since Tanis got his head buzzed.

Here's my brother Dan who was the only one tall enough at the time to get these beautiful lanterns hung.

My dad did a ring exchange for Aly and Hyrum for those that weren't able to be in the temple with them. He was very sweet.

Kelsie with Claire (on the left) my brother Dan and sister in law Beka daughter and Elora (on the right) my daughter at the reception. This is how you see Kelsie all the time must be all that daycare experience.

The first dance

Daddy Daughter Dance. It only lasted like 30 seconds cause my father has a hurt back. The other problem was an issue with the sound system we had so we could barely here the music. There was just to many funny things that happened that day and night. What matter the most was that they got married in the temple for time and all eternity.

Feeding each other their cheesecake.

Then on Sunday before we left town we went to Sea World. It was so much fun and loved the shows.

The Sea Lion Show

The Dolphin Show

The Shamu Show

Us at the end of the day completely sun burned but totally had enjoyed ourselves.

April 2011

2011-06-13T13:17:00.001-07:00

Wyatt's class went on a field trip to Peter Piper Pizza and I got to go with him. He had so much fun playing and earning tickets. They also got to take a tour of where they make the pizzas and then make there own.

Here he is with Ms. Marvel his speech therapist making his pizza.

Over Easter weekend Derek and I went to Lake Charles, LA for his brothers wedding. We left the kids home with my folks and had a blast. The picture above is of a duck we saw there. Weirdest looking duck I have ever seen in my life.

For the Rehearsal dinner we went to a place called Steamboat Bill's. We had craw fish for the first time and they were so good spicy but good. Devan is here teaching mom and dad how to eat them.

Here's a close up of the craw fish. Like a miniature lobster.

Near the hotel they had a gator pond so we went there 2 different times to see the gators. They were probably just babies. This was about as high as any of them would ever come out of the water.

It's Wedding Day. Here are the guys leaving to go to the hall. Steve, Asan, Devan, and Derek

Derek escorting Harmony down the aisle

Here are Devan and Derek's feet. As a gift Devan bought all the groomsmen Converse and had them specially designed. It was so unique and so Devan. They all looked so good.

Here's the happy couple exchanging vows. Becky and Devan

Cutting the cake. This is one of the 2 they had. So beautiful

First Dance

To leave the reception they had a horse drawn carriage. It was beautiful. Can't tell to well in the picture how pretty it was. You can tell though how thick the humidity was there.

One of the last things we did was drive around the town and saw lots of the different historical homes that are on the historical registry. They were all so different, unique, and most were huge. Lake Charles was a beautiful place to visit and we were so glad we got to go and be there for Becky and Devan.

February/March 2011

2011-06-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

I am so far behind in our blog but wanted to still post what happened to us in the last few months. I am still just pushing along in school and enjoying learning all the new things that I am being taught. In March I found out that a surprise was coming. Another baby. We decided to keep it quiet for many reasons but a few were I was having a hard time accepting it and my sister was getting married in May so we wanted to let her have all the glory for her wedding and then to tell. I am much better now but still have no clue how I am going to make it through the last 6 months of school with a newborn. I just pray that I will be given the strength to do it and to do my best. Derek's temporary job in February ended so our non ending roller coaster of having a job and then not having a job still continues. Someday this shall to pass is what I keep telling myself. He has done a great job taking care of the kids and doing all the house work as I have gone to school. I really appreciate that I never have to worry about cleaning my house with him at home.

January 2011

2011-03-14T10:46:00.001-07:00

Devon, Season, Ashley, and Kyna at Disney on Ice

Aunt Kelsie and Ashley at Disney on Ice

Aunt Kelsie took Ashley to Disney on Ice with some of her friends from work with their grandson, and nieces also. They had so much fun. It has been a blessing to have Kelsie so close to us to make up for the things that we can't do. And for the time she spends with them while I go to school.

Wyatt turned 4 I can not believe he is this old already. He insisted on having everything Batman and was even confident that Batman was coming to his birthday party. So this took some careful planning on my part to find someone that could fit into Derek's Batman outfit and come to the party. My good friend Kim's son was such a sport to do it and did an amazing job. Wyatt loved it and was so excited that Batman was there and that he even brought him a gift. He loved all his gifts and loved his Batman cake. Wyatt is sure becoming such an amazing little man. His language has grown leaps and bounds from going to school and he thoroughly enjoys going. They have even talked about moving him into the other preschool class next year which is more like being in Kindergarten with less teachers and more kids not on IEP's. I think this will be a marvelous thing for his growth and I am excited to see him grow into who he is.

December 2010

2011-02-04T14:09:00.001-08:00

Tanis at his band concert

Tanis received the Student of the Month award for his class we were so proud of him.

The stockings were hung with care.....

And Santa Claus found our house. We had Christmas at my house this year and it work really well. I have to thank my sweet babysitter though for getting my tree up and decorating it with the children. I didn't know when I was going to have the time to do it with school 4 nights a week and she surprised me one night to a beautiful decorated tree. And the kids loved doing it.

I absolutely love this face when Ash opened her Ipod Shuffle she was so excited. Santa did well this year.

One of the reasons we had Christmas at my house was my dad refused to get a tree this year and every year he is as we call him the Grinch or Scrooge. So while we were out shopping my mom found the book How the Grinch stole Christmas. It was prefect and she made him read it all the way through till the end to find his real present of movie tickets.

One of my days off that Derek also had off from work we decided to go for a family outing. We took the kids to the Arizona Museum of Natural History. It was really neat. Lots of dinosaur bones, we got to pan for gold, saw a flash flood, and there was a mine are that had the train that Wyatt is pointing at he loves trains. We had a lot of fun.

After the museum we headed over to see the Mesa temple lights and the nativities that were set up in the Visitor Center. It was so amazing. The lights were beautiful and all around the grounds they had life size parts of the nativity. The Visitor Center nativities were neat to see from all over the world. All in all we had an amazing December. We had multiple people leave gifts and cash on our doorstep to make our Christmas season special. It was a special thing for us and a wonderful teaching experience for us to teach our children about the gift of giving. I can't wait to be the family doing the giving. Thank you to those who we will ever be grateful too for those generous gifts of giving.

November 2010

2010-12-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

Linda and Kent came to visit us the beginning of November. We had such a fun time with them. Tradition when Grammie comes to visit is Rice Crispy Treats. The kids love to bake with her. This time even Wyatt got to help her. And of course they were so yummy.

The big thing we did while they were here was we went to the Phoenix Zoo. It was so much fun. We saw lots of animals. Our favorite area at the zoo was where the giraffes were. The funniest thing was to watch Wyatt with the map. The other funny thing was when we saw the tortoises one of them was trying to get out to get Elora. We loved having them here and can't wait to be with them again.

The Wedding of the Century

2010-11-03T10:54:00.001-07:00

Dad and Kelsie at The Rehearsal

This is one of my favorites from the weekend. Wyatt helping pull the cooler to the Rehearsal Dinner at the Park.

Our flowers

I painted all the little girls fingers and toes red they loved it.

Front of Ashley's hair

Back of Ashley's hair

Aly putting on Kelsie's necklace

Mom fixing the veil

The bride aka Kelsie

Kathleen (maid of honor), Jalissa (flower girl), and Chrissy (bridesmaid)
3 of the 9 dresses I made

Ashley all ready for pictures and the wedding. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

The 3 flower girls. So adorable.

The centerpieces.

The kids dancing. They really didn't stop till the night was over.

The cake

Derek and Ashley dancing.

Feeding the cake to each other. They were nice to each other and didn't smash it.

Brian (ring bearer), Ashley and Elora.

Derek and Elora. This is towards the end of the night and it was like 10pm and she was still awake and going.

The last dance. Mr and Mrs Pensyl.

So the wedding of the century happened in our family. My sister is finally married. Many of you know that this was a lot of work for me and many months in the planning. I will post pictures of all the things I created to make this wedding come together in a different post. It was so beautiful and we had lots of fun that day and night. Wish I had some ceremony pictures to put up here but Kelsie just got them online and hasn't gotten her disk yet so I will have to do a second post of the ceremony. In the end I will never recommend the Wig Wam to anyone but we still had a blast and they looked amazing. Wyatt refused to walk down the aisle and even started stripping his tux off behind the bushes but I couldn't do anything cause I was at the front as a bridesmaid. Just one of the many funny little things that happened that day. When you have kids you just never know what will happen. So glad that it was all she wanted and that they are happily ever after now.

October 2010

2010-11-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Alright I told you in the last post I was going to start taking everyday photos of us. So here are a couple. Tanis really needed some help with timing on one of his saxophone pieces so Derek asked me to pull my flute out and help him. I am actually amazed at how much Tanis loved me practicing with him. Now he doesn't want to practice alone. It was fun helping him. One day I came downstairs and found Wyatt pushing Elora back and forth from the porch to the other end of the house in the stroller she loved it and they both were just giggling for ever while he did it. These 2 kids love being outside. Wish I had a backyard to let them run free sometimes. Lastly was our Halloween/Pumpkin carving celebration. We decided to wait till Tuesday before Halloween to carve the pumpkins and it still wasn't long enough to wait they were all pretty much gone by Friday which was our trunk or treat at church. But the kids had fun digging the goop out and picking their picture that Derek then carved (cause he is such a perfectionist can't have the kids do it makes me go crazy) but have to say they were amazing looking the 1st night. I love the picture of Elora sticking her hand in the pumpkin. Every year Derek begs me to dress up and I just say no this is about the kids and plus I usually never have time to put a costume together for me as I am working on the kids' till the last minute but this year I decided ok I could do something. We gave the kids a choice of Mario party characters and some others that I can't even remember a week later and of course the chose Mario party. I love to dress the kids in a theme and have them match which is getting hard when you have an 11 year who doesn't want to be a prince or in a theme so I tried really hard this year to find a theme he would like and I nailed it. So we have Mario, Toad, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Princess Daisy, and Luigi. The kids were so surprised to see me dress up and Ashley even said it was the best Halloween because I dressed up. That made me feel pretty good as she and I are always butting heads. We had a lot of fun and the kids got so much candy it didn't even fit in my huge Tupperware bowl that I always put it in. I have enjoyed this last month and the simple things of my kids.

Inspired by another

2010-10-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

I recently read a blog of a family that lost their 18 month old daughter this summer. One of her posts was Would you have done anything different? It really touched me and has really made me ponder about the way I am being a mother to these 4 precious children. I guess it really hit me because Elora is almost that age and she is my last and so everything she does are the lasts for me. So lately I've been holding her a little longer, trying to listen to the oldest 2 when they want to tell something without getting impatient or angry with them if it is taking to long, and observing Wyatt while he still explores and figures things out. I don’t want to have any regrets once they are big and grown or heaven forbid something else tragic happen to take them away from me on this earth. So I am also going to make an effort to take more pictures. I know how is that possible cause I am the queen of pictures. But this last year or so I really haven’t taken many pictures of our everyday life. Of course I have it for the big events or when we go somewhere special but I want to remember the everyday things too. If you would like to read the couples blog and see the strength of this couple the here is the link http://patrickandashley.blogspot.com they truly are amazing to me.

September 2010

2010-10-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

September brought a couple of things for us. The public library does a reading program during the summer that I have the kids do. The ultimate prize at the end is a free ticket to a Diamondbacks game. There are a few different dates that you can choose from so we try to go to a game when they are playing the San Fransisco Giants as that is Uncle Branden's team and has made us fans also. We are still #1 fans to the Red Sox but we can have a team in the NL also. So we got to go to a game and we sat in nose bleed seats for about 1 inning and decided to move down to where they have bleachers much better. They other fun thing we had was a Bridal shower for my sister Kelsie. We did a pink and black polka dot luau theme. We had a lot of fun. The cake was amazing probably the best cake I have ever tasted. One of Kelsie's friends mom did it so sorry friends that are far away.

August 2010

2010-10-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

1st Day of school August 9, 2010

This was the temperature when I dropped the kids off at school. Ridiculous in my opinion. It is just to hot here in AZ.

Wyatt's 1st day of school August 16, 2010

One of the dresses Nana bought her for her birthday.

The apron I made her

I also gave her a cook book and then chose 2 recipes and gave her the ingredients to them. One of them had sugar she was so excited to get sugar. So silly.

Ashley is 9. Can't believe it they grow up way to fast.

All the badges Tanis was awarded at the August Pack Meeting and now he's in 11 yr old scouts. Before I know it he will be doing an Eagle project.

Tanis being awarded his Arrow of Light. The highest award you can earn in Cub Scouts that you take with you to Boy Scouts.

Wow August was a busy month. I tried to highlight the events under the pictures. We had the first days of school, Ashley's birthday and then Tanis got his Arrow of Light and tons of other badges. Love these kids they work so hard at all they do.

July in Peoria

2010-08-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

We had our 4th of July celebration at my mom and dad's and thought it would be fun to do a few fire works on the pool. Fireworks are illegal here because of how dry it is so we thought we'll just do them in the pool and that way there was lots of water.

This is the delicious trifle that my sister Kelsie made for 4th of July. Man I love trifle.

We went to one of the other ward buildings that is only like a mile from our house with some of our friends from the ward to watch the fireworks. So here is everyone but me of course I am behind the camera.

Derek and I got to go to Utah to see his niece get married. Chelsey and Gerson Ortega July 27th at the Salt Lake Temple. It was beautiful.

My mom had some free passes to the children's museum so we took the kids and they loved it.

Elora starting walking this month

Tanis turned 11 and had lots of fun playing video games with his friend Dakota

Here is one of the shots from Elora's 1st birthday pics. They all were amazing.

We also had the kids get a up to date photo with American theme so we could have one in our bedroom. Oh how I love America.

My Sisters Wedding Invitations

2010-08-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

I have been making the invitations for my sisters wedding that is October 9th and I am getting down to the last bit of them so I thought I would share the finished product. It has taken me weeks to do them but I love creating crafty things and I think they turned out so good. On the leaf I used stickles and watered them down and then used a paint brush to paint it on the leaf. It looks awesome. I hope she loves them. When I am done this week with them it is on to sewing 7 dresses. I will post pictures of them as I get them done.

Some of our June fun

2010-07-23T11:23:00.001-07:00

The four kids in mom and dad's pool

This one is for Grammie. She got this cute swimsuit for Elora and now she has out grown it good thing we had 3 swimsuits for this summer.

Ashley, Auntie Kelsie, Uncle Branden, and Tanis at the Circus

The Grand Master of the Circus

So almost every afternoon you can find us over at my mom and dad's swimming our hearts out. The kids are getting to be such good swimmers and even Wyatt has ventured a couple of times without putting his life jacket on. He swallows lots of water so he still isn't to sure about not having one on. Elora has been growing like a weed this summer at the beginning of it she was still wearing 9 month old clothes and we are at the end of July now and she is in 12 month and some 18 month clothes. She has gone through 3 bathing suits and I hope this last one lasts her the rest of the summer. At the end of June Barnum and Bailey's Circus came to Phoenix and Kels and Branden took the 2 oldest as part of their birthday present. They really enjoyed it more Ashley than Tanis but he did eventually admit to liking parts of it. The child with no emotion when being surprised or opening present guess I shouldn't have expected anything else.

Elora's 1 Happy Birthday Baby Girl

2010-06-05T20:44:00.001-07:00

June 5, 2010 one year's old

May 2010

April 2010 Already loving chocolate at 10 months

March 2010 Happy St Patty's Day

February 2010 Happy Valentine's Day

January 2010 trying cereal for the first time

December 2009

November 2009 (actually the end of October but had no good ones in November so I thought this was close enough)

October 2009 with her first pumpkin

September 2009 on her blessing day

August 2009 starting to smile

July 2009 1 month old

Elora 2 days old

I can't believe a year has already passed. You have grown so much. I remember how tiny you were when they put you on me. I love you so much and so excited for the years to come with you and watch you grow.

Easter and 10 months old

2010-04-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

Elora is now pulling herself to standing and walking along the furniture. She skipped the whole crawling stage and I am so not ready for her to be mobile.

She is really a good girl happy, and has the most awesome laugh. She cries only when she falls from trying to stand and walk or when she is hungry. Although she does have a personality and we do call her drama but what can you expect from a Peterson/Hosford girl.

Wyatt loved Easter eggs again this year and his favorite color or maybe it's just the only color he knows so far is yellow so the Easter Bunny left him all yellow eggs.

So when we gave Elora her basket she grabbed the chocolate bunny and started trying to eat the box to get to it. Man she is already a woman who loves her chocolate and she hasn't even tasted it yet.

Ashley surprised me this year. The night before they got their baskets she informed my sister Kelsie that the Easter bunny always leaves them a book. I was like oh crap well guess she's not getting one this year. I just couldn't believe that she remembered that. So then when she came into to our room at 6:30 am after seeing her baskets she told Derek, "Dad I saw my basket and I got Barbie Mermaid movie and I am not excited anymore about my basket." I wanted to cry I was so sad. I asked her later if she wanted me to send it back to the Easter bunny so she could get something different but she said no and she has watched the movie over and over so I think she actually really does like it.

Tanis on the other hand begged for the Chipmunk Squeakquel. He was so excited to get that movie.

I had to add this picture of Wyatt it is just so him. Needless to say we had fun dying our eggs that got hid at Nana and Papa's house.

This year before we did all the commercial/secular stuff I wanted to take my kids to the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple. It is our first year here to be able to see it and it was fabulous. This is the last scene of the Savior after he is resurrected. It reminded me a lot of going to the Hill Cumorah Pageant as a kid. This one though was about the Savior's life from his birth through his resurrection. We were in the very last row so it was hard to see but the spirit was there and I know the oldest 2 kids enjoyed it. Next year we will have to try to get there earlier so we can be closer so they can see more.

I want to run away

2010-03-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

So is it bad of me as I sit down in the office and listen to all the bickering of my kids to feel like running and never coming back. Lately I feel so alone in this fight as a mother. I feel like a failure a lot of the time. They never seem to listen to anyone except their dad and that's only if it gets to the point of him screaming which many of you know doesn't take very long. I feel so much pressure to be a mom, help find Derek a job, keep my house up, take care of all the bills, help my sister plan her wedding (which most of the time this is the one fun thing I have), loss weight, and be a trophy wife which will never happen. I don't understand why I struggle all the time with all of this but I do. When I was in Pullman I was able to at least escape a few times a month to enjoy my girlfriends while scrap booking. I really think this helped keep my sanity through all the hard times there. Now though I don't have that and I truly miss it. This has been really difficult for me to be in AZ and I didn't think it would be since most of my family is here. I want so badly to feel like things in my life are on the right track all the time. Someday I know I will look back and realize how fun this time in my life was but right now I am really not enjoying it. Guess that's enough ranting for today hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Job Search

2010-03-01T15:16:00.000-08:00

So yet again we are on the job hunt. We knew this would be happening at some point this year as Derek's position was for this year only. We just thought we had more time like till around the end of August to have a new job in place. I had already started to see what was available out there luckily so I have been able to get resumes sent right away. I just don't understand the why and may never know. I just wish that this man could actually keep a job for more than a few months. And when the reasons of why are never told to you how do you change and become better. We really are at a lose at this point and feel so overwhelmed with all that this entails to find a job and keep the household going. Sometimes I think haven't I learned what I was supposed to the last time we lost a job and had to go through this but I guess not because it just keeps happening. I pray that this journey is a short one and we find him a good job that he can succeed at and love.

Keep Calm and Sew On

2010-02-22T10:28:00.000-08:00

So my friend Leah has a friend Lauren who just started this awesome blog about all the fun things she make. This girl makes it all! She turns old shirts into the new, hip, cute ones. Right now in honor of starting her blog she has a sweet giveaway on her site. Check it out to see what it is... http://keepcalmandsewon.blogspot.com/. Soo... to all you wanna-be crafty moms add her site to your favorites cause you're not gonna wanna miss this sweetness!

My niece is engaged

2010-02-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

The wedding is July 27th, 2010 in the Salt Lake Temple. We can't wait to be there with family. Congrats Chelsey and Gerson.

Very Long Post

2010-02-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

Elora 8 months old 2/5/2010

Wyatt's 3rd birthday Party 1/23/2010

Wyatt's 1st day of school 1/3/2010

Ashley, Wyatt, Elora, and Tanis in their Christmas outfits
12/2009

Our family Picture in Sedona, AZ 12/2009

The kids with Derek at our Ward Trunk or Treat 10/2009

So I thought I would finally update our blog with a photo from each month and highlight some of the things we have done in the last 4 and 1/2 months. we moved into our on place in October and had Halloween Tanis decided that he is to old this year to be part of the themed costumes so he was a vampire. Ashley was Cinderella and Wyatt and Elora were mice from Cinderella. We then had Thanksgiving at my folks house and were surprised for the week with a visit from my sister Aly and her best friend Lauren. We had lots of fun. then December was a busy month we took a trip for my sister's birthday to Sedona. It was beautiful and I thought perfect time for a family photo shoot. Then we all drove to my brother Dan's house in CA for Christmas. All of us made it and it was the first time in 4 years that we had all been together. It was a typical Hosford Christmas for those of you that really know us. We then had a family photo shoot there because who knows when we will all be together again. Then January came and Wyatt got to start Preschool he loves it. He goes in the morning and just in 1 month his speech has made leaps and bounds. He then had a birthday at the end of the month and I can't believe he is 3 already boy time really flies. Lastly Elora turned 8 months yesterday and she really needs to stop growing. I don't want my baby to grow up. She is so sweet and already has so much personality. She hates to be on her stomach so I think she may never crawl. But we keep trying. Now that I have internet hopefully I will be better at updating this for all of you that I miss so very much.

Our Eventful Weekend

2009-09-07T12:48:00.001-07:00

The family that was able to be there

Ashley and Elora on Sunday

Elora in her blessing dress on the blanket that one of my best friends made special for the day

Derek and Ashley right before her baptism on Saturday.

This labor day weekend was a fun, spiritual, and eventful weekend. On Friday my in-laws flew in and we picked them up from the airport. Then Saturday was Ashley's baptism. What a great day it was to see her so excited to get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. Then Sunday we blessed Elora. Ashley wanted their dresses to match so I tried very hard to make them as close to the same as I could. I am so happy to have these to beautiful girls in my life.

Elora's 1 month

2009-07-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

Part of me can't believe it has been a month already. And sometimes it feels like she has been here forever though. She is a beautiful girl and we almost have her on a schedule so the nights are getting better. She is growing and has almost gained a whole pound. Which still makes her smaller than any of my others when they were born. We love her lots and are so glad she is part of our family.

Our Moving trip to AZ

2009-07-07T10:52:00.000-07:00

The Moving Truck that was filled to the top and from front to back.

Circus Circus the hotel we stayed at in Las Vegas

Walking the strip

Tanis and Ashley in front of the water show at the Bellagio

The Hoover Dam

Our trip took us 4 days. The kids did really great with that many days in the car. we got to see Grandma Grandpa Great Hegstrom, Uncle Glenn, Aunt Debbie, Chelsey, and Micheal. Then we got to spend a day in Vegas what an adventure that was. We ate at a nasty buffet and then wanted to see the water show at the Bellagio and didn't realize how far it was from Circus Circus so we didn't make it to see the show. 2 Miles in the heat 13 days after having a baby was nuts and so we sent Derek back to get the van while the rest of sat in front of Ceaser's Palace looking like bums and getting really weird looks. Of course this was at 12am in the morning. So the next day we drove there and parked in the parking garage to see the water show. It was still beautiful even in the day time. Then we headed out to my parents and got as far as Hoover Dam and they told Derek he couldn't go over the Dam with the moving truck b/c he couldn't show them 80% of his load. I was already over the Dam and not turning around on a Friday night when the traffic was bumper to bumper for like 5 miles. So we waited in Kingman, AZ for 1 1/2 hours for him , his dad, and Tanis while they went a different way. But we did all make it to Peoria, AZ safe and sound. It was hard to take the in laws to the airport and see them go but at least we know we will see them again soon.

Hospital Photos

2009-06-08T16:18:00.001-07:00

IT'S A GIRL

2009-06-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

Elora Gene was born Friday June 5th at 10:25pm. She weighed 6lbs 6oz and was 19.5in. We are all very glad she is here after 22 hours of labor and not stop puking. I am so happy this is the last one.

Graduation Weekend

2009-05-23T10:22:00.001-07:00

So this has taken me a while to get posted but we had an awesome weekend over Mother's Day weekend. First Ashley had her dance recital and did an amazing job. They did a tap routine to Girl's just wanna have fun and she loved it. Then the next day was graduation for Derek. As you can see my dad fell asleep (it was pretty boring) but we are all so proud of Derek for getting his Bachelor's Degree and to be moving on to the next step in his life. We all then went to Red Lobster in Lewiston for dinner and had a wonderful time together. The kids loved playing the Wii with PopPop all weekend and then going bowling on Monday with Nana and PopPop. They decided though it was much easier to do Wii bowling then the real thing. Now we are on to the next adventure of life with finding a full time job, having a baby, and moving all in the next 3 weeks.

Two Events for One Night

2009-05-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

Tanis was involved in 2 events and they happened to get scheduled the same night so it was a very busy night for us. The first one was called the Wax Museum where all the 4th graders chose a scientist and became that person. Tanis was Roy Chapman Andrews who discovered dragon eggs and the velociraptor. They wrote a speech and had to memorize it and we would push on their hand and they would come alive and say their speech. It was a really neat night and Tanis was very excited to do it. Then we had to run over to the middle school for his orchestra concert. He has been playing the violin this year and has done very well. I am not sure that he wants to do it anymore but the exposure was really good for him. And we all know what a concert sounds like with those that are first year players. It has been fun for me though to see him develop in this talent and him making the decision to keep it up or not at the end of the school year. He truly is an amazing boy.

Struggles

2009-04-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

So I don't normally chose to vent about anything on here. Mainly because I feel embarrassed to show that I/my family actually have issues just like everyone else and the fact that I cry while writing the entire blog but I really appreciate when others blog about theirs so I thought maybe someone out there would have some real advice for me on how to handle all of this. So many of you know that I really have a hard time with my Ashley. I just struggle with being her mom and feel guilty all the time that I am not a better mother to her but she frustrates me so much and in so many ways. This last thing was getting into the Easter candy which I put in my room so she wouldn't sneak it and she still did. Not just a little bit of it but almost all of it is gone. That fact that it was in my room and she went in there really irritates me but the worst part is the fact that she is sneaking around getting into things. It is like stealing to me because only 1/3 of it was even hers. I have talk to her over and over again about getting into food that is in the pantry or fridge without asking but it doesn't seem to even matter to her she just keeps on doing it. So today I asked her about the candy and she told me she got into it and I tried to explain that it was stealing and that people that steal have the police come and arrest them and they go to jail. I thought maybe if I put a scare tactic into it she will actually get it but who knows. And this probably wasn't the best way to teach her but I am at my wits end with her. I just have noticed more and more this last semester how immature she is for her age and I don't know what to do. I did have a girlfriend over the other night that told me she stop praying for her daughter to make the right choices and instead is now praying for her to be the best mom for her daughter. I thought that I should really try that. We will see what happens. Along with all of her issues I am dealing with a 2 year old who can't talk, has severe frustration issues, is aggressive, and going through multiple test right now with Early Learning Services. For me at home I am use to his ways but taking him to these tests has been hard to have to watch him throw a tantrum which is above and beyond a 2 yr old tantrum and not do anything so that the professionals can see how he reacts. And then yesterday after the test was done some stupid counselor in the next room who has nothing to do with ELS came to ask what we were doing to this child. Because she had a client who could hear it all and it really bothered the client who had been abused as a child. Are you kidding me. I found it very offensive that this counselor would divulge that kind of information about their client. Why didn't they come and knock to make sure Wyatt was ok and then let the client know the child was fine. With all of this I know things will get better for Wyatt because he will get the professional help he needs, it is just another stresser in my life when I have 3 major things right now as stessers that are here or coming in the near future. A new baby, moving and finding a job for Derek. I have realized though that I don't think I will ever have a time in my life when I don't have a trial. I guess I just have to be refined that much. Sorry this is such a long post for me but I really needed to get it all out.

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

Thought you all might like these. I couldn't get one of the 3 of them without their baskets because my 2 year old is very stubborn and has major attitude. I know you can't tell from this picture he looks like an angel but really it is the truth. We had a wonderful time Saturday hunting for eggs and it was very sunny so we were very happy and then on Sunday we had a wonderful lunch/dinner with Linda and Kent and it was Kent's 65th birthday. It was a great weekend for all of us.

Tanis's Science Fair Project Trials

2009-03-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

So now that Tanis is in 4th grade he has to do a project for the Science fair. He decided to do one were we saw how many books egg shells could hold. So he 1st started with 2 eggs and found that only 2 books would balance on them. So the next one was 3 eggs and then 4 eggs. We found out that 4 eggs obviously could hold more books then the others. It was lots of fun.

Design Team Layout

2009-03-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

So I haven't blogged in a while about any of my scrap booking layouts and I loved this one so I thought I would share. The line of paper is Carolee's Creation Fern. Carolee's is probably my 2nd most favorite paper line or I guess I should say that it is the 2nd most bought in my paper boxes after Basic Grey. I was really scared as I started to look for ideas and found basically nothing except the one layout on Carolee's site but it was so easy to work with and I did these 5 cards and my layout in about an hour which is really fast. Hope you all enjoy.

Liz and Ben (aka Jimmy) White's Sealing Day

2009-02-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

Derek and I had the privilege Friday February 13th to be in the temple with Liz and Ben while they took out their endowments and then the next day we went back to the temple and they were sealed and had Heidi and Hans sealed to them. What a spiritual and exciting couple of days it was. I also got to make Hans's sealing outfit and then hold him at the alter while the children were sealed to them. So even though Derek got me nothing for Valentine's Day we were in the most special place we could be for that day, a sealing room watching to of our dear friends make the highest commitment to our Father in Heaven.

3 events for January

2009-01-29T10:07:00.000-08:00

So this month we had three great events. First Ashley had her ballet recital and it was the Peter Pan Production. Then Tanis had Pinewood Derby which he had fun making his car. I would say this was probably the hardest year of it for mom though. Derek wasn't around to guide Tanis at all so I had to take him to get it weighed in and it had no weights on it and the wheels weren't attached. To say the least after that night I was in tears watching all these dads with their boys and their perfect cars come into get weighed. I really hate those dads out there who do the entire thing for their boy. That is what makes the boys who do their own cars sad (and their parents) because they aren't ever winning any of the races. How do you teach your children creativity, about winning and losing, and good sportsmanship if you are the one making the car. So we had a few boys who's dads did their cars and of course they are the ones going to districts. I guess I now know how Derek has felt these past few years about it all. Our last event for the month was Wyatt's birthday. He turned 2 on the 24th and I can't believe he is that old. We had his party at McDonald's and just let the kids play and then had cake and presents. It sure is fun to watch 2 yr. old's learn about birthday parties. He loved everything he got. All in all we had a great fun month.

The Reason Nikki hates to Cook

2008-12-27T18:39:00.000-08:00

Ok so I am know to not be a good cook and it is a joke around our house that when Derek started to date me and married me he thought he was getting this amazing women who could cook, sew, and would clean because she has a degree in Home Ec Education. But the truth is I have always hated to cook and didn't have to do it lots growing up because my sister Aly loved to cook and always did. So I thought it would be fun to make homemade chocolate chip cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve with Ashley (Tanis had no interest in it). So I got it all mixed up and when it was done I said this looks really liquidy compared to ones I have made before but I showed Ashley how to drop them on the pan and we got it done and started to bake them. I looked in on them when there was about 1 minute left and the whole cookie sheet was one flat cookie and it was almost dripping off the pan. I called Linda (my mother in law) in and we started to laugh. She asked did you use the small round container for the flour. I said yes and then she told me oh no that is the powdered sugar. So my cookies had no flour just 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, 1 cup of brown sugar and I had doubled the amount of chocolate chips because I hate not having enough. Needless to say the were very sweet. I was able to put the right amount of flour in to the mix and they turned out fine but they are a little hard. You can see the 2 different batches in the picture. So from now on Santa I am sorry but you will probably get store bought cookies.

Christmas at the Peterson's

2008-12-27T18:23:00.000-08:00

Ashley loved everything she got and her favorites she would act like she had fainted.

Most of the time this is how you would see Tanis. He rarely reacted and we never knew if he liked any of his gifts but he did.

Wyatt was so fun to watch this year. When he figured out what to do he wanted to unwrap everyone's gifts. He thought the object with cookie monster was to step on him and then he would make noise.

Here are the kids with the Santa cookies and his milk before they went to bed.

Every Year the kids get new pj's to wear. The last 2 years I have sewed them. This year I didn't sew the boys shirts but they still turn out adorable. These are courtesy of Nana.

The Trial of Christmas Picture Taking

2008-12-15T19:13:00.001-08:00

So I really forgot what it was like to have to take pictures with a almost 2 year old. I now remember why I took the older 2 to Wal-mart or Sears all the time and would spend an hour there while the photographer tried to get a photo. And these few pictures don't even show the drama that was happening in between them. Wyatt was very determined that he was not going to sit in the train position (one kid in front of the other) like I tried to do in the 1st picture. My girlfriend Karen had did it for years with her 4 kids and I thought it was adorable why not try it with mine. Guess I will try again next year. So all in all I think I got one good one which of course is the last one so it wasn't a total failure.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T21:19:00.001-07:00

The kids had a blast at the trunk or treat Thursday night and then Tanis went to a Halloween party Friday night and Ashley went around our apartment complex. They brought the mother load of candy home like every year and it was nice to have 2 older kids that I felt safe enough to let go to a party or around our complex without me. This year I was not the funnest mom to have for Halloween but at least they still got to go.

Game 6 ACLS Red Sox vs Tampa Bay

2008-10-19T00:13:00.000-07:00

In our house it is Red Sox fever. This game was a must win for us to force game 7 on Sunday and then we have to win that one and then we will be going to the World Series for the 3rd time in the last 5 years. We won so now the neighbors will get to hear lots of screaming again tomorrow night. Even the kids watch and wear their hats that their PopPop so proudly gave them. It is fun to watch even Wyatt learning how important this team is and clapping when we do and tonight laid on the couch watching the game through almost the whole thing, probably because he has a fever and was throwing up but that is ok he was still watching. We love you Red Sox and will always believe in you.

Kit Club Layouts for September

2008-10-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

This month we had 3 great challenges. The paper was pretty bright for my liking but I made it work and that is what the whole point of kit club is. The first layout is with the challenge to not crop your picture(s). I used brown distressing ink to go around the edges of the chipboard and blue around the different papers. The second layout was called Stash. We had a list of things to chose from and had to use 5 of them on our layout. So I used buttons, brads, a heart, an arrow, and a frame out of chipboard that I inked. I also had sewed with embroidery floss on the layout. The third layout was our last challenge which was weather. We had to go for a walk or find something in the weather that inspired us to do our layout. So I used the picture from my birthday when it was snowing. I also used ghost letters for the title. This layout was really fast to do. The last 3 layouts were extra paper that the leader gave us and as you can see I also went and bought more because heaven forbid I only do a 1 page layout. On the LegoLand layout I used the puzzle pieces that were in the kit and painted them I thought this would be a cute connection to Legos. I always enjoy doing the kits and seeing how I can stretch myself each month. This month it was the weather layout that really took me a long time to come up with.

Greetings From Wyatt

2008-10-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

This is what I was greeted to the other afternoon when I had to get Wyatt up early from his nap. Then again this morning he had his diaper half off when we went in to get him up for the morning. Don't know what I am going to do about this but maybe some duct tape will help.

Wyatt's 1st haircut and cooking with Grandma

2008-09-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

Before the haircut

After the haircut

The back so you can all see the chop job

The kids had a great day helping grandma make oatmeal raisin cookies. Even Wyatt helped and eventaully got the concept to pour his stuff into the bowl. It was a fun day for everyone.

Socialized Medicine

2008-09-17T19:29:00.001-07:00

I don't normally publically talk about my political views unless it is with my family and those friends that I know have the same views as me or won't judge me for what I believe in but I have to inform you of this issue. Derek a year ago had some testing done for anxiety and needed to be put on a medication. Of course our insurance which is the state medical(which is basically what socialized medicine is) would not approve it. He then went through 3 trial meds that didn't work. So we then tried again to get the med that worked approved this was back in March. We heard nothing for a very long time. I tried to call and they told me that they had nothing to do with it. Ok you are my insurance company how can you have nothing to do with it. So we went back to the doctor last week and tried again to have the prescription put through. Again it was denied and we (meaning Dr Hall's nurse) had to put all of Derek's file through again to get it approved. Finally it was. So for a year because we have a wonderful Dr., Derek has been taking samples. But lets think about it if we didn't have a doctor that cared about us what then no samples and, I think I would have probably killed my husband (just kidding) but I probably would be in a mental health ward at the hospital. When someone needs a medicine it should be given to them. This was absolutely ridiculous and this is what we will get all the time if our country goes to socialized medicine. Derek served his mission in Canada where they have socialized medicine and he has a collar bone that wasn't set right and he told me that if we think it is bad here know it will only get worse we will be waiting in lines for everything. So as you go to the polls this November think about your choice and if you want to be able to get what you want when you want it or do you want the government to tell you when you can have it and then it might be to late by the time they give it to you.

Semi Famous

2008-09-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

I am able to say that I will be semi famous now. I have been asked to be on our local scrap booking store's design team. This means that I will make layouts, altered things, home decor items etc. for them and they will hang them up in their store and there is also a blog for Paper Pals Design Team. I feel very honored to have been selected. So keep a watch out for those of you that are local in the store for my stuff and those that are not there is a link on the side of my blog to get to the design teams blog so that you too can see the semi famous projects of Nikki Peterson.

My Layouts for Kit Club from the month of August

2008-09-14T21:41:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite one from this month. We had to use the word blessed in our layout. I sewed, used white paint, and chipboard.

This layout was fun to do I used paint with a sponge to get a watery look. Originally the paper was white. As one of my friends says if you don't like the color of the paper paint over it and make it what you like. I also sewed on this layout.

This layout was the 3rd challenge where we used a sketch. If you know me there are very few originals I love to use sketches or as we call it scrap lift.

This 2 page layout was another of the challenges where we had to interview someone. I did Tanis b/c I knew all his favorites during that period of his life.

These are just 2 cards I did with the left over scraps I had.
I enjoy this club so much it really makes me stretch sometimes to think of ways to use the paper and still be my style. Hope you enjoy.

Super Saturday

2008-09-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

Ornaments and the other class is a hot pad/mitt class

Picture Tile Board

Wood Plague to hang your stockings on

Table Runners (there are 12 but we are only doing 2 November and Decembers) and the glass vase doesn't come with it just showing what you can add to the runners.

Mommy and little girl aprons

Christmas Card, Bag, and Tag

So I am in charge of our Super Saturday this year and I am so excited. Heavenly Father really gave me the inspiration in picking my committee. Besides the fact that they are all very talented, one of them has been very supportive in a personal way. I know that the ladies were put into my life for a reason at this time. So I wanted to post the pics of the samples of the projects we are doing so if any of you that actually read my blog like any you can get them if you would like to.

New Bunk bed For Tanis and Ashley

2008-09-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

We decided it was time to get the kids a bunk bed and make more room in their room. So last night Derek and I started a 8pm and got done at 1:30am making this awesome bunk for them. It is solid pine and smells so good. The kids love it. Now you can actually take more than 3 steps in their room.

The 1st day outfits

2008-08-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

So I thought that my fashion sister would enjoy these pictures of the kids in the outfits. And I thought it would be fun for her and Nana to see their stylish new shoes. Enjoy

This says Champion on the shoe. Tanis was moving so it came out blurry.

First day of School

2008-08-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

I can't not even tell you how excited all of us are for the first day. Ok so maybe it is all mom's excitement but that's ok.

Guess it's not cool anymore to look at mom for a picture when you get to 4th grade.

There they go BYE!!!!

A few Highlights from August

2008-08-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

So I thought I would just highlight some of the month and not post like a million posts. It was a long month for mom but we also had some good times.We had constant Light Saber wars.
Wyatt loves to play now and will bring you the light saber if it is closed and grunt to ask you to open it.

A family party for Tanis's birthday

Wyatt has learned the art of climbing. Mostly on to the table, so I have had to make sure it is constantly empty or we get this him with a box of cereal or a dumped glass of liquid.

A day at the Moscow pool. I am such a bad mom I only took pictures of Wyatt. He thought the water spouts were so fun to push down and spent a long time doing it. The fact is the other 2 were almost never to be found swimming with all their friends.

Climbing into bed with brother one night.

Ashley's birthday and she had to have a Hannah Montana cake. This is the only time it is allowed in my home. Only because I don;t want to encourage Ashley to grow any faster than she is.

All in all it was a fun month.

Tanis's Madlib

2008-08-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

This was really cute. We were at Shari's Restaurant last night and while we wait for the food Tanis had us picking the words to go in the blanks. It was on the sheet they give them to play while they wait for their food. So here it is:

My name is PopPop but you can call me Kelly. On Halloween I was playing throwing with my good friend George W. Bush. We wanted to see the White House but didn't have 10 dollars to ride the car. We started walking to find some pizza to eat because our stomachs were saying bang. After finding a lost deer who could tickle it was time for me to go home to New York. What a holy cow day!

Hope you enjoy PopPop!!!!!!!!

Scrapbook Layouts

2008-08-13T01:02:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun for you all to see my layouts as I get some of my favorites done. I am in a monthly kit club where we have challenges that are given to us to accomplish in our layouts and I really enjoy doing and going to see what everyone has done.

This layout I actually did for a contest at the store and I won 3rd place. I was shocked because one of my favorite ladies that scrapbooks won 2nd and I think her stuff is amazing and could win magazine contests.

These 2 layouts were for last months club. On the page with Trisia the challenge was to highlight words in our journaling. I actually made that page to send to Deanna to put in Trisia's book. It will be hard to give up because I love how it turned out.

Olympics-Video Games

2008-08-13T00:56:00.001-07:00

This is a funny and cute thing that happened on Sunday. Our dinner was finishing cooking and Tanis and I were sitting in the living room together watching the Olympics. He asked me,"Mom how do you make it to the Olympics?" and I said,"You have to be the best athlete from your country." "I don't think I can do that, Mom" and I told him "You can do anything you want to." He then said,"Is there video gaming at the Olympics" it took everything for me to not laugh. I told him no and then told him some of the sports that are in the summer Olympics. Guess he's played way to many video games this summer. Or he's just his father's son. Either way it was way cute for him to think that he would be able to make it to the Olympics playing a video game. Got to love the innocences of children.

Trials

2008-08-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

So this is not normal for me to just write thoughts and not have any pictures but today I felt like I really needed to just write. I have been thinking a lot about trials lately considering this seems to be my life for the last 10 years or more. I feel like as I look back there hasn't been a month where there wasn't some type of trial. We get over one and then a few days latter another one comes into our lives. Sometimes because we have caused it and other timed there is nothing that we have done it just comes. My sister said to me in June that Heavenly Father is making you a saint and I told her I am done being made a saint. I just want to have a month of blessings and not have to feel like I am always trying to keep it together and find strength to get through the trials. Maybe I am just not humble enough to see those blessings that are there and that is why I am constantly being tried. This last trial I am having has really thrown me for a loop. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan but I really don't understand this one right now. I feel like I try so hard to live righteously and to teach my children the gospel that I should be able to have just 1 desire granted on my time table and it wasn't even an unrighteous desire. I just wanted to have a baby planned. Now I don't know what is going to happen or if we are even suppose to have another baby. I know this will take time to grieve through this miscarriage and then figure out what we are suppose to do with the Lord. I often have tried to look around at others and see that they too are going through trials and to realize that it is hard for them too. This time though I feel so drained and lost. I just keep praying that I will feel the comfort I need to through this. I often wonder did I really agree to all of this in the premortal existence because I must have been pretty stupid to have thought I could handle all of this. Well enough of the whoa is me. I need to look to the 3 beautiful children He has given me and enjoy them for now.

Peterson Family Reunion

2008-07-29T13:05:00.000-07:00

We stopped at the Lolo Pass to go to the bathroom and it was so pretty that I had to take pics of the kids.

All of us outside the house

These are pictures of the house we rented in Darby it was very beautiful and had a lot of space for all of us.

In Darby there is a lake named Lake Como so on Saturday we went to it for a couple of hours and played in the very cold water.

These 2 pics were on our last night hanging out on the porch. For those of you that know the Peterson's they are not an open family like the Hosford's but this night was very open and we had some funny reminiscing stories about the Peterson's first time being around a Hosford dinner table. We laughed a lot and just had fun talking to each other.

The family after church on Sunday.

Our 10th Anniversary Trip

2008-07-22T21:12:00.001-07:00

WARNING very long post:

Derek and I at the top of the mountain

What the cable car looks like coming up

Happy Anniversary

The score when we were all happy this last for 6 and a half innings

Our Captain

At the Game

This one is for you Chrissy

To bad there isn't instant replay in baseball or they probably would have seen this guy was really out.

Derek spent most of the game like this

My Family

The windmills of Palm Springs

Our nieces Isabelle and Maddy

Derek and Aly being silly at the Lego store in Downtown Disney

My sis Aly and I at Santa Monica Pier

We had an amazing 5 days away from it all. We left on Thursday and got my sister Aly who flew into LAX also. This was all of course a surprise for my parents b/c later that night they thought they were getting Aly but they actually got my other sister Kelsie who now lives in PA. So we drove Aly to meet my brother Dan and his wife Bekah and then we headed to Palm Springs where our best friends Dave and Patty were at in a time share. We went to In-N-Out burger for lunch, bought our tickets for The Dark Knight in the IMAX, went on the Ariel Tram which is a cable car that you end up on the top of the mountain at 8,000 ft it was beautiful once we got up there. I didn't much like the ride up but I did it. We waited till it got dark to then go down and that was awesome to see all the city lights as we traveled down the tram, then we went to Tony Romo's for dinner. Friday was then our anniversary of 10 years I can't believe that we have been married that long. We spent the morning alone just chilling at our hotel and then meet my dad, mom, sisters Kelsie and Chrissy with Dave and Patty for lunch. We went swimming that day and then to the mall for Cold Stone Creamery I LOVE THEIR ICE CREAM. Then it was time for the fancy dinner at Melvin's. It was wonderful and very classy. But it can get very expensive so I would suggest for all of you that are dirt poor like us to only go when it is a special occasion. Then it was time for Batman in the IMAX and for all you that know Derek he was very excited. The movie was unbelievable, very intense and we will have to go see it again so I can catch everything for a second time. On Saturday it was another big day we were all off to the Red Sox vs Angels game. There was 17 of us and we all had a wonderful time I would say till about the bottom of the sixth when they scored 4 runs to make the score 4 to 2 and we never did catch up but it was awesome just to be there and see our beloved team GO RED SOX. All that matters is what happens in October and I have all the faith they will be there. after we went to the game we all went to cheesecake factory for dinner kind of a mess to take 19 of us (my 2 cousins met us there) but it worked out. On Sunday Derek and I said good bye to Patty and Dave and headed for Lake Elsinore to my brothers new house that the rest of the family helped him move into over the weekend. We spent the afternoon together and then Derek, Aly, and I went to Downtown Disney for dinner and the fireworks. Monday sadly was our last day so we meet our other brother Jason for lunch in LA near UCLA where he works after lunch we drove to the Santa Monica Pier and walked around and got wet in the water. It was a wonderful vacation and I loved just being with Derek to have fun.

2 weeks of fun at Nana and PopPop's

2008-07-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

The kids at Downtown Disney . As you see Ashley had to pose at every picture.

Nana, Chrissy, Ashley, Tanis, and Wyatt walking in Downtown Disney to watch the fireworks.

For the most part of our stay we were in the pool. It was 112* everyday that we were there so we really got a taste of what it would be like if we moved there. We also loved going to the sandwich shop that aunt Chrissy works at. We also did a weekend trip to California so that Nana and Nikki could see Grandma Johnson who had a stroke during June. So we were able to take the kid to see the fireworks. They loved it.

June 10th Happy Birthday Nikki

2008-06-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

So I woke up to this on my 30th birthday and 30* F weather. I wasn't very happy. My dad said he sent it to me as a present. Just one more reason to try to get us to move down to Phoenix next year. Thanks Dad I loved it. It was melted by the end of the day and I got my real present from Derek, a wooden holder for all my stamp ink pads. My friend who sells Stamp in Up has an amazingly talented husband who makes the wooden box holder. I was very happy by the end of the night to get that and not have my ink pads strewn all over my craft table.

Happy Birthday Derek

2008-06-03T23:31:00.000-07:00

So Derek turned 32 today. I can't believed it seems like just yesterday we were just meeting and he still looked like a Deacon. J/K honey. Guess this just means we aren't young anymore and have to start acting like grown-ups. Probably though Derek won't. Wyatt thought it was so fun when Derek opened his presents that he had to help rip all the paper off too.

A new baby for Derek

2008-05-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

We have a new addition to our family. She arrived yesterday and we chose the name Scarlet.

She is a Honda Shadow 600cc. I got to ride her yesterday for part of the test drive and WOW it was awesome. Derek is very happy and we pray that she will be a good bike for a long time just like Hailey was.

I'm A BIG BOY Now

2008-05-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

So it is now official Wyatt made it into the next step of car seats and is facing forward. Pretty cool he can see everything now.

Ashley's Recital

2008-05-12T00:03:00.001-07:00

She did a wonderful job she danced 3 numbers. A ballet, a tap, and in the grand finale cheer/jazz number. What a beautiful girl.

Tanis Has Glasses

2008-05-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

Ok so it took me more than a week to get this picture for all of you but I am sure that it was worth the wait. What a cute kid!

Oh No We Have Spots

2008-05-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

Ashley was home sick on Tuesday and Wednesday. She decided when she got better though that she would like some stackers which are fruit roll-ups in the form of round shapes that you can stack together now. Derek and I were in the office and all of a sudden she came in and said look I have spots I am still sick. It was pretty funny so of course Tanis had to do it also.

A Girl's day out with the Brownie Scouts

2008-04-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

Toady I got to spend the day with Ashley and all the girls from her Brownie Troop. We had a blast. They started at Build A Bear Workshop, then had lunch a McDonald's, and then went to the Girl Scout Building they have in Spokane to bake cupcakes and brownies. Here's our day in review:

Ashley filling her bear she named her Jasmine.

The heart they all put inside the bear.

Cleaning Jasmine before she gets dressed.

The Girl Scout Troop with their animal they chose.

The final product. Jasmine the Bride.

The girl's at the Girl Scout building

Ashley breaking an egg for brownies.

Ashley getting water for cupcakes.

Lining the muffin pan.

Yeah the fun part frosting her cupcake to eat.

Richard Pearson's Wedding

2008-04-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege to go to Richard's wedding and reception last night. It was wonderful to be with friends who are like family to us and feel the spirit of the temple. And remember the promises and blessings that come with an eternal marriage. What a beautiful girl he married. Thought you all would like to see a highlight of the day/night so here it is from start to finish.

Richard and Sarah coming out of the Temple

Rick and Shawna (had to put this one in it is a classic Rick pose)

Brett and Cortney (soon to be married June 27th)

The Pearson Gang - Shawna and Rick's side with Brett and Nikki included

The Pearson's with their new daughter in law and soon to be son in law

Richard, Sarah, Shawna, and Rick

Richard and Sarah with their cake

Cutting the Cake

Shawna and Richard dancing to You Raise me Up by Josh Groban

Richard and Sarah dancing their 1st dance

School Musical

2008-04-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

Ashley waiting on the bleacher for her part to start. The theme for them was how does your garden grow? They sang some really cute songs and also rapped.

Tanis's group went second and their's was Songs from Islands and the Seas. So you can see in his second picture they were playing instruments and that is basically all I heard. Not sure what any of the words they said were.

All in all it was a lovely night.

2 Weeks of Healing

2008-04-21T10:43:00.001-07:00

We are amazed at the fast progress Wyatt is making in his healing process. He has no pain anymore and hopefully after today we won't have to dress the leg anymore. Just have to wait for that call tonight from the clinic. His arm and chest are just red now and there is new skin and it is all healed. I still put lotion on it about 1 to 2 times a day. Thank you for all the prays and we'll let you all know what the clinic says soon.

Cake Auction for Cub Scouts

2008-04-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

Here is the cake that Tanis and I made for the auction as you can tell our theme was anyhting to do with GO COUGS!!!!!!!

These were other peoples cakes that I thought were amazing sorry to my kids that I am not that talented with cake decorating.

1 Week and already lots of healing

2008-04-18T07:53:00.001-07:00

I heard from some that they wanted to see more photos before I take the final healing ones so here they are. We only have to wrap his leg still. His arm and stomach we just put lotion on and he wears long sleeve onesies.

GO COUGS

2008-04-10T23:40:00.001-07:00

We were so excited for our men's basketball team to make it to the SWEET 16 it was such an awesome season. We are proud of the COUGS!!!!!

The 4 of us during the WSU vs North Carolina game

The Burns on Day 5

2008-04-10T19:01:00.001-07:00

This is the one on Wyatt's leg

This is the burns on his stomach

This is the one on his chest

This is his arm

This is day five and it probably will get worse before they look better because of the skin peeling and then healing.

OUCH!!!!!!

2008-04-10T18:54:00.000-07:00

Wyatt taking his bath during wound care. He was burned on Sunday and spent 2 days in Seattle at Harbor View hospital in the burn unit.