The Eggers Fam

Our sweeties...

2011-12-16T14:21:00.000-08:00

So I have these girls....

And while they are absolutely beautiful, they are

giant turds when it comes to group picture taking.
I took the kids to get some pictures last week.

Now I remember why I NEVER do this!

Anastyn hated the box...

Avery hated the camera...

Alyssa

Abbey

(I am so glad that the photographer caught her "real" smile)

Avery

Anastyn

(How can you not LOVE this face??)

The little ones HAD to sit on the boxes and yes,

Anastyn is holding a cell phone

By far my favorite picture of the whole session!

The individual pictures turned out so great. The ones of all the girls were a disaster. It will be a while before I torture myself and do this again someday...

Halloween 2011

2011-11-03T10:40:00.001-07:00

Me and David in our Shaggy and Velma costumes. We showed up to the ward party and found our friends Fred and Daphne!

My beauties!

Anastyn- Lamb (or bunny depending on who you ask)

Avery- Pirate

Alyssa- Amelia Earhart

Abbey- Hula Girl

Here is everyone in costume! We had a great Halloween this year and we are still on sugar overload! I can't believe how much candy my girls came home with! David took the girls trick-or-treating with Hillary and Trent while I stayed home and handed out candy.

My rock band

2011-11-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

This is how my girls spend their days off from school...

Special Olympics Field Trip

2011-11-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was able to be a parent volunteer for a field trip with Alyssa's class. I don't get to spend much one on one time with her since I have two little ones at home demanding my attention, but I had my awesome sister come over to watch the babies so I could go. The field trip was to the Special Olympics that were held at the University of Utah. The fourth grade kids all made signs to cheer on the events. We were able to watch bocce, swimming and basketball. Alyssa was so excited to have me there and ride the bus with her. She chose to sit at the back of the bus which was kind of a bummer since all the kids in front of us wanted their windows open. I was completely windblown, but we had a great time hanging out!

A quilt for Genesee

2011-11-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

Back in September my Grandma Carol, my mom and SIL Brooke got together to tie a quilt for Brooke's baby Genesee. I love the fabric that she chose and it was fun to have some girl talk and quilt. Sometimes I think I was born into the wrong time period. I would love to live in a time where all the ladies spent their days doing things like this!

King's Peak

2011-09-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

At the end of August my awesome hubby and brother took a trip to hike to the top of King's Peak. They left on Wednesday afternoon for the big event. The plan was to hike to their camp spot and set up camp and then hike to the top the next day. They hiked about 10 miles to get to the spot where they would camp and did all this with a backpack on. David's pack weighed about 50 pounds. The next day they hiked another 10 miles to the top of the peak. It is highest point in Utah and from what David told me, it was REALLY hard to breathe. He said there were many times that he would have turned around and given up if he didn't have someone with him to keep him going. He learned a lot about how strong he really is. I was so impressed that he would take this on. I was SO worried about him the whole time. I kept wondering if he had enough to eat and if he was cold at night and. I had no way to reach him while he was gone. The plan was to camp until Saturday morning and then hike back down to come home. Well, Friday afternoon I am standing outside talking to a neighbor and Bryan's car pulls up. They decided to come home early and surprise us. I had no idea he would be home that night, but I was so happy! I am so proud of him and what he accomplished during this trip. He is amazing!!

Baby Girl

2011-08-12T11:14:00.001-07:00

Enjoying some licorice

After scarfing down some mac and cheese

My sweet baby girl is 15 months old! She is such an amazing little girl. I just love her to pieces. Just ask her how many kisses she gets a day, I think she is counting. :)

Yesterday we had a trip to the pediatrician for a well baby check up. She is growing like a weed!

Her stats:

Weight: 23 lbs 1 ounce, 60%

Height: 32 inches, 75%

Head size: 95%

(I don't remember how much her head measured, only that she has a big noggin!)

Since her birthday she has gained 3 pounds and gotten a lot taller. She got so many cute outfits for her birthday (12 month size) and now they don't fit her! I was so sad because she only got to wear them a few times each.

Anastyn loves food and is always wanting a bite of whatever you are eating. She especially loves sweets. She is so busy and wants to do whatever her big sisters are doing. She climbs on everything and gets into everything. She has mastered the stairs and makes me so nervous! She is very independent and likes to do things on her own. She doesn't say many words, but she jabbers all the time. A few things she says are: mama, daddy, sippee, and no.

We love this little sweetie so much and we are so glad that she decided to be part of our family! We couldn't imagine life without her!

Maples Family Campout

2011-08-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

Grandpa pushing the girls on the swings

David and Bryan jumping off the middle platform

More swinging

Alyssa, Abbey, and Marlee taking a ride with the KOA employees

The entire Maples Family!

This year our family decided to do our own campout with all of my siblings and their families. My mom booked campsites at the Lava Hot Springs KOA campground and paid for it all as our Christmas gifts. My whole family was able to make it. I cannot believe how much the family has grown. We will be adding two new babies this year, Brooke and Ashley are both pregnant and due within days of each other!

I decided that camping is lots more fun when you are a child. It is a lot of work as an adult, but we still had a good time. We went up on Thursday afternoon and set up our tent. We had dutch oven chicken enchiladas (so yummy!!) and peach cobbler for dessert. That day was also David's birthday so we sang to him as well. I feel bad that he spent his birthday camping and it was pretty much overlooked. Right after dinner it started raining and didn't stop until somtime during the night. We froze in our tent. I felt so bad for the kids. The little ones slept really well despite the bad weather though. The second day we headed to the water park and swam for a few hours. The girls had a great time! After everyone was tired of the water, we went back to camp. David and Abbey decided they wanted to float the river with a few of my siblings. I wasn't sure about Abbey going, but she really wanted to do it, so I gave in. She had a blast and they did it three times. While they were gone we started some roasts and potatoes cooking in the dutch oven. They turned out so good, the dinner was fantastic! That night was a bit colder, but at least it wasn't raining. Saturday we packed up and returned home. It looks like we will make this get together an annual thing and I am looking forward to next time!

Happy Fourth!! Part Three

2011-07-06T15:01:00.001-07:00

Waiting for the show to begin

Anastyn loved the fireworks

All the kids are in love with Trent, poor Hillary didn't get to sit by her boyfriend.
Abbey and her sparklers

We finished off the evening with some great fireworks. Once again, Avery had her ears covered the entire time. She actually hid under a blanket sitting on David's lap during the whole show. Thanks to the new law in Utah allowing arial (my girls were expecting Little Mermaid fireworks) fireworks, we saw some cool firework shows all over the neighborhood.

Happy Fourth!! Part Two

2011-07-06T14:37:00.001-07:00

After the parade we hung out at my brother Dave's house for the rest of the day. We sat around and laughed, ate, splashed in the water, jumped on the neighbor's trampoline, ate, painted toe nails, laughed, and did I mention we ate? Seriously, my big brother knows his way around the bbq and smoker. He made pulled pork sandwiches and beef brisket. YUMMM! Everyone else brought salads, desserts, and fruit. It was awesome. Usually a couple of my brothers go out of town for the holiday, but this year everyone stayed in town. It was such a fun time!!

My angel baby- Anastyn
My dad never gets enough sleep, so this is normal at all family functions.

The whole crew!

"Here comes the smolder..."

Most of the kids

(Alyssa, Marlee, Avery, Bill, Abbey, and Chase)

Grandpa and Grandma Peterson

Hunter and Avery

David and me. He refused to smile like a normal human for any pictures.

Happy Fourth!! Part One

2011-07-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

We began our holiday celebrations by hanging out with fellow west-siders at the good old Magna parade. It is totally ghetto-fabulous and we do it every year. And I have no intention of changing this tradition.

I forgot to bring my camera to the parade, so I stole these photos from my sister-in-law. Thanks Bryan and Dayna for taking all the pictures! Avery was freaked out the entire time. She is not a fan of loud noises, so she had her ears covered the whole time! It was ok with me though, she stayed put in the stroller for the whole thing and never once asked to get out.

My Beautiful Sister

2011-06-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

The day of Anatyn's party was the same day as Senior Prom for my sister. I was so excited because I got to help her get ready since I was already at their house setting up for the party. Earlier that week my mom had a second surgery on her ankle so she was down for a couple weeks. I think my mom felt a little left out of the festivities, so when her boyfriend Trent came to pick her up, they did the corsage/boutonniere tradition in her bedroom so she could see. Then a few of us walked over across the street to take a few pictures. There were about 5 of us with cameras and only two couples so it felt a little "paparazzi"-ish. She is absolutely gorgeous and looked stunning in her blue dress. I am so lucky to have her as a sister. She is my only sister and she helps me out a ton! It has been fun to be her second mom and be there for her while she was growing up.

Anastyn's 1st Birthday!

2011-06-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

On May 11th our little baby girl turned 1! It amazes me how quickly the last year has flown by.

The weekend of her birthday we had a family party to celebrate and she had a blast. She received about 12 new summer outfits and a few cute toys including a new Cabbage Patch doll. She was spoiled to say the least! We invited everyone over to Grandma Jeri's house to party and had dinner together. The menu included shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches, chips, fresh fruits and veggies and of course cupcakes and ice cream for dessert. Thank you to everyone who came and made her big day so special!

Anastyn is such an angel! She is a really good sleeper, she sleeps through the night and takes two good naps during the day. She will eat almost anything we feed her. She decided on her birthday to start walking. She is happy to play by herself on the floor or even sit in the high chair for a little while so mommy can load the dishwasher. (She likes to unload the silverware and suck on it...GROSS!) She can be shy around new people, but she loves her mommy and daddy. She only says one word- HI! She is always watching what is going on around her. We are so blessed to have her as our sweet daughter!

Obsession #2

2011-05-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

Obsession #2 would be couponing. These are the goods from my latest shopping trip. I generally do my shopping at Smith's. If you watch for the sales and match the coupons up with the sale items, then you can get way better deals than shopping without coupons at Walmart or Winco. Plus they also have a sweet rewards program! If you use the rewards card each time you shop you will accrue a point for every dollar you spend. They also have double point items and 5 extra points for every reusable grocery bag you use. Then four times a year they send you a gold envelope with a coupon for the dollar amount of how many points you have. Mine this last quarter was worth $19! That is free money! If you really get to know the system, it can be your best friend. On this last shop I got some really sweet deals that I will share:

5 bottles of Kraft BBQ sauce for .14 (with coupon) each plus on the bottle there was a bonus coupon for $2 off a container of Kool-aid or Country Time lemonade which was on sale for $2 so it was free!

2 Freschetta frozen pizzas $4.49 each plus $2.50 off because of the coupons and then at the end I got $3 toward my next shopping trip for purchasing these. So the total cost was $3.48 for two pizzas!

10 boxes of pasta for FREE!

4 Reach Flosser started packs for FREE! (Because of the coupons I had, I actually was paid .50 to buy these.)

One of the boxes of cereal was only .24

4 cases of bottled water for $8

So, the total cost of this shopping trip was $53.73! I saved $98! I was so proud of all my hard work.

Another thing that I have been watching is the sales at Walgreen's. If you work at it, you can get some sweet deals there too. The weekly sales there start on Sunday, so I go at 6 am on Monday morning to get the best deals. I need to slow down though until we move because I am almost out of room to put things!

The Green Chair

2011-05-09T09:06:00.001-07:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I have a new obsession (actually two of them, but this is just one of them). I love to refinish furniture. I found this blog called allthingsthrifty.com and it is awesome! You have to check out the site. She has the coolest ideas and is super talented! Anyway, I decided to start looking for things that could be redone. My mom has an end table in her family room and she so graciously let me totally change it. It no longer matches her family room but it looks awesome and I still need to take a picture of it. While I was in the process of changing the end table (in my parent's garage, because I don't have a place to do this hobby), I noticed that one of her neighbors was having a yard sale. I have been looking for a dresser that I can refinish for my girls to use. The lady doing the yard sale didn't have a dresser, but she had this chair. I wanted a chair for my small patio to dress it up a little and I couldn't pass this up. The best part??? She sold it to me for only TWO DOLLARS!! I just had to have it! I had visions of what it could be while I carried it back to my parent's house. I thought green would be a nice color for the outdoors so I bought some spray paint and some antiquing glaze and went to work. I love how it turned out! This whole project cost me less that $15! I am still on the lookout for that perfect dresser, but I need a bigger place anyway, so I must be patient!!

Easter 2011

2011-05-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

My girls enjoying their indoor Easter egg hunt. It lasted all of 30 seconds...

The Easter bunny found our house this year and the girls were thrilled. I keep wondering when my older kids will catch on to things like this (and Santa and the Tooth Fairy). The Easter bunny always visits us on Saturday morning and leaves behind lots of goodies. This year he left new CTR rings for the big girls and little toys for the younger two. They also got the Tangled movie which has been viewed about a gazillion times since then.

David and I are very careful about Easter and try not to go overboard. We were raised to know that it is not a second Christmas for the family so we do very few gifts. By enjoying the festivities on Saturday we can then focus on the real reason we celebrate the holiday which is our Savior. We want our children to know that he made the ultimate sacrifice for us and we should always remember that.

What's behind door number one?

2011-04-14T09:16:00.001-07:00

I have had a lot of people ask me how I manage to fit 6 humans into such a small home. I though I would give you all a private view of just how it is done around here! Aren't you lucky??

We are going to start with the "linen" closet. Notice how it also houses some kitchen items.

Next we have this bad boy. This is a storage ottoman in the living room that hides the blankets, baby toys and who knows what else. I found a sippy in there the other day. It was an old one... with milk...yummy... See how much I can hide??

This is my indoor storage room. We have 3 industrial shelving units holding all the food storage.

Here is another view. This room is 11 feet long and 3 feet wide an it is FULL!

I bought this cube storage shelf at Target when we lived in our apartment downtown (now that was a small space...) I actually used the black cube drawers as storage for all of our socks (and no one ever knew that) and kept it in the living room there. Now it is in our bedroom and it hides other random crap.

See? Table cloths and place mats.

Remotes and our old cordless phone.

And baby items. Totally random but I know every little thing that is in the drawers!

This is Alyssa and Abbey's closet. One thing about my house is that there are NO dressers! We found these wire basket drawers at Ikea for $15 a set. They are perfect for what I need them for. All of my scrapbooks are also in this closet. And, yes, they have way too many clothes!

Here is a look at Avery and Anastyn's closet. Here we find all of our board games, most of my craft supplies and unfinished projects, baby blankets, and all of their clothes and dresses.

And now I will let you take a peek at my closet. Please don't judge me...

This is all of the shoes and the girls' dresses that don't fit in their closets. I have two of almost all of them.

Just over a year ago David and his dad installed my amazing closet for me! I measured the entire thing and drew up the plan of how I wanted it to look. We spent about a couple of hours on the closet aisle at Lowe's and purchased everything we would need. It took them an entire Saturday to complete, but it is beautiful and I will miss it when we move!

As you can see we used this space top to bottom!

Not pictured are all of the under-the-bed storage bins and our bookcases and I also want to mention that I have a bunch of other things that are stored in the basement of my parent's house. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) We also have another storage room off of the patio that is totally full of other things like the Christmas decorations, camping supplies, paint, and anything else I can stuff in there to forget about.

Now, aren't you so happy I let you in on my secret??

Avery's Birthday

2011-04-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

Bill's sugar coma! So cute!!

Avery turned 2 this year! (Two months ago.) We were at Grandma Jeri's house for family night and made some cupcakes so Avery (and Abbey) could blow out some candles.

While we were opening presents at home, each time Avery ripped off a piece of wrapping paper she would take it directly to the garbage. It took her forever to open them up, but it was a very clean process!

Abbey's Birthday Party

2011-04-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

This year for Abbey's birthday (two months ago) she wanted to have a friend party. I haven't let me kids have a friend party yet (mean, I know) because they are a lot of work! Another reason, is that we don't live near their school and I don't want to put anyone out by having to drive 15 minutes to get to our house, blah, blah, blah. Abbey decided she wanted to go ice skating with her friends. I figured that would be a good idea because the rink is close to the school so it wouldn't be too bad. She invited all her friends and was so excited to have a party. I think the thing she was most excited for the presents she would get. She wanted to have cupcakes for the party so I ordered gourmet cupcakes from So Cupcake on Highland Dr. They cost me about $30 for the dozen. I will not do gourmet cupcakes next time we do a birthday party, however, because Abbey's friends didn't eat them! They licked off the frosting and threw the rest away! They said they didn't really like them and one of her friends asked where the rings were. (The cupcakes that you get from the Walmart bakery come with plastic rings on the tops.) Next time that is what I will do! We had a great time and Abbey said that it was the best birthday party ever! (She doesn't really have anything to compare it to.)

Nap Time and Moving On

2011-03-28T09:43:00.001-07:00

After we returned from our trip to Indiana we decided it was time for Avery to be in a big girl bed. Mostly because Anastyn was too big for the bassinet and needed to be moved to the crib. It has been a huge struggle with Avery to stay in her bed. We finally had to move everything out that she could make a mess of. We took out all the toys, changing table, and moved the crib in front of the closet so she couldn't get into that either. We also put a doorknob cover on the inside of the door so she can't get out. Her closet contains all of my craft and scrapbooking supplies so she can do major damage if she gets into that stuff (which she has, hence the crib in front of the closet). She has gotten better, but she still falls asleep in random places around the room. She moves her pillow onto the floor at nap time and falls asleep in different spots all the time. These are just a few of the spots I have found her.

We have also decided (after long, long discussion) that we need to put our condo up for sale. We have put it off far too long. We have totally outgrown our place here. I have been really creative with our space, but there is only so much I can do! We need more bedrooms and a yard would be fantastic! Unfortunately we have to go the short sale route because the market has tanked since we moved in and we are unable to get what we owe out of it. That is one of the reasons we put it off so long, we figured the market would slow down and we would be able to maybe break even, but we see that it won't happen anytime soon. We have amazing neighbors and we are going to miss living here. It is just time to move on, we knew this would be a temporary place.

So if either of my two readers know of someone looking for a great place we would love to have you contact us!

Indianapolis for New Year's 2011

2011-02-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

This year for New Year's we took a trip to Indianapolis to spend the holiday with our good friends Chad and Anya Turner. We have been celebrating with them for the past 5 years so we needed to keep the tradition alive. Dr Chad is doing his residency at Indiana University for Orthopaedic surgery and they will be there for another 3 years. Chad and Anya were amazing hosts and really showed us a good time. They took us to the Indiana Motor Speedway Museum, the Indianapolis Children's Museum (which is the biggest one in the world), the Indianapolis Zoo, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and a couple local restaurants. I tried Indian food for the first time. I didn't really like it, but I was a good sport about it.

We only had Anastyn with us which was so strange. We have never left the girls for that long and I was worried that the baby sitters wouldn't survive (especially my SIL Ashley because she had Avery ALL WEEK), but they all did great! We missed our girls like crazy, but it was nice to give all our attention to the baby since she doesn't get much at home.

New Year's 2011

New Year's kiss

No, they are not drunk. They act like this completely sober! That is a bottle of sparkling cider that Chad is holding and yes, those are swedish fish in Dave's nose. Lovely, I know.

David's little brother had some wristbands made that say "I party with Eggers". We thought it was fitting to give some to the Turner's since we have partied on many occasions.

Me and sweet Anya. This is a terrible picture, it was almost midnight and we were SO tired!

In front of the art museum.

One of the art displays. This is right inside the front doors and it is made of small ropes.

My hunky hubby.

We had an amazing trip and wish we could go back!!

Christmas Day

2011-01-07T15:16:00.000-08:00

Alyssa and her scooter
Abbey and her scooter

New Barbie car

New Tag books

Avery and her new "shaloller" (stroller)

Avery got suckers in her stocking- her favorite

New clothes

Anastyn's new stacking toy and clothes

We had a great Christmas this year. We loved spending time with all of our families. We were so blessed this year. We love all of our sweet girls and are so lucky to have everyone happy and healthy!!

Alyssa's Birthday

2011-01-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

Alyssa turned 9 years old on the 23rd of December! I can't believe how fast time goes by! She was born on a Sunday afternoon- 4 days after her due date. I still remember everything about that day. She is such a good big sister and we love her tons! Alyssa was spoiled once again for her birthday. She got a new Barbie and new clothes from Mom and Dad, a huge Littlest Pet Shop set from Grandpa and Grandma Eggers, a new small Miche bag with 3 shells from Grandpa and Grandma Maples and Grandma Chrissie took her shopping where she picked out a Barbie make up set and fake nails. On her birthday we went to Pirate Island in Orem and played lots of arcade games. We went to the cupcake shop next door to Pirate Island and let her pick out what cupcakes she wanted for her birthday. We had a great day! We love you Sissa!

Beautiful Girls

2010-12-21T16:23:00.000-08:00

I needed some pictures of my girls for a gift we gave to David's Dad for Christmas, so I decided to save some dough and take them myself. I got my girls all cute and set my camera to it's sepia setting and snapped away. I took about 30 pictures of each of them! They were totally blind because the flash was going off so many times. I love how they turned out though. I don't have a super nice and expensive camera, but I have gotten a ton of compliments on these photos. I am sure it is just because the girls are so darling in the pictures though!

German Christmas

2010-12-06T11:20:00.001-08:00

Me and the Bishop (Dad)
The Nativity

Joseph and Mary (Dave and Marlee)

A Wiseman (Avery)

Angels (Hillary and Anastyn)

Angel (Abbey)

Shepherds (Alyssa and David)

My sis-in-law Ashley started us on a new tradition last year to celebrate German Christmas. We get together, have tons of great German food, and re-play the nativity. This is the second year we have celebrated and we had a great time.

Peterson Christmas Party

2010-12-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

Abbey, Cameron, and Alyssa
Abbey, Cameron, Alyssa, Ava, and Hannah

Grandma and Avery

Santa

Family picture with Santa

Daddy and Avery

Every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we have our Peterson Christmas party. Instead of exchanging gifts, we all donate what we would spend on each other to a good cause. This year we were helping out my cousin Brady's wife Jillian and a project she is working on. We donated learning toys and puzzles, snacks, and money to a center where they test children to see where they are in their learning. We also have a yummy breakfast and of course Santa came to visit!

That day was also the same day as the BYU/Utah game, so almost everyone was dressed to support their teams.

Thanksgiving...

2010-12-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday! Complete with NO PICTURES!! I forgot the camera, oh well! The food was amazing! Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls (I made them this year and after 8 failed attempts, they actually turned out really good!), creamed green beans (my FAVORITE!), and of course lots of pie. mmmmmmmm..... I think I need a repeat.
We also had a Wii bowling tournament. I made it to the final match and lost to my little bro Clayton.
That night we went home and slept for about an hour and a half and then headed out shopping. Yes, we are THOSE people! David secretly loves to go shopping all night long, I only sort of like it. We started at 11:00 pm and finished around 8:00 am. We got a lot done shopping wise, but Saturday we were vegetables. I slept most of the day, David played his PS3 and I am not sure what the older girls were doing, but they ate lots of snack food and made a disaster of their bedroom. It was worth it for all the good deals though!

Disney On Ice

2010-11-19T08:43:00.000-08:00

Abbey on the train
Mom and Dad on the train

We ran into our friends the London's. These are their daughters

Cambria and Kate with Abbey

In our seats waiting for the show to start

Lilo and Stitch

Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy

Lion King

Peter Pan

The Little Mermaid

Finale

On Veteran's Day we went to Disney On Ice. Abbey was the only child that went with us! We planned on taking Alyssa too, but she wasn't feeling well and decided she wanted to stay home. David's mom came over to watch the little ones, so she was ok to keep Alyssa with her too. It was really strange to only have one of the kids with us, we usually take them places in pairs or all together. It was fun to take Abbey by herself. She wanted to ride Trax to the show and I was totally ok with that since it meant we wouldn't have to find parking downtown. She had a great time other than the fact that we refused to buy her a $10 snow cone! Sorry girly, but that is a bit out of our price range for snow cones!!

Horseshoes with Grandpa

2010-11-19T08:31:00.000-08:00

My parents have a horseshoe pit in their backyard courtesy of Grandpa Peterson. He wanted to be able to pitch his shoes whenever he wanted to, so he asked my Dad if he would let him have one in his yard. Grandpa and Grandma live in a condo nearby, so he comes down to their house almost everyday and plays. We were at my mom's house two weeks ago and I happened to have my camera with me so I picked it up and snapped a couple shots of Avery playing with Grandpa.

The reason we were at my mom's house that weekend was because we (all of my siblings and Grandma Maples) gave her an early birthday present and cleaned her whole house. Top. To. Bottom.... She and my Dad went away for the weekend to celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary so we took advantage of the empty house and cleaned it all. We washed walls, all of the bedding, cleaned the "toy room" downstairs, scrubbed bathrooms and just about everything that could be washed we washed! She had no idea we were doing it and was so thrilled to have it done. My mom has been taking classes at LDSBC and has not had time to deep clean anything, so we did it for her. Happy early birthday MOM!!

Halloween parade

2010-11-02T13:21:00.001-07:00

This year the older girls wanted to be vampires for Halloween. It was totally easy, so I was happy about that. Abbey didn't want to wear any face make-up or the teeth, so I don't know why she chose a vampire, but that's ok. Anastyn was Minnie Mouse this year to carry on the tradition. All my girls have worn that costume for their first Halloween. I guess it is now time to pass it on to someone else! And of course we used this occasion to dress Avery in her Einstein costume!

E = mc2 (Oh, and Happy Halloween!)

2010-11-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend our ward had a Chili cook-off/Halloween party. Although we didn't win for best chili, Avery won for best costume! This year she was Albert Einstein. Her hair was the inspiration for this costume. David came up with the idea, and I went to work trying to find a lab coat that would fit her. I found one online and had them put "A. Einstein" on it. It took two weeks to come and it actually just came in the mail six hours before the party! I was so glad it came! We sprayed her hair with white hair spray and drew a moustache and glasses on her face. She won $25 and some pumpkin salt and pepper shakers! I had no idea they were giving away money, so that was a fun surprise. Everyone loved her costume and I can't even begin to tell how many comments we got on it! People kept asking if she had on a wig and when we told them that was her real hair, they were shocked.

On Saturday we decided to attend "Boo at the Zoo" with all the girls. They had a great time trick-or-treating there and seeing all the animals. We got even more comments on Avery's costume. Complete strangers came up to us and told us how adorable she was. After the zoo, we went to the Halloween carnival at SLCC. They also had a costume contest and once again, Avery won first place! This time she got a doodle pad and some glow sticks. That night we went trick-or-treating in the rain, but the girls loved it anyway. (Other that Abbey because she was grounded from going trick-or-treating.)

Alyssa's Piano Recital

2010-10-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Alyssa had her second piano recital. She played the song "Reflection" from the movie Mulan. She was worried because she was having a hard time memorizing her song, so the Friday before her recital she was practicing in my bedroom on the keyboard and she decided to say a prayer for help with her song. She memorized it and was so happy! She told me afterward what she had done and we were so proud of her to think of doing that. She did a great job at the performance with no mistakes! She is so amazing!

Sisters

2010-10-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

Until recently, Avery didn't even acknowledge Anastyn's existence. But lately they have been so stinkin' cute! Anastyn started rolling over a few weeks ago so Avery thinks she is wanting to play with her. Avery will lay down with her and talk to her. I love it! When Abbey was a baby, Alyssa did not want to hold her ever! Avery is always asking to hold Anastyn. She says " hold-choo" (hold you) and holds up her hands. She likes to sit in the baby swing or the bouncy chair and hold the baby on her tummy. The sad thing is that Anastyn is almost the same size as Avery.

Curly Sue

2010-09-08T12:18:00.001-07:00

Last week Avery had her 18 month well baby visit to the pediatrician. She weighs 23 pounds which is in the 25%. Her height is in the 75%. She is super healthy and has the personality of 5 toddlers. She never stops moving and is always making us laugh. Her hair is out of control because it is SO curly! She doesn't like to have ponytails in her hair. She will pull them out and eat them if I try to put them in. I love her curls and people actually ask me if I curl her hair everyday. I just think to myself, "What makes you think that I have time to curl her hair like that?" Seriously?!? She is adorable though!

My Friend

2010-09-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

I have one of the most amazing friends in the whole world! Unfortunately, she lives in Indiana so I don't get to see her very often. Anya was in town for the last couple weeks which is her last visit to Utah before she gives birth to her little girl in about 8 weeks. We had the chance to get together a few times while she was here. I taught her how to make some hair bows, we went scrapbooking and today we went to The Original Pancake House for breakfast since she is leaving to go back home today. Her hubby Chad was also in town last week and we hung out with them twice so we could play cards just like old times. Of all the times we got together, this is the only time we took a picture! Next time we see them, we hope that it will be in Indiana to see the new baby. I am saving my money!! (Any donations to the cause would be greatly appreciated!!)

10 years

2010-09-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

This is the spot where David proposed to me.

Flowers outside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

The reflection pond

On August 19th David and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary. I can't believe he has put up with me for that long! We were married in the Salt Lake Temple so I wanted to go downtown and take some current pictures of us. I was really happy with the way the temple pictures turned out. I made reservations for dinner at The Roof restaurant for dinner that night. It was a fantastic evening.

So,

10 years

4 beautiful daughters

5 moves

7 cars

5 family vacations

lots of happy moments

a few sad moments

ONE AMAZING LIFE!

Here's to the next 50 years together!

FatCats

2010-09-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

The week before school started for the girls we decided to have some family time together. David took that whole week off from work so we could do some fun things. I bought a coupon from KSL deals for bowling and pizza FatCats. It was only $30 for two hours of bowling, shoe rental, a large pizza, and two pitchers of soda. That is actually a pretty good deal considering that it would have cost us about $70 to do all of that if we paid full price. We had a great time hanging out.

David's Birthday

2010-08-08T14:15:00.001-07:00

David's birthday was on Wednesday the 4th of August, but it seems like we celebrated it for two weeks straight! The first get-together we had was with his mom and brothers the Thursday before. He is a twin and so we had them all over to celebrate early because his twin, Daniel, was going to Disneyland for the week of their birthday. His little brother Justin also has an August birthday so he was part of the celebration as well. Justin is starting school in Las Vegas so he wouldn't be here for us to throw him his own party.

That Sunday we went over to David's dad's house to party with them. We had dinner, played games, and had GIANT cupcakes and ice cream. So yummy!

On Tuesday I surprised him with his gift from me and the girls. He has been wanting a PS3 for a couple months and I just told him that we couldn't afford it. He agreed, so he tried to stop talking about it. I had been planning on getting it for him (thanks to the $200 RC Willey gift card we got when we bought our new bed) for a few weeks. He had no idea that I was getting him one. Hence the reaction in the 2nd photo here. He was shocked and he kept telling me that he couldn't believe I did that for him. (I must be a pretty awesome wife.)

On his actual birthday, we had homemade Cafe Rio salad and cake and ice cream. He wanted to go to dinner and a movie to celebrate his birthday, so on Friday his mom came over to be with all our girls so we could go out on a real date. We had dinner at the Blue Fish sushi bar at the District and saw the movie Inception. That night our older girls were going home with his mom for a sleepover, so we could go to his happy place on Saturday morning. That happy place would be "Happy Valley" (Provo, Utah). He is a big-time BYU fan and he wanted to spend his birthday money on new BYU apparel. We went to breakfast at Village Inn and then headed over to University Mall. He bought a new Jazz polo and then we went to the BYU campus bookstore. We bought a few new t-shirts for us and the girls, but they didn't have the jacket he really wanted so he was pretty bummed. Before we left BYU we stopped by the barbershop/salon and he got a haircut. He had a great birthday and we are finally done with all the festivities!

We love you babe!!

Avery's Little Injury

2010-08-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while I was trying to get dinner done, Abbey was playing with Avery and I heard her start crying. I figured Avery had just fallen down, so I really didn't think much of it. She wouldn't stop crying and she wouldn't let me put her down either. Anytime I tried to move her she would cry harder. I knew something was wrong so I told David we needed to take her to the emergency room to find out what was bothering her. At first I couldn't figure out what was hurting, but after a little while I noticed that she wasn't moving her right arm. Abbey told me that she was trying to get Avery up onto her back to give her a piggy back ride and that's when she got hurt. We went to Primary Children's because I thought that she might need an x-ray and that would be the best place to go since she was so little. After seeing the nurse, the nurse practitioner and the doctor they all told us the same thing- that it was "nurse-maid's elbow" which basically means that the ligament in her elbow had shifted because Abbey pulled on her arm really hard. All they had to do was pop it back in place and she was just fine. It was only minutes before she started to act like herself again. I am glad it wasn't anything too serious. They did tell us to be careful though, because now that it has happened to her, it could happen again really easily.

Peterson Reunion 2010

2010-08-04T14:41:00.001-07:00

This year for our annual Peterson Family Reunion we stayed in town instead of going camping. We had such a blast! We started out on Friday night doing "Minute to Win It" games and watching the movie "Up" together as a family. Sadly, I have no pictures because I thought I left my camera at home, but turns out I had it with me the whole time! Oh well!
Saturday began with a family 5k run. David decided to participate even though he does not run. He figured that since he has been doing P90X, he would have enough stamina to run the race. He came in 5th place out of about 17 people. I was really impressed! Plus he is super competitive, so I figured he would do well. After the run we had breakfast, which was dutch oven omelets and sticky buns. It was delicious!

Grandpa and Grandma Pete rented a bounce house for the whole day to keep the little ones entertained. They loved it!

Avery playing all by herself.

After breakfast we had out annual horse shoe tournament. I was partnered with my cousin Trent and we did okay the first game, but still lost and then we were slaughtered the second game.

The park had a merry-go-round which also kept the kids busy.

Avery playing ball alone.

After lunch it rained a little so we played some card games and David took Avery home for a nap. When he came back they decided to play softball.

Anastyn chilled in her bouncy chair for most of the day. She was being passed around for the rest and loved all the attention. I loved the break!

This was at the end of the day. It rained three times during the day and Avery decided to splash in the puddles. She was a mess as you can tell. In fact all the girls clothes had to be thrown away by the end of the day. They got so dirty that the stains would not come out. I was a little bummed because the shirts that Alyssa and Abbey were wearing were brand new.

For dinner we had grilled steak and lots of different salads. It was such a good dinner!

It was a long day, but it was so much fun to spend time with my awesome family. There are so many of us and we always have a great time when we are all together! Til next year!!

Happy 100th Post!- Anastyn's Blessing

2010-08-04T14:14:00.001-07:00

This just happens to be post number 100! These are some pictures from Anastyn's blessing day. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband who is worthy to bless our beautiful daughters. One thing that my mom pointed out is that he blessed all of our girls that they would be smart and seek knowledge. So far that is true! They are all so smart and we are so proud of them. As for Anastyn, he blessed her with a desire to be acquainted with those who have gone before her and learn about her ancestors. It was such a sweet blessing. I wish I had written down what he said, but I was busy wrestling Avery and trying to keep her quiet. We had a lunch with my family and David's family right after. It was such a great day. I went home that night totally happy with how everything went and that almost everyone was able to make it that day. Thanks to all who came and supported us!

How I Clean My House

2010-07-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

I know you are all dying to know how I clean. I call it "A-D-D" style. I usually start with laundry. I start the washing machine and then take the clothes out of the dryer. (The clothes in there have usually been there since the last time I did laundry. I NEVER fold the last load.) I start folding them and realize that I started that washer and didn't put any clothes in. So I return to the laundry room to put the clothes in. Back to folding. I then come upon something that needs to be hung in the closet before it wrinkles so I head in there for a hanger. While in the closet, I notice how unorganized it is so I start taking things out and making everything look nice. I find a toy that belongs to my girls so I take it to their bedroom. While in there, I notice all the little toys that pose a choking hazard for Avery, so I start cleaning all them up. In the middle of that I find a hair bow that Abbey wore the day before so I take that to their bathroom. I then notice that the bathroom sink is really dirty so I get out the cleaning supplies and start scrubbing the bathroom. They have a cup in there that they use to rinse their mouths that needs to be washed so I take it to the kitchen. I notice that the sink is full of dishes, so I unload the dishwasher so that I can re-load it. (I never unload the dishwasher until I need to fill it again.) After I finish loading the dishwasher I need to wash all the other dishes by hand but realize that I don't have any clean dishcloths because they are all on my bed waiting to be folded and put away. I head back to the bedroom and finish folding the laundry so I can come back later to finish washing the dishes.

I don't ever concentrate on getting one room completely done all at once, but eventually everything does get cleaned.

Girls Night

2010-07-19T14:51:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend, David went on a little fishing trip with my dad and brothers. We decided to have a girls night here at home. I knew I had to have all the plans written down on paper, otherwise the girls would put up a fight and want to get to the fun things first.

We had yummy brownie sundaes!

Abbey and Alyssa wanted their fingers painted as well as their toes.

A picture of all our toes.
Avery let me paint hers as well, but she wouldn't hold still long enough to get a picture of it.

Despite a few disagreements, we had a fun night overall. By 9:00 I was exhausted, but the girls still had tons of energy. I went to bed and Abbey was still playing with toys in her room while Alyssa watched a movie in the living room.

Bathroom Re-do

2010-07-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

I decided that I needed a project, so I thought I would change the girls bathroom. I got the color idea from my cute cousin Cortney's wedding announcement. (I hope she doesn't mind!!) Most of the items in there I was able to reuse. I already had the baskets, so I spray painted them black and glued on the green ribbon. I also had the candles already. I got the cheap-o towels, rugs and shower curtain from Target. The frames were only $6 for a pack of 4 so the whole project only cost me about $45! I thought that was pretty good and I am really happy with how it all turned out. My next goal is to paint my girls bedrooms, my bedroom and my bathroom. We will see if that actually happens!

2 month Appt.

2010-07-13T07:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Anastyn had her 2 month check-up at the pediatrician. I was really anxious to go because she is so chunky and I was dying to see how much she weighs. Here are the stats:

Weight: 12 lbs 12 oz!! 90%

Height: 23 inches 75%

Her head is in the 70%

She is such a good baby. She is always smiling and I even got her to laugh the other day. I love that she will snuggle and that she smiles when I kiss her cheeks.

4th Festivities!

2010-07-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

Avery was hiding from the sprinklers.

Avery was not a fan of the sprinklers.

After the parade we took the girls over to Grandma Jeri's house to run through the sprinklers and have a BBQ. It was so nice and relaxing.

On Sunday we celebrated with our friends David and Kristin. We had another BBQ and let the girls play in the water. Between the two of our families we have 6 girls! Kristin is pregnant with a boy right now though so she is breaking our streak. We also did fireworks with them. Abbey always has the funniest reactions to things like that. She would say "Oh that was magical!" and jump up and down.

We watched the Magna fireworks from our car on Saturday night and she would say things like "that one looked like honey pouring out of the jar!" or "that one looked like a person shouting hooray!". She is the queen on adjectives.

Magna Parade

2010-07-06T12:43:00.001-07:00

Abbey said she wanted to get sprayed and once she got wet she was mad. She said she didn't want to get that wet. Silly girl!

My dream car. I even love the colors.

Me and Anastyn

David and Avery

Alyssa and Abbey

This year we went to the Magna parade. The girls had a blast and got tons of candy. The weather was perfect this year too. This parade always starts at noon so it is usually blazing hot but this year it was only 80 degrees at that time of day.

Anastyn

2010-07-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

Cute Smile

Anastyn with Grandma Maples

These are the latest pictures of our baby girl. She is the BEST baby. I thought Avery was good as an infant, but Anastyn is way better. She only gets upset when she is hungry or has a messy diaper. She smiles all the time and is super mellow! We love this little girl!

Memorial Day

2010-06-23T07:33:00.001-07:00

We had a really nice, relaxing holiday. We went to Grandpa Maples grave and Grandpa Green's grave that morning and left a flag for each of them. That afternoon we had a BBQ at Grandma Jeri's and Grandpa Alan's house. They have a fun backyard with a new swingset and a horseshoe pit. I played a couple games of horseshoes and my team won. My very first throw was a ringer! I was suprised at how good I played.

My Diva

2010-06-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

I call Avery my little diva. She is way into all things "girly". She loves to put on everyone's shoes and walk around the house. She will pick up a bag or purse and put it on her arm and tell you "bye-see ya!". She loves to be with me in the bathroom and mimic me putting on make-up. I just love this girl!

Barely Surviving...

2010-06-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to update for awhile, but things are a bit crazy around here. I am really lucky if I can get Avery and Anastyn to nap at the same time, but then I just want to sleep, so then I don't get much done. Anastyn is getting up at least once, sometimes twice, to eat at night. She is a good baby and she usually goes right back to sleep, but I am so tired all day. Every day is different, somtimes I can get lots of cleaning done, and other days I look at the clock and it is already 2:00 pm and I haven't gotten anything done. It has been really nice to not have the girls in school right now. I really like having a flexible schedule and not have anywhere that I have to be. I will probably start back to work next week, but the great thing about my job is that I can go in whenever I want to and I leave as soon as my work is done. I only work about 5-6 hours a week so it is easy. And I can take kids with me, so I will be taking the baby.

Can I also say how much I love Aflac and Conseco?? I am so glad that we signed up for that insurance coverage! We received the checks this past week in the mail and we have already spent some of the money. I called the hospital billing office yesterday and they told me that if I pay my bill within 14 days they will give my a 20% discount. That saved me almost $300! We had to splurge just a little bit though. We have been meaning to get a new bed for a while. The one we have is saggy and it is a crappy size. When I worked at RC Willey I bought a floor model "olympic" queen size bed, not a good idea. I have never had bedding that really fits because it is 6 inches wider that a regular queen and you can't buy bedding for them in any store, unless you have bedding custom made which I am too cheap to do. So, as soon as we got home, I got on to Kohl's website and used my 30% off coupon to order new bedding that will fit my new "regular" queen bed. I am so excited!

I Will Not Survive...

2010-05-19T18:08:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow David goes back to work. I could just end the post right there. 'Nuff said! I am so glad he took off so much time to be home with us. It has been so great to have his help with taking kids to school, holding the baby so I can sleep, and changing all of Avery's diapers (he doesn't like to change "little butts" so that is my job, which is fine by me). As of tomorrow I will be doing it all on my own during the day. I am terrified! Avery is all over the place and into everything! The only time she stops moving is when she is napping. I generally don't mind it, but when I am nursing the baby I have no control over her to stop her from getting into everything. We will see how things go tomorrow. Hopefully I will make it through this, my house might not, but I might...

On a side note, Avery had her 15 month check up today and she is doing great! She weighs 20 lbs 8 oz. She had to have one shot but she only cried for a minute. She is talking like crazy too, she is a little parrot and she tries to mimic everything we say. A few things she says are
*dado (daddy)
*mommy
*Abbey
*hi baby
*bipee (sippy)
*hi
*she will also sing the "Happy Birthday" song with me.
*ello (hello)
She is a feisty little girl but we love her!

The long awaited post..

2010-05-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

OUR BABY IS HERE!! Baby Anastyn Joy is here and we couldn't be happier! She was born on Tuesday May 11th. She weighed in at 8 lbs and is 18 1/2 inches long. She was born with a head full of dark brown hair, which is a big change for us because our babies are born BALD! She is so stinkin' adorable and the other girls are so sweet with her. They were so excited to finally meet her. Thanks to everyone who helped us out while we were at the hospital. We have the best family! They took such good care of our girls while we were there.

Life has not slowed down at all since Anastyn joined the family. (Why would it??) We found out last Saturday that Abbey has strep. I took her to instacare because she fell at recess and sprained her wrist. While we were there she told the doctor that her throat was sore so they swabbed it. They called me a few days later and told me that the test came back positive. Also, Avery has been acting sick, so David took her to the pediatrician today and she has an ear infection. She threw up yesterday and this morning and hasn't wanted to eat anything. It will be nice to have a long weekend to be able to rest and hopefully get everyone better! I had a 2nd degree tear from giving birth so I have been on pain pills and pretty out of it. David has been amazing! He is so helpful with the girls so that I can get lots of rest. We have a really busy week ahead of us and he is going to be taking care of it all! I have the best husband! And he is pretty lucky to have so many sweet girls to take care of him!

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

My Mother's Day was actually really nice. It started out with David and the girls making me a delicious breakfast! And by "delicious" I mean soggy cereal (Honeycomb) and cold toast! YUM! It was actually very sweet of them. They all gave me a card and the girls gave me the traditional "school gifts". I stayed home from church because we found out the day before that Abbey has strep throat and she was still contagious. We went to my Mom's house for dinner, which was yummy and then we played Dr. Mario for about an hour. It was great!

Tomorrow is my big day! I am so glad that it is finally here. We spent the weekend getting things cleaned and ready for AJ to join the family. Today I am packing all the girls' things and getting them ready for their sleepovers. And yes, I kept them home from school. I decided I didn't want to drive today, so my kids are entertaining themselves with Spongebob re-runs. I have everything arranged so hopefully the girls will be okay while I am in the hospital.

9 days!

2010-05-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

Now I can say that I am only days away from having this baby girl on the outside of my body! As of May 11th I will no longer be pregnant! I can't wait. I love giving birth and I am actually looking forward to it. Not only because I HATE being pregnant, but I feel like it is something only I can do! However, we are not ready at all for this. Yesterday David and I were discussing everything we still have to do to get ready. I have a list a mile long that needs to be finished and I can barely move. It is funny how different it is preparing for your first baby as opposed to your fourth. We were prepared months in advance for Alyssa to be born, and this time I don't have a thing ready to go. I am really stressing about what to do with the other kids while I am in the hospital. You don't realize how busy you are as a mom until you have to arrange for someone (or lots of people) to replace you for a few days! It is madness! I am sure everything will work out though. I have an amazing family that I know will take great care of my girls while I am relaxing in the hospital.

So Done!!

2010-04-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I am one who does not really like being pregnant. I am sure most people know that because I am sure I complain A LOT! (Sorry friends...and family...and strangers in the grocery store.) This pregnancy has actually gone pretty fast and hasn't really been too bad. I haven't been really sick or had too much heartburn. I have been feeling pretty good for the most part until about two weeks ago. I am in constant pain! My lower stomach hurts like crazy. I feel like this baby girl is just going to fall out the front of me. Part of the reason, I am sure, is that my belly grew 3 cm in two weeks. Normally your belly expands just one centimeter a week. I have a feeling this baby is going to be really big. Every time I stand up I have a contraction. I am dilated between a 1-2 and 40% effaced.
I am thinking that my kids are also sick of me being pregnant. Abbey really wants me to lay by her and pick her up and I just tell her I will feel better after the baby is born. My kids have to pick everything up off the floor for me too. I told Alyssa to find Avery's missing shoe the other day and she said, "Mom, it's right there." "Where?" "Right by your foot," she says. Yes, it was right by my foot, but can I see my feet? NO! She just laughs at me. Hopefully our little baby will decide she wants out as much as I want her out and come early, but I am not that lucky. I am going to talk to my doctor next week about inducing a week early, so maybe she will join our family for Mother's day. That would be awesome!!

My little sis..

2010-04-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

I just have to say that I have the best sister in the whole world! I pretty much grew up with all brothers. I wanted a sister so bad that I prayed to have one. Hillary was born when I was 10 1/2 years old. When I was twelve she was two years old and I prayed that Heavenly Father would take her back!! She really made me crazy. I got married when she was 8 years old so we have never really been close until now. She is literally my right hand. Anytime I need help cleaning or a babysitter she is the first person I call and she is always willing to help. (I do pay her, so maybe that is her motivation.) I know I drive her friends crazy because she is always telling them she has to help me or that is busy taking care of her nieces. I can't thank her enough for all she does for me. I know that someday when she has her little family I will pay her back! Thanks Sis- I love you!!

Easter Clothes

2010-03-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we dressed up in our new Easter clothes for church. Well, all of us except Abbey. I bought the girl's dresses from Kohl's this year and got a really good deal on all of them. The girls were so excited to wear them. The problem was that Abbey wasn't listening (does she ever??). I asked her more than once to brush her teeth, which she pretty much refused to do. I told her that if she didn't brush her teeth, then she wouldn't get to wear her new dress. Well, you can tell who lost the battle. Abbey is wearing last year's Easter dress. I wasn't too thrilled with my dress though. I bought it online from Old Navy and I thought it was white not gray. It is really comfortable so I decided to keep it. David calls it my graffiti dress. David got a new tie and sweater vest and he looked so handsome! I have such a good lookin' family!

We have been really busy lately, I guess that won't change anytime soon! The pregnancy is still going well. Baby A.J. will be here in a matter of weeks! It has gone by so fast. We have decided on a name, but I am not going to post it yet. We have had a really hard time deciding on a name and part of the reason is because when I tell people a name that I like they make a comment or tell me they know a "home-wrecker" with that name, or something else. So, now David and I have agreed on a name (thanks, Julie!) and I don't want to hear any reason why we shouldn't use it. So stay tuned if your curious.

Last week I had SEP's with Alyssa's teacher. I love her teacher this year and I wish she could be Alyssa's teacher for the rest of elementary school. Alyssa is doing amazing in school this year. She is testing above all the average levels for where she should be. She is reading on a 4th grade level! We are so proud of her! Her teacher says that she is always doing what she should be and that she is really kind to everyone in the class. Her teacher says that she can trust Alyssa. Good job girl!

Abbey is really bored in school, so she is losing interest. I really think everything is too easy for her. Her homework is really simple. She loves to read, so I make sure she is at least reading books that are above kindergarten level so she is learning something new.

Avery is growing so fast! She is walking everywhere and is getting into everything! We now have to keep all the doors closed because she is so curious. She really loves splashing in the toilet. She has such a sweet personality and is happy all the time. My only issue with her is that she will only sleep in her crib. It makes it really difficult when we are visiting family during nap time and she absolutely refuses to sleep in a pack and play. She will literally cry for an hour if I put her in it. The only person she will let rock her to sleep is Daddy. He is her favorite! She lights up when he gets home. I think that it is supposed to be that way because when A.J. is born her world will be turned upside down.

David is almost done with his Associates degree in Math. We are still deciding whether or not to continue on for the engineering degree, but it is getting so hard because I need him at home more!

Girls Getaway!!

2010-03-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

L to R: Jen, Sharol, Me, Julie, Nicole, Jana, Amy Rachel, Emily, Suzy, Nicolette, Chelsea
Jana, Nicole, Julie, Me, Nicolette

Jana, Emily, Amy, Rachel, Suzy

This past weekend I was lucky enough to get to hang out with some awesome friends and enjoy a little getaway to Park City. Nicole came up with the idea to get all the ladies in the neighborhood that could go and stay a night at a hotel. I called the Landmark Inn in Park City and asked them if they had their family suite available. I have stayed there before when I went with all my Aunts, cousins and Grandma. The room was available for the weekend we wanted, but it was $389 because it is peak season right now. Well, I told them that I had stayed there before and we used that exact room and it was only $209 in October (because that is not peak season). To my suprise, she decided to give me the better rate because we had used that room before. I was so happy! The room sleeps 13 people and is very nice.

We had a great time there! We ate dinner at Baja Cantina and stopped over at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a sweet treat for dessert. We all stayed up really late chatting and laughing! I went to bed a little earlier than some, but I just can't stay up all night when I am pregnant. And I knew that I would be up early, so I decided to get a little rest. Some of the ladies were up until 4:00 AM!! We had a fantastic time and it is so fun to get to know them all a little better. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed out for some shopping at the outlet mall. Most of us just bought our kids some new things, but it was fun to shop. I love buying new things for my girls. We finished off with lunch at Wendy's/Subway because we all spent our money on clothes. I really hope we make this a tradition and do it again next year! Thanks Ladies!

Car Repairs...

2010-03-18T13:47:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago as I was waiting for Alyssa to get out of school, a big van (bigger than mine) drove slowly by and lost control of one of the doors and slammed the front fender of my beautiful car. I was playing a game on my phone, so I wasn't paying any attention to the outside world when this happened. It scared the crap out of me! I got out of the car and got the neccessary info from the other driver. He and the passenger both felt really bad about what happened and they apologized. When the passenger got out he said, "That dent wasn't there before, was it?" I said "No it was not there!" I didn't feel the need to call the police since the damage was minor and there were no injuries. I drove home and then decided to call the police just to make sure that the other car was insured. I was definately not paying for this repair. The cop told me that they were indeed insured, so I called my insurance company and got the ball rolling. It took two weeks for the other people to finally contact their insurance (after they were called many times by the adjustor). So yesterday I took the can in to be repaired. As a rental, they gave me a 2009 black Chevy Tahoe. It was a gorgeous vehicle and I didn't really want to return it! David and the kids all suggested to me at different times that we should just let them keep our van and we would trade them for the Tahoe. It only took 24 hours to get our can back, but now it is good as new! I think I know what our next car will be though.

Cougar B-Ball

2010-02-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day this year I bought David tickets to a BYU basketball game. The game took place yesterday and we had a fun time! I have never been to a BYU basketball game before, but they put on quite a show. We had some pretty bad seats, they were way up at the top and I thought I was going to sweat to death that high up in the stadium. David was very sweet though and he bought me ice cream at half-time. The Cougars lost by two points. It was a really good game and it was close the whole time. We were bummed that they didn't win, but it was nice to have a day out with no kids. A couple highlights were that during half-time the Cougarettes performed a dance that was choreographed by Napoleon and Tabitha from "So You Think You Can Dance". Another thing was that while we were walking around the stadium to find the portal for our seats, I almost bumped into Ashleigh and Ryan from the same show! After we passed them, David said to me, "Did you see who that was?" I told him I did and I couldn't believe I almost smashed Ashleigh. I wish I had a camera with me! One more thing was that they announced that Carrie Underwood is going to be performing at the Stadium of Fire this year at BYU. That would be a fun concert to see!

On my mind....

2010-02-19T08:33:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: This post is really long and probably boring!

This is our year. For the past two weeks I have been reading Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. I have heard hin on the radio before and my parents have read his book and swear by it. One thing that is great about him is the fact that he is religious and he always says to pay 10% to your church (tithing), so it fits so well with what I already believe. I have been wanting to read it for a while now and this year my parents gave it to me for my birthday. They were really worried that I would think that it was a lame gift, but it really has been the best gift so far! David and I have made some DUMB choices when it comes to purchases. Sometimes we just don't want to wait for things, so we use credit to pay for them. I really hate that I am one of those poeple! We always regret it later. I really hate to say that we have credit card debt, so I just pay my payments and ignore it. Well, this month in the Ensign the Visiting Teaching message is all about getting out of debt. David and I have decided that enough is enough and we are committed to paying it all off this year. That is my goal, to be debt free! One of the other motivators is that we can't move out of our condo until all of it is paid off. We want to be able to afford a bigger house, but the thing holding us back is all the stupid payments we have toward debt! That, and the fact that the market stinks right now, so we couldn't get what we wanted out of this place anyway. Our three bedroom two bath home is getting smaller everyday and with baby number 4 on the way, it is a wonder how we fit all of us in this little place.
We just filed our taxes last night and we should be getting enough money back to make a huge dent in our debt and get our $1000 emergency fund in place. We have some money saved, but sadly not enough to cover that. The other thing we have to look forward to is the insurance money we will get back after A.J. is born. We signed up for two poilcies (Aflac and Conseco) a couple years ago that will pay us $5400 when we have the baby. It paid all our medical bills and more when we had Avery and that is one of the reasons her and the next baby will be so close. Most of these insurance companies have discontinued these types of policies because they don't make any money on them (DUH!). But since we still have it, they will have to pay us. So, when we get that money back, we will be able to pay more things off.
It is so amazing to me that there is an end in sight. I slept so well last night knowing that we are finally going to get out from under this boulder. I can't explain how excited I am to not have to worry about debt anymore. This is all really hard for me to admit, I almost didn't post this because I hate to hang my dirty laundry out to dry! There isn't anyone in the world who wants their faults out there for the world to see! But I feel like if I do this, it is one more thing to keep me motivated. Wish us luck! This is going to be a really tough year!

Birthday Weekend

2010-02-15T07:13:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was a big one at our house! Abbey turned 6 on the 6th, I turned 28 on the 7th, and Avery turned 1 year old on the 8th!! It was pretty crazy! We had a big birthday party on the 6th and we were all so spoiled. Abbey got tons of new clothes, new Tag books, money, and lots of other fun things. Avery also got tons of new clothes, a baby Cabbage Patch doll, and a busy ball popper (which was the life of the party). We had a great time celebrating with all of our family.

Avery loved her cake, she was really mad at me when I finally took it away from her. She loves sugar just like her momma!

Avery also had her one year check-up last week. She weighs in at a whopping 18 lbs! She is in the 5th percentile for her weight. I forgot to check her height, but she is in the 75th percentile there. She has had a cold, but at the appointment I found out that it is actually an ear infection. We started her on regular milk and stopped using bottles. She has done really well so far. She started to take a few steps on her birthday, but she still hasn't mastered walking. She will just crawl if she wants to get anywhere because that is faster for her. We also bought her a new carseat. She can't face forward yet because they changed the carseat recommendations so that kids have to be 30 lbs and 2 years before they can switch. Usually we buy gender nuetral carseats since we always wanted more kids, but now that we know our next (and last) baby will be a girl, I went with a pink seat.

My actual birthday was on Superbowl Sunday. I was not really happy about that because the last thing I wanted to do was watch football on my birthday. It turned out ok though, we hung out with David's family. We had pizza and snacks and for my birthday cake we had Leatherby's ice cream cake. It was SO yummy!

Discovery Gateway

2010-02-15T07:08:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago I took the girls to Discovery Gateway. They were so excited and I had a really hard time getting them to leave.

NEW YEARS!!!

2010-01-02T16:27:00.000-08:00

My little cutie pie! I just love this girl!
Me and Anya

Me and my lunatic hubby

David and Ashley's self portrait

Playing Band Hero

We had such a fun New Year's bash! David and I love to party and play games, so we usually host the party at our house. Our awesome friends, Chad and Anya, were in town from Indianapolis so that we could continue our tradition of hanging out on New Year's. We have celebrated together for the last 4 years! We also had all of my married siblings and their kids over too. My parents came for a little while, and then headed to another party. We played a bunch of games and had so much fun! Alyssa and Abbey were determined to stay up till midnight and they did! They wanted to have some sparkling cider with the rest of us. Thanks to everyone who came and hung out with us! We had such an awesome party. And thanks to all of my neighbors who let us use their spare parking spots!

My Sweet Alyssa...

2010-01-02T16:16:00.001-08:00

My sweet Alyssa turned 8 on December 23rd. I can't believe how fast eight years has gone by! Today was the day she was baptized. She was so excited to be able to get baptized! She really has been looking forward to this day for a long time. I still remember the day she was born into our family. We are so blessed to have her and we are so proud of her and her example. We gave her a set of brand new scriptures with her name on them. She was so happy to finally have her very own set. We love you sweetheart!

Christmas Festivities!

2010-01-02T16:03:00.001-08:00

We have had such a busy holiday season! I will give you the rundown of all that happened in a nutshell! The Sunday before Christmas we always celebrate with David's Dad, Becky, and brothers. We always have a yummy meal and open presents. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them. On Christmas Eve we always have brunch with David's mom and brothers. We played some fun games and opened more presents! Always a good time. That night, we had dinner with my family and opened, you guessed it, MORE presents! We have such amazing families and we were spoiled yet again. A few things we got this year were; food storage, new clothes, a food scale (so my bread loaves will finally all be even!), and new toys for the kiddos.

Christmas morning was really fun. The girls were so excited to see what Santa brought for them. Alyssa got a new bike, a Barbie glamour jet, and some new clothes. Abbey also got a new bike, a Tag reading system, and new clothes. Avery got a walk and ride toy and new clothes as well. They also got some new movies and Wii games. David got Band Hero, new shoes, and new clothes, and I got new pots and pans, boots and, yep, new clothes! This year we had my parents, Grandma Maples, Hillary, and Clayton over for breakfast at our house. That afternoon we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Peterson's for the traditional soup and rolls. That is one of my favorite things about Christmas. We came home and just relaxed the rest of the day. It was really nice!

What's in a name??

2009-12-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

I am just going to vent for a minute so bear with me! I feel like there is so much pressure to come up with a name for our new little baby girl. Obviously we will stick with the "A" tradition. I have come up with a couple name that I like, but when I tell people the names, sometimes I get comments about the names. If I suggest something to David sometimes he will say a word that sounds like that name and ruin it for me! I am getting so tired of trying to come up with a name. So I have made up my mind and I am not going to decide on a name for her until she is born. That way no one can tell me they don't like the name or try to change my mind because it will be too late. So don't get upset with me if I say that I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to offend anyone, but I am just getting frustrated. I really don't like to be negative about things, but this one subject is getting to me!

The results are in....

2009-12-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our big day! Most likely our final ultrasound. As many of you know I am prego with baby number four. I wanted my last two close together, mostly because I don't like being pregnant and I really want to get it over with and really be able to enjoy my kids. We were really hoping for a boy this time, we love our girls, but we thought it would be fun to get something different. Well, too bad, because it is another GIRL!!!! I was totally shocked! I just could not believe it! I really thought the odds were in our favor. David was pretty bummed at first, but last night he told me that he was really excited to see our new little girl's face. He really is so good with girls so I can see why Heavenly Father would trust us with such sweet girls. We have no idea on any names, we feel like we need to use another "A" name, but middle names have us stumped. I refuse to use the name Charity as a middle name, so maybe something like "Joy" or "Love". Any suggestions would be appreciated! Someday when we have a bigger house I think we will have to build David a "man-cave" so he can have some time away from princesses, dress-ups, Barbies, and all the other girly things that invade our home.

Avery's Stats

2009-11-09T17:06:00.000-08:00

Avery had her nine month check up today and here are the stats:
Length: 27 1/2 inches (50%)
Weight 16 lbs (10%)
She is a small fry! Tall and skinny!

As for my blood test results, all the viruses they tested for came back negative. That is good news and bad, I am glad that there isn't a bad virus taking over my body, but I still don't know what it is! It is very frustrating, hopefully it will go away soon!

Blog Catch-up

2009-11-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

A lot has been going on lately, life is crazy! So I will catch up on all that has been going on in our lives.
David has been really busy with projects at work and school. Sometimes I feel like we only see him on the weekends. He was able to take a couple days off work a couple weeks ago and we got a few little projects done around the house. We (David) installed a "hotel" style shower curtain rod in our bathroom and also put in a new toilet paper roll holder. Abbey broke ours about a year ago and we have never fixed it. He also hung some hooks in the girls room so they have a place to hang their coats and backpacks. It was really nice to have him home for a few days.

To all those that didn't already know, I am pregnant with baby number four. I am about 13 weeks along. We are really excited, we wanted our last two close together. Really, I just hate being prego and just wanted to get it over with! I also have been sick lately, not pregnancy sick, but I have had a low-grade fever for about 3 weeks. I am really tired all the time and have no energy to get anything done. My house is a disaster and I am WAY behind on the laundry. I have had a lot of help though from my family. David has done the majority of the grocery shopping and taking care of the kids, my parents have brought dinner over a few times and my dad even came over and did my dishes. My sister Hillary and her friend Paul came over last week and cleaned my bathrooms and dusted the furniture. Everyone has been so wonderful. Last Tuesday I had my first OB appointment and my doctor decided to run some tests for different viruses to see what is going on with me. There are 3 viruses that are not good to have while you are pregnant (like mono) so we are hoping it isn't one of those. I should find out the test results this week. I am just so tired of feeling this way! The pregnancy is actually going well, I really haven't felt too sick. I have only thrown up 4 times so far, and for those that know me, that is a big accomplishment. I threw up 3 times a day with my last pregnancy. (Sorry about all the complaining!)

Alyssa is loving school and is doing really well. Her teacher loves her and has nothing but good to say about her. I am so proud of her. She has also been a really big help to me while I have been sick. She helps with Avery a ton! I am so lucky to have her as a daughter!

Abbey is also doing good. She likes school and is also doing well. She has a huge personality and she is really busy all the time.

Avery is growing up too fast! She is so sweet and we love having her around! She is nine months old now. She is standing up and walking along the couch. She will be walking soon for sure. She loves to watch Alyssa and Abbey play. You can tell she just wants to join in the fun. I will update with her new stats after her check-up tomorrow morning.

In other news, David's Grandpa Pugmire passed away on Friday night. He was diagnosed about two weeks ago with stage 4 cancer that was in his liver, lungs and pancreas. They originally gave him three to six months and he only lived to a couple weeks. We just saw him in July at their house in Bear Lake and he seemed fine. We will really miss him!

School Parade

2009-11-08T09:58:00.000-08:00

Trick-or-Treat

2009-11-08T09:47:00.001-08:00

On Halloween we had David's family over for dinner and game night. The girls were so excited to go trick-or-treating. Chase even came over to join in the fun. Alyssa and Abbey were both dressed as witches this year.

Picture Day

2009-11-08T09:19:00.000-08:00

My Niece Marlee
Alyssa

Abbey

My nephew Chase

Nephew Hunter

Nephew William

Avery

Avery and Hunter

Last month (October) we had family pictures with my side of the family. After the pictures we went over to the playground and let the kids play. They had a lot of fun. The family pictures turned out really cute too.

Sleepy Girl..

2009-11-08T09:06:00.000-08:00

I thought this was really cute. Avery fell asleep on her stuffed animals.

Ladies Night Fun!

2009-09-30T18:30:00.001-07:00

Every other Tuesday night the ladies in my neighborhood gather for a ladies night. We do it after bed time so we can put our kiddos in bed and then hang out! It is always so much fun! Sometimes we end up chatting until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. Our latest project was these Halloween buckets. My cute friend Mindy made one a little while ago and we all loved them, so she was nice enough to show us how and help us do it all. I love how they turned out! The girls were so excited to have a new bucket to Trick-or-Treat with. I love Halloween so I was happy to do this project. Thanks Mindy for all your hard work!

Updates...

2009-09-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

We have been super busy lately! With Abbey in kindergarten and Alyssa in second grade, I am doing a lot of driving! I am so glad I get to be the one to drop off/pick up my kids from school though. It is sad to see the little kids that are picked up by the daycare workers. I love being able to see their happy faces after school. They both are loving school!

Alyssa had parent teacher conferences last week and her teacher had nothing but good to say about her. She is doing really well and she is really friendly to her classmates. I was able to go to her class last week to hear her present a book report project that she worked on. She did great! Before I left the class sang two songs to me. It was so cute.

Abbey is the tallest person in her class. On her first day of school when all the kids were lined up to go inside I noticed that she is at least a head taller than the other kids. It always makes me laugh because for those of you who know us know that we are not "tall" people. She is also loving her class and is always happy when she is done with school. Some of the homework she brings home is the same as what she learned in preschool, so I hope as the year goes on it will get more challenging.

Avery is 7 1/2 months old now. She is crawling all over the place and has now figured out how to stand in her crib by holding onto the side rail. She has two bottom teeth and I think she is going to get some top ones soon. She is always so happy and we love having her as a part of our family.

As for me, when I am not driving, or sleeping, or working, I have been making a lot of hair bows. My friend Kristin and I have been making them together and it has become my new favorite past time. Our goal is to sell them, but we usually end up liking them so much we just want to keep them all! I do have some that I plan to sell and I will probably post some pictures on here if anyone is interested.

Our Labor Day Adventure

2009-09-25T11:50:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day we thought it would be fun to take a picnic into the mountains and take a "walk" through nature. We deciced to go up Millcreek canyon and find a good spot to eat our lunch. I guess the rest of Utah had the same idea as us, so there wasn't a good spot to eat. We ended up eating our lunch in the car. Lame, I know. Then we drove to a spot where we could find a trail. David and I are NOT experienced hikers by any means, so we really didn't know of a good trail to take. We drove into a parking lot at a trail head. We found what is called Desolation trail, which is very fitting. We started walking and we found the sign that said you could hike 2 miles to a Salt Lake Valley overlook. That didn't sound so bad, so we started hiking. It was a rough trail! It zigzagged up the side of the mountain and was pretty steep. Our fellow hikers were passing us going up and down the trail. The girls got so sick of hiking! We were probably just a few minutes to the overlook and both of them sat down and said they were done! On the way down both girls had to go to the bathroom. It's times like these that boys would be so much easier! Because the trail was so steep, you couldn't just walk off the trail to pee. We waited till there were no other hikers around and we let Abbey sit over a log and go potty. Once Alyssa saw what Abbey had to do, she decided she could hold it. We survived the hike, but we will do our research before we try it again. I really wanted to see the overlook so maybe David and I can go alone next time.

Chuck E Cheese

2009-08-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

Grandma Jeri took us to Chuck E Cheese last week and we had so much fun! The girls could play there all day. One funny thing that happened was while we were eating, Chuck E Cheese came out to visit the birthday kids and we noticed Abbey was missing. My mom and I looked all over to try to find her. We asked the employees if they had seen her, and no one knew where she was. I went back over by the tables to see if she was laying in one of the booths, and I saw her under our table. She was hiding from Chuck E Cheese because she was scared of him! It was so funny! She stayed under there until he left. Thanks Mom for the fun day!

Alyssa's first day of school

2009-08-25T21:08:00.001-07:00

Alyssa started 2nd grade on Monday. She was so excited to start school. She loves her teacher and she seems to be having a great time so far. Today when I picked her up she told me she had an AMAZING day! I hope this contiues all year!

Abbey will start kindergarten next week. She met her teacher on Monday and she is really excited to meet her "new best friend" at school this year. When we met with her teacher, she told us that where Abbey is now is where she should be by the end of kindergarten. She is a smarty pants! Her teacher told her that she can help her friends in her class so she was really excited about that.

Cabela's

2009-08-25T21:02:00.001-07:00

The girls wanted their picture with the guy who was missing a hand.

On Saturday we went to Cabela's. The girls love that place.

6 months old!

2009-08-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

Our little Avery is 6 months old now! She is such a sweet baby and I can't imagine life without her. She is starting to sit up on her own, though she is still a little unstable. She loves to roll around and she is happiest when she is on her tummy. She smiles all the time and she rarely cries. She sleeps about 9 hours at night so I get plenty of rest. We had her six month check-up last week and she is now up to 14 lbs (15%). So she is a small fry! I don't remember her height or her head size, but they were both in the 50%. She had to get two shots and she only cried for a couple minutes. She ended up just falling asleep as soon as we got in the car. One thing I found out at her appointment though is that they changed the car seat requirements, so kids now have to be rear facing until they are 30 pounds instead of 20. At the rate Avery is going, she might be two years old before she reaches that size.

I also had an MRI done on my wrist because it has been bugging me for a couple of years. Just over a year ago I had a cyst removed (sucked out) from my wrist and I thought that was the problem, but I still have weakness and sometimes it hurts. I figured since I have already met my out or pocket amount (from having Avery) for my insurance that this would be a good time to get the MRI since it wouldn't cost me anything. The cost of an MRI is about $1000 for each body part that gets scanned. One of the doctors I work for thought I may have a torn ligament and having an MRI would show that. Luckily, nothing major is wrong with my wrist, but there is some fluid in my joint. My boss (Dr. Fotheringham) said that he could do an injection of human growth hormone and that should help. I will probably have that done next week. After an injection you have to take it easy for a couple days or you could make the damage worse, so I need to have it done close to the weekend so I will have David around to help me.

Our Anniversary Weekend

2009-08-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

David and I have been married for 9 years! This past weekend we were able to celebrate even though our actual anniversary isn't until the 19th. David took Friday off, so we took the girls to Raging Waters for a few hours. The girls had a blast! We could have stayed all day, but Avery needed to be home.
Every year for our anniversary David and I book a room at a bed and breakfast. We have stayed at lots of different places and we have some favorites. This year we booked a room at The Alaskan Inn. We stayed there a couple years ago and we loved it so we thought we would go back. I called Friday morning to make sure they had our reservation and they said they had us booked for Saturday night instead of Friday. We were really bugged because we made the reservation over a month ago. The room we wanted was booked for that night and the only room available was $300 a night which is way out of our price range. So we called around to a couple others and we were able to get a room at the Armstrong Mansion downtown. We haven't stayed there before so we were excited to stay somewhere new. David's mom came over and stayed the night at our house to be with the kids. We went to Cafe Rio for dinner (romantic, huh?) and then headed to the hotel. We payed a little extra and they brought us a banana split for two to our room. It was so delicious! On Saturday we were going to see a movie, but we decided to do some school shopping instead. We went to Jordan Landing and went to Old Navy, Kohl's, and TJ Maxx. We found some really good deals on clothes for the girls so we felt good about what we got. We had lunch at Chili's and then did some grocery shopping at Walmart. We got home and my house was so clean! My mother-in-law did all the laundry and dishes. She is amazing! It was so nice to be able to get away for almost a full 24 hours!

Lately...

2009-08-05T08:40:00.000-07:00

We have been really busy this summer! It feels like as soon as we get home from somewhere we have to pack up to go somewhere else! We went to Reno/Lake Tahoe in June, Sigurd for the 4th of July weekend, Bear Lake for the 24th and then David and I are going to stay a night at the Alaskan inn for our anniversary next weekend. Yesterday was David's 31st birthday! We got him a BYU watch, t-shirt, and golf towel. He also wants to get an IPOD, so he is saving his b-day money for that. We went to Winger's for his birthday dinner and enjoyed the asphalt pie for his birthday dessert.

It has been a crazy week for us, Abbey got the "24 hour" bug that was going around the neighborhood and was really sick most of Friday and Saturday. Alyssa got it from her and was sick last night. They are both really anxious to start school, but I am not because I am not looking forward to taking them and picking them up multiple times during the day since Abbey will be in kindergarten and Alyssa in 2nd Grade. It will be a rough year. Avery is just about 6 months old and is getting big way too fast! She is rolling over and she does some kind of back crawl where she scoots on her back to get places. It is really funny to watch. She hasn't mastered sitting up yet, she is still pretty wobbly. She will have her 6 month check-up next Tuesday, so we will see how she is growing. I am concerned about her spitting up though, so I am going to talk to the doctor about reflux. She spits up every time she eats. I have tried 3 different types of bottles and even switched her formula to soy. Nothing seems to be helping, so I am going to ask the doctor about that.

I also got to take Alyssa to the Oquirrih Mountain Temple open house. Abbey was sick, so David stayed home with her and Avery and I just took Alyssa. It was so pretty, but a lot of walking. We went around to the front and took some cute pictures. Alyssa told me that I should put them on Facebook! I must be on there too much! It was pretty cute. Thanks Alyssa for the mommy-daughter date! I had a great time!

Check Mii out!

2009-08-05T08:38:00.001-07:00

The girls thought it would be fun to make a Mii for Avery. This is how it turned out!

Bear Lake

2009-08-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

Me, Alyssa, and Abbey on the boat.

My dad and his white legs! (He NEVER wears shorts!)

Avery and Dad

Avery's feet in the sand. She loved the feel of the water.

Avery's cute smile! Cousin Andrea is holding her.

My Dad playing horseshoes.

David took the girls out on the UFO.

My cousin Katie's little boy Conner. He is SO cute!

Avery eating her toes.My nephew Hunter.

This year for the Peterson Family Campout we went to Bear Lake. We were able to stay at the Inn at Snow Meadows and the huge house next door called The Grand View. They were so beautiful. The two houses are brand new and we were the first people to stay at the Grand View. It was an awesome place to be. We were able to spend a lot of time at the lake and we had tons of fun. I love to be on the beach! We spent most of Friday at the beach and then we came back to the house and had dinner and got ready for the family talent show. It was really funny. Saturday we went back to the beach after we checked out of the house we stayed in. We had the annual Peterson Family Horseshoe Tournament on the beach. Grandpa Pete wins every time!

4th of July Weekend

2009-07-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

This year we spent the 4th of July with David's family at their cabin in Sigurd, Ut. We had such a fun time there. We decided to go to the Gunnison parade. It was basically livestock, tractors, and local royalty. They throw out lots of candy and we even scored a couple t-shirts!

This is the biggest piece of farm equipment I have ever seen. It took up the whole road!

This one was pretty big too.

This is a prize winning bull- it is massive!

You might be a redneck....

Me and Avery

Avery and David

Alyssa and Abbey eating the popsicles they caught.

While we were there, David took Abbey on a ride on the four wheeler. They went with David's dad and brothers Kason, Dallin, and Justin. They were gone for about 2 hours, but Abbey had a good time. I wasn't sure she would like it, but she did awesome. We also went to see the fireworks at Gunnison Valley High School and we saw the movie Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

*As a side note, the day we left to go out of town we had a really bad rain storm. Once again, we had water come in under our sliding glass door and it buckled our wood floors again. We are not sure what we are going to do about it since the people responsible (the glass company who installed the door and the builder, Trophy Homes) are now both bankrupt. The HOA is trying to come up with a solution, but we don't know yet what is going to happen. I will update on this when I find out details.

Lunch with Friends

2009-07-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

Kristin, me and Leslie
The babies- Shelby, Avery, and Kate

All the girls together- Sarah, Grace, Alyssa, Abbey, Shelby, Avery, and Kate

Last week I was able to have a couple of my favorite friends over for lunch at our house. It was really nice to be able to sit and chat with adults during the day. That really doesn't happen very often for me. Kristin, Leslie and I haven't gotten together for a couple years so it was long overdue. Between the three of us we have 7 girls! None of us has a son. Kristin's girls are Grace and Kate and Leslie has Sarah and Shelby. The older 4 (Alyssa, Abbey, Sarah, and Grace) all had a great time playing dress-up. The baby girls were all born within 2 months of each other. Avery is the oldest, Kate is two weeks behind her, and Shelby was born 6 weeks after Kate. We had a great time!

Avery's 4 month check-up

2009-06-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

I took Avery to her 4 month appointment on Monday. Time goes by way too fast when your kids are babies! She is still really small though. At her appointment she only weighed 11 lbs 14 oz. That is the 25th percentile. Her head and her height are in the 50th percentile. I started her on rice cereal about a week ago and she loves it. Hopefully now she will gain a little weight! Alyssa and Abbey love her so much and they can't get enough of her. The first thing they do every morning it come in and say hi to her. They are such good helpers with her. They love to hold her and she loves to smile for them. She really is such a good baby! She only cries when she is hungry. When she has a messy diaper, she doesn't really cry, she just kind of grunts at me so I know that something is bugging her. She is getting really good at sleeping through the night. She usually sleeps from 10:00 until 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning. I am one who really needs my sleep or I am not a happy person, so it is really good for me that she is doing so well.

Splashing at the Gateway

2009-06-20T15:55:00.001-07:00

Alyssa and Abbey

William

Abbey, Marlee, William, Ava, Hannah, Alyssa, and Chase

Abbey, Ava, Marlee, and Alyssa
Chase

On Friday, I decided I wanted to go to the Gateway for the Chalk Art Festival. I was really excited to see the artwork, but none of the pictures were done and only a couple of them had been started. I was really bummed because the billboard for the festival says it was Friday and Saturday. I assumed that meant that the art would be on display all day both days. ( David tells me that's what I get for assuming!) My sisters-in-law Ashley and Brooke, my mom, and my cousin Amy and her husband Chad all went with us. We let the kids run through the water for a while and they had so much fun. Everyone had swimsuits except for my girls, so they got wet in their clothes. It was such a fun outing and I had fun taking some cute pictures. These are a few of my favorites. Maybe next year we can go on Saturday and actually get to see the artwork!

To our friends...

2009-06-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

Last night (Tuesday) we had our last supper with our friends Chad, Anya, and baby Lincoln (Avery's boyfriend). They are leaving us to move to Indianapolis for Chad's residency. We met the Turner's almost four years ago when we made a big move and sold our house in Tooele to move to a little two bedroom apartment downtown so David could go back to school at the U. It was a huge sacrifice for us since we were downsizing quite a bit from our 4 bedroom house. The only good thing about giving up my house was meeting our new friends. Chad and Anya were the managers of the building and after a few months we started hanging out with them all the time. We spent a lot of weekends playing cards, watching movies, and just sitting around chatting. A few of our favorite games have been nines, hand and foot, and boggle. When we first met, Chad was in his first year of medical school and now he is a doctor. Time has flown by! We prayed so hard for them to get to stay in Utah for residency, but because he is going into Orthopedic Surgery he was lucky to match at all (Indiana was their 11th choice). They will live there for about 5 years and hopefully they will come back to us after that.

We went to dinner at Robintino's in Bountiful and then went to Dairy Ann's after for some ice cream. We took a few pictures of our last time hanging out with all of us there. If we are lucky, we will get to see them again during the holidays. We are going to miss them like crazy!

Busy Weekend!

2009-06-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

We had another busy, fun, and adventurous weekend! It started with helping our good friends Chad and Anya move out of their apartment. We got to their place at about 9:30 am on Saturday morning. They were mostly done, so we helped clean and load a few things. That day was also David's company Lagoon day, so as soon as we were done, we headed north. While on the freeway, we were stuck in traffic because of a really bad accident and it took us 1 hour to get from downtown Salt Lake City to Bountiful, which normally would take about 10 minutes. We had lunch at Applebee's and then headed to Lagoon. The girls were so excited to go and they couldn't wait to get there. There were a lot of rides that Abbey wanted to go on last year, but she was just 2 inches too short to ride them. This year she was tall enough and she was thrilled! She even got Alyssa to ride some rides that she wouldn't normally want to ride (like the Bat and the Ladybug Bop). We got there around 2:00 and we stayed until 9:30. We would have stayed a little longer, but Avery was really upset. She had only slept about 15 minutes the whole time we were there, so she was super tired. We had a fun day though. David's company pays for the tickets to get into the park, the dinner for everyone, and they do a drawing for prizes after dinner. The whole day is free, which is nice because the fee to get in now has gone up to $41.95! We have never won any prizes until this year, we won a $50 gift card to Costco.

This is how Avery spent the day, in the carseat.

Sunday morning, we got up really early to go to a baby blessing. My best friend Kristin and her husband David were blessing their new baby Kate. David did a great job blessing the baby. It was a beautiful blessing. Just as we were getting ready to leave for the blessing my mom called and said that they had water damage in their basement and they needed help going through the boxes that were down there and getting things cleaned up. They didn't lose too much, but a few of my little brother's pots that he made had cracked because they hadn't been fired yet. We spent most the day over there helping and then we played games and had dinner. We came home and sat on our lazy butts for the rest of the evening, we were SO TIRED!

My Great-Grandparents Funeral

2009-05-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

Faye and George Peterson
Faye Johnson Peterson 1917 ~ 2009 George P. Peterson 1914 ~ 2009 Faye Elaine Johnson Peterson, age 92, passed away on May 23, 2009. She was born April 6, 1917 in Wilford, Idaho to Edward William and Lucinda Pincock Johnson. Faye is survived by a brother, Norman (Rita) Johnson. Preceded in death by sister, June Brewer; three brothers, Gordan, Vaughn and Albert Johnson. George Peter Peterson, age 95, passed away May 21, 2009. Born May 20, 1914, in Plano, Idaho, to Joseph M. and Sarah Minnie Chandler Peterson. George is survived by his sister, Leda Lee of Ogden. Preceded in death by parents Joseph and Sarah Peterson; one brother Evain Peterson; two sisters Pearl Smith and Belle Hemsley. George and Faye were married in the Logan Temple, July 26, 1935. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they were dedicated servants. They are survived by their seven children: Elwood (Myrna), Ronald (Kathy) of West Valley City, UT; Larin of Clinton, UT; Linda Adams of Rexburg, ID; Gene (Dawn Marie) of Manti, UT; Wayne (Betty) of Payson; Nancy (Lyle) Chandler of Rexburg, ID; 44 grandchildren, 109 great-grandchildren and 19 great-great-grandchildren. They are preceded in death by their son, Rex. A special thanks to all at Legacy House of Taylorsville Assisted Living for their kindness, love and affection shown at all times and especially at this time. A funeral service will be held Thursday, May 28, 2009, 12:00 noon at the Hunter Village Ward, 7035 West Loch Ness Avenue (3605 South). A viewing will be held Wednesday, May 27, from 6-8 p.m. at McDougal Funeral Home, 4330 South Redwood Road and at the church 10:30-11:30 a.m. prior to services. A second funeral service will be held Friday, May 29, 2009, 1:00 p.m. at the Sugar City 4th Ward, 6 North Teton Avenue in Sugar City, Idaho. A viewing will be held from 11:30-12:30 p.m. prior to services. Interment, Sugar City Cemetery. Today was the funeral for my sweet great-grandparents! It was such an amazing service. Last week they passed away within two days of each other. Grandma told Grandpa he had to go first because she was scared so he did! We will really miss them, but we are so happy that they got to go together. They were such amazing people and I learned so many new things about them! I have a couple things in common with each of them. I get my love of ketchup from Grandpa (I eat ketchup on all my meat!), and the fact that I am a pretty good speller from Grandma. I have so many memories of them! It was so neat to recall all the good times we had with them up in Idaho. They moved to Utah a couple years ago to live at the Legacy House. It was so nice to have them closer to us. I have some pictures of my girls with them too. I am pretty sure that Alyssa was their first great-grandchild and Abbey was the second. We have such a huge family and it was great to get to see some of my relatives that I haven't seen in a while. I want to share the poem that was printed on the back of the program. It was written by a nurse, but I don't know if it was one of their nurses or not. It fits them perfectly either way! ETERNAL LOVE Today the Lord came down and took My love away from me. "Oh Lord," I prayed, "please don't you know how lonely I will be? Please bring him back and let me share the life I planned for us. Oh listen to me Lord," I prayed. "Please bring him back! You must!" I fell upon my knees and cried. I begged and prayed all night, When suddenly my darkened room Began to fill with light. My husband stood before me, His face so pure with love. "Oh thank you, Lord, you brought him back. Thank you dear God above." "No, dearest," said my sweetheart I can't come back, you see, I'm here because your love's so strong You get to come with me!" -Jamie Shorp, RN

Sleepy Girl...

2009-05-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

I found these pictures and thought I would post them. Abbey loves to play the computer! One night she was in our room playing and this is what we found when we decided to put the kids to bed. Abbey asleep with her hand still on the mouse. She also had her blanked wrapped around her. Maybe she was planning on sleeping there all night!

Also, Abbey had her kindergarten appointment with the doctor last week. I decided not to tell her that she was getting shots because for those of you know Abbey, I would NEVER get her to leave the house! I just told her that the doctor needed to make sure she was healthy enough to go to kindergarten. Abbey's height is off the charts this time! She is in the 110% for her height and 90% for her weight. When it came down to the shots, she was really scared! I had her on my lap with my arms around her body to hold her arms still. The nurse poked her with the first needle and Abbey jerked. She had to pull out the syringe before she could give the vaccine. The nurse then went and got another nurse to come hold her legs still. Abbey is very strong and even with help I still had a hard time holding her. Abbey was screaming! I have never heard her scream like that before. After the shots were done, she said she thought she was going to die! It was so sad! I have never cried when my kids have had shots before, but I was really close this time.

We also got a letter from the Gifted and Talented Department of the school district and Alyssa was not accepted to the magnet program. It was actually kind of a relief because I really didn't want to switch her to a new school again, and after talking to my friends (who all seem to be teachers), it may not be the best option for her anyway. One piece of advice they gave me was that it is a real confidence booster to be the smartest kid in a regular class as opposed to being a smart kid in a class with all smart kids! So, needless to say I am glad the decision was made for me and I don't have to stress about it!

Another side note, I got Avery to laugh yesterday! It was so cute, I recorded it on my phone because I was the only one home and I wanted my family to be able to hear it too.

Girly Get-together!

2009-05-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, my friend Amy (Sweat) Huish was in town visiting her family and she wanted to get a group of her friends from junior high and high school together. It was so much fun to catch up with everyone! Most of these ladies I haven't seen since high school. In this picture is (L to R) Liz (Zink) Roper, Amy, Me, Margie (Rydalch) Diamond, and Kristin (Sanderson) Elswood (with her baby Kate). Amy's friend Kathy was there as well, but she had to leave before we could get the picture. We all had our kids there too, so there were about 10 girls and only 2 boys. Thanks Amy for planning this get-together, I had a blast!

Abbey's Preschool Program

2009-05-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

On Monday night Abbey had her end of the year preschool program. It is always a great show! It is so fun to see what the teachers can get the kids to do! Abbey was Cinderella and she was so excited to be a princess. She has been practicing her song for weeks. I really thought when it came down to the program that she would refuse to sing because she hates when we listen to her singing. She always gets really shy and stops, but she surprised us all! She got up there and sang her heart out! It was really cute. She was so excited to wear her new dress. I also made new bows to match her dress and she made sure that I put them both in her hair. We gave her some sunflowers after the show and she was so happy. She tells everyone that they are her flowers.

Lunch with the Ladies!

2009-05-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, my mom had all of the girls over for a Mother's Day lunch. There was My mom and her mom (Grandma Pete) and mother-in-law (Grandma Maples), me and my mother-in-law (Christina), Ashley and her mom (Gina), Brooke and her mom (Janet), and Dayna and her mom Laurie. When we arrived, the table was set with her beautiful china and goblets (some of which were mine, and they have never been used. I didn't even remember what they looked like!). The first course was the salad, she made the kind of salad that has strawberries and poppy seed dressing- so yummy! The main dish was chicken cour don blue, ranch potatoes, and green beans. For dessert we had angel food cake with vanilla ice cream and cherry topping. The food was so good! I felt like I was in a fancy restaurant and that I should have been paying for my meal. The best part was that there were NO KIDS! Not even the babies were there. It was so nice to relax and have a good chat with all the ladies in the family. I decided this was going to be a tradition!

After we ate, my mom gave out gifts to everyone! We were all so spoiled! She gave each of the daughters a journal that we can write things in that we would hope our kids learn from us to help raise their children, but before we get them our moms are writing what they hope we learned from them growing up. I thought that was such a cute idea. I am looking forward to my mom giving it to me so I can see what she wrote. Then she gave all of the daughters and her mom and mother-in-law Willow Tree statues. My mom made sure she gave us all a statue that had meaning for us. She gave me the mom and daughter one. I love it! I have always wanted one and so I am so happy I finally got one. She gave all the other moms a little Willow Tree box that they can put their little treasures in. She also gave us a copy of a poem she found from the Internet. It was perfect, it said:

Real mothers don't eat quiche; they don't have time to make it.
Real mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in the sand box.
Real mothers often have sticky floors, filthy ovens and happy kids.
Real mothers know that dried play dough doesn't come out of carpets.
Real mothers don't want to know what the vacuum just sucked up.
Real mothers sometimes ask "Why me?" and get their answer when a little voice says, "Because I love you best"
Real mothers know that a child's growth is not measured by height or years or grade...
It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother.

Thanks Mom for such a wonderful afternoon!

Abbey is so funny!

2009-05-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

Abbey says the funniest things sometimes, I just always forget to write them down! So this is really just for me and my journal purposes. Today we were driving to David's work to take him to lunch and we passed the 1st Bank of Utah. She says to me "Mom, where is the 2nd Bank of Utah?" She makes me laugh!

Our new toy!

2009-04-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

David has literally been begging for a Wii for about two months. We thought about getting one for Easter, but after the Priesthood session of conference ( I don't know who, but someone mentioned not spending money on "unnecessary" things) he thought maybe it wasn't a good idea. And really we just didn't have the money to get one. The real problem with buying a new game console is all the "extra" stuff you have to get! Nintendo really likes to nickel-and-dime you big time! Well thanks to Aflac and an unexpected hospital stay two weeks after the baby was born, we are now proud owners of a Wii system. I really wanted to get the Wii Fit, so I got one. (I figured I deserved it since I was the reason we get the extra money.) When I had talked to Aflac after my second hospital stay they told me that I might get $100 per day since the bulk of the money they only pay once a year and I got that money from when Avery was born. When I checked the mail on Monday, we had a nice surprise from them, $1115! I couldn't believe it! I told David that since we weren't expecting to get that much, we could finally get a Wii, and he was so happy! I must say that I love Aflac and I will definately sign up with them again if we decide to add more kiddos to the family. I love that you can make money from an insurance company instead of paying money for insurance you may never actually use! It is great!

I also took Avery for her two month check up yesterday and she is doing awesome. Here are her current stats:

10 lbs. 14 oz (50%)
23 1/2 inches (75%)
15 inches around her head (40%)

She had to have two shots and the drink for Rotavirus (sp?). She did really good. When the nurse gave her the first shot she shook her head and seemed okay, but when she got the second one she started wailing! She was not happy! She calmed down pretty quickly and fell asleep as soon as she was back in her carseat. She was a little fussy last night, but she seems to be her normal self most of the time.

Avery's Blessing and a busy weekend!

2009-04-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to blog about Avery's blessing this whole week, but I have been very busy! (Mostly I have just been outside with the kiddos and the other moms in the community enjoying the awesome weather!) Avery was blessed this last Sunday by her Daddy and it was a great day. He did an amazing job, it really was a beautiful blessing. I can already tell that Avery has a very special spirit. We had a luncheon at my parent's house with our grandparents, parents, siblings, and a few close friends. It was a really beautiful day! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Avery in her blessing dress. Right after we got to my parent's house she had a blowout diaper and was a mess! I had to put her back in the dress she had originally worn to church that day. I also forgot my camera so these are the only pictures of the occasion. All of these pictures were taken by Abbey too! She is actually really good at taking pictures and she loves to do it. Anytime she sees a camera she picks it up and starts taking random pictures. We have to keep the camera put away or we would be replacing the batteries all the time!

The day before Avery's blessing was a very busy day. The girls had a primary party in the morning, David and I had tickets for the Desert Star theater, and we celebrated David's mom's birthday. I also had to get everything ready for the blessing, take and pick up David's suit from the cleaner's, give all the girls a bath and cut David's hair. I couldn't feel my feet by the end of the day! It was a great day though. It was fun to be able to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday with David's family. We wished Joe and Jamie and Justin could have been there, but we still had a good time.

I can't believe it is almost summer! Alyssa is almost done with first grade! She is growing up so fast. She will be turning 8 this December. Abbey only has a few weeks of preschool left. She has her program coming up on the 11th of May. I can't wait to see it! She loves to sing, but she only sings when she thinks no one is listening. I hope she gets up there and sings her heart out! Avery has her two month check up on Tuesday (even though she is closer to three months old). The doctor is very busy and he was booked clear through April and I made her appointment the day we left the hospital (Feb 10th)! David is playing on two softball teams this year and sometimes fills in on a third team when they are short some players. He loves sports and I love that he can do the things he enjoys. We love to watch him play. He has his finals coming up next week and then he is taking the summer off school and I am thrilled! It will be nice to see him more. I am staying busy just being mom! I feel like I am in the car all day long (really it is only about 3 hours a day ;)). I am looking forward to school being out so I don't have to drive so much. I still love my job, and I am happy that I get to take Avery with me. She is such a trooper and she spends more time in her carseat than out of it. I hope she continues to love her carseat or I will be in big trouble.