New Year's Party

This year the Petersen Christmas party was over New Years. That was basically because that's when we were coming up to visit. Brenda was in charge this year and she scheduled a big party- including a sleep-over at her house. (We actually slept at Karen's who lives down the street). It was a fun time to visit and let the cousins play together.

We had a nice dinner first - mashed potato bar (the mashed sweet-potato casserole was heavenly). Then we went on a scavenger hunt that took us all over the valley. We were split up into 4 teams. Our team went to Walmart, then McDonalds, then Bensen Marina, then to the statue of Big Blue on Campus. Chris and Tyler didn't do to well. Doug had to go back with Chris, and Tyler fell asleep in the car - but oh well, the other cousins had fun. Tyler was hysterical when we got back so Doug and I went to Karen's when we got back and put him and Chris to bed. Doug went back over the party and stayed with Damon and put a Lego set together and visited. I stayed at Karen's and played with my new phone and read the Hunger Games (a re-read for our book group).

In the morning we had a nice breakfast of waffles and eggs and bacon. Later I went shopping with the moms and got some sweaters. The kids played in the snow even though it was so cold. We had pizza for lunch then we headed back over to Grandma's in the afternoon. It was a fun time to visit with family.
We had a dance line going in the basement for awhile - fun to see people get their groove on.


Wesley is just a few months younger than Chris, they'll be good friends.

Snow

Here's a quick shot of what Doug built for the boys. He's a much better builder than me. It's a rocket-ship if you can't tell. He made nice little seats inside too for the boys. Too bad it's so cold right now or they'd be out playing in it. (we're lucky if it gets above 20 degrees).

Christmas 2010

Well, I'm finally getting to Christmas. We did our own thing at home again this year. For Christmas Eve I asked Doug what he wanted to have for dinner and he requested French Toast - so that was a fun change. We read the scripture story and sang some song . We also opened a new family game: The Cat in the Hat, I can do that. It was pretty fun, but pretty easy - we'll have to make a few alterations to make it more challenging.

I baked all week to have things ready for Christmas day - so I didn't have to spend all day in the kitchen. We had muffins in the morning and a ham dinner later with rolls, mashed potatoes, cranberry jello, creamed beans, carrots and pumpkin pie and cheesecake for dessert. I also made banana slush, peppernuts, peanut brittle and penuche for treats.

One thing we did differently this year is wait to put all of the presents under the tree until Christmas Eve, after the kids are asleep -so they wake up to all of their presents. My family usually had some presents under the tree so you could shake them etc. But this made it fun to see them all at once. Here's our tree:They got into their socks first.
Santa brought a Lego set and a T-Rex Dinosaur Train talking figure for Damon.

Tyler got the Dinosaur Train from Santa.
It was a fun day, Doug was able to stay home from work which was great and we just enjoyed opening presents and then playing with the boys all day. Some toys didn't hold their interest as long as we would have hoped, but they still liked all of their presents.
Here's a quick run down for the record:

I got some new clothes, apron, biscuit/cookie cutters, bubble bath, hair clips, Music and Lyrics, and the soundtrack to Hairspray - thanks Doug. (I also got a bunch of stuff from my mom that we got later when we went up to visit. The main thing was my new boots - I love them. They were quite pricey but I think they will be worth it, and hopefully last forever - Thanks mom).
Damon's pile - besides the stuff from Santa the other main things were a camera and clothes from us and a Lego set and walkie talkies from Grandmas.
Tyler is about the same, camera and clothes from us, Lego set and play doh set from Grandmas.
I didn't take a picture of Doug's or Christopher's stuff. Doug got a nice watch, some clothes, some tools, and an outdoor thermometer since our old one had died. Chris got some clothes, CastleMarble works from us, a peekaboo toy and train cars from Grandmas. He got some Dinosaur Train figures from Santa, but of course Damon and Tyler play with them more than he does :).

We also got Cootie for a family game.



It was a fun Lego day for all the boys, including Doug. He got out his big set and built it again, so this is a picture of all the Legos we have right now - I'm sure we'll get more :).
Merry Christmas. This Blog was basically about the presents so I can remember, but I am grateful for the Christmas season to focus more on our Savior and to be able to spend time with family. I love the traditions we have and listening to Christmas music. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Damon's part

Kindergarten Christmas Program

Damon had his school Christmas program today. He did a great job. He said his part the best out of everyone (I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother - there were some wow's said in the audience when he was done - you can hear it on the video above). They sang some cute songs and every kid got to say three things: A part of a script (Damon's was: 'I' is for the ice on snow covered hills, where sledding is fun in spite of the spills). Then they got to say: I've been very good this year because ____ Damon said he had been good because he took out the garbage - which he does do sometimes. And the third thing was saying what they wanted for Christmas. Damon said he wanted a Lego set with a car and a ramp with a blue helicopter. It's nice that he still wants what he told Santa last month - so we will have a happy boy Christmas morning. Damon loves school and likes to play with his friends. I should put in a note that he has been chasing girls at recess and trying to kiss them - ohh no it begins already!

We were there early so Tyler went up and sat on the steps.

FHE

We played Twister for FHE activity yesterday, the boys had fun and so did Chris. A note about FHE, Tyler always has a "comet" (trying to say "comment") or a problem that we need to discuss and Damon has a hard time sitting still, but he knows a lot of his scripture stories and gospel stuff.

Snow - Finally!

Yeah, it finally snowed yesterday - December 20th. It was the first time we've had to shovel this season - but it was heavy wet snow, hard on the back. But it was great for making a snowman. We tried to get dressed and ready to go out while Chris was taking his nap, but of course he woke up right as we were heading out. So we bundled up Chris and took him out with us. He tolerated the cold alright. The boys threw some snowballs but really had fun sledding down our little hill in the backyard. I also tried to make a train in the backyard, but Christopher was needing some attention.

Park in December

Well, it wasn't too cold last week, so we went and tried out our new park. They have redone the city park by taking out all of the sand and some of the old playground equipment. They put in new play stuff and filled it in with bark. The boys had a lot of fun trying it all out. It's nice when the city takes care of things and makes changes for the better.

December Photos

Here are just some random pictures I wanted to post.

The boys looked so nice before church I had to get a picture by the tree.My brother Richard made me some name blocks to match Tyler's - now their shelves are done :) Thanks Richard they look great!Chris pulls up to everything now and is always on the move. He also is a good helper. He put away a lot of the blocks the other day.

Christmas Tree

Doug went with the YM to cut down Christmas trees last week. Damon was able to go too, so he enjoyed some daddy time. They picked us a great one - very tall like last year. I love putting up all of the ornaments and thinking of the memories that go with them. Damon and Tyler were very good helpers. Tyler definitely had his favorite spot on the tree- he hung about 6 balls on one branch.

Christmas Traditions

So the boys ask all year to get out our Christmas train - so now that it is that time of year we were finally able to get it out. They had a lot of fun watching it go round and round. Chris wasn't too sure of it when it was going, but was very curious about it when it was stopped. This of course upset Tyler and wanted me to move Chris so that he would not get the train. We've put it away for awhile now since we don't have our tree yet to put it around. We did get out our other decorations, here are the boys decorating our little Christmas tree.

Another tradition for us is making gingerbread. I asked the boys what they wanted to make this year. Tyler asked for a train, but we made one two years ago. So we went with Damon's idea of a robot. I think it turned out pretty well, and was pretty easy to assemble - which is always a plus. We enjoy our fun Christmas activities.
They of course wanted to eat the candy more than put it on. Yummy candy-canes.

Thanksgiving

Well, again I didn't take very many pictures of Thanksgiving. I'll have to ask my mom for some of hers. Anyway, we had a great trip up to Cache Valley. The roads were a bit icy on the way there - but only for the first bit. We got to mom's around 9:30 pm , the boys were all asleep so that was good. They have a hard time sleeping in the truck, but we manage.

We went to my grandma Datwyler's for the main dinner on Thanksgiving. We had quite a big crew this year. It was fun to see my cousins and get together with family. The rest of the weekend was basically a chance to visit with my immediate family. Richard and Tannie came over every evening to play games. We played Porto Rico, Band Hero, card games, Killer Bunnies and had lots of fun. We stayed up probably too late, but hey we don't see each other very often.

I went shopping with my mom the day after thanksgiving and got a lot done. I found my perfect pair of boots - they were unfortunately NOT on sale. They will hopefully last a very long time and make the price worth it. I also found a cute sweater that was on sale :). We found most of the toys and clothes gifts for cousins and had fun shopping in general. We went at the perfect time, the early bird crowds had gone and the later shoppers hadn't come yet. So we didn't have to wait in too long of lines.

I also went and saw the new Harry Potter movie with my mom and sister-in-law. It was very good. Very close to the book. Now we're all excited for the last one.

Doug was great to let me do all of these fun things. He got to do a little bit of shopping while I took the boys to the Fun Park (see pictures). The boys had fun and they each got to play one arcade game.

We decided to leave Sunday morning (not go to church) to avoid the snow storm. I-15 was slushy and slick in parts, but after Heber and Daniel's canyon it was perfectly dry. We're always glad to visit, but also always glad to be back home too. I'm so thankful that I have such a wonderful family - thanks for letting us visit and play.