My New Nephew

It's been so long since I posted anything I'm having to remember how to do it all over again! But it's worth it for this post :). My sister Nicky just had her forth baby and I got to go see him yesterday. She was more than a week overdue, so we were pretty anxious to meet this new little guy. What a sweet experience it was holding this new angel and feeling the peace in the room. It was wonderful! Love you Nicky and Jason, congratulations!!!

I love my sister, but seriously it's unfair how beautiful she looks after delivering a baby! Ok, I'm done with my jealous rant :). She really does look amazing though!

Me with my newest nephew. Even at 8 pounds 10 ounces, he was still so little!

What a sweetie. Love that face!

My Ten Year

I can't believe I'm here already! I had my ten year high school reunion last night and it was so much fun :). They had good food, awesome entertainment, and I got to see some really good people that I haven't seen in forever. I only got one picture, but it was with some of my favorite people :). Thanks everyone who helped put it together. JR even had a blast! :)

Nicole, Jared and Jennifer Day with their little Jackson, Me, Rodney Dye and his wife.

Jared was one of my best friends growing up and it was awesome to see him again, and to meet his cute wife (officially :) and their sweet little baby boy. Rodney and I also go back to Jr. High and we had a blast catching up. Thanks for the conversations guys. You made my night!

T-ville Friends Get-Together

As we try to do at least once a year, yesterday was another get-together with my high school girlfriends. This time we included husbands, kiddos, etc. We met at a park by where most of us grew up and had a blast catching up and letting the kids play together. Then we BBQ'd some hotdogs and enjoyed a fun dinner. As we get older and life gets crazier I'm glad we're still taking time to spend together. We never get as many girlfriends there as we'd like, but there's always next time :). Thanks everyone for coming and making it another fun outing. I can't wait for what we come up with next time! But in the mean time, I'll hopefully see you all at Melisa's wedding in a few weeks. Congrats Melisa!

Melisa, Tiffany, Oliver, Me, Isaac, and Shannon at the playground. (Sorry you're not in the picture Jenny! You were getting the grill :). Thanks for doing that btw!)

Isaac and Oliver. They were playground buds bonding over balls and wood chips :).

Cali and Isaac braving the balance beams. I remember playing on those

when I was little :).

Eating yummy dinner. I love Jenny's little girl Hayley's (in the pink) face in the picture. Such personality!

Enjoying our yummy dinner. Thanks everyone for bringing stuff!

Melisa, Tiffany, Oliver, Hayley, Jenny, Me, Shannon, and her new three week old baby girl. Too bad we didn't get a picture with everyone. Sorry hubby's but someone had to take the pictures! :)

* * *

And, just for fun, here's my kiddos before church this morning. They looked so cute!

Cali looking cute as ever in her fun summer dress.

Can you believe she'll start kindergarten in a couple weeks? I know, me neither...

I love it when I get good smiley pictures of Isaac. What a cutie!

This picture cracks me up. Look at that pose! Like father like son I guess... ;).

Can you believe Isaac is just two and Cali is five! Isaac is a giant and Cali is my petite little girl. Oh well, at least it's not the other way around!

Love those two little stink bugs!

Missing Michael

Ok, so I seriously haven't posted in forever. But it's only because I have SO much to post about that I don't know where to start! Before I start on everything else I want to post about I thought I'd do a quick post about Michael Jackson. I'm still sad that he's gone. I know his life was crazy, but his music and his dancing were amazing! In tribute to him I put up a MJ playlist for your listening pleasure. I've been listening to his stuff all week and I love it! It makes me miss him even more. Well, at least the music and his moves live on. My kids have been enjoying his music too when we listen to it in the car. Even Isaac was singing along! It was pretty funny :). Oh well, at least they're getting a taste of some great music. But maybe I'll have to play primary songs for a week or two afterwards to even things out ;). Miss you Michael!

Cali's Preschool Graduation

So I think I'm still in denial that I have an almost Kindergartener. Cali will be five in just a couple of weeks! I'm not ready for that yet either. It's hard having her grow up, but I'm loving all the new things that come with every step. She had her preschool graduation last Thursday. It happened to be on the same day as our wedding anniversary, but we let that day be here day and celebrated our anniversary that weekend. Cali had such a fun day. That morning Cali, Isaac, JR and I all went with Cali's preschool class on a field trip to Thanksgiving point. They saw animals, rode ponies, and ate a sack lunch outside. It was really fun and we had a great time enjoying the activity as a family.

Here's Cali with her preschool class. Her teacher, Mrs. Adrienne, does such a good job with the kids. We'll miss having her be Cali's teacher.

As you can tell, Cali was super excited and had so much fun at Thanksgiving point with her class.

The pony rides are always a favorite :).

Isaac's first pony ride. He loved it!

They all had a blast playing together. It was hard to get a pic of Isaac because he was running around everywhere!

Isaac loved looking at all the animals.

Isaac and JR. JR was an excellent camera man that day :).

Cali eating lunch with her school class friends.

After the activity we all came home and rested for a little while. It was a hot day! That evening we had Cali's preschool graduation at our church building. Cali was so excited :). Thanks for those who were able to come. I know she loved having you all there!


Cali's preschool class all lined up in their graduation hats.

The tassels are just too cute :).

Cali getting her preschool graduation certificate and memory book from her teacher, Mrs. Adrienne.

Cali watching the slide show her teacher put together with the Aunt Anna.

Cali with her proud parents :).

This pic makes me laugh. Cali was trying to give Isaac hugs, but he was on a chair so it ended up on his neck somehow. Such sibling love :).

Isaac giving kisses to my good friend Jami after the program. He's such a little flirt!

We had such a great day celebrating Cali and her graduating from preschool. We love her so much and are so proud of how well she's doing in school. She's so excited and ready to go to kindergarten. I'm the one who's not ready! I'm glad I have the summer to prepare myself, but I'm sure I'll never be ready for her to get older. What a big girl I have :).

To the Best Wife and Mother

I've been trying to think of a fitting tribute to the woman that holds everything in our lives together, and everything I could think of just seemed to come up short (no pun intended).

And then I realized something. Kristen has so many great friends and family, including all of you regular Peterson Family blog readers, that love her dearly and can't imaging life without her, and they--YOU--are the ones who understand more than anyone just how wonderful life is with Kristen in it. It is only fitting, then, for me to share just a few of the reasons why I and our children love Kristen as our wife/Mother/best friend.

1. Kristen knows just how to make things right, whether she even realizes it or not. Her love, patience, and overwhelming kindness seem to shine through the darkest of moments--be it the ache of a sick kid, the frustrations caused by an idiot husband, or the fearful dread of dealing with cancer. Her outpouring of selfless love, love that isn't focused on solving a problem or receiving anything in return, softens hearts and endears all to her infectious charm.
2. Kristen is an amazing organizer. She can make sense out of the biggest pile of junk and turn it into a well sorted library of, well, junk. :) I'm afraid my constant clutter is shaving years from her life.... She also does wonders with our finances and keeps them organized so we stay afloat.
3. Kristen loves time with family and friends more than anything in this world. It's almost like watching someone walk into ecstacy when she is around those she loves. With a family the size of hers, and more good, close friends than Facebook can account for, I just wish I could give her more of what she really needs with those people: Time.
4. Kristen is truly a manic-expressive. If it's on her mind she's going to share it. The crazy part is that when she shares it she always seems to enjoy a willing, and often enthralled audience. I don't mean to have that sound like shock, but I know that if the fortunes were reversed and it was me doing the talking I would have a bunch of really annoyed people on my hands. Heck, I say more than a few words and that's how people get already! The wonderful thing about her gift is that all the best parts of it have been passed on to our kids. I'm just hopefull that I'll be able to account for something positive in their lives. :)

The list could go on, but then I wouldn't be able to get away from my computer, which is something I already spend too much time with.

Happy Mother's Day sweetheart! Cali, Isaac, and I love you more than we can ever say.

Happy Happy Birthday Isaac Dear...

Ok, sorry about the title. I think I've been in Primary too long ;). I already mentioned in a previous post that May is our crazy month. So many things going on with birthdays and anniversary's and such. But it's all good things :). Saturday we celebrated Isaac's 2nd birthday. It wasn't his official birthday, that's tomorrow. But a two year old doesn't know any different right? :) Two years old. I can't believe Isaac is two! He's definitely starting to act his age, if you know what I mean. But he's still cute so we're keeping him. I haven't made any promises for when he's a teenager, though. ;)

For Isaac's birthday we had a little party at my parents-in-law's home. Thank you Petersons for letting us have it there! It really was wonderful :). My parents, my brother Jeff, my sister Heather, her boyfriend, and my nephew Britton were all able to come, along with the Peterson clan, and Isaac's great grandma and grandpa Nelson. So it was a full house :). We had a BBQ, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. When I say cake, I don't just mean any old cake. We ate the coolest cake ever! Well, at least me, JR and Isaac think so :).

What do you think?! It was seriously the funnest cake to make and it just makes me happy looking at it :). "The nose plays." LOL!

Here's some more pics of Isaac's fun party:

Isaac with his great grandma Nelson.

A rare moment with Isaac where he's actually looking at the camera! He was so into his party that he didn't have time to look or smile for the camera :).

Isaac opening his presents. This present was my favorite! JR's mom and sisters made Isaac a quiet book. It's amazing!

He looked so intense when he was opening all his gifts. He didn't know what to do with all his new stuff!

I love Cali's face in this one. She was so excited to see what Isaac got :).

Isaac's big toy from JR and I. He wanted it out of the box ASAP.

He LOVES his new Spongebob PJ's. I think he's trying to stick his tongue out like Spongebob is :).

Isaac with grandma and grandpa Weeks. He's holding some balls that they gave him. Such a great gift for a two year old!

Oh, and just because I can, here's a pic of JR's sister Anna before she left for Prom the night of Isaac's party. Doesn't she look gorgeous! And to make it better, she went with a special needs kid. Isn't she cute :).

Isaac was a little overwhelmed I think with all the gifts and the party, but he loves all his presents and has had so much fun playing with it all. He also didn't quite know what to think about his Spongebob cake when we first brought it out, but now he will not stop talking about it! "Baba cake!". I was so proud of him because he blew out his candles all by himself, and we hadn't even practiced with him. He's such a big boy and I'm so happy that he's mine :). Happy Birthday Isaac! We love you!!!

One month down, about 15 more to go!

I knew that starting school meant that I'd be spending less time on my blog, but I still feel bad. There's so much going on! This past month has been really good. I just finished the Orientation part of school. During Orientation we learn how to do many of the things that they do in the Spa. It's kind of a crash course. We hurry and get the skills down so that we can work in the Spa to get experience. I just tested out of the skills I've learned so far, so that means that today I might actually take my first client. I don't know if I'm more scared or excited to start that phase of school. So far I've learned waxing (eyebrows, underarms, legs, lip, etc.), eyebrow and eyelash tinting, manicures, pedicures, a facial, and a back treatment. I can't believe I've only been in school less than a month with all that I've learned. There's still a long way to go and more skills to learn, but I think I'm off to a great start. So, as a little plug, if there's anyone who wants to pamper themselves (or drop some hints to the hubby :) you should totally come to Acaydia. Since it's a school spa it's half off the treatment, so it's a good deal for high quality treatments.

Here's me in my lovely school uniform :).

Other than school, life is going really well. This next month is my super crazy month. Just in our own little family there's three birthdays and our anniversary. Since I have school on week nights, most family things have to be done on Saturdays and Sundays. This Saturday we're celebrating Isaac's birthday. I can't believe he's already two! Then JR and I are celebrating our 8th anniversary (I know!) a couple weeks after that. Then it's JR's big 3-0 a week or two after that. And we end with Cali's 5th birthday party the first weekend in June. She's having her first friend party, so we'll see how that goes :). I really hope I don't kill myself with all that's going on, but I'm super excited for it too. Once this next month is over life and school will feel like a breeze! Ok, scratch that. I don't want to jinx myself!

Since I haven't posted pics for what seems like forever, here's some cute pics of the kids in their Easter clothes. Since everyone was sick over Easter weekend, they didn't get to wear their Easter church clothes until the week after Easter. So here's the kids sporting their new Easter clothes the week after :).

They're so cute :). Isaac looks SO grown up in this pic! You gotta love the mohawk :).

Cali looking so pretty and grown up :).

Don't you just want to squeeze him!

I'm still here...

Sorry for the long absence! It's been spent doing wonderful things that I really want to blog about, but haven't had the time or energy :). I'm in my second week of school and I'm loving it! I've learned manicures, pedicures, eyelash and eyebrow tinting, and eyelash perming (yeah, I didn't even know you could do that!). And that was just my first week! Yesterday I had my first school test in like five years! I was a little nervous, but it wasn't too bad. I got a 92%, so I can't complain :).

I hope you all are doing great and that you enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend. Mine was spend staying home taking care of sick kids, but it was still nice. I will do my best to get caught up with all that I want to blog about, but until then thank you for all your love and support and friendships!

My New Adventure

I posted not to long ago and mentioned reasons why I haven't posted a lot lately. I didn't mention one of my big distractions because didn't want to jinx myself and say anything before things were official. Well, now it's official - I'm going to go back to school :). I've decided to become an aesthetician. For those of you who don't know what that is, I'll basically be learning how to do all the fun things they do in spas. It's more than that, but that gives you an idea :). I've always been interested in this industry and now I'm going to get to be apart of it! I got accepted into an aesthetics school in Provo called Acaydia. It's a really really good school and I'm so excited and feel very lucky to be able to go there. I'll be getting my master aesthetics degree and it'll take me about 16 months part time. I'll be going to school everyday, M-F from 5 to 9 p.m. It'll take a lot of my time but I know it'll be so good for me and my family in the long run. JR's been so supportive of my decision. He's so excited for me and I know I couldn't do this without his help. I'll be done before I know it and then I'll have a really cool skill set that I can use in a Spa, in a Doctor's office, or even out of my home. I'm so excited by the possibilities! The crazy part is that I start school in two weeks...TWO WEEKS! It's been a while since I went to college, so hopefully I can still remember how to take a test!

Aside from the obvious extra income reason, there are so many other reasons -more important reasons -why I decided to do this. For the past couple of years I've struggled and had to work really hard to change my mind set of what a wife and mother does. It's amazing how difficult it is to break the mold that society and I created for myself, but I knew I wouldn't be completely happy living my life the way I have been lately if I didn't. I love being home with my kids. It's been such a blessing in my life that I've been able to do that. But I've felt like I need something extra that I can do just for myself that will help me feel more complete and well-rounded. I'm so excited to be able to learn a new skill set that is so diverse and flexible. I'll be able to work around my kids and my family :). I'm so excited about the possibilities that I'm working to create in my life. It's been a truly empowering experience realizing that I can really become anything I set my mind to. I'm excited to start this next phase of my life and prove to myself that I really can do this. It's going to be an exciting adventure! Wish me luck!!!

Thriving Ivory Concert

A few months ago I got introduced to a group called Thriving Ivory. Parker from 1019 was showcasing this group for the second time on his radio show when I heard them. I fell completely in love and they're my new favorite band. The lead singer has such a unique, amazing voice. When I first had JR listen to them he didn't like the singer's voice. He said he liked their songs, but just not his voice. Well, after buying their CD and letting JR listen to it more he's totally loving their music too :). I knew I'd win him over, because the group really is amazing. So now it's great being able to enjoy their music together :).

We got to go to their concert in Murray this Wednesday. It was just a small venue because they're still new to the music scene. But that worked out great for us because the concert was small and intimate. It was SUCH a great concert! They had three opening bands, which was a lot. And it was standing room only so we got a little tired standing that long. But all the bands really were great so it was worth it :). We missed the first band, but the other two were actually really good so it was nice :). The two opening bands we heard were Company of Thieves and State of Shock. They both put on a great show, but I think I prefer Company of Thieves music over the other. I put one of their songs, Pressure, on my playlist if you're interested :).

Thriving Ivory was amazing live and JR and I have a blast at their concert. I love discovering good music and this band is definitely one of my all time favorite discoveries. I have several of their songs on my playlist if you care to listen.

Here's Company of Thieves. You gotta love a girl lead singer :). And she was really really good! JR and I couldn't pinpoint who her voice reminds us of. Either way, the group was really fun to listen to.

Here's State of Shock. They look harder than their music really was. They gave a really fun performance. And, again, you gotta love a girl rockin out on the guitar!

Here's us waiting for Thriving Ivory. Not a great pic, but at least it's something! :)

Here's Thriving Ivory. I wish the camera that I brought to the concert took better pics. I have a better camera, but I didn't want to take it because I didn't know how rowdy the crowd would be. But they were really well behaved, so that made the concert even better - you know, for us old people that can't jump up and down for two hours straight like we use to :).

The lead singer is seriously amazing. And the keyboard player behind him is one of the main songwriters. So of course I love him too because their lyrics are doubly amazing!!!

I had to snap this pic after the concert. Such a great show!

Here's a little video clip of one of my favorite songs - Angels on the Moon. You may have heard it on the radio :). Of course they sounded much better than they do on this video, but you get a sense of the awesomeness :D.

P.S. I mentioned that Parker from 1019 introduced me to this group. He was there at the concert and I got to thank him after the show for introducing me to Thriving Ivory. We had a great chat :). Too bad he's not on 1019 anymore! I miss his show!