Tuesday Tell All...

I decided I would give in to peer pressure and do the TTA. So ok, here goes.

Our Christmas tree...

Our Christmas tree is full of ornaments. Our first ornaments were given to us at a bridal shower. My Dad's siblings threw a Christmas themed wedding shower for us so that we would have decorations on our first Christmas. They are all so pretty. I love all of the little snowmen that came with it.

Our next influx of ornaments was from my Mom. She decided that every year she would make ornaments for all of her children. So for the last 7 years, i've recieved (sometimes several) ornaments from my Mom. All homemade. My Mom is my hero, and I only hope that one day i'll be as giving and caring as she is.

As the years have passed, i've collected our own ornaments as well. When JL was born, of course she got her Baby's first Christmas ornament.

Then JS was born, and I ordered one online. It came with a pink ribbon and pink on the little crib. So my Mom, being the crafty woman she is, fixed it to make it look more manly! So JS has a rigged ornament, that I think is even better than it was before.

Last year, JT got his first Christmas ornament. It's one of my very favorites..mostly because it has his first and middle name on it.

A thought came to me last year...our family is now complete! I could order a family ornament! So I ordered these little penguins with our names on it. It was kind of bitter sweet when it arrived. I was happy to see how cute it turned out, but I was also sad that there wouldn't ever be any more little penguins to add...

I, personally love my Christmas tree. The actual tree is fake, because that's cheaper for us college students!! I am grateful for the blessings that I have in my life, including these little ornaments.

Every year, I bring them out and reminisce about those years, and those times...back when it was just Steve and me...back when it was just JL, just JS and now all 5 of us together. I wouldn't ever want to be without any one of them. Happy Holidays everyone!!!

So So Soooo proud!!!

I've been so proud of JL lately. I'm always proud of her, but she's accomplished so much since starting Kindergarten. She knows all of her letters and their sounds, and she's starting to READ! How great is that?!! It's really exciting for me. She's also doing really well with her numbers, oh I am just so proud of her! Monday and Tuesday we were busy with the flu, and she was worried because they had a special bus come to the school for all of the kids that met their goals for the term today. She started to feel a lot better yesterday, so she went thismorning. The bus is called the rainbow bus, it has a boatload of toys in it, and the kids get to pick out a toy. I am so so so proud of my beautiful little girl! She's a monkey.

JL said we had to take a picture of JT chillin on the couch! LOL


JL and her barbies that she picked out from the rainbow bus...


JL...all ready for school...

Putting up the Christmas Tree

YAY!! It's Christmas time! I love love love it! We are so blessed, and i'm so grateful!
One of my favorite things to do at Christmas is put up the tree. I turn on Christmas music, and have hot chocolate and yell at the kids to stop touching the freaking ornaments! Yes, I get frustrated while putting up the tree. It's annoying when you've already said at least 500 times not to touch the ornaments and the kids still continue to touch all the hall decking festiveness. Oh well, at least I have 3healthy kids to help me put up the tree. Someday i'm going to put it up all by myself, and i'm sure that i'll miss telling the kids to stop being so darn excited, and leave stuff alone.
Oh, and here's a random picture of my only (thank goodness) brother. I love him so much! He's such a good Uncle to my babies! JT absoloutely adores him. He's one of those kids that is just making you laugh all the time. This time of year always makes me remember how much I love the kids and my other family members. I am so blessed with so much..***Mental note to self..*** Remember how much you love them next year before you put up the tree...

push ups and scrubbing floors

Whenever Steven doesn't make it to the gym, whether it be because of school, or because of me...he does push ups at home. A couple of years ago, JS started taking off his shirt to do push ups too. Now we have all three kids trying to do push ups with him.. (I had to teach JL that it wasn't okay for her to take off her shirt..LOL)

Here's them warming up...




Here's the actual push ups...




soo funny!! I love that JT is sitting indian style watching them work out...he's too much like his Momma. Just pretend like the front room is clean!!

Today I came home from picking JL up from school, and found that 'someone' had colored on the kitchen floor with crayon. I have yet to find that person named 'not me'. If I ever find 'notme' i'm going to kill him. 'Notme' does a lot of crap at our house. Finally, JS decided that he would clean it up for 'notme', because that would be a nice thing to do..so I made him scrub the floor. I am so mean! I let him scrub and scrub until I finally came over with some cleaner and sprayed it for him. Then I made him scrub some more until it was all off of the floor. Child labor laws? I don't think so.

Here's a ninja turtle cleaning the floor for 'notme'...



Isn't he so nice to do that for 'notme'? I think so...I swear he wears other things besides his ninja turtles costume!!! It's just not evident here...tomorrow we're leaving to Southern Utah to visit Steven's family for Thanksgiving. I'm really excited to just get out of the house and spend some time (even if it's not quality) with Steven.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

Seventh inning stretch...

Woo Hoo!!! Today is our 7 year anniversary!!! Can you believe that Steven has put up with me for that long? I can't either.
Seven years ago today, Steven came to my Mom's home to pick me up and take me to the temple. The look on his face when I opened the door was sheer panic! I pointed my finger at him and said, "Don't!". He looked at me puzzled, and I said, "You're looking like you're gonna back out". He laughed, I grabbed my veil and dress, and we were off!
I'm not gonna lie...it was cold that day. In all of our pictures my nose is red, but my smile is so big! I couldn't have been happier to be 'Mrs. Steven Douglas Peterson'. I know, cheesy huh. I still like to call myself that from time to time.
We had a perfect reception (thanks Mom). It was so beautiful, and it was everything I ever dreamed of....and more. I had a cinderella pumpkin coach that held all of my presents, and ice cicle lights everywhere...our backdrop was perfect, and so was the groom. My cake was just exactly how I imagined it. Steven wanted hunter orange and camoflauge to be our colors...LOL. My Mom suprised Steven with a groom's cake that had a fisherman, hunter, and pine trees. It was hunter orange. I'll never forget that he actually cried when he saw it. He couldn't believe that someone could be that thoughtful...well, that's my Mom for ya. To this day, Steven says that he and my Mom were a match made in heaven because she's a giver and he's a reciever. He loves the gifts that my Mom gives to him.
Thank You, Steven...for picking me and sticking with me through all of the hard times that we've endured together. Thank You for listening, for loving, for your patience, your faith, and most of all for the three beautiful children that we've brought to this family. I love you.
The years have been good to us, we have certainly been blessed. It has been a long road, but we still have a long ways to go, and I can't wait! I'm so excited to spend forever with my best friend. It's gonna be a good time.

broken bones and playing dress up

JS got his long cast off yesterday, and got his short cast on. Of course you can see he stayed with the Ninja Turtle green. I tried to get him to pick a different color, but he refused. He was so excited that he can cover both of his ears now. Ah, the little things. There was one day, JS was eating chocolate ice cream, and he had some on his fingers...and he couldn't reach his mouth with his cast on...it was actually quite hillarious to watch him trying so hard to get that chocolate..I totally understand how he feels.
I'm grateful that the stinky long cast is off...whew! It was so dirty. I love having little boys, but they sure are dirty.
On the other hand, I have a little girl who is so clean, and anti-dirt. She wants a sister so badly. Everyday I watch my cousins boys...and JL decided to dress Kaden and JT in princess dresses and tiaras. These were the best pictures I could get. JS was so mad that JT and Kaden were dressed up. He was just discusted. He kept begging me to make her take them off, but it was so funny that I couldn't bring myself to do it...plus I was having wayyyy too much fun taking pictures for future events such as their weddings...LOL
JL dressed them up,taught them to dance, and had a tea party. They were all so cute sitting there really trying to drink their pretend tea. It was great!
Ahhh...you've gotta love the everyday adventures of these kids...and all the little things..

Matchbox Twenty

Ok Ok Ok...everyone knows that I love MB20. It's just kind of becomes obsessive when your children realize who the lead singer is...and who plays the drums. We can be driving and JS will say, "This is Matchbox Twenty..." And JL will say..."No, JS this is Rob Thomas...it's a different CD." Yeah, pretty sad. I think they know more Matchbox songs than nursery rhymes. Oh boy...someone help me...
Tonight JL came to me with the magna-doodle. She has learned all of her letters and sounds, which I am so excited about. Tonight she brought me her first real long word that she's figured out...

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If you look closely, she's figured out how to write Matchbox 50. It's close...she was trying to write a 20, but it came out backwards! She's too cute, and I can't say that i'm not proud. I had to call my Matchbox Buddies and let them know what she did. They were all real proud too...ahhh...little Matchsticks in the making...