Random photos from our Christmas Holiday... Jeff's mom has been in town w. us and we are enjoying her visit so much! my mom stopped by a few times as well. Both Grammy and Grandma are pictured here playing "rockband" with boys... Santa brought rockband for our Wii.

on Christmas Eve day morning, Santa left gingerbread houses under the small tree outside the boys room - and then on Christmas Eve, Santa dropped off new jammies for the whole family, including Grandma (our family tradition... new jammies on Christmas Eve!)

The white candles are a new family tradition, also dropped off @ our house just before mid-December. We borrowed this idea from another family and it been a big hit... there are 12 candles., each night we light the first candle and one additional candle or each day thereafter for the twelve days of Christmas. each night as the candle are lit during dinner - we shut off all lights and electronics... laptops, tv's , ipods, phones, etc... and we all talk about something(s) we are thankful for THAT day... we also talk about the true meaning of Christmas.. The family loved this idea. The boys took turns lighting the candles (each family member a diff night) and we also took turns blowing them out. It really helped us to pause and think about the true meaning of the holidays, when we can get so busy and stressed out during this season...

We all have really enjoyed having Sherry here - all of us getting special time with her! We have been playing... laughing, crying, baking, cooking and eating alot!

The boys got mountain bikes for Christmas this year - and they went on their first "Mountain Bike" ride w. Dad last night... in the MUD! you can't tell from the photo but they were covered in MUD... they were soaked.. and they loved every minute of it... the smiles and stories went on late into the night.... best investment.. next - I will be getting a mountain bike so I can join them!

They have one more week off.. Jeff is also of work this week - I will be working Mon-Wed this week. Sherry goes home tomorrow and we are sad to see her go...

We had 20+ People @ our house Christmas Eve for spaghetti dinner.. it was alot of fun! Christmas day Night we went to Sue's for dinner - and more gift exchanging with our family. we are beyond blessed...

We all went to see the movies last night (The Day the Earth Stood Still) with my mom and Jeff's mom.. after the movie we stopped off to have some Gelato.. yumo! The movie was good. I am the only one besides my mom who saw the original.... movie was ok... kids loved it!

We received so many wonderul cards, gifts and sentiments from our family and friends, really to numerous to mention without accidently forgetting someone, we are so blessed, i know i said that before, but it is so true...

We are spending New years eve @ home - relaxing and enjoying each other.... {maybe}

birthday......

tuesday is Jeff's birthday! We had a wonderful birthday party Fri night for him at a local chinese place. My nephew is friends with the owner - and he took very very good care of us. My sister organized the party - her kids, and their g-friends...., my mom, Jeff's mom and us... it was a great way to show Jeff that he is loved by this branch of our family... Keith kept us eating such delicious food, i can't even tell you how fab this food was. BEST chinese I have ever ever had...

We shared some wine and some saki... and it was great to get together..

Jeff's mom is here and we are having a great time - she is playing basketball w. the boys. going to hockey and just hanging with us... good times!

I cannot believe it is the Sunday before Christmas... we have about 20-25 folks coming over for Christmas Eve Dinner... I am excited. its been awhile since we had such a large crowd... for the past 4-5 years we have had quiet Christmas Eve's with Mom, Bob and Sue... which has been GREAT - Jeff is making pasta, I am making dutch oven peach cobbler... mmmmm yum-E

WE have a few more things to pick up on Christmas Eve day and then everything is all set. Tons of wrapping to do tonight... after the kiddos hit the sac...

I am working Mon-Wed this week (half day on Wed, I am hoping! LOL)

I took photos for the January issue of our local magazine here in anthem and I am really enjoying this! My "day" job is going well, its super busy, which i like...

we tried to watch the movie "A Christmas Story" after dinner last night - Tari and Page came over for dinner and we all ended up falling asleep during the movie.. toooo funny! we will watch it again on Christmas Eve! On our local TBS channel it is on 24 hours starting 6pm Christmas Eve...

I will leave you with a few photos....

We are still here.. cannot believe it's been 2 weeks since our last semi post.. Life is busy.... we are working hard, playing hard, getting ready for the holidays... Jeff's mom will be here tomorrow and we are very excited to spend the next 10 days w. her... bummer is i will be working 3 days next week and the week after... photo biz is rocking! had quite a few photo shoots recently and i have been spending every free moment editing pics...

boys are out of school for the holidays.......and they are super happy!

Jeff is off for the next two weeks too....

its been super rainy here... but drying up a little... and its been super cold.. well super cold for me.. hahah

We are having a crowd Christmas Eve a mix of family and friends! Jeff is cooking pasta and homemade sauce...

enjoy the anthem photos...

we are still here..

we are here.. just been a crazy busy week... back to regular updates after this weekend...

stay tuned.........

ThanksGiving

Here are a few photos from the day...

Thanksgiving was very relaxing. We went to my sisters house - and we only had to bring two items.. very easy this year - apple CIDER and fried corn. Jeff makes a mean fried corn (fried w. onions, green/red peppers) in olive oil.. it is DELISH and was a big hit @ dinner... Hank made a Happy Thanksgiving sign that my sister hung up on her window!

We hung out, watched a little bit of football.. Hank gave a music concert! My sister had a few boxes of old photos from the 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90's - we all had such a blast going through those photos - good times, i tell ya good times! What a great idea! Jen and Phil came down last night and spent the night - Jen is going shopping with my mom today. The boyz and I are going to a Hockey Game today (free tix {long story} to see the Phx Coyotes play the Co Avalanche this afternoon!
We came home, full and tired... Jeff, Hank and I started feeling a bit sick again later in the evening.. maybe that ol' flu bug has not quite left the house yet.
I am sitting here in the early morning, the house is still asleep and all is quiet. I am reflecting on the day ahead and thinking how Thankful I am to be here - We are truly blessed with a great number of friends and family -

We will be putting up our lights and tree this weekend! I am so excited, I may even get into the Christmas spirit! it sometimes takes me a while to fully emerge into Christmas... as i do stress about lists, gifts, money, etc.. once I put it all down on paper and have it planned, my mind can relax... does anyone else have that problem? It can't just be me!

Hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the Peterson Zoo. We woke up this morning and watched some of the Macy's day Parade... Will made cinnamon buns while Jeff cooked hot jimmy dean's! yummy! Will made his "World Famous" Peanut butter balls to bring to Auntie Sue's for the holiday. We are all just recovering from being sick.. no idea what happened but the vomit bug blew threw our house - on Tuesday and we all got very very sick! Thankfully we are feeling better just now today...

Hank is busy making a HAPPY Thanksgiving sign to bring to the party!

I am so glad we are not cooking alot today, since we were all so very sick! We started this blog today for our families.. to keep in touch. Jeff's step-dad Larry is going to Afghanistan this coming Tuesday for a whole year! We will use this blog to keep him in touch with our daily life! We pray for a safe journey and will pray for you every day Larry!

Stay tuned for daily happennings... All family members will be posting to our blog...