Carter Heath Peterson

For those who haven't heard, my sister had her baby a week ago! Carter Heath Peterson was 8 pounds and 2 ounces. Isn't he the cutest thing you ever saw!!! I can't wait to hold him and kiss those cheeks!

Let's Party!

My little brother and sister turned 10 last week. Crazy! My mom wanted to do something new and decided to have a boys party and a girls party. The boys ended up going to see 'Megamind' (Will told me it was great!) and the girls had a purple and orange party. This included pedicures from my mom, updos from me, making orange and purple bracelets, orange flower clips, a photoshoot, and eating just about everything purple and orange. It was so cute! My favorite part was doing the updos and all the girls oooing and ahhing over how I did them. After doing six updos, I felt like I was in hair school again. I remember lining up 6 mannequins together, doing 6 different updos (each with it's own flower or hair ornament, that was my trade mark...hasn't changed a bit!) and then passing them off. What fun memories. Anyhoo, it was so fun spending some time with my mom and sister. That's what family's all about. Happy Birthday Preston and Kiffyn, I can't believe you're 10!

A Day at Disney

These are the Louders! Our friends that let us tag along with them, we love hanging out with them!

Us waiting for Captian EO. Not Will's favorite, but he's a good sport

Disney had a section for Day of the Dead, it was pretty cool!

Right in front of Haunted Mansion. I love what they do to this ride for Halloween! I bought this shirt the night before at Downtown Disney. You can't see it really well, but it says 'Ifight in Heels' Will and I thought it portrayed me very well! :)

For Halloween, our friends the Louders invited us to go t Disneyland with them this last Saturday. We had a blast! We somehow struck luck with every ride that we went on. The longest we had to wait for a ride was 45 min. and that was around 5:30 pm on the new Toy Story ride in California Adventure. Every time we went on a ride, it seemed like the crowd would follow us. Some of the highlights for me was Space Mountain and World of Color. Space Mountain, for Halloween, had zombies projected throughout the ride where it looked like it was grabbing you. It was little bit scarier then I'm used to seeing at Disney, but I loved it! World of Color is a new show that California Adventure is putting on. Seriously, this show made the whole trip worth it! I wish I had pictures or video to show you, but I don't. The best way to describe it is the Bellagio Water show only 100 times better! The jets would have color projected on them as well as a wall of mist where they would project movie scenes on it. You have to get a fast pass in order to watch it, and it was so worth it. If you're going anytime soon that is the thing to see. Disney was a lot of fun and we are so grateful the Louders invited us!

Halloween Carnival

This year, our stake put together a Halloween Carnival for the youth. It was a lot of fun. Each ward had a booth that they ran so the kids could go around and have some fun. There was face painting, Carmel apples, cake walk...you name it. Our ward did the cake walk and we rocked it! The youth loved it, although I was pretty surprised how many kids didn't know what a cake walk was. The stake's goal was to try and have the youth get to know each other more. This helped a lot. Here's a picture of the youth in our ward. They're a funny group and keep us leaders laughing constantly!

Modest is the Hottest

A couple of weeks ago, the YW in our ward put together a modesty fashion show for the Activity Day girls. One of my YW used it for a value project. She decided to have it Black and Pink party. It was so much fun. All the Activity girls loved it and we had fun dressing up in crazy outfits. For example, for spaghetti straps, someone cooked spaghetti and put it on her shoulders. The girls also made modest dresses out of toilet paper.Here's a picture of the group. Aren't these girls beautiful! I love being in YW and seeing the testimony these girls have. It's been such blessing in my life.

Old Spice Grover

Will was browsing through the Internet this morning and came across this video. If you've ever seen the Old Spice commercial, this will make you laugh. My family loves the commercial! Hope this made your day!!

Happy Birthday!

So it's official, I'm 23 years old! I had a great birthday this year. Along with the many text messages and Facebook messages, my parents took me to lunch, which was really yummy. My mom made me that beautiful purse that I'm in love with. After lunch, I rushed over to work and worked for a bit. I then rushed to mutual where my girls put on a modesty fashion show for the Activity Day girls. They had a blast. Everyone sang to me and a few of the moms gave me a bag full of goodies. The best part was coming home to a spotless house and a candle light dinner in our backyard by my husband! He totally caught me by surprise, it was beautiful. Made dinner all by himself. It was so nice talking to him about my day. Today, I even had some friends take me out. I feel so lucky and blessed for the people in my life. I do have to say this was one of my favorite birthdays. I felt loved by all my family and friends. Thank you for all the birthday messages and helping me enjoy my day. I definitely won't forget this birthday! :)

You know you're getting old when...

your Young Women don't know who NSYNC is!

I can't believe that me, almost 23 am saying that! We were sitting around my table getting ready for our next week's activity when the leaders started talking about old music. I totally confessed that I have NSYNC playing in my car (which I still do, love it! and so does Will shhh!) My girls chime in and say "Who's that?!" I about had a heart attack. I offered to have them borrow my cd since it was right there. Bottom line....am I really getting that old?!

JJW

Some of you have already heard, but I thought I'd post this so we can have it for our records. For the past couple of months, Will has been interviewing with an accounting firm here in Vegas for an internship in the fall. It was a series of numerous interviews and tests that hopefully would also allow him to work there in January after receiving his bachelors. A couple of weeks ago, Will got a call and an offer for him to skip the internship and start working in January for the firm! At first we were a little bummed about not doing the internship, but realized it was a blessing because we would still get medical benefits if he continued to work for Home Depot until the end of the year. The great thing is that he graduates in December and has a job lined up for him!!!! We couldn't feel more blessed, especially with the economic situation Vegas is in. We really feel Heavenly Father's hand in this and know that we wouldn't have been able to get this opportunity without Him. Great blessings come when you do what's right! So, starting January, Will is going to be working at Johnson Jacobson and Wilcox and also planning on starting his Masters. I'm so proud of him and feel so lucky to have him in my life!!!

Yeah for Trips!

Will and I had the opportunity to go to Utah this last week. My old roommate, Amy, got married to her sweetheart in South Jordan. It was so fun being able to see her again and see how happy she was. Another roommate, Rhonda, was kind enough to let us stay with her the night before. We had a blast catching up and reminiscing. Our trip also included a stop at IKEA, which I love! We got some great stuff for our craftroom/office. I'm excited to see it all up. We were able to see Will's sisters for just a short time. We wish it was longer but we had to get to the reception. After that, we drove up to Logan and spent Saturday and a little bit of Sunday with Kylee, Dave, and Tyson. That family is so cute. I can't believe how big Tyson is! He's growing so fast and getting so smart. His buddy for the weekend was Will. He wanted to show Will everything and every now and then would show B-kell. (that's what he called me) But we made strawberry-raspberry jam with some raspberries that we bought, did a little shopping, went to Rumbi for lunch (which I loved by the way) and went to the Cache County Fair. Fairs in Utah are not anywhere near the ones near Vegas. They're WAY better! There were trucks that Tyson loved, animals to go see, and a way cool rodeo. I do have to say I enjoyed the rodeo the best. All in all, we had a great trip, and it was really hard to go back to reality!


Amy and Sam after their sealing!



All of Amy's girlfriends. Rhonda and I were the only ones from Dixie

Tyson and Rumbi's i'm sure you can guess that the Teriyaki dip is his favorite

Big trucks! As what Tyson would say. He was mad that daddy took him away for a picture

Waiting for the rodeo

They had this show in the middle of it where Buffalo went on top of the trailer. It was pretty cool, the Buffalo were beautiful!

Fairest of Them All

Last week I had the opportunity to go to Girls Camp with my stake as a YCL leader. Our theme derived from President Uchtdorf's talk he gave at the YW broadcast last year. We are all princesses trying to live Happily Ever After and return to our Father in Heaven. I loved the theme and I can honestly say that camp was one of the most rewarding things I have done in my life. Although there were 30 girls that Kiri (the other leader) and myself had to oversee, they taught me so much about life. In years past, the stake has had problems with the YCLs and their behavior at camp. They were giving the YCLs a last chance this year before they decided to get rid of the YCLs. These girls were AMAZING! They brought such a sweet spirit to camp and was always willing to help us and other campers. When the time came to be spiritual, they stepped right in and sang hymns or bore their testimonies when they time was right. A lot of people came up to Kiri and I and thanked us for the spirit that was there and the difference they could feel from last year. I think what really helped was the ability that Kiri and i had of working so well together. When I was feeling tired or exhausted, she would step in and vice verse. We also had the same expectations of the girls and followed through with things. I do have to admit the weeks before camp I was completely stressed out and not looking forward to it, but all that disappeared when I was up at Stimson. What a blessing it was to be around those girls.



Most of the YCL's eating lunch the first day before we gave them assignments. Aren't they beautiful!

So I had the chance to go up to my ward and hang out with them during free time. A YCL came with me and we painted our nails. You can't tell, but it was neon pink! I loved it. Sadly, my nails started chipping the next morning.

This is the YCL from my ward. I'm so excited to keep in contact with her as I'm her YW President. She has such a sweet spirit and is willing ot always help.

These girls are cousins. The one on the right is a non-member and from Germany. The girls put together a German BOM with their signatures and gave it to her. She was very touched. The one on the left is also a non-member but is getting baptised in 2 weeks. She made me pinky-swear that I'll go to her baptism in Pahrump, I can't wait to go.

I love this girls. She was my ray of sunshine and always helped keep the girls pumped. She even took a challenge I gave the girls literally and broke down some barriers that were in her way. She taught me a lot of things we can obtain through our trials and challenges

So the stake put on a skit that was a spin off from Sleeping Beauty. I was the fairy that let the princess sleep instead of die when the evil fairy casted her spell. It was a lot of fun. The girls had a good laugh.

Family Reunion!

For the 4th of July, my family had a family reunion up at Thunder Ridge BSA Camp. It was a blast! My Uncle Randy works for BSA in southern Utah and was able to get us this scout camp for the weekend. It included an archery range, shooting range, biking, hiking, horseshoeing, and just about anything you can think of. Each family also brought up a craft for everyone to do. We also had a skit night where each family came up with a skit. Will and I did ours with Kylee, Dave and Tyson. We decided to do a spin off of So You Think You Can Dance (Will's idea). Tyson and i were partners dancing to Elmo's world (Tyson's favorite song) and the other 3 were the judges. It was really cute seeing Tyson dance and I think everyone liked it. It was great getting away from the heat and spending time with family. I can't think of a better way we could've spent our 4th of July. Thanks for putting that together Grandpa!



Tyson dancing during the skit! Notice his parents couldn't keep a straight face

The whole family! (at least most of us)

The grandkids

I was playing this cute game with Tyson where he would turn my head to the side and I'd whip my head back fast and make of face. He thought it was hilarious. Such a cute kid, I love him!

I did it!

A Couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to run my first 5K! Every year, the Ronald McDonald house holds a 5k to raise money for their organization. A friend of mine asked if I wanted to join her and some friends on a team. I was a little hesitant at first, but am so glad that I did it! I had a blast! My whole family ended up being there and cheered me on as I ran through the finish line. My time was 32 minutes and 14 seconds. Not bad for my first. I ended up having to stop a couple of times because my legs cramped up, and was beginning to get shin splints. I had so much fun, that Will and I plan on doing it next year. Come join us next year, we'd love it!

Grateful!

Will and I have a lot to be grateful for. We both have great jobs, a beautiful home, and many other things. I think what I'm most grateful right now is for our safety. Some of you have heard, others this will be the first time, but Will and I had our house broken into about 4 weeks ago. Luckily, we both were gone when it happened. They kicked open our front door and stole all of electronics. Many people have said how sorry they are that this happened and how they can't believed it happened to us, but it was such a blessing in many ways. 1- No one was home, I can't imagine what would've happened if I was in the house and don't want to think about it. 2- We didn't have any children to worry about. I wouldn't have been able to sleep at all if I had kids in my home. 3-Will and I learn to appreciate the small things. I never realized how much we relied on our electronics, particularly our computer and Internet. 4- I was able to develop an even greater love for reading. I never really got into reading until about a year ago, and now I love it! We got our TV, cable, and internet back today, but I don't know if I'll use it that much :) 5-Will and I's love for each other grew even more. Life is to short and it made us realize that families are forever and that is what will matter in the end, not all of the temporal things that we try to strive for. It was hard at first knowing that someone invaded our space. But it has been a huge blessing in our life.

Please make sure your houses are secured whether its with a dog, alarm system, or whatever. Please keep your family safe. You never know when it'll happen. We thought it would never happen to us, but it did. Love you all!

KEITH URBAN!

A couple of weeks ago, Will surprised me with tickets to Keith Urban. We had a blast! The concert was at the Joint in the Hard Rock Casino. The venue was standing-room only and we decided to stand at a railing close to the sound booth. During the concert, we noticed some security guards coming up and back-stage guys holding a guitar and microphone stand. Within minutes, Keith was walking towards us and ended up performing 4-5 songs 4 feet in front of us! It was awesome!!! We couldn't have gotten any luckier! Keith was a great stage performer and performed all of his big hits, there were maybe 3 songs I didn't know and the concert last a good hour and a half. Will even enjoyed himself as Keith showed off his guitar skills. He said he felt like he was at a rock concert instead of a country concert. It was definitely the best concert I've been to. Thanks babe for taking me, I loved it!

Waiting for the concert to begin!

Yeah that's how close I was....it was awesome!

Better Late then Never

So, It's been way too long since I've posted something on our blog. Life seems to creep up behind ya and pretty soon you don't have time to do fun stuff, like blog. (especially since it seems to take forever for my pictures to upload when I try) Anyways, I found some time today to post some pictures on our trip to Scottsdale Will and I took for our anniversary in January. We had a blast! We did sealings at the temple, shopped, had pedicures (Will's first and not his last...he loved it), ate out, walked around the town, and even went golfing (a first for me, and I was pretty good!) We also went to this place, The Sugar Bowl. They had great ice cream! I about had a heart attack when I saw they had peppermint ice cream! We went there twice it was so good! It was fun getting away, I am definitely ready to go away again. I can't believe Will and I have already been married for over a year...it goes by way fast!



Check out that form! I was so concentrated on doing well enough to make sure the group behind us didn't pass, and they didn't! I did well!


yummy rootbeer float




Our hotel was right by Old town Scottsdale, there were some galleries that were really fun to walk and look at!


There were tons of grapefruit and orange trees at the temple. Will was tempted the whole time to grab one, he was so excited when he did!


Beautiful temple!

Goals for 2010!

For FHE last night Will and I sat down and wrote down our goals for 2010. It's going to be tough to get them all checked off but it can be done! I'll keep you updated as we accomplish them. Wish us luck!

OUR GOALS:

1. Double our savings
2. Take 26 trips to the temple (which means about 1 trip every 2 weeks)
3. To run a half-marathon
4. Weekly FHE-this has been hard with our work schedules always changing
5. Daily morning scripture study
6. Go to Myrtle Beach and visit Will's grandparents
7. Finish our Backyard
8. Graduate College
9. Learn to make bread
10. Attend institute each week TOGETHER!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Will and I had a blast this new year! We went to dinner with some friends and then went back to our house for FONDUE!I made some yummy hot fudge that I got from my mom and everyone brought a treat! Afterward, we played some fun games and had sparkling apple cider. We then parted ways and watched the fireworks. It was fun hosting something at our house, we'll definitely do it again!








Cheers to 2010! I can't believe it's here!!!!