Merry Christmas

This Christmas has been a unique one this year.  We are ready to say good bye to December 2009 and move on to the next year.  My only goal for next year is to stay out of the hospital!  Did not enjoy having hernia surgery on Dec 3 and then having complications and having a second surgery on Dec 20.  Hopefully now I'm not the mend for good.

We have been especially grateful to friends and family that have been extra kind and caring for us this season.

For anyone who may not have gotten our Christmas card this year or we didn't have your address, here it is.  Photos were taken by my wonderful sister-in-law Kyleen.  She did an amazing job!

     Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family!  As we look back on this year, we are grateful for so many blessings, especially having each of you in our lives.  Please know that we think of you often even if we are not able to communicate as frequently as we would like.  As we celebrate the birth of our Savior we are so grateful for the blessings of the Gospel in our life and the peace that we feel at Christmas time as well as throughout the year.

Jessica is 12 this year.  It is amazing to watch her grow into a beautiful young woman.  She is now participating in the Young Women’s program at Church and is enjoying making new friends.  Her greatest success this year was negotiating a later bed time to the disappointment of her siblings.  She is still fully involved with ballroom and has joined the Drama Club at school.  Jessica has started babysitting as of late and does a wonderful job.  Mom & Dad are grateful for her helpful and willing attitude.  She will be going to Jr. High next year.


Ashley is definitely the most sweet and tender child of the family.  She will turn 10 in March and is enjoying Fourth grade and will be representing her class in the school Spelling Bee this month.  She has joined Jessica in the Ballroom program and is enjoying learning new things.  She is still taking piano lessons and has improved a great deal this year.  She also loves time spent in the Church Activity Days program.


John is just as full of life as always.  We keep thinking he will tone down a little with age, but alas his volume button still appears to be broken.  John is 6 and is in school full-time this year.  He is a math wiz and loves reading anything he can get his hands on.  He also loves playing soccer with other kids at school.  He would spend all of his free time on the computer if he had his way.  He is really an amazing child and brings a great deal of joy to our family.


Christine has spent this year trying to adjust to no children at home during the day.  Oddly the free time she thought she would find, manages to fill up as quickly as it appears.  Her big accomplishment this year includes double surgeries (foot & hernia) (Update -- triple surgeries -- had complications after hernia and they had to go in again on Dec 20).  She has promised to limit her hospital visits in the future.  She continues to be involved with Pampered Chef and the Relief Society at Church.  She remains the Master Scheduler and keeps the family running like a well-oiled machine.


Mark’s year has been fairly uneventful.  He just celebrated 11 years working at Thanksgiving Point.  He is serving in the Elders Quorum in the Church and finds it both challenging and rewarding.  He loves spending time with his family and is constantly amazed at how quickly the children are growing up.


Our year as a family has been marked by some great times together.  We enjoyed a trip to Oceanside, CA for a Jesperson family reunion and a stop at Disney Land.  It was great spending time with Family.  We also spent time in Las Vegas, NV durring spring break visiting both Mark’s sister and Christine’s brother.  We enjoyed the blessing of being able to participate in the open house and dedication services for two new L.D.S. Temples in Utah.  We realized that this will be the last year our children will be in the same school, and suspect things will only get busier from here on.


We are so grateful for this time of year.  We pray you are all well and that you will have a meaningful and blessed Christmas and year to come.

Love,
Mark. Christine, Jessica, Ashley and John Peterson

Our longest Christmas ever

I know I’ve already posted the fun pictures from Christmas Day and the week leading up to Christmas Day.  But this year our Christmas stretched out for days.

Since Will & Melissa could not come until the day after Christmas we saved gifts at Grandma’s until Friday.  It was torture for the kids to spend so much time at Grandma’s on Christmas Day without opening all the fun things under the tree.  Then Will & Melissa’s plane was delayed, so by the time they arrived we had time to eat dinner and then head off to the extended family get together.

But I always really love getting together with my awesome cousins.

But we finally made it back to Grandma’s for the much anticipated presents.

The Robo Raptor was definitely a hit with John.

And spy goggles make us all look funny.

And some Nancy Drew books were very exciting.

And Mom and Dad got a much needed item

We had such a wonderful holiday with family around.  We are very grateful for all our blessings at this time of year.

Christmas 2008

What a wonderful week of Christmas we have had.  It is always so fun getting together with family and friends and enjoying the Christmas Spirit.  And it has been an extra fun week with lots of snow.

It all began last Saturday, Dec 20.  The Saturday before Christmas is ALWAYS Mark's family's Christmas Party.  We went to the homestead in Santaquin and all loaded in cars and went to the Assisted Living where Paige works and sang Christmas Carols with the residents.

This was by far my favorite part of the evening.  We then worked our way back to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner, visiting, reading of the Christmas story from the scriptures and a few gifts for the little ones.

Then on Tuesday, Dec 23 we headed to Thanksgiving Point to see Reindeer in person.  Grandma Pat joined us and we met Mark as he got off work.  But trying to get the kids and Reindeer in the same picture was tough.  They sure were cute.  We enjoyed a bite at the Deli and then drove through Holiday Lights to get us feeling very festive. 

Christmas Eve brought Brent and Kyleen up from Las Vegas and we enjoyed a fabulous Turkey Dinner, visiting and another program at Grandma Pat's.

We made it home in time to write letters to Santa and put a plate of cookies and carrots for Santa and the Reindeer.  And sometime in the night our living room was transformed into this . . .

The children were told no presents would be opened if Mom and Dad were woken up before 6:30 am.  And on the dot some "awakening" noises were heard through the heater vents.  The girls could barely contain their excitement.  And John proved he closed his eyes as he went to the stairs.

There was fun and excitement for all.

And then we began the visiting rounds again.  A trip to Santaquin before the storms got too bad and then the afternoon at Grandma Pat's.  So the only thing left to say about the day is

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

And we are looking forward to more fun when Will and Melissa arrive tomorrow.  We will miss Kim and Tom who are stuck down in Arizona.  After emergency surgery to have Tom's spleen removed two weeks ago, traveling was not part of their changed plans.

2008 Year in Review

For all my blogging friends that I don't have addresses for, here is our family Christmas Letter this year.  A year in review . . .

2008 5 for 5
Mark
❄ Ten years working at Thanksgiving Point
❄ Joined Facebook and LinkedIn – Find him at markapeterson at gmail.com
❄ Counselor in Elders Quroum over Teaching
❄ Cruiser – Mark & Christine enjoyed a cruise to the Bahamas thanks to Christine’s Pampered Chef business.  Swimming with the Dolphins was definitely a highlight!
❄ Stadium of Fire fan – He bought tickets for the family this year and the girls were ecstatic to see Miley Cyrus! And John loved the fireworks!

Christine
❄ Ten years as a Consultant for The Pampered Chef
❄ Social networker –  Blog at http://chefchristineutah.blogspot.com for all our family secrets and Facebook find at pcchristine at gmail.com
❄ Counselor in Relief Society over Teaching
❄ Couponer – If you get 5 sets of coupons every Sunday and have a 3-ring binder with categories and sub categories does that mean you are obsessed?
❄ Twilighter – Breaking Dawn, the Twilight movie and The Host, it was a good year!

Jessica
❄ Fifth Grader
❄ Ballroom and Scholar Council at Charter School
❄ Sewer – Grandma Pat has been teaching her and she has almost finish a beautiful quilt.
❄ Pianist - Solo in the Primary Program
❄ Babysitter – Mom and Dad are enjoying some new found freedom!

Ashley
❄ Third Grader
❄ Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – She was baptized!
❄ Spanish Club at Charter School
❄ Runner – She ran an entire mile in the BYU Triple Crown Elementary School Race!
❄ Pianist – wishes she wasn’t but is doing great

John
❄ Kindergartner – First year at Charter School
❄ Amazing math skills
❄ Best laugher – You get him giggling and it is contagious
❄ Swimmer – He amazed us all during swim lessons this summer.  He’ll be catching up to his sisters on the Swim Team in no time at all.
❄ John Speed – John Speed and Mom Speed are definitely not in sync, but somehow we survive

We feel so blessed as a family to be together and to have Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father in our lives.  We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and would love to hear from you.

And we included this great family picture my sister in law, Kyleen, took for us.  Thanks!

On The Polar Express

First, please forgive me for the awful, blurry, unfocused pictures.  Guess what I'm asking Santa for this year!

We had such a fun night tonight.  I had heard about this a couple of years ago and thought it would be awesome and it was.  Thanks to an incredibly generous family in Lindon that have put together their own version of The Polar Express.  One of the consultants that joined my downline this year is the daughter to the family that hosts the event.  Even though I contacted her late she was able to squeeze my family into the schedule.  And it was a bonus when I found out my downline Director and her family would be with us.

I had put on the calendar there was a meeting on Tuesday night so nothing would get scheduled over it but the kids would not know what was going on.  Then the night before I told the girls they would really need to focus and get their homework done when they got home from school because I had a surprise.  200 Questions followed for the next 24 hours, but they remained clueless as to what was happening.

We showed up in Lindon and the train was just passing by the front of the house when we got there, so the kids quickly figured out what was going on.  We then went into the "waiting" area which was set up with chairs and the movie playing on a huge screen.  This is when we realized Bill & Christy's family would be joining our group.  We then loaded on the train.  A little squishy for over grown adults, but we survived.

John got to be at the front of the train!  And I think he was excited.

Because it was so dark you can't even see the end of the train.

Jessica was towards the back and was a little concerned at how much the train rocked back and forth.

You then go through some amazing lights on the way to the North Pole!

Upon arrival each child got a visit with Santa along with a Candy Cane and picture of Christ and a bell.

 And then Santa talked about the Candy Cane and how it is a Shepherd's Crook to remind us of Jesus Christ and His birth.

The Elves were amazing helpers.  They even had props for all the Christmas Carols we then sang.

And don't tell John I posted this picture.  I was instructed NOT to blog about him, but he was so darn cute I just could not let you not see him.

We then loaded back on the train and got to return.  But the displays back to the train station were all about Christ.  Including these beautiful pictures.  Sorry my camera did not take better shots.

And after returning to the station we took group shots.

And they even had an area set up for people to write notes to the missionaries from their Ward.  Even though John did not know them he insisted on writing in one of the books.

This all is such an incredibly generous offering from this family.  It was a magical night and John is already talking about going again next year.

Thanks!

And PS, Happy 100 post!  This time last year I barely knew what a blog was and now I have almost the whole year documented.  Thanks Kristen & Janae!

No One was harmed in the creation of the tree!

Do any of you have traditions you regret?  Wish you had never started?  Wish they had been forgotten?

I know in years to come this will be a fond memory for our kids, but this year it was not.  Back in the day when there was one child we always finished off decorating the Christmas tree by having Mark raise the child up and placing the Angel on top of the tree.  Child #2 comes along and the first few years she is too young to care.  Then we started alternating turns.  Child #3 comes along strong willed and wants his way ALL the time.  Mom and Dad are older and can't remember if they brushed their teeth that morning let alone who put the darn Angel on the tree last year.  But kids sure think they can remember!  Somehow this year it almost came to blows.

We really should not try to decorate the tree on or shortly there after Black Friday when we are already lacking in sleep, but somehow we do it every year.  This year was no exception.  We even bought a new PRE lit tree on Friday (yipee I was always in charge of putting on the lights!).  So we spend the afternoon and next morning decorating and remember all the fun ornaments we have.  Then it comes time to place the Angel.  All the kids think it is THEIR turn and NO ONE can remember who did it last year.

Solution . . .


We put the kids initials on paper and put them in the bottom of the Angel for a random drawing.  Jessica was selected to pick out the name (so if it wasn't her name she could not complain and pout and cry)

Somehow she was the lucky winner.  And in order to eliminate this torture next year the drawing continued.

John is the lucky winner for this special privilege next year.

And so Ashley is the unlucky winner of having to wait two more years before it is her turn.

Please note Mark's concentration in this picture.

 And so we don't have to rely on Mom and Dad's bad memory in the future the schedule is now recorded in the bottom of the Angel for all to see and no one to argue!

 And so the lucky winner got to put the Angel on top to finish off our beautiful tree.

And no one got hurt this year and hopefully in years to come!