Christmas Morning

     I was talking to my Grandpa a few days after Christmas and he told me how much he missed Christmas morning with little kids,  "to watch those little girls open their gifts was really something special."  It really is.  

              

      McKay has two big bins of legos and couldn't be happier with more of the same!  We couldn't find ramps the size we wanted (for Keaton & Tate) so my resourceful hubby made some!  Everyone got flashlights in their stockings....a big hit!

     

     Avery and Brecken got a kitchen from Santa.  To compliment Santa's gift Corey and I gave them the accessories to go with it.  When Breck opened his baking set he handed it to Avery and said " here Avery, this is yours."  Luckily Santa got Breck a little monster truck as well and he loved it!!

     Corey with the new DVD player for our new van...Thanks Santa!!  And Keaton with his favorite gift, bike/scooter ramps.  All the kids were so cute and made each other gifts.  McKay made this "lego set" for Tate complete with instructions on how to assemble it. 
     We spent the rest of the day with our families.  Swedish pancake breakfast at my Mom's with my Aunt Tracey and Uncle Brent and Sam and Pete along with my brothers, of course.  Christmas afternoon we spent with Corey's family.  A wonderful Christmas day!

Christmas Happenings

     We had a fun time exploring and counting all the elves at Gardener Village.  It was cold but was worth it, especially after our treats from Sweet Afton's!



























     Keaton decided to be in the school choir this year and this was his Christmas Concert.  It was a lot of fun.  He and his best buddy Moses are way too cool for their own good!




























     Our Peterson Family Christmas Party is one of my favorite Christmas Traditions.   We start by going to see the lights at Temple Square.  It was beautiful as always! 

    Avery was Grandma's girl!! 

                      Keaton                                                                        
                                                                                        My Dad and Adam at their best...weirdest selves.

     My two cousins Sam and Peter are some of my kids favorite people.  They're like extended uncles with endless patience for wrestling and teasing.  This is Peter, Sam had to work and joined us later at Aunt Tracey's house.

                                                                           Beautiful

                                               This girl has no problem posing for a picture!

     Getting a good picture of our family is kindof a joke.  I did laugh so hard though when I saw Brecken...what's he doing??

                               Yeah, it's the almost 12-year-old that ruined this one...sheesh!
     Who needs a good picture of their family anyways?  These are much more entertaining to look at!
     After the temple we looked at the beautiful decorated windows at Macy's, a great tradition started by the old ZCMI store.  Then we headed to Aunt Tracey & Uncle Brent's for pizza and presents.  They have a great home in the avenues.  Tracey is an artist and I love the magical feel of their home at Christmas! 
                                            

Happy Thanksgiving!

      There's something so satisfying about cooking a big beautiful meal.   We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our big extended families, but then (about a week later) we did our own.  

            Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of everything most important in your lives!

How...

                                                                ....Do you explain to Her that this is okay for everyone else???

St. George

     Our trip to St. George started in Red Cliffs.  It's always fun for Corey and I to take our kids places we went when we were first dating.  The kids were troopers and had a lot of fun hiking and playing in the water.  I'd forgotten about the natural water slides...beautiful!

      The rest of the weekend was spent hiking, exploring and playing with the other "Larrabee" family.  Jared and Kathy and their girls.  These pictures were taken at the Lava tubes in Snow Canyon.  A great place to explore. 

 

This picture turned out a little fuzzy, but was the only one I got inside looking out...really beautiful.  

     Thanks Jar & Kathy for such a fun weekend!!  We're so happy we get to spend time with you!

What happened??!

                        "Bwecken fwowed a fire twuck at my head" ...pretty much sums it up!

Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeen!!

      Our Halloween Celebration started on Monday with pumpkin carving.  We had two pumpkin plants come up voluntarily in our yard this year.  We got about 15 small pie pumpkins and one carver.  We live in an old farming community with a lot of great, retired neighbors who love to garden so we always end up with pumpkins for Halloween without going farther than around the block.  The big boys pumpkins totally mirror their costumes.  Avery got the one carving pumpkin we grew ourselves and so she got talked into carving an "L" in it by her brothers.  I love how she's totally posing for her pic. 

      For Halloween this year the kids were all pretty easy and chose their own costumes.  Tate was a vampire, Breck was a "scawey montser." Corey donned his old fire gear to be festive, along with one of the kids fire helmets (they don't let you take those when you leave the fire dept.).  Avery was a princess.  Keaton made good use of the neck brace he got earlier in the year and was a crazy scooter-er.  McKay was Calvin of Calvin and Hobbs...pretty fun & creative.  Happy Halloween!!