Rough Day on the Playground

     This kid had a rough day.  I got a call while I was out shopping and the lady at the front desk said she thought I should come take a look at him.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  His eye was quite swollen along with his fat lip.  It was a good enough that I took him home to rest.  When we got home I said "Wow, Tate you must have been running fast!"  to which he replied with a straight face "no, I was just speedwalking." 

Just Can't Get Enough!

     Anyone that knows me or reads this blog knows I love Christmas cards! I love that despite our busy schedules and long-lost efforts to stay in touch we can wish someone well and let them know that we still think of them and are grateful to have known them. 
      So when the end of Christmas comes I'm happy to take the tree and the decorations down and get back to normal...except the cards.  I leave them up until I decorate for Valentines, which is what we did this past weekend.  But I just couldn't throw them away..so I thought of this fabulous idea, string 'em all together and keep them.  So if you're over feel free to thumb through our bunch of cards from people we love.

Snow Cave

      In the dead freezing cold of winter we've had something great going on at our house....the snow cave.  I love that my kids will spend hours (into the dark of night....@ 5:30 pm) working on this.  They play wonderfully when they're dedicated to a cause and I can't get enough.  Bradley is McKay's best buddy and would come over and work on it while the boys were at piano...seriously dedicated.  It was pretty impressive about ten feet in one direction and then turned and went another six or seven feet. 
    So while I'm so happy to see the sunshine and blue skies and clean air today I'm sad for the end of the snow cave. 

Bring on 2013!!

    One of our favorite family traditions is to go to the cabin to celebrate New Years.  This year it was our family, the Ruggs and the Moirs with appearances from Ty and Annie and Corey's parents.  It's a great little cabin and we all squeeze in and have fun.
    Corey, Jase and Kedar banded together to fix some things and declare themselves "cabin certified."  They replaced the water heater element, fixed a few leaky pipes and installed a bunch of new coat hangers which were much needed and quickly put to use!  Great job men!! 

 Avery and Aubrey were great friends this trip doing hair and playing lalaloopsy dolls.

     The main attraction at the cabin (besides the food, of course)....SNOW!!!!!!!!  As the kids get older we're lengthening the time getting ready to time playing outside ratio.  Pretty fun!

McKay & Avery

Conner..."posing"

     Tanner and Carter....can't beat that Tanner, definitely a big part of the cabin entertainment!!

Tate taking on the "jump."

Gotta love "twin moments."  (Ya know, the ones where they're not yelling or hitting or scratching or throwing toy fire engines at each other)

Keaton boarding down the hill. 

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All good fun must come to an end!

    I got a new camera for Christmas (thanks Corey!!) which has a pretty good learning curve, so don't mind my learning-on-the-job pics.                                                                                     Kari & Kedar.

Marci & Jasen. I do believe Marci has grown out of her making faces in every picture thing...beautiful Marc! 

Couldn't resist snapping a pic of this snow princess!!  

                                        Corey working on becoming "cabin certified" 


 On New Years Eve we forgo dinner and we all make fun foods and I have to say....I think it was our best year yet.  The pictures simply did not convey the wonderful-ness of it all, feel free to drool over this list...

Stuffed mushrooms
cheese balls
buffalo chicken dip
veggi tray with fiesta ranch dip
coconut shrimp
7 layer dip
caramel pecan brie
pita chips and hummus
date nut bread 

Yum!!    Happy New Year!

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!