2018

2018 was a great year for us.  I imagine it's about as busy as life will get.  McKay participated in track and cross country, breaking personal records all along the way.  Keaton had an amazing year of mountain bike racing on the High School team.  He finished second overall in his division and age category. Tate also did mountain biking with the middle school team.  He really enjoyed it and it was nice to have both he and Keaton riding at some of the same races.  Avery and Brecken did track and cross country as well.  It's fun to watch them and all of their activities.  Corey and I did our best to stay on top of things and support the kids in all their endeavors. They're also all in piano which is my dream, hopefully it'll pay off for them.  We did some rock climbing as a family this year which was very fun as well as our regular trips to the cabin and St. George.  The year was capped off when Corey and the three oldest went on a trip to Cambodia.  It was an amazing experience for them, I hope they'll never forget it.

Christmas 2018

     Christmas festivities started while the "big boys" were in Cambodia.  We were able to enjoy time with the Sandy Larrabees and go downtown to the Grande America Hotel.  It was a fun time riding Trax, looking at the beautiful windows and being together. The annual Peterson Christmas Party is always one of our favorite traditions.  The lights were beautiful at the temple and we always love being at Aunt Tracy's for family dinner.
The twins sang in the school choir this year and we had quite a few opportunities to hear them perform.  They sang at the Festival of Trees, Lake Hills Mortuary and their school.  Avery had a solo part and rocked it.  It was so fun to hear them sing so beautifully!

It wouldn't be Christmas without our yearly pictures by the tree and sleepyheads lined up on Christmas morning.  I love this family of mine!

Then and Now

   
     Ever since the Sandy Larrabee's have been back I've wanted to re-create this picture taken the night before they moved.  I love everything about this.  I love that it highlights their closeness and their love for each other.  Although it's been a few years, they all still feel the same.  So happy to have the Larrabee's back home!!

Never too old...

Our yearly Gough Christmas Party.  We gather in Highland at my mom's church.  We have a yummy meal and connect with family we don't see nearly often enough and end the night with a visit from Santa Claus. I love seeing my kids go one by one, sitting on Santa's lap and talking and laughing with him.  Never too old!

Our spider

       I just couldn't resist a post about our spider, so sorry Marci.  I've always been fascinated by these "cat-face" spiders.   They're so big and cool looking!  Well, at the beginning of October this beautiful arachnid made its home in a beautiful orb web just outside our kitchen sink window...just in time for our Halloween decor.
      It was so fun to watch this spider so closely.  We'd wake up and notice she'd re-spun her web.  We would watch when an insect got stuck and she'd rush down to spin here meal up and carry it back up to her corner hide-out.
    I researched how long she would live and she was supposed to die at the first frost, but she lasted so much longer.  I guess she was kept warm by being on our heated home. We kept close watch on her until early January when she and her web were washed away in a rain storm.
    My kids and I loved watching this beautiful creature and think about the many wonderful creations of our Heavenly Father and wonder at them.

   

Happy Halloween!

    My Halloween started with my twins class party.  It's so fun to be their room mom and have them still excited to have me around.

     This was probably the last year when all of my kids will dress up and go trick-or-treating.   They came up with some pretty great costumes.

Mac was a great nerd. Keaton was Alfalfa...notice the cowlick!

Tate came up with his own costume as a dark wizard. 

Avery wanted to be Anna, since she was Elsa last year.  

And Brecken was a vampire. 

Corey & I got in on the dressing up scene, and even coordinated. 

     Then, as we've done for the past few years, hosted the teenage after-party. It's always fun to have the kids gather here and we usually get to have a good visit with Sunny & Ty.  

For the record...

     I know I'll look back at my time with little children and be very sentimental...just so I don't forget that those sweet little kids created a lot of laundry.  This is my Monday folding.  I usually do a slightly smaller batch close to the end of the week as well.  It's a pretty impressive amount of clothes!