Merry Christmas To You!

Wishing you and yours the best Christmas! See you after the big day!

My Little Helper

Seriously, who wouldn't want a LITTLE HELPER as CUTE as this guy...

I must admit, this boy puts a smile on my face everytime I look at him. He can make a mess like no other child I know, but he can also melt my heart in a second!

Check out how cute he looked as we walked out the door for church. After his hair cut he looked so grown up, that I had to lather him up in baby lotion, so he at least smelled like a baby.

My cute little helper!

Christmas Lights? Well Maybe Not!

Last night I thought that we needed to spend some quality time together and do something to help the Christmas Spirit. We have been so busy this year we haven't had a chance to do many things to celebrate the season like we normally do. I thought okay, lets go see the lights at Temple Square. So we all bundled up and headed out the door.

We stopped for dinner and on the way out we were approached by a young man asking for money. I didn't have my wallet and Craig only had 3 dollars in cash, which he gave to him. (That plays into the story in a minute).

We headed to Temple Square, little did we know that it was going to be so crowded...our normal parking spot was totally full, and so was pretty much everything else. We decided to go for the pay parking, we were desperate. (can you tell how cheap we are) I pulled out my wallet and discovered that I only had 3 dollars cash. Just FYI there is nowhere in to park in SLC for $3. This is where the other $3 we gave to the young man could have been helpful! But we did a good thing by helping him out. (RIGHT?) So with some unhappy children we decided to see the lights just by drive-by. One child was very BUGGED! But we were stuck, in the middle of very busy, crowded, not a parking stall in sight (at least one we had money for) SLC. So, we made one more pass by, saw a few lights, and left!

(This is what we went to see...but sort of got jipped)

On the way home, with Brit asleep in his carseat, and one child still giving us the stink eye everytime we turned around. I had a brillant idea...Thanksgiving Point lights. They are drive thru. (And after making a phone call, I found out they take debit card.) Perfect solution, right? WRONG! Of course after we mentioned this to the kids and they seemed pretty jazzed, we drive up to the entrance only to find the line to get into the lights area was probably 4 miles (at least) bumper to bumper at a stand still. To this I had to scratch my head, it is a DRIVE THRU right? We quickly vetoed that because of the time and how slow it was moving...or not moving! Again our plan was busted! More stink eye!

(This should have been what we could have seen!)

So I took matters into my own hands, pulled out my phone and found great Christmas Light displays on YOU TUBE! We watched them the rest of the way home. I know, I know, nothing like the real deal, but I made everyone laugh when I pulled it out to show them some lights. Seriously, not what we had in mind but it will be one we remember that's for sure.
( You never know when You Tube will come in handy!)

One last idea of mine that actually worked! We stopped at the new Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in AF and grabbed a couple of apple pie carmel apples. They were a hit! Not to mention delicious! After one bite, the stink eye was gone and a smile lit up her face!



An interesting end to a very interesting evening! But it ended sweet!

Have a great week before Christmas!

Thanksgiving Day

*Thanksgiving 2010*

This year for Thanksgiving we headed up to Draper to spend the day with my parents. It was a small group this year, a little bit different than normal, but still fun. For dinner we only had my parents, Cortney & 3 of her children (the others weren't able to come), and my family. We had a great day together, Craig & Sarah came over later in the day/evening too. I got all the photos mixed up and out of order, but oh well! Have a look at our fun day!

This was at the end of the day, Brit had so much fun, he zonked out on Grammy & Papa's bed.

Brit, Zach & Ross tackled/wrestled to entertain themselves.

Liberty and Julia had a great time with Grammy's melt beads.

Here we are getting ready to eat.

This year I was in charge of the Apple Salad. This is a tradition in the Peterson family. I have no idea who came up with the recipe, but it is tasty. Grandma Runner used to always make it and put it in this exact bowl. For tradition and sentimental reasons, I decided to use her bowl, I thought that was pretty cool.

Zach was sure he wanted the drumstick... After a few bites, he went with the white meat. He is his mothers son.

Liberty is ready and waiting for the FEAST!

Dad asked Craig to carve the bird this year, this was a first...I love how Dad is watching over Craig's shoulder to make sure it is getting done right.

I guess Brit was missing those of the family who weren't there, because I found him talking to the family photo.

Dad giving Craig instructions on how to carve a turkey.

Grammy and Liberty making a favorite treat of Grandpa Great's. Pecan filled dates rolled in powdered sugar. Adam liked them but none of my kids did.

It was a fun day! The food was great, being with family even better! I love Thanksgiving for more than just the food, I have so many things to be thankful for and it's always good to stop and reflect on those many blessings. I hope your Thanksgiving was as great as ours!