WHAT'S NEW???

so far in 2011 i have been really bad at updating my blog...i will have to try to be better.

so if i were to run into something and they ask me "what's new?" this is what i would tell them...

*we all got back into school only to get sick and have to miss a day or two. no fun to be sick.

*i started teaching a new class. i now teach music m/w/f all day and a 2 year old class t/th mornings. yes, you heard right, i teach 2 year olds. i have 22 two year olds, (only 11 at a time), but i have my hands full, but i must say they are all adorable. I already love them!

*last sunday evening we went with liberty to her baptism preview. yes, i am struggling with the idea that she is going to be 8. i can't believe how fast she is growing up. she is very excited for her birthday and to be baptized, which makes me happy.

*brit finally learned the word yes...this was huge in our home! Considering he has been answering everything with the word no forever! we all jumped for joy when he first said it. he now will not only use yes, but also, yeah, and sure. it is very cute.

*craig and i celebrated our 16th anniversary. it is hard to believe that we have been married for 16 years, but we do have a son who is going to be 15 in 3 months so it all adds up! we had a fun date on tuesday night, dinner and movie. man i love that guy!

i can't think of anything else out of the ordinary. we still are busy everyday, but that is the way i like it.

just for fun, check out some great photos i have taken over the last few days.

brit with his favorite glasses...he wears them ALOT!

zach giving brit a ride on his rip stick...i am sure this is dangerous, but brit loved it!

caleb sporting liberty's snuggie upside down. snuggie pants he called it. nice!

2010 Highlights

Before it gets further into the New Year...I thought I better jot down a few highlights of 2010!

Isn't it great that so many wonderful things can happen to one family? I must say that I am very blessed, beyond belief really. Many things happened some more memorable than others but here are a few I will never forget....

*Watching Caleb start as Quarterback. It was a rough start, but he ended up shining. He is a great player. I was one proud Mom.

*Craig being called to be the Bishop of our ward. Life changing, it really is.

*Witnessing a miracle (at least I think it was) happen to someone I LOVE very much.

*Brit turning 1. I can't believe how much joy one little boy can bring to a family.

*Liberty learning to cook and loving it. She looks forward to her cooking classes.

*Zach hitting a game changing hit in the Little League championship. He hit it to the fence and brought in a couple of runs. It was a tied game until that point. I was jumping up and down screaming like a mad woman!

*Being surrounded by AMAZING people everyday. Family, Friends, Co-workers, & Neighbors. I just hope I can be a great as they are.

Many great things happened in 2010! Mainly, just the day to day things that put a smile on my face made it a GREAT year! So here's to a SUPER 2011!

Christmas & New Years

Just like every year Christmas and New Years came so quickly and is now past. Every year I stress myself out and then end up enjoying the season beyond belief. There is nothing better than spending time with family, eating all the yumminess that comes with the season, listening to Christmas music (and on occassion, singing them at the top of my lungs), having a break from school, and seeing the exciment and anticipation of the season. This year was TONS of fun! I must admit there were many simple traditions we didn't get to, because of schedules and meetings, but it was a great time of year for all of us! I took a ton of photos and after reviewing them I always think of other shots I wish I would have taken, but here's what I've got!

I warn you there are lots of photos!

*Christmas Eve @ Veenker Home*I wish I would have taken this photo before all of the festivities. We all look a little hashed, and I don't have a clue what Zach is doing, but here's our little family.

Caleb and Grammy, I don't know what was so funny.

Dad and Craig singing White Christmas (a tradition) but this year a nice kick line was added.

Brit waiting his turn to ring the bells.

Cousins hanging on the bean bag. I love these kids!

Cute photo of Grammy and Papa!

My cute children! Caleb 14, Zach 10, Liberty 7, Brit 22 months

*CHRISTMAS MORNING*
Note to self...Christmas PJ's are a must next year...they make photos so much cuter!

Liberty playing with her new iTouch. She loves it!

Caleb modeling some of his new clothes.

Zach with his new bike.

Brit checking out his new Shop Vac (it's a long story, but he LOVES it!)

Craig and the boys got remote control helicopters. Of course, one crashed on its first flight. This seems to happen every year, someone ends up crying about a broken toy, but we have been lucky enough to some how fix it or at least order a new part. This year it was Craig's who crashed. He was as sad as any little boy I've ever seen.

After all gifts were opened, I walked into the family room to see this. Brit loves his big brother.

*CHRISTMAS BRUNCH @ GRANDMA & GRANDPA'S HOUSE*

Craig and Brit, hanging out waiting to eat.

Flying helicopters

Traditional Nativity, complete with songs, narration and bells. (not photoed)

*WILLIAMS FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY @ MUTUAL DELL*

Liberty doing her part in Minute to Win It game. She was part of a human conveyor belt.

Brit just after his first time sledding, he had to be bundled up because it was COLD, but he is grinning ear to ear. When I opened up his hood, he smiled and said, "Again, Mom!"
Needless to say, he LOVED it!

*CABIN TRIP DECEMBER 28-31 @ FAIRVIEW LAKES*

Brooklynn, Brit and I riding in the snow cat to the cabin.

Kids watching one of the many ping pong tourny's that took place. While we were there we got about 3-4 feet of snow. So most of the time there was spent inside the cabin, not snowmobililng.

Craig in the middle of one of his games

The little girls planned an art show this year. It was a cute idea.

Brit enjoyed sitting by the window watching anyone who was brave enough to venture outside. It was FREEZING! At one point it was -4 degrees. That is without the wind chill. CRAZY COLD!

Everyone had a good time, even if we couldn't do what we came to do, snowmobile. The snow put a damper on that idea. The kids dug snow caves and tunnels, jumped off the roof into the snow, played games, painted fingernails, and thank heavens for itouch games, they saved the day! We joked that next year's Christmas cabin trip we need to order much better weather! We will have to see how that goes.

That's some of what we did, we had a great 2 week vacation and I am having a hard time grasping the idea of going back to school in the morning. I guess all good things come to an end.

Happy 2011!

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!