Traditions of a Peterson Christmas 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2009 from MARK AND BROOKE

CHRISTMAS DAY: Matching jammies, Great Grandma Nani and Great Granddad Reid, "The Boys" and their new musical T-shirts, and Mark being teased by Travis because he likes the vampire books.

The girls gingerbread houses surely turned out differently than the boys (The Breindholt boys did the house at the end of this blog). Look what the girls allowed Gavin to do...he decorated cookies and the back of one of the houses!

TEMPLE LIGHTS, and DINNER WITH THE IVINS FAMILY. It was soooo cold.

CHRISTMAS EVE: Talent Show, Cousins, White Elephant and Fun.

Christmas 2009

Featuring our eleven grandchildren

WOW! 220 Christmas Stockings Donated to the Child Crisis Center in Glendale, AZ

Thank you for making Christmas a little better for those who suffer abuse and neglect.

Decorating the Gingerbread House on Thanksgiving with the Breinholt boys. Decorating is not the right word, more like loading up. We will decorate with the Willis and Wirig children during our Christmas visit to Utah. The kids wait all year for this tradition.

HALLOWEEN COSTUMES

Finally photos of the two Wirig brothers on Halloween. A little cute chickie and a scary Dracula.

Willis children, Kate the BYU cheerleader, Isabel and Ava the Brides and Gavin the Blue Power Ranger.

Caleb the Frankenstein, Jacob the GI Joe, Nathan the Storm Trooper and Zachary the Batman.

I am using this post to share our Halloween costumes for 2009. The first post is my husband. Mark is way into this holiday!! He buys yucky costumes and masks all of the time. But, then again, he likes the State Fair too. This is what came in the mail yesterday. I took the photo with my cell phone so that I could send it on to our daughters as soon as I could. Nobody smiles after they cut off their own head. For the party he wants his face to look like it is dead. Here we are dressed up for our neighborhood Halloween party and Stake Halloween party both back to back. The little kids at the parties weren't too sure about the headless man.

LATEST PROJECTS - Frames and Drapes

Ashley and I went shopping to several home boutiques and she found some very fun things. Many of the things she picked up were items I thought I could do just as well. So I challenged myself and found the materials I thought I would need. And voila the decorated frames were born. I need more work on my antiquing skills but all in all they turned out. The possibilites are endless. There is one other project I plan to complete on an item she really loved, I am scouting out the materials and will post the finished product if it turns out like I want it.

Jessica really liked the drapes I made for her living room and thought I should post them since they were another home project of mine. We just modified her old drapes to fit these windows.

NEW HOBBIES Continued

My latest project for my daughter Jessica. She had a kitchen set she didn't like - so I offered to change it for her. We found fabric she loved; I recovered and painted and here is the result. The chairs took a couple of trips back and forth from her house to mine and back again. I did the table at her house. Let this be a lesson, nothing ventured nothing gained. It was a rewarding project for this first timer.

NEW HOBBIES

There are so many things that I love to do; working with my hands and having friends over and giving parties to name a few. I was excited for these last two parties for people I dearly love.

Natalie wanted new window treatments in her kitchen. She is pretty non-traditional and envisioned something unique. We went shopping and found the fabric and I got to work putting together her ideas. A few trips for the right hardware and the right look and we came up with these fun coverings. And yes the Roman Shades over the sink really work. We had a great time figuring things out and I decided I like this new hobby. Next we tackle her family room, living room, and the bedrooms upstairs. She better start thinking about what she wants. Maybe I can do a little pre-work before my next visit to Utah in November when Ashley's baby comes.

COLE STEVEN WIRIG - Newest Grandson

He is as good as gold and just so beautiful. He was a bit smaller than his older brother Grant but is already catching up. He gained a whole pound in just 12 days. Mark flew out to Utah for 2 days just to meet his newest grandson. We love these grandbabies. Ashley has her baby girl in November so we will have 11 grandchildren soon. What blessings they are.

4th of July in Provo Utah

My Aunt Della Mae was in Norway and offered her backyard for our 4th of July BBQ. We played a little and ate a lot. It was great to be with family; my brother John (Skip) and his family, all of the MEP children and grandchildren, grandma Nani and granddad Reid, Mark's sister Mary and her David and his wonderful Jessica, and then my older brother Tony and his family came later.

And ate some more. We had a short game of Scrabble (an Ivins favorite). Smart Mark and his sister Mary were a team, David and Jessica were a team, my father and I were a team and Steve and Travis were a team. My father was thrilled that we won!! Mary said that she and Mark let us win, hum - I think that sometimes clever beats out smartie pants.

Uncle Skip brought his cotton candy machine to the BBQ. It was a hit with the kids as you can well imagine.

He had lots of flavors and a long line of kids waiting for their treat. Skip is like the ice cream man. Uncle Skip loves stuff like this. He has a popcorn machine and even a big snow cone maker. He's one of a kind and a great baby brother.

YUM YUM!! Ava was trying to sell us the cotton candy for a profit.

Ethan and I found a great grassy spot to watch the fireworks outside of the Credit Union where Grandma Nora used to work. We took our blanket and camp chairs there earlier in the day and walked from my Aunt Della Mae's home. Aunt Mary and her son David and his wife Jessica were able to join us for the fun. We could see the Jonas Brothers on the jumbo screen and all of the fireworks. It was a late night for Petersons.

On Friday morning EARLY we went to the soccor field by Provo High School. We watched the 20+ balloons get filled with hot air and take off. What a thrill to be among those big balloons. We went to breakfast afterwards.

Ava wanted to be tall.

Saturday morning is the 4th of July parade. It starts at 9:00 am but you can be there as early as 7:30 for the pre-parade. Travis and Ethan got our spot set-up the night before. Unfortunately it rained hard that night and our blanket got wet. The big people got to sit in chairs.