FAMILY PHOTO 2011

Blessed beyond measure!

CHRISTMAS CARD 2011

Christmas 2011 - MEP Style

This year was an "on" Peterson Christmas.  We missed Ashley and her family - she is ready to deliver her #6 and was not able to travel.  (Mark and I will go up in early January, me to be a grandmother and Mark to deliver an address to School of Business at BYU).  My family has always had fun Christmas traditions.  One of which is our white elephant gift exchange.  We introduced the idea to my husband's family years ago when we moved here to AZ and they too have embraced it as one of their traditions.  It is really fun to do with the kids.  We also Christmas carol to friends and neighbors.  I have always gotten the matching jammies for our girls and the grandchildren.  They really love dressing alike on Christmas Eve.  The excitement of seeing their own personalized stockings and anticipating Christmas morning tickled us.

 CAROLING

 TEMPLE LIGHTS

 CHRISTMAS EVE with Grant, Zachary, Nathan, Jacob, Alice, Cole and Caleb.  We were missing Isabel, Ava, Gavin, Kate and Ruby - and baby boy Willis.

Jessica, Mom, Natalie and Ana - Missing our Ashley :(

HALLOWEEN 2011

The Petersons love Halloween!!  Our Breinholt grandsons had a great time getting ready for the night.   We kept in touch with our grandchildren in Utah sending photos of all the kids back and forth. 

The Willis family, Ava a Rock Star, Ruby a witch, Isabel a Vampire, Kate is Minnie Mouse and Gavin a BYU Football player.

Breinholt Boys w/Granddad after our neighborhood Halloween Party
Jacob the Caveman, Nathan the Mad Scientist, Zachary the Mummy and Caleb the Pirate

Wirig Kids in Utah - Grant the Skelton, Alice the Piggy, Cole the Gorilla

Anniversary Trip

GIVE ME A LITTLE KISS.

THAT WAS WORTH IT!!

34 YEARS and COUNTING

 We've changed a little over the years as you can see, but I am happy for all 34 of them.  Our family is still growing, stay tuned for our 13th grandchild in January. 

BIG BOY GRANT - Pirate Ship Project

While in Utah for the third time this year (Mark lectured 150 BYU business students in early February, I had our girls only trip and then Mark had BYU Advisory Board Mtgs in March) I was able to spend one on one time with grandson Grant. He is a very large 3 yr old with a brain to fit his body size. He wanted to do a project with me so we went to the store and he picked out a wooden pirate ship. We put it together - then he got to paint it. That was the highlight of the project for him. He actually painted it again the following day. How great is that? Painting your project two times!!

1st Annual All Girls Trip

We had a great time in St. George, UT and Las Vegas, NV for our first annual all girls trip. While we love our babies and husbands, it was the first time in 10 years that we could get away with just the girls. We knew we had a very short window given Natalie's baby girl coming in early April. With the long President's Day weekend, available and willing daddy babysitters, we did it. We shopped all day in Las Vegas, ate out every day and even cooked our own gourmet meal on Sunday. It was just four days for this first outing, we are planning a longer CA trip for next year followed by a NY trip an island trip to Hawaii - the sky is the limit. SO MUCH FUN.