Christmas Card

Most of you probably received a Christmas card from us already, but because this is our own little family scrapbook, I had to include one here so that we could remember it (if I ever get around to making that *%#@$ blurb book). This is what is looks like except for the fact that we removed Reagan and Cole's ages from the card.

Once again, we loved what our photographer did (English Photo) and would HIGHLY recommend her. She turns what I thought was a less than productive photo session into beautiful pictures of our family that I cherish. Guess they call that talent. Anyway, Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family!

Oak Grove Primary Nativity DVD

So, in an earlier post, I talked about the Nativity dvd that our Primary was "assigned" to create. If you'll remember, we hauled many of the kids in the Primary to Wheeler Farm on one of the most windy days I can remember. It was also cold. However, we were driven....well, we were up against a deadline and committed to making the dvd amazing.

We had Mary and Joseph:














We had an inn keeper:











We had angels:

We had wise men:

We had shepherds:

Most of all, we have memories of the craziness of that day. Here's some outtakes...

What a day....from Cole's meltdown to packing all the costumes and props around Wheeler Farm, to angels chasing swan and wise men pouting, to rounding everyone up for hot cocoa and cookies in the parking lot. We were cold, wind blown and tired, but the pics were great. Add some photoshop effects, a template of a background with wise men on camels, Steve's great voice for the narration and a professional (???) post production guy and we had a great end product that was shown at the ward Christmas party (while we were out of town) and given to each of the Primary children for a Christmas gift. We watched it as part of our Petersen Family Christmas Eve Program and I love that Reagan and Cole could be "part" of the most beautiful story ever told.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was the best! Santa came and left no one disappointed. We opened gifts and snacked on treats from the stockings until Rachel, Kevin, Anistyn, and Stockton arrived with Mike (another Christmas tradition). Next .... more gifts and a breakfast of cinnamon rolls and made-to-order omelettes by Kevin (mmmm). Then, the kids were in the zone - sharing/fighting/playing/chasing/yelling/hiding/dressing up and everything else. It was utter chaos for a few hours of fun and then the crash - they both conked right out. After naps, we headed over to Steve's parents' house for more gifts, more food and more fun. What a great day! Our Christmas was largely Disney and Hello Kitty. Reagan's stocking was chock full of HK stuff while Cole's held Cars stuff. Reagan received princess stuff while Cole received Buzz Lightyear (good thing Santa noticed Cole coveting Stockton's Buzz all during our Disneyland trip). What a great holiday - to be with family and friends, to give to others, to celebrate the birth of the Savior and to reflect on His life. It was a Merry Christmas indeed.

Christmas Eve

I know, I know, I owe a post about how the basement looked when we returned home, but I'm waiting for pics from when we were gone. Our friend Stacey knew I'd want pics, so, she will be sending them over and I'll include them in a post. In the meanwhile, we had Christmas! Granted, it was a bit scaled down this year (we put up only one tree, had some big ornaments hanging from the dining room chandelier - courtesy of Stacey - and I put a decoration or two in the kitchen... that was it). The scale didn't matter as we still had a great time. Rachel and Shannon were so kind to put together the Christmas Eve dinner (all I had to do was cook a ham). We ate, played games (Rachel's Christmas Bingo was a hit), had our little family Christmas program, and - of course - watched Christmas Vacation. We missed April - she was sick and unable to join us. Despite the few drawbacks, it was still a wonderful night. The kids had a ball and so did we. Rachel, Kevin and the kids went home for the night while Matt and Shannon stayed over (as usual) - only this year, there was no room in the "downstairs inn" so, they had to couch it. Matt even helped us assemble some gifts - until 2am!!! Oh well, hope Santa doesn't mind a soggy basement and a crowded living room. Somehow, I don't think it will matter one bit :)

ps - Gotta love the sweater that Shannon made for her "ugly Christmas sweater" contest as work. Who buys a sweater at Nordstrom and then glues crazy things all over it to wear once and throw away???? That would be our Shanny Bananny!

Maui - Day 8

We head home today. I am sad to leave this beautiful - warm - place, but excited to get home and get ready for Christmas. I am also pretty anxious about what our basement will look like. Since we flew out of LAX, we are not on our usual red-eye direct flight into SLC. Instead, we're leaving at 3 pm and flying into LAX where we'll hit a hotel by the airport and fly home tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. I swear that after the all night flight, it takes us 2 or 3 days to get back to normal and not feel like zombies anymore. Plus, a shorter, afternoon flight will probably be better for Reagan and Cole. Of course, we swam until the last minute we had to leave.

Our next door neighbors, who have a condo here, say that they never leave the island without booking their next trip. We are sort of the same - we figure out when we will next be able to come (even if we don't actually book the flights). Steve sometimes comments that we are boring to come back to the same beach twice a year. I know that it lacks variety, but it is the consistency of the weather, the service, the beach and the entire experience that I love. I love that we can count on a great vacation, relaxing or adventurous, no matter the time of year. I love that we have no currency issues, no language issues and no passport or citizenship issues. I love that I can find all the things I need and am used to at the shops or stores here and that I know where to go. It is truly paradise to me. Plus, even though we have a great time, after a week or 10 days here, I look forward to going home - to snow or cold weather - to our routine, and to our friends and family.

What a great trip this has been! Disneyland with Rachel's family was so much fun and Maui has been so relaxing and fun. Steve and I were actually able to survive with no help (this is the first trip where we have had both kids and not had Shannon and Matt with us). Reagan and Cole had a blast and with Christmas only 10 days away, we are psyched to get home and prepare for the holidays. Here's a few pics of our hotel and of Reagan and Cole swimming on our last day in paradise.

Maui - Day 7

Today is our last full day in Maui and we tried to make the best of it. We swam, played, ate, and walked along the beach. We enjoyed the last sunset we would see here (for this trip), walked along the beach and soaked up the music, the breeze, the sights, and the feeling of being here. Here's a slideshow of our last full day here in Maui.

Maui - Days 5 & 6

No problem guessing what we did on day 5 - yep... SWIM! Reagan and Cole are just loving that they can spend most of the day in the pool. I know - it's kind of boring that this is all we do, huh? Well, we have had trips here in the past when we sight see like crazy (drive the road to Hana, helicopter tour over the island, airplane tour over the Kilauea volcano on the big island, bike down from Haleakala, snorkle at Turtle Bay, take a catamaran out to Molokini, whale watching tours, etc.), but after Disneyland, we are looking to relax and swimming suits Reagan and Cole just fine.

Day 6 hit and BAM! No more carefree relaxing. Our friends, the Abbotts, woke us up with a phone call from home: our basement was being flooded. I had some packages delivered to their home while we were gone and happened to give them a key "just in case". Elliot went over to the house 3 days before we came home and just thought he'd put the packages in our house and check things out. He heard the water running before he even got inside the house. Apparently we picked the right (wrong?) week to get away because the temps at home went below zero and we had a pipe that froze and broke in the basement. I guess there was a waterfall coming down in the hallway downstairs and the water was a few inches deep. Elliot turned off the main water valve to the house, called Pam and Stacey and they were all grabbing things and moving things to get them out of the water. I had to laugh (if that is possible in this situation) at what each person thinks is valuable. Elliot was on the phone with Steve and was reporting that he had grabbed the computer, the files, and the papers while Pam was on the phone with me reporting that she had grabbed my wedding dress, Reagan's Hello Kitty purse, Reagan's scrapbooks and Stacey was drying out our photos that had been submerged in the drawers in the hallway. It is so Mars/Venus what men and women think is valuable. Luckily (unluckily) our next door neighbor had a broken pipe the same day and he already had Utah Disaster Kleenup at his house. So, Pam and Elliot arranged for them to come directly to our house after our neighbor's house. Same with the plumber, etc. I can only imagine what the house would have looked like if no one had discovered the leak and we would have come home almost 4 days later - ugggh! Instead, by the time we came home, we had 2 de-humidifiers, heaters and 23 fans blowing in the 80 degree basement, all of the furniture was moved into the only dry spot in the basement (1/2 of the great room) and items were drying all over our house and in the garage. How blessed we are to have great friends and neighbors who helped to watch over/dry out and repair our house. We checked into coming home early, but with 4 frequent flyer tickets, it wasn't likely that we were going to be able to get seats. Plus, as our friends pointed out, what were we going to do anyway? The house needed to be dried out and that would take days. So, we periodically checked on flights, but just decided to enjoy our last few days in paradise and deal with the damage when we returned home. Thanks Abbotts - we are so grateful!!!! Pictures of the waterfall in the basement coming from Stacey (she knew I would want to see the chaos), but for now, here's a few pics from our Day 6 in Maui.

Maui - Day 4

It's moving day for us in Maui. Like I said in my last post, we originally booked this trip with a package at the Westin, so we are checking out of the Hyatt and heading down the beach to the Westin. Previously, I have called the Westin my favorite pool on this beach, but having a 2 and a 3 year old puts a different spin on everything. While the Hyatt has its kiddie pool with a slide and fountains, the Marriott has nice baja steps and a pirate ship (see our photos from February) and the Sheraton has a little 1.5 foot infinity pool that flows over into the main pool with slides and a lazy river (see our photos from last year). The Westin has a gorgeous pool, but it is 4 feet deep everywhere and while there is a bench type step all around the pool, there is only one set of steps for Reagan and Cole to get in and out of the pool. So, maybe the Westin is no longer my favorite pool on this beach; however I still love this hotel. They have a great lobby that is all decorated for the holidays and Cole loves to see the Koi and the swans that are swimming in the ponds. There are even flamingos and parrots. We have a gorgeous view, great weather and fun, fun, fun. Reagan and Cole have loved being in the pool each day and after checking in to our new place, that's where they wanted to go. After a full day of playing, we opted to just hit McDonalds for dinner and to eat by the pool. Nothin' better than "ren reyes" (french fries for those of you who may not speak Cole or Scooby Doo). Here's a few pics from our day:

Maui - Day 3

Another beautiful day here in Maui. We swam again today and I included, in the slideshow, some pics of our hotel. When we originally booked this trip, we had a package at the Westin. However, because we were staying longer than the time of the package, we needed another couple of nights. Gotta love Priceline. We bid on a resort hotel in Ka'anapali and got an amazing deal for the Hyatt (seriously - I think we may have paid more for our hotel in Anaheim than we did for this resort on the beach). We have stayed here before (we saw a shark in the water one year while we were on the treadmills in the spa). However, since we stayed here, they have built a kiddie pool - love it! Really, any hotel along Ka'anapali Beach is going to be great!

After a full day of fun in the pool, we walked down the beach to Whaler's Village, ate at Lelani's on the Beach and then took in the hula show in Whaler's Village. After that, a walk back to our hotel to crash for the night. I mean, all this relaxing is really tiring :)

Maui - Day 2

Starting our first full day in Maui, we had to head to the pool - that's all Reagan and Cole wanted was to hit the kiddie pool, with the slide, the "leaping water fountains" and the turtles to climb on. They had a ball and so did we. It was so nice to sit by the pool, swim, read, play and just be together. We headed to Hula Grill for dinner - a favorite for us: right by the beach, sand on your feet, good food, music playing each night and tiki torches glowing. After dinner, we caught part of a dance show with dances from many of the polynesian cultures - great! Reagan and Cole love having Steve with us all day every day (so do I!!!). Here's a look at our first day in paradise:

Disneyland - Day 5 & Maui - Day 1

Who wants to leave four days in sunny California and head home when the temps are going to be in the single digits? Yeah - neither do we! So, we headed in the other direction.... way in the other direction to an island called Maui. Gotta love 82 -85 degrees every day of the year!! Despite the fact that it was dark by the time we got our luggage, packed up our rental car, had dinner and checked into the hotel, we had to go to the beach. We played by the pool for a while and then walked along the beach. Cole was a bit better with the sand on the feet thing (you may remember that he would go psycho to have sand on his feet when we were here in February) and Reagan loved it. What a long day, but what a great way to end it - saying "goodbye" to Mickey and "hello" to Maui.

Disneyland - Day 4

With Rachel and Kevin leaving bright and early this morning, our little family was on our own for the last day of fun at Disneyland. We started off in California Adventure. Steve went on Soarin' over California one last time and the kids and I watched the people get soaked on the Grizzly River Run. Next, we hit the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail where the kids had a blast running, climbing, sliding and hiking. We made our way to the Golden Zephyr (where Cole was made official co-pilot), Jumping Jellyfish and this boat that they can play on. We finished up at California Adventure by riding King Triton's Carousel and headed over to Disneyland. We went on the flying Dumbo ride and then were able to see the parade (that we saw the first night there) again. With both kids totally tuckered out, and knowing we had a flight to catch early the next morning, we went back to the hotel and hit the sack. Thanks Mickey and Minnie (and Santa) - we had a great time.... again. Merry Christmas and we'll see you next year :)