An Afternoon with my BBF

This is me with my dear friend Heather. Heather and I met at camp in 1994. (I had a delicious picture of everyone in our cabin right after we stole the youth staff's underwear. Unfortunately, my scanner seems to be on the fritz. You're welcome, Tammy and Kasey.) Ever since our camp days, Heather and I have been BBF (as she always mistakenly put it). We went to each other's high school plays, discussed the woes of being Key Club secretaries, and shared in each other's relationship tragedies and triumphs. Later in life she named her first child Elissa, making me a naesake. (See what I did there?) And she didn't seem offended that I didn't name my firstborn Eather. Her dad even gave me my epidural when I had Harrison, putting him in the top five of my list of Greatest People, Ever.

Last week Heather and her kids met us at the LDS Museum of Church History and Art in downtown Salt Lake City. They have a sweet exhibit there called "I Am a Child of God." There are a lot of little activities the kids can participate in. There was a nativity set with costumes, so naturally we had all the kids dress up and form a live nativity.
(L-R: Ryen (Mary), Elissa (Angel), Brigham (reluctant Baby Jesus), Harrison (Wise Man behind Cardboard Mary), Chloe (Shepherd), Gibson (Wise Man behind Cardboard Mary), and Spencer (Shepherd).
(This is a better shot of the hiding Wise Men.)

Here are Harrison and Chloe eating from the Tree of Life at the Lehi's Dream corner.

And here are Harrison and Ryen building temples (just like the one they're going to be married in). The first time Ryen saw Harrison she said, "Oh, he's handsome."

Hello, Real World. Nice to meet you.

When I graduated from high school I remember the wise, young valedictorian saying, "Now we are entering the real world . . ." I was really excited to be a part of it. But then I continued to be a student for five (yeah, that's right) more years. When I graduated from college, the student-appointed graduation speaker said, "Now we're entering the real world . . ." But then Jeff was in school for five more years, so it still felt like we were living the student life (except now the t.v. wasn't on top of the mini fridge). As I drove Jeff to work yesterday for his first day as a doctor, it finally felt like we were in the real world. I hear food tastes better here.

Let Me Remember the Faces of My Family

Last night we went to a company picnic up at Snowbird Ski Resort. They promised all sorts of games and rides but it was mostly a moonbounce and a bungee trampoline. Harrison really wanted to try the bungee thing but the line was really long. I told him we would go for a ride on the tram while we waited for the line to shorten. That was before I knew what a tram was. In case you aren't sure, either, this is a tram:

Booooo. I'm not a fan of large objects being held up by small objects. I don't even go on rides at the fair. (They put those things up in, like, a day! That can't be safe.) But the kids were so excited about it that I faced my fears and got in the large swinging box and prayed in earnest that I could escape death just one more day.

Once we got to the top, the view really was amazing and I was glad I had pushed through my panic attack. Good times.

"I'll give you a topic . . . "

On today's very special episode of Talk Time, Harrison and Chloe discuss all things Daddy.






Just to dispell the myth that the love of Jeff's life is pie, I would like to add that he also loves sports, nature, and kisses.

This next video is especially for Jeff. Harrison was too nervous on Sunday to get up and sing this with the other kids at church. (Who knew all I had to do was offer him a soda?) Here are the children singing "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home."

SOCCER? I don't even KNOW her!

In an effort to keep Harrison from going MAD we signed him up for soccer in the 3-4 year-old league at the local rec center. Last night was his first game and it went a little something like this:

Before the game Harrison warms up and is amazed by his own talent for scoring points (in an unprotected goal with no one else around).

The game begins and they're off! The blue team immediately scores a point . . . for the yellow team.

By halftime Harrison has done a great job of getting the ball away from the other team and kicking it in the right direction, but he is very discouraged that he hasn't scored a point. We try to emphasize teamwork as he refuels.

Midway through the second half of the game, Harrison comes crying to the sidelines and says he is giving up. "I'm good when I practice, but I'm not good here," he says.

I tell Harrison he doesn't get the team treat if he doesn't play with the team. He gets his head back in the game.

After ending up on the bottom of a few preschool pile-ups, he is officially done. He finishes the game with Daddy and Great-grandpa Peterson on the sidelines.

Harrison decides that next time he'll play goalie.

Chloe's First Haircut

Chloe was developing a rat tail and a mullet, so to keep her from morphing into Billy Ray Cyrus, I trimmed her hair today.

The result was barely noticeable, which I think is good considering I've only ever cut Barbie's hair.

Recommended Reading

Thank you all for coming to my rescue! I can't wait to get reading. I thought I'd share everyone's suggestions in case others were looking for some fun summer reading.

Rich recommends The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley. Sounds like fun! A cookie for you.

Kate recommends Jill Churchill mysteries, Raney by Clyde Edgerton, and Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. Three cookies for you.

Allyn recommends War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Woah! Go crazy, Al! Cookie crumb for you.

Meredith recommends These is my Words and Sarah's Quilts by Nancy Turner. I've had these books recommended to me before and will definitely read them. However, my understanding is that they're about slave life. Does slave life equal fun summer reading? Tough call. Half a cookie for you.

Heather recommends The Host by Stephanie Myers. Half a cookie for you since you were not aware of my New Year's resolution not to read Stephanie Myers books.

Liz P. recommends the Twilight series by Stephanie Myers. Negative cookie for knowing my New Year's resolution and suggesting it, anyway.

Uno Kidney recommends books by Janet Evanovich about female bounty hunters in New Jersey, and The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey. Dos cookies for you, Uno.

Patti recommends The Know-it-all: One Man's Quest to Read the Encyclopedia Britannica. I'll pack your cookie with my beach towel, Patti.

The Lewises recommend The Houshusband by Ad Hudler. A cookie for you both.

Melyssa recommends the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella and Notes from a Small Island (a funny travel book about Great Britain) by Bill Bryson. Two cookies for you, Melyssa with a "y."

Jeff saved the day and bought me When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. A cookie jar for you, my love!

Happy reading!

Hurry Up and Wait

(Photos of my new haircut taken by Harrison.)
Well, we've been here for over two weeks and I'm ready to call it: moving sucks big time. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to be here and we've had some delightful experiences, but moving is not fun. I've been trying to figure out what it is that makes it so awful. I've decided it's the waiting. Waiting for Jeff to start his new job. Waiting for him to get a paycheck so we can furnish our new townhouse. Waiting to build relationships of trust so I can have a Utah BFF. Waiting for Harrison to start school so he'll stop going INSANE with boredom. Waiting for Chloe to make friends so she won't be so sick of Harrison that she screams every time she sees him. Much like Indigo Montoya, I hate waiting.

I thought I mastered patience when I was pregnant twice. I had checked that virtue off my list of things to do. It turns out, I still have a few more lessons to learn. I just haven't figured out how to beat the boredom without eating food or spending money. Help! What I really need is a fun book to read. (Thanks for the pick-me-up "Atonement" and "Jane Eyre.") If you know of any books I might enjoy, let me know. Winner gets a cookie.

Here's a rare interview with my recently displaced children:

Shirley you jest.

On Saturday we drove up to Pocatello, Idaho to visit my Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Curtis. (That's a really bad picture of my grandma. She was showing off the bracelet I made her.) All trips to Pocatello to visit the g-parents must include a meal at the Golden Corral. Grandma Shirley likes to get there an hour before her out-of-town guests so she can eat all her food before they get there and talk all she wants once they arrive. When we arrived at Noon, she was still working on her lunch (which included a bowl of grapes, a bowl of sliced green peppers, a bowl of diced green peppers, a plate full of watermelon, and a bowl with one chicken finger in it). The rest of us finished eating and the kids were ready to go, so Grandma ended up wrapping her remaining green peppers in a napkin and stuffing them in her purse.

Next we headed to the Pine Ridge Mall to take the kids to the indoor playground. Despite the fact that it was a perfect day to go to a REAL park, Curtis and Shirley were set on going to the indoor playground to see if my kids were as cute as my cousin's kids playing on the indoor playground. Hello! Of course they are cuter!

My grandparents are very kind, very quirky people. I could have a blog devoted entirely to their quirks, but I will refrain and just tell my favorite story.

Three years ago I was talking to my grandma and reminded her that my birthday was coming up and I was a huge fan of her raspberry jam. A few weeks later, we came home from a week at the beach to find a large package in our mailbox. Here's what grandma did:
Step 1--She filled two small dixie cups with her delicious jam.
Step 2--She flattened the cups slightly and covered the tops with seran wrap and duct tape.
Step 3--She wrapped them in paper towels and placed them in a large, flat mailing envelope.
Step 4--She mailed it.
Step 5--It sat in my mailbox under the summer sun for about a week.

Included in the package was this sticky note:


As we left their house on Saturday, Grandma Shirley handed me a bag with bread and jam. She said she felt like she owed me since the dixie cup jam didn't work out so well. When we got in the car, I opened the bag and found what used to be a jar of baby lotion now filled with jam. I don't know about the jam, but the bread was delicious!