the Peterson Family Blog

2008-05-19T20:39:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Doug graduated from UT with his Masters in Science & Technology Commercialization. He has worked extremely hard this year, so I'm really proud of him. He is constantly amazing me.

Selfishly I was really glad Derek & Emily could be here so I didn't have to sit alone during the ceremony :)

Doug says he feels like a winner. Yeah!

Shelby's 5th B-day

2008-05-07T15:49:00.002-07:00

For Shelby's birthday party we went to The Zone Skating Rink. Here are some pics that I took, along with a video of her breaking it down. I wish my camera picked up the sounds so you could jam out too. Sorry the video is a little dark... I'm just excited to post my very first Blogger video :) Yay!

Ashley's Baptism

2008-04-20T22:06:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday was Ashley's baptism. Here are some pictures of her on her special day with the family.

Slumber Party with Kailey & Shelby

2008-04-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we got to spend some time with Kailey and Shelby. Saturday I went to Shelby's softball game and then the girls came over for a slumber party. I was all excited to stay up late and watch 'Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium' with the girls, but I noticed that they all fell asleep within the first 10 minutes (even Doug). I guess it had been a long day.

Sunday morning, while we watch General Conference, Doug and the girls painted. Doug is working on this amazing painting for his office of DNA (below).

Here is a picture of a cake I made last week for a friend's birthday. I saw the idea to make a giant cupcake a few weeks ago at the bookstore and was really excited when I found the perfect cake mold to help. The mold made it a lot easier :) I think it turned out pretty stinkin cute - if I do say so myself!

The Jonas Brothers....aaahhhh!

2008-02-23T12:36:00.000-08:00

So since our home teacher is the Jonas Brothers' 2nd cousin he gave us tickets to see them at the SA Stock Show & Rodeo. Albert and I broke our own pre-decided rule for this special occasion and took the girls on a school night--the rodeo didn't even start until 7 pm (their bedtime) and we didn't get home until 12:15 am. Neither of us could believe the girls--all 3 of them--stayed awake the whole time and didn't fall asleep until we got into the car to go home. We ended up taking Victoria because when we got the tickets it was so last minute we didn't know who we could call on a Tuesday to babysit that late. She was dancing and singing with the girls like she was one of their friends from school. We were able to see the animals there for the competitions and the girls learned all about the life cycle of chickens! Victoria kept "meowing" to all the animals because for some reason that's the animal sound she's caught onto--it's really cute and we just couldn't quit laughing when she'd lean as far as she could to see and in a high-pitched (very realistice sounding) voice "meow" to the pigs that were about 3x her size. The horses just looked at her like she was crazy. The picture with the blinding light and Victoria's nose smashed to the glass is the baby chicks pen.

Tracy

Our Visit to Heber Valley Camp

2008-02-21T20:05:00.000-08:00

Last week we were lucky to get to visit Mom & Dad on their mission at Heber Valley Camp. We wish you all could have been there to experience the beauty of the mountains and snow. We had such a great visit with Mom & Dad and really enjoyed relaxing in the mountains. Mom & Dad were gracious enough to host some of of Doug's family in the camps as well, which was really nice since we hadn't seen any of them in over a year.

And you thought all we did was work... Ha!

2008-01-28T21:00:00.001-08:00

Here's a picture of Doug and I from Stephanie's birthday party a few weeks ago. It was an 80's dance party. (You recognize that book shelf in the back...eh?) I made this cake for her as my tribute to the neon era of the 1980's.

Here's a couple of pics of Steph and I from Disney World last week. We had such a great vacation. It was really nice to get away for a few days to just play. And who can forget the enourmous sombrero we found...?!

And the snow keeps coming

2008-01-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

Life here in the mountains is so beautiful and we are enjoying it very much.

We have made some very special friends but also miss our family very much.

We had a visit from some Austin friends and that was really a treat.

Hope you are all having a great new year.

Keep posting those pictures we are really enjoying this blog!

Mom and Dad

Puerto Rico

2007-12-30T14:20:00.001-08:00

We have been so lucky this year with many opportunities to travel. Dec 16-23 we went to Puerto Rico. For the first 5 days of the trip, I was working at the VA Regional Office in San Juan, while Doug enjoyed his much deserved vacation. We stayed a few extra days to spend together laying out on the beach and sightseeing. It was really amazing to lay on the beach in 85-90 degree weather in late December. We also hiked at El Yunque rainforest (the only official rainforest in the US), toured Old San Juan, learned to dance Flamanco (sadly we forgot the camera this night), and enjoyed lots of local Christmas music and food.

Christmas Eve with the Judds

2007-12-28T08:51:00.000-08:00

Just 2 days until Christmas!

2007-12-23T08:27:00.000-08:00

Aren't you excited that Christmas will be here soon?
We will be spending Christmas here in the mountains with snow coming down and on the ground all around us! Currently, it is about 10 degrees and snowing as we prepare to get ready for church. It is such a beautiful sight to see everything covered in white. Even the rocks and dirt look beautiful! We are excited to have this opportunity to be caretakers of Heber Valley Camp and enjoy this experience. This place is truly a "Temple in the Mountains". I hope someday to be able to show it to each of you!
Love you, Mom an Dad

Our Christmas Tree

2007-12-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

We cut our own Christmas tree this year from the back country at camp. It was a lot of fun but we didn't get a perfectly shaped one like you would get from a lot. That's ok, it looks beautiful in the cabin with our snowmen, pipe-cleaner snowflakes, candy canes and Dad's popcorn strings!

We love you all and miss you SO MUCH!

December 1st Snowfall

2007-12-04T20:02:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed the Thanksgiving pictures and wanted to share some pictures of our first real snowfall with all of you.
We miss you all and are really thinking of you alot!!

Thanksgiving

2007-12-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

Took me a little while to get these Thanksgiving pictures posted....We had such a great time hanging out with the Petersons and Adames.... We missed Mom, Dad, and the Wilshers though, next year hopefully we can all be together. Love y'all!

First, we started off with a traditional quiche for breakfast. It was my first time to make this and I must say, it turned out quite well.

That evening we watched Hairspray at our house. All the girls had fun hanging out with their cousins.

They also had fun attacking Doug!

Enjoying Life Here in Heber Valley Camp

2007-11-08T21:19:00.001-08:00

We are excited to be starting this blog to let our family keep up with everyone and what things are going on their lives!We are back from a quick visit to Texas and ready to get back to work with the campers that are coming to Heber Valley Camp here in the beautiful mountains.Today, we (Ron and Carol) went on a three hour ATV ride around the perimeter of the campgrounds. There was leftover snow from the last snowfall and many puddles of frozen water to go through. The mud was very slippery and we got stuck two times. About halfway through the ride, Carol took over the driving! What a thrill!! Going around those trees and through the ice covered puddles and even climbing those hills and going down was one of the most fun things that I have done lately. It was a real fun thing to do! But, of course, we forgot the camera so we will have to post the pictures that others took later.

More trunk or treat pics and halloween

2007-11-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

our first blog

2007-11-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about starting a blog for our family for a while and am FINALLY getting to it. Through this blog it will be easier for us to share pictures, videos, and what has been going on in each of our homes lately. Call it an electronic newsletter, if you will...

Everyone will be able to post from their own computers after creating a Google account through the email I sent you.

Here are the pictures I took from the Trunk or Treat last month.

If you have ideas on things to add to the blog, let me know. Any suggestions for music to add?

Anyway, I miss you guys -- call me if you have any questions or if you have trouble adding to the blog.
Love,
Lizzy