Christmas Time is Here

This Christmas we were able to spend the entire time with Brett's family in Iona by Idaho Falls. We had a lot of fun. Their schedule is different than the one I had growing up. We weren't allowed to wake my parents up until 8 or 9 am, we would have a Christmas breakfast of homemade egg mcmuffins, read the scriptures of Christ's birth, then get to presents around 10 am and not get finished until around 1 pm.

At the Petersen's we read the Christmas story the night before from a wonderfully put together book with pictures and scriptures in it. The next morning we got up with the most enthusiastic child, which was our nephew Collin.

He loves playing with Brett and I just knew that he was going to find us in the morning and get us up. Sure enough, while looking for his parents he found our room around 7 am. He's got footy pajamas with sculls on them, they are awesome! The door opened, bringing light into the room, and then silence followed. Unsure, I rolled in Brett's direction and found Collin standing next to the bed staring at us. I was ready to kick Brett out of bed to get some more sleep until I was informed that we were going to open presents now. You can bet I had a nice long nap later on.

After visiting with our friends Rhett and Jessie we came back and did something I have always wanted to do. We made gingerbread houses from scratch. Apparently almost no one there had ever done it before either so we had a fun time. I had made the dough the night before then we divided into 3 groups and designed our houses then cut and baked the dough.

This is me holding the house together b/c powdered suger and milk icing doesnt work as well as one might think in holding together gingerbread. The other groups desided it would be wise to use hot glue and ended up with very stable, pretty houses. I wanted to be able to eat our house so we traded stability for an innocent look. Innocent meaning it looks like a child made it but we loved the way it turned out.

What's that on roof, you ask? Why that is our daredevil santa coming off the ramp.

We hope everyone else had a Happy Christmas as well!

We now know that the Tummy Dragon is a BOY! Off to the right is our countdown to the birth. His name is to be Lucian Douglas Petersen. Lucian the Dragon. I like the sound of that.

When we went to our appoitment to find out, he just wouldnt stay still and gave the nurse a hard time completeing all the pictures she needed to take to make sure that he was developing properly. When it came time to find out what he was he just strutted his stuff and practically yelled, "I'm a BOY!" It was funny.

Before the appointment I couldnt feel the baby. Everyone kept saying that I should feel "bubbles" or at least him moving. Thank you for making me worry about my baby! Aparently there was nothing wrong, the position of the placenta just makes it hard to feel as much. I have been definatly feeling him now! The other night I was laying in bed with my hand on my stomach and he kicked me! If Brett had his hand there he would have felt it. It was so neat! Now and then I can feel him doing barrel rolls back and forth. It will definately be intresting when he gets bigger.

And here is the soon to be newest member of the Petersen family....
The Tummy Dragon!
Yes, that is the child's name so far. Isn't the dragon so cute! You should have seen Brett's face when they pulled up the heart beat. He was surprised that it was going so fast. Then they pulled this up and his jaw dropped. I couldn't help but laugh. The baby seemed to be rocking out in there and Brett loved it! Our next appointment is in December and we will hopefully be able to find out if the tummy dragon is a boy or a girl.

Looking at the this picture you think, hey pretty view, and it is, but you get a different perspective after you've biked up it. At the beginning of this summer I had the chance to go on the summit program for recreational management. For Five weeks I was in southern Utah, Moab area. I went canyoneering,

probably the hardest thing for me on the trip because we were in really small cracks in the rocks and did some high rappels. We also did hiking, mountain biking, white water rafting. The picture of me on the mountain? It was taken after the clouds cleared a bit and we were on our way down. Now that was scary! But I can now say I've hiked 12,050 ft.

You may have noticed that there are some new links off to the right. They belong to a fan fiction Cory is writing called Ryan's Destiny. I put it up because I wouldnt mind if you read it. There are a few things you should know though. 1) This is a Power Ranger story. Yes, I typed that correctly. It is from the season of Lightspeed Rescue. 2) The story is based off actual episodes so in the beginning I dont write down every scene. When I first wrote it I expected everyone to have already seen the episodes. 3) I am starting off writing fan fiction first b/c it gives me practice for my ultimate goal of Books. Yeah!

If you intrested in reading it here is the basic story so you don't get lost. Demons were released and their property now has a city built over it so they want to destroy it. Power Rangers are chosen by Capt. Mitchell of the government (first man technology team) to stop them. Time goes on, they make another ranger power but it stolen by the demons. That is where Ryan comes in. He works for the demons. He is also Capt. Mitchell's son and the pink ranger's brother. Years ago there was a car crash; the demons saved Ryan and raised him. Which side will he choose? Short and sweet overview and very delicious when you get into it.

Been awhile you say? I guess it has. Brett and I are married and having loads of fun! A lot has been happening since November but I will get to that in another entry. Just wanted to post some pictures.