Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas! We started the holiday season off by flying to Las Vegas on the 22nd of December to meet up with Celeste's parents for the day. It was great for Brindi to see her Hancock grandparents and Uncle Brennon. We had a fun time bowling, shopping and eating. The next day we headed to Utah for the rest of the holidays.We had a traditional Christmas Eve party with the Petersens. Good basketball games, fun white elephant games, great dinner and of course the Nativity re-enactment. Santa Claus came towards the end of the party and Brindi was so excited to see him. My parents have a 5 foot dancing Santa that she loves to watch and is always trying to find him when we are up stairs. I think she as a little dissapointed that he didn't dance like the one at Grandpa's house but this one did give her a teddy bear.Christmas was pretty exciting. Several presents, wrapping paper and family made for a great Christmas experience. You can see some of Brindi's presents above. Obviously she likes balls but not books. Much like her Father.Brindi was also able to be with her cousins and actually play a little bit with them. She loves seeing people her own size. We are hoping that when she saw everyone else crawling and walking that it would make her jealous. We don't think it worked. But she was pretty happy to be around family has were Celeste and I.

Christmas in St. Charles

We headed off to downtown St. Charles this afternoon. The city puts together a really cool downtown show. The streets are filled with about 30 different fairy tale characters from Father Time to Santa Claus to Mother Goose and many other characters you knew of when you were a child. Another thing that is pretty cool is that each character carries a personalized card about themselves and how their story relates to Christmas. Its great for young kids and each time you talk to a character they will give you a card and the goal is to collect all the characters. They also do a parade down main street which we missed this year but hopefully we will see it next year. It was cold but for sure worth it. It will be a our fun St. Louis tradition for now on!

12 Days of Christmas Tag

Here is another tag just for the Holidays. Answer the questions and then tag 3 Wise Men (or women). Leave a comment on the persons blog that you tag. Merry Christmas!

On the 1st Day of Christmas my True Love gave to Me; My Favority Holiday Drink: Cherry 7-UP

On the 2nd Day of Christmas my True Love gave to Me; My Favorite Christmas Movie: Muppets Christmas Carol

On the 3rd Day of Christmas my True Love gave to Me; My Favorite Holiday Candy: Chocolate Covered Peanuts

On the 4th Day of Christmas my Ture Love gave to Me; My Favorite Christmas Ornament Theme or Color: As long as there is a Theme, but I do like Red

On the 5th Day of Christmas my Ture Love gave to Me: My Favorite Christmas present as a Child: Probably Castle Lego's or my GI Joe's

On the 6th Day of Christmas my True Love gave to Me: My Favorite Christmas Song: Too many to choose from, I guess "Christmas Vacation"

On the 7th Day of Christmas my True Love gave to Me: My Favorite Reindeer: Comet like our horse

On the 8th Day of Christmas my True Love gave to Me: My Favorite Holiday Meal: Turkey/Ham, Potatoes and Gravy, Corn, Moms Rolls, Sweet Potatoes, Creamy Beans and Pie

On the 9th Day of Christmas my True Love gave to Me: My Favorite type of Christmas Tree: Pine

On the 10th Day of Christmas my True Love gave to Me: My Favorite Christmas Store: Anything with a good deal

On the 11th Day of Christmas My True Love gave to Me: My Favorite White Elephant Gift to Give: Anything laying around the house that I do not use!

On the 12th Day of Christmas My True Love gave to Me: My Favorite Christmas Memory: Going out with the Family towards Eureka to cut down our christmas trees with a big jug of Hot cocoa and homemade chocolate chip cookies. Good Times!

My 3 Wise Men/Women I am going to Tag: Liz, Brandt, and Jackee

Visiting Christmas Past

The biggest event held at the Boone Home, where Joe works, is the Candlelight Tours. It is a trip that visitors can take into the past to see how christmas was in the 1800's. The entire village is lit with only candles, laterns and several bonfires. The people are acting as you come into each building and doing what they would be doing in the past. It has kept Joe pretty busy trying to make sure it all went smoothly. During the events the earliest he came home was around 12:30 am. Brindi and I went out the second weekend to see the event. Brindi didn't last long but we did see several of the vignettes. Some of my favorites included a lady talking at a mill about spices and then related the story to the spices and gifts that were given to the Christ child. The chapel was filled with choirs singing christmas music all night long. There was a carpenter, who looked a lot like santa, with his wife there nagging him to hurry and finish the chair he was making all the while she is talking his ear off and asking him all kinds of questions about what to wear for the party that night, what to make to eat and such. It was really comical and they were great actors. There was a black lady telling a stable boy what christmas was like as a slave. Daniel Boone was also there telling christmas traditions of the Boone family. But the best act was a lady who recounted the history of how Santa Claus came to be and ended with the story that gave the first description of how we see santa today, The Night Before Christmas. It was amazing! All in all the night was pretty good with Hot cocoa and cider to keep our bellies warm.

As close as she can get

This is as close as Brindi is to the real thing, rocking horses at Costco. But we figured this is the best we can do for now and it will be good practice until she can get on the real thing.

There's just no more denying it....

I've been trying and trying to deny it, but after last night there is no more denying it...Brindi is a daddy's girl. It's a fact. Brindi and I were in the kitchen making dinner. She was as content as can be just swinging along. She was even doing a little singing with me. Well, about this time Joe walked in the door. He said hi and gave her kisses and then left the room to go change out of his work clothes. Well the moment he walked out of the kitchen, she started the "my heart is broken" cry, I couldn't believe it! I was still standing in the kitchen not 3 feet away from her and she's starring down the hall bawling for her daddy! Man do I feel like the evil stepmother...you'd think she would be more attached to me! I guess I should have been prepared for this...I had all the signs...

Greatest Christmas Movies Countdown

Celeste and I really enjoyed thinking of the things we were thankful for during the November month and with December already here and the fact that we have already watched several Christmas movies, we have decided to do a countdown of our favorite Christmas Movies. Check the side bar for our choices as the month rolls on! Will your favorite Christmas Movie make the list? What movie will be number one? For answers to these questions you will have to wait and see.

The winner of our contest was Home Alone II which was followed by Muppet's Christmas Carole and Home Alone. Christmas Vacation came in 12th due to Celeste's poor opinion of it. It was 2nd on my list!

Eatin Some Toes

The 6 month stats are in.

Brindi and I went to her 6 month check up this morning. She was so happy before we left...as you can see from the picture. She had smiles for everyone she met. She now weights 15.4 lbs (50%), is 27 in. long (90%) and has a head circumference of 42.3 in. (50%). For some reason this time was a little bit harder for her and me. They gave her a flu shot and then 3 others. Unlike when we came in she didn't have any smiles to give on her way out. She was not a happy girl, and of course I can't blame her. But, as soon as we got home she went straight to sleep.

Fill The Temple

Our stake has been challenged by the Stake Presidency to fill the temple this weekend. Each ward was challenged to supply 100 patrons to attend the temple today (Friday) and Saturday. We thought it was a pretty cool challenge. Celeste and I signed up to attend a session today at 4:00 pm. It was also going to be the first time we left Brindi with someone else. As we talked in the Celestial room we both admitted that we were thinking of Brindi. Not so much worrying about her but probably more grateful for her. It was great to finally get back to the Temple. We have not been to a session since Brindi was born, so it was an answer to prayer that the Stake Presidency challenged the stake. As for Brindi I don't think she even noticed we were gone. When we arrived to pick her up she was very content playing with all the new toys she found at the neighbors house. Sadly the picture to this post is only of me because if you know my wife you know how much she loves pictures.

Halloween

At my work we put together a ghost tour at the Boone Home. Halloween: Ghosts from the Past. The way it works is like a giant haunted house that is tailored towards children. Everyone is guided but we take them to several different buildings to hear about ghost stories relating to the time of Daniel Boone. It was a pretty fun event. One of the things we needed to do to prepare for it was buy and carve a ton of pumpkins. Well the week before the event was one of our busiest weeks with K-12 field trips. So I decided to let Celeste get in on all the fun so I brought home around 15 pumpkins that we carved. So the night before I took them all out to the Boone home we put them out on the porch and lit them up. These are all of our pumpkins. One of the lady's that did a story of Daniel Boone's death also made some cookies that taste really good but are pretty shady looking. What do you all think? We also went to our Ward Halloween Carnival this past week. We dressed Brindi up in her Halloween costume from Grammy Hancock and put on her pumpkin that Celeste made. She had a little hat but she was moving her head so much that it would not stay on so we took it away. It was pretty creative I thought. Brindi was a little small to do anything at the carnival but she loved looking around and was fascinated by all the ghosts, ghouls, and goblins she saw.

Yum...Yum Rice Cereal anyone?

For the last couple of weeks Brindi has been really interested in our food and tries to grab at it. I thought we would wait until she was 6 months to start the rice cereal, but because of her interest we decided to just try and see if she was ready. She absolutely loved it! It's a little blurry, but it was the best video of how excited she was.

Tomahawk Throwing

One of Joe's jobs at the boone home is to instruct k-12 students during field trips. One of the things he teaches them is how to throw a tomahawk. So this past weekend I decided to give it a shot myself.

My first couple throws....

Demonstrations from Joe....

My next attempt...Not bad...

Wilderness Survival...Final Grade...F

So Brindi and I thought that we would tag along with Joe this last weekend as he taught a wilderness survival class out by the Boone home. Well it ended up there was only one girl in the whole class and she didn't want to sleep by herself so me thinking it will be fun(Yeah right), decided to camp out with her. Wow was that a big mistake. Don't get me wrong it started off great. We got our 4 trash bags that we were allowed and our 12 pieces of string and got to work and in no time we had a great little tent like thing...it was slanted so one end was touching the ground and then the other end was tall enough for us to sit up in. The problem was, we could still see out the sides and out the top...and anything could see us and on top of that we couldn't have a fire! Well it was still light so it didn't dawn on us that this wasn't the best set up for two babies out in the woods. Anyway, so Joe brought Brindi so she could eat one more time and then he left to go check on all the boys, which by the way were about 1/2 mile down on the other side of the road, down the hill, and over the creek (meaning VERY far away). Well by the time he came back to get Brindi it was pitch black, sure there were stars, but we couldn't see them because of all the trees. Well we had been waiting for him for about an hour and I was standing there with this little girl all snuggled up asleep(Boy was I jealous of her) staring into this forest imaging all the crazy things that COULD be out there. So he said he wanted to leave us the car so that we could come in if we wanted to so we drop him off at the Van Bibber house (yeah, that's right he is sleeping inside a warm nice house! How Rude huh...just kidding someone had to watch Brindi) and we head back out to our little tent...well...after searching 10 minutes in the dark we finally find it and about 2 seconds later we are scared out of our wits so we run to the car and decided we'll sleep in it...(I'm sure if some one was watching and listening they would have gotten a good laugh out of it) well shorter version of an already long story after about 10minutes we ended up at the Van Bibber house. So unless you are going camping with a tent/camper, a fire and more then 2 people I don't think it is a good idea to invite me because I have a tendency to scare anyone I am with into going anywhere safe and warm. Needless to say Joe informed me I received an F... And that's fine with me as long as I never have to do it again.

10 Guilty Pleasures

This list could go on and on, so here are some of my GUILTY PLEASURES

1. Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies
2. Cheese Cake
3. Brownies and Ice Cream w/ carmel
4. My mom's oreo ball things...they are the devil...
5.JoRae's toffee
6. Sunflower seeds...they are addicting.
7. Licorice
8. Nachos
9. Chocolate covered raisins
10. Reading like Jackee and Amy said...nothing gets done and I just sit all day.

Almost Time (Hollinger)

It is no secret that I love basketball. I can watch it or play it anytime and feel peace in my soul. And as the season draws near I wake excited thinking about November. But as I grew up I never chose a team. I always chose players and subsequently followed their teams and cheered them on. MJ hands down is my favorite player and probably the greatest player to ever play or will play the game. So naturally, I tried to follow the bulls. Even though I was never a fan of Pippen. I remeber my mom being so mad at me and threatening to kick me out of the house for the night during the basketball games because I was rooting for the Bulls instead of the Jazz in the NBA finals in the late nineties. Alonzo Mourning became my prodigy as I knew MJ would not last forever. But with kidney problems and being forced to leave the game for several years I began looking for another player. MJ about this same time had left game and McGrady came a long and I loved his style of play and his athleticism. So again, naturally I followed the Magic and then the Rockets, and still today I follow the Rockets to a degree. McGrady has kind of taken a back seat to being the player I fell in love with. However, I am coming home. I cannot deny my roots anymore. The past three years I have loved watching the Jazz, not necessarily for a certain player but I watched the team. I can finally admit it, I am a Utah boy and the Jazz are my team! This year I have them going far and not only do I have them going far but John Hollinger, a espn analyst, has them going far also. Check out how far he has them going: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/trainingcamp08/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=JazzForecast0809

Home sickness....

I am really glad Joe started this blog, it has become our family journal. So this is going to be a really boring post, but since this is our journal these are my thoughts right now about our move to Missouri. I know that it is a great chance that our Heavenly Father has given us. We can both work on school and Joe can get experience not only teaching, but also doing some rec supervising. I knew that it would be hard to be away from family, but I thought heck I've been away I should be okay, but for some reason this move has been 10x harder then Virginia or Idaho. Everyone that lives far away from family, I don't know how you do it. You would think it would get easier, but after 5 years the only place I want to be is in St. Johns or Leamington. I have realized that making a little more money isn't worth being away from family. Even without money you can have a lot more fun with family around. I just hope and pray that I can make the most of this experience, enjoy and learn what Heavenly Father wants me to learn (which is probably patience) and then get back home. I miss Arizona sunrises and sunsets and having people to play cards with...and just talk with! I think going back to school is going to be a good thing for me...it will keep me so busy I won't have time to think about being homesick....but until then Christmas vacation for us in Utah is only 10 weeks away! It brings a smile to my face just to think about it!

4 Month Check-up

Brindi had her 4 month check up today. The doctor said she looks great and really loved her smile. I kept telling her she needed to gain a lot of weight or her little cousins Bryant and Tristan were going to pass her up, but to no avail...she gained just over two lbs and now weights a whooping 13 lbs 2 oz (40%), but she did get some length on her. She is now 24 1/2 inches long (75%). Her daddy was very glad that her head has grown...she is no longer in the 10 percentile she is now in the 40 percentile. He was a little worried about that. The shots didn't go too bad...she let the nurse and I know that she was mad at us....this is probably one of the many reasons why she is such a daddy's girl.The pictures are right before we went to the doctor. She came home pretty happy, but by about 7:00 she was finished being tough. So we broke out the baby tylenol and she went right to sleep.

5's

There needs to be 5 answers for each question. So, here goes:
What was I doing 10 years ago?
1. Starting my senior year at Delta High.
2. Living in Leamington
3. Having Fun
4. Playing Football
5. Preparing for Basketball

What Are 5 things on my To-Do List Today?
1. Mow the Lawn
2. Find a Baby Dresser
3. Watch Conference
4. Prepare for Class
5. Grocery Shopping

What are my 5 favorite snacks?
1. Swedish Fish
2. Red Vines with the Black
3. Pie
4. Ice Cream
5. Anything with Chocolate

What 5 things would I do if I was a millionaire?
1. Get our of Debt
2. Travel
3. Set up a couple Scholarships
4. Help Family and Friends, if needed
5. Move back to Leamington

5 places I have lived:
1. Leamington, UT
2. Buena Vista, VA
3. San Diego, CA
4. Seattle, WA
5. Moscow, ID

5 jobs I have had:
1. Sports Coordinator
2. Event Supervisor
3. Recreation Coordinator
4. Physical Activity Instructor
5. Assistant Professor

5 people I tag are:
1. Jackee Wardle
2. Mike Lovell
3. Robert Lovell
4. Mariah Matesens
5. Christie Cook

I tried Grandpa, I tried!

I wanted to go to the game and cheer with my grandpa. It was sad not to have you there to help me cheer on the Reds. I only have a little voice you know. But I tried. The problem was my parents. They were going for the Home team. I just want you to know Grandpa, I didn't buy the shirt. My dad made me wear it. But that didn't stop me from cheering for our team. And everytime the crowd would cheer I would look at them in amazement and scold them. Sometimes the cheering just made me cry because it seemed like I was all alone, I sure could of used your help Grandpa. My parents were no help. Are you sure my Dad is your boy? They just went along with the crowd cheering for the Cardinals. I think, though, I was cheering pretty good a couple of times because after I cheered one of the Reds hit a homerun. But those pesky Cardinals answered with a couple homers of their own, so I decided to take a little nap to revitalize myself before the second half of the game. When I woke up it seemed all hope was gone but in the top of the ninth I gave one more cheer and it must have worked because another Reds player hit a 2-run homer to tie the game up. I thought we had them on the ropes, Grandpa, but our pitcher blew it. He loaded the bases by walking three guys with only one out. A sacrafice fly and that was all they needed to put our Reds to bed. But I was thinking, next time if you and Grandma came out to help me cheer and if I can get dressed in the right jersey we can cheer our Reds onto a victory. Afterall, all they had last night was me and we almost pulled it off. But next season Grandpa, we'll get our revenge. Next season with you by my side.

Two's

Two Names You Go By:
1. Joe
2. Babe

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. SVU Green Shorts
2. EMU Tournament Shirt

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:
1. Cookies and Milk
2. To be finished painting

Two People Who Will Fill This Out:
1. Koy (Tag)
2. Brandon Burnett (Tag)

Two Things You Did Last Night:
1. Painted
2. Watched The Dark Knight

Two Things You Ate Yesterday:
1. Pizza
2. Nachos

Two People You Last Talked To:
1. Celeste
2. Brindi

Two Things You're Doing Tomorrow:
1. Working
2. Painting

Two Favorite Holidays:
1. Christmas
2. New Years

Two Favorite Vacations:
1. Yellowstone
2. Disney Land

Two Favorite Beverages:
1. Dr. Pepper
2. Cranberry Juice

PRICELESS

Three Team Shirts for the Family: $7.00

Two Scalped Tickets : $40.00

Ballpark Franks, Nachos, and a Soda: $22.75

Spending a night out with the Family and Brindi experiencing her first Big League Game: PRICELESS!

Fighting the Thumb

Miss B has discovered that there are digits attached to that fist of hers. She has always loved sucking on her fist, which we tried to fight and I think we were winning the battle. However now she has found her thumb, and not just one, she will suck on either of them and loves it. A couple of times she will just be sucking on her pointer finger also. Anyways, Celeste and I have started to fight that by replacing her fingers with her plug. This worked for a little while until she realized those fingers of hers could grasp the plug. Now she will take her plug out and throw it to her side and replace it with her Thumb. Obviously we were losing the battle. But Celeste came up with an ingenious plan. Check below for her idea. Winter mittens. Now she can't get either of her thumbs in her mouth. It has worked so far. She will just rub her hands back and forth in her mouth trying to find her thumb or fingers. It is really funny to watch which makes us laugh and in turn she will also smile. She is a cutie.

Belly Time

My Joe

I got tagged by Chelsea! So here's a little about Joe!

1. Where did you meet? We had an Accounting class together in college. He hardly came and I gave him a hard time about it. He says he knew I liked him after the Homecoming Dance at SVU when I "went out of my way to talk to him"
2. How long did you date before you were married? I don't know if I really want to admit this but, here we go...8 months.
3. How long have you been married? 2 years and 4 months
4. What does he do that surprises you? He cleans...he really helps out and I don't even have to ask.
5. What is your favorite feature about him? His eyes and the way he looks in a hat...that's what first attracted me to him.
6. What's your favorite quality about him? How easy going he is and the fact it only takes him 5 minutes to get over being mad at me.
7. Does he have a nickname for you?Babe
8. What is his favorite color? Carolina Blue
9. What's his favorite food? Joe loves anything...so he says, but nothing beats his mom's sunday dinner...Roast, potatoes,corn,gravy, and rolls...and don't forget dessert.
10. What's his favorite sport? Basketball...
11. Who said I love you first? He did...I'm sure of it...I think...I know it's sad I can't remember.
12. When and where was your first kiss? I don't know the date,the first week of November sometime, but it was at Joe's house where he and Brent were living in BV.
13. What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? Almost anything, watching games, movies, having dinner together...any place where we can just talk and have fun together.
14. Do you have any kids? How many?Yep, one little girl!
15. What is a hidden talent that he has? He can make me laugh when I feel like crying.
16. How old is he? Joe is 27
17. What is his favorite type of music? Country...and Pearl Jam
18. What do you admire most about him? How happy he is all the time.
19. Do you think he is going to read this?Yep...he loves looking at blogs.
I'm going to tag, Amber, Kari, Tansey, Aubs, Kim, Liz, and Meagan.

Ticks

This weekend Joe and his friend Paul went out tromping through the forest because that is what boys do. They were checking out a ropes course for future programs. Well he came home with about 60 more friends than he previuosly had. And anyone who knows me knows I hate ticks. But guess who spent the evening pulling them all out! This was not in the job description! From his feet to his back he was covered with Sea Ticks. Luckily none of them were Deer Ticks. But to say the least we will only be doing Ice Fishing here in Missouri! Just kidding, I am hoping we get to spend a lot of time camping and fishing, but we'll do it with lots of bug spray! I guess this will just be one of those thing I have to get used too. But it reminds me why I love the West so much.

Memories

Here's how you play: As a comment on our blog, leave one memory that you had with either Joe, Celeste, or Brindi. It doesn't matter if you knew us a little or a lot -- anything you remember! Taking a stroll down memory lane can also be a nice travel with some embarrassing, fun, unique, and happy times. That is the point of this post. Even if you do not have a blog or google account you can still post a comment/memory. We hope to hear from many of you.

Cowgirl Up

Were starting her early. She is still a little small to get a ball in her hands so a horse will have to do until then. Who knows, she might follow her mothers footprints in the rodeo world. Nontheless she will be working on the ranch at either grandparents home during vacations and holidays, so we needed to get her some horse time. I have to admit she looks like a natural. Cowgirl Up!

On The Move....Again

Joe and I are off to another adventure...this time to St. Louis. We thought we would be in Twin Falls for several years....but the oppurtunity is too great to pass up. One of Joe's old professors contacted him about a possible position at Lindenwood University. Joe flew out a few weeks ago and interviewed for the position and was offered a full-time position as an Assistant Professor. He will be on the ground floor of co-creating a recreation major....the first in the St. Louis area. As an added bonus Joe will be able to work on his EdD and I will be able to continue my education and pursue a Masters for free. I think were both pretty excited....and a little nervous....but we feel pretty good about our decision. Were excited to be so close to Navuoo and Adam-ondi-aman, for baseball games, and for our education. Were nervous about being so far from family again, the humidity, and the floods. We are headed out for our new adventure in about a week because Joe starts teaching the last week of August. Wish us well. GO CARDINALS!