Merry Christmas!

We're looking forward to this Christmas weekend and enjoying the Spirit that comes along with celebrating the birth of Christ and also witnessing the excitement and magic of Christmas through the eyes of our little boys.

A copy of our Christmas Card this year...

2011 Petersen Family Highlights by the Numbers

4 (soon to be 6) teeth lost by Brayden *UPDATE: all 6 gone!*

1 set of stitches when Easton jumped off the pew during church in Washington

3 days of Disneyland fun

133 days of working (mostly international) for Brian equaled…

133 days of Jamie holding down the fort alone

14 days spent in Seattle over 2 trips

1 family wedding (Jamie’s sister), which meant 1 new uncle for our boys

13 visits with a speech therapist for Easton (lots of progress made!!)

1 broken arm due to falling off the monkey bars at school by Brayden

2 grandparents passed away (Jamie’s Grandpa Leavitt and Great Grandma Burkle)

1 garden fence built and 100s of fruits and veggies produced inside

3 fun days exploring South Dakota (Mount Rushmore and surrounding sites)

16 days in Australia for Brian “working” in November/December

2 sports teams Brayden was on (baseball and soccer)

1 change of church callings (Jamie from YW’s to Primary Presidency)

2 hikes below ground into caves as a family (Minnetonka Cave and Wind Cave)

1 first day of kindergarten for Brayden = 1 whole new schedule for our family

365 days of dog poop duty for Brayden thanks to Penny

1 Halloween where we all dressed up as Phineas and Ferb characters

4 days of Girls Camp for Jamie

2 family reunions in the summer (Bear Lake & Birch Bay)

100+ times of viewing the Toy Story movies for Easton (he loves Buzz!)

1 new car for Brian (He’s loving his Subaru!)

9 years celebrated since our family’s beginning in 2002

Countless blessings received, many memories made, and lots of fun had!

We are thankful for the Savior Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate during the holiday season and hope you can feel His love now and always. Merry Christmas!

Love,

Brian, Jamie, Brayden, and Easton Petersen

Brayden's Kindergarten Christmas Program

Brayden had his Christmas Program at school today. It was SO cute! He brought home a speaking part a week or so ago and was excited to memorize it. Of course he had it down perfectly for today! They've been practicing and making things all week for the program and he was so excited when today finally came! He was equally excited that Dad was home to come see it too!

Walking into the gym.

Waiting to start the program.

A half smile for Dad.

Saying his part.

Singing

Playing his saxophone

Holding hands to sing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."

After their singing and a few speaking parts, they showed a slideshow of pictures of the kids. It was adorable and Brayden's toothless smile made me melt! It's so fun that he's lost both his two front teeth for Christmas! Hopefully I can get those pics from his teacher and also post some of the video from the program soon!

Santa Pictures 2011

In mid November, we made our yearly visit to see Santa and get the boys pictures taken. We went with 3 other friends of mine and their children and had a great time together and then afterwards at lunch! I put my boys in Christmas pjs this year and I love how the pictures turned out!

Easton told Santa he wants "buzz 2 take off" (a Buzz Lightyear space ship), a "buzz suit", and a pirate ship.

Brayden told Santa he wants a darth vader lightsaber, darth vader mask, and a darth vader costume.

And for some reason the picture of the two of them that I scanned in won't work so you'll have to settle for the one I snapped on my phone of them both with Santa that day.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving this year was wonderful and low key. We woke up and watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade while decorating our Christmas tree. We had to set up our tree early this year since Brian left 2 days later to Australia for 16 days for work. After that we got ready and headed over to Grandma & Grandpa Leavitt's house. It was our family, Grandma & Grandpa Leavitt, Uncle Kellen, Uncle Logan, Aunt Torey & Uncle Dan, Great Grandma Leavitt, Great Grandma Price, and my cousin Abby & her husband, Brad, and my other cousin Cole. We had a great feast that included all the necessities of the holiday and then had a ton of desserts. Just a normal and quiet Thanksgiving! After dinner I brought some turkeys for my boys to make, football was watched, and games were played. It was great.

Our family

Easton LOVES Uncle Dan! He convinced Dan to haul him around on a blanket on the floor and he loved sliding all over! We got some fun pictures!

Great Grandma Leavitt helped Easton draw a turkey after we put the other one in the picture together. I'm thankful my boys get to spend so much time with their Great Grandparents. It was something I enjoyed growing up (I knew all my Great Grandparents except for 1) and I'm happy they get to know so many of them and make memories with them too.

Brayden's Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

I'm don't think I have ever NOT been playing catch up on this blog! I know I haven't finished our South Dakota trip yet either and that's coming but for now, here's a bit from Thanksgiving.

Brayden's kindergarten class had a Thanksgiving Party and Feast a few days before Thanksgiving. The first hour or so was spent going around to different stations and making a craft, something pilgrim to wear, or playing a game. I was put at a Give Thanks magnet craft station that was fun but crazy to get done with 6 kids in very little time! My partner and I felt like we never got a minute to sit let alone stand upright! It was fun though! After that, the first graders came and joined the kindergartners in having a feast! I'm not a KFC fan but it was awesome that they do individually packaged mashed potatoes and gravy! Super easy when you're feeding a TON of kids! They enjoyed the feast and then the kindergartners watched a video until it was time to go. Brayden LOVED every minute of it and it's so fun for me to watch him interact with his friends at school. He's growing up and although I can't stop it or make him slow down, I'm glad I get to observe and enjoy some of these special things with him!

A Fun Day with Grandma & Grandpa Petersen

Grandma and Grandpa Petersen came into town for Andrew's blessing and we got to spend the day with them today! The boys were SO excited! Just having Mom around lately is pretty boring I think! We had a fun day planned with them to make some Christmas memories since we don't usually get to see them this time of year.

After picking Brayden up from kindergarten, having lunch, watching Rudolph, and reading books, we started on our Gingerbread house.

Easton was really excited about putting the coconut on the roof and eating the frosting!

A majority of the work on the house was done by these two artists!

Brayden and Grandma

The finished product!

Each one of the boys made a gingerbread boy...can you tell who did what one?

Easton and Grandpa had a great time together! They played trains, read books, and pretended to be pirates!

After a trip to Home Depot, a snowflake making lesson for Brayden from Grandma, more playing, and dinner we headed to Thanksgiving Point. We drove through the lights and then braved the cold temps (21 degrees) to see the reindeer.

Brayden had to pet one!

Grandma and Easton enjoyed seeing them too.

Brayden and Grandpa admiring the ice sculpture.

After some hot chocolate and dessert, we headed back out to see it all one more time before coming home for bedtime.

My boys and I....doesn't Easton look thrilled?!?!

Thanks for a wonderful day! It sure was nice to have two extra sets of ADULT hands around the house to help with so many things!

Australia

In case you haven't seen these on facebook, Brian's posted some pictures from his "business trip" to Australia. He's having a wonderful time and making us all jealous that we aren't with him! I don't think Brayden (or I) will let him go to Australia again without him after seeing the kangaroos and koalas! Who am I kidding? After seeing the beach I was ready to jump on a plane!

Since the Great Barrier Reef is pretty far from Sydney, he had to settle for snorkeling closer. They went to Manly Beach and only lasted about 45-60 minutes! Even with a wetsuit he said it was freezing! (Australia is just starting their summer weather) He said they saw some cool fish and followed a ray for awhile.

Brian heard about the Blue Mountains which was like a 2 hour drive from Sydney. Since their internet is CRAZY he had me do the research for him and send him links to things he should do/see. I think that was a problem cause that got me really jealous I'm not with him enjoying the sites too! Here's some of his pictures from their day trip to the Blue Mountains!

The "Three Sisters" is the most photographed site in this part of Australia. It's named for three aboriginal sisters who's statues they had nearby to see. No pictures of that on the blog since they weren't clothed!

I'm thinking this is Wenworth Falls but he didn't say.

He asked some people where the best spot to see kangaroos in the wild was and when they got to the campsite, sure enough there were 5 kangaroos.

How cool to see them in the wild! And apparently the male thought it was mating season and the female wasn't having it.

They then went to a nature preserve where they got to pet koalas. There's a new law in that area of Australia that prevents people from holding/snuggling with koalas anymore so touching them is the best you can do.

He said there were kangaroos running all over the park that would come up to you. Pretty cool!

And the typical tourist picture in front of the Sydney Opera House.

Of course he only took his iphone to document his trip to Australia! I think he's learned his lesson! Hopefully if he goes back, I'll be joining him!