8th Annual Ornament Exchange Party - in Iowa...
This is my 8th year hosting an annual Ornament Exchange Party. It started because I went to one at my friend Kim's house one year and had so much fun, I decided that I wanted to host one on my side of town (she lived like an hour away). So I invited my friends at family and the tradition began. That first party was incredibly emotional. I had just been through two major surgeries and was battling cancer, my nephew just about cut his hand off... and we had this hair brained idea that every person when it was their turn, they would say how they knew me (we still do this) and then list 5 things they were thankful for that year - well it turned into a really emotional night, we all were crying and laughing etc... and we all decided that we would not continue that part of the party for the future, it was too exhausting! lol

so every year thereafter, I hosted the party! We eventually moved to my sisters house - due to the # of gals who attended. We had some gals who game every year no matter what, some gals who were new...some gals who had to skip a year or two due to other plans,etc.. but it was a party we all looked forward to every year. The fun of finding that perfect ornament that you think everyone will love... went on all year long. I would get emails, phone calls, text messages from gals letting me know that they found the best ornament.

I wanted to continue this tradition here in Iowa - and not knowing alot of people.. well I wasn't sure, but I decided what a great way to get to know more people here. So invited all the gals that I did know and asked them to invite a few gals. and before you know it, we had 15 gals in attendance! I was so excited!

What a great time we had! I met some really great gals that I look forward to getting to know in 2010! I am already planning for next year!

Merry Christmas

Well it's been almost a week since Christmas. Our first Christmas in Iowa. Our first WHITE Christmas w. the kids! It was a wonderful day. The boys of course woke up early - (like 5:40am) and so they opened their stockings, while Jeff and I tried to sleep in a little more - since we were up until 2am wrapping (yeh we wrapped everything the night before...) so they took all the gifts from the tree -(at our prompting) and grouped them together in the family room per person - so we could sit by our pile and begin the opening fun! that bought us alittle more time. We finally got up around 7:30 - All our gifts were so thoughtful from our families and friends - even though we were far away from our families this year - we still enjoyed a family christmas together!

we spent the day napping, baking and playing with new toys... in our jammies!

Later in the day, we shared a Christmas dinner with our new friends, the Watsons - Prime Rib was delish! We ended up teaching them how to play Phase 10 and had a great time @ the table, playing cards and snacking! The kids were all downstairs playing with new games as well!

Christmas Eve, we went over to the Watsons for snacks and games. It was a quiet low - key evening (just as we like it) Jeff made homemade sauce but we ate so many wonderful things @ the Watsons, that we did not have any spaghetti for dinner. Two more friends came over (The Larsens) and we played Guesstures (charades) it was so much fun! After about 11pm , we walked home (next door) and got the kids into bed, and began the wrapping extravaganza! we finally got hungry again and so we heated up some pasta and had a quick snack before hitting the sack @ 2am!

Happy Birthday Hottie Husband

Happy Birthday to Hottie Husband! In honor of his b-day - we will do a quiz!

Q: Do you have a favorite childhood birthday memory?
A: Not really, one does not stand out more than the other. I always spent my birthday night w. my dad. He could come get me on my birthday and we would go out to eat and then I would stay overnight to spend Christmas Eve the next day w. my dad's side of the family.

Q: Do you have a favorite adult birthday memory?
A: hmmm... We usually have a quiet birthday celebration at home, so close to Christmas - we don't do any special trips or anything... like rocky point.. lol My surprise party @ Sue's house comes to mind {editors note: I had all of our friends @ family @ my sister house on 12/23 in the evening and had made little signs for everyone w. Jeff's face on it.. I told him we were going to a family holiday party @ my sisters. when he opened the door everyone held up the signs... it was as fun night for all!}

Q: Do you like your birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper?
A: yes, if you want to piss me off... and show me how meaningless my birthday is... {editors note: ooh touchy subject... and for the record, i have NEVER wrapped his birthday gifts in Christmas paper..lol}


Q: How old r you today?
A: 41 you know that

Q: Do you like these quizzes?
A: {birthday boy flips me off... with a smile}

suddenly quiz time is over.. hahahh

We are spending the day doing nothing.. @ home together - we have been SO busy - this is what Jeff wanted to do! RELAX @ home... We slept in until 10am and the boys and I made him breakfast. We had planned home cooked pork green chili, but got such a late start, we will be venturing out for a dinner out... after we find a gfcf menu :)

love you lots hottie husband

SNOWFORTS

The kids are out front building snow forts... i remember those days... so so much fun!

SNOWBOARDING

Hank really really wants to learn how to snow board. We live right down the street from a ski resort and we plan to sign up for lessons... It's been a challenge since hockey keeps us so busy and out of town every weekend.. but we will make it work. So today Hank borrowed a plastic practice board from his friend and was practicing down the hills behind out house...

An evening snowman build... a snowball fight... from our first blizzard week in Iowa a few weeks back!

We had another all night snow... we woke up to 4 inches. So Jeff and I got up and shoveled the driveway and sidewalks.. and really it was fun. There is something about the quiet morning snow - we went outside it was still dark and and so quiet, the snow untouched and beautiful. It was a fun time working hard together. We may tire of this come February but right now we absolutely love it! Jeff tells me I don' t need to help him shovel, but I enjoy it and want to help out! The boys also help, we let them sleep in this morning as the school was on a 2 hour delay this morning!
Took Hank to the ortho today. I called ahead to the school to say I was about 5 minutes away - and they actually got him out of class and he was ready when I got there. In AZ, the schools do not do that... They will not pull a kid out of class until you arrive into the office and show ID. Hank was ready to go and met me @ the door and off we went. Now granted, you cannot even enter his school here without being let in... you have to buzz the office and explain why you are here (i like that). After the ortho appt, i took him to McDonalds for a cheeseburger,sans cheese. - we have been eating so healthy and gluten free (more posting on that later) that I treatd Hank to a guilty pleasure. I also partook and I am already regretting it! lol
We are slowly finding doctors.dentists.orthodontists here in DBQ.

Tonight is gift inventory and wrapping. Tomorrow is Jeff's birthday! More snow is expected tonight, tomorrow and all week - very exciting for the Peterson Zoo! The boys are currently off school now and are outside making snowforts and snowmen with the neighbor kids... I am listening to random Christmas music - (love Dr. Demento Christmas CD)

We are excited for our first Christmas in Iowa. We are also Sad and really missing family/friends and some AZ family traditions, but we are making new ones here.

Here are the pictures of our 3 trees. We have a main tree upstairs with ornaments for Jeff and I and the family. The boys have a tree with all of their special ornaments on it.. we may have to give them a bigger tree, its pretty loaded. The last tree is an angel tree. only angel ornaments exist on this tree. The idea was started by my mom who made several handmade ornaments for me that are angels. I decided to just have one themed tree w. angels on it. It is the smallest tree but I still love it!

Oh Christmas Tree

Well, we had a very late start in getting our holiday decorations up. Having just moved into our house the first week of November and having travel hockey very weekend, its been slow going unpacking the house. We have been working hard every spare moment on the weekends to unpack boxes, hang pictures, etc... and generally work to make our new house a home.. so getting up Christmas decorations was just not the priority...
We managed to get our trees up on Sunday. We have three trees (see next post) - i took a moment to snap a few photos of some of the ornaments... on our main tree upstairs. Each ornament on this tree has a sentimental meaning, I am hoping as we get older that we don't forget which came where and the significance... better write it down now! lol
The hedge hog in the top right corner - is a joke gift from an Ornament Party - its time to pass it along to the gals.. and keep the tradition going... I am so glad we put up our decorations... it really has boosted me into the Christmas Spirit

This photo is a snapshot from our first blizzard in Iowa. Everyone was so very excited to get our first snowfall. Jeff, the boys and I were outside shoveling snow - throwing snowballs and generally enjoying our new adventure in cold country. The boys ended up having two days off from school, of which they had to make up on 12/22 & 12/22. They spent the first snow day outside ALL DAY~ They went sledding with our new neighbors and played out side all day, freezing, and loving it! The next day, also a snow day, was so so so cold that they did not go outside too much - it was just too darn cold (-17 w. windchill). You can tell by how cold their faces are that its really cold outside. Will exclaimed that his particular day was the best day of his life "so far". I am so thankful that Jeff and I were to give them this experience... They have been outside most days playing in the snow as much as possible...

Testing out the new picasa blog it feature! for our new family blog

Iowa Peterson New Blog

Our New Family Blog!