Katelyn's room

Update! Katelyn moved into the weight room in December. She now has a bed. Her room is painted and decorations are up. We still need to figure out where her clothes will be put. I need to make her a new bedspread for her bed. Shawn picked out the color "Good Karma" It looks like strawberry milk. We added a few pictures and vinyl dots. She received some fun things for her birthday. Aunt Josie made a memo board.I made a magnetic board and Jamie made a cute bow holder. I thought it turned out pretty cute. We just need something for one more wall.

New Beginnings 2010

Blakely has been a Beehive for almost a year now. In YW, we just had our New Beginnings which introduces the new Beehives from the previous year. We asked each mom and dad to introduce their daughter on how they examplify the theme for the year; "Be strong and of good courage." I want to write down what we said for Blakely. Blakely, you are the first born into our family. Heavenly Father gave you courage to come to your inexperienced parents and endure through our mistakes. You always had a strong desire to know the truth and staying strong in that desire. At the age of six you wanted scriptures for your birthday. You love to learn. You are not afraid to learn something new. You are not afraid to be an individual in your interests. As you enter into this next phrase of your life we want you to know how much we love you and we are grateful for your strength. You must be strong and not wavier in this path. Right now you are learning what you need to do to return to your Heavenly Father. Be happy as you do this. Be strong even when others; even your examples may falter.

Ten years old

We know that in the Peterson clan once January hits.... it is BIRTHDAY time. This year we got together with Grandma Hutchinson, Uncle Cole, and Katelyn to celebrate their birthdays. We of course had Italian chicken for dinner. (Grandma and Uncle Cole didn't have a choice.) We were so excited to celebrate their birthdays together. We went to Grandma and Grandpa Peterson's house after church on the 10th and had a wonderful dinner and ice cream cake. Yum! Katelyn got a beautiful dress from Grandma and Grandpa Peterson for her birthday. Wednesday, January 13th came and Katelyn got waffles in bed for her birthday. She was able to open her few presents from Mom and Dad. It was Katelyn's year for friend's party. Friday night, cousin Emily came and spent the night so that she could be with us for Katelyn's party. We love havign them close again. So on Saturday we had several friends come over and open presents and have cake balls and ice cream. We then went over to a gal's house and make beaded bracelets for their activity and party favor. It was fun to see the girls create their own bracelet.



Katelyn, you are a beautiful girl. You came into this world a wild child and gone through a few trials that your brothers and sister haven't gone through. You have such courage. You have such a love for little children and have a great desire to be a great help. Always remember that desire as you refine yourself into a great young women. We love you and promise if you always will be unselfish that love will be returned to you 100%.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas came so fast and soon was gone. I couldn't believe how fast Christmas crept up on us. I was so looking forward to the break. My sister would keep asking if we were ready for Christmas and I kept saying, "Nope!" But it came together just like it always does. The first Friday of Christmas break, Blakely and I went shopping for her Christmas presents since she only wanted clothes and didn't think I would pick out very good ones.(What!) It was a nice night, even though by 9:30 I was dragging. We enjoyed IHOP dinner and headed home. We had a whole week to enjoy off before Christmas day. We played and just enjoyed not having to be on the run. Christmas Eve, my Dad came down to spend the night with us. We had the traditional Manwaring dinner of clam chowder and I added in tomato soup(My Dad's). We watched The King was Born and visited about the Savior. The girls and my Dad played a game while I was getting everything ready and finished wrapping. I am sure the kids were dying to get up all night, but the rule is 6am. I am thinking maybe 7am next year. As soon as 6am hit we were woken up by kids. They got to open their stockings, but had to wait for Grandpa to wake up to open presents. Presents seem to be opened in record time, but I think everyone was happy with what everyone given. We enjoyed cinnamon rolls and juice for breakfast. We played with the new toys and new games all morning. We then needed to get ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's Peterson for lunch. We enjoyed seeing cousins and yummy food. We returned home to play on our new Wii and clean up.





Saturday we went back to Grandma Peterson's for more fun. I didn't think we could handle more but we did. We still had a whole another week to play and clean until New Year's. We painted Grandma Peterson's hallway while Blakely and Katelyn watched 8 kids at my house all day. Wednesday we went swimming down to 1000 springs with Chelsea, Brandi, and kids. That was pretty fun. We then went to my Dad's house for hot dogs. It was a pretty long day. Thursday we went bowling in the afternoon and then Chelsea and kids came over for a wild New Year's Eve bash. We played games, ate, and banged on pots and pans. We banged on pots and pans at about 10 pm thinking the party was winding down but the kids kept it going until about 11:30 pm. We love it when cousins come to play. New Year's Day we went to breakfast at the bishop's house. This is a 3 year tradition so far in our ward, but we do have a new bishopric.? We knew it was coming but we had to get ready for school to start. So that starting the taking down of the Christmas tree that day. We had to make sure the house was ready for Mom and kids to head back to school on Monday. This has been a nice relaxing break and I am grateful to have been surrounded by family and friends as we celebrated the birth of our Savior and welcomed in a new year. Thank you for those who helped us do this. We love you all.

Oh, Christmas Tree

Tuesday night we got our tree up. Dad picked up a tree. Yes, it is a little short, but he did a wonderful job and we better not complain or else there might be TROUBLE!Garret has been begging for a tree for a week now, so he was more then ready to go. I actually had to stop him from dragging everything out. We put up sparkling colored lights and all the old decorations. The girls organized where they all went on the tree. So now our house looks a little more like Christmas.

Garret's Six : pick up sticks

Another birthday comes again. Garret turned 6 years old on Dec. 7th. Time flies when you are having fun. Garret has been just a fun little boy to have around. He is all boy and loves to be active. He lately has been into Pokemon which I don't know how that started. He wanted a cinnammon rolls and orange rolls for breakfast.Mom had to get up early to get that done to have breakfast in bed like a king. He wanted a Pokemon cake and spaghetti for dinner. Once again a birthday falls on a school day which makes me run for my money. We quickly came home and the girls baked a second cake for Garret.(i baked one to share at school)I made dinner and Grandpa Manwaring came and brought meatballs, little smokies, ice cream, and lemons(Garret's favorite). We ate birthday dinner without Dad who ended up working late. He showed up just in time to sing to Garret. Grandma and Grandpa Peterson came over to wish him Happy Birthday which was so sweet, even if he had his head buried in a new DS game. He got a Pokemon DS game and a new Pokemon Handbook, because the old one he found at DI and totally fallen apart because he looked at it so much. Garret's due date was on my mom's birthday December 14th. She was really pushing for him to come on that day. She wanted a grandchild to share a birthday with her. Garret decided he wanted to come on Sunday, December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day) instead. Shawn was to teach Elder's quorm that morning and my water broke. So actually Garret got him out of teaching that Sunday. Garret's delivery was the best I ever had. Dr. Jeppsen and Dad were watching football while it was going on. Garret was a beautiful baby and was loved by his sisters. We always were told, "well, you finally did it right." I hope that you continue to enjoy life and stand up with good courage. Be obedient and always know we love you.

Temple Square Weekend

I decided that it was time for our kids to see the lights on Temple Square. So we made plans to go with the Bronsons. We headed down after school and checked into our hotel which was a few blocks away from temple square. I was rushing around Firday after school and at the last minute (which shouldn't have been the last minute) tried to find my winter box, but I could not. So we went without a snowsuit for Brady.(first mistake)We walked over to temple square and looked at the lights. We took pictures, but about 45 minutes into this Brady was done. So we headed back to the hotel to swim. We swam in a chilly pool for about 1 1/2 hours. We actually slept pretty good until about 5:30. I got up and worked out and then took the girls and Brady swimming again. I think it was colder the next morning as we headed to Temple Square again. We went to the Distrubution center and let the kids pick out a poster. We then went to see the Joseph Smith film and enjoyed it. Brady took a nice nap. Yeah.I am glad we got to do this because I think it is very important that we can provide spiritual experiences when ever we can. The kids seemed to enjoy it and I hope it touched their hearts. We did a very quick tour of the conference center. The kids wanted to go to The Gateway Mall, so this where it started to fall apart. 9 kids hungry and cold. Did you know the Gateway mall is an outside mall? Blakely says she did tell us this. We ate at the food court when Katelyn really wanted Golden Corral. Then it started to snow, so the parents decided it was probably time to head for home. We bid the Bronsons farewell and hit the road. It was a little scary on the freeway until Layton. We did pull off and did some quick shopping at Plato's Closet for Blakely and of course grabbed Krispy Kreme doughnuts for the ride home. We enjoyed our quick weekend even if we didn't get everyhting fit in that we wanted. We are glad that we can have these family times together, so the saying Family First stays in our children's hearts and minds.