Petersen Family

My good friend, Jenilyn, had me take some pictures of her beautiful family on Saturday.  Since it's cold and dead outside, she suggested we take the pictures inside up on BYU campus.  I wasn't sure how they would turn out, but there was plenty of light in the JFSB.  We just took them in the halls, and I think we got some cute ones. 

BYU Basketball Game

We went to the BYU basketball game tonight with the kids.  We have front row tickets, and during a time-out one of the refs asked if Hazel wanted to hold the ball and get a picture.  We were also on the big screen for the flex cam.  They tell everyone to flex and pick people out with the camera.  Hazel and Hattie were flexing.  It was a good game, with BYU beating Santa Clara 95-78.

Birthday Wishes

Growing up we would always ask my mom what she wanted for her birthday or Mother's Day or Christmas, and she would say, "A clean house and good kids."  I always hated that answer, because I wanted to buy her something.  I only have two kids and a small house, but yesterday I was wishing for the same thing.  Although I didn't quite get that, it was a good day.  My brother Bruce watched the kids, while Brendan took me out to dinner.  When we got back, we had cake and ice cream with family.  Whitney and her roommate, Haley, made me a cute and delicious chocolate cake with chocolate whipped cream covered with small chocolate morsels.  After cake, Brendan's mom watched the kids while we all went bowling.  It was a fun 30th birthday!  

(the cake makers)

California Part 3

Brendan, Brad, Paige, Lewis, Sage, Bruce, Hazel, Jessica, and Zander.

My sister Paige lives just a little north of San Diego in Fallbrook, the avocado capital of the world.  She has a beautiful backyard with lots of fruits, flowers, and herbs.  When you drive up to her house you can smell all the wonderful plants.  They have lemon, lime, orange, pomegranate, kumquats, and almond trees.  They have several herbs like lemon verbena, bay leaves, sage, rosemary, thyme, lavender, and many others I can't remember.  They also have chickens, a wandering turtle, a trampoline, and a playground in their yard.  Hazel had a blast playing with her cousins! 

We went to the Mormon Battalion in Old Town San Diego.  I had never been there before and I guess they recently remodeled it.  I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it if you are in the area.  Bruce's old roommate plays a part in the movie they show, so that was kind of fun to see.  They make it really fun for kids with the movies and activities. 

In Old Town we went to Fiesta de Reyes and ate some delicious Mexican food.  It is a complex full of shops and restaurants.

On the way home we broke up our drive by staying at a hotel in Vegas.  This is Hazel posing from our room on the 27th floor.  (Some of the last photos were taken with a phone so they are not as clear.)

California Part 2

After visiting with Brendan's relatives for the first part of the week, we then visited mine.  My sister Brook lives in San Diego with her five kids.  Hazel loved playing with all of them.  On New Year's Eve we all went to the San Diego Zoo for Jungle Bells before heading back to the house for our family party. 

Rivers, Hazel, Bennett, Luke, Denali, and Porter on the Hippo. 

The Hippos are one of my favorites to see.  You can view them from both the top and bottom.

My brother Bruce and his fiance Jessica were also visiting California and came with us to the zoo. 

Rivers and Hazel viewing the monkeys. 

My sister Brook and her husband John. 

 Brendan snapped a shot of one of the pandas with his phone.  There are only three other places in the United States you can see Pandas.

Not the best photo of us, but Hattie is happy.

California Part 1

We only had one of Hazel's flip flops so we went to Payless and these were the only water shoes that had backs on them in her size.  They are boy shoes, but they were a steal at $4.  Hazel calls them her ocean shoes.

Two day after Christmas, we drove to Southern California to spend time with family.  We first stayed with Brendan's uncle Mark in Orange County and enjoyed our time with him.  We also hung out with Brendan's cousin Lexie.   We had lots of good food and good shopping. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures with them.  Mark lives close to Laguna Beach, so we spent some time enjoying ourselves on the beach.  The weather was in the 70's, but it was foggy.

After Orange County, we headed to Carlsbad to spend time with Brendan's aunt Lahna and her family. We also had a relaxing time, but no pictures.

Christmas morning

 We had church at 9:30 on Christmas morning, so we opened presents after church.  Hazel's big gift this year was a tricycle, and she loved it.  She is getting better at pedaling by herself.  Another gift she liked was her ukulele.  After opening gifts and hanging out at our house, we went up to Brendan's parent's house for more gifts and a delicious prime rib Christmas meal made by Brendan's dad. 

(Taken with Brendan's phone)

Brendan's 30th Birthday / Christmas Party

Brendan turned 30 on Christmas day, so I threw him a party at the beginning of the month.  It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work.  I made all of the food and baked goods except the Dutch caramel wafers and the cakebites, which were from the Sweet Tooth Fairy (Yum!).  I luckily had Bruce and Whitney to help me set everything up and help with the kids.  Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

Merry Christmas!

I didn't manage to get Christmas cards out this year, so this cute picture will have to do.  I didn't want to take a family picture with my braces on, so I thought I would just send one out with Hazel and Hattie, but taking pictures of them together is hard.  This was the best one I could get.  Hattie isn't looking at the camera, Hazel has her two teeth sticking out, and you can't really see their cute Christmas dresses, but I still love it.

Hattie's 4 Month Stats

                                          Height:      25 1/4 inches      75-90th percentile

                                          Weight:     13 lbs 14 oz        50-75th percentile 

                                          Head:        39.1 cm              10th percentile    

I guess Hattie has a pretty small head, or maybe it's just a normal size in proportion to her body.  Usually babies have big heads.  

Hattie can now roll over both ways.  She can also get on her knees and scoot a little bit, so I'm sure she will be moving around soon.  She continues to be a good baby that likes to smile a lot.  I just can't wait for her spitting up to be over with.  Somedays are worse than others.  Hazel and Hattie both have colds right now, but they should hopefully be over them soon.   

Hazel and Hattie are usually pretty happy and cute in the morning (if Hazel got enough sleep).