The Petersens

Look what I did!!

2010-04-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

I made my first EVER solo sewing project. My mom gave me her sewing machine and I figured a bag was just about the easiest thing to try for my first time. And the awesome thing is that it cost me a whopping $2. I went to savers and got two used pillowcases, the one on the outside, and another for a lining. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on fabric if I was just going to mess it up. So, it's pretty amateurish, but I say GO ME!! Now if my mom hadn't left the thing all threaded up and ready to go when I opened it, this would have been a completely different blog post. :)

Little bookworm

2010-04-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me, knows I am a HUGE bookworm! And now thanks to Aunt Kristina, Hailee is turning into one too! a couple weeks ago, she spent the night with her Uncle Brendon and Aunt Kristina and Kristina took her to costco and bought her one of the Magic Treehouse books. I think it was number 41 or something. Well Hailee LOVED it, so much so, that I bought her the 1st 4 in the series. I remember spending HOURS reading when I was younger. The babysitters Club, the Boxcar Children, and old school Nancy Drew were my favorites. It's just so exciting seeing Hailee having that same love for reading. :D

Great Strides

2010-04-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! This is my 4th blog entry this week. I'm really on top of things aren't I?

This morning we got to walk in the Great Strides Walk for cystic fibrosis. Our good friends David and Amy Cesolini have a little boy with CF, so it was awesome getting to be there to show our support for them. And it was just fun getting to hang out! We don't get to see them as much since they left us and moved to Chandler. :D Anyway, just wanted to share some pictures.

Brian and David

Our team "Paul's Posse" at the starting line.

Hailee decided a short way through that she needed to be carried. Wimp.

Amy and I

There was a massage school set up there, and they had free massages for all of the walkers! It was so nice of them!

I'll eat you up I love you so

2010-04-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

When Hailee was about 2 years old, Brian and I would have to read this book to her EVERY night at bedtime! So imagine the memories that came flooding back when she chose this book to do a book report and diorama on last week. It was kinda fun watching her do it because it was really her first school project. It was kinda funny because as I was walking up to school with her that morning, it was pretty obvious that most of the students had quite a bit of help, and here's Hailee with this diorama that looked VERY MUCH like a 6 year old did it ALL on her own. She was SO proud of it though.

There it is. My joey's first school project. She got a 100% by the way. :)

Part Deuce

2010-04-22T21:15:00.001-07:00

So January...In January Hailee and I met Brittany, Kaleb and my mom in Prescott valley to go to my cousin's wedding. It was SO much fun having a girl's {and Kaleb haha} weekend! I hadn't laughed that hard in a LONG time.

It was SO much fun watching them dance at the wedding. Marcus {my cousin's son} Can hold his own, Kaleb dances like a little pro, and then there was Hailee summoning images of Elaine on Seinfeld doing the "full body dry heave" She gives new meaning to the phrase "dance like no one's watching" Awww...I know. I'm mean. We'll skip February. :D

In march I turned 28. I can hardly believe it!! That means it's been 10 years since I was a senior in high school, and since I moved out of my parents house and got out on my own for the first time! It seems like just yesterday......{insert flashback sequence}

Anyway if there is anyone out there who is still reading my blog, Thank you! I will try to make it more worth your while. :D

Updates part 1

2010-04-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

Ok. I'm going to stop promising that i'm going to keep up with my blog posts, cause we both know that isn't realistic. But I can catch everyone up. And with the amount of time I wasted today trying to get it looking just right {I didn't succeed 100% by the way} I just better try to keep posting.

Lets start with November shall we?

November was Disneyland. We packed Me, Brian, Hailee, two brothers, a grandma, a grandpa and a great grandma in a minivan and drove to California. Amazingly we didn't get on each other's nerves. It was SO much fun. We got to the park right about when it opened every morning and stayed as late as we could possibly stand every night. Needless to say we were exhausted by the time we were ready to go home. I'm sure Hailee could have stayed there forever.

Now this is definitely not the best picture I have, but i'm past the point of being excited enough to go through and post a bunch of them. haha.

So next would be December. The only thing exciting that happened in December is Christmas...which of course is VERY exciting when you have a 6 year old to shop for. I {GASP} didn't actually get any pictures of Christmas this year. I know, I know. I'm HORRIBLE! It was very nice though. We actually got to go up north and spend about the entire week with family. It's so nice and peaceful up there.

Hailee was able to go sledding for the first time! We thought for sure she would LOVE it, but unfortunately we didn't have warm enough clothes for her and once she got wet she was done. Too bad dad and her uncles weren't. They stayed out there sledding for so long, that she was crying by the time it was time to leave. She was SO cold! If we go next year we will definitely be better prepared.

That's the end of part 1 folks. I don't think anyone wants to read a post much longer than this one.

To the loyal readers of my blog...sorry i'm slacking.

2009-11-05T08:20:00.000-08:00

Hello to those few of you who still check my blog. :) I thought it was about time I update. I can't believe it's been since July! So what's new? Hailee Started 1st grade! It's amazing to me how much she has grown up lately. She started a new charter school and it's been REALLY good for her. She's already reading at a 2nd grade level! At her first parent-teacher conference, I was kind of wondering if the teacher had her confused with another little girl. The teacher told me that Hailee is, and I quote, "the sweetest little girl! She's so sweet and quiet" She even went so far as to suggest we get her tested for speech because the few times she does talk to her, she speaks very quietly and won't open up her mouth all the way. This was a HUGE change from what we were told last year. Her teacher last year basically said she couldn't get her to shut up! haha. So i'm going with the theory that she's just learning more this year. :) And the not opening her mouth up all the way thing is just what she does when she's intimidated. She HATES getting an answer wrong, or asking her teacher a question. So after the teacher was aware of it, I think she'll be better able to deal with it.

I also had to post the obligatory Halloween costume picture.

She was the cutest little batgirl ever! It's from my cell phone though, so it's not the best picture.

Hopefully I will have LOTS of pictures to post in the near future. We have all sorts of fun things coming up! I also know i've had a couple of little Hailee and/or Brian stories to blog recently that I can't think of, so when I do, i'll try to blog them. I know what you're thinking, but I will!!

2009-07-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, So WHERE do I start??? First of all, it is a little late, but Hailee turned 6 on the 2nd! I can't even believe it! She had a little party with like 5 friends, and she had SO much fun. I of course forgot to get pictures, but what are ya gonna do?

She is the just the most amazing little girl, and I feel so blessed to have her.

Next...We went to Utah this past week to take Brian's brother Chris to the MTC. It was a little sad just kicking him out at the curb, but I guess that's how we have to do it now. We're all so proud of him though!

We got to spend some time with family, visit temple square and most importantly eat some amazing food! We played a little Chapel slappel too. It's a game we made up that is based off of the classic "slug bug" game, where every time we saw an LDS chapel, we slapped each other. haha. We were pretty bruised up by the end of the trip. And unfortunately, when the rest of us got sick of playing, Hailee did not. Poor thing, the only kid among a bunch of fuddy duddys. haha. Here are a few of the other pictures. Enjoy!

2009-06-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to the best dad EVER! My little girl is the luckiest girl in the world to have such a great dad. He is patient and loving and is always available to Play some Wii games, transform some transformers or even play "daddy jungle gym" which by the way, hurts. haha. She jumps, climbs and beats on him and he just takes it. I know he's not looking forward to the teen years, but with a dad like that, i'm pretty sure we'll all get through it just fine. :) I love you babe! Thanks for all you do!

I also had to post a couple of pictures of the Transformers skirt. A friend of mine picked up this transformers fabric and made a skirt out of it for Hailee. It's so her! She loves it. In fact, she pretty much hasn't taken it off since she got it. haha. It was very appropriate that she wore it to church on Fathers day. Oh, she had to get a picture of her transforming Optimus Prime too. I guess she didn't want anyone to think it was all talk. :)

Update!

2009-05-22T21:15:00.001-07:00

Ok, it's been QUITE a while since i've posted...again. haha. So just to kind of update everyone a little, this is what has been going on.

~Hailee finished kindergarted!! She was SO sad. When I picked her up on her last day of school, she told me "mom. This is the saddest day of my life!" She keeps talking about how she doesn't want to be bored at home all summer. I'm not really sure what i'm going to do about that! We have a couple of trips lined up, but for the rest of the time I'm kinda stumped!

~Hailee started T-ball! She absolutely loves it! Just like we knew she would. She didn't really have a choice but to love baseball of course. You wouldn't really survive in our house if you didn't, but she loves being able to play. She has a little pink camo glove, and a pink bat. She's no girly girl though. She goes out there and gets DIRTY! She pretty much dives for (or on rather) every ball she ever catches. I should post some pics of that. I've been wanting to wait until her team gets their shirts, but it's taking a while, so I'll try to take some tomorrow.

~Last but not least, Brian has started doing the Honor Guard! This is the only thing I have taken pictures of recently! haha. His first assignment was the fallen officers memorials both at DPS headquarters and then at the state capitol this year. He was so handsome!! He was a little worried about getting too emotional, but he did great! I'm so proud of him! I also posted a picture of Pete. He's the K-9 who was named after Brian's dad. They introduced him this year at the memorial. He's VERY cute and friendly. It was so funny, he was howling along with the bagpipes all the way through Amazing Grace. What a cutie. Anyway, i'll try to get some pics of T-ball, and Hailee's dance recital next week!

Mom, what's this?

2009-04-09T22:49:00.001-07:00

I knew I would have to explain this eventually, but I didn't think it was coming this soon!! I was doing dishes tonight, and Hailee was looking through my purse and pulling stuff out. She got a hold of my Ipod, my lip gloss, my library card, and the next thing I know, I hear "mom, what's this". I look over and she has a tampon in her mouth, and she's blowing on one end of the applicator trying to get the tampon to come out the other end! I of course start laughing hysterically, so Hailee says, "what?? Is it a telescope?" And she proceeds to put it up to her eye and try to look through it. So I sat her down and explained exactly what it was and what I did with it. Naturally she was horrified, but I think I explained it well enough, that she walked away from the conversation not TOO terrified of what's to come. Wow, I need to start being more prepared for these talks. She's obviously not going to wait as long as I thought she would to ask questions. And she's just way too inquisitive. She can't just take my simple explainations and be ok with them, she has to ask me EVERY little question, and WHY this and that happen, and WHERE things go...***SIGH***I guess I'll just have to deal with the fact that she's growing up. Anyway, just thought i'd share. haha

Field day

2009-03-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post a few pictures I took at Hailee's field day on Thursday. It was a little unorganized, but the kids had fun anyway! haha. Brian and I were in charge of the parachute for the 1 1/2 hours that Hailee was not out there which was SO fun, and SUCH a great workout! I remember doing the parachute when I was little, and I loved it! All the kids said it was their favorite part of the day. We got a few pictures of our little group going around to all of the different stations. I'm so glad I went. There were quite a few pictures of the tug-of-war, cause those kids were just so cute!

Homemade giveaway!

2009-03-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, I can't guarantee that what I make will be something good, but I'll try my best! haha

The first 3 people to respond to this post will get something made entirely by me! Whatever I want! HOWEVER! This offer does have some restrictions and limitations~

1. I make no guarantees that you will like/ enjoy/ want what I make!
2. What I create will be especially for you.
3. It'll be done this year. (That's 2009 folks)
4. You will have no clue what it's going to be.
5. I reserve the right to make something extremely strange, should my heart desire it.

The catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. So win an AMAZING homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure you post a picture of your amazing home made awesomeness when you get it from yours truly! Who's in?

Yay Baseball!!

2009-03-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows our family knows that we get in as much baseball as our checking account will allow during baseball season, and this season we started early! We headed down to Tucson to watch the D-backs play some spring training at Tucson Electric Park. They played the Padres, and we had so much fun that we almost didn't notice how badly we lost!! Spring training games are so much fun! Everything is just so laid back. We sat right behind the Padres dugout, and while we would have much rather sat behind our dugout, it was still so fun to see the players up close. They were a lot of fun joking around with the fans and stuff. Anyway, here are some of he pics.

The D-backs cutest fan.
We're #1!!

It wouldn't be baseball without the cotton candy and Hot dogs.

And last but not least...The copstache. Brian was very jealous. haha

She's too big!

2009-03-14T23:03:00.001-07:00

Ok, this is going to be the first of many posts for the next week or so at LEAST! I feel like I never have anything to blog, but i've gotten the camera out a lot lately so I have a ton of pictures. And I figure if I start posting again, certain people will stop bugging me about it. So I think I'll start with.....

Hailee lost her first tooth! I was so surprised. I totally didn't think it was time to start losing teeth yet, but when she came up to me and showed me, I immediately started crying! It just seems like such a big girl thing to do and I'm not ready!! But the poor girl just stood there and said "Mom, why are you freaking out?" She's so funny! Anyway, it came out about 2 days later while she was eating cereal, and we never found it. I'm thinking she may have swallowed it. So she wrote a letter to the tooth fairy telling her that she lost her tooth, but she can't find it and put it uner her pillow. The tooth fairy left her about $3.85 or something. It was all the money she had on her at the time. haha. The second one was QUITE a bit trickier though! It was loose for at least 2 weeks! We were constantly telling her to "work that tooth" and Brian had to finally pull it out with dental floss. By the time we got it out she didn't even have the big gap because both big teeth are growing in. Oh well. Isn't she cute??

K, keep coming by! I have lots more to update. I just want to save some good stuff for later!! And now that I said it, I HAVE to do it!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

K, so apparently it takes a holiday or milestone to get me to blog...But it's better than nothing right?? So these are our pictures from Trunk-or-treat yesterday. Hailee was bumblebee and I happen to think she was the cutest kid there!

While we were sitting in the car we got out the vampire teeth. Hailee is pretty good at looking scary!

She had the hardest time this year deciding between Darth Vader and Bumblebee. Daddy has never been prouder of his little girl!

Off to school she goes!

2008-08-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

So yesterday the day that I have been dreading FOREVER finally came. My little girl started school. I can't believe she's a kindergartener. When did she stop being a toddler?? She was so ready to go though. Brian and I took her and there was a point where all the kids were at their desks and the parents were still sitting around the room taking pictures and waiting to be kicked out, and Hailee called me over to her and she asked me "when is kindergarten going to start?" She just could not wait! Then when I dropped her off today, on day 2, she went and sat at her desk inside and didn't even want to play on the playground until it started! So here are a couple of pictures. The first one is of her with her Barbie backpack and her Spiderman lunchbox. That right there pretty much sums up my little girl's personality! The second is of the whole classroom, and the third is her looking at her name on her nametag.

Obsessed? Maybe a little.

2008-08-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, I officially AM obsessed. On Friday night I went out with a group of friends to wait in line for my copy of Breaking Dawn. We met at IHOP first to hang out a little and have very in depth philosophical conversations about what should happen in this book as well as a Jacob vs. Edward poll. (Edward wins HANDS DOWN!) After that our group was off to Walmart where we were first in line! The manager and workers were obviously just loving the diversion, and we had a BLAST! I feel like the hugest dork sometimes, but it was just way too much fun! Here are just a few of the pics!

Amy, Amanda, Kim and Jocey waiting in line.

This guy got a hold of the book and opened it to the first and last pages like he was going to ruin it for us. We probably would have sued him for pain and suffering!

Say Vampire!I got it!

This picture is a little blurry, but I couldn't resist! She's so excited!

Big Oven!!

2008-06-12T00:20:00.000-07:00

So i've been thinking lately that I want to find some way to organize all of my recipes because I collect cookbooks, and have like a billion of them. I wanted to find a way to organize all of my favorite recipes out of all of them without having to look through EVERY one every time I want to cook something. Anyway, I googled recipe software, and I found this software called Big Oven. It's the COOLEST thing EVER! It came preloaded with a bunch of recipes, including a whole Weight Watchers recipe box and I can input all of mine. Not only that, but it helps me make a grocery list AND plan all of my meals. Anyway, a bit of a plug, but I'm SO excited about it!

She knows just what to say!

2008-05-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

Today Hailee and I attended a sample class for Let's Play Music, and when I got home Brian and I were discussing whether or not we were going to put Hailee in it. Since it's pretty expensive we know we can't afford to put her in that and dance which she is totally loving right now. Anyway, I decided to ask her what she thought. I said "Hailee if you had to choose just one to do, would you want to be in music, or dance next year?" and without hesitation, she answers "BASEBALL!!" She totally made her daddy's day.

Tag You're it!!

2008-05-28T22:27:00.001-07:00

I got tagged! Thanks Kristin, I'll try to make this as interesting as possible. Yeah...Wish me luck with that!

3 Joys:

My husband--

Brian makes me laugh daily, and goes out of his way to be a good and honest person. It's also amazing to watch him be a father. He has more patience than I could EVER possess.

My Daughter--

Well obviously. Everything I ever write on this thing is about her! haha. She is SO bright and creative. She is also one of the most loving people I have EVER met! She's always got a hug for her mommy, and is still young enough that she doesn't roll her eyes at me when I am being completely cheesy. Oh don't worry, I know thats coming. hahaha

My friends--

I have some of the most amazing friends who always seem to be there for me, even when I don't feel like i'm being the best friend I can be. What else could a girl ask for!

3 Fears:

1. Something happening to someone I love. I try not to think about things happening to Brian while he's at work, but it's hard sometimes....especially when he is late coming home and DOESN'T CALL ME!

2. I agree with Kristin...Kindergarten is freaking me out!! I admit it has something to do with the fact that I just don't want her to leave me, but it's so scary to think that she's going out into the world and will spend all that time around outside influences that I have NO control over.

3. Female baldness...I'm not even kidding. I spend hours in the mirror staring at my hairline.

Three Goals:

1. Get into shape. I'm trying to lose weight, and of course thats the shorter term goal, but ultimately, I want fitness to be part of my lifestyle. I admit, i'm having a hard time making a habit out of things, but i'm telling you, once I have a habit I have a hard time breaking them. LOL

2. Finish School.

3. Keep my house clean!! I want to have one of those houses where if someone drops by, they wonder if i've been tipped off that someone was coming over because it was so clean. Or they'll wonder if maybe we don't really live there, and just pretend we do for appearances. Or if we just keep ALL the surfaces covered in plastic and then rip it off when we see someone coming up the walk.

3 Current obsessions:

1. I, like Kristin, am quite obsessed with the bow making. And finding cute little things to put on the bows, and cute ribbons to make them out of. Anyone want some Hair bows?? I can only make so many for Hailee and then it's going to be a bit ridiculous!

2. SUDOKU--I know, it's dumb, but I picked up this book that I got like 2 years ago from my aunt, and now when I have any extra time...hahahaha....I find myself doing them.

3. Food--What I should be eating. What I should not be eating. What I want to eat, but no...I have more willpower than that...wait...no I don't...I'm eating it. DANG IT...More time on the elliptical!!

3 Random Facts:
I hate doing these random fact ones. There is really NOTHING that interesting about me.

1. I figured out how to do this really cute braid-ponytail thing with my hair a few weeks ago, and now I cannot for the life of me recreate it!! What the heck?

2. I haven't been sleeping well lately. I don't know what it is. I'm so tired, but all I do is LAY there. It's not good for the whole goal of keeping my house clean. I'm too exhausted

3. I'm a horrible home decorator. I really need help in this area. I even watch all of the decorating shows, and I don't get anything out of them. My house is seriously devoid of any personality....I'm really not as negative as my random facts would indicate. I'm just tired and thats all I could think of.

NOW I TAG AMANDA WHITE, AMY CESOLINI, AND JESSICA OWENS

Indiana Joey!

2008-05-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

So Hailee thinks she is Indiana Jones. She got it in her head the other day that she wanted to be like him so she went and got a "cowboy hat" like Indiana Jones has. Okay so thats the closest thing she has, and she is obviously a little misguided when it comes to cowboy hats. Then she found a belt to be her whip. She has been going around the house ever since whipping up a storm. And if you're curious about the Joey thing, it's her nickname....It's a really long story. I would say that Brian is doing great in his quest to turn Hailee into the perfect little tomboy, while leaving enough girly girl for me to work with. Speaking of that, Hailee has her dance concert on Saturday. I can take pictures at the dress rehersal tomorrow so I will post them! It's SO CUTE!!

Fallen officer's memorial

2008-05-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

Today we attended the DPS fallen officer's memorial to remember Brian's dad. We go every year, and it's always so touching. This year Brian escorted Hailee during the roll call to put the rose up on the memorial wall. I don't think she knows exactly what is going on, but she gets the idea, and we like to get her involved in honoring her grandfather. So here are some pictures. I'm all crazy with the blog posts today...Sorry haha

Brian and Hailee at the statue. If you look to the right of Hailee you can kinda see Brian's dad's name. It's weird light and Hailee was making a shadow, but I do the best I can with what I have.
Here is Brian and his good friend David with David's canine DK, who is named after fallen officer Doug Knutson.

Brian's uncle Scott giving Brendon lopsided bunny ears. Poor bunny. =(

Grandma, Hailee, and Hailee's brownie.

My little girl is getting so big!

2008-05-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hailee had her preschool graduation on Thursday. I can't believe she's already done and on her way to kindergarten! Here are some of the pictures. It was so cute. They sang some of the songs that they sang throughout the year, which was cute, but it would have been better if Hailee hadn't been biting her nails almost ALL the way through the singing!

Here she is getting her Diploma from her teacher Ms. Brett. Hailee's so sad that she won't get to have her as a teacher anymore, but she plays the piano in Primary so she still gets to see her all the time.

She had a lot of fun saying goodbye to her friends. Luckily a lot of them are not only in our ward, but in the same primary class as her, so it's not goodbye for long.

And finally....Here's my little girl all grown up. What a cutie!

2008-04-27T23:45:00.000-07:00

Ok...This is so frustrating!! I'm having such a hard time with the blog decorating thing! This was the whole reason I resisted for so long. Oh well. It's cute enough for now. Jen is going to stop talking to me if I keep bugging her. hahaha

Introducing Hailee Grace Petersen

2008-04-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

K....So, we recently got a new (to us) computer and it doesn't have the memory card slot and I lost the cord to my camera a LONG time ago, so until I get a new cord, I cant upload any of my photos to my computer and I am not able to put any on here. I figured since a lot of people who will be looking at this haven't seen me or my family in years, I will use some of the pictures I already have to introduce you to the most important member of our family. This is Miss Hailee Grace in a nutshell.

She is SUCH a princess! She is the only child and that means that has hard as we try, we have a really hard time not spoiling her. We don't mean to, it just happens that way.

She is also a daddy's girl. I have no idea how one little girl can be such a tomboy and such a princess all at the same time, but she manages it.

She is a HUGE diamondbacks fan. Her favorite player is Eric Byrnes. She went to her first baseball game when she was three, and we go at least a few times a season.

And of course...Video games. I'm not too exited about this one, but it couldn't be avoided. She wants to do everything her daddy does. Yes that is an xbox 360 controller in her hand, and yes she does very much know how to use it at the ripe old age of 4. It's sad I know. But Brian is so proud.

So that's my Hailee in a nutshell. Well some of her anyway. I regret that I do not have any pictures of her all covered in dirt from our backyard like she most often is, or playing with transformers. (Also, Brian's influence.) And I'm sure this was the lamest blog in history,but I wanted to get it up and running, and that's all I could think to do with pictures that are 3-6 months old. Hope you enjoyed it! I promise I will get a cord soon so I can keep you all updated. And i'll figure out how to make it look a little less boring!