Another Birthday

Last month I celebrated my birthday all month long! Thanks to my good friend Lori who suggested to not only celebrate your birthday on one day but to celebrate your birth month! She is brilliant! I loved the birthmonth idea, so much less pressure on your actual birth'day'! I had a great month with many cards, flowers, gifts and lunches........thanks for the idea Lori:)

Here is a picture of me and some of my friends at a birthday lunch that they had for me. I believe that some of the women had already left, so sorry that you did not make the picture but thanks for celebrating with me! I was really bad at getting thank you notes out this year but thanks to the many that made my 'month' special!

Kings of Narnia.....K.O.N.

Here are some pictures of Matthew's band. I wanted to add them to the post before but I was not able to. These are from their performance and from their "photo shoot". They crack me up! Don't ask me what is up with the Twilight book in some of the pictures....I do not understand it myself.

Where did September go?

I cannot believe that it is already October! Where did September go? I love this time of year and I don't want it to go by so fast! It looks like I never blogged during September so I have alot of catching up......

Football season has began and Zack is enjoying playing for Patriots again this year. I believe he is enjoying it even more this year because he knows better what he is doing and also because so far his team is undefeated. Winning always makes for a great season!

Both Matthew and Zack are in bands and our house has become the place for their practices. People joke that must be the reason that 4 houses on our little culdesac are up for sale, the noise must be getting to them! I really don't think that it is a problem, we always tell our neighbors to let us know if it bothers them but so far no complaints. They practice in a upstairs room and you really can't hear them that loud downstairs or outside, they just have to keep the door and windows closed. Matthew plays the bass and is the singer in his band, "Kings of Narnia" and Zack plays the drums in his band. They both enjoy it and I am just so glad to see that the money spent on piano lessons have paid off. They both enjoy music!

Matthew's band was able to play in a talent show for EFY in our stake and they did a great job.  They have "two gigs" coming up and are having a great time. They are even writing their own songs! I am so glad that they are having such a fun time with it and I am so glad that Matthew has such good friends. I could not ask for a better group of guys for him to be hanging out with:)

It will be a busy school year for the boys with a full load of classes, sports, their bands and social lives but it should be a great one. I am trying to enjoy every minute because I know that we only have a little bit longer with them in our home. Time has got to slow down!

First Day

First day of school is here! Some parents are very happy for this day but I am kind of sad but I am sure I will get over it ;) Summer was short but we did get to the beach quite a bit and that always makes for a fun summer. We started the summer out with a beach trip and yesterday, the last day of summer, we ended with a beach trip. Good times!
Matthew is a junior this year (can't believe it) and Zack is in 7th grade. Time is flying by and I know I have only a few years left with them in my home. That is a sad reality-

Matthew has a very hard schedule this year and here he is ready to go to school this morning with all his books. Yikes!
Zack, as always, so excited to be starting school! Yeah...right!And what do you know! I come home from taking them and this is what I find. Someone forgot their lunch and I have no idea which one of them forgot it so someone is going without a lunch today! It is going to be a looooong year!

Summer of Dad

Well the summer is over and the school year begins! Summer seems to go by faster every year. This summer was a very different one and I will always think of it as the "Summer of Dad". We did not go on any vacations this summer but spent any chance we had to be in Utah with my parents. I was able to spend the majority of the summer by my Dad's bedside, reading to him, laughing with him, crying with him and always learning from him. I always knew that it would be hard to lose a parent and believe me it is. I miss him so much! He was my first love, my protector and provider, my teacher, my #1 fan, my safe place, my hero and I never doubted his love for me. He will be missed but I know that we will be together again and I am thankful for that knowledge. Knowing that helps comfort me and our family in our sorrow. 'Till we meet again - Love You Dad!

In Loving Memory of E. Taylor Petersen

April 3, 1935 - July 30, 2009

Weekend in Utah

Memorial weekend the boys and I were able to go visit my parents in Utah and spend some quality time with my Dad. His battle with cancer continues and boy what a rollercoaster ride it is! Cancer stinks! He is having a hard time right now so we want to make sure to make it up there alot to help out where we can and to spend as much time as we can with him...hopefully brightening up his day. He is such a courageous man and even in this trial he is a man of strength and an example to us. What can I say, he amazes me and is always my hero!

We enjoyed some special moments with the family and really cherish the time that we spend with them. To our surprise my brother and his family were visiting also so it was great to have the cousins spend time together also. All in all, it was a great weekend and we are looking forward to going up again after school is out. The boys were absolutely awesome and it is really fun taking road trips with them. We have a great time in the car and pretty soon Matthew can help out with the driving part, which will be nice.

It was funny because while we were there we got my Mom's doll collection out. It has been packed away in the garage. She has always loved dolls and has been collecting all different kinds of dolls for years. It is really funny because dolls actually kind of creep me out, I can't sleep in a room that has a lot of dolls in it. I know it is weird but I think it is because she always surrounded me with dolls when I was a little girl and at night I would swear I would see their mouths moving...you know kind of like the Chuckie movies or actually more like that Twilight Zone episode with "talking Tina". Anyways, we all had a fun time looking through Mom's dolls, even the boys had a good laugh looking at them. Here are some of their favorites: