2 officers and a Gentleman

December has been a busy month. My sister had a new baby boy named Tanner(he actually arrived on Nov.30, but close enough to December). He is such a cutie. My oldest brother, Jared graduated from the Police Academy and is now a corrections officer. My brother-in-law Jeff O was commisioned to the rank of officer in the U.S. Army. It's crazy how fast time flies when you're busy. Jeff's been crazy busy at work with the Christmas season. We've been working to help a family for Christmas. It's been crazy, but very rewarding. May your Christmas be full of happiness and celebration. Have a Merry Christmas, and happy new year!

Forgotten Carols

So, it's been a few years since we've gone to the Forgotten Carols. This year we were 3 rows from the stage on the floor level. It was great. I would recommend it to anyone. They've changed quite a bit of the script, added more characters, and changed the lady who plays Connie Lou. I was sad to see Katie Thompson go. The new lady was good, but I like Katie better. This year was extraordinarily touching to me for some reason. One certain part really touched me. I found it ironic and funny because I usually don't care for this part very much, but this year, I felt like a bawl baby. If you know much about the play then you'll know that at the end of each show they have the audience sing a song and think about those who have passed on or in the military or on a mission etc, but it ALWAYS gets me. I automatically get thinking of my grandparents, and Jeff's little sister, Kirstyn. He loves her so much, and I'd give anything to let him see and talk to her again. They were very close. I know she's taking good care of our children up there for us until it's time for them to be here with us. Boy, how I wish I could meet her. Someday I will!

Holiday wishes

I just want to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. I know we have much to be thankful for! We're thankful for our jobs, our health, or family and our friends. I am especially grateful for my husband. He is an awesome man, and I couldn't be any luckier. He's always willing to help, and is willing to watch an occasional "chick-flick" with me. I look around and see people so much worse off than me and it makes me grateful for the little things in life. I'm even grateful for my challenges and trials that I have been given. I know they are for me and I gladly accepted them before I came to earth. We can do anything as long as we keep near to the Lord. I love Thanksgiving! Have a happy one!

Brother and sister?

So I've heard that as a couples get older they look more and more alike. We're not that old yet! However, it makes for a funny story. Please read on: We were just standing there, at the grocery store check-out line, waiting for our stuff to get rung up when the cashier girl looked at us and asked if we were brother and sister. WHAT ??I kind of laughed and said "Actually we are husband and wife." I then said " I haven't heard that since High School." The cashier looked up at us again and was saying how awesome it was that we knew each other in High School. She kept going on and saying how she was a hopeless romantic. She told us we were cute. What do you say to that? Luckily our stuff was bagged at that moment so we could be on our merry little way. We laughed about that for awhile. I told Jeff that our kids are bound for destruction with brown eyes and brown hair. He laughed and agreed with me. We don't look that much alike, do we?

Forget the icecream!

I know what you're all thinking.....Boy, she really stinks at blogging, but don't fret! We haven't died yet! We've been really busy (just not with anything exciting), and I just don't know what to blog about..................UNTIL NOW! By looking at this pic you can probably guess what the C house has on the brain............................................ Yummy, scrumpdiddilyumpsious (?) CHOCOLATE! We spent all last weekend prepping and then dipping about 50 pounds of chocolate. Forget the icecream, ice cubes, juices, chicken or any frozen food for that matter. The Chocolates have taken over the freezer. Who needs to make dinner, right? Just have some homemade chocolates! We made all the ooey,gooey centers one day and then dipped them ALL a couple of days later! It took us from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. last Saturday to dip them all and let them set. Let me reassure you.... it was worth every minute! My dad-in-law makes a melt in your mouth caramel that is to die for! Just ask my hips, they'll testify for you! :) We split the goods between 3 families and we each took around 15 pounds of chocolates home. We've got the sweets covered in our food storage, so if a disaster strikes, just come find us for your sugar fix. We've got you covered (anything for a small fee, right?). We have chocolate filling our freezer with little wiggle room for the real food, but hey, it's once a year. That's what I say. Thanks Mom and Dad M for teaching us how to make chocolates. We look forward to next year!!!!(wink, wink)

Our candy guinea pigs (adrienne, and Camille) haven't died yet, so I'm guessing we passed the chocolate-making test. I love this episode of I love Lucy, so I had to post the pic. Funny, funny! Chocolate, chocolate, everywhere! Do you know any good holiday treat/candy recipes? I'd love to hear!

Peterson Family Reunion!

My family had the first ever family reunion this year! My brother's family from Washington was able to come down for a while, so we planned a trip to Park City! We went out to eat at a restaurant called Bandits on the historic mainstreet. With the whole Pete clan together, things can get pretty crazy.. I appologize for all the pictures, but they were all too cute. Plus, I have to show off my favorite nieces and nephews ever.

Kyle had a full tummy,and was just hangin out as a real cowboy! He's very opinionated, but can be really cute when he wants to be ...........Keep smiling, buddy. I had to take a picture with this gorgeous girl, Celeste! She wanted her hair to be pulled back like mine, and she loved it.

I was the annoying photographer that just wanted to take pictures of everyone! We haven't been together on a trip for way too long, so I iwanted to remember how much fun we had. Maria and Sam are on the left,and Aaron and Nicole on the right. Love, the shirt, Aaron. It was too funny!

Grace also wanted her hair like mine so we pulled it back and straightened it for her, oh, and the lovely makeup job. She had to have on some mascara and lipstick. She is such a cute girl. I'm glad we got to spend so much time together with Aaron's family. It's been too long since we've done something fun. It was about time. We took the free troley ride to the restaurant. The kids just absolutely loved the ride on the trolley. I had to take pictures because they had so much fun. It was different for them, and there were no seat belts to be strapped in with. Yeah, for the trolley!

It seems like the only time we get our picture taken together is when we take it ourselves. Oh, well! I think it turned out better than some of the others. Plus, Jeff is such a babe, who wouldn't want to look at him all time? I'm the luckiest girl around.

My Dad tripped on the sidewalk just before we left for dinner, and he banged up his arm. You can see the band-aid on his elbow. It was raining and slippery, and he just went down. He thinks he broke his rib, and it hurt for quite awhile after. I'm glad he's doing well now. He's getting older now and his muscles aren't doing as well as they should, so he has a hard time getting around sometimes.

More trolley fun with Jeff and Jenny and Sean, and Sam and Rosie in the background. I love my family. They are great!

Aaron took care of Jared's boy, Spencer, on the trolley ride. This look just sums up Spencer to the T. He is quiet and quick, and can get into trouble quickly, but then he looks at you with his big, brown eyes, and he looks so innocent. Looks can be deceiving. Especially with a 3 year old!

We took part of our family on a walk up main street. We can't go to park city without going to the chocolate factory, right? They had to have a treat, so Maria was nice enough to buy them one. As you can tell, the treats were really enjoyed. Yummy!!!!!!!!! I'll post more pictures later, so stay tuned!

Anniversary Weekend!

I've never claimed to be a graceful person,and here's the proof! For the big 5th anniversary we decided to spend a lovely weekend in Park City. Jeff was so excited to mountain bike down the mountain, but as you can see, this is how it turned out. Our short, but very fun-filled bike ride ended up with me on a mountain with a gash in my knee bleeding all over the place. Jeff had to carry both bikes back up the mountain while I tried to hold a sock on my gushing wound. It was awkward, but we made it to the top. The lift operater had to get special permission to let us ride the lift back down. He let us know that an EMT would meet us at the bottom to look at my knee.............lucky me!

Here is us going on the forever long ride down, while everyone was looking at us funny and talking about us even though we could still hear what they were saying as they rode past us. YES, those are tears on my face. It hurt, I was embarrassed, and I am a girl. That gives me all the right in the world to let them out sometimes, right? I think so! We spent a lot of money to rent the bikes, purchase all day ski lift passes just to end up riding them for 5 minutes. I had to go to the Urgent Care center and get 4 stitches. WOW, what ta fun anniversary weekend, right? IDON"T THINK SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The best part about it was I was with the man I love!! Even though I was in pain ,and ruined Jeff's bike ride, the few from the top was gorgeous! I'm just a Klutz, and it's all good! Love you,babe!

Happy 5th Anniversary!

I just want to wish my hubby,Jeff, a happy anniversary. I can't believe how fast time has flown by! He is the love of my life, and I can't imagine life without him. He is my best friend, and I love him with all my heart! It seems like only yesterday when I first talked to him in Junior choir! (crazy, huh?) We've been able to do some great things and see great places. Sorry i ruined mountain biking for you babe! We'll have to try it again soon. He is the BEST thing to ever happen to me. Happy Anniversary again! (I promise I have better wedding pics than this one!) 5 down and many, many more to go!

Our time!

We decided to have an "us day" so we could just do something fun. We hiked up to the timp cave. I've never been there before, and boy was it harder than I thought. We were 20 minutes late so the ranger told us we could make up the 20 min , but we'd only have 40 minutes to make it to the entrance. It usually takes 1 hour, so we booked it and set off on a fast pace. I quickly realized it was harder than what I had anticipated, but I kept going. My legs were burning, but we made it. I asked the ranger at the top what to do because we were late, and he reassured us that we were 10 minutes early. I was confused. Apparently we had plenty of time. Oh, well, we made it with a little breathing room to spare, and we made our right tour time. The cave is 43 degrees year round so it felt great. I thought it was neat to see all the fun formations. The one above always has a constant stream of water running down it. God's creations are just amazing.

These are just some more pictures of the inside of the cave. Squiggles, and spikes, that's what I saw.

This is us at the end of the tour just before heading back to find the nearest restroom! :) It was a great work out so I can't complain. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to get out and enjoy nature. The picture below is what we saw when we got done with the tour. I felt like we were ontop of the world. It was such a beautiful day, and we had a gorgeous view of Utah Valley.

One bit of advice would be to make sure you schedule a reservation for early in the morning. It's much cooler, partly shaded (on the way up) and when you get done the heat is just awful! Oh, and take a LOT of water with you. Trust me, I know! Luckily on this trip neither of us got hurt, and we had plenty of trail mix, granola bars, and a camel pak to keep us hydrated! Just like scouts, we were prepared!

Good times!

I can't believe it's been 8 years since we graduated high school. Boy, how time flies! I went to the Spanish Fork High School Class of 2008 graduation to see my brother-in-law graduate, and so many memories came to my head. Ashley, do you remember our homecoming adventure? (I don't want to say too much to make me look like a fool :) ) I thought of all those silly things we used to do. I thought about dating in school, and how hard I thought it was. I am soooooo lucky I married my highschool sweetheart! We've been dating for almost 10 years. There were some good times in highschool, don't 'ya think? Congrats class of 2008!

The C family

This is the family.......I think it's the only picture we have of Jeff's Dad and brothers. Plus, it's the only picture we could get with the brothers actually smiling rather than having their "hard A" faces on. People are so much better looking with smiles on their faces don't ya think? I do! If you can't tell, it's Christmas time. What a bunch of handsome Curtis'(especially the one in the dark sweater :) He's the handsom-est one of all!!!!!

Grandpa got Hitched!!

I don't know if anyone else has had the "wonderful" experience of attending the wedding of a grandparent, but it's kind of weird. With Jeff's grandparents being the same age as my parents (weird, huh?) it makes sense for them to be happy just as much as anyone else right? Well, we got to attend Jeff's Grandpa's wedding in Logan a couple of weeks ago. It was almost surreal to be there watching them get hitched. Who in this world gets that opportunity very often? His first wife dies a year after our wedding, so for most of our married life it's just been "Grandpa Curtis" and now he has a wife. It's sooooooo strange. Anyway, it's interesting to think about.

This is one of our favorite pictures in Hawaii. This is only a couple minutes away from the BYU Hawai'i campus. You can't see it, but the ocean has broken a hole through this ginormous rock wall. It was awesome. We ate breakfast at a little diner, and a senior missionary couple came in. It was weird to see missionaries in a radom cafe in Hawaii. From what it looked like, they were frequent customers of the diner. There were lots of college students there too. Plus, this diner was the cheapest meal we ate there for the cheapest price. Hawai'i is truly a heavenly paradise. I want to go back a lot when we are old and gray.

Jeff and I met during high school and have been unseperable ever since (minus a 2 year mission). Right after graduation, we went with his family on the Disney Cruise. It was great. We've now been married for 4 1/2 years (5 yrs in July) and love every minute of it. We can't believe it's been almost 10 years since we started dating. Boy, does time fly. One of our most favorite things we've done since marriage is our 11 day trip to Hawaii last April. We swam with sharks, saw whales and laid on the beach. It was great. Hopefully we'll be transeferred soon with Jeff's job( I have high hopes) He works as a sales manager, and I work as a pharmacy technician . We have a happy life. We don't have any kids yet, but maybe soon. Feel free to say hello. It will be good to talk to you all!