Happy Birthday Sarah!

(this is brett btw) Sarah deserves to have the happiest birthday! She is so good with our girls and making us all happy around here. I had a feeling when we were dating that she would make an amazing wife and mother because of the way she genuinely cares for people and their feelings, and she has proved time and time again since we've been married that the feeling I had was right on. I am so lucky to have Sarah for a wife, and hope that I can show her how important she is to me,

I love you Sarah, Happy Birthday!

Now lets go have some fun today! (Ever since I was a kid, I have made it a point to have fun on my birthday, and that means skipping school or work in order to do what I want. Now that I am married and have kids, that's just a few more mandatory days off! ;)

Daddy and his Girls

I made the girls tutus

I've been tagged

The rules:

1. Take a picture of yourself right now. No primping or preparing. Just snap a picture.
2. Load it onto your blog.

I'm tagging Cecelia M., Natalie R., Kim J., Lindsay M., and Amy W.

Trip to Arizona... Jeff and Promises' Wedding

We took a 13 hour road trip to Arizona this weekend. My brother Jeff got married in the Snowflake AZ temple to Promise. We are so happy for them!

The car ride over was really pretty good. Claire slept the whole time... and Livie was pleasant. Lets not talk about the ride home... it was long.

Grandma and Livies played chase while they waited for pictures to be over with.

Old Tucson (part 2 of trip to AZ)

We got to visit with my parents for a few days. It was a good time. Olivia gets a little crabby without her usual schedule... but she loved the merry go round at Old Tucson!

Visiting the Taylors (Part 3 of road trip to AZ)

We visited Brett's sister Alisha and her family before we left Arizona. It was really great to see them. Jill and Olivia LOVED playing together. We really wish they lived closer so we could play more often. We went golfing, played with their new chicks, and ate good food.

What's really going on...

Well, I like to think I am in-touch with friends and family through blogs. Well... then I realize, a lot of us really don't say what's going on in just every day life. Some times it's so every-day type of stuff I forget people don't know what's going on! So.. heres an update!
Olivia-
Livie is speaking really well. She speaks in compound sentences and is 90% understandable. She has really grown up in the past few months. She is still working on ABC's. She has colors and numbers down. She can count to 10 well, and is working on her teens. Her favorite activities are reading books. She recites and 'reads' books to me all day long. She loves to dance. She loves to pretend. She calls herself Princess Theona a lot. She is a spectacular eater. She eats just about every thing we put in front of her. She whines a lot. She is always telling me to put Claire down and play with her. She loves her friends and family. She asks about them all the time.

Claire-
Claire is a good baby. She is often fussy when she is awake, but she smiles for atleast 10 minutes a day. She loves attention. She will always calm down if I hold her, bounce her, or let her swing in her chair. She has a hard time sitting or being alone unless she is dead aseelp. I can't blame her though. I wouldn't want to entertain myself either! She LOVES the car. She always falls asleep in the car. I love that she loves it- Olivia would SCREAM every time we got in the car. It was dreadful going anywhere with her when she was a baby. Umm, Claire is a pretty good sleeper. She sleeps about 6-8 hours at night. Not bad... Claire kicks her little legs a lot and is always making noise. Some times mad noises, sometimes happy. It is cute. She is a good eater too. She loves her binky, but loves her mommy most ;) She is very attatched and prefers me over anyone else.

Brett-
Brett has been playing lots of basketball. Our ward meets in the morning at 6 am to play. Brett hates getting up early, but loves basketball! He had gained a little weight, but has lost it now since resuming playing sports! HE lost 11 pounds! WOW! He is by no means fat though, and never was. Bretts job is not doing so well. We are down one paycheck... and I forsee missing others due to the company having $0 to pay us. It has been stressfull not knowing if we will be able to pay bills. If things don't start getting better soon, he will have to get a new job. Sadly, there are not many to choose from at this time with the economy doing so bad. Wish us luck!!

Sarah-
Well, I am just boring! I watch and play with the girls all day long. Mostly changing diapers, nursing, and trying to clean. I make dinners most nights and love to try new recipes. I have abiout 15 that I ALWAYS make though. I take TONS of pictures and I really like it. I like to blog and be on the computer. Theres always something to look at on the computer! I am trying really hard to stick to a work-out routine. My goal is to treadmill for atleast 1/2 an hour a day and to do arm, tummy, and back exercises. It takes about an hour total. It is difficult.. I wait until Claire is napping and Olivia just plays with toys or watches a show on TV. I'm always praying that Claire doesn't wake up. I am on my 3rd week now. I have lost about a pound. I can see a tiny difference. I've only missed a few days, so I've done pretty well ;) I think it is a good investment of my time to keep up my health and firness. I don't want to regret soem day not taking care of my body.
In General-
Amy (Bretts little sister) is living with us for awhile. When she finds an apartment and makes a few bucks she'll move out. Olivia LOVES having her around. I hear "Wheres Amy? Whens she coming home?" all day long. Umm, we are teaching primary again. We teach the 10 year old boys. I was scared at first. Turns out they are MUCH easier then 4 year olds! (who we used to teach) The boys are little minds for molding- they know so little, and just soak it in! It's cool to watch them learn. Brett does the teaching for now. He is really good with the boys. Olivia is doing really well in nursery again. She went through a hard 4 months or so. It stunk when she would cry every week and just wouldn't let me leave. She is doing great now though. WOOHOO!

Chunky Monkey (2 month check-up)

Weight: 12 lbs 8 oz. (76%)
Length: 24 inches (93%)
Head Circumference: 15.5 inches (61%)

Claire checked out great at her Dr's visit today. She has a flat spot on her head though. She has a condition where her head was turned to one side in the womb, so now she keeps her head turned that way all the time making it flat. I have to do some exercises with her to strengthen her neck muscles so she'll turn the other way. It should be fine. Other then that it was just a normal visit with the screaming from shots. Poor girl.

Twinners

I've had to resort to coloring my own hair, now that I'm not working at the salon. It stinks. Who can afford to actually pay $80!? I know I charged it... but, man, it is just too pricey for me ;) Olivia really wanted to help me. At one point she actually got a hold of the color brush and swiped some on the top of her head. IKES! Don't worry, we got it off without any damage to her beautiful blonde hair ;)
p.s. notice the pictures in the back-ground? I need ones that actually fit the frame!! Can all Peterson family please e-mail me an updated family photo that will fit in one of those slots!? It can be the Christmas card one... just in it's full size!

Livie the Painter

Pictures for Grandma

Liv's at the park... In February, brrrr

little sleeping beauty

I wanted a picture of Claires foot... she wasn't so happy about that