Halloween

Carving Pumpkins

Redd loved getting his hands in and pulling out the guts!

He even helped move the knife to cut out the pieces Here he is with his happy pumpkin! Judd and I had never carved pumpkins together & it turned out to be really fun. Redd picked which pumpkins each of us got and through the rest of the month whenever we drove into the driveway, he would point at our pumpkins and tell us who they were. Dad is the scary one, Mom is the happy one, and Redd is the little one! Trick or Treating Since Redd is so little, we just do our Trick-or-Treating at the Grandma's houses instead of around the neighborhood. This year at my mom's the kids walked around to all the aunts and got their treats. I didn't realize that Redd would expect a treat from me. He kept coming up and saying "Trick-or-Treat, Mama" with this look on his face...oops! I had to steal some treats from my mom to put in his bag. Next time I'll be prepared. Dallin, Cooper, Chole, Jax, Jadon, Tayah, Berkley, Redd, Cord, Ava, Brad, Griffin Redd wasn't just any giraffe.. he was Melman from Madagascar (that's what we had to tell him to get excited about his costume) "Luigi"- Brad, "Rocker" - Jadon and "Disco Dude"- Cord "Scarecrow"- Dallin, "Melman"- Redd, "Mario"- Griffin "Ninja"- Cooper, "Yoda"- Jax "Dorothy" - Tayah, "Disco Chick"- Chole "Alice"- Berkley, "Witch"- Ava

"Melman"- Redd & "Mad Hatter"-Kayden

(this picture makes me laugh because Redd

was super nervous to get by Kayden dressed

like this. You can kind of see the terror in his face.)

The BEST costume of all!!!

Judd dressed up as my dad!!

When everyone was distracted taking picutres

of the kids, Judd went out and put on his costume

& came in yelling at the kids to get on the dang bus! It was awesome!

Christmas

I am not so good at taking pictures..

so these are the festivites I have them for!!

(Thanks Kayli & Jena for the friend photos)

We enjoyed the traditional Progressive Dinner,

Skating with the Judd family, Bowling with the

Costley's, Bingo at Grandma Jackie's, and

the Peterson Party.

Friend Christmas Party

Karah, Kayli, Ashlee, Jenna, Me, Jena, Sunny

I have the sweetest friends & feel so blessed to have

all of them in my life!

We always have a great time when we get together!

Grady, Quinn, Belle, Tripp, Stone,

Krew, Blakely, Lily, & Redd

The kids did a gift exchange this year & Redd

got an awesome Toy Story Game...

he was super excited because he

LOVES "Two Story"

The kids had a blast! Coloring & playing with

all of Lily's toys!These little boys even loved the

dress up clothes.

Christmas Eve

Jax had Redd's name for Christmas this

year & got him some "Buzz & Woody"

dress up clothes!

(thanks to Tami.. that is one more thing

I get to fight with Redd about wearing everyday)

“Buzz” waiting to open his prize

from Granny and Grandpa

Every year my parents give the kids a gift with their name on it. This year they all got headlamps for when we go camping. As soon as they got them, the kids wanted to put them on and go downstairs to run around it the dark! All the kids in their new Christmas Jammies! (This picture is super blurry but it’s the only one I had.)

Christmas Morning

This year Grandma Bonnie & Grandpa Jon came over to watch Redd open his presents from Santa. It was so fun to have more people to share his excitement with! Redd got a scooter & although I didn't get a picture of it, his favorite thing was... his very own Kitchen! (That was what he had been asking Santa for & Santa didn't disappoint!) Grandma Bonnie & Grandpa Jon got him this awesome Utah Uniform... it came with a helmet, pads, pants, and a jersey with his name on it!!

Utah Games

Just in case you didn't know... we LOVE going to

Utah games! It is such a fun thing to do with

the Peterson family!

Redd loved football this year &

would tell us about his favorite players...

Shaky Smithson -- "Shaky's Missin"

Brian Blechen -- "Brian Blacken"

Jordan Wynn

Matt Asiata -- "Ata"

Eddie Wide --"E-wide" (said super fast)

He even knew the numbers for all of these guys

and he learned the "Shaky Dance"

which involves jumping around and slapping his butt!

Not quite what Shaky does... but whatever works! It rained most of the time during this game... but Redd was a little trooper & cheered like usual! Watching one of the games at Grandma Jackie's. Redd was super obsessed with his jersey this year. He wanted to wear it all day every day! We had to tell him he could only wear it on "Game Day" or he would never take the darn thing off! Who would have thought our little boy would be so obsessed with clothes!?!

New York

Judd and I had our 5th anniversary this year & we celebrated it in NEW YORK a few months later! This was one of the most incredible trips ever!Judd standing in front of Grand Central Station.

*This was the worst part of the trip. We had set up a driver service to pick us up and take us to our hotel... let's just say that was a waste of money!

When we finally arrived at our hotel, we were given aroom with a broken air conditioner, water all over the floor & a giant fan drying the carpet. After a quick dinner.. and a much calmer pregnant girl, we went back to the hotel & got a new room & the rest of the trip was fantastic!

We were told the best way to see Mannhattan in a hurry is to take a bus tour. One of the first things we saw was the LDS Temple. It was so neat to see all these skyscrappers & then suddenly Angel Moroni. Going to the temple was the only thing on our list that we didn't get a chance to do. The first day it rained a little.. but not bad enough that we couldn't ride on top of the bus. Times Square The ball that drops on New Years (We were both surprised at how small it really is.) This is a wall of tiles made by school children after 9-11. Our tour guide for this part of the trip stopped the bus and told us about his experience the day of the terrorist attack.It was so interesting to listen to someone who experienced the terror of that day first hand.

This Fire Fighter uniform is in a church just down the street from where the twin towers stood.

There was such a strong spirit in that church and so many reminders of the love and unity that

came about after the attacks. Brooklyn Bridge

After the tour we went down to 30 Rock and went to a taping of 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'

Judd and I got to sit on the front row and had a blast! We even got our 2 seconds of camera time during the broadcast.

After Jimmy Fallon, we walked down to see if we could buy tickets to Chicago for the next night. When we walked in, they had started seating for the show that night & we got an incredible deal on 3rd row seats!I had huge expectations for a Broadway play &I was a little disappointed in the show... but the fact that we were up close and personal withthe actors made it a great experience.

The next day was rainy! This is the view of Manhattan from the back of the Staten Island Ferry. I love the dark clouds over the city. Lady Liberty

This sphere was in the center plaza of the World Trade Center. It is now in Battery Park along with an eternal flame to memoralize the vicitims of 9-11

View from the Top of the Rock

Central Park That night we took a tour that took us over into Brooklyn. This is the view of Manhattan from across the river.Of course my pictures don't even give it justice!

The next day we had our 1st subway experience. Only to be complete with a big nasty rat running around!

We even got a chance to see a Mets game.I'm quite positive that we sat in the section with the weirdest people possible... it was quite the experience! Needless to say.. I got a little restless when the 7th inning took over an hour & Judd agreed that we could leave a little early so we could get in some shopping before we went home. Unfortunately for us, all the action happened in the last2 innings & we missed out! Oops.. we'll call that my bad!

Our last stop was Serendipity 3 for some

Frozen Hot Chocolate!

We had the most incredible time & I am so thankful we got to spend it together! It has been an amazing 5 years &I am so glad we were able to celebrate like this!

Our Little Gamer

We took Redd to Boondocks on our way down to a Utes game. He had so much fun playing Rollerball. He was fascinated with the ball return...

he would watch the ball come back and

when it popped out, he was so excited.

It didn't matter how many times we tried to teach him to roll the ball, he kept throwing it down the lane as hard as he could.

Yes!! Racing with Daddy! I think they did better than me and a two year old wasn't steering my car. Merry-Go-Round I think this is the 1st family photo we have taken at a game. Usually I'm not in the picture.

Redd loves going to the games and cheering for the Utes. He tries to sing along to the fight song, but usually sings "Utah Man sir am I... Go UTES!"

Redd loves to have his ticket and carries it around with him for days after the game. He is also obsessed with his jersey... we have had to limit him to wearing it only on game days because he wants to wear it everyday.