In case you haven't heard....

Yep, Baby #4 will be a little brother for Kenz, Ash, and Jamison. I'm a little worried about having two boys so close together. I'm not all that sure that I'm cut out for it, but it certainly will be an adventure! When the technician showed us on the screen that it was a boy, there was definitely no mistaking it.
Kenzi was excited because she was the only one in our family that thought it would be a boy, and that's what she's been hoping for all along. Ashlin started to cry and say that she wanted a sister, NOT another brother. And Jamison is indifferent, but when we ask him where the baby is, he points to himself and proclaims "I the baby!"
As for Trev, he's very excited and happy that the score is now even {3 girls and now 3 boys in the family.} Like I said, I'm very nervous, but I've got a good four months to get used to the idea and hopefully by then I'll be a bit more prepared. By the end of last week, both Trevor and I were so sure it was a girl that the news that it's a boy came as quite a shock. I think I'm still trying to get over it.
Names? Not so sure yet. Why are boy names so dang hard??? Suggestions are welcomed! Hopefully we find a good one before June 25th!

Winter Showcase

Last night was Kenzi's (and my) winter dance showcase with the studio we've been dancing with.

Kenzi did her Little April Showers ballet dance. It was by far the cutest of all the little kid classes!

I teared up during the dance. I was so proud of Kenz, she is so so good! My little ballerina!

Kenz is third from the left ;)

Yeah, I danced too. My team did our jazz dance to Locomotion. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty proud of myself for doing fuettes, leaps, and floor work with a bunch of college girls while I'm 5 months pregnant with my fourth baby. I probably wasn't the best I've ever been, but we did pretty good considering =)

We are spoiled with how many people love us and came to support us. Chels and Dave and the boys came, even though I didn't get to see them.

Trev's parents and Danny, Kaye, and Sabra came up too and spent the day with us before heading to the recital. My parents came too, but they were taking the pictures, so of course they're not in them.

Nice picture, Trev.

I love to dance, and I love that Kenzi and I have that to share with one another! I can't wait for this baby to come out so I can get back out there and dance some more!!

Seriously??

This place saved our behinds almost two years ago. We'd been without a job for 9 months and had a brand new baby when Trev walked into this place with his dad and was hired as a manager three days later. The pay was amazing compared to what we'd had in the past. Honestly, this company rocks to work for. They're awesome to their employees and they are brilliant with their business.

My only complaint??

Trev's retarded boss. Seriously. I have had it up to HERE with Trev coming home and ranting about this idiot. He doesn't give a crap about what anyone thinks of his store, he doesn't live up to his promises, he treats his associates like absolute crap. He's threatened by Trevor because Trev is everyone's favorite manager to work with, he gets to know the employees on a personal level, he cares about their opinions and what they have to say, and honestly, he's a much better store manager than his own boss is. Even the people on the corporate level who talk to Trev have told him that in confidence.

Today, Trev got in trouble for wearing a USU Aggie polo to work since it's game day. His boss made him change into a shirt that was sitting in the back office. All the other associates got to wear an aggie t-shirt and Trev made sure to get one that had a collar on it so it would set him apart as a manager. He's even worn this very shirt 4 or 5 times to work before. But because the boss is in a pissy mood, and he hates Trev, he yells at him.

BAH!!!

I'm so ticked. And I'm so ready for this idiot to be fired for being the world's biggest jerk!!

And that is my rant of the day.

Very Interesting. A Whole New Perspective.

Why I can't stop reading Mormon housewife blogs

Confession

So, I have been reading the series "The Work and the Glory" by Gerald Lund. I love these books. Can't get enough of them. I've been learning many things about church history that I didn't know before, and it has strengthened my testimony much more than I thought possible. Then I got to the sixth volume. Suffice it to say that it has been my least favorite by far. It's the part in the story that the very first mention of polygamy is mentioned.

Yeah, I've always known it was part of our history. My own great great grandparents (who lived in the house I currently call home) were polygamists. My Great-great grandfather, who was already married and had children, was called on a mission to Sweden and commanded to bring back a second wife. He built his second wife a home across the street from his first wife's and that house is where I now live. I always knew this, and never cared much about it. After all, the church denounced it in 1890, long long before I would come along. Didn't affect me. Right?

Wrong. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The stories and testimonies of the saints from the past (especially the women!) have a strong impact on me. The effect me in ways I can't explain to you. As I read stories and journal entries of these admirable women - Emma Smith, Mary Ann Young, etc; - I couldn't help but feel a very large mix of emotions: sadness, sympathy, disgust, but more than anything, anger. It startled me to realize how very very angry polygamy makes me.

Do I love this church? So much! Do I believe it? Without a doubt! Was my faith shaken when I studied in depth the practice of polygamy? I must confess to you that it was slightly. I raged to poor Trevor for over an hour about it one night! But I was most uncomfortable with the way I was feeling inside. Am I so weak that the history of the church could shake me?? I decided to pray. And fast. And read my scriptures. I talked to other women about it. I didn't like feeling that way. If God asked us again to institute this principle, would I be able to remain faithful???

Finally, some peace. We no longer have to practice this. It has been removed from this earth. Once again, I've always known this. But it took some serious soul searching to find my own inner peace about it again. I created this issue within my own head, but I needed help resolving it. President Hinckley stated:

“I wish to state categorically that this Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing polygamy. They are not members of this Church. Most of them have never been members. They are in violation of the civil law. They know they are in violation of the law. They are subject to its penalties. The Church, of course, has no jurisdiction whatever in this matter.

“If any of our members are found to be practicing plural marriage, they are excommunicated, the most serious penalty the Church can impose. Not only are those so involved in direct violation of the civil law, they are in violation of the law of this Church.” Polygamy is also not allowed within the Church even in countries where it is allowed. The Church today teaches that marriage is strictly monogamous and no one can be a member of the Church and practice plural marriage.

Sigh of relief. I don't believe we will be asked to practice this again during this lifetime. I felt this strongly as an answer to my prayers. But I do hope and pray, if that was ever asked of us again, I would be blessed with a much greater understanding of it!

Christmas Catch-up

Yeah, yeah. I know Christmas was kind of a long time ago, but for my own family journal reasons, I thought I'd better get these pictures up before it's even later in the year. I'll just put little captions up rather than a whole long narrative.

The Ward Christmas party was great. Kenzi got to sing with the primary and Trevor sang a solo near the end of the program.

Ashlin had a cute Christmas program at preschool. They sang Jingle Bells and Ash did a great job!

Christmas eve started with our Wessman family party at Aunt Laurie's. The kids all got osh'kosh jammies from Naney, which the love. As usual =)

Then we headed down to Provo to get our matching Peterson family jammies and head to Aunt Roz's Christmas Eve Pajama Party! Pictures courtesy of Miss Heatherlynn Peterson since I forgot to take any ;)

After, we headed back to Grammie and Papa's house to go to bed and wait for Santa to come. At 7am, we all woke up, ate our traditional breakfast of mini-cereals, and lined up from youngest to oldest to go see what Christmas day held for us.

The After-Math.

That's what happens when you have 18 people opening hundreds of presents in the same room.

We spent New Year's Eve with Brett and Kira. They were nice enough to let us and Megan and Lloyd crash their party since we had nothing else to do. It was fun!

To say it was freezing would be a huge understatement. It was like 5 degrees. Brinley braved the cold, but my kids watch the fireworks from the car.

It was a great holiday season filled with lots of family and fun!

Which will it be??

Soooo..... the ultra sound date is set. January 27th will be the day we find out whether the next Peterson baby will wear pink or blue. It's odd; when people ask me what I am hoping for this time and I answer, "I don't really care," this time I actually mean it. I thought Kenz would be a boy. I had had dreams about this adorable blue eyed baby boy from the time I found out I was expecting her. But she ended up being a little mini me! Then I thought Ashlin was a boy, because I had the same dream again. And again. But then, obviously it was Ashlin. With Jamison, I KNEW it was that baby boy without a shadow of a doubt! And now we have two sweet girls and one adorable boy, lots of cute girl clothes along with some cute boy ones, enough girl toys to furnish a spoiled princess and an ever growing inventory of cool boy toys that Trev plays with more than Jamie does. So which gender are we hoping for? Seriously, either one would be a dream come true! I kinda think it's a girl, and so does Trevor - though he never really opens up much about these kinds of things. So the cliche "As long as it's healthy, we'll be happy" rings true here.

What do YOU think it will be???


Now, about names.......