Kenzi, my dancing doll

I cannot believe how old my sweet little Kenzi Makae is! The above picture is from when she was 19 months old! Just a tiny little thing who loved to twirl in a tutu. She is getting so tall and beautiful I can hardly believe my eyes. When I watch her team dance, it's nearly impossible to take my eyes off of her. She is definitely following in my footsteps - but taking it to a whole new level! I wasn't as good as she is now till I was at least 13 years old. And here is my adorable little 7 year old ready to tour the state competing her awesome routines! I'm so proud of her. I am officially a "Dance Mom." So crazy. I love you, Bug! I'm so proud to be your mama, and so excited to continue to watch you turn into an amazing young lady!

Family Photos and an Update!

My cute friend Sarah is trying to build a photography business up here in Cache Valley. We jumped at the chance to get some great family portraits done! It was FREEEEZING and the kids were miserable! We didn't get a great shot of the whole family, but all the individual shots turned out pretty great, so I'm satisfied. I intend to get another shoot done as soon as it warms up around here! 

Update on life:
Trev still works for Walgreens which he enjoys for the most part, and he is about to take his Pharmacy Technician certification test. He is doing great in school with exceptional grades. He expects to be done by next summer! Yay! We co-teach the 16-18 year old Sunday School class at church which is one of our favorite callings ever. He just finished up playing basketball on a city league and hopes to start up again soon.

I'm teaching a ton more classes at Dance Illusion this year and I LOVE it! Dance is just a part of my life.
I'm also building a great business with doTERRA essential oils and I love what I do! I just became certified in giving the AromaTouch Technique massage using the oils and it's amazing.

Kenzi is doing incredibly well. She is the top of her school class with straight 4s (basically A's) and is way above benchmark on all of her test scores. (Who's child is this?) She is a very good reader, but her passion is math.
She is on a competitive team at Dance Illusion and is doing great! She is also competing as a soloist this season (her first competition is next month in St. George!)

Ashlin is still our little sunshine girl. She is always so cheerful and happy! She is doing great in Kindergarten and loves it! She gets sad on weekends when there's no school. She is in tumbling class at Dance Illusion as well as Jazz, tap, and ballet. She loves music and animals can't wait for summer to come. She has just informed me that she will be a dance teacher like me when she grows up.

Jamison turns 4 next week! Whaaaat?? No idea how he got so old so fast. He is doing great in Puddle Jumpers Preschool and has lots of friends (including a couple girls who try to kiss him every day. Great.) He is currently obsessed with Star Wars, which I am okay with. He wants to play sports so bad but everywhere up here requires you to be at least 5 years old, so we just have to hang on for one more year. He just joined Sunbeams at church which couldn't have come any slower in his opinion - he was so over nursery. He is the biggest challenge in my day, and sneaks food from the cupboards which he hides under beds, steals medicine from cabinets and stashes in random places, and is very good as stealing things from the girls that they have hidden in specifically difficult places. Whew!

Jordan is getting so big! He is now 19 months old and turning into a Terrible Two year old way too fast. He has a full mouth of teeth, which looks a little silly in a tiny little head with no hair. He has the whitest blond hair of any of our kids (definitely a Peterson kiddo.) He is super cuddly, which I desperately needed after 3 kids who generally want nothing to do with a hug or kiss from Mom. Jordan is obsessed with books. If he had a whole toy room full of every toy imaginable and there was one book in the middle of the room, he'd go straight for the book and "read" it at least 3 times. He is Mommy's little buddy all day long, but as soon as Daddy gets home from work, it's forget Mommy and spend as much time on Daddy's lap as possible. Such a funny and happy little guy!

 

Well, that's pretty much life right now. It's busy and crazy, and I'm constantly on the run from one dance class to the next, but we're a one happy family!

I'm hoping to stay updated from now on..... but who knows!

Easter Party 2012

 This year we skipped the town Easter egg hunt and set up our own. Last year was just so crazy and crowded at the town square, and the kids hardly got any eggs at all. Chels and I decided to throw one in my yard, just like when we were little and Grandma and Grandpa did one for us grandkids. It brought back fond memories. We invited some friends and their children as well. It was a lot of fun!  The kids got lots of loot and we finished with an Easter Bunny cake that Chelsea made from scratch!

Just Like Daddy!

Mama's Boy

Jordan loves his daddy a lot, but he loves him some mommy time too!

Love my sweet baby boy! I'm wishing he would quit growing so fast!

Catch up

Holy crap, I've been a terrible blogger lately. Gotta play catch up! So here's a quick run through of February:

Hung out with my kiddos in Ogden at the mall. We took a little train ride and went out to lunch. It was lots of fun!

Valentine's Day is always fun at our house! I always get each of the kids a new Valentines Day outfit. I love coming up with cute things for them to wear!

I also went a little crafty-crazy during February and made
these for all the kids' teachers:

These for all my dance students:

These for all the kids in the girls' classes:

And these for everyone else:

Nearly drove myself insane doing all that. Not sure what I was thinking.

Trev and I celebrated V-day a few days later. Mom and Dad came up to spend the night with the kids, while Trev and I went out to my favorite restaurant. Then we went and picked the baby up and headed to the Anniversary Inn. I love it there. We had a pretty sweet room. It was called "Joanie's Diner" and it was decorated straight from the 1950s.

This was the bedroom:

The hallway:

The kitchen/bathroom area:

It had a little booth to sit at. The room included hot dogs and a hot dog roaster, sodas, and ice cream sundaes!

The photo doesn't do it justice - this tub was HUGE.

Yes, we took the baby with us. I'm still nursing, so we kinda had to. But he was a good baby and slept most of the time.

He wasn't quite sure what to think of the room...

It was lots of fun!

On the 25th, Jamison turned THREE!! I can't believe he's so big! Makes me sad a little :(
Both our families came up, which was fun.

Jay got lots of presents! Spoiled as usual!

Jamie with The Papa.

He wanted a car cake. I showed him a picture of one Chels had made for Tailan a few years ago and he said "Yep! That's the one!" So here it is.

I cannot believe he is so old!

Life has pretty much been regular ol' life!
Kenzi is doing amazingly well in kindergarten.
Ashlin's about ready to graduate from preschool, which blows my mind. She got her kindergarten shots the other day and is all registered now.
Jamison got his preschool registration papers the other day, and I hyperventilated a little. Jordan has FINALLY started crawling. But now he's so fast I almost can't catch him before he gets into things! He's also playing pattycake and melting our hearts every day.
Trevor's still working at Walgreens. He's starting back in to school in the next month or so, and he's very excited.
Trev and I got called to be the Sunday School teachers for the 16-18 year olds in our ward. We LOVE this calling. It has been so much fun!
I started selling doTERRA essential oils, which has been amazing for me. I simply love it.
I'm still teaching dance at Dance Illusion, and loving that as well.
I also started up a Cache Valley branch of The Happy Moms club, which has been lots of fun to meet and get to know new friends in the area.
I run my make-ahead freezer meal group once a month, and volunteer in both the girls' school classes which is a blast!
That's about it! I'll try and stay updated more....
but no promises.

Winter Showcase with Dance Illusion

I have to say that this is by far my favorite studio I have ever taught at. I love the girls who teach with me, adore the studio owner and director, and I love all the cute girls I have the privilege of teaching! We had our fun little Winter Showcase on February 7th. It went great!

Me and Hillary. I just love her!

Lisa giving a few last-minute notes before the show starts!

Kenz and her little friend Ellie. They are in the same school class as well as ballet class.

My sweet little Ashlin girl :)

My li'l dancing dollies!

It was super fun! Can't wait for our end of year concert!