Oh, Christmas Tree

Putting up the Christmas decorations

Trimming the tree

Plugging in the lights, get ready!

Oh...

I Hope I Never Meet This Guy

Have you heard of "The Matt Walsh Blog"?

I'm not putting his picture up and I'm not posting a link to his blog, but his posts get a lot of attention and are shared on Facebook by many of my friends. You might recognize his post "Abstinence is unrealistic and old-fashioned" or "You're a stay-at-home mom? What do you DO all day?"

Sound familiar?

He has powerful opinions and what he has to say is interesting and usually worth the read, but he can be a meanie. I hope to never meet this guy. If I do, I'll probably say or do something he won't approve of and then he'll blog about me. He'll go home and create a 30 paragraph long post (aka - rant) based on what I said or did.

Ever since I first read his thoughts on the stay-at-home mom, I can't help but pick it out of each of his posts. When he told a woman that his wife was at home with their babies the woman said, "Oh fun! That must be nice!" That's it. That's all she said. And that merited her the titles of "quietly presumptuous and subversively condescending" and "rude, pompous, and smug".

Woah. "Oh fun!" sounds like something I would say. It would just come out - it's friendly conversation.

I hope I'm not being hypocritical here by posting about him. After all, it is his criticism and strong views on touchy subjects that make his words so interesting to read, but does he really think like that as much as he makes himself out to?

Thoughts? Have you noticed it too? Would you want to meet him?

A Peterson Tradition

My family has the tradition each year near Halloween to invite a family over for homemade caramel apples and a movie. 

We always watch the animated Disney film of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and last year my mom sent the dvd to me, so I pulled it out again for this year and invited Uncle Whitney's family over. 

Our caramel apples cooled while we watched the movie.

Kara said this image would haunt her nightmares more than the headless horseman:

 The first bite is really awkward, but after that we chowed down.

Uncle Whitney did not eat his caramel apple, but here is a picture of him telling us all that he will never ever watch "What Does the Fox Say?" Had to capture that after just hearing that my dad watched the video several times that day!

To Be Young

Jared and I are in a unique situation, living with his parents and having no children of our own. Sometimes we get to act like the kids. 

Take yesterday for example. We went to the San Diego Safari Park with my mother-in-law (MIL, as Ami would say), and got to run around with the animals for a few hours.

Jared was sick with a cold, and I had a sore throat, but oh my goodness, does that park make you sanitize and wash. The animals should be okay!

We stopped in at the petting zoo (which had only goats), posed as bats, stood next to lemurs, went on an African safari tram ride, and fed nectar to the birds.

My favorite photo

The bird on my shoulder was SCREAMING in my ear

Jared had to take a picture on this rhino, something he's been doing for years. The two children playing on it when we approached fled the scene, but I saw one of them sneaking back as soon as we left. Popular rhino.

We also got to watch a cheetah run, and apparently this park is the only place outside of a conservation reserve (or the wild) where you can witness this!

That night while saying our prayer, I gave thanks for the new things we learned at the safari park. I then remembered we had seen a giraffe drink from a peeing female to test for fertility.

Yikes.

On This Day in History...

Can you think of anything better to write about than the events of this day in history? 

Me neither. 

Wikipedia lists many things that happened on October 13th. Here are a few that I found interesting:

- Roman Emperor Claudius was poisoned to death under mysterious circumstances. His 17 year old stepson, Nero succeeded him to the throne. Hmm...mysterious indeed...

- This day does not exist in Italy, Portugal, Spain, or Poland in 1582 (awkward)

- Establishment of the U.S. Navy was ordered

- The cornerstone of the White House was laid

-  The world was graced with Paddington Bear

- AT&T launched the first cellular network in the U.S.

- A plane crash in Bolivia killed 100 people, 97 of whom were on the ground

I'll go ahead and advise you to never fly on October 13th, as there seems to be a lot of plane crashes and hijacks on this day (though all in foreign countries).

See, now wasn't that interesting?

What Have You Been Doing Lately?

It has been about three weeks since Jared and I left our familiar home of Provo and moved to his familiar home of San Diego. The trip ended up being more expensive than we wanted, but we're here and are saving money while living with my in-laws for a few months before moving to Irvine.

We say we're "just hanging out", but here are some things that have kept us busy while in San Diego:

* WORK
Jared works part-time from home and I have a temporary job babysitting twins

* STUDY
Jared studies for the CPA exam every afternoon (even at the beach)

* SEA WORLD

Baby Shamu!

* ZOO

Baby panda!

* S'MORES
Our church had a gourmet party on the beach

With Reese's!

*EXERCISE
We are getting active by running several times a week and playing volleyball. Jared plays twice per week and I play once.

I have also been sewing, and Melanie helped me to make a new skirt. Ami likes to say I'm a pioneer for sewing a skirt, but if it's cute enough, I'll post a picture.

I'm sure she'll be asking for her own soon.

(not me)

My sister, Sister Peterson

Well, she's off. 

Kyra left today for her 18 month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I picked her up from the airport yesterday and we spent a few hours in Salt Lake City before having dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It somehow became a sister tradition to eat there whenever Kyra visits.

Today we ate at Brick Oven in Provo because they serve missionaries entering the MTC (missionary training center) for free.

At around 1:20 we loaded up the car with her luggage and braved the traffic as we drove the two miles to the MTC. Jared, Crystal, and I were the only ones there to drop nervous little Kyra off at the curb.

Kyra hugged Crystal, then Jared, and then me. When she pulled away, her face looked either very sad or very nervous, but to me it looked as if she were about to cry so that's when I broke down. Mom had asked me to take pictures of Kyra walking away, but I was too emotional and embarrassed to remember. I just wanted to get in the car and hide.

Salt Lake City temple

Mimicking mom from her wedding day

Lauren, Crystal, Kyra

The drive to the MTC

Waiting in traffic

It's time!

Her eyes were closed so I had to give her new ones.
I'm sure she'll be able to laugh at this 18 months from now.

The "see you later" hug with Crystal

Goodbye Sister Peterson! See you in 18 months!

1 Year

Jared & I celebrated our first anniversary yesterday. That year went by fast because we were so busy; we were both in our final year at college and graduated, Jared traveled and interviewed for a post-grad job, we took two trips to Pennsylvania, two to Idaho, and one to Arizona. Now Jared is studying daily for the CPA exam, so it was nice this weekend to be on vacation and slow down a little. 

August 11, 2012

For our anniversary I gave Jared a notebook filled with memories and lots of text conversations that we had while dating. My sister Ami didn't have texting when she was dating her husband and she is proud of her stack of love letters. So after I had known Jared about 3 months, I bought a nice journal and started recording our "love letters" in it.

Jared and I read it together last night. He was amazed at how "smooth" and romantic he could be, and I felt a renewed connection with him while we remembered our dating life.

Jared gave me a back massager that attaches to a chair. It's as much a gift to him as it is to me. It is awesome.

I love you Jared. Let the second year begin!

This was me one year ago:

And this is me now:

You don't even want to see the rest of the apartment.

At least I'm moving to California (woohoo!)

Reading Pays Off

I've heard many stories of a young Jared who loved to read. Jared was reading Roald Dahl before he was in Kindergarten and would later read on his walk to school! Well, this wasn't the Jared I married, so last Christmas I gave him a zombie book and asked him why he didn't read anymore? 

I now have a book enthusiast for a husband.

For the past eight weeks Jared and I have been taking part in our library's adult Summer reading program. In order to qualify for a grand prize, we had to read three books that were at least 100 pages long, and for every five books we read we got to pick up a prize at the library (we claimed a flashlight and lots of candy). 

Stats: 

Lauren - 10 books, 2,269 pages

Jared - 15 books, 5,431 pages

Tonight we gathered at the library for a culminating event to celebrate the many great readers in our community. (We really just went to win a Kindle). I can't list all of the prizes that were given away tonight, but trust me, there were over a hundred. 

Jared played it cool (see the pic below) and read while the winners were being announced, but I was biting my nails and frankly, getting depressed. You see, there was a time when I won a lot of contests. But my luck ran out when I got married, don't ask me why.

 I finally gave up on myself and thought, "Just let Jared win something!" and voila! Here's Jared with his $5 gift certificate to a cafe we've never heard of. Yay!

  This would have been a frowny-faced picture if we went home empty-handed.

Jared had to pick up a few books before we left for home. I hope he doesn't still expect prizes!

Capture the Light

Yesterday I began packing for our move next month, when I came across an old pack of Sparklers. I added it to this year's pack and Jared and I had a good time.

 Success!

 "Bird"

 Jared wrote "LOVE" but I told him to write it over and over so it got a bit messy...

 Lauren's initials

Infinity 

 Jared started down the street and ran toward the camera. Does anyone else see a freaky image in the top right corner?

Jared's initials, which he likes to point out are the same as James Bond, Jack Bauer, and Jason Bourne (and Justin Bieber) 

We still have 10 sparklers left, if anyone wants to join us for next time!

Aviary Day

Yesterday, Jared & I went to the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City with Alisha and her kids. We got in for just $1 each with our Pass of All Passes. Sadly (or maybe not), I don't have any pictures of Alisha or me. We were pretty sweaty by the time we left so you'll just have to use your imagination. 

Jared handled his Uncle duties very well. He led us around the park and made sure we made it to a couple of bird shows. He even held up two children at once so they could see a Macaw. It's good training for him.

Here are some pictures from our adventure:

Learning myth/facts about Owls 

Burrowing owl

 Annie kept climbing on rocks and asking for her picture to be taken

Annie & Uncle Jared

Searching for wild birds

Jared had his suspicions confirmed that female peacocks are brown

Just after I took this picture, the boy in the yellow shirt looked through his binoculars at the peacock and yelled, "I see one mommy! I see one!" 

The peacock was about four feet away from him at that point.

We got to see many birds, but I don't think it's as exciting as what can be found at the zoo (notice that most of my pictures are of people). Next stop: Hogle Zoo!