How do you spend a rainy day?

sing silly songs and make up actions to them

Lots of playing with toys


Super Mario Brothers on the Wii

Hide and seek in the hall closet

We don't get a lot of days like these in Arizona. So we made the most of this one. I don't think I left the house all day. Me and the kids got some great quality time in together today. HOORAY for today being a rainy day!

Happy St Patty Day

That pesky Leo the leprechaun struck again! I asked the kids the night before if they thought Leo would find us in Arizona. They looked at me like I was crazy. Not a moment of doubt from any of them. Although when Taylor read the note this morning she said "Leo's handwriting looks a lot like yours mom!" Someone is catching on. Leo left us some fun toys for the pool, which we have already used a couple of times.

However, St. Patty's Day was not want I had hoped it would be. Poor Easton. Turns out his shirt is NOT that lucky. He woke up this morning, struggling to breath again. He had caught a little cold at the beginning of the week and it turns out after his ordeal last month that little cold was too much for his body to handle and it attacked him in full force. I took him to the doctor that morning and they send me back to Cardon Children's Medical Center, where they took one look at him pale, lethargic, retracting, and decided on the spot to admit him overnight. UNLUCKY indeed. Fortunately, for us all he got to come home the next day. What a nightmare. Our poor little Easty, he is such a tough kid. He's really had a tough couple of months.

Taylor's 8th birthday

What a milestone and bitter sweet day. I can hardly believe that my oldest is 8 years old. I found myself reminiscing all day long about the day she was born, bringing her home from the hospital, being so clueless as a first time mom, her first day of kindergarten, her first steps, all of the wonderful memories. I can honestly say that Taylor is such a joy to have in our family. She still loves to help and is very nurturing, her brothers absolutely adore her. She loves playing things such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones at recess. And her latest thing is apparently if the lines on the inside of your hands make a W you are a werewolf and if it makes a V you are a vampire. Sounds like someone has introduced Twilight to her. FYI me, her, Chase, Talan, Easton and Cort are all vampires.

Taylor at 5 months


Some of Taylor's favorite things at the age of 8
Favorite food: crab legs (YUM! One of my favorites too!)
favorite thing to do: play outside and tumbling
favorite scripture story: When Jesus comes to the Americas
favorite subject in school: math
favorite place to go: the beach
favorite thing to do with your mom: pedicures
favorite thing to do with your dad: go to basketball games
favorite things to do with brothers: skate outside

Taylor's birthday was a busy one. I met her at her school for lunch, which is a tradition for us. I loved being there and seeing her in her element. Taylor's friends always make sure you feel the love too, welcoming me with lots of hugs and hellos.

It was a extra early out day from school on her birthday, which was nice cause then we got to spend more of the day with her. She also had her first day of Activity days that day. Her wonderful leader took all the girls for ice cream for her birthday following the activity. Taylor came home BEAMING! I asked her how it was, what did you do? etc. etc. She said they made flowers for the mother daughter activity next month. Taylor told me when they started making it she thought in her head "oh no, I don't know how to do make these." But then Sister Spencer helped her and "then everything was okay." I love the way her mind works and the way she talks.
After her activity Chase and Taylor skated around the neighborhood for a bit, and then we all came in for presents and cake. Taylor wanted a sun cake this year for her birthday because they are learning about the solar system in school right now and she is fascinated by it. So Cort made this little beauty. She loved it.

Opening presents. I love how all the boys are lined up and hovered around her.

Taylor with her American girl doll bed we gave her for her birthday, that Cort made for her. Once again she loved it and I can't say I blame her, who wouldn't!

She wanted to go to Cheesecake factory for her big birthday dinner where she ordered a salad. She is getting to be so grown up. I would of never ordered a salad when I was in 2nd grade, I hardly do now.

Getting sung too

How cute is this kid! If I didn't know better I would think it was Chase. Funny thing is I am starting to notice that the things Easton is interested in is the same things as Chase at that age. He loves balls and anything associated with them. Chase was out playing basketball earlier today and Easton was his little shadow and would squeal whenever Chase made a basket.

After dinner we gave her some options of things she wanted to do. She came up with one of her own, she wanted to go home and run through the sprinklers in her swimsuit. Done and done. While we watched them all run around like mad in the dark that night, I told Cort you know this is what she is going to remember about her 8th birthday, running around in the sprinklers in the dark. It was a great memory in the making. We then all took turns racing down the street to help us dry off. That night I learned that Taylor is a really fast little runner, not that I am, but I had to really push myself to beat her!

I can't believe how fast the last 8 years have gone by. It makes me realize how fast the next 8 will go. I couldn't be more proud of the girl Taylor is. She is thoughtful, loyal, helpful, and sweet. She is for the most part always happy and can play with anyone and have a good time. She has the sweetest little testimony and loves to bear it whenever she gets the chance. She is doing amazing with her gymnastics and I am enjoying watching her grow and learn and become the person she is suppose to be. Happy birthday to our Taylor!

Glad that's over

Last Wednesday Easton was not feeling well. He didn't want to eat, and he just laid around all day watching TV, so NOT like him. He hadn't really been sick until that day, a little cough and a runny nose. It wasn't until Cort got home from school on Wednesday and Easton had waken up from his nap that we knew we needed to take him in. It seemed like he was working a little to hard to breath. I stayed with the other kids while Cort ran Easton over to the doctor's office. I tried calling Cort a little later to see what the doctor had said, my heart dropped when he said they were putting him in an ambulance and sending him to the Children's Hospital in Phoenix. I immediately ran to my wonderful neighbors house, dropped my other 3 kids off there and rushed to the hospital, where I found Easty and Cort in a hospital room being examined. Poor Easton. Cort said when they tried to give him his IV he just made a little whimper. Turns out Easton had RSV, and an pneumonia. His oxygen levels were really low. When they first got to the doctors they checked his oxygen levels and they were in the 60s and they aren't suppose to drop below 90 and that is why they sent him to the hospital. My sweet Aunt came to the rescue and got our 3 kids from my neighbors and stayed with them for a couple hours while we tried to figure out what was going on with Easton. She then brought me a bag of stuff on her way home since the doctor told us on his way out, after telling us the results of all the tests they had run, that Easton would DEFINITELY be spending the night in the hospital. That first night they didn't have any rooms open in the actual hospital so we stayed in one of the rooms in the ER. They brought in a crib for Easton, since there was only a bed in that room. At around 2:00 in the morning that first night, Eastons oxygen level dropped again and the nurses rushed in and sucked him out and then decided that they needed to hook him to a oxygen mask permanently so that his levels wouldn't do that again. The Respiratory therapist came in and decided he needed to be on high flow oxygen as well. Needless to say, it was all kind of scary. Watching his levels go so low and seeing him just laying there so lethargic so not like him, really got to me. Me and Cort thought for sure we would only be there for that night but that one night stay turned into a four day four night stay. Me and Cort switched off nights and days staying with Easton. By Saturday he was doing awesome, but they needed him to stay until he had been off oxygen for 24 hours. Hospital policy. That first night Easton and me ended up sleeping in the same bed cause he kept pulling off his oxygen mask whenever I put him in the crib. But it turned out okay because we just cuddled, which in the moment was all I wanted to do. Then once they got us up in the room the next day, they said we could have a crib or a bed, we choose the bed and just had sleepovers every night. On the second night when I came home it felt so strange knowing that Easton wasn't up in his room in his bed. I didn't sleep well those nights. The whole thing feels so surreal now and you would never know that he's been sick. He got well just as fast as he got sick it seems. Although I think he is going to be under quarantine for a week or two. I don't want to spread germs nor risk him getting sick again while he's trying to heal. So grateful he's home now and getting back to normal. The whole experience was very scary and left me feeling drained. Through it all I knew he was going to be okay, but watching him go through it was really hard. The kids missed him so much while he was gone too. Talan hated leaving him in the hospital room and cried when we got home "I miss my Peasty!" He would say. The third day Easton was there we took the boys up to see him and for Cort and me to trade while walking out to the car, Talan stopped dead in his tracks, folded his arms and declared "I'm not going! I'm not leaving my Peasty!" I had to pick him up and carry him to the car. If you know Talan you know that once he sets his mind to something good luck trying to talk him out of it. Plus, it was pretty sweet to see how much he loves his brother. Talan has always been so protective of Easton. So grateful we are ALL home now and that Easton is feeling so much better and for all of our loved ones prayers and concerns and for those who helped us out during this craziness when our lives were put on hold.

a great night

Going to Jazz games is definitely a tradition for the Peterson side of my family. I remember going to a gazillion of them as a kid with my dad. For Christmas this year, my dad gave all my siblings each a pair of his season tickets for one of the games this year. Teasingly I said to him, "hey where are our Suns tickets?" I felt kind of bad when he said get online and get some! I told him I was just kidding, but he insisted and got us four tickets to the next Jazz/Suns game. We had a hard time deciding who to root for???? HA! Just kidding. GO JAZZ! Thanks so much dad! We had a blast! We left Easton home with a sitter and wondered if we should leave Talan too, but he REALLY wanted to go and I'm glad we took him because he LOVED it! Chase was hiliarious everytime the JAzz scored he would jump up and cheer and do the "YES!" With his arm thing. Taylor loved it too! And kept asking things like "do you think we are the only here cheering for the Jazz?" And "can we get some popcorn, a preztel? A drink?" She is definitely my daughter because that's what I remember most from all those games that I went to with my dad when I was a kid....the TREATS! Sadly the Jazz lost but we still had a great time. And I think we will definitely being doing it again.

valentines 2011

Since Valentines was on a Monday this year, we decided to celebrate it as a family for our family night. Plus, me and Cort put the kids to bed earlier than usual on Saturday night and had a little time to ourselves then. After both of us had finished some very long runs earlier that day we enjoyed some takeout from Outback Steakhouse and watched Twlight and New Moon. Cort is such a good sport! He only made fun of the movies a couple of times.

Talan right before going into his little preschool classes Valentine Party. Isn't he so handsome! I just love his little face. The shirt he's wearing was Chase's. I absolutely LOVE it and think it is so fitting for our Tally boy.

Chase came home from school last week wearing this. I love it! Cutest Valentine I have ever gotten.

We got the kids some pillow pets for Valentines this year, although I swore we would never get them, to me stuffed animals are a waste of space! But I am so glad we did get them, because they haven't put them down since they got them. In fact, for the last two days Talan has been walking around while carrying his saying "it's a pillow! It's a pet! It's a pillow pet!" Nothing cuter than that. When they first opened them up though Chase burst into tears! We were like what?!? I got him the frog cause his favorite color was green, so I thought perfect, right?? Well, wrong he then through ihs tears proceeded to tell us he wanted the dog, not the frog so Easton being the great kid that he is traded Chase. Then, Talan started crying and telling us he wanted the dog too! I was at a loss. But, without anyone saying anything to Chase, Chase walked over to Talan and gave him the dog and took the monkey. It was the sweetest little gesture and we made sure to make a big deal out of it for sure. You could tell Chase felt pretty proud of himself as were me and Cort.


The morning of Valentines Day Me and Chase went to dollar store while Tay and Tal were at school and got some lovey dovey decor to decorate the table up with that night for our big Valentines feast. Also, I had Taylor ask cort the night before what his favorite thing was that I made, surprisingly he said chicken fajitas. So that's what we had that night to eat by candle light.



The week before Valentines we talked about love for FHE and everyone wrote down one thing that they loved about each member of our family. We did this last year too. I think this is definitely going to be a tradtion for us. The kids love it and smile from ear to ear whenever someone says something nice about them. As do mom and dad. :)


Then last night after our big Valentine feast, I did a quick lesson on the two greatest commandments we have been given. The first to love the Lord and the second to love our neighbor as we do ourselves. We talked about what both of these things mean and I love how they are both so all encompassing of everything the gospel teaches. We show the Lord we love Him by following His commandments and teachings and by loving each other. The kids were really into it, which is always nice. Hope you all spend the day surrounded by those you love the most!

out of commission

Today was a sad day. Our poor Easton was so sick. So sick that he couldn't even move. When he tried he would stiffen up and you just knew he was in pain. This is the complete opposite of what he is usually like. (See previous post) However, there was one good thing that came out of this, he wanted to snuggle and I let him all he wanted too. I rocked him to sleep, we cuddled on the couch. There was lots of good lovin' going on. Hopefully tomorrow he will be back to normal and making messes wherever he goes.