Brett and Chelsea

Boston

2012-01-16T21:40:00.002-05:00

With today being a holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Brett and I both had the day off and decided to go to Boston for the day. It is a roughly a 2.5 hour drive from our house so we drove up yesterday after church and pulled in just as it was getting dark. We did manage to make it to the temple just as the sun was setting which made for some excellent pictures. You know me and my picture taking.... Then we attempted to head into Boston and didn't really have a specific place to go so the GPS was no help and we made a wrong turn and ended up headed back out of the city so we decided that we would save every bit of Boston for the next day. And we sure did....

Temple with sunset

This is what the temple looks like when you are approaching it from the freeway

We started off the day in the small quaint little town of Lexington, MA. You will know this town because this is where the "shot that was heard around the world" happened. We got a nice hotel room for $50 with free wi-fi and a great complimentary breakfast. We are cheap and do everything as cheap as possible but it was a great place to stay. I will definitely go back! All of the touristy stuff to see in Lexington is closed right now so we got to see everything from the outside and of course the Battle Green.

Statue erected to mark the significance
All of the remains to the soldiers who lost their life on
April 19, 1776 are buried at this statue.

This church was not here at the time but there was a church
similar to this on the actual Battle Green

Battle Green - flag pole marks the spot of the first shot

Buchman's Tavern
The soldiers were staying here the night that Paul Revere rode in to give the warning
All the had to do was cross the street and wait for the British to come
The road is also the actual road (of course not paved back then)
that Paul Revere road into town - Bedford Road

Paul Revere

Then we headed into the big city of Boston, took about an hour to find a place to park. I had done some research on cheap places to park and both of the places turned out to be false... :( We finally decided that we were just going to park close to everything and find out the best thing to do for parking for the next time. Parking was expensive but we did learn that parking outside of the city and riding the metro in is fastest and cheapest way and now I can see why! (FYI for anyone headed to Boston soon)
We had predetermined that this time was going to be more of a reconnoitering day than anything else. But we were able to see so much and learned a little bit about travelling in/to Boston. We spent the whole day on the Freedom Trail - which is awesome and you see pretty much everything historical there is to see in the city in just a few hours. We were unfortunate to not be able to get the full affect of the tour due to some of the sites being closed. But we had a very enjoyable time walking around Boston in 20 degree weather! Brrr!

Old State House

Just in front of the Old State House

Old South Meeting House

Old City Hall

Ben Franklin

People such as the first women off the Mayflower,
Governers, Judges are buried here

Granary Burial Grounds
Franklin's parents, Paul Revere, Peter Faneuil,
John Phillips (1st mayor), Johnn Hancock,
Boys of the Boston Massacre
are buried here

John Hancock's Grave
He is buried next to his wife and long time slave

Granary Burying Grounds
Ben Franklin's parents are the big one in the middle

State House

Statue honoring 54th Regiment of Mass. Regiment
During the Civial War this was the first regiment to consist of both white and black soldiers

From the steps of State House

Faneuil Hall

Paul Revere's House

Paul Revere with Old North Church behind

At the Old North Church they have several of these things holding
dog tags to honor those who lost their lives in the war with Afghanistan

Old North Church
The window at the top is where the two lanterns were lit to
signal that the British were crossing the Charles River

USS Constitution (closed so no good pics)
"Old Ironsides"

Memorial at Bunker Hill

From inside of the memorial looking back at Boston City

Warming up with some Boston Clam Chowda

I think I have fallen in love all over again. I love Boston - my new favorite Major City BY FAR!

No Place Like Home for the Holidays

2012-01-03T14:05:00.002-05:00

We were fortunate enough to be able to head home to Utah for the holidays this year. We had a wonderful time there and were able to enjoy many families and friends. We thoroughly enjoyed our whole trip home but some of the highlights were as follows in no particular order:

Watching USU in their first bowl game in over 10 years

First Sunday evening we were in Utah Scott and Heidi Perkes and Mallory and Paul Leatham came out to my parent's house and played games - Mal and Paul have a lot of unknowns in their future and it will probably be a long time before we get to see them again. We love the Leatham's!

Gracie's Surprise Birthday Party at Fredrico's

Brooklyn preforming her gymnastics and at her school sing-a-long
Sitting in front row seats just behind the Aggie basketball team (no picture)

She's the last girl on the front row to the right (in pink)

A stretch hummer limo ride with the Petersen family to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point

There were just enough seats for my family to tag along and we are sure glad that they did!

The limo lights.... crappy picture but you get the idea...

The kids (old and young) thoroughly enjoyed the limo ride

Abby made quite a cute angel for the nativity on Christmas Eve

The Wright/Maughan Christmas party - Nativity

This year the Wright/Maughan Christmas Eve party was quite epic. The kids were all in a performing mood and we were graced with many great performances. All were great but my favorite would have to be Garrett singing "Christmas Christmas" by Alvin and the Chipmunks with the talking parts and all. He surprised us by screaming "ALVIN!!!!" into the microphone so hard that his little faced turned bright red. Unfortunately we were a little late on pictures so you'll just have to try and understand.

For Christmas this year I made all the kids beanies and aprons.
Brooklyn and Grace were the only ones we could get to pose for a picture

This was Sue's gift from the kids this year
It was a huge blanket with lots of family pictures on it
She loves it but we'll see how long it takes her to actually use it instead of keeping it "on display"

The rest of Christmas Day was spent playing with lots of new kid toys, skyping with the Jones Family in Alaska, and playing games - many great memories.

Ugly Sweater Party with the Atwood's and the Findlay's - yes Brett does have on a "dickie" and sported a "dickie mullet" the whole night

Partied with the Newton Crowd at the Anderson home (we missed a few of them but it was fun to get together with those that could)

New Year's Eve - Heidi and Britt are my BFF's :)

This was Brooklyn's goodbye to me. There were tears shed by many - especially her.
She had quite the grip on me but it sure does feel good to be loved.
I love that girl.

A few other things that we enjoyed but were unable to get pictures of were
*Driving horses on the chariot
*Lots of movie watching
-Sherlock Holmes
-Mission Impossible 4
-Breaking Dawn, part 1 (Brett didn't join me on this one - and I am glad he didn't...)
-Warhorse

The Petersen Family met together for the "last supper" before I left early the next morning and boy was it epic. It started off with the toilet overflowing. Just as that was cleaned up, Gracie was running around and started coughing and coughed so hard she gaged and thew up. While cleaning that up Garrett walked over to Craig and said "how's it going Grandpa?" then proceeded to climb on his back. He stepped on his leg to be able to make it on top and he didn't have good footing so down he fell, putting his elbow into the nasty bowl of puke water and spilling the puke water all over the floor. It was quite an epic night.
We enjoyed spending so much time with our families. We feel so blessed to be so loved by them. Our hearts are full of love as we travel back to our home in Connecticut.
I left Monday, January 2, and am back in Connecticut. Brett will be in Utah until January 10th. Let's just say I am looking forward to that day! :)

4 years!

2011-12-15T12:40:00.003-05:00

Today we have officially been married for 4 years! I can't believe it. Last year I remember thinking something a long the lines "Next year we are going to be old timers..." And yep, I think I officially am out of the newlywed stage and into the "old timers" stage. I really can't believe that it's been 4 years since we got married but at the very same time, I can't really remember life before Brett.
I am so very grateful that we made the decision to spend the rest of our lives (and eternity) together. This past year's events have helped our relationship grow stronger and I recommend moving away from your family/support system for more than a few months. I feel like I learn new things about Brett and our relationship each day because we are out here away from everything that is 'normal' for both of us. We have to depend on each other. I am so grateful I married my best friend and as corny as it seems the man of my dreams.
We are loving it here but can't wait to go home in just 2 days! YIPEE!

Thanksgiving in NYC

2011-11-27T11:08:00.001-05:00

*Warning* this is a long post with lots of pictures and lots of info - most of which is for my own memory...
Brett parents flew in on Monday, Nov 21 evening. We picked them up from the Newark Airport and headed back home. Brett went to school the next day and the three of us just drove around the area checking things out.
On a side note, Brett's brother Brian and his wife Sher were supposed to fly in to NYC on Thanksgiving day and meet us in The Big Apple. Unfortunately, Sher's grandfather passed away on Monday night (Nov 21) and the funeral was on Saturday following Thanksgiving so they had to cancel their adventure to NYC. We sure missed them in the city/on the trip.
Wednesday
We left our house for the city around 11 am we had intentions of walking through Central Park for a few hours before checking into our apartment. However, with the parade happening the next day there was zero parking and the all of the lots were around $22 per hour! So we opted NOT to park and just drove around the park and on some of the streets that go through the park.
*We passed 77th street where they blow up the balloons for the parade and were able to see (from the car) some of the smaller balloons that were going to in the parade the next day.
*The Temple is 2 blocks from Central Park so we decided to at least drive past the temple and see if it was opened, the whole time we were driving there we were looking for a place to park along the street and did not have ANY luck. When we pulled up to the temple there was a spot literally right in front of it. How lucky?!?! I think it was meant to be. The Temple closed at noon for the holiday so it wasn't open when we got there but we did get to take some pictures and walk around the area around the temple.

*We saw Lincoln Center/Square and then walked over to Central Park and walked thru part of the park. We even saw the Elders in the Park! :)

*We had to check into the apartment we were staying in promptly at 3 pm. We were there 10 minutes before and waited for almost an hour! Grrr! But we got checked in and the place was lovely. We felt like true New Yorkers for a few days.

*We headed out to find some food and walked to Grand Central Station, they have a food court(ish) thing there and we found a place Juniors to enjoy some good food. Sue and I had chicken dumpling soup and a half of a sandwich and the boys had Rueben-type sandwiches.

*We headed to Times Square and walked around there for awhile - the only stores we went in were M&M and Hershey.

*Lastly, we saw the Broadway play Memphis - which was amazing! Very good singing, very good story and great acting. We loved it!

Thursday
*Craig and I left at 6:45 am and walked 7 blocks straight down our street to view the 85th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with 3.5 million other people! It was packed but it was worth it! Very fun! We got back to the apartment at 11:30 am, before the parade was over on TV (ended at 12 pm). We had a little nap and then headed to get some Thanksgiving dinner.

*Ate Thanksgiving dinner at no other place than McDonald's! :) Yum....

*We took our first taxi to Macey's but Herald Square was still closed due to the parade still being cleaned up, we were not able to get close.
*We went in the Empire State Building and walked around the first floor. We didn't go to the top because there was about a 2 hour wait.

*We walked to Madison Square Garden

*Then up to Times Square
*Then to the Rockefeller Plaza where we saw
-Radio City

-Ice skating rink

-St Patrick's Cathedral

They were doing mass when we were there so we got to see the Bishop

Rockefeller Plaza - angels, tree, and building

Today Show Set

-Top of the Rock (we went to the observation deck on the top floors of the Rockefeller Building) and saw spectacular views!

-Saks (they had decorated windows with a bubble theme)

-Boys went to find food (they ate at TGI Fridays on 5th Ave) and go home and the girls headed back to Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes

Chandelier in Radio City

Before the show - we had AWESOME seats

*After the show, Sue and I walked home and on our way we decided to head up 5th Ave and check out some of the windows. We saw Tiffany's, Trump Towers, and Bergdorf Goodman - they were very pretty. We got home (to the apt) at about 11:30 pm.

Tiffany Window

Bergdorf Goodman Windows were a little strange but cool

Tiffany's is the fist building and Trump Towers the darker building

Friday
*Taxi to 9/11 Memorial
*St Paul's Cathedral - they have a memorial set up for the firefighters and rescue workers of 9-11

St Paul's Cathedral - you can tell it's literally across the street from the towers and it's amazing that there was no damage done to the church

These were some the original flyers that were posted by people looking for loved ones lost in 9/11

*9/11 memorial

The new Freedom tower will stand at 1776 ft tall when it is finished - to represent the values that were attacked on 9/11

*Wall Street and the NY Stock Exchange

*Trinity Church

*Federal Building

*Pier 17 and took a water taxi that went over to Brooklyn. One the way over we saw BMW (the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges).

-Then the Statue Of Liberty

-Ellis Island (pics to come later)
-New Jersey Transit Center (pics to come later)
-Then up the Hudson River and saw the George Washington Bridge
-the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier

-where the plane crash landed into the Hudson River
-a Superyacht (1 of 10 currently on the water that costs over 350 million dollars)

-Battery Park (pics will follow)
*After seeing all of that we got off in Brooklyn and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge back Manhattan.

*City Hall

*Chinatown, where we ate a China buffet place that was a little on the questionable side but none of us got really sick so I think we got lucky.

*Canal Street - we didn't get any pictures, it's insane how crazy packed the streets are. We were focused on getting out of there and didn't get any pictures. The highlight of this street was a lady trying to sell Sue a scarf said "Usually 15 dollar but 10 for you, mama!"
*Took the Subway to 59th Street, where we saw Bloomingdale's windows and then went inside to visit the 8th floor where Santa's Workshop was located (not that impressive... so no pics)
*Boys went home and Sue and I headed to MOMA (the Museum of Modern Art) - we got in for free because they have Target Free Fridays from 4pm-8pm so we got to enjoy it for free :) There were lots of really cool things in there but these two were my favorite...

I would like a chandelier like this someday

VanGogh's Starry Night

*Took a taxi home at about 8:30 and were in for the night after a very long day!

Saturday
*Checked out at 9:30 am, drove to a new parking lot closer to the Temple
*Attended the 10:30 Endowment Session at the Manhanttan Temple
*Taxied to High Line Park, which is a converted high line railway system that has been converted into a walking trail. The old rail lines run along the sides of the path and it's very nice and relaxing. I believe that we had a record-breaking High for the weather temps that day and it was a beautiful day to be out! It felt like September not the last week of November. I believe we were pushing 70's.

*Ate lunch at The Famigila Pizza - YUM! It was very tasty!

They take a picture of all the famous ppl that come into the store and I thought we should get a pic of the most important ppl that have been there....

*Walked up to Macy's and got a close look at the windows and then headed to the 8th floor to check our Santaland. I'm telling ya - Macy's really knows how to do Christmas. Everything there was A-MAZ-ING!

Windows were amazing! But the glare on them does not make for a good picture...

Absolutely incredible

Santaland - Incredible decorations everywhere.
It really felt like we were in the middle of a winter wonderland

2 things to note from this picture: the incredible decorations
and the thousands of ppl in the store!

*Then we took a taxi back to our car, left for home at about 5 pm and arrived back in CT at about 6:20.
*Then the boys watched the Aggie Football team win and become Bowl eligible for the first time since 1997, and then the b-ball team win against Idaho State.

We sure had some long days of sightseeing but it was a fabulous trip to the City!!!!

10 Months Growth

2011-11-13T18:36:00.001-05:00

The last time Brett shaved was in January 2011. He can remember because the last time he shaved was the morning of his interview for Sacred Heart. He has had a beard for so long I kind of forgot what he looked like without one.... Well, now he looks like this......

Just kidding... He didn't like this look and went for just the mustache

Bretty Boy's new look

To get a feel for the various stages of Brett's beard check out the pictures below:

No shaving or trimming from January to first of June

The last day for the burly beard

Cousin Jan's Wedding
He HAD to wear the pink tie so
he HAD to be defiant and sport a handel-bar mustache

From June to November 12, 2011
Brett beard has looked liked this

Brett claims that he shaved in honor of "Movember" - Men's Health Awareness Month for Prostrate Cancer but I really think he did it just to be cool.
I am going to have to say that I miss the beard - the trimmed beard that it is. What do you guys think?

"Sew" much to do

2011-11-05T20:48:00.000-04:00

With the weather turning cold I have had more time to be indoors and spend more time sewing..... Who am I kidding.... This has been the case for the last 3 months.....But this is what I have accomplished this week...
First, I made a hooter hider for a member of our ward. Brett is her home teacher and she asked if I could make her one. I forgot to take a picture so you'll just have to trust me on this one. I found some great fabric and she absolutely loved it when she opened the gift today.
I then made an ear warmer for the upcoming winter. I have always wanted one of these because I have such a small head that beanies and hats of any kind look ridiculous on me. So here is this one...

Next, the other day when we were at the temple, I looked down at my slippers and decided that I was going to make me some new temple slippers. I have never liked the ones that I got when I first went through. They are really tight and let's just say, lack any style what-so-ever (not that I'm trying to be stylish in the Temple or anything...) So I made me some new temple slippers and some new house slippers. They are so comfy and I love them!

Sorry they are side ways - too lazy to fix it

Then I made a few more car seat canopies - this time for boys. I made one for my sister-in-law to give as a gift and the other one is up for grabs if anyone wants it. Emily still has to decide which one she wants - but the other one is available if anyone is interested.

Side 1

Side 2

Side 1

Side 2

Here's a picture of a gorgeous tree that is by our house. Living in New England during the fall has made me love fall even more (if that's possible - minus that fact that today is the Pheasant Hunt and I missing it). Everyone says that the colors this year are not good but I still think it's beautiful. I am loving the area right now and am dreading winter!

We also had to say goodbye to a new found friend - Elder Okelberry. He's been the only missionary to be in our ward that has been here the whole time we have been here. This was his first area in the mission field and he did great work here. He was a huge asset to the ward (especially because he could play the piano and he did every Sunday). He was a hard worker and he loved having him in our home. We wish him good luck with the remainder of his mission! His companion Elder McAllister is still here and we can't wait to meet the new companion....

I was laughing so I look kind of silly in this picture - don't judge...

You know you wanna...

2011-10-21T15:24:00.001-04:00

Buy this!
So I have been doing a lot of sewing in all of my spare time these days and I decided to make a sell a set of baby stuff. I want like to sell it to someone I know but if no one wants it from posting it here, I will sell it else where. So thought I'd give the opportunity to those I love first... So the set is this:

These are the seperate items, although I am selling everything as a set.

This car seat canopy is reversible! There is also an elastic around the base of fabric so that it stays in place when you walk outside. No more fabric flying everywhere - you're little one will stay nice and cozy. The window is also reversible.

Boutique Travel Wipe Case

Two burps cloths

and a rag quilt that is small enough to fit inside the car seat but not big enough to be huge and bulky. Also would work great as a blanket to cover them up when they are in a swing or bouncer.
Selling price: $70 plus shipping
Let me know if you have any questions!

God is no respecter of persons

2011-10-18T14:09:00.002-04:00

On Saturday, October 15, 2011 we made our first trip into the big N.Y.C. - YAHOO! We went on a ward temple trip with a few members of our ward. We rode down with Sister Neary (Bishop's wife) and Jose Gallardo (ward mission leader). Jose kept us laughing the whole time! What a funny guy! The ward tries to do a temple trip once a month and they alternate between Boston and NYC. We are really in the Boston Temple District but it's 2 1/2 hours away as opposed to the NYC Temple which is about 45 minutes to an hour.
Going to the temple was an amazing experience. The city is SO busy and it feels like you have to constantly run to keep up with the world. The taxi driver was insane and I thought for sure we were going to crash about 20 times just on the way there. There was very noisy construction going on right outside the temple and everything just seemed so rushed and crazy. Then we walked into the temple and felt an entirely different feeling; one of peace, rest, love, calm, clean, and the list could go on. A brother that was with us referred to NYC as 'Babylon' as we walked out of the temple and I couldn't agree more. Although I love the city there is such a noticeable difference in the feelings from being inside and outside of the temple that it is an experience in and of itself just to walk in the doors and then walk back outside!
While I was at the temple I went through for a person who was from Africa. I also noticed that all of her ordinances has been done on that very same day. When we were just about finished the woman a few people down from me leaned over to the woman next to me and me and told us that the people we were going through for were her family. The name she had was the mother and then the three women next to her were her daughters. What joy must have felt that mother and daughters' hearts as they were able to receive their ordnances at the same time. I imagine the 4 of them were in that room on Saturday, embracing each other their work was being done. After she had told us that, I recognized the ethnicity of each person that was doing the work for each of those sisters was different. The thought came to me that "God is no respecter of persons", He truly doesn't care what we look like or what color our skin is, all He cares about is bringing His children back to the fold so that they can also know and feel of His love. I was deeply touched by this experience and hope that it gives you something to think about.
I LOVE THE TEMPLE and can't wait to go back!

Columbus Day

2011-10-11T20:53:00.004-04:00

How appropriate that on Columbus Day we drove on Columbus Highway?!? I told Brett that I felt like we should be singing a Columbus song. Good thing we don't know any.
Yesterday, we drove to the great state of Massachusetts. The original plan was to head up to Camp Joseph in Sharon, VT, which is the land that the church owns and the birth place of our beloved prophet. However, we stayed up WAY too late chatting with friends and family on skype so we decided to alter the destination just a bit. We headed up to what is called the "Mohawk Trail", which is supposedly supposed to be the best scenic drive to see the fall foilage in all of New Enlgand. Unfortunately, once we got there we were told that we were about 1 week too early and that we weren't really going to get to see too many colors.
Despite the minimal fall foilage we had a glorious day! We went to the Village of Shelburne Falls and it really is just as village. It's very small town and was so nice to be able to feel like we weren't surrounded by 5 million people who just wanted to run us off the road. We did get to see some beautiful fall colors - however, you'll just have to take my word for it because we didn't/couldn't really pull off the road to get a good picture.
But here are some pictures from the Village of Shelburne - they are known for their Galcier Potholes and the Bridge of Flowers so the pictures are all from those two sites.

Bridge of Flowers

Brett loving every minute on the bridge

View of hillside from Bridge - much our drive looked like this

This is a picture that I took for my grandpa.
Brett kept calling me 'Adrian' for those who might enjoy that little tidbit

The Glacier Potholes with the town in background

Potholes

These were the first horses that we have been able to actually see - we know there are more around, we just haven't seen any

As a side note, here's an update on how the couch turned out. (I made the pillows too!)

I also was given the task to recover the cushions from a rocking chair from a lady in our ward. She had the fabric already and said that she's been waiting for about 12 years to get this chair recovered. I honestly thought that I wouldn't be able to do it and make it look good. But i did it! I think this is the project that I am the most proud of right now. Here's what the cushions looked like before and after - I didn't get one of the whole chair because the frame was at her house.

Before

After (there were 5 pieces, this was the biggest)

Another sidenote - this is the beach by our house. in the distance is Long Island. There is only one building that is on Long Island that we can really see without straining our eyes to see - but you can tell there is a land mass in the distance

Fall is here and we are loving it!

Projects Galour!

2011-09-26T12:45:00.002-04:00

After graduating in May my life went from being very busy to very dull pretty quick. I knew that I had to find some things to doto keep myself busy during the summer or I would do insane. So I did just that.I found lots of projects that kept me busy.
My first project of the summer was refinishing an old deskthat used to be Brett’s grandpa Lamar’s. It had been sitting in our house onthe back porch for a year collecting dust and I vowed that it would be thefirst thing that I would do as soon as I had free time. And free time I didhave… I was also going to take some pictures of the before and after of thedesk but I got too excited about refinishing it and before I remembered I wasalmost done…. So all you get is that after pictures. You’ll just have to trustme that I really did it. I can tell you that it did all used to be one colorand now it’s 2!

Brett’s family also had a garage sale in which they donated all of the proceeds to Relay for Life, which they participate in every year. There was this old frame of a couch which I would have bought for myself but knowing that we were going to be moving soon I knew that wasn’t an option. So I loving thought of someone who could use a couch on their porch (my mother) and told her that she was buying it so that I could refinish it for her…. I’m the best daughter, huh?!? Again, I got too excited to refinish it before I took a picture but here are the end results. Oh... I refinished her porch swing to match and now it also has matching pads on it but I don't have a picture of it.

This is actually a very comfy couch and works fanstically on their porch

Next, I decided to build myself a magnet board. I’ve neededsomething new to put picture on and my best friend Heidi got married and at hershower she was given a very cute magnet board. So I copied the idea and made myown. I can’t believe how easy it was!

A few days after I had finished that magnet board I was in afriends office and she had a very cute idea for hanging/displaying pictures. Ijust HAD to make it too! All it is, is 4 boards nailed together with plasticchicken wire stapled to the back and then mini clothespins that hang them up.Super easy and very cute! The original one I saw a bit more rustic and she justleft the wood bare. But I decided that I wanted to paint mine and my cutesister-in-law, who is way more creative than I will ever be thought it would becute to cute some vinyl lettering and put on it. So I did! Here is mine that currentlyhangs in my house, and then I also made two others for wedding presents withtheir last names on it (also pictured below).

This was what mine looked like until I painted it - I almost left it like this
but thought that with the lettering it would look better painted.

Another shot of the kitchen before, on the left hand side of the picture you can only see that the back room also has wall paper all over. I didn't get a before picture of that room so take note of small portion you have here.
BEFORE

Next, Brett’s mom, Susan has been saying for the last couple of years that she has wanted to redo/repaint her kitchen. So I got talking to her about it one night and soon enough I was painting the whole house! I did get a few before pictures of some of the rooms so I will try to show you the changes that we made. Our favorite rooms ended up being her master bed and bath. Sadly, I don’t have a before and after picture of that but just trust me that it was a BIG change. I painted their whole upstairs, 8 rooms and 1 hallway (minus one room – the living room) in just 10 days. Working with Suz on this project was a blast, I will redecorate/paint anyone’s house if they pay for it!J I now understand better why it takes Brett forever making decisions – he gets that from his mother – but usually the decisions he makes are better than my not-so-thought-through decisions. All-in-all this major project was a success and it was even fun!

In this picture you get an idea of what the
family room,
the bathroom (room with light on)
and the kitchen looked like BEFORE

Tea cart area - entrance into the house
BEFORE

Kitchen again - looking into the living room
(which I didn't paint)
BEFORE

Kitchen area
AFTER

Bathroom
BEFORE (minus the painting stuff)

Bathroom
AFFTER

Office
BEFORE

Office
AFTER

TV/Family Room
AFTER (refer to top picture for comparison)

No Before of this room but it was full of stuff and unusable because of that
However, a little organizing and a fresh coat of paint and the kids have a huge play room all for themselves

Master Bath (no Before)

Master Bath (no before)

Master Bedroom (no before)

Back porch/laundry room AFTER
Before picture was only a little view from the kitchen

The projects kind of stopped for a brief moment because of the big move and then settling into our new apartment was a project in and of itself! But now I am back on the project wagon thanks to the awful luck of not finding a job, having WAY TOO much time by myself and the newest addition to our family…. My Sewing Machine! It was a cheap one from Walmart but it had great reviews online and it certainly does the job! So far I have made a new scripture bag (thanks to this website http://alove2create.blogspot.com/2011/02/scripture-bag.html) and a new messenger bag style purse (thanks to this website http://www.craftbits.com/project/messenger-bag). I’ve been looking for a cute messenger bag purse since we got here because I have to go to a Laundromat to do our laundry and I HATE having to set my purse down because when I am moving the clothes around I have to take it off my shoulder because it just keeps falling off and is super annoying. So I got the pattern from online and made it the size that I wanted. I was even able to sew pockets! Man… I would have to say that I am quite impressed with myself. Who knew sewing could be so easy/fun/time consuming – just what I need!

The new addition to my world...

The Scripture Bag

Check out the pockets! There is two pen holders, a cell phone pocket and a lipstick holder all in one!

I am currently working on a new couch cover for our new futon and some pillows to go with it…. I will let you know how it turns out. Oh– and I’m would also LOVE to make a car seat cover like this…. But I don’t have anyone to make it for. Anyone need one?

Sept 11, 2011

2011-09-12T13:08:00.003-04:00

Ten years ago, on Sept 11, I was in 7th grade. I had just walked into Ms. Giacalone (Ms G's) 7th grade science class. The first bell of school was just about to ring, she had the TV on and was staring at it and didn't care if we were in our seats or not when the bell rang. All of the sudden the 2nd plane flew into the second tower and she screamed. She was freaking out - she used to be a flight attendant and was certain that she knew people on the planes. She was pretty inconsolable and I remember thinking that this was very strange - nothing ever happens like this to the good ol' US of A. I remember the rest of the day was very somber. All we did was watch the TV until the principle made all teachers turn off the TV's in 3rd hour. I didn't really grasp the gravity of the whole situation but I remember exactly where I was and the feelings that I felt that day.
Now, ten years later, I am a lot closer to the Big Apple and the whole situation. There were lots of speculations that something was going to happen on the 10th anniversary and it was going to even bigger than it was before. Let's just say I'm sure glad nothing tragic happened - only patriotic displays were seen throughout CT and the surrounding states. Many more people in Connecticut (and this area of the USA) were affected by that awful day then people in Utah were.
Many people from our ward were affected by the events that took place on 9/11/01, some of them recalled losing clients, friends, and families on that dreadful day. One man from our ward is a singer/songwriter and he composed this song titled "Build it Higher". He plays all of the instruments and his wife does the backup vocals.
Here's a link to his webpage - this song is the first one that plays when you connect to the website.
http://www.robtaylor.com/

“Son, whyyou crying?” my grandpa said

“Why areyour little eyes all red? You can tell me it’s all right”

And I said,“I build a castle as tall as me, now it’s only sand and sea

Cause thewaves came up too high”

And hesaid. “Life’s been known to take what we build down

But werise again, as sure as we are tired…

And buildit higher

When itall falls down

Cause itain’t right to leave that empty space in the ground

So buildit higher and let it touch the sky

But don’tever forget the day that it made you cry

Cause itmade you wiser

Now c’monlet’s build it higher”

I stillhear sirens when I recall

How theflames burned all the walls of the house my Grandpa made

And hestood there right beside me and watched the smoke

And Icould see he was loosin’ hope

I couldn’tthink of what to say except for

“Life’sbeen known to take what we build down

But we’llrise out of the ashes and the fire…

And buildit higher

When itall falls down

Cause itain’t right to leave that empty space in the ground

So buildit higher and let it touch the sky

But don’tever forget the day that it made you cry

Cause itmade you wiser

Now c’monlet’s build it higher”

Well my Grandpa wasn’t president on 9/11/01

But each September there’s no towers

I can’t help but wish he was

Cause he’d honor all the heroes and those whodied that day

And he’d stand before the nation and this iswhat he’d say

“Life’s been known to take what we build down

But sure as evil men will still conspire…

We’ll build it higher

When it all falls down

cause it ain’t right to leave that emptyspace in the ground

So buildit higher and let it touch the sky

But don’tever forget the day that it made you cry

Cause itmade you wiser

Now c’monlet’s build it higher”

I know that I will never forget the feelings from that day but I hope that we can forgive those who have wronged us or our nation and "Build it Higher" and be strengthen by this tragic event.

Labor Day in the East

2011-09-06T20:11:00.000-04:00

Usually for Labor Day we do a camping trip some where. Typically, we've been in Utah and this is a good chance for Brett to go scope for deer so we've usually planned a camping trip with all intentions of running into some wildlife (deer and elk). Unfortunately, we got a rude awakening yesterday morning when we awoke in our bed (it was the best night's sleep we've had on labor day...) but we were not camping and very, very far from anywhere really familiar.
What do we do now?
After a little research online, we discovered that there is a submarine museum about an hour and half up the coast and even more importantly... it's FREE! We jumped in the car and were off.
Here's a few pictures of the sub and the museum....

Brett got to sit in the control seat of the sub that they had set up inside the museum

A telescope that really worked - You could see the actual sub sitting in the water outside the museum

The SSN 571 - Nautilus

A little fact about this big ship: they were the first to sail to the North Pole and actually do some research stuff there. They also had some North Pole water that they brought back on display. They did find Santa there... They had their pictures taken with him. :)

We also discovered that there is a really cool town called Mystic that has great shops and places to eat. There is lots of Maritime and in 'Old Mystic' there is a ship from like the 1800's that you can tour. We discovered that the tour and museum and all of that was like $50 for EACH of us.... YIKES! We are quickly realizing that everything in the New England area costs money - hopefully, we will be able to go back and take the tour.

Despite not getting to do the tour, we had a lovely day near the ocean. There is something about the ocean, the boats, the boardwalks, the ice cream, that is just relaxing. I swear I could stare and the water lapping the banks all day and be perfectly content.

Of course, here are some pictures of our time in Mystic...

We got to see the draw bridge come up!

A better angle....

There were some BIG sailboats that were cool to look at

A view downstream with shops and boardwalks lining the way

The houses that lined the shores were AMAZING!

Needless to say, we are adjusting to the changes of not being in Utah and who would have thought that Labor Day would be one of those changes?!? All in all, we had a great day and I'm actually quite excited for our next (unplanned as of present) adventure.

Welcome "Home"?!?

2011-09-01T10:52:00.002-04:00

We were 'welcomed' to Connecticut just in time for the biggest hurricane since 1986.... Apparently this doesn't happen very often so hopefully it won't happen again! Thankfully we were prepared. We had plenty of food and water and we did have everything that we needed - except we didn't need it. More than 1/2 a million people were without power beginning sometime Sunday early morning. As of today (Thursday) there are still over 200,000 people without power. They are saying that Hurricane Irene will be known for knocking out so much power. Thankfully, we were some of the lucky ones who's power did not go out and we didn't flood - which was our main concern due to the fact that we are in a basement apartment. We sustained no damage whatsoever from the storm. Our neighbor just next door did have two trees fall down. Check out the videos below to see what it all looked like. Here are also a few pictures of the downed trees - this is the majority of damage that happened in our area that we have been able to see.

We've now been here a week and are finely feeling a somewhat settled in. I have began the job hunt and Brett's school was cancelled on Monday and Tuesday because they didn't have power but he did go to school yesterday. We are getting a routine somewhat figured out and are excited to see what else our new location has to offer for growing experiences. We haven't been able to attend our ward yet because the storm did happen on Sunday, church was cancelled. We will be going to a ward picnic on Saturday to met some of the members and introduce ourselves. Just one more reason why being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ is so awesome - you have family where ever you go! Here's a picture of our house from the outside and video to help you all get to know our "home" a little bit better. By the way, Brett still doesn't call this home but "our place of residence for the next three years".... Silly kid!

We will keep you posted on the rest of happenings here in CT.

Moving East Part 2

2011-09-01T10:35:00.002-04:00

After Carthage we headed to Kirtland, Ohio. Kirtland has a very special spirit there. I never realized that the so much of the beginning history of the church happened in Kirtland. Usually I only think of Nauvoo but the church was very much established when the got to Nauvoo. There is not as many things to see and do in Kirtland but the buildings and things that are there are amazing. There is something about the buildings that you can just tell that very special things happened there. The Savior himself appeared in Kirtland that is recorded than anywhere else: 1. The Kirtland Temple 2. The School of the Prophets (an upper room in the Whitney Store) 3. In a little log cabin at the Morley farm and in each of these places there is a reverence about them. The first place we went in Kirtland was the Johnson Farm. The Prophet and Emma stayed here in Hiram, OH for about one year. It was during his stay here that the prophet was pulled from this home and tarred and feathered on the front porch with Emma and their two adopted twins watching. The Prophet also had his own private study room and it was here that the inspiration came to make the Doctrine and Covenants. Sister Johnson liked lots of color so the paint you see on the wall is original - I think she must have been a very cheerful woman.

The Prophets Office

The house is original

The house with the stage house - all original

The Kirtland Temple is owned by the Community of Christ and you can take tours through it. We did but you can't take pictures inside the building so we don't have any pictures inside but here's a view of the outside. The inside of the temple is beautiful and it is quite something to be able to look at the wood work done by the saints at that time with no power tools!

The Whitney store is the original store that was present at the time of the saints in Kirtland. I can just imagine the Prophet walking into the store or not even getting inside, standing on the porch, getting caught in there for hours because everyone wanted to talk to him. The prophet did stay in an upper room of the store for some time as well as had his own office and a room for the School of the Prophets. The Whitney's sure did take care of them.

The Whitney home is also original to the timeThe Johnson Inn, the Saw Mill, and the Ashery are all rebuilt buildings that we toured in Kirtland

Johnson Inn

Saw Mill

Ashery

This table is original to the Smith Family

The ORIGINAL Book of Abraham Fascimile 1!!! It was VERY cool to be able to see the original.Next it was on to Palmyra..... There is not a lot in Palmyra to see because when Joseph finally did get the plates and began translating he had to leave because of the persecution from the people in the area. There is the original store that the Book of Mormon was printed in.

outside the store

the front part of the store where things were sold

The printing press

The Martin Harris Farm

Joseph's Brother, Alvin's headstone

The Hill Cumorah

Smith's Log Home

Smith's Frame Home

My interpretation....

The Peter Whitmer Log HomeThe Smith Family farm with the Sacred Grove is unforgettable. The Sacred Grove is so peaceful and there is just an overwhelming calming feeling that presides in that Grove. It was good to be able to spend some time there in reflection about the things that we had seen on our journey and the amazing things that were done to preserve and bring word the Word of God. I am so very thankful to live in a time when the fullness of the gospel is on the earth. I now have a greater appreciation for what the Saints went through and the man that Joseph Smith was and the example that he is to all of the Saints still.

Moving East Part 1

2011-08-20T23:58:00.017-04:00

On Thursday, August 18, 2011 Brett and I started something that is both bitter yet very sweet. We began our trek to the East Coast where Brett will begin school at Sacred Heart University, to a foreign land, 2,290 miles away from the place we have called home for 20 plus years, where no one knows who we are. Both of us feel as if we are traveling into the great unknown with Heaven only knows what challenges lie ahead. Yet, with all of the unknown, we feel at peace knowing that this is the place that the Lord wants us to be for the next 3 years - and we obviously have something to learn from this big adventure.
Day 1 of our journey was a LONG one. We traveled from Newton, Utah to Lincoln Nebraska, over 900 miles, totalling about 13 hours in the car. Absolutely nothing exciting to report except for the awesome storm we hit ran into about an hour outside of Lincoln. Here are a few videos to show you how the storm progressed.

Day 2
We traveled to Liberty, MO to visit the Liberty Jail. Very cool place.... The jail was a lot how I pictured it to be minus the fact that it is in the middle of town! I expected it to be out in the middle of a field or something - not sure why?!? But there is a neat spirit that can be felt there.

We then decided to bypass Adam-ondi-Ahman for the sake of more time in Nauvoo. So we headed to Nauvoo to enjoy the evening there. We were able to visit the Visitor's Center, walk the trail of hope, and attend "Rendezvous of Nauvoo" that is put on by the Senior Couple Missionaries of Nauvoo. We also walked up by the temple and enjoyed the temple ground at night.

Day 3
We got up early and attended the 8 AM session in the Nauvoo Temple. It was an amazing experience and very neat to be able to see the inside of the temple. I can't imagine just how beautiful it must have seemed to the Saints living in Nauvoo in the 1840's. It's breath-taking now, I can't even imagine how it must have been in those days. We then toured Old Nauvoo, walking in many of the houses, learning of the way the Saints lived at the time.
Then it was off to Carthage Jail where the Prophet Joseph was martyred. It was very humbling to learn even more of the character of the First President of the Church. My love for him and for all that he sacrificed for the early Saints of the Church as well as for the progress of the church has grown immensely from the experiences that we had today.
There is no way I could deny the spirit that was felt today and the love in my heart for a man, a simple man who sacrificed so much for so many. I am blessed because of those sacrifices.

Heber C Kimball's Home

Brigham Young's home

Chelsea in front of a sunstone

Brett in front of John Browning's gun shop and home

Temple overlooking Old Nauvoo

Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma's grave with the Smith Homestead in the background

Joseph and Hyrum's statue as they leave for Carthage in June 1844

Joseph, Hyrum, and Brett outside of Carthage Jail

The Chamber room where John Taylor was taken after he was shot. Also a room the prophet could have been in for more protection.

The window that Joseph fell from after being shot by the mob

The original door with the .53 caliber bullet hole still there. There are also several marks on the door and the mantel from the rest of the flying bullets.

The room where our beloved Prophet was martyred
Part 2 will contain Kirtland, Palmyra, and the journey to our new home in CT - so stayed tuned... :)

Funny things boys do

2011-08-03T12:18:00.005-04:00

About a month ago we were at my parents house, there was a really pretty sunset, the hay had just been cut, and the sprinklers were going on the field behind their house. It was a perfect country evening and it just so happened to be the 4th of July! I wanted to take a few pictures of the evening so we (Brett, myself, and my brother Dillon) ventured out into the field. Let's just say one thing lead to another and the guys started behaving a little weird and we ended up taking the following pictures....

The decided to do some LARPing - (Live Action Role Playing)...

Here are some of the pictures that I was actually trying to capture that night...

Up next: projects that I have done this summer

What Summer is All About!

2011-07-18T00:05:00.010-04:00

This summer has been busy but I didn't think there has been too much to blog about but I have found that I have much to catch up on! So bear with yet another long blog post.
After my brother Dillon came home had a lull in the action and not too much was going on. However the last two weeks there has been one thing after the other.
To start things off my best friend got married. She looked so beautiful and it was such as wonderful day. I just love weddings and this one was very fun to be a part of. Here is a smashing picture of the beautiful bride (Heidi) and her dashing groom (Scott).

We then celebrated the 4th of July is smashing fashion. It started off with us attending "Freedom Fire" at Romney Stadium. The coolest thing happened while we were there: we were going to buy general admission tickets and sit with my mom and grandpa but when we were buying tickets to get in, this nice man came and asked if we needed two tickets for FREE! We said of course and they turned out to be awesome seats! They were right next to the stage where Diamond Rio performed and then the fireworks were right over us. It was such an awesome night!
To expose myself a little, I will admit that I shed a tear during the fireworks. I love the fireworks and I got a little sad thinking that we won't be here for the firework and the 4th and all of the fun summer activities that go on during the 4th. And even if we are back in the valley, we will probably have kids and it just won't be the same. Enough of the sad stuff....
Sunday after church we headed to Bear Lake to hang out with the Petersen Family. We went for a little drive up the canyon and then headed over. You know me - a post would not be complete without lots of pictures.

Keller's Cabin

There was tons of snow up there still!

Cool shot of the sun and a river

The sassy Miss Abby - always looking for a treat

The always lovely Miss Brooklyn

Garret and Gracie together can be trouble!

Brett was trying to flash the sun in my eyes using the back of a cell phone - i snapped a picture of it and this is how it turned out... Kinda cool.

Sue looking fabulous enjoying some sun

Our newest edition to the Petersen/Maynard Family - sweet Miss Ella Sue.
Then we left for a trip to ALASKA! We had such a blast up there. The men folk were able to go on a backpacking trip up to the Kluane National Forest just outside of Haines, AK in British Columbia. Brett was unable to go with them because he had to stay back to study for his blasted Calculus class (BTW he could really use your prayers). But we had a great time with Megan and the boys. Here are just a few (hahaha) pictures of our vacation.

Treadwell beach - ruins from the Treadwell Mine

A view from Sunshine Cove over the channel to the Chilkats

Us at the end of our hike to Salmon Creek Reseviour

Salmon Creek Reseviour

The view from the top of Mt. Juneau - BEAUTIFUL but HELLACIOUS hike

Me, Megan, and Dillon on the hike to Mendenhall Glacier

The inside of the glacier - not as brilliantly blue as the last time we visited...

Mendenhall Glacier with the towers in the background

View from Lena Point across the channel to Shelter Island

View from Lena Beach during one of our many campfires
I took a over 2000 pictures while we were up there and many were actually pretty good but for sake of spearing all of my thousand's of readers (ya right) I decided that i will only post a few of the highlights but there are lots more (especially of my darling nephews) if you click on the side link titled "Brett and Chelsea's Pictures" for those of you who are interested.
There is more to be updated: up next funny things boys do

Welcome Home Elder!

2011-06-15T01:35:00.009-04:00

My brother, Elder Dillon Chad Falslev who has been serving the people of the greater Portland, Oregon area has returned home! What a marvelous day. My sister, Megan, and her two boys were also able to fly in from Juneau, Alaska to be here for his big return. It was so much fun to have the family all together again (minus Zach)! Here is the moment we eagerly awaited for 2 short yet long years:

Megan said that she imagines our return to heaven to be similar to that which we experienced in the airport that day and I would have to agree. It’s good to have Dillon back. While Megan was here we got to spend some great time together as a family. The day after Dill got home we all went on a shopping trip to get him and Megan some new clothes (Juneau has NO place to shop for clothes and Dill out grew a lot of his clothes), the four ‘kids’ stayed up late listening to Dillon’s missionary stories, adding in where we could, and just enjoying some time together. It was really nice to be able to have all of us together for a little while again. We also went bowling, shooting, watched a few movies, played some games, and just enjoyed being with each other again. Dax sure did find a way to keep us laughing. One morning, this is what we woke up to:

Twinners!

Shooting

Dax so happy with his bowling ball

We were able to take a 4 generation picture while Megan was here
Our family was very blessed while Dillon was on his mission. There were several layoffs that could have affected my dad but he was safe through all of them. Hopefully, that blessing continues. My mom was able to find a full-time job, Megan and Zach were able to have their second healthy baby boy, Easton, Brett was able to get into PT school, and by some miracle I was able to finish a Master’s degree. We are so grateful for his faithful and diligent service. We can see how much he has grown and how much he loves our Lord and Savior. Dillon says that one of the hardest things he had to go through while being on his mission was losing one of his best friends, Jake Hawks. I can still remember that awful day in August (2009) and how I hated making the call to his mission Pres – I had to do it because my mom couldn’t even speak a clear word without sobbing. That one experience very earlier on, prepared him for finding and serving the people of Oregon. He had no one but the Lord to rely on when he got the news and I’m sure the pain was unbearable at times. But I know, and he knows that the Lord was there to comfort him and that it needed to happen so that he could learn how to teach the people of Oregon to rely on the Savior. It’s an experience that I wish never had to have happened and the Jake could still be here with us now but Jake helped Dillon serve his mission better and I believe Jake had to die on that day not because he was being reckless but the Lord knew that Jake’s influence would save hundreds of people; people’s lives were changed, not just in Dillon’s area but in several other areas around the world with missionaries who were also struggling with the same loss of their friend. Thank you Jake for helping my brother be a better missionary and for the influence that you have had on people around the world.
Now that phase of Dillon’s life is over we wish him the best of luck with the years to come and the reality check that is settling in. Welcome home Elder!

We Survived!

2011-05-10T12:19:00.007-04:00

This post is a bit over due but the reality of actually being done with school is just setting in so it seems like perfect timing.
The past 2 years I have spent in the Master's program at Utah State University studying Marriage and Family Therapy, which has been the most challenging, yet rewarding experience that I have ever had in my life. I have been pushed mentally, physically, emotionally, and even spiritually. There were times that I seriously considered what on earth I was putting myself through and if it was worth it. But I will assure you that it was and is worth it! I remember a few times when I would burst into tears for pretty much no apparent reason and Brett would look at me like 'what have you done with my wife? Can i have her back now, please?!?' He has been a huge support to me through it all and am sure glad I didn't have to go through all of that alone. The people that I spent the last two years with truly have made a lasting imprint on my heart and soul (oh man - that's cheesy but oh so true!). They are wonderful, incredible human beings who supported me, teased me, made me cry, made me laugh, and kept me going. They have helped me grow in so many ways. I was blessed to be able to be in such a great cohort. They were awesome! Thanks f or all the good times guys!

We spent much of last week just partying, eating, and having fun. We went to one of our professors house (Thanks Kay!). He did his undergrad degree in concert piano so he played for us. His son, Parker, has mad skills on the electric guitar but says he is not very good because he's only been taking for 6 months. He's amazing and pretty much my hero. Kay's wife, Glenna, is a singer. She sings in the MOTAB and has an incredible voice. We even talked her into singing for us and it gave me the chills. They have a beautiful family and we were so lucky to be able to get the chance to be in their home and share their talents with them. Here's a picture of the whole gang, my cohort, the 1st year cohort, and Kay.

The next night 4 of us from the cohort got together and went shooting, had dutch oven potatoes and chicken, and sat around the fire. A great time was had by all. Of course some photos to document the occasion.

On Friday, May 6, 2011 I graduated with my Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy! YAHOO! Brett's ceremony was the next day but he decided not to walk and after sitting through mine, we were all glad we didn't have to sit through another one! Here are a few pictures to document the occasion.

Evidence of the hooding, the walk across the stage, and shaking hands with a whole bunch of people i don't even know, just to get this empty book...

Everyone from the MFT program that walked with us from left to right, Kay Bradford (professor), Justin Gordon, Jonathan Zabriski, Heather Thompson, Stephanie Hebert, Me, Wade Stewart (didn't walk because he's finishing his thesis but was there to support), Emma Hanks, Jeff Allen (his kids are in front) and the director of the MFT Program, Scot Allgood.

My AWESOME cohort (l to r): Stephanie Hebert, Justin Gordon, Me, Wade Stewart, Emma Hanks, and Jeff Allen

The best in-laws ever!

My cute parents

The graudates

No graduation celebration is complete without some good food or cake. We ate the Bluebird and had cake there too.

cutting the cake - Precious!

My cousin, Jacob, graduated with his Undergrad on Sat, so we had a little ice cream party that evening to celebrate with the three Grads.

Flowers that I got from everyone all looked great in one vase.
Brett graduated with a BS in English, emphasis Technical Writing with a minor in Biology and Chemistry. It has taken him 7 years to figure out what he wanted to be when he grows up (the growing up still hasn't happened yet) but he has decided on Physical Therapy. He has been accepted to Sacred Heart University and University of Florida. We have to make the big decision by May 12 (THIS THURSDAY!) Please cast your vote as to which school you would like us to attend the most, taking into account that you WILL be out for a visit.
Thanks for everyone, expecially our families, for the love and support through all of the tough decisions and the hard times of school. We sure appreciate your love and prayers.
Now it is on to bigger and better things! Don't forget to cast your vote....

Happy Birthday Brett!

2011-04-06T00:38:00.007-04:00

Brett turned 27 today. What an OLD man he is turning into.... Brett had LAX practice tonight so we were not able to celebrate his birthday much on the actual day (today). But he has been well taken care of this year. He got to open presents a few days earlier because I couldn't take his whining anymore. I had all of his presents and didn't know if I was going to have a lot of time at home without him being home, so I wrapped them and set them in our front room last Wednesday (6 days prior to his actual birthday). Well his whining was relentless. He started whining on Thursday about how he 'just can't take not knowing what is inside' and by Saturday I couldn't take the whining anymore and so he got to open them all up a few days before his birthday. One good thing that I did learn was that if I don't want Brett to open his presents before his birthday, well then, I better not put them out early at all. What a funny guy!
Because he'd already opened all of his presents and we went out for birthday dinner to Savannah's BBQ Grill on Saturday after the Priesthood session (which is EXCELLENT by the way and if you haven't tried it - you should) I thought I needed to do something on his actual day to help make him feel special. I tried REALLY hard.... and failed miserably!
First off, I went over to my in-laws because I'm working on a project and needed their computer. So I threw some cake batter together, (by this I mean, I cut the plastic bag it was in and dumped 3 different ingredients in and stirred it together, of course, breaking a sweat while doing all of that), I forgot to check and see if anything was in the oven before turning it on and a few minutes later, smelling a burning smell, realized that there was a plastic spatula and frying pan in the oven. OOPS! I grabbed the closest thing I could find (dish rag) and grabbed the plastic spatula - BAD IDEA! It stuck right too it. After getting that taken care of, I put the cake in and got back to work on my project. A few minutes later there was a sweet aroma in the air. About 15 minutes later, there is once again, a BuRniNg smell coming from the kitchen. I go to see what could possibly be wrong now.... Sure enough, the cake had boiled over the sides of the pan and was spilling everywhere inside of the oven.... Great! Just a reminder, this is NOT my oven... Well great, what am I going to do now?!? I checked their pantry for a new cake mix - they had a few but not two that are the same. I need two because I'm taking it to Brett at LAX practice and there are about 40 people that are going to want some. Find a brownie mix buried in the back of my pantry, run to the Newton Market to pick up a second package, run back to in-laws, clean up the cake disaster, and threw the brownies in the oven.
Meanwhile, the whole time I'm thinking that the project in the next room is working out just fine.... NOPE! Everything is going disastrous in there too! UGH!
Finally, the brownies come out alive and finally smelling oh so tasty. At least I can still attempt to make Brett feel loved on his birthday.
When I show up to practice, he is just about to do agility drills with the players, when he blew his whistle for them to start, instead of starting they proceeded to chase his down, tackle him to the ground, and then the whole team doggie-piled him. It was great. It all happened so fast that I wasn't able to set down the tray of brownies in time to get to my camera so you'll just have to trust me that it happened. But here are a few pictures of the FINALLY successful birthday brownies for Brett. Whew!
His Birthday Haul
Being silly.... It's a great look him, don't you think?
Yet, another very stylish, sexy look for Brett
Brett on his 27th Birthday
The Brownies
Brett with the team
Happy Birthday Sweetheart. I love you!

Love is in the Air...

2011-04-02T17:19:00.014-04:00

It's now becoming spring in little Cache Valley and the weather is doing lots of crazy things. It will rain one day, snow the next, then be nearly 60 degrees. Gotta love the spring weather. Even better is the feeling of LOVE that seems to come right along with spring. Just a few things to show that Love is in the air and we are loving the side effects at our house.
My dear friend Heidi got engaged and is planning on getting married either sometime in June or July. We are so happy for them and are excited to have childless couples to hang out with once again.
Brooklyn and Gracie (Brett's nieces) came for a sleep over at our house last weekend. While they were there Brooklyn and Gracie wanted to dress up.... So we did. Here are the beautiful gals! Brooklyn said to me after she was all 'dolled up': "I wish Payden (her boyfriend) was here to see me. He would fall over because I am so beautiful." Man I love that girl!

As a side note - we made an awesome "fork" for the gals to sleep in and I would have to say it was quite comfy. I had a great nap in there the next day. :) I just love being an aunt. I get to have all the fun with the kids and then send them on home and get a good night's sleep the next night.

Dustin got married last night! YAHOO! Many of our prayers were answered when he finally said "I DO" yesterday. We are so excited for him and just love his wife, Katie. I'm kind of lame and didn't ever get a good picture of them together on the big day. But here are a few pics that I was able to snap.

A few weeks ago, we were able to go to St George for Spring Break with Heidi and Scott. We loved the warm weather and even got a little color back to our pasty-white skin. Here are just a few pics of the hiking that we did.

"Sea of Galilee"

It was my both of my parents 50th Birthday and we decided to throw them a big party. There were lots of people that came to visit and share their love with them. My parents are the best and have the best friends. They were glad to be able to visit with many people that they do not get a chance to see very often. Here is a pic of the two in their birthday shirts with their cake.

A few weeks ago, my dad also did an awesome thing... He put his tractor in the river... Ok, it didn't go into the actual river but it was pretty darn close and he is SUPER lucky that it wasn't worse than it was. It's just a good thing that they live in Benson and pretty much everyone has a tractor. So half of Benson 1st ward showed up to "do their home teaching" and pull him out. The pictures really don't do it justice but it was pretty funny. Again, just a few pictures to give you an idea.

Fairfield Connecticut?

2011-02-12T17:24:00.003-05:00

Fairfield CT is a town that has been around since the early colonization of the Americas. The whole town was burned to the ground during the revolution, and was even mentioned by General Washington when he spoke of the destruction that occured in the colonies. It is a suburban community of about 40,000 people in the SW portion of CT. Located about an hour outside of downtown Manhatten, it is a quiet and affluent community; in July 2006, Money Magazine ranked Fairfield the ninth "best place to live" in the United States, and the best place to live in the Northeast. The town was also listed among the "preppiest" places in the United States in the tongue-in-cheek 1980s best-seller The Official Preppy Handbook. It is also the headquarters of GE. Of particular note it is located in prime New England lacrosse territory.
So you may be wondering why there is such a description of some foreign township on a blog produced by two hicks from the Cache Valley territory? After nearly 27 years (seven of which have been spent obtaining an undergraduate (most people do it in 3-4)) Chelsea's somewhat inept and overly in-decisive husband, has finally made some serious strides in finally growing up, and we've been accepted into the Sacred Heart University Doctor of Physical Therapy program. So this upcoming summer we will be moving out to New England for the next three years! Chelsea is very excited to be moving out next to the big city, Brett on the other hand is excited about going to school (not so much the big city). It has been a very long and trying process fraught with many obstacles; however, for reasons unseen to us the Good Lord has opened doors for us that we did not see, and we accept with the utmost confidence that this is where we are to go. We are so grateful for all the help/encouragement/faith of our many friends and members of our family. Pending on Chelsea getting a job we will be moving anywhere between May and August when classes start. Wish us luck, we'll definitely need it (especially Brett).

When it rains.....

2011-01-24T21:56:00.004-05:00

This post it not to get sympathy or to be a Debbie-Downer but we have had a string of bad luck at our house the past month and I just want to write it down so that I can remind myself that bad things can happen, when you least expect or want them to. To start things off two days before Christmas we were headed down to Salt Lake to go through a session at the temple and see the lights on Temple Square with our good friends Erin and Scott Douglass. We had just got out of Sardine Canyon when all of the sudden the thermostat in the Subaru went through the roof and was suddenly HOT HOT HOT! So we went really slow (about 50 MPH) on the freeway to Ogden where we met the Douslass's at their house. They drove the rest of the way to SLC. After the session we headed to the Blue Iguana. Brett and I shared a MASSIVE burrito that was super tasty. Brett had to visit the restroom for quite some time after he had finished. Poor guy that had to use it after him... and when we were in Temple Square, I got really hot from walking outside in the freezing cold and then into a super warm building and then back out into the cold friged air and after a few times of that we walked into a building and I threw up. Talk about bad luck in SLC.... I felt just fine after I threw up but man that burrito didn't taste so good coming back up.
On the way home, the car situation did not improve and it took us about 2, 2 1/2 hours to get back home to Logan. Come to find out - we blew a head gasket, which is about a $1,500 fix on a car that is not even worth that much. So the car search began.... Oh how I once upon a time thought that I loved car shopping.
I thought car shopping would be fun. I know what cars I like and what cars I don't. But wait - I don't have all the money in the world? When did that happen? Then we had to decide what type of vehicle would be the best for us right now and in the near future. We thought we had our criteria all sorta out and we got serious about buying two different Santa Fe's but neither one felt like we should buy it so we walked away from both. In the meantime we were driving my green car that I have had since before time began and borrowing my little brother's truck (aka Peppy), because he's on a mission and isn't using it at the moment.
Suddenly, our green car (the one that has been around since the beginning of time) started acting really funny. Brett changed the thermostat and played with the antifreeze and different fluids. It would run fine on one trip to town and on the way home it would be acting silly again. So we finally decided to have it looked at a little more seriously and sure enough, yep, you guessed... the head gasket is bad on the green car too. I'm not sure how we managed to lose two cars in less than a month's period of time to the SAME diagnosis.... So now we've had to completely re-think what we are going to do for a car situation. So it's back to the drawing board for what kind of car is really going to be the best for us right now. Luckily, we are not having to only use one car. My parents have 4 vehicles and only two drivers so we've had to play musical cars a few days but for the most part we've been able to manage so far.
To add to the stroke of misfortune at our house, I opened our laptop the other day and there was a load snapping sound. As I looked around I discovered the hinge on our laptop completely snapped. GREAT! Just one more thing to add to the list of things that we can't really afford to purchase right now. We are trying to nurse the computer back to life and hopefully the green car too. But so far things aren't looking so great for either right now. Poor lappy toppy... I just need it to last until the end of April, that's all I ask. Pray for lappy toppy.
A HUGE plus did happen though. Brett got word from Scared Heart University in Connecticut that they want him for an interview. YIPEE! Minus the fact that it is a really really really long ways from home, we couldn't be happier. Now it's just a waiting game to see if they like him enough to extended the offer to him to attend the school.
If there is one thing that I have learned from all of this it would be: We are poorer-than-dirt college students who currently don't really own anything (anything that works at the moment) but we are surrounded by good people and great family who love us very much and are so willing to help us. *Brace yourselves for this next part 'cause it's cheezy* but we are very grateful to still have each other. Everything else just adds lots of stress that really is not even really worth worrying about. And as of right now "us" is all that's important - everything else is just stuff and will work itself out eventually.

Hallelujah! Let Heaven and Angels Sing!

2010-12-19T17:06:00.004-05:00

We are FINALLY finished with fall semester. Along with my last post, I absolutely HATE finals week. Brett has been so absolutely focused on school he has been quite a bear to be around. I’m just thankful he is not really that bad to be around when he’s cranky. There was a LOT riding on one of the finals that he was taking this year and so finals were extra stressful this year. However, I am so relieved and happy to report that he got the points that he needed and the dark black cloud that has been hovering over our house for the past couple weeks has finally lifted. Thanks for all of your prayers in our time of need. We just need your prayers that someone will like Brett and will accept him into their PT program. Keep your fingers crossed.
With the darkness lifting and the heaven and angels singing at our house we were finally able to celebrate our 3rd anniversary (a few days late). Our anniversary was on Wednesday, December 15th but because of school, and doing therapy, we were unable to celebrate on the actual anniversary. Brett surprised me after work on Friday by taking me night skiing at the Beav! We haven’t been skiing at the Beav in a few years, because we’ve usually headed down to Deer Valley to ski with Brett’s brother and sister-in-law, Brain and Sher. We have thoroughly enjoyed going down there but it was fun to go up to the Beav again. Brett had also arranged to have Dustin and his girlfriend, Kate, to go with us. It was a blast to be able to ski with them. I always love hearing the boy’s stories about ‘the good ‘ol days’. They are always a good for a laugh. Unfortunately, no pictures of the glorious event but maybe next time.
Saturday we were able to spend a good portion of the day doing absolutely nothing! It was a much much needed break. Then we headed to Logan Lanes for the Petersen Family Christmas Party. We usually have it at the church but this year, because of a few people not being able to attend, we headed to the bowling ally. Brett’s cousin-in-law owns the bowling ally and got things all set up for us to hang out there for a few hours. It sure was fun! I completely forgot about taking pictures at the wonderful event so you;ll just have to take my word about how much fun we had.
After a few hours at the bowling ally we headed to an ugly sweater Christmas party with my sister’s in-laws (hope you can catch the connection). We met at Village Inn for dinner and then headed to Alene and Chris’s house to play some games. It was a fun evening, full of LOTS of laughs. Here are a few pictures to document our awesome sweaters. I do have to give kudos to my mother-in-law for the awesome sweater I got to wear. She’s a 3rd grade school teacher and has been for years so she has quite the collection of sweet sweaters. I stole the bow in my hair off my parent’s Christmas tree. It matched quite well with the bows on my sweater. Oh what a night!
This is just the beginning of the joy and laughter that is and will be happening around our house this Christmas break. Coming up is our niece’s birthday party at Chuckie Cheese, Christmas, more skiing, more games nights and probably more ugly sweaters.  I sure do LOVE Christmas time and the excuse to eat and sleep and hang out with good friends and family.

Hatred

2010-12-09T17:45:00.005-05:00

I know this is the time of year that you are supposed to be grateful for what you have and boy, are we ever! However, I just need to vent about how much I absolutely HATE applying to grad school. It consists of so much time, effort, and money that it is emotionally and physically exhausting! I am one who likes to be in control of things (thanks Mom) and not being able to control all of the if's, when's, how's, and such of graduate school is NOT my idea of fun.
It breaks my heart to see Brett working so hard to get into grad school and just because he doesn't have stellar grades he might not get in. There are so many variables that come with applying to a graduate program and we have done our very best to pick the schools that are a good fit for him and us but what if we picked all the wrong schools? What if we spend $1,000s just to apply to all of these blasted schools and then we don't get in? Then what? Where do we go from there? Do we do it all over again next year or do we look for opportunities elsewhere? There are so many things resting on whether or not we get in that i can't even begin to list them or I just might start to cry. We HAVE to get in this year - we NEED to get in this year.
If only....
I know many of you who read our blog have been through this same process and can attest that it is NOT fun. Today I'm just being a my worry-wart self and needed to vent then I thought "why not do it on the blog since you haven't updated in over a month...." So this is me, venting on the blog, and putting all of these lame questions down in writing so I can let go of them and STOP worrying about them. Can I just run away to the hills and trap for beaver pelts and never have to be worried about money or jobs or anything! Who's with me?

Not dead YET....

2010-10-20T19:01:00.009-04:00

Seems like all I have time for these days is making one post about once a season.... That's unfortunate! Oh well... I guess that tells you just how busy I am, I don't even have time for the blog! Gasp!
This fall has been marvelous! It got really cold during a few weeks of September and I got really scared that winter was going to come far too early this year. However, today's high was near 68 and tomorrow it's supposed to be 70 degrees! HOT DOG!
This fall hasn't been too eventful - besides late nights, very little sleep, constant running, feeling very inadequate that people are coming me (Chelsea) to find answers on directions for their lives, studying, reading nearly 500 pages per week, writing lots of papers, grading papers, Brett's grad school applications: resumes, essays, GRE studying, reading and re-reading and editing and more editing on his essay (thanks to EVERYONE for their help!), and staying on top of our church callings. Let's just say I will be very glad when spring comes!
Brett is officially applying to Physical Therapy schools all over the western United States. He is going to be applying to 2 schools in Georgia (Atlanta and Savannah) - back to the mission area (maybe)! Some of the applications are due on November 1st and some aren't due until later but he is planning on having all of his applications in by November 1st. He has been working super hard to get everything done. It's amazing that I ever get to see the guy! Everyone pray really, really, really hard that we get in this coming year - I don't even care where, just somewhere! We need all the prayers and help that we can get!
I have been swamped with clients and school work. I'm not sure which one is more exhausting yet - the verdict is still out on that one. But I am LOVE LOVE LOVING what I am doing. I know that I made a great decision when I made the choice to get my master's in Marriage and Family Therapy. I couldn't be happier - or busier, take your pick. There are days that I feel SO inadequate, who am I and what do I know about helping people make the changes in their lives that are necessary for them to be happy. But some how I always find the words to say and things to discuss. My clients are really working hard to make the changes for themselves and I am so moved by their diligence. I am humbled every day. It truly has been extremely rewarding to see clients create change for themselves in their lives. I have had the privilege of working with a few couples lately that have come so far since the first time I have seen them. It makes me so happy for them. I can not even imagine the joy the Savior must feel when we are trying to hard to head in the right direction and we finally make the changes necessary to be with him again. It just makes me want to try harder and harder every day to be make the changes in my life so I can be more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.
It's been the elk/deer hunt for the past 3 weeks and we've been back and forth but when I have been up there my camera was dead. :( so I have to wait to post some pictures until it's all over and the camera that's up there gets brought back down and I can steal some pictures from it. So far Brett has been unsuccessful but maybe his luck will turn around shortly - and the pheasant hunt is in a few weeks so I'm sure I'll have some pictures to share of the pretty birds that I shoot and hopefully, can out-shoot Brett again. :) So hopefully i will have time for another update shortly.
We took family pictures on Conference weekend and here is how they turned out! What a great looking family, if I don't say so myself...!

Summer in UTAH

2010-08-19T10:54:00.019-04:00

As most of you know the last 2 summers Brett and I have been in Juneau, Alaska. We loved our time up there but unfortunately because we have been up there we have not been able to have a Utah Summer together, doing the things that we did when we were growing up. So this summer has been different for us. Unfortunately, it has not been as "lively" as we would have liked it to be because both of us have been in school the entire summer. School just drains us and we haven’t had as much time for all of the adventures we would have liked to go on.
With summer winding to a close and the first day of school just around the corner, we were able to escape school and work for a few days to get away together. This past week was the Cache County Fair and Rodeo! I have missed the rodeo for the last 3 years, first because I was in New Jersey and the last two because of Alaska. I can not tell you how much I absolutely love! love! love! the fair and rodeo. When I was younger, my family practically lived at the fairgrounds the entire week. Sadly, as we have all grown up, we haven’t had any reason to be at the fairgrounds and it makes me quite sad. Luckily, this past week Brett and I had the chance to go to the rodeo all 3 nights! YEEHAW! I loved every minute of it! There is just something about the smell of dirt that has been freshly raked, the excitement of the crowd, and the jitters of the cowboys and cowgirls that just get me. Being able to spend some time down there took me back down memory lane and boy was it a great trip. I have many many memories of the fairgrounds, not just of the fair but of growing up riding horses and being involved in 4-H. Just a few of the memories I have that I will spare the details but just to name a few:
*my very first kiss
*getting chased down and thrown in the creek after a long, hot day at horsecamp
*horsecamp dances
*getting bucked up
*riding exhibition for barrels at the rodeo
*late nights being scared that someone was following me
*meeting my first ‘love’
*winning lots of trophies on my pony Flicka
*making life-long friendships
*beating Blue with an American flag until he decided that he liked it and would let me carry it around the arena
*spending the night at the fairgrounds during the fair with the Mitton brothers
The list could go on and on and on but those are just a few of my favorites. What can I say… I love the fairgrounds.
a bareback rider
bull poker - SCARY!
Bull rider
On Saturday, I played in a co-ed 6v6 soccer tournament. We had our first game at 8 am and played our last game at 5:15 pm. It was a long day of soccer but I had a blast playing. Our team was actually really good and we lost in the championship game, so we took 2nd. I had so much fun playing. I keep telling Brett that this is the most fun I have had in a long time. It was so fun to play with people that I haven’t been able to play with since high school, to visit with them during the breaks, and remember how much I loved hanging out with the people I did in high school. They were sure to bring up some of my “blonder” moments and we had a great time laughing and joking together. It really was a blast and I can’t wait for next year! Thanks everyone for playing!
Back row from left to right: James, Tyler, Tim, Burt, Jeff (aka Dahmer)
Fron row from left to right: Lataya, Me, Taylor, Kilee, and Jenny
This is a great picture that Brett got of my scoring! If you look close, I'm the one on the ground under the keeper and the ball is just past the right post, headed for the side net! I got 2 goals in this game and I NEVER score so it was fun!
During our 2nd game (we played 6 games total) I got slide tackled by a guy from the other team. He totally took out my ankle with his cleats and I have an awesome bruise to show for it! It hurt really bad at first but I played all of the other 4 games. It was only sore when I stopped playing and I let all of the tendons and muscles get tight. As weird as it sounds it actually felt good to get hurt again playing soccer – another trip down memory lane for Chelsea.
It doesn't hurt as bad as it looks....
Monday, Brett and I went backpacking. We started at Tony Grove Lake and hiked to the highest point in the Bear River Range, Mount Naomi and then down to High Creek Lake. It was so beautiful! The views from the peak were gorgeous and the hike was not too bad. High Creek Lake is great – it sits up on these cliffs and from down below you would have no idea there was a lake there. It was absolutely beautiful. Our original plan was to hike back the way we came and pick up our car at Tony Grove, however, when we got to High Creek Lake we had cell phone reception and thought we would call home and see if someone could pick us up at the top of Richmond Canyon at High Creek Trailhead. Sure enough, Greg and Nat saved the day! They picked us up at about 11:15. We hiked out 5.3 miles in under 2 hours with packs on! That night, my parents took us back up to our car and stopped to get some KFC on the way up for a picnic. The lake was beautiful and it was good to get to chat with the parents on the way up.The only damage done from the hike was blisters on the back of Brett's heels, a blister on the bottom of my heel - from a stinking rock, and sore muscles just because we are out of shape...
On our way to the top... Are we there yet?!?
Awesome picture of Brett standing on the cliffs at the top of Noami. He looks so small!
We made it to the top!
Top of Naomi, over Smithfield Canyon
Looking back toward Logan Canyon
View from the top lookin out of Smithfield
View from top of Naomi
Coming up over the ridge and seeing the lake in was a beautiful sight both to look at and for my tired legs.
The reflection of the cliffs on the water.
We thought it might rain on us but we got luckily...
The clouds were amazing that night.
Brett glassing for deer with a gorgeous view!
Look up at High Creek Lake. The lake is below the cliffs but above the pine trees on the left-hand side of the picture. You don't know there is a lake there unless you are looking for it.
Brett terrible blisters... Poor guy!
Tony Grove
Wednesday, Brett and I were able to join my dad for a cattle drive. I had the opportunity to do this several times when I was younger but this was only Brett’s second time! He did great! Some people that live by my parents have cows up Logan Canyon and were pushing them from the Spring range (Right Hand fork area) to the Fall range (Twin Creeks area). This push requires us to gather all of the cows from the range (huge area) and then push them up the canyon via the road for about 2.5 miles. So yes, if you were traveling through the canyon yesterday around noon, you were cussing us for slowing down your trip… and yes, and sorry about that cow poop on the road that just got your clean Lexus dirty. There were lots of people who were taking pictures, it was like they didn’t know cattle still existed in the world or something. It was a long 12 hour day of riding but it sure was fun! Here are some pictures of the area and our cattle drive adventures.
Brett walking through the range with a beautiful view
Me holdin' the cattle in place

What a week!

2010-08-10T01:44:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday we had the chance to go to the REAL Soccer game with my parents. It was so much fun! They won 3 - 0 again DC United. It was their 20th win in a row at home! Go REAL!

However, while we were at the game Brett's brother-in-law, Greg, went into emergency surgery to get his gall bladder removed. He had been sick for about 2 months, in and out of the hospital and doctor's offices; no one was able to figure out what exactly was the matter with him. If you are really interested in whole story got to Nat and Greg's blog in my family blog. Needless to say, he was an extremely sick guy, who had, what felt like, a near-death experience. They also have two adorable kids, who frequently appear on my blog, that have needed to be taken care of. Natalie has had her hands full trying to take care of her poor husband, her 2-year old who doesn't understand why he can't play with Dad anymore, and nursing a baby who is a mama's girl. And if you remember, poor Nat broke her leg three Sunday's ago and has been walking around in a boot ever since. The only bit of good news they have received in the past few weeks, was the Natalie foot was healing great and she no longer has to wear the boot, just a small brace.
The past couple of nights we have stayed to help out with putting the kids to bed and getting them up in the morning. We are so grateful that we are able to live so close and be able to help out as much as we can. Greg is currently on the mend. He got his staples out yesterday and has been able to get outside for a few minutes every now and again. All seems to be going well, but poor Nat still has her hands very full.
Here's a picture of the cute Phillip's Family (Abby's still in Nat's tummy)

What summer is all about...

2010-07-19T14:21:00.010-04:00

Many of you know that last weekend the Petersen family participated in The Relay for life. Our family raised the most of any family coming in at over $7,000! Thank you SO much to all of you how helped to support our cause! We had an absolute blast at the Relay and I already can't wait for next year! Here are some picture of the big event.

Jan (Brett's Cousin) and Karen (Jan's Best Friend) - 2 survivors of Cancer!

Uncle Bruce (also a survivor) and Aunt Claundia

Garrett pulled his wagon everywhere!

The G-man I just loved this picture and had to add it to my post

The kids LOVED being pulled in the wagon

The WHOLE Gang! What an Awesome family!

The luminaries are decorated by family and friends for people who have lost the battle to cancer. They are placed around the entire track and lite at night to burn throughout the night as a reminder of those who have suffered from this terrible fight.

They also light luminaries on the bleaches that spell HOPE.

That Saturday and Sunday I also played in a soccer tournament. A real 11 v 11 soccer game! It has been nearly 3 years since that happened and boy and boy did i have a blast! Unfortunately, we forgot the camera so no pictures. Let's just say that I am not as young as I used to be. While playing soccer my mind knows that I need to be at a certain place at a certain time in order to do what I need to do and my body is just so out of shape that it often did not happen quite like it used to. Despite the oldness, I had a lot of fun and our team did fairly well. We got out in the semi-finals. Can't wait for next year all ready!

This past weekend Brett and I made a last minute decision to go camping on Friday night. We left Newton at about 8 pm so we go up to Steep Hollow just in time to set our tent up before it got dark. We were thinking of going backpacking but due to lack of time to get ready we just did a walk-in camp site. It was a very nice area, secluded from the thousands of other campers. It was a nice little retreat for the two of us and I really enjoyed spending some time outdoors. We stayed up late just talking and having a good time with just the two of us. Here are a few pics of the site/us.

Looking out over Franklin Basin

Brett and me

This is the little creek that ran by our camp site

Yesterday morning we got a call at about 7:30 am from our brother-in-law, Greg. He informed us that Natalie had fallen down the stairs and hurt her ankle and that we were needed to tend the kids while he took her into the doctor. After being at the doctor for about an hour Natalie stayed feeling like she was an idiot for going in and that it was really just a sprain and she'd be just fine in a few days. X-rays proved otherwise! She got a small fracture in her ankle! We spent the Sunday nursing the Phillips family back to health. Poor Nat! I'm just glad we were around to help them out!
This morning we woke up and heard on the radio that there is a fire up Logan Canyon! Unfortunately for Brett, today is a test day for him. He has to spend the morning studying and is not able to watch the fire. Meanwhile, I headed up the canyon to check things out but like an idiot I forgot my good camera and all i had was my stupid camera on my phone. None of the pictures that I took turned out good enough to put them on the blog but I was able to watch the Helicopter go to upper 2nd dam, fill up the bucket, and drop the water on the fire. Th fire isn't huge and will probably be contained by tonight but if not, we will for sure get some pictures of it on here.

4th of July!

2010-07-06T13:44:00.004-04:00

This year was the first year that Brett and I have been "home" in Utah for the 4th of July together. When we were dating I was in New Jersey during the 4th and Brett was working on a fire. The past 2 years we have been in Juneau. This year we got to spend a few days at Brett's family's cabin in Bear Lake. It was so much fun to just relax and enjoy everyone's company. I feel like all I did was eat and eat and eat. Good food and good times. Thanks for making it so much fun everyone! Unfortunately, I was super lame and didn't get any pictures while we were there... DANG IT! You'll just have to take my word that a great time was had by all.
We came home Sunday afternoon and went for a horse ride with my dad, brother-in-law Greg, my dad's co-worker's daughter, Emily, me and Brett. We were supposed to be at my dad's house at 7 A.M. Well, both Brett and I turned off our alarms without knowing and didn't make it on time. We jumped out of bed and headed down to Greg's to get the horses ready. When we got there we found out he had been struggling with all 3 horses. All of them had hung back at the trailer and Millie even broke the lead rope and took up through the neighborhood. He had just got them put back in the corral when we got there. We headed up the canyon about 45 minutes after we had originally planned. Oops! We wanted to go on a shorter ride, maybe 4 hours MAX. However, we got riding and were close to a lake and decided to head to the lake, adding about an hour to the ride. White Pine Lake was beautiful and the entire ride was gorgeous scenery! So we all had a blast. Unfortunately, when we headed back, we took another trail, thinking that it would lead us home as well. BAD IDEA! We ended up about 3 canyons over from where we were supposed to be and had to trail blaze through 2 or 3 canyons to get back to the draw that would lead us back to the trailer. This little mis-hap ended up adding about 2 hours to the already longer ride, making our ride about 7 hours of actually riding! Needless to say, when we got back to the truck and trailer we were POOPED and today I'm a little bit sore.
Here are a few pictures of the ride/White Pine Lake. We should have had the camera out taking pictures of the rest of the beautiful scenery but alas, we didn't. I guess we'll just have to go again...

Support a good cause

2010-06-06T21:08:00.001-04:00

Many of you probably don't know, but my family has been affected by cancer. Brett's family has been much more affected then mine and because of that his family has participated in Relay for Life for the past 8 years. Brett's grandma Yvonne and grandpa Claude both died of cancer. His uncle is a prostrate cancer survivor and his cousin a thyroid cancer survivor. My family has been somewhat luckier and I have only lost one grandparent to skin cancer, William Carl Gale who died before I ever knew him.

The Petersen family is once again be participating in Relay for Life. Every year we try to raise some money to help find a cure and support a great cause and this year our goal is to raise $5,000. I have a personal goal of raising $100. I am asking for those of who you can to please support our family in this endeavor. You can click on the link below, click on my name (Chelsea Petersen) and then donate to our cause or email me and I will get you more details if you would like. Thanks in advance to all of those who are helping us achieve our goal.

The American Cancer Society - :

Well... Well.... Well....

2010-05-18T14:49:00.008-04:00

This past month sure has been a crazy one, so bear with me while I fill you all in on our crazy last month. WARNING: THIS IS A LONG POST with not very many pictures.

Probably the biggest news of all is: WE MOVED! Yeah! We are now tenants of a 3 bedroom, 1 bath home in beautiful Newton, Utah. After living in our tiny apartment for almost 2.5 years (minus 8 months that we lived in Alaska) we were more than ready to get just a little bit more space. We will only be in this place for a short stint hopefully. We will be moving to the basement apartment of Brett’s sister and brother-in-law’s (Nat and Greg) home as soon as it is finished, or in October. They are finishing the basement by themselves so it will take a little longer and the family that we are renting the house from has a daughter that is getting married in October and her and her husband are planning on moving into this house. So regardless if the basement is finished or not, we will be moving out of here in October. But we absolutely LOVE living out here and are excited to call Newton home for the next year or so. Here are some pictures of our new house:

Our new home

Our house from the road - the trees keep it quite cool

Our backyard/back side of the house

The next best thing that happened in the last month was school got out. Unfortunately, both Brett and I have to go to school for the summer so we don’t get much of a break. Luckily for me, my summer semester is much more laid back then the rest of the school year so it shouldn’t be too bad. Wish I could say the same for Brett. He has got a rough couple of months ahead of him. He’ll do great though – he always does.

A few random events happened: Brett finished the LAX season up. They tied for 2^nd at the end of regular season and made it to the playoff game. They played Brighton at home in the first round of the tournament and unfortunately they lost. The boys didn’t come to play and it showed. Luckily, the season ended just in time for Brett to focus on his finals and do well on them.
I played on an intramural women’s 5 v 5 indoor soccer team for a few months during the winter. We played in the championship game the last week of April and we won! I scored 3 goals and had a couple of assists. But I NEVER score in games, usually just get the assists so I was pretty happy. It was a close game and it was fun to be able to play competitively again, even though it was very friendly. I just can’t seem to get enough soccer. Once I play for just 5 minutes I can’t stop and want to play more and more and more. It just sucks getting old and not having teams and leagues to play on. Hopefully, I will be able to make it to a few soccer tournaments this summer. We are still working on making it happen but I will keep you posted.
My dad had two baby horses, one on April 16 (colt/boy) and one on May 6 (filly/girl). They are dang cute little things. Unfortunately no pictures yet. I have been such a clacker lately that it truly is ridiculous! I will have to post some up with the next blog.
Brett’s niece, Abby, was blessed the first Sunday in May. She is a beautiful little girl who is always so happy. She loves seeing people’s faces and her personality is showing through more and more every day. We feel so blessed to be able to live so close to Brett’s family and share so much of their lives. We just wish my family was closer so we could share more with them too! Perhaps some day.
My sister, her husband, and their son, Dax were here from Alaska. They came down for Zach’s little sister’s wedding. They arrived the day before the wedding and they left this morning. We had to share them a lot with the Jones family and I didn’t like it one bit. We are used to having them all to ourselves for the summer and I am so sad that we aren’t going to be able to do so this year. We got to spend a lot of time with Dax, keeping him occupied during the wedding and such was a blast. I took their family pictures on Wed, we went for a hike and to a movie on Thursday, and then Friday we headed up to Idaho Falls so they wouldn't have to leave so early in the morning. We borrowed my grandpa's van and we got a flat tire on the way there. We stopped in Pocatello to get it fixed, had lunch and kept chugging along. We had dinner that night with my aunt's family that live in Rexburg and swam in the pool. Dax loved the pool and a great time was had by all. We really enjoy spending time with the Joneses when they are here. We love them so much and already miss them so much. I am still going through all of the pictures that I took while they were here but here are some of their family pictures:

On Mother’s Day we also got to talk to my brother, Dillon, who is on a mission in Portland. He sounds like he is doing so well. He is loving the area and the people there. I can’t believe he has almost been out a year – that means that I have finished a year of graduate school and am now considered a 2^nd year MFT grad student. WAIT! I’M WAY TOO YOUNG FOR THAT! P.S. I think that Brett and I are pretty dang lucky. We have the best mother’s in the world and are so blessed to be able to live so close to them – even closer now! J They are such wonderful mother’s and great examples. Thanks for being so great and teaching us so well Moms. We love you!

Last Saturday was the Black & White Days Horse Show. I miss showing horses like crazy! This month has really been quite depressing realizing just how old I am getting by not being able to play as much soccer anymore and not being able to show horses like I used to. Man oh man… getting old really does stink! Luckily, our nephew, Garrett loves horses and I talked his dad into signing him up for lead-line. We got “Airplane de Wasey” (Garrett named the horse airplane and wasey is how he says horsey) all shined up and ready for the show. We combed and braided her tail and got all of the snarled mane out. She looked really nice. Garrett went to the show and had a good time. About half way through the class we kept saying “Get down. Get down.” But for only being 2 years old he did a fantastic job and even got a blue ribbon! Go G-man! We had fun getting the horse all ready and it made me homesick for the good ol’ days. Thanks Mom and Dad for affording me the opportunity to do so much and be so involved in so many things when I was younger. You’re the best! Here are some pictures of Garrett and Airplane at the show all dressed up:

Garrett thought it was fun to comb my hair while I combed Airplane's tail

Garrett and his Blue Ribbon

Greg, Garrett, and Airplane at Black and White Days

Baby Abby climbed on Airplane with her big Brother while the judge was talking to each of the kids. What a cute family!

All of the above mentioned stuff was great, fun, and made our lives crazy for the past month. However, the best thing that happened to me in the last month was that everyone in my cohort at school got placed in their internship. The internship goes for the next year and we interviewed for the positions just like you would for a job. I was fortunate enough to get LDS Family Services in Logan. I don’t have to travel to Ogden, and it is one of two paid internships. It’s a fantastic place to work and I can’t wait to start there – which will probably be about mid June when I see my first client there. I am so happy about this! I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to get position. And hopefully, this will open up some opportunity for when it is time for us to move away for Brett’s school. We’ll just have to wait and see…

Happy Birthday Brett!

2010-04-04T20:54:00.005-04:00

Brett turns 26 tomorrow and for his birthday every year he always jokes about going to Chuck E. Cheese, "where a kid can be a kid". On Friday we were headed down to Salt Lake City to Brett's Mission reunion. I told him that we were going to meet my cousin in Salt Lake for an early dinner. He didn't question me and thought that we were going down early to Salt Lake for that. Little did he know that his entire family had left for Chuck E Cheese a little bit earlier than we did. They were all waiting at Chuck E Cheese when we arrived. Brett had no idea that it was coming and it was a really good surprise.

Part of the surprise was I had registered Brett for a birthday party so he was a Birthday Star of Chuck E Cheese for the evening. Because I registered him he received a big balloon with his name on it, a blow up crown, a piggy bank with Chuck E Cheese on it and Chuck E Cheese himself actually came out and gave out fives, sang Happy Birthday and gave away some gifts. Brett was a little embarrassed but I am so glad that it all happened that way! We all felt a little awkward with 8 adults and only 4 kids there but it was fun. Definitely an experience that anyone who was there will not be forgetting for a while.

All of the adults were a little apprehensive about heading down to Chuck E Cheese but it was actually really fun. I'm just glad Brett's nieces and nephew was there so that we didn't look like pedophiles.

Here's proof of the event:

The Crown

The Medallion

Brett, Me, Garrett and Brooklyn with Chuck E Cheese. Gracie, Brett's niece was not found of Chuck E. at all. She was not impressed

The Birthday Cake

After Chuck E Cheese we headed to Brett's mission reunion. It was so great to be able to chat with a couple of his mission buddies and their wives. Most of them have small kids so it was fun to see their kids and catch up with some of them. Then of course it was a weekend full of General Conference, lots of family time, and good food. Conference was great, as always, and it's always nice to get some good family time in, especially when there is food involved. It was quite a fun weekend. I hope it won't be a weekend that Brett will forget any time soon. I am so thankful for all of his hard work and am so grateful to have him in my life. Happy 26th Birthday Sweetheart!

Rise and Shout!

2010-03-21T15:30:00.004-04:00

Check out these awesome shirts Brett and I bought for our niece and nephew. Aren't they just the cutest?

Spring Break 2010

2010-03-19T11:41:00.010-04:00

This year for Spring Break we headed to Southern Utah for some sun. We originally we going to backpack through Coyote Gulch in Escalante, Utah. However, much of the hike must be done through the stream, the weather was only supposed to be in the mid 50's, which is what the temps were here in Logan. So we changed our plans and headed to a little Recreation site about 15 miles north of St George called Red Cliffs. It's just south of a little town called Leeds. It was a a very small campground and we camped right next to a stream. It was very warm, about 75 degrees the whole time we were down there. It was beautiful! We did some hiking and exploring in the area and had a blast just spending some much needed Brett and Chelsea time.

We left for Red Cliffs on Monday afternoon got to camp at about 7:30, set up camp and enjoyed a nice fire. Tuesday we went for a hike that started right at our campsite. It was gorgeous! We went boulder hopping once we couldn't go up the trail any further because of neck-deep water. Rock scrambling was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of driving to our camp site, our camp site, and that hike:

We also went to explore the ghost town of Silver Reef. It was a Silver mining town. The silver was found in the limestone, which is supposedly the only commercial Silver mining from limestone that has ever been done. It was once a booming town with a Main street that was over a mile long. Silver Reef had over 2000 people living here. There were hotels, 9 stores, 6 saloons, a bank, several restaurant, a hospital, 2 dance halls, 2 news papers, a china town and 3 cemeteries. In 1891 the last mine shut down, about 25 million dollars worth of ore had been taken from the mines here. Between 1891 and 1901 another $250,000 of ore was taken out of the area. Here are some pictures of what is left of the town:

We also tried to get to the abandoned Fort Pearce to look at the petroglyphs and dinosaur tracks. We had spent about an hour trying to find this place and a few miles away from the Fort the road was covered in a few feet of water, too much water for the subaru to handle and we didn't really feel like getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. So we had to turn around. We did get to enjoy driving around a new area of St George.

We also went to Quail Creek State Park. It's a big lake/dam that is between Leeds and St. George. We spent about an hour just skipping rocks. It was a beautiful lake. Of course, here are some pictures:

That night we spent around the campfire, eating oreo's and milk and playing Rook. Good times!

Wednesday we went for another drive through the Dixie National Forest. It was a gorgeous drive! Brett enjoyed driving through the here because he said he felt like a derby car driver. It was a lot of fun seeing Southern Utah from a whole new angle. There were lots of deep canyons and gulches. Here's a few pictures from our excursion:

That afternoon, my friend Justin, who is in the MFT program with me who is from St. George, took us 4-wheeling in the Veyo area. It was so much fun. We were caked in dirt after words and my hair felt so disgusting! But we had a blast and got to see a lot of the area. Here's a few pictures from our awesome ride:

We had a campfire that night - to add to the dirt, we thought adding a little campfire smell would be the best idea. We ate oreo's and milk yet again and enjoyed just chatting next to the campfire. I LOVE CAMPING! I can't wait until it gets warm enough that we can go in Logan! The next morning we headed for home.

P.S. The last couple of weeks Brett has been super busy. He went to Las Vegas two weeks ago and Boise a week ago with Lacrosse. In between those two trips he also had midterms so he ahd two huge tests in the middle of all of that. He got home from Boise on Sunday night and the next afternoon left o go to St George with me again. It's now Friday morning and Brett has once again left to go to South Salt Lake for, yet, another Lacrosse tournament. He is such a wonderful husband and I appreciate him so much for his willingness to spend some time with me on our camping adventure!

It's been a while...

2010-02-28T18:11:00.010-05:00

Life this semester is crazy as ever but luckily for me, this semester of school is much more enjoyable than stressful. I've seen a few more clients and I can't tell you how much I enjoy it. Everyone must think I am crazy but I just love doing therapy! Some people might think that it is more stressful than anything else but I think it is so much fun. I love walking into a therapy session and seeing what I can come up with and just watching people's minds at work as they finally begin to see the results they are looking for by coming to therapy. Every case is a new challenge and i love being pushed every time that I'm sitting with someone. Call me crazy but I think I'm going to love this job for the rest of my life!

Ok, ok. Enough about all that gross therapy talk. Things in the Petersen Household are crazy as ever! Brett is coaching Lacrosse again this year. It is now in full swing. They played a hockey game yesterday (coaches and the Varsity team) and let's just say that it's a good thing that they don't play on ice all the time. Brett will be working with the special teams on the varsity team which means he helps them with face-offs, clears, and rides (transitions). Brett loves working with the boys and we are so blessed that he has the opportunity to work with the boys. Lacrosse season is always such a busy time but it's also such a satisfying time for both of us. Every game I'm learning a little bit more and more about the sport and can't wait to spend a few hours in the sun watching Brett's hard work pay off.

I also started a new job. I am working as a PSR worker or Psychosocial Rehabilitation worker in Southeast Idaho. Right now I just have one client that I am working with who is 4 years old. She is going to be a challenge but once again, I'm very excited to see what I can come up with. The traveling to Preston twice a week kind of stinks but the pay is great so I can't complain one bit.

Brett's sister and brother-in-law had a new baby and named her Abby. She's a month old and needed her pictures taken so her beauty could be shown off to the friends and family. She's adorable! Here's a few pics that I snapped of the cute little thing.

Here's a great action shot of Brett on the ice...

Here's Brett attempting to pick up his stick.... Oops! Him and the ice got to know each other pretty good yesterday.

Studio 5 and Good Things Utah

2010-02-08T21:45:00.003-05:00

This week is National Marriage Week and because of my associate with the Utah Marriage Commission they have asked me to write a blog post that will be posted on http://blog.strongermarriage.org/ This post will be used to help the Utah Marriage Comission promote stronger marriages and will be used to promote it on Good Things Utah on Wednesday and Studio 5 on Thursday. So here's a copy of what will be on the blog and we sure to watch Good Things Utah on Wednesday and Studio 5 on Thursday and look for my blog post!

Unnecessary Pressure

Hi, my name is Chelsea Petersen. I am currently a graduate student at Utah State University in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program. I would like to share with you the one thing that I would change about being a newlywed, if I had the chance.
A little over two years ago I got married, while going to school, and trying to work. Add the adjustments that need to be made in a new marriage on top of being a student, preparing for Graduate School, and working, and there was a lot on my plate. My husband Brett, who I might add is quite a wonderful man, also had a full load with school and work. When we were first married, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be the “perfect wife”. I thought that because I loved him so much I had to show that love by being the “perfect wife.” To me, this meant having the house spik-and-span 100% of the time, having a home-cooked meal on the table every night at 6 pm when he’d walk through the door, and catering to his every need. I felt a pressure from society that I had to be this ideal wife. Don’t get me wrong, I loved showing him my love by doing all of those things for him but it wasn’t until about 8 months after we were married that I realized that Brett would still love me if there wasn’t a home-cooked meal on the table the second he walked through the door, or if the laundry didn’t get done until we were down to our last pair of undies. I have learned that those things are OK. It took me and Brett some time to figure this out together. Brett would often walk in the door and I would be busy running around the kitchen trying my hardest to get things done so that I could measure up to that “perfect wife”. Often times I wouldn’t even stop what I was doing to welcome him home, to give him a kiss, to tell him I love him, or even ask about his day. Over time Brett helped me to realize that a spotless house is nice, but it’s more important to live in a place where you can feel relaxed and be yourself. By trying to measure up to the “perfect wife” I was not being myself. One of the most important things for me now is not to be perfect by society’s standards but to be the best person that I can be for my husband. Now that we are getting further into our marriage and beginning to discuss children and how we would like to raise them, I find myself again, trying to be the “perfect parent”. I have all the solutions for every problem that will happen with my children and exactly what I want my kids to do and not do. I am sure that soon enough, when my child is eating a Kit Kat at 3 months old or writing on the freshly painted wall I will have to change my way of thinking once again. But hey, I can dream for now, right?!?
My hope for you as the reader is to not make the same mistake that I have made. Realize that the most important thing in your marriage is to take the time to really love your spouse, communicate your expectations with each other, and to not get wrapped up in everything the world says that you should be. Love your spouse to the best of your ability and don’t worry about what other people say. Who knows, you might surprise yourself and actually enjoy watching a football game while you’re curled up next to the one you love.

A New Year

2010-01-21T19:10:00.002-05:00

School has started and I once again am busy running every where. This semester seems like it will be much more applied than my past semester. I don't have as many classes but the reading is still crazy. Can I just say that I love reading about 1,000 pages a week?!?! But at least it's reading that is interesting so it's not terrible but it still is not my idea of fun. I love all of my classes and am really enjoying this semester. For some more good news about the semester I saw my first clients this week. It was crazy to think that people are coming to me for answers to their problems. I felt so inadequate - there really is no way to describe the way that i felt. I was so tired after the session that I just went home and put on a pointless movie so I wouldn't have to think anymore. But the good thing is that I will never have a first first study.
The day was kind of crazy but I must say that I have the best husband in the world. When I got home there were flowers on the table with a note and my favorite treat - Queso and chips! I think that i'm the luckiest girl in the world! Thanks Honey!
Although I greatly enjoyed the break, I must say that there wasn't a huge feeling of worth while on break. It's good to be back in school and back to feeling like I have purpose again. I'm getting back into the groove of being stressed and feeling like I have 5 million things to do and no time to do it. Hopefully, by next week I will finally have my system back.
Natalie and Greg's house is almost done - just have to do the finishing things (cabinets, carpet, tile, plumbing, and finish electric work). And then we can start on the apartment in the basement and then we can get out to the country life soon! YEAH!!!! I'm looking forward to being out there but I'm not looking forward to the longer drives to school... The next few months are going to be SUPER busy but very satisfying.

Holiday Fun

2010-01-04T22:23:00.011-05:00

This holiday season has been so good to us. We were able to spend a lot of time with our families and enjoy some much needed R&R. We were able to play hard with the Jones Family while they were visiting from Alaska. We weren't sure when we were going to see them again until Aleene (Zach's sister) got engaged. So good news - They will be back in MAY! YEAH! We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and morning with the Petersen family. It is so much fun to have 2 families to celebrate Christmas and other holidays with. Although at times it can be exhausting it is always a good time! On Christmas day we were also able to talk to my little brother Dillon who is serving a mission in Portland, Oregon. It was so good to get to talk with him. It's crazy how grown up he sounds in just 6 months of serving. I was also proud of my mom - she only got a little teary-eyed when we were hanging up the phone.

The rest of the Christmas break was full of games, great fun, and wonderful people. Probably the highlight of our parties was the New Year's Eve party that my parents had. It was an ungly sweater party and our family took it to the top. We not only had ugly sweaters but we had ugly hair-dos and make-up to top off the whole outfit. It was such a fun night. My nephew stopped by for a few minutes with his parents (Nat and Greg) and he did not recognize me. Brett name for the night was also "Petey the Pedophile". When you look at the pictures you will understand why he was so fortunate to receive that wonderful name. My name for the night was Loralynn. Quite fitting I would have to say. Here are some sweet pictures to document the night.

Petey the Pedophile and Loralynn

Our 80's rendition of photographs

Family Photo

We are sad to see the Joneses go home and the holiday season to come to an end. We have been back to school for a few days now and are getting settled back into the school life...
Here are some other pictures of the fun that we have had during our Christmas Break.

Seeing the lights on Temple Square

Elk at Hardware Ranch

Grandma Jones doesn't like to smile for the camera and it's my goal to catch her with a smile at least once.... You are SO welcome Lynette!

Garrett as a shepherd at the Wright Family Christmas Party - he was either trying to poke someone or something the entire time.

Sweet Brooklyn did a great job as Mother Mary

I love this picture of Garrett - the good shepherd caught doing something he's not supposed to! His face is priceless.

Christmas Morning. The G man loved his tool bench and is so serious every time that he plays with it.

Dax seemed to enjoy Christmas and opening lots of new toys! I miss the little guy!

TWO WHOLE YEARS

2009-12-18T11:57:00.006-05:00

On December 15, we celebrated our 2nd anniversary. I can't believe that it has been two years already! It's a feeling that is very hard to describe - it's like I don't remember a life without Brett. Don't worry, I hate when people get super sappy on these dang blogs so I won't go there but these past 2 years really have been the best years of my life thanks to Brett and to his wonderful family.

For our anniversary this year we decided to head back to where we went on our Honeymoon - Park City, Utah. Only if you remember from our Honeymoon both of us were pretty sick and spent most of the time indoors. We didn't get to go skiing or shopping or anything but it was still good to get away. So this year we decided that we would the same thing only this time with both of us being healthy we could do everything that we didn't get to do on our Honeymoon. We left later Tuesday afternoon and go to Salt Lake City for our first night. We stayed at the Radisson in downtown so we were able to walk everywhere we went. We walked to dinner at Ramone's Macaroni Grill, which was fabulous food by the way. Then we walked down to the Gateway and walked around there for a little while. We didn't buy any thing but it was fun just to walk in all of the stores and look at everything. We found out there are a lot of fashions that we like to make fun of right now so we had some really good laughs at some of the people at the mall and some of the clothes at the mall.... Great times! We decided not to see the lights at Temple Square because we will be seeing them next Wednesday when we get to pick up my sister and her family who are coming from Alaska! We have had a countdown to their arrival basically since the day we pulled off of the coast of Alaska. We are so excited to see them! So instead of seeing the lights we went to visit Brett's brother Brian and his wife Sher for a minute and to pick a few things up from them. They are awesome. We wished they lives closer so we could spend more time with them but we sure do love the time we do get to spend with them.

When we got back to our hotel we decided to hope in our GiGanTic Jacuzzi tub that was in our room instead of going down to the pool area. (This is rated, we got in the tub in our swimming suits...) While I was inthe tub I started feeling really nauseas and proceeded to puke. Afterwords I thought I was feeling better but I was up all night puking and with the diarrhea the entire night! Let's just say that December 15 is not a good day for Chelsea and puking.... On my wedding day I puked twice because I was sick.

The TUB

The next morning I was feeling better but not 100% so we took it easy. We got up late, ate some breakfast and then headed down to Cabela's for a couple of hours. We headed up to Park City about 4 pm, check into our hotel, The Yarrow, then went to dinner at Loco Lizard. They have the best salas there, we ate there on our honeymoon and we decided we just had to go back. It was great food. After dinner Brett had set up a massage for me, which was so awesome! I loved it and it was such great way to relax, especially after a very stressful semester. Thanks honey! The next day we spent the day on the slopes. Although snow conditions were not perfect, the weather was warm and it was a beautiful day for skiing! We had a blast and really enjoyed our little getaway! We headed home last night and Brett is now out goose hunting in some really foggy weather... Here's some pictures of the awesome Deer Valley and our wonderful ski day!

Us on the lift

Brett with some HUGE cabins behind him

Chelsea with some of the resort and cabins in the background

Some GigAnTic cabins that we skied past during the day

Birthday Blues

2009-12-03T18:28:00.005-05:00

Wednesday was my 22nd birthday. I knew that it was going to be a special one because you only have the same double digit number every decade. With that being sad let me recap my birthday for you:
It was a normal morning, I got to sleep in that morning and was taking it pretty easy. I was getting ready for the USU vs BYU basketball game when I went upstairs to get my small digital camera so that I could take it with me to the game. When I opened the drawer that is always in I noticed it was gone. I called Brett and asked him if he moved the camera and he said that he hadn’t moved it. He also asked if his camera was there, that’s when I noticed his camera and his video camera was gone. He then said he noticed the lock on the bathroom window was broken and that he thought we had been robbed. I looked in the drawer where we had been keeping some extra cash and low and behold the cash was all gone – there was about $400 dollars. The cash was from some of our last tips in Alaska, we had decided to use it for buying Christmas presents so we hadn’t put it into the bank. So the robber got away with 2 digital cameras, a camcorder, and about $400.
We think the robbery occurred on Saturday night. On Saturday my mom had gone to our apartment to get some Sunday clothes so that we could go to church with them the next day instead of coming home and going to our own ward. While she was here, our landlords were next door cleaning the apartment so that some new neighbors could move in this week. She talked to them in the parking lot and said that we would be staying with her for another night and we wouldn’t be home until Sunday. We believe that someone overheard them talking, someone in the neighborhood, so they knew they would have all night and the next morning to get whatever they wanted. When we got home Sunday night nothing was out of the ordinary expect some cloth curtains were missing from the kitchen window. The kitchen window is very small and kind of an awkward size so our landlord just made some cloth curtains for us instead of using blinds. We found it odd that they were missing but thought that she might have come into our apartment when she was there on Saturday to measure them or take them home to make some new ones for the other apartment. We weren’t too worried about it, that’s why we didn’t find out until Wednesday because we didn’t notice anything missing (we don’t use our cameras very often) and we weren’t using the money from the drawer yet. We didn’t discovery anything was missing until Wednesday, December 2, which just happened to be my birthday. Happy Birthday to me – you’ve been robbed.
We aren’t too devastated by our losses, we feel very lucky because we could’ve lost a lot more than we did. But it still sucks! We just feel so violated. The cops came and tried to get fingerprints but they didn’t really get anything good so we’re not hopeful they will be able to find anything from the fingerprints. It is under investigation, and they will continue looking for the cameras for us but that’s about all they can do. We’re not hopeful that we’ll get them back but what can you do?
We did end up getting into the BYU vs USU basketball game. Me and my best friend, Heidi, went up to wait in line at about 3:30 and the line was clear back by the Hyper building. It was the longest I have ever had to wait in the line but it was a dang good game. I thought the Ags were going to disappoint me in the first half but second half they got the jitters out and were actually able to play. They did not disappoint…. A ten point victory was very very sweet. I’m pretty sure the Cougs will not be coming back to the spectrum for a very long time – unless their dang head coach, Rose, gets fired or moves! Go Aggies GO! They did make my birthday a lot better. After the game we made a trip to Wingers for some Asphalt Pie and boy was it delicious! Let’s just say neither one of us slept very well on Wednesday night.
Thursday night Brett was at a study session for his chemistry final from 6:30 to 8:30. I went home at about 7 and was cooking some dinner when all of the lights went out in the house. Brett was still in the study session and I was so scared. I didn’t know what was going on, we have tripped out breaker before but I only had 2 lights on and the microwave. I thought of everyone that I could call to come and help me and I couldn’t think of anyone that could be there in a relatively short amount of time. I ended up calling Justin, a friend from my cohort who lives a couple blocks away to come and help me. When we got there I was still shaking but he helped me flip the breaker back and all was well again. Thanks Justin! Brett got out of class really soon after that so luckily I didn’t have to be home by myself for too much longer. I’m just not sure how much more of this stress I can take. I need to new apartment….

Update

2009-11-30T19:51:00.004-05:00

I know that all of you have been dying from anxiety to find out if I was actually the winner of the Long Tail Feather Contest in Newton, Utah. Well, worry no longer....

I WON THE LONG TAIL FEATHER CONTEST!

That means that I get a German Short-haired puppy. We talked to the person who was giving away the dog and said that it wasn't really feasible for us to have a puppy right now. He kindly told us that we could have the pick of the litter when we decide that we would like a puppy. As soon as we move out to Newton, which will probably be in about May, we will be anxiously awaiting the arrival of those puppies!
Oh and I guess I should comment on what great Thanksgiving Holiday we had. Brett was a little bit of a scrooge. He wasn't the biggest fan of putting up lights or decorating for the Christmas season. But he was a trooper and made it through. I love the holidays!We had such a great time with the family and really enjoyed the time we were able to spend with them.
Now we're back to school and I'm wishing there would not have been a break. My brain has been turned off for almost a week and I can't focus anymore. Fortunately, I only have a few more things to finish up until I can relax for about a month. Sadly, Brett will be pretty dang busy for the next week and a half. Then we can take much needed, nearly one whole month off from school. Lucky for me, I will be doing lots of reading during that time but I luckily it will be reading that interests me and that I don't absolutely HAVE to do....
YAHOO! The holiday season has arrived and I could NOT be HAPPIER! :)

One more thing: USU plays BYU on Wednesday at the spectrum -

GO AGGIES! GO AGGIES! HEY! HEY! HEY!

Fantastic Fall

2009-11-07T14:34:00.006-05:00

Let me just say that Fall is my favorite time of the year! It's filled with lots of great holidays and fun times to be had by all. We had a "terror"-ific halloween. We didn't do anything too exciting for the big day but we got to spend some time with Brett's family, which is always a blast. Last minute before we headed to Brett's cousin Kami's house, we decided to throw on some stuff to make a costume. We're not really sure what we were going for but oh well. Hey, at least we had fun. Brett's was supposed to be a miner and I ended up being some type of beach bum or something. My sister-in-law, Natalie, said we could be Alaska and Hawaii and I think that's a great idea. So we'll stick with that.

Today was the opening day of the pheasant hunt. Last year we went to Benson and went hunting with my dad. This year we decided to try Newton with our brother-in-law. We saw tons of roosters this year, about 15 or 20 but only a got a few shots off at a couple of different birds. I ended up shooting a rooster with 24 inch tail feathers! YEE - HAW! That's a dang good bird! I was pretty stoked. Brett wasn't able to get a shot off at all but is planning on going out during the week so he'll get one before all is said and done. Newton is also having a "Longest Tail Feather" competition this year. 1st prize for the adults is a German Short-hair puppy and 1st prize for the youth is a shotgun. So far it looks like I'm in the lead but I don't know - we'll keep you posted. By the way... any one want a puppy? We aren't really in a position to have a puppy right now so I'm really not sure what we'll do with it if I end up winning the puppy. At this point, I'd rather have a shotgun... Here's my bird:

After the hunt, Natalie, my sister-in-law, had to run to the store so I ended up watching her son, Garrett, for a little while. After she finds out what we've been up to I'm not sure she'll ever want to leave her child with me again but he sure did have fun.

I taught him to "pet" the bird and soon after he was doing this...

He drug that bird literally all over for about 20 mintues until we had to go back to the house

This kid is 100% boy

We headed back to Spark's and Suz's house and Garrett pretended to drive the lawnmower and was very helpful in helping Spark's rake the leaves. And now I'm blogging when I really should be studying..... Gotta love Saturdays!

Bitter Sweet

2009-10-23T21:26:00.007-04:00

The third week in October is always kind of crazy at our house. I guess technically, the second and third week are... You may ask why, but if you know Brett or the Petersen family, you know it's gotta be because of the deer hunt. The Petersen family has a tradition of camping up Franklin Basin for the entire week of deer camp. They don't do the camp trailers (well most of them don't) they have two big wall tents that get set up, the sleeping tent and the cook tent. The sleeping tent does have a furnace inside so it stays very warm all night. Along with these two tents they have a poop tent for the bathroom, and a regular camping tent hosting the shower. They have it made. I'd say that it's a more luxurious way of camping but it's dang fun to be up there. Every meal is cooked to perfection, but dinners are always a special occasion. Most nights there are few of the woman and children that head up to deer camp for a night out in the woods and some great dinner. This year was no exception. There were lots of people up there every day and as always a great time was had by all.
Brett was able to get far enough ahead on his homework that he was able to take almost the entire week off. He headed up Tuesday and didn't come home until Saturday. Unfortunately, I had to stay home and go to school but I did manage to make it up there for Tuesday night, stayed until late morning on Wednesday and then headed up again Thursday night and stayed until Friday night. I told Brett this year that I would shoot a deer if we saw one so we headed out Friday morning to find me one to shoot. We saw about 10 deer but all of them were either does or fawns. Dang it! There's always next year, right?!?
Natalie brought Garrett up on Thursday night and the boy was in heaven the entire night! He got to ride the horse with Brett (notice in the picture he's got the reins in his hands and is ready to be top by himself) and he was enthralled with the fire. He came running over to the fire and then just stood there and stared, didn't move, I'm not sure the kid even blinked for about 5 minutes. He was even drooling quite a bit because he was forgetting to swallow. He loved the fire and found sticks on the ground to throw into it. He also loved poking the fire with a stick. I'm afraid we have a future pyro on our hands. The Maynards weren't able to make it up this year and they were really missed. It's now a bitter sweet time because the hunt is over and we can get back to normal life but the fact that we have to get back to normal life is kind of depressing at times and the deer hunt is a whole year away! Here's a few pictures of the hunt:

Garrett and Brett
Ride Cowboy, Ride!

Jan on her very first horse ride ever! This was also her first time at camp in about 30 years! Her presence will have to become more regular at deer camp.

Notice the stick in Garrett's hand and where he is headed...

Watching the stick burn

Garrett, his poking stick, and the fire

Las Vegas Ragnar 2009

2009-10-14T10:39:00.009-04:00

This past weekend I ran a Ragnar relay race in Nevada. I was on a team that consisted of 12 people and between us all we ran 171 miles in about 27 hours. The 171 miles is split between the 12 of us, so the run is comprised of 36 legs all together. The race started in Logandale, a town just outside the Valley of Fire State Park and ended just outside of Las Vegas at the Red Cliffs Casino and Hotel. The entire team was in 2 seperate vans (6 people in each). I was in Van 1 so the people in my van would all run their legs and then the next van would run their 6 legs while we tried to rest and then we'd start the process all over. The Ragnar Relay moto is Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat. Quite fitting for exactly what we did. This Ragnar Relay is just like the Wasatch Back that goes from Logan to Park City that is 187.9 miles. My team was my sister-in-law Emily, a lady from Emily's ward (Lori), Emily's friend (Kara), Karli Anderson, and my brother-in-laws little sister Mallory. The other van was full of Mallory's friends, unfortanatley from BYU but they were awesome so I guess I was ok with them being on our team... We had a blast staying up, cheering each other on, and just being silly. A few highlights from the trip:
-Mallory "thrusting" her way to Vegas - Mallory would get out of the car and say while thrusting her hips "Don't think of the pain. Just think of this...!"
- Mallory also drank an energy drink that didn't sit well with her stomach so a few of the stops consisted of Mallory trying to find cover behind the tiny sagebrush with a pack a wipes trying not to "explode" all over. - Kara was dicussing the type of underwear she wears when she runs and said, "I have plenty of regular undies. Scott likes me to put it on before we, ya know..."
- Back in St. George after the race, Emily was driving to Target and was delirious and made about 5 wrong turns just trying to get into the parking lot of Target. Then once we got in the store we walked around trying to find the customer service desk, which we passed just as we came through the first door.
- It was Lori's birthday on Saturday so while she was in the shower we thought we'd run to the store and buy some cupcakes to surprise her with. We didn't want to make it obvious that we had gone to the store just for that so we left them in the car until we went to pick up our take out order from the Pizza Factory. When we got back from picking up the pizzas our hands were full and couldn't take the cupcakes in. After we finished eating we got busy getting ready for bed and completely forgot about the cupcakes! So the big surprise was pointless and she didn't even get the cupcakes until the next morning.
-Saturday night, with all of us in our delirious states we were looking at pictures from the race and everyone's faces in the pictures. We were dying with laughter, especially thanks to Kara for all of the goofy faces she was pulling. :) Emily was laughing so hard she went to get off of the bed and fell off. Wow.... I don't think I can even explain our delirium....
- And probably the ultimate memory from the trip was getting not one but TWO flat tires! We got a flat tire on the second leg of the run while Karli was running. Luckily, another team (hell on heels) stopped to help us out. It was going to take a while so they helped to shuffle our runners back and forth until the tire was fixed. We couldn't find all the tools that we needed so we had to ask the neighbors for tools. They provided us with a floor jack, a sleg hammer, and crowbar. Once we got the car jacked up and the lug nuts off the tire was rusted to the axle and we could not get the tire off. The neighbors were so nice to help us out. We just so grateful it happened when it did or things would have been a lot worse! Then just as the second van was finishing their first legs they got a flat tire. We had to help shuffle a their last runner back to their car and then get to the finish line before Mallory did so our runner would be there. I think we were the only team to get a flat tire and BOTH of our vehicles got one.
***The sadest part about the entire race was at about 4:35 am Saturday morning. A 35 year old father of two from one of the teams was standing on the side of the road waiting for the runner from his team to met him so that he could cheer him on and give him water. While he was standing on side of the road a drunk driver lost control of his car and hit him. The car continued to skid, going over the center median, and overturning in the desert. The driver managed to get out of his car and run about a half of a mile before the police caught him. The father, who was running the race with his wife was killed on impact. A few of the teams tried to revive him before the ambulance got there but they were never able to. Luckily, we did not see the event take place but we heard about it. My heart breaks for this young family. I can't even imagine how hard things must be for them right now. You can click here to read more about the accident. On a much happier note, here are some of the pictures from the race:

Runner 1: Mallory Phillips

Runner 2: Karli Anderson

Runner 3: Emily Maynard

Runner 4: me

Runner 5: Kara Jorgensen

Runner 6: Lori Meeker

Cooling Lori off... It was HOT!

Flat Tire #1

Mallory's Hip thrust position

I'm not sure what i'm doing in this picture but the runners that ran by me an Mallory making fools of ourselves in the middle of the night seemed to enjoy our stupidity...

Van 1 Photos

The whole gang at the finish line

What we've been up to...

2009-09-29T16:34:00.006-04:00

So it's been about a month since there was any sort of update from us. We've been super busy with school and haven't had much time for anything else. So here's a brief overview of the our lives for the past month.
Brian (brett's brother) rode the LOTOJA for the sixth year in a row! Go B! So we made the trip to Jackson with Brett's family on Sept 12 - 13. Here's a few pictures of our great adventure...

The next weekend (Sept 19) we went to the Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley concert. It was so much fun! We went with some great friends. We had a really good time but unfortunately I don't have any pictures to document the event because I forgot to get some batteries for my small camera. So you'll just have to trust me that Dierks was looking as cute as ever and that it was an amazing show. It was also kinda crazy because it was at the USANA so it was outdoors and a storm kind of rolled in and it rained off and on throughout Brad's preformance and the lightning was going nuts. It was getting so close but luckily didn't strike anyone or anything at the concert. But it was awesome to have the lightning in the background.
This past week/weekend was Homecoming at USU and Kami's (Brett's cousin's) wedding. USU was successful at winning their homecoming this year. They beat SUU by about 20 points. We're so proud of our Aggies. We sure hope they can have more success this year! Kami's wedding was a smashing success. She looked gorgeous and it was a lot of fun to be together as a family to share in her special day with her. Here's some pictures of the weekend.

My dad is also building a barn and so in our spare time we're trying to help him as much as possible. Here's the latest in the barn building....

And that's what we've been up to for the last month... It's been school every single day with a few chances to play with family and friends every now and again. We sure are thankful for such great people in our lives!