Happy Birthday Brett!

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!

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

Spring Break 2010

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...

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

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

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

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!