December Dazzle

Dazzle is defined to arouse admiration by an impressive display---I'll see what I can do about that for this month and hopefully you'll feel like you've been dazzled.

I started out the month by going to Salt Lake City with Kim Tippetts, JoAnn Giordano,and Joy Ercanbrack to set up a wreath display that our ward put together for the Festival of the Trees. Our display sold for $1,600.00 and that total amount was donated to Primary Children's Hospital! What a great cause and what fun it was to be a small part of pulling this together. It was a great way to kick-off the holiday season.

I also got more into the Christmas spirit by helping decorate for our Ward Christmas Party as well as ushering for the American Festival Choir Christmas Concert where Kurt Bestor and Nathan Pacheco joined the choir. I ushered for The Pickleville Playhouse Juanito Bandito's Christmas Show at the Eccles Theater as well. Then Dale and I took his folks to the production of A Christmas Carol, put on by the Four Seasons Theater company. All were wonderful!

Danica said good-bye to Texas and came home to stay for awhile. She decided she wanted to quit soccer while she still loved it and take a break from school. This past season was rough on her.
We welcomed her home with open arms! 

We picked Danica up and dropped off Garrett and Zandra at the airport the same day. Garrett got done with school. Finishing up his Bachelor's Degree in Marketing & Finance. (Way to go Garrett) He's been applying and interviewing for jobs hoping to move into their next phase of life. So to celebrate they combined his graduating along with Christmas and their Anniversary, and went on a cruise to the Bahamas and the Caribbean with some friends. So to celebrate Danica's coming home, and Garrett's graduation we all went out to eat at Shappaaro's Indian Restaurant in Salt Lake before dropping off our cruisers. (Bet you didn't have to guess who picked where we ate)

Amie and the kids came to see Danica and to go to the Hansen Family Christmas Party.

They also joined us for their cousins, McKelle and Ethan Hansen's, mission report and farewell. It was a good weekend. 

Then Danica went back to Oakley with Amie for a week because once Danica gets a job, she won't be able to steal her as easy. Danica was able to watch the kids school Christmas programs as well as Kennlyn's tumbling program and Jaxson singing with his class at the Festival of Trees.

I worked with the DIBELS team and Dale and I went to a Christmas Dinner with the School Board, and a Christmas program put on by the Westminster Bell Choir and Belles of Westminster at the Logan Tabernacle. We also took my Aunt Vonda, who is almost 94, to the temple to do a session and then to dinner while Danica was gone. She's quite the lady, still sharp as a whip.

Garrett and Zandra got home from their cruise with a little more color. Zandra, more tanned and Garrett, a little green. He got sick while on the last leg of the cruise. They got home and went straight to Insta- Care and he found out he has pneumonia and influenza! They loaded him up with an inhaler and a prescription and said bed rest! Poor guy!
The Mallory's brought Danica back home and we all loaded up and went to Heber City, UT to experience the Polar Express on the Heber Creeper Railroad. Garrett even went, but kept his distance from the little ones and limited his time out in the cold. (He sounded a lot better, if that's worth anything)

We all got settled in our seats....

Had Sparky our elf give us cookies Mrs. Claus had made, and Sparkle, the elf give us hot chocolate....

The conductor came and punched our tickets.....

Mrs. Claus came around and shared her cookie recipe with those that wanted it......

Then Santa came on board and visited with the kids and gave them a shiny silver bell! 

The mistletoe even made an appearance and created a little excitement.

We sang Christmas Carols and visited and enjoyed each others company. It was a fun ride.

WE BELIEVE!!!

We stopped in Ogden and saw the lights of their City Centers Christmas Village.....

And then because Garrett stayed in the car for this we stopped and saw the Lights of Willard Bay. You drive your car through and see light displays. It was a fun filled day.

Christmas Eve Jaxson, Kennlyn, Amie and Danica put together and decorated a gingerbread house and Amie and Danica made snowflakes to go on the luminaire that went on Grandpa and Grandma Petersen's grave. 

Dale took the kids on a 4-wheeler ride, but we didn't have much snow, so it wan't the best ride. 

We all bundled up and went and visited my folks grave and sang carols and lit the luminaire. Then we picked up Dale's folks and they spent the evening with us. We had our traditional dinner: soup, cheese ball, crackers, mini sausages, shrimp and apples with fruit dip. Then we did our program and were able to have contact with Andrew/Lindsay and kids before we ate and Nate & Kim during our program. We did a lot of singing with Garrett at the piano and on the guitar. Grandpa & Grandma and Nate & Kim shared some of their Christmas memories to be a part of the program. It was a nice evening and we were glad to have had contact with all the kids. To me Christmas is about family, the first family of Christmas and time with your own family. I love the feelings Christmas brings. 

Christmas morning we woke to snow!!! It was a white Christmas!! After gathering on our bed, and reading Lunke ll and placing our baby Jesus in the manger, we opened our gifts and then we bundled up and went out to play in the snow. Everyone had a turn on the saucers behind the 4-wheeler. It was new fluffy snow and we got covered (some more than others)! We laughed a lot and came in with red cheeks, toes, and hands, but all had a great time! Tag even got into the action.

After we all got cleaned up we had our Christmas Dinner and enjoyed each others company.

To finish off the day, we went to our church and ate finger foods, played games and visited with the Petersen clan. Family is what it's all about! We had a full day of family fun! We were able to Face Time with our out-of-state kids and that made the day complete.

The next day we played in the snow some more and went into town and caught a few deals and went to the show Big Hero 6. Cute show.

On Sat. Dale, Matt, and Jaxson met up with Matt's dad, Russ, in Brigham City and went to see the Jazz play against the Philadelphia 76'rs. They were lucky to have seats on the 19th row from the floor!

The Mallory's left and the house became quiet. Almost too quiet! So to liven it up again for New Year's Eve we celebrated by going to dinner at The Coppermill for their last day in operation with Floyd/Alison Griffiths and Tom/LuAnn Bladen. Then we came here to visit and play games to bring in the New Year. Scott and Pat Marshall joined us for the games. We got in some good fun. 

Danica went to Salt Lake to spend a couple of nights with a couple of her friends from her Iowa team, so the house needed some noise.

Andrew and Lindsay gave us some great news----they'll be moving to Smithfield, UT in 4 1/2 weeks!! Andrew got a job with Aerial Solutions, a company that does tree trimming along the power lines with helicopters that have a blade hanging down on a rod. Sounds a bit scary to me, but Andrew's way excited because it was the job he was wanting. 

He took Lindsay and the kids to South Carolina and he met with the owner of the company. They visited Myrtle Beach and saw some sights while they were there. Then he got a call to come back and he went back alone and flew with the owner and then he got the offer for the job! So, we're pretty excited to have them back in the state and better yet, close to us!

They were able to go into Washington, D.C. and see the lights around the Mall area as well as the lights at the Washington, D.C. Temple to get them into the Christmas spirit.

Nate and Kim did get a Christmas tree up and even though they weren't with any family they made the most of their time together. 

They took a quick trip to Bellingham, WA and checked out the area and the San Juan Islands. They also did a little hiking. They're realizing the state of Washington has a lot to offer.

To bring in the new year Andrew was two hours ahead of us, so we were getting texts around 10:00 and Nate was an hour behind us, so we got a text around 1:00! 

2014 has been a good year....Bring on 2015!!!