Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Extreme Sledding


At my parents cabin in Fairview there is a huge sledding hill that the kids all love to go on. Almost every year someone inevitably gets hurt yet every year they come back for more and try to best their records. This year it was dogs and not accidents that put a damper on things. I was going down the hill with Andy and two dogs chased after us. The bigger dog bit a hole through the back of my coat and the little dog bit Andy's hand...luckily the glove protected his hand and my coat protected me. When we reached the bottom of the hill after the biting incident I marched back up the hill determined to kick the crap out of those dogs. I am not normally a violent person but when someone or in this case something goes after my kid I lose the ability to think rationally. Anyway, I was yelling and screaming and basically charged the dogs who in turn charged at me. You would think at this point I would realize I was outnumbered and back slowly away but unfortunately the crazed mother bear in me didn't keep me from moving forward with my plan. Luckily the dogs stopped about 5 feet in front of me so I started kicking snow at them and backed them into their garage. I guess I'm glad that I didn't have to actually kick the dogs because the heavy duty snow boots I had on could have done some serious damage and I would have felt bad afterwards. My Dad came down the hill shortly after and talked to the owners who weren't even aware the dogs were outside they took them back into their house. Needless to say, Andy who was pretty traumatized by the incident didn't go sledding again for the rest of the time we were there. Once the dogs were inside the rest of the family managed to have a pretty good time.









Christmas morning at the cabin

We spent Christmas at my parents cabin in Fairview. Steve tried to convince me to have a small intimate Christmas with just our family at home but Christmas morning just doesn't seem right somehow without a house full of all my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews. It does get a little crazy and noisy at times and we usually use of every bed, couch and sleeping bag my parents have but I still wouldn't have it any other way.





Christmas reunion at the Peterson's



Almost 30 years ago Steve's parents along with others in their neighborhood had the opportunity to take in a family of Vietnamese refugees. They ended up taking in a boy about Jr. High age named Dinh. He stayed with them for about two and a half years. They helped him to learn English, taught him, loved him and treated him as if he had always been a member of their family. After finishing Jr High he moved on to California where he attended high school and college. He later married and has lived there ever since with his wife and two daughters. Dave and Jan have occasionally heard from him over the years and have received several pictures but have not seen him in person since he left all those years ago. Last Friday he planned a special trip up to see them and we were all there to witness the reunion. It was so neat to see the absolute love and admiration he had for the Peterson's. He kept calling them "Mom and Dad" and the whole family laughed and reminisced about the old days. It was truly a wonderful night.





Wednesday, December 17, 2008

14 Years and still going strong



Fourteen years ago on a sunny winter day in December I married the love of my life. I almost can't believe that it has been that many years. I can honestly say that I am more in love with Steve now than I was then. He truly is my perfect match. He is so kind and patient and is definitely the calming influence in my life and in our home. We have had our fair share of ups and downs over the past 14 years but I know now that all of those experiences have made us stronger. I can't wait to see what the next 14 years hold for us. Love you sweetie! Happy Anniversary.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Health Warning: Do Not Swallow Chewing Gum


I was in a really bad mood today until I opened an e-mail from my sister Kristie and saw this. I still giggle every time I think about it.

Maybe I'm not cut out for this blogging thing

I just spent 2 frustrating hours trying to change my template and background color. After loosing half of my photos, all my blogging buddies addresses and several small info entries I have under Petersonisms I finally gave up trying to change my blog and spent most of the 2 hours trying to retrieve the lost information. It is true what they say. Don't put anything out on the net unless you want it there permanently. I managed to find some of the old posts through google searches and retrieved my photos from my computer files. I had the very good intention of updating all of the fun things that have happened over the past several weeks but now I'm just mad and frustrated and I don't feel like doing anything except this little rant. Don't worry my little rants don't usually last long. I'll be back with all the fun stuff soon enough.