Christmas/New Years Card?

Because I was so lazy this year and only sent out a picture of us for our Christmas card, I thought I would write a little something something on the blog. So here we go...

Matt has been working hard this month on the Hyatt's atrium renovation project and it's not uncommon for him to work a 14 hour day. Gotta love being on salary. He has however, saved up enough comp days to make it another 3 week vacation year! YAY. That means I get to plan a whole week of fun for us to do whatever we want. I think I've mentioned it more than once but I want to go on a cruise and I feel like this is the year!

Matt enjoys working with the one teacher (14-15 year olds) in the ward as his advisor. He gets to go to mutual every Tuesday night and go on camp outs through out the year. He forgets his age when he is with the boys and often comes home with cuts and bruises from falling down during activities.

Matt has taken to the outdoors since we now live in a place where we can actually do those types of things. He went on a 2 day hike with his brother Mike back in May. They meant to hike Telescope Peak in California but the pass was closed due to snow. So they hiked around death valley. Matt is planning another hike for this coming May. He is going to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim.

I have been kept busy this year with graduate school and am enjoying myself. I started school back in June and it's hard to believe that it has been 6 months already! I am completing my internship at LDS Family Services in Phoenix. This past semester I have been focusing on the adoption side of it and I've learned a lot. I worked with LDSFS in Provo for a year but things have changed and it's amazing how different the agencies are outside of Utah. Next semester I hope to focus on counseling. I'll be done in May and then it's off to get a job! I'm a little nervous but I've been in the work world before so I'm sure I'll adjust just fine.

I've had a few different callings this year. I was the activity day girls leader for a few months and then I was put into primary. I taught the 5 and 6 year olds and had a good time although they gave me a run for my money. I was also on the activities committee but that is no more. Starting next week I will be the CTR 4 teacher and I'm quite nervous but very excited to take up that challenge!

We added two cats to our house last year. Their names are Poohie and Gussie. They are like no cats I have ever met. They follow me around wherever I go and one of them loves to play fetch with us!

All in all things are good in our house. We have nothing to complain about and a lot to give thanks for. Christ lives and the church is true.

Enough said.

Home For the Pre-Holidays

Apparently it's a big joke in my family that if there is a family vacation Ami will do anything possible to be there. They also say that I am always finding ways to go home! Is it so bad that I like my family?! So when I found out that I had 6 weeks off from school I looked up plane tickets and found one for less than $200! Matt and I are spending Christmas in Phoenix this year so I went to PA for a pre-holiday visit. I had a ton of fun eating cheesesteaks (2), going to Jenna's orchestra concert, going to the ward party, spending time with 2 of my best friends from high school, eating at friendly's, watching Psych, helping with the cookie exchange, going to NYC, winning Wicked tickets, going to Hailey's Egyptian exhibit, and just hanging out. I'm glad I get to see my family so often because my little sisters are growing up way too fast. Kyra is going to college next week and I probably won't see her for a year! But we all know I'll figure out a way to see her before then :) and next time I go home Lauren will be back from her mission! Yay.

Mom and I visited the Hyatt where Matt used to work.

Times Square at night

The pin says "I won the Wicked Lottery!"

Clock from Wicked

Hailey's Egyptian project at school. She was in charge of fashion and I did her make up!

Christmas Comes Early

What is this? I am blogging on a weekday...it must mean only one thing. SCHOOL'S OUT! You don't know how good it is to say those two words. Of course I'm not done done but I'm half way there! The best part is that I have a 6 week break to forget the stress and anxiety that school puts me through. Actually this semester wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I learned a lot from some of my classes and not so much from the others. I really enjoyed learning more about mental disorders and research. I don't plan on getting my PhD (Matt has been informed to strangle me if I ever mention a PhD) but the research class was interesting. I have loved my internship. I was able to be part of an adoption right before Thanksgiving and it was a wonderful experience.

So now I plan on relaxing, sleeping, catching up on Psych, reading and partying! Off to PA to enjoy the 20 degree weather while Phoenix basks in 80 degree weather! What am I thinking?! I'm thinking NYC, Wicked, friends, family, cheese steaks, Wawa, Philly, concerts, party's and much much more!

Thankful for Airplanes

My family finally agreed to come visit us after a year of harassing them! And of course once my Uncle Whitney found out my Dad was coming, he had to come too! My parents and sisters flew in from PA and SLC and my Uncle and family drove up from San Diego and my Grandma and Grandpa drove down from SLC! We had a full house.

As soon as they got here we BBQ'd ribs and went out for Thrifty's ice cream. They left us for two days to go to the Grand Canyon which was 9 degrees! They weren't expecting that and only brought sweatshirts. On Wednesday they went to the Temple to do baptisms and afterwards we all met up for Cafe Rio! Then we went to Goldfield, which is a Ghost town in Apache Junction. The gun fighters were there doing shows every hour. We spent time panning for gold, eating food, and spending too much money at the gift shop. Thursday we had Thanksgiving Dinner and Matt's brother Kevin and family drove up for the day. After dinner we went and saw Harry Potter which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thursday night Matt lit the tree at the Hyatt and some of us went to watch him. It looks really good this year because they changed the colors of the bulbs and made them brighter. Friday morning we headed out for black Friday shopping while the men went golfing. Friday afternoon we went and got pedicures and manicures and my sisters couldn't believe that we could get them done in November since it's so cold back home! Saturday they helped clean the house and then flew home. We had such a great time with them and can't wait for them to come back!

Yay for sandals in November :)

My sisters decided that they HAD to go swimming. They swam for about 10 seconds and said it was so cold that they couldn't breathe. I warned them!

Getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner. We had 20 people over.

Me and Gma

Gun fights at Goldfield

Family Picture minus Lauren

Teenager sleeping area, except for Crystal who is 24 :) Who can tell though? haha

Playing X-box. Uncle Whit brought Matt a new controller and Call of Duty: Black Ops so this picture is basically what I see everyday.

Panning for gold

Uncle Whit brought his cat, Tiger. We believe that Tiger and Gussie had a crush on each other!

The cats were definitely the main attraction. You will never meet a Peterson who is not obsessed with cats.

Took some of the girls to Bass Pro and they loved it!

She's gone 익룡쉬즈곤 쉬즈곤

Warning: I'm sitting here in the library after a ten hour day at school and I'm pretty sure my mind is unable to process anything right now.

So while my family was here last week, Guyrry (exchange student from Korea who has lived with my parents for 2 yrs), introduced me to this bizarre yet hilarious Korean video. Please enjoy and it may be that this is so funny to me because I am delirious right now but I'm pretty sure it's just awesome.

36 hours in CA? Yes please.

I love my family and I love Disney so of course when I found out that my Dad was going on a business trip to Anaheim/Disneyland, I had to figure out a way to go. After looking for cheap tickets and not finding any, my Mom offered to buy me one. Thanks momsie :) So I flew out after class on Wednesday evening and spent all day Thursday with my Mom and Hailey (her 12th birthday) at Disneyland. We also met up with my Uncle, Aunt and two cousins from San Diego and then later that night my Dad and 4 cousins joined us. It was so much fun! The Peterson's don't mess around when there is fun to be had. The lines weren't too long and we went on most every ride. I had never been during Halloween so it was fun to see all of the decorations. After Disneyland we all headed over to Coco's for a late dinner and then everyone drove home. My family and I flew out Friday morning and we both left out of the same gate! Of course I had to wait like 4 hours at the airport after they left. It was a quick 36 hour trip but so worth it!

~

view from the hotel room

My 12 year old sister is the same height as me! So sad.

Had to take a picture of Matt's favorite ride; Storybook Ride!

We joked that this was the October Peterson family reunion!

KISS

Matt and the other two engineering managers dressed up as KISS members for their Halloween party. Matt did his own make-up and I think he did a pretty good job! They even won PF Chang gift cards for their creativity. I don't love the look but at least it's just once a year!!

AZ State Fair

I have many fond memories of going to the LA County Fair while my family lived in CA. I remember seeing a cow (or a lamb) giving birth and I remember eating my very first cheese on a stick. delish. So when I saw the AZ State Fair setting up shop I decided that Matt needed to experience all the wonderfulness that comes along with the state fair.

We went on a Friday because it's half price and all of the games and rides are a dollar each and also some of the food is $1. We began our experience by viewing the livestock exhibit. There we saw tons of rabbits; baby rabbits, big rabbits, fluffy rabbits and red eyed rabbits. We also saw llamas, sheep, chickens and roosters. Then we went on a ride called "Peep Show". It normally would cost $3.50 per person to ride this 15 second car around in the dark with random mummies lighting up in the corners.......We rode some other fun rides like the ferris wheel and the haunted house. The best ride was the one that takes you up to the very top and then drops you all the way to the bottom. So scary, especially when you realize that the ride is collapsible and fits into a truck! But so very fun when you make it off alive.

We also saw some shows; we saw the hypnotist act, which was very interesting. We saw the Hot Dog Pig Races, which featured piglets running an obstacle course and wiener dogs running the same course with little hot dog costumes on! We also saw the worlds smallest horse and a 1000 lb pig. We played a lot of carnival game and ate lots of good greasy fair food. We had funnel cakes, pizza, frozen lemonade, and candied nuts. We planned on staying for a couple of hours but as we were leaving we couldn't pass up the Demolition Derby! That was surprisingly enjoyable. It's fun to watch cars smash into each other! We ended up staying for 8 1/2 hours and I'd say we got our $$ worth!