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.