We Love Family!

 There are many reasons we live in Utah.  The beautiful mountains, the strong LDS influence, the pool heated by hot springs in our neighborhood.  But these things all pale (well, maybe except the mountains, they are pretty majestic afterall!) in comparison to living by so many of our family members.  John and I have seven siblings within roughly a 1/2 hour between us.  

 Recently, my brother Steve and I decided we needed to get back on schedule and get our family together on a regular basis.  We have re-instituted Fast Sunday Dinner.  All my siblings have graciously agreed to come to our house because it's just easier with Grama.

 Our first one was in February and it was a big hit.  We went through four roasts!  Afterwards we sat and talked and the kids just played and played.  It was getting late and the Jupiter Petersens headed home.  

 We were all about to call it a night when Maddie wanted to play Celebrity, so play we did!  

We love being with family and are glad they like to be with us too!  (Or at least fake they do!)  Can't wait until the March dinner because my parents will get to be here for that one!

Gem State

Sigh...I'm missing it again.  Gem State.  I have so many fond memories of this competition.  The first comp that I took my first team from the first Elementary School Ballroom program in Utah.  The bonding and fun times with my High School team.  But mostly it is just fun to be with my sister and her family. We're kinda kooky, not every one gets our sense of humor, our husbands look at each other knowingly and roll their eyes.  

When John gets to got to Gem State, he takes Jacee.  She and Ashley are twins separated in heaven. They are blondies with an affinity for goofiness.  They run around and have a grand time.

Meanwhile, John is working hard, laughing, and having a great time.  Don't get me wrong, it is HARD work.  Just to give you an idea of the scope of this comp...this year they had over 900 dancers registered.  Yep, it's awesome!

Also this year, three of our former PG students were there with their own HS Utah teams.  We always said what a great experience it was and now we know our dancers thought so too.  You see, there is now a comp right in Utah county the same week but these three wonderful coaches remembered our fabulous time at Gem State and want that for their dancers too.

Anyway, I have things to do but just am missing my husband, daughter and the Fishers.  

My Birthday in Pics

Valentine's Day

 I love traditions. I grew up in a house rich in tradition.  Little did I realize at the time, we had traditions because my mom made sure they happened, each and every year.  She made sure she was ready when the annual time came for whatever tradition was called for.  This means that while sitting in FHE, she didn't all of a sudden have an idea and try to pull it off.  So, in trying to create a little of the magical childhood I had, I have tried to start a few traditions of my own.  Now, you may think that sound easy, and it usually is when I am thinking about them in my head, but who's going to bake the cookies and cut out the hearts and all that prep?  For those of you who know me best, you know I have many, many talents :) but advanced prep isn't one of them.  I will say I have gotten a teensy bit better over the years but still not great. (It's not that I don't want to cook a wonderful hot meal for my husband every night...I just haven't done any prep work.)  Anyway...this year I decided to try a new tradition - for the FHE before Valentine's Day - we are going to give someone a heart attack (tape paper hearts all over their door and leave a plate of sugar cookies.)  We made the heart and cookies and drove over to the Sorensen's house.  Maddie opted to stay in the car, Jackson wanted to stay in the car but I kinda forced him to come.

It's funny how scared you get.  We snuck up to the door, started taping on hearts as fast as we could.  As soon as Jacee was done, she rang the door bell - that little stinker!  The rest of us took off like a shot.  I never seen Jackson run so fast!  We did make a clean get away even though we were out of breath and our hearts were beating a little faster than normal!

You may be wondering about my photos...well, we had so many hearts that I just had the kids tape them all over their bodies so we could get them over to the Sorensen's.  When I tried to take pics, there was no possible way the kids could withstand the brightness of the flash so they each got a great pic with eyes closed.  Jacee's is especially funny!

Now onto the main event - Valentine's Day!  We had our usual pink waffles and red goblets for breakfast.  John and I have decided we will get them one Valentine treat (Dove Hearts!) and one toy.  Jackson got Mario Cart and Jacee and Maddie got Monster High dolls.  I got a new pair of tennis shoes and John got a massage.

Cheers to another great Valentine's Day!

Strong Genes

Hmmm, could this be Maddie and Sammy?  Nope, just Julie and David.  Love our family!

Mikayla is 16!

John went to Seattle for Mikayla's 16th birthday.  What?  She is 16?  This is so crazy.  John perpetually thinks of her as about four years old so it was so great for him to see her.  They drove around her town and saw all her haunts, drove past the high school (yes John, being 16 means she is in high school not elementary!)  They went to her favorite restaurant and then went and got her a bunch of new stuff to decorate her new room.  It was a wonderful two days.  And Jacee says she gets to go next!

Where is Maddie

 Maddie likes to be buried under things when she is watching movies. Sometimes I can't even see her, just a body part here or there.  Crazy girl.

The other night Jacee was reading to Maddie.  It was pretty tender.  Moments like this make everything worth it.

Our Little Gymnast

Is it the third child syndrome, the economy, or just us?  We have never put Maddie in anything.  Jacee started dance at 2 1/2, Jackson started soccer at 3 1/2 and Maddie...well...

So, I decided to do something about it.  I let her choose between dance and gymnastics and to my surprise she chose gymnastics.  Luckily I found a little start up class called "Tumbleweeds" (cute right?)

Well,  I know I am mom talking, but she is pretty dang good.  She has amazing upper body strength (from fighting off two older siblings?)  She loves it!

 I

Glad my girl gets to start something she enjoys.  Mommy enjoys watching her!