Whirlwind...

Josh returned to the U.S. from Kuwait on April 11. We were glad he did because my Grandma Verla Petersen passed away on April 8th at age 90. So instead of flying out to San Diego to meet him, we met in Salt Lake City, UT and drove to Idaho Falls, ID for the funeral.
We left from there to San Diego, and then drove one of our cars we had in storage up to Monterey, CA. We then returned home late Saturday night the 24th. Then yesterday we had Jonas's baptism! It was a really special day. It is amazing that my oldest is now baptized! My Dad and Josh's Dad spoke at the baptism, and they did a great job! Jonas is really growing up so fast. He was very excited to get baptized, and I know it's a day we will all (well except for Wyatt!) remember! My friend Tara made Jonas's cake, she did a great job!

8 years ago today...

8 years ago today at 7:22p.m. Jonas made his way into the world. Its amazing how fast 8 years has gone by!
The reason I chose this picture below, was to show just Jonas with Josh and I. Really I think this was the last picture of the three of us because soon after Maddie was born. As you can tell I was very pregnant!Poor Jonas never really got Josh and I all to himself!

We love Jonas so much. He's brought so much joy into our lives. So today in honor of Jonas turning 8, I wanted to share 8 things that I love about Jonas.
1. I love that he's funny
2. I love how he likes to quote commercials, and that he's young enough that he believes everything they say. (right now I'm supposed to switch to geico for my insurance!)
3. I love how laid back he is
4. I love that he still likes to hang out with me
5. I love that he loves his sisters, and brother. (although doesn't act like it all the time)
6. I love that he wants to make good choices, and does try really hard to do that.
7. I love that he is excited about the changes that are coming in our life. It's a sign that he's getting older, he hasn't always been one to enjoy change.
8. I love that he thinks of Josh, his Dad, as his friend, and I hope they will always have a close relationship.
Happy Birthday Jonas! We love you buddy!

Happy 2nd Birthday Wyatt

Where did the time go that Wyatt is two years old today!? They've been forcasting snow for days(which I was doubtful of), so to be on the safe side we took Wyatt yesterday to a place called The Jumpin Monkey. It has a bunch of large inflatable toys for the kids to get in and jump. They had a blast. Wyatt was even nice enough to sleep all night, and sleep in this morning! His siblings though were too excited about all the snow that we actually got! Wyatt didn't seem to like the snow. I decided to unpack the trains and our train table out of storage for him to play with, and he's been having fun with that all day.Anyway, I will post more pictures later of him with his cake and presents!

Seriously... I know...

It's been over a month! Let's see what's going on with us. Instead of a big long post I'll summarize it:
> Mom came to stay with us, it was fabulous to have another adult around
>Eliza had her Christmas program at school, she did great!
>Wyatt got his first professional hair cut

>went to Milton,FL to hang with the in-laws for Christmas, had a great time!Loved spending time with cousins,grandparents, and aunts and uncles!



>Josh got accepted into the Foreigh Area Officer program, so he will no longer be a pilot. We will be moving to Monterey,CA in June of this year! We will be going to Europe, where exactly we don't know. I'll keep you posted! We're excited!
>upon returning home from our trip, the furnace was not working, it was freezing, got fixed fast thankfully!
>realized staying up until Midnight to watch the ball drop for New Years was difficult
>I turned 32. Went out with friends, got a pedicure. Had a great day, don't feel any older yet!

Dear Santa,

The following Letter written tonight by Jonas:
Dear Santa,
I want for Christmas I want a psp a dis and The movie Star Wars Clone Wars the movie and a scooter, oh and get my sister a dsi to they need 2 one for Maddie and one for Eliza. Oh I want to tell you to go to Florida to bring me our toys there and bring my grandma a new laptop.

I had to post this letter because it's funny, and because a year ago you couldn't have bribed Jonas to write this much, he struggled a lot with reading and writing. (I know it's not really a lot, but for him it used to be). I'm so proud of how much he's improved just in the past 6 months of this year with his reading and writing. I think I just got the best early Christmas present from him, and he doesn't even know it!
Oh and here's a picture of him without his front teeth!

Good Intentions...

It's amazing that I write a post, plan to write again, and then it is already the next month and I realize I haven't written on my blog for over 3 weeks almost! Can I claim life is busy for me? I know most everyone can. Being a stay at home Mom, being the only parent right now, kids in school... I could go on and on. I won't. We took a trip to Indiana for Thanksgiving. Had a great time, and my Mom came back with us. Jonas lost his other front tooth, so he can now wish for his two front teeth for Christmas. I will post more pictures later. I just wanted to write to say, we're still alive, and doing well.

Hello Nor'Easter

Apparently we are having a Nor'Easter. The kids had school off yesterday of course, and then school was cancelled today. It started raining yesterday on Veterans Day. And it rained, and rained, and kept on raining all night. It has rained all day today. According to the neighbors, this is as flooded as it got when hurricane Isabelle rolled through. Thankfully we haven't lost our power as I know some have. I decided to take some pictures of our street, and on the corner. Although I didn't get a picture of people in their Kayaks, but trust me there were some.

Hensley RV Camping

We took the weekend and went camping... but not in a tent, in an RV to several different state parks here in good old Virginia.The kids were pretty excited about going in an RV, in fact they liked it a lot. They liked the fact that they could watch t.v. or play the Wii. (We brought ours and hooked it up to the t.v.) Sleep inside, and on a little bed, and enjoy running water and a bathroom fairly close. (my favorite part was not having to stop to use the bathroom since we had one in the rv with us!)
Although I think the point of camping is to enjoy the outdoors, and take a hike. The trees are beautiful colors right now, and the weather was fantastic. Although they weren't excited about the hikes. If you heard them you would've thought they were being tortured! I hope that we created a fun weekend they can look back and enjoy!

New York City Trip

Josh is home for his R & R (rest and relaxation) trip. He gets 15 days to be with us. So for his time home we flew Josh's Mom here to watch the kids, and we went to New York City. On Oct.15th we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We arrived in the City on Sunday evening. We did a lot of riding the subway, ate a lot of really good food, and some not so great food. We went to a taping of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. We also saw a play Brighton Beach Memoirs, and a musical Phantom of the Opera. We went to the Museum of Natural History, went to Federal Hall where George Washington took the oath of office. Went to Central Park and got a row boat, and walked around ground zero. We went to China town, and were offered many fabulous deals. We also were offered many deals on purses and watches, although we passed on those! All in all it was a fabulous trip. I wasn't quite ready to leave, but we did just about everything we wanted to do. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Keeping the Tooth Fairy in Business...

In the last month and half we've lost 4 teeth. Jonas has lost one on the bottom, and one on the top. Maddie lost both her two bottom teeth. (the two in the very front)
So needless to say the Tooth Fairy has been kept in business!
Here are my children with their holes in their mouth! Although Maddie's teeth have come in pretty fast, and so is Jonas'!

First Day Of School

Today was the first day of school and it was pouring down rain so we only got pictures inside. Eliza had her first day of school, and I was worried about how she'd be to say goodbye. And, it seems I worried for nothing. We got her backpack hung up, then her lunch box put in her cubbie, and she hugged me goodbye and then went and played! I was very relieved! She's turning into such a big girl!
Jonas was funny on the way to school, and I quote: "I can't believe I'm already in
2nd grade!"
Me either, Jonas, me either!!
Jonas was also telling Maddie about stuff she'd do in first grade, so that was fun to hear. It's more than he tells me!
As a surprise I'm making them strawberry cupcakes for a snack after school. I hope it was a good day for them!

Its been real.. its been fun...

Its been over a month since my last blog post. Some of you may be wondering why.We went on a primary temple trip on August 8th which was a Saturday and had a really good time. We stayed at my sisters house on Friday night, so the kids had fun seeing their cousins.
Then on Monday night (the 10th) my mother called to tell me my Uncle Wayne (one of my Dad's older brothers)had died. The rest of the week was spent getting ready to leave. So Wyatt and I (Jonas, Maddie and Eliza stayed here with my friend) took a flight back to Salt Lake. It was a bit like Deja Vu since we were just there. I'm glad I got to be there, and say goodbye to my Uncle Wayne. He was a great man, and I loved him greatly. So since then we've just been doing things to keep us busy. Here's a picture of the kids from our trip to the temple.



We start school in 3 days. Jonas will be in 2nd, Maddie in 1st and Eliza will begin preschool!

Reunion time

We just returned home last night from our trip to Utah. I was worried about how the kids would do on the airplane. I was especially worried about how Wyatt would do. I really worried for nothing because they all did FABULOUS! Wyatt did cry a little there and back on the plane, but not long enough in my opinion that it would've bothered anyone. We flew to Salt Lake and we spent a few days there in a house we rented. It was huge! It was nice to have my parents, grandma, sisters and kids there without having to worry about being in someones way. It was also nice to have several bathrooms. We went to Heritage park I think is what it's called, where Brigham Young looked over the valley and said, "we're here!" Well not really, but he did say it was the right place. They have a little pioneer village that was fantastic, the kids had a great time, and the adults did too! Everyone agreed it was a winner. We spent time in the hot tub, had a little talent show, and played our family game Mormon Bridge. We also celebrated my sister Christine's 40th Birthday!







We left Tuesday for Beaver. We had a schedule for the days we were there which went breakfast at 8a.m. all three days, and we had activities in the morning, and some free time in the afternoon, and stuff in the evening. The second night was our Mormon Bridge Tournament. We had 13 tables, and 7 people per table. It was a lot of fun. We also had our usual family talent/variety show which is always good fun. We also had 2 family dances. At the last family reunion 5 years ago, my cousin Jean and I and some other family members got in the hot tub with all our clothes on in the middle of the night. I joked with her about doing it again. I didn't think she'd do it, but we were up playing Mormon Bridge and I think by 2:30a.m. all our senses were gone anyway, so we jumped in the pool and then got in the hot tub. We also recruited some younger cousins that weren't there last time to do it with us. It was so much fun! (thanks to my Dad for staying in my room with the kids!) I of course had my camera and got pictures!
The reunion went by way to fast!

Summer Fun *warning, tons of pictures!

So I know most of you may be wondering what I've been up to since I haven't posted on my blog in awhile, so I will give an update!
School got out on June 16th and the next week my sister and her kids came for a visit. And that was spent going to the beach, to the aquarium, and just hanging out. We had lots of fun! We've gone to Busch Gardens a few times. Wyatt can ride some of the kiddie rides now, and he loves it!


We've gone to the Beach a few times. We went with my sister as I mentioned, and we went on the 4th of July. Then went to see the fireworks with Jenn, David and their girls.



















We have gone to the botanical Gardens W.O.W. (world of wonder) area for the kids, which is fun because they can play in the water. Since we have a Botanical Gardens membership, we can go whenever we want, and so we've gone there a few times.






Jonas started summer school on June 29th, his teacher thought it would help him improve his reading and writing. Maddie started a summer enrichment program through the school on June 29th and thankfully they both are about the same time. I drop them off at school 8:20a.m. and Maddie gets on a bus to go to another elementary school, and Jonas goes to school. Then Jonas gets done at 12:30p.m and Maddie gets off the bus at 1:30p.m. and they both will be done at the end of July. Jonas and I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We met up at Friendly's and got ice cream and then went to the theater to see the show. It was a lot of fun. Although not all children that attended made it through the whole movie, but if you're wondering Jonas made it, he's just like his Mom, a nightowl. We didn't get home until 3:30a.m. Needless to say, I'm tired!




I don't have pictures, but usually Monday through Friday we also go to the YMCA for a few hours! This next week we'll be busy getting ready for our trip to Utah for my family reunion! My neice will be flying up here to help me with the kids on the flight. I'm so excited to see all of my family!
On another note, we will be here in Norfolk until next May 2010. Josh has extended his time in Kuwait due to the fact he's applying for a different program in the Navy, that will take him out of flying completely. Because of when we find out whether he will get in this new program or not, I didn't want to end up possibly moving twice within 6 months, so we decided to stay here. We also decided if we were going to do that, Josh might as well stay in Kuwait and collect the extra pay he gets for being deployed. I'm very sad about this, but I know we'll survive. It helps that we get to talk every night via webcam so we do "see" him. He has 15 days of leave, and we will be seeing him in October, and we will get to celebrate our 10th anniversary together. So that's the bright spot in this deployment.