Did we fall off the face of the earth?

The answer to that is NO! But we did move to California, so it's bound to happen eventually right?? So here's a quick rundown of what you've missed
-We moved to Seaside, CA which is near Monterey in August of last year. Josh started school at the Naval Post Graduate School.
-Wyatt turned 3 on January 30 of this year. He loves Thomas Train and Cars. Those are his two favorite things. He also loves a show called "Chuggington" which we watch A LOT. He also likes the show Team Umizoomi.
-Eliza started Kindergarten (California cut of is 5 by Dec. 2nd, she turned 5 on Nov. 13th) she's the youngest child in her class, but she's doing well.
-Maddie turned 7 May 29, 2010. She is looking forward to turning 8 this year. She started 2nd grade and loves it. She misses her friends in Virginia, but has made some great new friends here. The big thing for her since we moved is she finally rides a bike with no training wheels, and she lost both of her front teeth.
-Jonas just turned 9 this year. It's amazing how fast 9 years goes by. He's had some struggles adjusting to the move, the new school. We're working on that. He has also made a lot of new friends here, and enjoys all the friends on our street.
Josh is busy getting a masters degree in something to do with Russian.. as that's his language, and Europe is where we'll go eventually. He's doing Cub Scouts at church. We're just glad to have him around all the time again.
As for me, running has kept me busy. I ran my first 8 K race last year, and it made me want to do more. California is a great place to run, because the weather is almost always perfect. So I stopped running on the treadmill, and started running outside. There are a lot of hills around here, so it was difficult at first. I've kept going, and am looking forward to running in my first half marathon race on March 12, 2011.
I'll try and get back to posting more! Promise!

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.