11 Years Old!

Today is Mykell's 11th Birthday!! I can't believe we have an 11 year old!! She's growing up so fast. It's terrible!! We celebrated Mykell's b-day last night by inviting all of our family over. We had pizza and a really yummy ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. We had 26 people in our little house! It was crazy, but fun!!

Joel and I decided to surprise Mykell with a ticket to go see the Phantom of the Opera for her Birthday. Mykell is the biggest fan of the Phantom. She listens to the CD on her I-pod all day, and when she's not listening she's watching the movie!! We thought taking her to see the play would be an experience she would never forget. So in two weeks we get to take a road trip to Vegas to go see the Phantom. I recorded her opening her present. It was pretty funny, I think she was in shock!

Mykell is truly blessed with a family that loves her. I think it's safe to say that it the Birthday celebration was a success.

Mykell we love you and hope you have a great Birthday. You truly are a blessing to your family!

Here is Kell opening up her Phantom Ticket

Happy Birthday Dear Mykell!! Happy Birthday to You!!

Christmas

I can't believe that Christmas has come and gone and that it is already New Years Eve!! It's crazy how time flies.

We had a really nice Christmas. Joel and I both took the whole week of Christmas off. It was nice to spend the week together. We were able to do some fun stuff. We went skiing one day, that was really fun and made for some good laughs. Mykell is still learning, and lets just say while sking Mykell had quite a few falls,a broken pole, and she can tell you a really funny story about her losing her skis while getting on the lift!! We also saw a couple of movies. Marley and Me was my favorite, although after seeing the movie I can't get Joel or Mykell to stop looking at dogs on the internet. Poor Mykell is getting her hopes up, and it's not going to happen!! We also got to spend time with all of our families and I think we relaxed a little although I can't really remember that part.... But the most important part of the Christmas break was reflecting on the meaning of Chistmas. Christ's Birth!!

We hope that all of you had a Merry Christmas and we look forward to sharing the New Year with you!!

Here's Mykell telling Santa all she wants for Christmas is an I-pod!!

Mykell admiring her lime green I-pod

Look at this cute coat that I bought for Joel to give me on Christmas!! Doesn't it look nice with the pajama pants?

Doesn't Joel look so cute in his new shades?

Even Bella got a present!

Mykell's 1st Ski Lesson

Mykell had her first ski lesson at Wolf Mountain this past Saturday. She was so excited, and I must say she looked so cute in her new snow outfit! Mykell actually won the lesson and a free ski rental from a contest she participated in at her school. I knew that she really wanted to learn how to ski when I heard how the contest worked. Basically the person who ran the most miles in the first three weeks of November won a free ski rental, pass, and lesson at Wolf Mountain. Mykell ended up running 12.5 miles, and won the prize!! She had such a good time skiing. We actually had a pretty big storm on Friday night and Saturday so there was new snow and it even snowed a little during her lesson. Mykell was way exhausted by the end of the day, but she still can't wait to go back. We've already made plans for the next trip, this time Joel and I will see what skills (if any) we still have.

Here's Joel helping Mykell before her lesson. Notice that she doesn't have any poles. I guess they don't give the kids poles because they want them to learn how to balance without them! Sounds harder to me?

Here's Mykell riding on a conveyor belt that takes her to the top of the bunny hill!

Mykell sleeping in the car on the way home!

Happy Birthday Joel!

Joel's B-day was yesterday!! He turned 36!! He is now closer to 40 then 30! I think he's doing ok with the whole age thing. (no mid-life crisis yet!!) He is definitely not like me. I'm going to turn 30 on my next birthday, and I am not looking forward to it at all. Joel asked me the other day if I was still ok being married to an older man. I of course am still "ok" with my older man!!

We celebrated Joel's B-day on Sunday with the Petersen side of the family. We had a really fun party. Joel requested that his mom make chili and that we have cheese cake for dessert. I found something out about Joel that I didn't know.... His favorite kind of cake is cheese cake? I honestly didn't know that? Anyway, everything tasted amazing, and it was fun visiting with all the family.

Joel I hope you had a great Birthday. Your an awesome Husband and Dad. Mykell and I are so blessed to have you!! Happy Birthday!

Thanksgiving!!

I know I'm slow at getting my blogs posted, but I have a minute so here goes...

We had a really good Thanksgiving. We switch off each year between my parents and Joel's parents. This Thanksgiving we spent with the Rivera side of the family. We had a really good dinner (thanks mom), and it was fun to see all of the fam!! I contributed pies and mashed potatoes to the meal. And I'm proud to say that I didn't mess anything up! You can see a picture of the beautiful pies! My mom actually helped me with the pies. She's only showed me like 5 times how to make pies... I still don't think I want to try one without her present! !

Before we ate our meal we went around the room and all said what we were thankful for. My three year old niece Paige said she was thankful for "my Jesus"!! It was cute!! We all had and have so much to be thankful for. We are so blessed!

We also had a really fun game of spoons after the turkey dinner. I have to brag and say I was the winner. The game got a little violent, but no one was seriously hurt!!

Joel and I are now detoxing from our Thanksgiving meal and months and months of over eating! I hope everyone had a really good Thanksgiving.

Here is my mom preparing our meal! Thanks Mom!

These are the beautiful and delicious pies we made.

We just finished our meal and look how happy we are!!

I thought this was a cute picture of my sister Jen, Mykell and my mom!

Bella

Mykell has been begging me to post some pictures of her guinea pig Bella. This will come to most of you as a surprise. But after months and months of begging Joel and I finally gave in and let Mykell get a guinea pig. I never thought in a million years that I would allow this!! Some of you might not know this about me, but I am deathly allergic to dogs, cats, and horses. I didn't think that I could be allergic to something as small as a guinea pig, but I found out after a couple of months that I am also allergic to Bella. So , I try to keep my distance and Mykell is really good about taking care of all of Bellas needs. I came from a family that didn't have any animals growing up, and Joel had just about every kind of animal growing up. So this guinea pig was a definite middle ground pet for our family. I'm really glad that Mykell is finally able to have her very own pet. She is definitely an excellent mother to Bella!!

Harvest Fun!

This weekend we had some fun harvest activities going on. On Saturday my aunt had a harvest costume party. Mykell was so excited to dress up. She decided to be a bag of Jelly Belly's. I found the idea while searching the internet for homemade costumes. Mykell really liked the idea. It turned out really cute, and was extremely cheap!! She won the most creative costume at the party. She thought that was cool. At one point during the party she stood a little to close to the rose bushes!! A couple of balloons popped, and gave her a good scare! It was funny!

On Sunday we carved pumpkins with all of the Petersen's. Mykell, Joel and I all worked on one pumpkin. Joels job was cleaning out the pumpkin. Mykell and I carved it together. It turned out pretty cute. I love this time of the year!!

Mykell and my Mom at our Harvest Party

Mykell with all of her cousins!

Mykell with our beautiful pumpkin!