Wednesday, December 16, 2009

In Court with Dad

Recently, Mark has been volunteering as a judge for Small Claims Court and absolutely loves it! We thought it would be fun for the kids to go and see their Dad in action so one night we went and watched a few cases. The kids may have found it a little boring, but they thought it was pretty cool to hear Mark referred to as "Your Honor" and to see him making rulings!

Matt, Maya, Mark and Jackson
Macie apparently found it extremely boring!

Uncle Thomas

All of our kids just LOVE their Uncle Thomas. He is the fun, cool uncle that all kids long for! I love these pictures because you can just see how much they love eachother!

Maya, Thomas and Macie
Thomas and Macie

Maya, Thomas and Macie
I am so grateful that we are blessed with such an amazing family!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Guardian Angel


It's hard to believe that this day has actually come. A year ago I honestly didn't know how our little family was going to make it through the next day, let alone an entire year. As this month crept upon us, Mark and I both knew that the 1 year anniversary of Sean's death was drawing near. Neither one of us wanted to focus on this, and so we agreed it would be just another day, just like any other day.

"Any other day" for our family actually includes many memories, conversations and gratitude for Sean. Sean had and still has a great influence on us and our children and very rare is a day that goes by without some sort of mention of him...sometimes happy, sometimes sad, but always grateful. The other day Macie and Mark were playing with a pretend cell phone while I was in the next room, not paying much attention. Without me knowing Macie handed Mark the phone and said, "Dad, it's for you. It's Uncle Sean." In the distance I heard Mark say, "Hey Paco! How are you? I miss you!" My heart about jumped out of my chest! I was so confused...relieved and pained at the same time...knowing what I wanted to be real and knowing it to be impossible. As I rushed into the room I could see the same emotions in Mark's eyes. Looking at each other, we were silently comforted knowing that one day it will be real again.

Consciously paying no attention to dates and living as normal, having our occasional talks and memories of Sean, we were sure this day would be "just another day." However, it wasn't as easy as we thought. For some reason your mind tends to take you back in time, no matter how hard you try to resist. Eventually you give in and the emotions come. Crying, reminiscing, going over the what could have been and should have been...eventually turning to God and feeling His love and Sean's love, undeniably, ever present.

Last weekend Maya asked if she could give our family home evening lesson on Monday night. We asked her if she would like help preparing it and she said no, she already knew what she was going to talk about and said that she wanted it to be a surprise. She was so excited all day and was about to burst as we all sat to listen to her lesson. With emotion in her voice and with a spirit much wiser than that of a six year old little girl, she proceeded to tell us that the Friday before she was lying in bed listening to her primary songs when a song came on about families being together forever. She started thinking about Sean and began to feel sad. She decided to say a prayer. She said that suddenly she could feel Sean with her and that she heard him say, "Don't worry Maya. Everything's okay, I am watching over you, I am with you." With tears of peace and comfort in her eyes she testified to our family that she knows that Sean is with us and that we can feel him in our hearts whenever we need to. It was such a blessing for our whole family and something we never will forget!

It has definitely been a year of learning and changing. We have been blessed by God's love and his miraculous ability to take something so tragic and bring about blessings and miracles to help us move on.

One of the greatest things we have learned and felt throughout this year is gratitude. Gratitude for Sean's life. Gratitude for the memories. Gratitude for the many things Sean taught us during his life. Gratitude for the miracles God can perform. Gratitude for incredible blessings. Gratitude for peace. Gratitude for how much better we are having been loved by someone so incredibly amazing. Gratitude for the knowledge that we will be together again.

Thank you, Sean. Thank you for staying close to us. Thank you for the blessings you have brought about in our lives. Thank you for watching over us.

We love you and we miss you!

Monday, December 7, 2009

I Want a Hamburger...With Everything On It!!!


This afternoon Mark took Macie and I to Market Street Grill...one of my most favorite places! Mmm!!! The best ever clam chowder on such a cold, snowy day!

Macie wasn't too thrilled when we vetoed her idea to go to McDonald's so I did my best to get her excited about Market Street (poor girl, her life is so hard...having Mom all to herself every day, going to lunch...oh, the life of the youngest!) She and Maya are currently really into Fancy Nancy books so I told her we were very lucky because Market Street is a "Fancy Nancy" restaurant and we had to be extra "Fancy"...according to Fancy Nancy, "fancy" is a special word for nice. That seemed to satisfy her and off we went to our "fancy" lunch!

Lately every time we go out to eat Mae wants to go somewhere that has a "sandwich(hamburger) with everything on it...except ketchup!" (I don't know how she thought she was going to get that at MD's!) So, of course, she ordered a hamburger kid meal with fries and a diet coke with lemon.

I wish I would have had a video camera going when they brought her hamburger out...she was so excited! The hamburger was huge and juicy and "everything" was on the side so she could build her own hamburger...definitely "fancy"! She was very particular about how and where she placed "everything" and by the time she was ready to eat I wasn't sure she was going to be able to fit the hamburger in her mouth!

So excited!
The finished product!
The first savory bite!
Two happy, spoiled girls!
Priceless!!!

Thanks for a great afternoon and an awesome memory, honey!!!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Red Rock Challenge

This summer Mark participated in The Red Rock Challenge as part of a team with all of the guys in the Peterson family. The Red Rock Challenge is a race put on by my parents ward in which you have to mountain bike for about a mile to the Draper Temple, run a mile to Red Rock on South Mountain, climb Red Rock, then run down the mountain to the finish line. The guys all did great and Mark, being in his new athletic shape, came in first on the team!

Mark, running through the finish line
Macie Mae and MarkThomas at the finish line
Kevin at the finish lineJosh at the finish line
Mom and KatelynCole, Silly Miss Maya and Emma
Kenzie, Jamie and Julie
Katelyn, Kenzie, Jamie and MarkTHE TEAM
Thomas, Josh, Dad, Mark and Kevin
Can't wait 'till next year!!!

Our Little Cheerleader!

This fall Maya was a cheerleader for the Riverton Silverwolves little league football! She totally loved it! She did it with one of her best friends, Rachel, whom she has known pretty much her whole life! Rachel actually lives in our old neighberhood in Draper, but they still get together almost every friday. In fact, fridays are know as "Rachy day" around our house!

Maya loved going to cheer practice, but didn't like the actual games as much, they were pretty unorganized! Her very most favorite part of the entire season was getting a cheerleader trophy which she proudly displays in her room!


Rachel and Maya
I love how you can totally see her attitude in this picture!
We may have a professional cheer leader in the making!