Christmas Week and Ambers Pie Story

We have had such a fun and busy week! It started Tuesday when we went with my family downtown to see the lights at Temple Square. It was cold and started to snow while we were there, but the lights were amazing! Christmas Eve we spent with Chris' family. We had a yummy ham dinner and enjoyed spending time with the family. Christmas morning we also spent with Chris' family. Maddy (Chris's niece) got a new puppy! It was fun to see the puppy and watch Maddy open all of her gifts. Then we were off to my parents house for our annual Crepe breakfast.

Here is the pie story-Christmas afternoon I had to bake 2 pies, mashed potatoes and rolls for dinner. About halfway through baking everything our power went out! I was yelling and was so mad! So I called my grandma to see if we could finish the baking at her house and she said yes. So I packed everything into the car. The last thing I grabbed was the pies. The pumpkin pie was in liquid form at this point. The pies were on a baking sheet so I placed them on a towel and headed to the car. I couldn't open the the door so I waited for Chris to come and open it for me. As I was waiting, a huge gust of wind came and blew the foil off the pumpkin pie and into my face. I didn't think anything of it and just placed the foil back on the pie. Chris opened my door and I got in and the set the pies on the middle console of the car and looked in the mirror to fix my hair. When I looked in the mirror I realized that the wind had blown pumpkin pie all over my face, hair, coat and sweater! All Chris and I could do was laugh at me! I had to change and we were almost late getting to my parents for dinner, but we made it. The worst part was that after dinner everyone was too full for pie, but after all that I had gone through to make the pies I made them eat it!

Christmas night we had dinner at my parents house. We got to talk to my brother who is on his mission and we finished opening presents. I had to work Friday but when I was off we had dinner at my grandmas house with all of my cousins, aunts and uncles. Some of them live out of state so it was great to see them! Then on Sunday we had The Annual Brand Family Party (my dads side of the family). Christmas is the only time that I get to see many of my extended family, so it was nice to have most of them there. We had tons of food, the gift exchange and lots of fun!

That sums up our week of festivities. We had a great Christmas and thank everyone for making it so memorable!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
Chris and I hope you all...

Christmas is very special to Chris and I! 4 years ago on Christmas Chris proposed to me and I obviously said yes. He is the best husband and I love him so much! Chris has spent the past 3 weeks in Africa and will be leaving again Friday or Saturday to go to Louisiana. When he returns he is off to Africa again for 1-2 months. I cherish every moment that I spend with him and just want to say how much I love and appreciate him!

Friend Christmas Party

Monday night was our annual Friend Christmas Party! We had a great time eating chili and soup, making fried won tons and exchanging gifts! It's not easy to get all of us together, but I am glad that everyone made the effort, despite some being sick! It was nice to relax and spend time together and enjoy the Holiday spirit!

Leah had SO much fun!

Kaleb loved opening his gift!

Making Nutella Won Tons

Matt and Melanie

April and Matt

Ryan, Michelle and Skyler

Everyone eating!

Survivor!

I got this email today, it's really long but it's really funny!

THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks. Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes. There is no fast food. Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean , correct all homework, and complete science projects , cook, do laundry, and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week. Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives , and send cards out on time--no emailing. Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment , a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function. Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times. The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done. The men must shave their legs , wear makeup daily, adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes , keep fingernails polished and eyebrows groomed.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties. They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:00 am. A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information:each child's birthday, height, weight,shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice. If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years eventually earning the right To be called Mother!

My brother only has 5 more months left on his mission! I can't wait for him to come home! This is a picture of him and his favorite companion Elder Cheatam (i.e. Elder Cheeto).

Photos of the Puppies

I finally got a photo of the puppies..

7 Puppies!

My moms dog had her puppies this weekend! She went into labor Friday night and had 7 puppies. Then on Saturday morning she had 2 more puppies. 1 of them was still born and the other one died. So they ended up with 4 girls and 3 boys! It was incredible to watch the births take place and to be a part of the experience. The puppies are so cute! I took pictures, but did something to my camera so I will post them in a couple of days. She will be selling the boys for $400 and the girls for $500, let me know if you are interested!

Puppies Are Coming

My mom has 2 pure bred Golden Retrievers and they are expecting puppies in the next couple of weeks. We don't know how many puppies are expected yet but all of them will be for sale. My mom is thinking around $500. If anyone is interested let me know!

Not a winner

They announced the winner of the recipe contest on Good Things Utah and sadly I didn't win! Oh well! I still think that my recipe was the most creative and I had fun being on tv! Again, thank you all for your support!

In case you missed me on Good Things Utah

Click HERE and you can watch me!

By the way..

Chris leaves for Africa in the morning!

Good Things Utah

So I was on Good Things Utah today! I looked like a 14 year old girl and said yep a lot, but it was a lot of fun! Thank you to everyone that came to watch me and everyone that supported me!

Angel Shannon and I getting ready

The hosts trying my food

My mom, grandma and hubby

Melanie and April

Me, April and Melanie with the hosts after the show

My mom and I with the hosts

A Utah Man Am I

The big game is Saturday (Does anyone have some extra Xanex)! I just wanted to wish my Utes good luck! I think they played well this season and I hope that we can play in a BCS Bowl this year! Go Utes!

Hospital Week Contd.

As if we haven't been to the hospital enough in the past week and a half...Saturday morning our dogs were fighting over a toy. Chris got in the middle to try and break them up and Harley bit Chris' thumb. It didn't look deep enough for stitches so we cleaned it up, threw the dogs outside and went on with our day. Chris' thumb never stopped bleeding, so about 2pm we decided to go to Instacare. The doctor said that he could use a couple of stitches, but Chris is leaving for Africa this week and wouldn't have access to get the stitches out. So they glued him back together and splinted him! He has to wear the splint for a week!

Baby Z Gets a Name

His name is Xander (Zander) Carl Petersen! He went home from the hospital today and everyone is doing well! I'm sure that tons more photos will come!

Baby Z Is Here!

My new nephew came today! He is unnamed so we are still calling him Baby Z. He is so cute and looks like a little old man. He has lots of dark curly hair and big Petersen cheeks. I love him!

November 13, 2008
3:20pm
7 lbs. 1 Oz. 19 inches long

Hospital & Doctor Week

What a crazy week for my family! It started Saturday night when my sister starting having contractions and went into the hospital. I kept her kids that night, but she was sent home. She has not had the baby yet, but will be induced Thursday!
Saturday night we also received a phone call that my great aunt was put into the hospital. The doctors were running tests all night long and finally found out Sunday afternoon that she has pneumonia in both of her lungs. They said that she was improving but as of today she is not doing well.
Yesterday I got a phone call from my sister and she said that Tyleigh had been hurt. My sister went to lift her up and heard something pop in her arm and Tyleigh was just screaming and crying. Luckily I work in a doctors office and our pediatric doctor was in. My sister brought her in and we took an xray. The doctor could not find anything wrong with her! She started moving her arm last night and is doing okay!
Loads of drama with my family this week-the best will come on Thursday when the new baby finally comes! I will keep everyone posted on that and my great aunt!

A Wins A Win!

Alright---the Utes played like crap last night, TCU played a hard game, we got lucky and WON!

We are still UNDEFEATED though!

Looking Cute Before the Game

My 2 favorite men!

Wonderful Scoreboard After we won

All bundled up!

Hard to see but it's the blinking red "U"

No Good, Very Bad Day

When I was young I read a book called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Well today is one of those days.

I have been holding in LOADS of stress lately and it's taken its toll on me. Nothing (except the Good Things Utah thing) is going okay in my life right now. Everything seems like a giant mess and I hate messes! It feels like I am in a big hole, way down at the bottom, screaming for help, no one can hear me and the dirt is starting to come into the hole. I want to go back in time and change some things that have happened in the past couple of years. Yet at the same time I want to jump ahead a year so that everything will be over and done with and life will be happy again!

Does anyone have a time machine? If so...I'm coming over right now!

Good Things Utah Tickets

I have had lots of people say that they want to come and support when I cook on Good Things Utah. In order to get tickets, click HERE and fill out the form. I appreciate all of the support that everyone has given me! The first woman to cook was on the show today and she made lasagna-boring! Shes got notin on me!

Boo Day!

I really HATE Halloween but I still dressed up and had fun this year! I had to work during the day but spent the night with my family. We had a great night! Chris has promised me that next year he will dress up, so I'm already thinking about costumes and I'm holding him to it!

These are the ladies that keep me sane and make me laugh 8 hours 5 days a week!

Abby is pregnant so she was a bun in the oven and won the Best Costume Award at work!

We had a potluck at work and I made this Spiderweb Brownie Pull-Apart and

it won the Best Dessert!

Jaedon was a very serious Obi-Won-Kon0be (sorry if it's spelled wrong)
and had the coolest cape ever!

Tyleigh was so happy to be a Bee this year and loved her tights!

I would say that I can't wait until next year, but that would be a lie!

Good Things Utah Here I Come!

So about a month ago I entered a recipe contest on Good Things Utah. The recipe had to include ground turkey and I had just made a recipe for Thanksgiving Bundles (which you can find on my food blog). So I decided to enter the contest, knowing that I wouldn't win (Utah has many amazing chefs). Well I just got an email today that I am one of the four contestants and will be on air making my recipe November 24th at 10am! I am so excited and scared! So set your TVOS and DVRS or just watch it!

3rd Annual Halloween Party

We have a Halloween Party every year with a group of friends, this is the 3rd year of this tradition! We all dressed up, ate lots of food, played games and made caramel apples! I realized that as much as we hang out, we don't take very many photos. So I brought my camera and in between everything tried to snap a few shots, They are not very good, but we had a lot of fun! I can't wait until next year when I get revenge and win the Great Dalmudi!

***For better pics see The Quinneys and Snells blogs!

Due Date...

My sister's due date got moved up! Baby Z (that's what we call him) will be born on November 13th, not the 20th now, unless he comes before then! So only a couple more weeks until I get to hold my new little nephew and Chris gets to hear me complain about not having our own baby (love ya babe and I apologize in advance)!

P.S I love tricking you all into thinking that I'm prego!

Photo Shoot of Jaedon

Last Friday my family went to Gardner Village to see the witches and I did a little photo shoot with Jaedon. Jaedon hates the witches and is actually afraid of them. In the 3rd photo I made Jaedon sit right in front of a witch so he would not smile at all for me! I snapped a couple of photos and then he ran from the witch, poor guy! The second one down is my favorite, it's kind of vintagey (if that's a word).

My Favorite!

What to do with the Red Wall?

I have always wanted a red wall in my house so when we moved in, the first wall painted was the wall in our great room. That was as far as I got. I've had some ideas (large photos, giant iron piece) but couldn't decided until now. This is what I came up with..

I still feel like it's lacking something though. Any thoughts or ideas?

Go...

Go RED SOX and TCU!

From Blog To Book

I have heard that you could turn your blog into a book, but never knew how. I want to print out our blog every year and turn in into a journal that my family could look at later on in life. My friend at work found the website and it is http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook.

Temples

I think the most exciting thing about conference this weekend was the annoucement of 5 new temples to be built. I love to drive by the temples and see their beauty. My dad sent me THIS link in an email. Please take the time to watch the slideshow, it is a picture of every temple built and operating and it's location. It amazes me that each temple is different and has it's own features, yet in each temple the same great work is done. I am working, very slowly, but working on going through the temple and I can't wait to get there!

A Utah Man Am I!

For fathers day, Chris and I gave my dad the University of Utah football schedule and told him to pick any 2 games to go to and we bought the tickets. Well last night was game 1 and the second game will be against TCU November 6th. My dad pulled some strings and got us side line passes before the game. We have never been on the field before, so it was cool to watch the players warm up and to see the stadium from that angle.

Chris and I on the field

My dad and I on the field

The View from the Field

Warming up before the game (these men are HUGE)

As for the game....our offense didn't play well, we really struggled to keep our score up. I gave up on the Utes at the beginning of the 4th quarter, as did most of the fans. The crowd grew smaller during the 4th quarter. The last 2 minutes of the game, the offense finally pulled their heads out of their rear. We barely won the game, but a win is a win!

I am so proud to be a Ute fan! I hope that we can continue to win so that we can kick BYUs trash! It was a great game and I got to spend the night with my 2 favorite men and can't wait to do it again November 6th!

Scoreboard!

The Crazy Utah Fans Taking over the Field!

Playin Hooky

Last Friday my family played hooky from work and we spent the afternoon in Park City. We had a great lunch at The Eating Establishment and did a little bit of shopping. We finished off our afternoon with a drive through the Deer Valley Loop. The colors were amazing, there were so many variations of yellow, red and orange! This is the perfect time to go and see the leaves! I am so glad that I live in Utah and can take advantage of the mountains. And it was great to spend some time with my family!

P.S. The photos were taken by Chris! I am afraid of heights and that drive scares me too much to hang out the window and snap photos!

Bitsy Bum

I don't have kids to brag about yet, but I am an aunt so I gotta brag for a moment!

This is Tyleigh, my niece or as we call her Bitsy Bum. She is 14 months old. I had the chance to watch her for about 30 minutes today and she amazes me! She can say mom, dad, Jaedon, dog, cat, more and various other small words. She knows how to say mom and dad in sign language. She just learned where her belly button is and loves to show you. My mom has a family photo above the piano and Tyleigh loves to point to people when you say their name. She loves to eat food! She seriously loves anything you feed her and I love to see her face when she tries new things. She reminds me of my Uncle Leonard who adored food as well. She does this thing that we call piggy or puggy nose and she scrunches her nose up and sniffs like her pug dog, it is darn cute! I am just amazed at the comprehension that she has at 14 months old! I love her so much and can't wait to see her grow up even more. Wait, I take that back, she could stay this little forever! I love being an aunt and getting to know these cute little people. I will be an aunt of 3 this November and am very excited to meet my new nephew!

Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

September 12th was our 1 year anniversary of being in our house! I remember picking out our lot and the process of building the house and now it is our home! We love our house and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. We put in our sprinkling system and yard this year and within the next couple of years plan on finishing the basement. We have had several more neighbors move in and a couple more are in the process of building homes. We have created so many memories in our house (Thanksgiving with Chris' family, movie nights, BBQs, dinner parties) and hope that we can create many more!