12-29-08

Happy New Year! Hope every had a great Christmas! The week started off a little busy...Reagan saw the audiologist on Tuesday but she had fluid in her ears and so off to the pediatrician we went that afternoon to try and get it cleared up. So we will have to see the audiologist again in a few weeks. We also checked on Cake's house while she was in Mexico. Wednesday was haircut day and the other appraisal on the work van bumper. It was also baking for our Christmas Eve dinner. We had Lois and Cleiburn and Kim over for dinner. After dinner the kids opened a few presents from Kim and Grandma and Grandpa and got to play for a bit. Then off to bed for the kids and Kim stayed to watch some of "The Office" while Gwen wrapped presents. It was a late night but Santa snuck into our house after mom and dad went to bed! We have done a little "creative parenting" with Reagan and it helped us Christmas morning. Reagan picked out her very own alarm clock a few months ago, but this alarm clock is not to wake her up, but is a sign of when she can come out of her room in the morning :-) (she gets up way too early so she just plays in her room or whatever until the alarm) So the alarm was set and we all got up at 7am. It seemed to be a "remote control" year. John got plenty of cars, Reagan got plenty of princess stuff and the kids and dad each got a remote control car (dad's was zero gravity and can go on the walls and ceiling). But the funniest thing of the morning was that Gwen and Jim got each other the exact same thing - a small coded safe!! It was pretty funny...great minds think alike???? or we've been married long enough to think alike... :-) The day was spent playing, eating and setting up the trampoline (in the rain) that we got from nana (thanks nana!) Friday was more playing and that night we went to Schnepf Farms with the Thornleys. It was super cold and the wind made it worse. We rode the train a couple of times and the carousel. Unfortunately it was too muddy to feed the reindeer so we had smores and cocoa around the bonfire. Saturday we did misc. and that night Jim went to Jaren's and Gwen watched a girl movie. Sunday was laziness again. We hope everyone is doing well and that you have a fun New Years! Love Jim Gwen Reagan and John

12-22-08

Yippeee! Only a few more days until Christmas and the kids are out of school and I haven't dared put any gifts under the tree yet! :-) This past week Gwen made an overdue trip to the dentist, everything looked OK except one thing (ugh) so off to the endodontist I go...ugh. That night Gwen started experiencing something she has never had...a UTI (ugh again). It was very painful and now she's on antibiotics and feeling much better. Wednesday night we babysat a couple of neighbor kids. It was good for the kids to play, although John and Reagan's friend Ian got into some pretty good little fist fights and Reagan tattling on Ian and Ian not obeying. It was so much fun, we decided to repeat it on Friday night with another family whose parents had a Christmas party :-) This time it was 3 girls and everyone played really well together (darts, clue and then a christmas show) and it was pretty late when their parents came. Saturday Jim and I decided we wanted to get away, so we found a babysitter and off we went. When we came home, her older brother was in the house and we could tell something was wrong. While we were gone, someone came to the door and she didn't recognize who it was so she didn't answer, they rang the bell again and she kind of opened it but then closed it and the guy was saying stuff like "hey in there...." and then he thought he heard someone say "come in" so he tried the door. Yes, our babysitter was freaked out! She called her dad to come over, put the kids in our bedroom and waited. We were not very happy about someone coming around like that and figured any of our friends would have called our cell phones. So Jim took his gun and walked around the house several times that night. Sunday at church after Sacrament meeting, our new neighbor stopped to tell Jim that he came by last night to get some help on something and at that same moment the babysitter walked by. Jim called to her and introduced her to our new neighbor and the guy from the night before! This is not an exaggeration - it really happened that way on Sunday. So it was a big relief that we knew who it was, but we feel so sorry for the babysitter - poor girl. She's the same one that we had when John locked everyone out of the house! Guess we better increase her pay or something to keep her happy :-) Sunday was the Petersen Christmas party and it was fun. Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! Be safe and we love you all! Jim Gwen Reagan and John p.s. John's funny for the week: he took his tricycle on a walk and every few seconds he stopped, got off and touched all of the tires, saying "psssst" like putting air in them. It was funny! All boy!

12-14-08

Happy Winter! We are getting rain and have had clouds and it's so nice to finally feel like we have a "winter" (OK, by AZ standards). This past week was long...Tuesday Gwen baked a little and had Webelos and that night we went to the viewing for Laura's dad. Wednesday grandma babysat while we went to the funeral, it was a nice service and Laura read a beautiful poem that she had written. Afterwards Jim went to the graveside in west Phoenix while Gwen went to the church to set up a luncheon for the family. The luncheon was nice and gave the kids a chance to be together again. They really like Laura's kids Josh (16 yrs) and Zack (8 yrs). That night John threw up pretty good (flu or too many cookies from the luncheon?) Thursday I just can't remember except taking dinner to someone who had surgery and Friday Jim got into a fender-bender in Tucson (not his fault). He got hit from behind by a flatbed towtruck. Gwen sure is grateful he was in the big van! He got home late that night and Gwen had taken the kids to the temple lights to give him some time at home alone. The kids were everywhere and there were a ton of people, so it wasn't that fun. We also went to visit grandma and grandpa so that was a treat. That night Reagan threw up more than imaginable. Gwen had to shampoo her hair twice - ugh! So Saturday we didn't do much, but Jim went to a memorial service for his aunt and then we did a few errands. Sunday we had church and kids were well. Afterwards we went to Cake's to see the Thornley kids and then to the temple lights with Laura and her family. We are so grateful for our friends and family - Thanks for all you do! Have a good week. Love Jim Gwen Reagan and John p.s. we have been watching "Frosty the Snowman" at least twice a day, every day...anyone jealous? p.p.s. we also watched "Santa Claus is coming to town" and while Reagan was going to bed, she said to Jim, "Dad, I didn't know Santa Claus' name was Kris Crandell!" (she's Gwen's cousin) It was pretty funny - guess it's a good thing we are going to see the audiologist next week...chau!

12-7-08

Happy December all! This past week we enjoyed some cooler weather and put up the Christmas tree. Tuesday was the norm of Webelos for Gwen and Elder's Quorum for Jim. Thursday Gwen babysat two boys from the ward and it went longer than expected (their dad was getting his wisdom teeth extracted and their mom was with him) so Gwen picked up the babysitter for the Petersen kids and she was kind enough to watch the other boys until their parents were done. Jim and Gwen went to a Scouting dinner, where Gwen's Webelos leader got an award. And as an extra bonus, our friend Joe Aposhian was there with his family and he got a couple of awards, one being the "Silver Beaver" which is a pretty big deal. Saturday morning we had our ward Christmas party breakfast. It was long, but pretty good. Santa came (he doesn't usually come to our Christmas parties) and the kids really enjoyed it. Lately Reagan and John have been obssessed with "The Grinch who Stole Christmas" (Jim Carey version) and one of the newer guys in the ward was asked to sing, "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch" at the party and she kept telling him to sing it "really mean"! He did a great job and when he was done, asked Reagan if it was mean enough and she matter-of-factly replied, that "no" it hadn't been mean enough :-) That afternoon Reagan helped Jim at Grandma and Grandpa's with some stuff and John went with Cake and Gwen to a holiday boutique Stephanie was doing with her pampered chef. That night Jim got pretty sick and everyone was in bed early except for Gwen who really enjoyed the quiet time and even got the floor mopped! Sunday was church and laziness since Jim was still feeling yuckky. The countdown is on and kids are wound up. Hope everyone is well. Love Gwen Jim Reagan and John

11-30-08

Hello! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! It was a busy week, starting out by waiting for a candy order and then we had a little family activity by going to a new bounce place. The kids had a great time and daddy even joined in the fun on the biggest bounce slide :-) And we all ended up with rug burns. Only one other family was there so it was fun to have free reign. That night daddy was in charge while Cake and Gwen went to their next gun class. It was later at night and alot more shooting involved, so we were tired. Tuesday was Webelos, Reagan playing with the new neighbor girl and Jim's church night. Wednesday Reagan had a Thanksgiving party at school and Gwen did errands getting ready to go. We visited with grandma and grandpa and then packed. Thursday the Thornley's came to the house and we drove to Maricopa, then parted ways. We visited with Laura's dad and family and then headed to Yuma. We checked into our tiny room and then met up with everyone for dinner. The kids all had a great time playing together and did well overall. Friday was the greatest relaxing day. Having Thanksgiving dinner (yes, a day later) at the church was so wonderful! We mostly stayed in the gym/kitchen. Lots of ball games happened, the little bouncer was set up and the wii was in the adjoining room. We did crafts, watched little girls put on ballet shows and ate and rode scooters and visited. that night after leftover dinner, we watched Kungfu Panda in the carpeted gym and took sleeping kids back to the room. Saturday we headed to the camel farm and saw some fun animals. Then off to the "castle" park for lunch and then back to our rooms for some down time. Again we met up for dinner and playing and recording of Hurdsman memories. The in-laws may find it fun to listen to. Sunday we had the blessing of Bonnie and she looked adorable in her dress and it was a very nice, spiritual meeting. The kids did well on their song "I Am A Child Of God" and we had a wonderful breakfast back at the Boysuns. Then off to church and then the Petersens took off and got settled back in at home. It was so much fun and we were glad to see everyone and let the cousins play nonstop! Thanks to Rog and Hilary and all that they did! Have a safe week and happy December! Love Jim Gwen Reagan and John