Russ' Photo Journal

Mikey's dad is a very talented photographer. For years everyone's been bugging him to publish his pictures somewhere. Thanks to Mikey's cousin Cathy, he has a blog now! His photography really is amazing and it's so neat for him to have a place to be published. Take a look at it, bookmark it, comment, and enjoy! He adds a couple new pictures every few days.
http://russ-photojournal.blogspot.com/

Mikey and his dad, Russ

Halloween Costumes

Mikey and I have been brainstorming trying to decide what we should be for Halloween this year and I thought it would be fun to review our past Halloween costumes. I think it's so fun coming up with an idea and putting it together. We always have so much fun!
For our first Halloween in 2004 we had been engaged for just over a month. We thought the third picture below was a great candidate for our engagement photo. Some how it got vetoed. Weird. I think it might be time for these wigs to be resurrected.
Our next Halloween in 2005 we went as GHOSTBUSTERS! Who ya gonna call? The packs on our backs are our neighbor's 72-hour kits wrapped up in aluminum foil. I wonder if they noticed the missing granola bars when we returned the packs.

Halloween 2006 had a couple different costumes. One costume for a pre-Halloween party and another costume for Halloween night.
Any guesses on what we were for the party?
We were "LEAF BLOWERS!" We thought we were clever, but having a leaf hanging in our faces the whole night did get a tad annoying.

For a costume contest at work, Mikey was John Stockton, so that night for Halloween he was Stockton and I was Malone. I think Mikey looked pretty darn good! And I was just a spitting image of Karl Malone!
How's my form?

And now we come to Halloween 2007--when I showed the ULTIMATE love I have for my husband by dressing up as a WWF Wrestler--the Ultimate Warrior. Oh the love. Mikey grew up a huge fan of Hulk Hogan and so dressed up as him. Mikey was such a fan of Hulk Hogan growing up that in kindergarten he made a poster for school and on it listed his three heroes as #1 Jesus, #2 His dad, and #3 Hulk Hogan!
This is a picture of the real Ultimate Warrior. See, I just have a talent for looking like big, athletic men. What can I say?

Do you think Mikey had fun? :) I love it!

Any suggestions on what we should be this year?

Where Were You When? Tag

There have been a number of historic events that have been burned into our memories forever. Some good, some bad, but significant enough that we can remember where we were, what we’re doing, and great detail about what was going on in our lives when it happened. In this entry tell us what you remember about the day/time you first heard of these events. If you weren’t born yet simply put that as your answer. Also if you have any new “Where were you when?” moments add them.

Where were you when?

1. Where were you when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated?

Not born yet.

2. Where were you when Michael Phelps won his 8th gold medal in the 2008 Olympics?

I was at my parents’ house. Mikey and I were watching the opening ceremonies on their DVR during the commercials. Holy cow, it was exciting!


3. Where were you when the verdict for the O.J. Simpson murder trial was announced? The white Bronco chase?

I don't remember where I was when the verdict was read, but I remember I was in my parents' family room during the chase. I don't remember for sure, but it seems like my mom & I may have been baby-sitting my darling niece Morgan who was a toddler at the time. I remember the kitchen bar stools lying on the floor like barricades so she didn't fall down the stairs.

4. Where were you when you first saw the music video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller?”

I'm not sure, but I always have the song on my phone for my ringer during October!

5. Where were you when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon?

I had a front row seat watching it from heaven!

6. Where were you when you first heard about the September 11th attacks on America?

I was walking in a couple minutes late to my 8:0oa.m. "Special Ed" class that I had at BYU. They had the live feed of the news going on the projector. At first I thought it was just an education video they were showing, but found out quickly that it wasn't. Every TV on campus was tuned in for the rest of the day, so I hopped from one building to another saying as glued as I could to the news. I don't remember going to any classes the rest of the day.

7. Where were you when John Stockton hit “the shot” to send the Utah Jazz to the finals? (Mostly for Jazz fans)

I don't remember for sure, although I've definitely seen the video several times since marrying Mikey! ;) But I remember watching one of the finals games against the Bulls during an EFY dance at Ricks College. On one side of the gym they had the game projected on the wall. Needless to say, the guys didn't pay much attention to us that night!

8. Where were you when you first saw a “Star Wars” movie?

Probably in my parents' basement while sitting on the old black couches.

9. Where were you when the Berlin Wall fell?

I don’t remember, but I might remember my Grandma and Grandpa Jensen coming back from a trip and returning with a piece of the wall. I was pretty young then.

10. Where you were when you first heard a Beatles song?

I don't know, but I remember when I first started listening to the Beatles. In middle school, my friend Alisha's family took Alisha, our friend Kathryn, and me to St. George for Alisha's birthday. Kathryn brought her Beatles CD's and we listened to them the whole time.

11. Where were you when Hurricane Katrina hit?

I was at my parents' house again preparing for a family dinner.

12. Where were you when Magic Johnson announced his early retirement due to HIV?

I think I must have been riding in a car that was driving past my middle school on a dark, rainy night because that's what always comes to mind when that comes up.

13. Where were you when you watched your first reality TV show, and what was it?

Hmm, I don't really know. But I think the first reality TV show I really watched was American Idol . . . and it's changed my life . . . just kidding.
If you’ve been tagged:
Copy this blog as a new post on your blog.
Answer the questions as interestingly as you possibly can.
Tag 6 to 8 of your friends at the end.
I'm tagging: Camille, Lynette, Emily, Grandma, Destiny, Sally and anyone else reading this.

Hope

Hey all, I'll add more to this later, but Mikey wrote a post kind of summarizing what's been going on lately in our family.  His perspective is so good, so I just wanted to leave a link to his post so you can read it.  It's been a rough month, but we really are hopeful for the future and excited about what it will bring.  I hope you're all doing well. 

xoxo, 

Karie

 

http://mikeyandkarie.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/i-love-general-conference/

Bobbyisms

So I have this little boy in my third-grade class who is so funny. He doesn't really mean to be funny, but he just says the darnest things. I shouldn't use his real name, so I'll call him Bobby instead. Bobby is this sweet boy who has some challenges--mainly ADHD and some autistic tendencies. He takes things very literally.

The latest funny story happened a couple weeks ago. The day after picture day, the school sent home a flier saying "Make-up Picture Day, October 24th." After Bobby read the flier, he marched right up to me and slapped the flier on the table. Fuming mad, he exclaimed, "MAKE-UP!?!? I don't want MAKE-UP!! I don't wear make-up! No one in my family wears make-up!" And then he stormed back to his desk.

Once I explained to him that "make-up" is just another way to say "re-do," he was fine, but it was so funny!

First Photo of Michael Phelps

In case you haven't seen this picture yet, I just had to post it. I wish I knew who the artist was! I love it!

Oregon

Last month we had an open week where I hadn't started school yet and Mikey had some time open before starting his new, awesome job at Attask. We've said before that "We'll be spontaneous when we have time," (Captain Ron), and we actually had time! So we were a little impulsive, but we bought one-way tickets to Portland, Oregon and rented a beautiful convertible to drive down the Coast and then home. So the night before we flew out, Mikey booked some lodging for us and we were on our way!

It was so gorgeous. Neither of us had ever been to Oregon and it was so fun to explore, get "good eats" recommendations from the locals, and just relax. It was such a blast.
This little crab shack had the BEST seafood. The food was so fresh that it was actually caught that morning! It was so good we ate here 3 times.

Everyday we were in Oregon was cloudy--gorgeous, but cloudy. Except the sun decided to visit us on our last day. We spent the whole day playing on the beach. The water was still too cold to play in, but we bought ourselves a stunt kite (I didn't even know they existed) and played ALL day. It was so cool to do loop-de-loops with a kite. Crazy!




A Peterson tradition--funny face pictures. (Notice the light house in the background!)
Mikey with a sting ray swimming behind him at the Newport Aquarium.
Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach.
Mikey demonstrating the ease of putting the top down. Very slick.

We had such a fun time. The best was just being together the whole time. This trip might just have to become a family tradition.

Our Sad News

I just copied this over from Mikey's blog. My heart's a little too tender to write much about our baby right now. Maybe later. So, here's Mikey's post:

I may write more about my thoughts and feelings on this later, but they are somewhat tender right now, so we’ll see.

Many of you know Karie and I have been very excited about our news that we were expecting our first baby in March. Well, unfortunately this week on Wednesday we found out that we have had a miscarriage. We found this out the same afternoon my Grandma J passed away.

We are heartbroken about this news, but trying to stay positive. The only reason I’m posting this here is it’s much easier to let people know this way, than it is in person. Also thank you to everyone who has offered their support, through emails, flowers, etc. It means a lot to know you’re there.

We will also miss our Grandma J. I’ll try to write a short tribute to her on here soon, but I know she is much more comfortable right now.

A few memories of Granny J:

Taffy cookies, Steal the Pile, Coke, Readers Digest Jokes, Fiery Red Hair, Christmas Morning, the Charleston, the Lumina (aka IrmaJ) and so many more.