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.

Karie's ABC's

I've been tagged for the first time! So, here goes . . .

A is for age: 26

B is for burger of choice: I haven’t really been big on burgers for quite a while—they just never sound that good to me anymore--but my father-in-law grills a really good burger and it’s always “the best burger I’ve ever had” (his quote!).

C is for the car I drive: The car I prefer—our cute silver Toyota Corolla. The car I don’t prefer—our not-so-cute blue Ford Taurus (see previous blog ☹).


D is for your dog's name: No dog. When I was really little we had a dog named Peaches, but I don’t really remember him (or her?—see—I really don’t remember!). My parents say s/he “ran away.” Whatever that really means!?

E is for essential item you use every day: Dishwasher! Now that I live with it, I can't live without it!
F is for favorite TV show at the moment: Right now—So You Think You Can Dance and Design Star on HGTV.


G is for favorite game: Sports—basketball & football. Other games—Settlers of Catan and Phase 10.


H is for home state: UTAH! This is the Place!

I is for instruments you play: Piano & organ.

J is for favorite juice: OJ that’s been freshly made and still has foam on the top.

K is for whose bum you'd like to kick: America for kicking Will off of So You Think You Can Dance. I thought he would win! (But I’ve never voted—so who am I to talk?)

L is for last restaurant at which you ate: Technically, Goodwood. But the one I want to mention is La Nonne in Logan. Mikey & I went Friday night and we LOVED it! Seriously probably the best Italian we’ve had!

M is for your favorite Muppet: How can you resist Kermie? He's so cute!


N is for number of piercings: One in each ear, but I never remember to wear earrings.

O is for overnight hospital stays: Zero because of me, but I slept over with Mikey while he was there a couple years ago.

P is for people you were with today: So far, our lovely ward members. I got to hold a really cute brand-new baby during Relief Society!

Q is for what you do with your quiet time: Read, check email, watch HGTV design shows, cuddle with Mikey while we watch a movie or TV, and sleep.

R is for biggest regret: I’ve been stuck here for a few minutes. I really can’t think of anything right now.

S is for status: Married to cute Mikey since January 26, 2005!


T is for time you woke up today: The first time, about 8:30a.m., but I went back to sleep a few times.

U is for what you consider unique about yourself: I’ve done some fun things—ridden an elephant through a jungle in Thailand, held a koala Australia, and scuba-dived in the Great Barrier Reef.

V is for vegetable you love: Artichokes dipped in melted butter, salt, & lemon juice!!!!!!!!


W is for worst habit: I never did it growing up, but I’ve started popping my knuckles the past few years. BAD habit.

X is for x-rays you've had: Just teeth.

Y is for yummy food you ate today: Life cereal and Pasta Roni. I wouldn’t really say yummy on either.

Z is for zodiac: Aquarius. I didn’t know before today that this was the symbol, but you can find anything on Google.


I don’t know if this was worth your time, but it was kind of fun. TAG—YOU’RE IT!

Summer-Car-Problems

We're cursed! I don't know what it is, but every summer that Mikey & I have been married we have had major car problems. This summer has proven to not disappoint. Our lovely '95 Ford Taurus has been over-heating, so we took it in to see what the damages were. We were expecting a repair of maybe $500 & we figured that was on the high side. Oh no. That was the low side. If we choose to repair our lovely "Darwin" (named after the previous owner), it will cost us over $1000! :( So now we're to the questions of "Is it really worth it? Or should we just put that money into a more reliable car?"

So, we're just putting it out there just in case, but if any of you know someone who is looking to sell a decently-working car, we might be interested! We just need something to get around town. So really, if you know anyone, let me know! Thanks!

(Not that it really matters, but this isn't a picture of our actual Darwin. It's a picture of his cousin I found on Google. Darwin is a "lovely" sky blue.)

Twilight Addiction

I was talking to Mikey a few minutes ago about my dilemma of trying to decide what to blog about. I mean, I started "blogging" like two months ago and only have posted one thing! (The Disneyland thing was just a "test.") Talk about writers block! Seriously. Also, it's been years since I've really written anything worth while--so don't expect any original, interesting literature to come from me! Anyway, I didn't get any earth-shattering ideas from Mikey (we just aren't that interesting!), but I'll just dive in and pick something.

I've been totally sucked into the Twilight series! Oh my gosh, today I sat down for a "couple minutes" to read and the next thing I knew . . . it'd been three hours. The time totally flew by. I won't say specifics about the book because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't read it, but it's amazing how Stephanie Meyer can make something so out-there seem so possible. I love it. This sounds dumb, but I know I could read it faster than I am, but it's so fun to just enjoy every line. I want to get to the next book, but at the same time, I don't want this book to end. If you haven't read the series, it's really fun, but make sure your house is clean before you start, because it won't get cleaned any time between the beginning & ending of the book.

WE LOVE DISNEYLAND!

Yikes, what do you write in a first post?

Wow, this seems so intimidating writing a first blog entry. What do you write? Well, I'll just start with one of the most exciting things coming up . . . summer starts in 13 more school days! I really like teaching school, but I really LOVE summer! More time with Mikey, more time to garden, more time to get things done. Time for snow cones, hikes, lemonade, late-night movies, BBQ's, camping, playing in the park, water-skiing, lots of fun things! 13 days . . . and counting.