I'm here to Party!!!!!

So being that it is New Years Eve and all my family and I decided to go to downtown Raleigh for the "First night Raleigh" celebration. There were tons of things to do down there and we had a blast! We went to a African American Emsemble dance. They were fantastic and so much fun! Then we headed to an improv show which was pretty good! Then we headed to see a guy Fred Garbo do a inflatable show, which was very funny and very good! Then we headed to see the Acorn drop. It was very cold but we had a great time!

Mom and I at the start of our night.

Kirby and Dad

The African American dancers...they were great!

The Memorial Auditorium downtown.

These were all hand made....I love this one!

The inflatable show these two people were so talented!

Fred Garbo and his cool inflatable suit.

My parents getting ready for the acorn to drop!

These are the buttons that we had to wear to get around downtown and get into all the different events.
Photo a Day Challenge
December 31, 2008

"Bedtime Stories"

After another day of painting Mom and I decided to do some shopping. We both got a pair of shoes....mine were actually shoe boots and hers were more like everyday shoes! Then after getting all cleaned up the whole Peterson family headed to Bonefish Grill for some dinner! It was great! We were going to go home and play a few games but decided we should go see a movie instead. So we went and saw Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories. It was very good and such a cute movie for a the family! i also love watching Adam Sandler's movies and try to find all his usual characters!

I love this bonefish!!

Mom at the the movie theatre....Dad and Kirby walked right up to it and seriously didn't notice her there!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 30, 2008

Getting there.....

So my mom and I are still working on the Corn Holes but we are getting so close to being done! We have finished the first layer on one of them and are almost done with the first layer on the second one. Who knew this was going to take so long!

We had another long day after painting all afternoon and watching the NC State bowl game. Then we played a few games before going bowling with some friends. It was a lotof fun and we probably should have just come home and gone to bed since it was already 11:00pm but no we decided to watch The Graduate. Classic movie but I should have gone to bed instead of watching it! Oh well, I guess we can do that on Vacation!

The first and almost done corn hole!
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December 29, 2008

Corn Hole

Today was a long day but it was also very fun! After church Kirby, mom and Dad and I went to lunch to watch some football! The Vikings won! Yay! Then headed home for mom and I to start painting the Corn Holes that Daniel built for my parents last Christmas. My mom and Kirby came up with the design and today we drew it on them and starting painting! NC State for Daniel, Tennessee for me, and Appalachian State for Kirby! (NC State is the biggest since those are the game my parents will be bringing these to) We are not done yet but are getting there and will for sure be done by tomorrow but here is our progress...

the first one has a little more done on it!

And the other one! They are going to look great when we are done!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 28, 2008

"Spice up your life"

For that last 10 years I have been getting together with 3 other girls, whom I have known for forever! (Chelsea - since I was 5, Amanda and Lindsey - since I was in 6th grade!) Almost every year we have all gotten together to hang out, play a game of Mash, a game of Chubby Bunny, take lots of pictures, make cookies in shapes of letters, eat Cool Ranch Doritos and skittles and laugh a whole lot! We first stated doing this when we all swam on the summer swim team and were all obsessed with the Spice Girls. I mean we dressed up like them and performed a dance to one of their songs (for our families and swim coaches!) And so for the last 10 years we have all come back together to reminisce on our childhood days, catch up on our now adult lives and laugh until our stomachs hurt. This was the first year that we did not dress up like the spice girls! But we still had tons of fun! I love these girls so much!

Amanda, Chelsea, Lindsey and Me!

Chelsea stuffing marshmallows in her mouth during chubby bunny!

Lindsey still doing ok on 5 marshmallows!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 27, 2008

Col. Mustard in the Kitchen with the Knife...

Today after getting up super early to drive to the Smithfield outlets to meet my grandmother's sister and her husband (and do a little shopping!!) we headed home to chill out for a bit before going to see the movie "Seven Pounds". It was so good!..sad and yet happy at the same time! Then we came home and played a few games of speed scrabble and the game clue! My little brother got Clue in our white elephant game with the Buschbachs. It had been so long since I had played clue but it was very fun! Dad won, Mom's character died and I was so close to getting the answer...I had 2 of the 3 items! But it was just fun to be with my family! (Daniel is in Portland, OR for a wedding otherwise he would have been with us as well!)

The new and improved Clue.
Photo a Day Challenge
December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones and enjoyed doing absolutely nothing but relax and enjoy the day! We here at the Peterson household never even got out of our Pajamas and it was so great! After sleeping in and having breakfast we opened presents and then played with all our new gifts!...Krista (my old Young Life leader) her husband Brian and their new baby Oak came by to see us all! Oak is soooooo stinkin' cute!!! We watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian on my brothers new Blue-ray player and it was awesome! Then we played a hilarious game of buzz word that had all of us hurting in the stomach from laughing so hard...especially me and mom! We had such a wonderful Christmas with our family and hope that you enjoy the day as well.

Sadie getting really excited to open her stocking and see what Santa brought her!

Daniel with cutie Oak Fischer
Photo a Day Challenge
December 25, 2008

Christmas Eve Tradition!

Tonight we celebrated Christmas Eve with the Buschbachs as we normally do, and had so much fun! We had our annual white elephant bunco game. Amanda got the best gift....a beta fish that Kirby bought. We had tons of fun and lots of laughs! I just love spending time with our family the Buschbachs! We go way back to the good ole days in Colorado when I was in 1st grade! And after all these years we finally have a group picture!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas eve and Christmas and that Santa brings you lots of goodies! LOVE to all!

look at the height difference...kinda funny!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 24. 2008

Yum Yum!

Today I made some cookies for Christmas! They are called Chocolate yum yums (They are from Mandy and are soooo good!...Thanks Mandy!) I made them over Thanksgiving and they were such a hit with everyone that i had to make them again! My brothers love them and they are so easy to make.

1 box of Chocolate cake (with pudding in the mix)
1 small container of Cool Whip
1 Egg
Hershey's Chocolate bars
Sprinkles

Mix into a bowl and place on a cookie sheet like small cookies. Place in the oven at 350 Degrees for 8-10 minutes. Take out and place a piece of Chocolate bar on top of each cookie. Place back in the oven for 30 seconds to let the chocolate melt. take out spread the chocolate around the top of the cookie and add sprinkles. Let cool and Enjoy!

Chocolate Yum Yums (Shout out to Mandy for the amazing recipe!)
Photo a Day Challenge
December 23, 2008

"Peace on Earth..."

Today I got to sleep in and did some shopping with my brother and dad for some last minute gifts! I thought that the malls would be more crowded then they were...I am sure they will be on Christmas eve! It was fun to run around the city though. And we got to stop by Ornamentea and see mom at work! We finished mailing out all our Christmas cards today as well. Tonight still to come is Home Alone 2 as Kirby and I try and watch one Christmas movie a night....tonight we are also waiting up for Daniel who will arrive any minute! I just love Christmas!

This is a beautiful ornament that Grace gave to me for Christmas!...I just love it!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 22, 2008

The Christmas Card

Today I took on the daunting task of getting our family Christmas card put together! It always seems to take forever to get it all together. But in just a few hours we were able to have all the write ups and it printed!

The Christmas Letter!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 21, 2008

Pictionary

Today was a great to of just lounging around the house before going to the Mclaurin's house to celebrate Brittany and Shelby's birthday with the Meiburgs. We had great food and fellowship and then we all played a few rounds of Pictionary. We had a lot of laughs during that and it lasted a good few hours! Such a sweet time of family!

The picture on the left is my dad's version of a turkey, that no one could guess...the picture on the right is the version that would have been easier to guess!
Photo a day Challenge
December 20, 2008

Heading home...

Today was a busy day of last minute things around Nashville before getting on a plane to go home. It was also 70 degrees outside which was kinda unreal! And we had the most amazing sunset as Brooke drove me to the airport!

Amazing sunset! ....The Lord is so good!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 19, 2008

The Ryman

After a great morning with the other interns I got to spend the afternoon hanging out with Sarah Jayne and just chat! Then had dinner with some sweet CPA girls before heading the the Ryman with Callie (a senior at CPA) to see Andrew Peterson's concert, Behold the Lamb of God concert. It was so good! This was my first time in the Ryman and I loved it!

Me and Callie and some famous people!

Outside the Ryman Auditorium!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 18, 2008

Intern Bowling

Today has been a long and very fun day! We had some training with all the area Directors and Interns at Deer Run Retreat in Franklin, TN this morning and all afternoon. Then we all hung out for a bit before grabbing dinner at McDougals. Then we went to the Williamson Co. Young life office and hung out and shared sweet stories of ministry before heading to the bowling lanes! We had so much fun there! I bowled a 108 (not bad for not having done it in a while...and I got 4 strikes what what!!!) We all had a lot of fun and laughed a lot!!!

trying to bowl through everyone's legs!

Drew stole the camera and kept taking crazy photos of himself!

Clifford falling while bowling!

Yes that is a tank top that Tim Teague is wearinf!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 17, 2008

My Elf Family!

Look at my amazing family and our incredible dancing skills!
Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Must be Something More...

So I heard this song today and I really loved it and of course it was after I had finished wrapping all my Christmas gifts! I love giving gifts to others...there is such great joy in seeing the faces of people as they open the gift you got them! But sometimes we all get so caught up in the gifts of Christmas that we forget what Christmas is all about! Celebrating Jesus' Birthday! So here is Taylor Swifts new Christmas song that reminds us!

Christmas Must be Something More - Taylor Swift

What if ribbons and bows didn't mean a thing

Would the song still survive without 5 golden rings
Would you still wanna kiss without mistletoe
What would happen if God never let it snow
What would happen if Christmas Carols told a lie
Tell me what you would find

You'd say that today holds something special
Something holy and not superficial
So here's to the birthday boy who saved our lives
It's something we all try to ignore
And put a wreath up on your door
So here's something you should know that is for sure
Christmas must be something more

What if angels did not pay attention to
All the things that we wish they would always do
What if happiness came in a cardboard box
Then I'd think there was something we all forgot
What would happen if presents all went away
Tell me what would you find

You'd say that today holds something special
Something holy and not superficial
So here's to the birthday boy who saved our lives
It's something we all try to ignore
And put a wreath up on your door
So here's something you should know that is for sure
Christmas must be something more

We get so caught up in all of it
Business and relationships
100 mile an hour lives
And it's this time of year
And everybody's here
It seems the last thing on your mind

You'd say that today holds something special
Something holy and not superficial
So here's to Jesus Christ who saved our lives
It's something we all try to ignore
And put a wreath up on your door
So here's something you should know that is for sure
Christmas must be something
Christmas must be something

Christmas must be something more
There's gotta be more

There's gotta be more

And here are my last and final gifts that I wrapped!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 16, 2008

All done shopping!

Today was my day away and I had a great time hanging out with my friend Cami (shout out!) and doing the rest of my Christmas shopping! I am completely done! All I have to do now is mail out one of the gifts! Hooray! The mall was kinda crazy today but not as crazy as the post office....oh my goodness. It was packed! I am a little nervous about going back again tomorrow to mail out this gift. I think that everyone and their mom was at the post office today mailing out their Christmas cards and Christmas gifts. All I needed was 6 stamps...forgot that you could buy those at Grocery stores! oops...note to self for next time!

The fun Christmas stamps that I waited for an hour to get and now have a bunch left over!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 15, 2008

Look at the lights!!

This afternoon I drove to Cookeville to have dinner with Rachel, an old YL girl who lives in Knoxville....we met half way to visit with each other! Then when I got home I went this house in Brentwood that is decorated with TONS of lights in honor of their son who died, but loved Christmas and all the lights. So every year they go all out in memory of him! Even the neighbors help and decorate their yards as well.

Photo a Day Challenge
December 14, 2008

It's a Dickens's Christmas

Today I was out in Fairview, staying with some kids that go to CPA while their parents were out of town. They live on 200 acres of land and it is absolutely beautiful! Then I went with Callie to her fashion show in Franklin, in a place called The Factory. it was a lot of fun! Then we headed to downtown Franklin where they were having a Dickens's Christmas festival. There were tons of people dressed up in old timey clothes, dancing and playing music! It was so much fun! (Next year I will be dressing up and partaking in the fun!) Then we headed back out to the farm and rode 4 wheelers around the property...it was my first time and it was scary but so much fun!

This is the view I woke up to!

The giant robot (Mr. Rusty) outside the Factory, made from recycled pieces from the factory.

Me, Emily, Callie and Scrooge!

some of the old costumes.

that is what I'll be wearing next year!!!

It was a full moon outside when we went 4 wheeling! and we saw tons of shooting stars!

Photo a Day Challenge
December 13, 2008

It's melting.... :(

So today I woke up to white outside and it was so beautiful....but it slowly melted away. :( I got to have breakfast with a friend with from Knoxville and it was such a sweet time. Then headed to the office to get some work done! Went to a CPA basketball game before hanging out with some girls afterward.

Photo a Day Challenge
December 12, 2008

It's SNOWING!!!!!!!!! (for real!)

It's snowing!!!!!!!!!!! It has been raining the past 3 days and today it started to sleet and then all of a sudden it became snow! and it is actually sticking to the ground! I love snow!

This is the ice that was on my windshield when I left work and what is under all the snow!

Brooke's car is covered and so is our yard!

And it's still coming down hard!

I'm still going out tonight hope the roads clear!

It is very slippery out there!
Photo a Day Challenge
December 11, 2008