A cold harsh slap in the face

Molly and Tyson (Tommy's youngest son) July 2009

Many people have been reminding me that I haven't updated my blog for a very long time. The reason for this is because I like to express my feelings on my blog. With Dave gone my feelings are all over the place and for the most part keeping them to my self is just better for everyone. However several things have happened lately that have prompted me to update the blog.

Abe crossing the monkey bars. He was trying and trying and just couldn't get it. So Dave and I told him that if he crossed them we would give him a new Bionicle. With in 30 seconds for that promise being made, Abe crossed the monkey bars.

The last time Dave deployed we lived in Alaska. While there four of us became very close. These three women made all the difference in my survival of that 14 months. Alaska is a cold place. Me and the cold are NOT friends. But with these friends it didn't matter we had each other. I think for the most part non military people don't even begin to grasp the depths friendship can go. To say they become like family just seems cheesey and doesn't begin to explain the relationship. Well three of us are still very good friends. Dave is deployed again and so is Matt, my friend Katie's husband. Katie and Stephanie are the two I am still very close to. Both of them live in Washington DC. With Matt gone at the same time as Dave... I knew I had to go see Katie. I just seemed natural. And Dave agreed. So mid October Molly and I flew cross country to spend a week with Katie and Stephanie. It was wonderful!

Dallin, Cooper, Abe and Noah sleep over at Tommy and Kris's house.

So spending time with Katie was so wonderful! I needed that time I got to spend with her. When I got on the plane to fly home I was feeling sorry for myself. I was feeling this way because I felt it was totally unfair that my friends have lost a ton of weight and have been champion nursers of their little babies. (All three of us had babies with in 8 weeks of each other.) My parents have never been very big on equality with all their children. But I know most parents try to keep all their kids equal. I began thinking about how unfair that our Father in Heaven allows my friends to be smoking hot after having a baby and me fight for every pound I lose and have it come off so slowly and I'm an awful nurser! As I was feeling sorry for my self I started a conversation with my friend from across the isle.

Molly, Dave, Dallin and Abe at the Petersons house right before he left for Iraq.

The women I was sitting across from lives in Nome Alaska. She had two daughters with her and was headed back to Nome. In the course of our conversation she mentioned she had a young foster baby. Only 5 months old. I asked her how she got a baby so little. She then told me that this little babies father is in jail for killing the babies 7 month older brother. The mom was 2 months pregnant when the Dad killed the little boy. The mother of the little baby girl committed suicide when she was one month old. All the sudden my love handles seemed like a gift from my Heavenly Father and less like an unfair allotment. This situation was a wake up slap for me to re realize how good I've got it.

Dave and Molly the morning Dave left for the year.

I know God has a plan. But I don't have a clue what it is. I could never be a social worker. I'm pretty sure that field would make me really angry with the Lord. And that's the last thing I need in my life.

Dave and the Boys the day Dave left for Iraq... again.

So Dave is back in Iraq and since we were only in Texas for 7 weeks before he left... we packed up and moved home to Washington. Shelly is staying at home while my parents are gone so we joined her. This has been great. The little boys adore her and It's so nice to have help with my three little kiddos.

Abe and Dallin on Dallins first day of school 2009. Headed off to mom old stomping grounds. Kiona - Benton Elem. So trippy for me to see th boys go to school there.

Kimi is so very happy to be back. She is the funniest kid I've ever met. We made a lot of progress of breaking Kimi of habits, patterns and irrational activity. I feel like the moment we walked back through these doors all that went out the window. It's taken some time but we finally have her hooked up with her services. She is excited to be back.

I took the whole family to their first political rally. I'm so glad I took the kids. I love slowly brain washing them! It's the best!

This was my favorite sign at the 9-12 rally!

Dallins first soccer season. He had a good time and even made contact with the ball a few times!

Molly Peterson and Ellie Sanderson. The Peterson family has produced four babies this year. Ellie is the last to arrive. We got to spend two days with Matt and Lou. It was really good to see them. Their place in DC is so cute!

Molly is the best Barbie Doll ever! I love dressing her up!

This was sooooo much bigger then I thought it was going to be.

The babies of 2009! Christopher Sheftic, Molly Peterson, Jack Hixson.

Katie and Christopher, Jodi and Molly, Stephanie and Jack. All three of us together. It was really perfect getting to see my friends again. And their babies are so super sweet!

Molly on the airplane. She was the model baby for air travel. Seriously such a good baby!

GI Joe Abe and Dallin.

Everyone by David at Shelly's work party. Halloween 2009.

Dallin is a good little guarder! He has also made two baskets! (in practice not live game.)

Abe's first Basketball game. The jury is still out on whether or not Abe is a natural athlete or not. He is having a good time and that's all that matters.

Abe and Dallin with their carved pumpkins. I really didn't mind carving the smaller ones. It's the bigger pumpkins that make me want to pull my hair out.

Dallin LOVED his pumpkin. Kimi threw it away twice. Twice I had to go through the outside huge trash and retrieve it. Kimi was up set because she said she can't have her birthday if pumpkins are still out. Pumpkins are for Halloween, not birthdays.

Molly Halloween 2009. She is so cute I can't handle it.

Chicken Molly Pop Peterson. Her very first Halloween.

Jodi and Molly, trunk or treat 2009.

Holy Crap, I'm an adult!

Roma and Molly at Uncle Dick and Aunt Janes house

David and I have no idea how Abraham and Dallin have turned out as well as they have. When we had Abe and Dallin Dave and I were so young and honestly we were awful parents! We had no earthly idea what we were doing. At the time I didn't understand why people would wait to have kids. Now I totally understand. We are much better parents with Molly then we ever were the the boys. When I had Abe I was 21 (almost 22). One of my friends was having her first baby at the same time as me. Her name is Sundy. Sundy was 29 years old when she had her first child. I remember having such respect at how brave she was to have kids when she was so old. I'll be 28 in a few days and that memory brings me hours of joy!

Some people get dogs, but in Texas the family pet happens to be a Long Horn!:)

I can honestly say that I treasure every moment of Molly. Every poopie diaper, ever spit up, every angry cry, every smile. I didn't do any of that with the little boys. Having the little boys was like survival of the fittest. It was either me or them. One of us had to win. I won, but I didn't treasure the ride when they were little. This is one of the many things that all the sudden makes me feel like an adult.

David, Jodi, Molly, Dallin and Abe on Molly's blessing day.

David is leaving again soon. So before he leaves us for another year, we decided to do something fun. Instead of just going to Texas, we took a side trip to Disney World. Our timing for being there was perfect. There are 5 parks at Disney World. We went over Memorial Day weekend and then into the week. We didn't know this would be good timing, but we're very please to realize how perfect it was. The only park that was crowded was Magic Kingdom. All the other parks were pretty empty. It was on this trip I realized just how grown up I have become.

Roma, Paul, David, Jodi, Molly, Dallin Abe

I did things like:

- pack a lunch each day.

- stayed at a less expensive place, with a kitchen, separate rooms and thought it was great!

- I wore tevas every day.

- I only let the boys buy one toy!

- I publicly breast fed several times a day.

The only thing I was missing was a fanny pack! (I will never don a fanny pack!) I realized my kids will really remember this. We can't get away with anything anymore. From here on out... they could remember anything!

David, Molly, Roma and Paul Peterson

We got to take Kimi to Disney World with us. Now I have always known what Kimi was. I remember being 6 or 7 and announcing to people that my sister is Mentally Retarded. I don't know why my mother gave me this phrasing to work with, but she did. I've always known this, but it's always been perfectly normal to me. So as far as I'm concerned Kimi is perfectly normal. For the most part you can rationalize with Kimi and for the most part she acts older then 6. However... all that went away at Disney World. I found my self on several occasions thinking to my self "Kim, you are Mentally Retard. There is no other way to slice it." All adultness goes out the window for Kimi when faced with characters from fairy tales and the cast of HSM3.

Erick Ravsten, Dick Wakefield, David, Molly and Paul Peterson

I got my first camera when I was 8. I remember taking pictures of everything! Well we got Kimi her own camera for the Disney World trip. She stopped and took pictures of everything! Every store, every painting, every statue. Nothing was off limits. This made for slow moving around Disney World. There were certain things she had to see. I didn't dare not fulfill those things. Finally around day 3 of being there I started telling her she could do that when she came back with Mom and Dad.

LeAnne Ravsten, Kimi Gale, Breann (Daves cousin) Jane Wakefield, Jodi, Molly and Roma Peterson

Abe once asked me why Anikin Skywalker went bad. I told him it was because he was selfish. One night when Dave was on the phone the little boys were being really loud. When Dave got off the phone he told the little boys they had been selfish when he was on the phone. Abe burst into real heart wrenching tears. It took a while to calm down. Once he calmed down he told us he didn't want to turn into Darth Vader! Then he burst into tears again.

Dallin, Abraham and Molly Peterson 05-31-2009

Lately Dallin has become very touchy feely. He has started to slightly part his lips when he kisses and linger a little too long on the lips. He also is constantly having to hug or touch me. The kissing gives me the willies and the touching drives me nuts. This problem is this.... he is still in this beautiful age of innocence. The kissing I'm putting the kibosh on, but the touching.... well soon enough he isn't going to want to hang on me all day. I feel the same way about Abe. Right now they are so innocent. But this fall they will attend Ki-Be elementary school. And I know their innocence will begin to fade. They also constantly play right now. I'll be so sad when that goes away.

Molly and Roma Peterson

So we're here in Texas now. Killeen Texas to be exact. I love Dallas, I'm not so in love with Killeen Texas. We are in a furnished apartment/ town House in the middle of town. It was the only place we could find that would let us stay for so short a time. Right now we're in a really weird place. I don't love being here. I'm sick of being in limbo. I want to give my kids stability. But when this is over and the stability comes.... Dave will be gone again. Another whole year with out Dave. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't like him so much. But I adore him. I hate being with out him. But I know it must be. The sucky thing is, we feel good about all this. So I can't even be bitter about it. I just get to endure another year away from my best friend.

Dallin and Molly Peterson

To say that Dallin loves Molly would be the understatement of the year. This little boy can't get enough of her! He is constantly touching her! Constantly "looking" at her aka: touching her. I'm glad he likes her so much, but I've never seen anything quite like this before.

Molly Rebecca Peterson 05-31-2009

Abe lost another tooth. He is now missing 2 teeth on the bottom. He looks kind of creepy. I can't stand loose teeth. And he has another loose tooth. The darn thing wont fall out. He wont eat on it, brush it or touch it.... and neither will I. I keep sending it mind bullets to just fall out. But no such luck yet.

Dallin and Abraham Peterson and Kimi Gale. Animal Kingdom Disney World.

I love living so close to my sister LeAnne. She is so neat. Her kids are awesome and Erick is wonderful! It's so fun to be able to scoot 3 hours north and go see them. To add to that fun our best friends Ben and Dori Hill are moving into the Dallas area! They get here tomorrow and I can't wait! It's been 4 years since we have gotten to spend much time with them. We wont get too much time before we leave, but we'll take what ever we can get.

Kimi Gale, Dallin, Molly, David and Abe Peterson Magic Kingdom Disney World.

Dallin, David Abe and Kimi in front of Cinderella's castle.

We lost our camera at Hollywood studios. Good thing Kimi had hers! The camera was awesome! We miss it very much. It was Daves first camera.

Beautiful Baby Molly Rebecca Peterson in her blessing dress 05-31-09. Thank you Grandma Gale for the beautiful dress!

All things Petersons

I really got lucky in the husband department.  David is an AWESOME father.  He is kind and understanding with his boys and he adores our daughter.  All four of us are very lucky to have him. The picture above was not staged. Molly was so mad when we had these pictures taken. The photographer just happen to snap this photo while Dave was calming Molly down.  I love it! As I was contemplating how lucky I am to have such a good man... my thoughts drifted to why Dave is such a good father and husband.  I decided it is learned behavior.  Paul is Daves dad. Paul is also an amazing father and husband.  I am so very grateful to him for showing Dave how to do it.  Even if it does mean he puts his foot in his mouth on a regular basis and teases all the time.  Traits he also learned from his Dad. I am so thankful for David.  It amazes me that Pauls behavior has been passed on to David, which in turn will be passed on to our boys. 

We don't always follow directions.

Before Molly was born I took Abe, Dallin and Kimi to a school carnival.  We did a lap around the carnival.  Then I fed everyone.  It cost me about 7 dollars to feed everyone.  I was fine with that. Then I went to the table where you buy the tickets for the games.  I was told you had to buy a bracelet, you cant just do a game or two.  The bracelets were 15 bucks.  That's 30 bucks for Abe and Dallin to throw penny's into cans and pretend to be a Jedi.  I said no way!  Sorry Abe but mommy doesn't have 30 dollars for that.  He had been really looking forward to the games.  On the way home from the carnival he was very up set. I explained to Abe that we are going to Disney World.  Disney world was going to be so awesome it would blow his mind.  When we got home, Abe flew into into Daves arms.  He started telling Dave about how I didn't have 30 dollars for the games...(just as he begins to cry a little) he says... yelling.... "And mom says Disney World is going to blow my mind!"  He was pretty up set about this. 

I love this Bumbo!  It's awesome!

Also before Molly arrived I was very upset about still being pregnant.  In a moment of frustration I grabbed Dave by the shirt and yelled " The baby is never coming!"  That night a very sincere and sober Abraham asked Dave...."Daddy, how come the baby isn't coming?"  He is such a sweet boy and was truly worried about the baby. 

Scout LOVES Molly! 

When I was in the sixth grade I wore BYU shirts.  Also in the sixth grade there were  fat twins.  Their last name was Boswell and they were in the seventh grade.  Every time I wore my BYU shirt they would yell Joseph Smith down the hallway at me.  This did not make me happy.  Finally I stopped wearing BYU things all together.  I have never recovered from this and had a huge chip on my shoulder toward BYU because of this experience.  David happens to be a huge BYU fan.  He isn't even embarrassed about this and wears BYU shirts with pride.  Our son Dallin also seems to be a BYU fan.  He wears his BYU shirts every day!  He wears them to his Methodist pre school.  I allow him to do this because I know I need to grow up.  Non the less every time Dallin wears his shirts it causes heart palpitations with in me.  

Abe doing Kung Fu on the Beach at Ty Bee Island... Dallin in the back ground collecting shells.

My mother in law Roma is awesome!  She came out to help me because my mom couldn't make it this baby. (she is on a mission with my dad.)  She packed, cooked, washed cloths and basically made my life wonderful so I could do nothing and recover from giving birth.  One day while Roma was here she told me that Kimi said a bad word.  This surprised me.  She said that she talked to Kimi about it and everything was fine.

Our day in Savannah was fun, but evryone was pretty tired, it's a walking city.

Leaving the beach at Tybee Island (right out side Savannah) Kimi tripped.  She fell down really hard on the board walk and surprised Roma, Dave and I.  I made sure she was fine and kept walking.  Then Roma (tattle tale) told me Kimi said a bad word again.  I honestly didn't believe Roma, even though she has never give me a reason not to trust her.  I said you must have mis understood her.  So I asked Kimi..."Kimi what did you say when you fell?"  Kimi replied with total honestly and confidence...."Oh, I said Shit."  I told Kimi we don't say that word, ever and where did you hear it?  She replied..."It's ok Jodi, that's what the bad guys say."  Bad guys what bad guys Kim?  "The bad guys that killed Jesus, they are very bad."  Dave and I didn't remember that dialog in the Lamb of God video.  So we talked about it and Kimi is going to try not to say that word any more. 

Typical night at the dinner table.  Note our little Molly eating with us.

Dallin pretty much always knows what he wants.  He is a little obsessive compulsive.  The other day we were in Atlanta at Costco. (This is a real treat as there is no Costco in Augusta.)  I took Dallin to the restroom with me.  I put him in a stall and I went into a stall.  Then I hear Dallin talking about how he only goes potty in little ones, but he has to go poo poo so he needs a big one. What ever I didn't think much about it.... until I saw a little boys feet shuffling past me with his shorts and underwear around his ankles.  I yelled, Dallin what are you doing?  He then told me... "Mom I told you I had to go poo poo, I have to have a big one for that, I only go potty in the little ones!"  My son had to relocated to the handi capped stall so he could go poo. 

This hat is really Dallins, but Abe is our snow ghost and had the greater need for the protection it offers.

Ok so the best story for last.  For those of you who don't know... in the military we call our grocery stores, commissary.  When Molly was about 2 weeks old I went to the commissary.  While there i needed to buy new pads, since I just had a baby and was bleeding.  I found the pad section but it seamed kind of weird to me.  I didn't recognize any of the brands.  I stood there for about 5 minutes before making my selection.  It took so long because I had never heard of any of the brands before.  I made my selection, went home and started using these new pads.  They were huge and uncomfortable.  I was very disappointed, but figured it was the commissary... what else could I expect. That night I joked with Dave several times that it felt like I was wearing a diaper.  A couple of days later I was at a Kroger and wanted new pads because the ones I had sucked.  I made my selection and walked to the end of the isle toward the check out.  At the end of the isle I looked over and there were the same pads I had bought from the Commissary.  They were indeed adult diapers.  For over 2 days I had been wearing adult diapers.  Sure that I was wrong... I went home and read the packaging.... yes, they are adult diapers.  Why oh Why do things like this always happen to me?

Dallin loves to smile for me!

The other night at family home evening we were talking about tithing, so we had a bunch of coins on the table.  All the sudden Abe yells Jesus Christ!  He sounded just like a disrespectful trucker. Dave and I were both outraged!  I saw that he was about to get a thumping from Dave.  Then I saw what he was looking at.  I yelled at Dave...."he's looking at a quarter!"  Dave stopped... and we investigated.  Abe was looking at the back of a Hawaii state quarter.  Holy crap kids give you so many different emotions in such short amounts of time.  We discussed that it looked like one of the Roman Soldiers... and once again.... we don't say that.

Abe is always being silly now days, I don't love it.

Kimi needed her picture taken here because "this is her fathers favorite!"  The funny thing is, my Dad stops and reads every single one of things like this.  She knows what she is talking about.

I love any picture of Dave with our children!

At this point in our waiting for Paula's cooking Dave is ready to go to Subway.

Alas, we waited a very long time to eat at the Lady and Son's... totally worth it!

She looks  sooooo sweet in this outfit!

I love this picture of our little Molly Pop!