home to snow

the petersons are back in hooper....with merv. we had a super great time in colorado springs with matter's parents and his sweet sister jen and her family. jen made a fabulous thanksgiving dinner and matt and i couldn't get enough of our fun-hilarious-rowdy-love-to-play nephews. we are already looking forward to seeing them again in the summer! we are so grateful to have such amazing family in our lives and extra thankful that we were able to travel so safely to go spend time with some of them.

so needless to say, even though i had a fabulous time in CO, i was anxious to get home to mervie. we even got a little souvenir...a cute little Christmas sweater! however, i may have misjudged merv's size just a bit:

slightly snug...

mervie wasn't a huge fan of his gift...

when he got outside he didn't seem as distracted by his tine outfit...

...he was more concerned about the snow

the little ball on top is my favorite part :)



he was quite hesitant about the chilly snow haha



me and my merv out in the snow

handsome little fella isn't he?

after awhile he enjoyed playing with the snow

the end of a snow day for merv :)

i promise i am not a crazy cat lady...but you can have no doubt that i love my mervie!

so as for what is new with matt and ash:

well matt is still chuggin along with school...two weeks left, but you can be assured they will be two weeks of homework. test. test. homework. paper. paper. big project. paper. test.....anyway you get the idea. he has now finished his remodeling job so he will be focusing all of his time on school for the next few weeks.

as for me...nothing new...just work, movies, sleep, merv, seinfeld, matter, snow angels, eat, dishes, snuggle, and putting up the Christmas tree ....just living the good life :)

aborigines and nintendo....just more days in the life of us....

Ok let's face it, the blogger in me is not as rambunctious as she used to be. i really want to get back in the habit of writing once a week because too much good stuff happens in my life to not type it down. so let's get started with the catch up....

we threw a little halloween shin dig at our good friends the iverson's lovely home...and i had a swell time. there were lots of fun costumes, good chatting, yummy food, and some rowdy games. matt and i decided to get in touch with our native sides and go as aborigines....here are the results:

matter in a loin cloth....what a treeeeeat!

The Petersons

awww!

Angela and Dwight

Hula chic and Rednecker

THE Hobbit

.......yeah....

riders of rollercoasters

Grinch and Miss Who

short man and woman with hilarious hair!

man and wife.....wife and man?

Eskimo

Giraffe Keepers

Yup Yups

The Hunter and the Hunted

lame-oes....uh...i mean our friends ;)

MUFASA.....oooo [shudder]...say it again...mufasa, mufasa, mufasa!

so matt brought his nintendo home from his parents house last week and i have lost both of my little boys to that thing! i like playing every once in awhile for 20 minutes or so...but these two are die-hards and will play almost everyday, some days for hours! i think merv wishes he had thumbs more than ever before, but he is still quite entertained by watching matt play super mario, paperboy, zelda, and duck hunt...see for yourselves:

matter is still chuggin' along with school with tests and project every week, but he is keeping up really well! i have decided to switch gears and go back to school for graphic design. i am still looking at all my options, but i hope to be registered and ready to get back for the spring semester. as far as work goes...matthew has been working hard on the sister gibson job. he is remodeling a good little chunk of her house. i joke that it's more like playing for him because he has friends working with him on the job: kevie is doing to railing, paul with painting, and hobbit is doing drywall. no wonder he enjoys going to work! but i am glad he loves what he does and i am double glad that i married a man of many talents. i am still working at ensign systems as a little techie, however i am hoping to pick up a second job [just for the holiday season] so i can earn a little extra dough for a new camera! i have an interview tomorrow so we will see how it goes.

when he is not playing nintendo with matter, mervie enjoys ripping apart any accessory of mine that has feathers. i have some peacock feathers that i used in some pictures that he goes nutso for! mental note for ash: get mervie some new toys with feathers. merv has also got into the cozy little habit of sleeping on our bed....morning, noon, and night.....it's his new favorite spot. another funny thing about merv lately...he has been biting matt's ears in middle of the night. correct me if i'm wrong, but don't certain animals do that to show they are the alpha male??? ha! merv peterson - man of the house.

random fact: one of my new favorite bands as of late is called [the band perry] they would be classified as country i guess so if that's not your thing you can just tune out, but they have a different style that i quite enjoy. my preferred songs are if i die young and hip to my heart.

well that's all for now my cheery little mates, stay tuned for more adventures of matt....ash....and merv.

happy...happy

i turned 21 about a week ago...weird. i had a friend ask me on my birthday if i felt wiser and more mature. i wasn't kidding when i answered him, "less, actually." i don't know if my soul will ever grow up. i still sleep with my blankie, i don't like being in the dark, i enjoy dino shaped chicken nuggets and snackpacks, and cartoons are still my favorite form of entertainment. matter can attest to all of this because, also like a child, i don't like being alone and my best friend slash husband is present to witness each of these youthful habits i haven't out-grown. actually, i dont mind being called simple-minded or child like...let's be honest....some of my very favorite people in the whole wide world are little guys (like my adorable nieces and nephews.)


but to get to the point, i had a lovely birthday. i had beautiful birthday songs from mel and the petersons in pleasant view, perfect picture cards from beth and sammer with my fav treats, a very sweet card with a special treat from aleene, dinner with my {gramzie & em & mom} plus sweet gifts from em and gramzie, bowling with daddi and michelle, a vcr, bella, and kittens from auty, a beautiful necklace from my sweet little nephews in CO, and pockets of goodies from matter.




auty and ash

birthday bowling




matthew never ceases to amaze me with his willingness to make me happy {aww} a few nights ago he whine-less-ly sat through 2 hours of mary-kay-ness...including a facial! although, my friends, i must say, he was super interested for the first hour when they were talking all about becoming a mary kay consultant...the business-ie stuff. my husband loves numbers...and stuff that has do to with them.


merv has added a few funny tiny quirks to his lists of things that make me smile. one: he is slightly terrified of the heater. he looks at our vents like there are little creeps in there everytime the heater kicks on and he won't walk in front of them...only around them. i think he will learn to love them as the snow falls. two: we are retraining him with the squirt bottle...and he is demonstrating forceful resistance! merv will take squirt after squirt to get just a lick of something that is not kittie food. three: he has been climbing on top of the tv and trying to take a wack on the green balls hanging from my ceiling. my fav pictures on this:

shadow kittie

balance....balance!

our little alien

so last weekend our family from CO were here and it made my weekend amazing. we had so much fun spending time with family at dinner, lagoon, and sweet little jake's baptism. jake asked his uncle matthew to give the holy ghost talk and me to lead music. it made me smile {even though i struggled with waving my hand the right way haha} uncle matte did fabulous on his talk. we are so proud of little jake.

good job jake!

last night, matter laid on a fork for a few hours while watching seinfeld. when we got up to go to bed, he just walked off and i was left staring at the fork curiously.

ash: there is a fork on the couch....you were laying on a fork.
matt: i thought i felt something poking me!

i guess you could say he is thick-skinned.


in more recent news, i sorta got a new job at my same job and so far it's going well, matter remodels bathrooms {who knew} and mervie is a freak about doggies. auty brought her sweet little doggie izzie over last night and merv was a spaz. izzie is super mellow with kitties and was being so nice, but merv was being rather hostile! merv would stalk izzie, and when he got really close he would start hissing...the little creepie!

 





hear us roar.... !

no...we do not mean merv....we (matt, ash, & grandma) went to see LION KING! the first word that comes to mind is fantastico! it was worth every penny...and it took quite a few pennies! matter's favorite was the cheetah, i loved the giraffes. my grandma loved the voice of rafiki. i would go see it again in a heart beat and i'm very glad we had the opportunity to go.

matthew got 85% on his econ test {which i hear is a pretty tough class} and merv and i are very proud of him. he has lots of studying and tests and student stuff each week, but he is keeping up really well. he is also practicing his guitar more and more lately...i am starting to make out more than just noise!

i had easy mac and dino-shaped chicken nuggets for lunch....with a snack pack. but, i read the da vinci code at lunch so i do get some adult points! it's taking me a lot more time to read than most books, and i have to re-read a lot of parts to grasp what is going on...but i am enjoying it.

we found merv in the sink tonight...that little imp! the good thing about merv being big enough to jump on the counters is that we almost always do the dishes after every meal so mervie can't get into it. every time he jumps on the counter we squirt him like there's no mañana and he jumps down and spends the next 40 minutes licking himself...i really do think he is learning! haha the squirt stream seems little to us, but to tiny merv it's like a sonic-charged-super-soaker.

i can't stay mad at him...just tonight he crawled up on me, cuddled his adorable little face next to mine, and starting purring before he drifted off to sleep. that little guy just melts my heart!

catching up!

matthew has been doing amazing in school! i am happy to brag that he received 90% on his marketing test, on his econ test, 100% on his accounting quiz! i married a brilliant man. he is also keeping up on his homework...he is far more diligent than i when it comes to homework. i took a break from school. i know, i know...once you take a break you never go back...but i have every intention of attending weber for the upcoming spring semester. i am in between majors at the moment...too bad i can't major in fun, merv, or matthew. i have made appointments to meet with a career counselor. i am signed up to take a bunch of forever long tests that are supposed to tell me what i would be amazing at. as of now i am considering majoring in photography or graphic design. any advice or experience on this??? i know they aren't the most practical majors and i know they won't lead to a safe, practical career...but, let's face it...i am giving up on practical.

so matthew and i have been trying {not very hardLY} to transform ourselves into healthy people. i have started going to the gym about 3 times a week...which i have actually really enjoyed. the hard part is the whole eat-healthy-food-and-not-the-stuff-that-tastes-fabulous business. our goal is to be down to our desired weight by halloween...i am only 3 pounds closer to my goal than when i started! but i am not giving up. i am not sure how mr. matthew is doing, but i think he's procrastinating even more than i. he keeps telling me "i was a wrestler in high school...i can drop weight really fast" but i think he is stalling haha. neither of us really care about the weight, the actual number of pounds that make us up, but we both really just want to be healthy and form good habits while we are young...should that be so hard?! apparently!

the peterson's have finished LOST. do-dil-lie-do...do-dil-lie-do!!! {that is my celebratory trumpet sound}matt and i both enjoyed the ending and have even talked about buying the seasons and watching it again one day...time well spent. we have agreed upon big bang theory as our next show. we have been watching clips online and have been pleased. now we just have to figure out the how.... buy the seasons, rent, netflicks...hmmm....any suggestions???

we finally broke down and bought internet...the iphone was not cuttin' it! hopefully i will be more inclined to blog more frequently because i won't be ripping my hair out every time i get online!

mel and aleene treated the family to pedicures for our birthdays and matt and i really enjoyed it...big thanks to the patriarch/matriarch of the petersons. pedicures are always fabulous, but it was extra nice slash fun to be there with the family. i learned a little bit more about the Vietnamese people that own the salon i go to because mel was prying all kinds of info out of them! it was quite entertaining. i also loved watching the kiddies...little malan is going to be a salon girl and she is starting early. haha some of my favorite snaps:

don't let the boys fool you...they LOVED it.

this little girl is a natural at being pampered!

so a little bit ago i found out that my dear matter had never been to the dinosaur park...so naturally i planned a secret date and surprised him. after a stoll through the beautiful temple ground, we headed off to dino land ogden. granted it is kinda more for children haha but we had fun none-the-less. shall we take a look at my favorite snaps from that adventure?? deal :

Ah! Seatbelts!

mattersaurous

growl

MATT! right behind you!

WWWWEEEEEEEEE!

i know....we are nerds

museum pose

box dweller

background info: sometimes when i go shopping i can't refrain from getting mervie a new toy. i come home, merv gets the new toy before the milk is even in the fridge, merv plays /maims /destroys the {new} toy for about 24 hours nonstop until the new toy is decrepit like the rest of his victims.

BOX DWELLER

a few nights ago my new taillight cover arrived....in a box. oh the joy! merv is a box dweller. this is not new knowledge for me, but what i did come to realize is that a new box will last many moons whereas the toys i buy for merv only live to see one moon. and merv loves loves loves playing with /in /on /under boxes. the new toys are not completely in vain because he loves to drag the remains in the box. here is a small taste of what goes on for hours when merv has a box at his disposal:

our house is a mess...let's just get that out there. mockingjay and LOST season 6 are responsible for this. yes i am a grown women, yes i am now a wife with responsibilities, yes i know i should be able to demonstrate some will power, but.....mockingjay and LOST!

speaking of will power, i have been counting my calories the last few days. the first day was a complete disaster! i was doing so good despite the doughnuts someone brought to the office. i had all my meals planned out to stay within my desired caloric intake for the day...then.....i got so stressed and hungry that i made matt take me to kfc for dinner...which didn't take much persuading, believe me. so we pull up to the ordering spot in the drive thru and (still trying to hold on to the tiniest bit of will power i have left) i ask the order-taking person what the healthiest thing on the menu is...matt and i find humor in the rest of the conversation:

order-taking person: i have NO idea

ash: really?

order-taking person: honestly, i have no idea

ash: ok. what about the coleslaw? that's just mushy vegetables right?

order-taking person: no, you should see the amount of grease that we put in that stuff

ash: all righty

long story short matt and i ordered mashed potato bowls.

last eventful thing of the week:

a few nights ago at about 5 am i shot out of bed and according to matt yelled "ah! seat belts" very loudly. i then preceded to clench matt's leg as i yelped in pain. this part i do remember. i had the worst charlie horse of my life. it felt like it was in my whole leg. poor matt didn't know what to do as i clenched his leg harder and harder and yelped louder and louder...he just kept saying "ash! ash! what's wrong? ash, what's wrong" in a very panicked tone. at the time i thought i was dying and matt probably thought so too, but we haven't been able to stop laughing about it now....who knows why seat belts were on my mind.

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1.02.28

once a schneider....

my apologies for the lengthy absence. last weekend matt and i attended the annul schneider family reunion...don't worry it's only taken me 3 days to get back to real life. it was held at palisade state park down by manti. if any of you know the schneiders then you know it was quite the freak gathering, but the funnest freak gathering i have been to yet. i have a very large, creative, musical, out-going, not-afraid-to-be-themselves kinda family and i absolutely adore every single member. so we had a few competitions at my fam reunion...most outrageous outfit...airband...i have never laughed so hard since birth...ok maybe have, but this is for sure in the running! my team (made up of me, matt, my dad, and michelle) did "i believe in a thing called love" by the darkness for our airband....we took it very seriously. matt was the lead singer and did so super stellar...i am convinced he could be an '80's rocker if real estate and farming fail. here is a very small dosage of what took place saturday night at palisade state park:

(thanks to cousin shay for the fab pictures)

 for the outrageous outfit competition matthew dressed from head to toe in pink (eww) complete with a pink fluffie boa and i wore a mis match of goodies with a hippie band to top it off. the catch was we had to were it all day to remain in the competition. needless to say we got some freaks-on-the-loose looks. however... i have begun to wonder why we dress so boringly. i would much rather have crazy/fun outfits like these every day:

(again kudos to cousin shay for the pic)

i know most of you read this blog solely because of sweet tiny merv, so here is the latest:

merv's tiny little schedule has been slightly thrown off. matt has been out late for the past week and merv hasn't had his usual couch-cuddle time. the reunion left him alone for a few days, with only an occasional friend to feed him. i think he missed us (me). tonight i have had to stop writing 4 times because merv has jumped up on the comp desk and insisted i cuddled him...which i happily obliged to. he is as darling as ever and we love having his spunkie miniature personality under our roof.