Our FIRST Christmas as a MARRIED couple..

It turned out way better than I had anticipated it to be. If you're interested I'll be more than happy to share with you Florence & Alexander Peters' FIRST CHRISTMAS!

Of course I had to work Christmas Eve & my husband had the day off. While I was at work, working my butt off my husband was cruising around with his brother Joe. Joe & Elena got in from Vegas the morning of Christmas Eve, from Las Vegas. TJ was able to pick them up from the airport & had the chance to spend time with them. They were able to get a lot of things done, so I've been told.

The whole time I was at work, I couldn't stop thinking about what my husband was doing. I think I called him like every hour & if I didn't call him, he was sure to call me. Work that day was very slow. There were only about 20 to 30 people who were in that day & that's including myself. They were going to be closing down early at 4:00 PM & we usually close down at 5:00 PM. The supervisor that was in charge that day really wanted to leave, so I think she was able to get everyone out at 3:30. No change there for me because with my new schedule, I usually finish at 3:30.

THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY---
So my husband & I had made plans for the both of us to eat dinner at The Cheesecake Factory on the night of Christmas Eve. I wanted to do something special for the both of us & so I thought it would be lovely to take him there, since he had only been there once before. Plans changed & now it was his family & the both of us. There was nothing wrong with having the family all join in, it was just that I wanted to spend some down time with my husband. We had so much fun that night, even after we waited 4 hours for Ant & his family to drive down from Provo. It was well worth the wait. By the time they reached SLC & made it to the restaurant, we already knew what we wanted to order so as soon as they walked in the door we had our waiter take our orders...PRONTO!

I ordered the Special Combination & chose shrimp scampi & steak Diane & was also served with a side of mashed potatoes. It so didn't even look like what I had paid for, but the taste was so worth it. It was a first for Joe & Elena to eat there & I'm glad we all enjoyed it. I didn't finish my entree' because I was so saving room for a CHEESECAKE! I got mines & Anz fave cheesecake which is the white chocolate caramel macadamia nut cheesecake. That cheesecake is the frek'n BOMB, take the trophy!

CHRISTMAS UTAH-----
After eating at The Cheesecake Factory, we all headed over to watch something like a light show, called Christmas Utah. It's a house that is decorated from top to bottom, left to right & the most amazing thing about this house is that when you drive by in your car you can tune your radio to FM 99.9 & listen to the music. The lights & all the decorations that was used for this house was synchronized to music. TJ & I wanted to be able to take the family to see this house. When TJ & I had first gone to see this house, we were so amazed. We went December 13, there were people coming around to see the show but it was so busy, when we went last night, the line to just drive by the house was so long, we had to wait like maybe 10 to 15 minutes. Hauhere & Teave really enjoyed it & that's really what we wanted to accomplish for them.

GINGERBREAD HOUSES-----
So instead of doing gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, TJ decided to buy the gingerbread house kit. It was so much more easier & the same amount of fun! There was just to much to do on something so little! Teave started to do his, but never got to finish so his Mom took over & was so serious about winning, but she wasn't in a competition, LOL! Teave started, but Jen finished his. Hauhere started AND finished hers with the help of grandma Claudine & aunty Florence.

PRESENTS...PRESENTS...PRESENTS----
It wasn't even 12 midnight, but presents & gifts were torn open anyways. It looked like there were a lot of happy people in the room. I wasn't so excited because I was just so tired! My husband & I got a Nintendo Wii, new sheets & a blanket & a lot of different things. We were so limited with our spending that we weren't able to get anyone a gift except for his mom. We bought her the Gordon B. Hinckley movie, "A Giant among Men!" Joe also got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas & he was the most happiest person in the house, LOL! The most wonderful gift, I think, that was given out was to Elena from TJ's parents. They bought her the Christus statue & when she opened it, the room was so silent. She was so happy for that & she was even about to cry. Her eyes were watery & I was just so happy for her.

SO, that was our Christmas & so far I'm liking it! I get to go to two different Christmases! Both my husband & I enjoyed our time with both sides of the family. We're already looking forward to next years' Christmas. Now, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

OUR 1st Christmas tree..

Usually my family would take our christmas tree down on new years eve, this year was a little different.

First of all, I was so excited to pick out mine & TJ's first christmas tree. I didn't want an artificial tree, I really wanted a fresh-cut christmas tree. Our apartment isn't very big, it's just a one-bedroom apartment & so we just got a medium-sized tree. I think our christmas tree measured at 4 feet, but it was nice & full. We decorated our tree in honor of the Utah Utes, but it turned out to be red & silver, maybe next year we'll have a reggae theme. Anyways, to make a long story short---I just took my decorations & my christmas tree down. I even took down all our other christmas decorations that we had around the house, not like we had a lot.

The reason I wanted to take our tree down already was because it was DEAD. We put a lot of water the first couple days we had it & then afterwards we didn't realize that the stump wasn't all the way in the tree stand so the water that was left was just there for nothing. So yeah, my christmas is all done & no spirit here in this house anymore! LOL!

We'll learn from our mistakes for the next year & just get an artificial tree!

My Steeler MEN!

I have to admit, I was so disappointed when I heard that the Steelers lost against the Titans. I didn't get a chance to watch this game because I was at church & the Lord is more important than the STEELERS! Because the STEELERS only give me temporary happiness, but the Lord provides us all a way for PERMANENT HAPPINESS, which is a lot better!

Anyways, thank you to the Steeler men for giving me the temporary happiness I had for the last couple weeks. You all did such a great job with all the comebacks during the last couple minutes & seconds the prior games. I will always be your #1 fan!

Shout out to my babez...Hinez Ward & the rest of his teammates!

GO STEELERS!

FIRST TIME...

I haven't built or made a ginger bread house for the longest & I have never done it all by myself. I thought that this year my husband & I can do something a lil' different.

We bought Graham Crackers, Marshmallows, White Frosting, Jelly Beans, Candy Canes & the circle mints. I wanted to take all that over to my uncle Jnr's house & make ginger bread houses with his two oldest kids, Uso & Ez. I was so sure that everything was going to work out & that everything would just all come together & especially for me to remember how the heck to make it. So I kind of hesitated to do this as I was at work today. I was so excited that we were going to be able to do something that the kids would enjoy but I was just kind of hesitant.

So we got to the house & started to put things together. I should've atleast had a picture of an already made ginger bread house so that I was able to atleast you that as a sample. I had no picture of a ginger bread house & my husband was no luck because he didn't know what even to do .

After almost an hour & especially all the mess I got myself into...it turned out pretty good but not as I wanted it to . The main thing was that the kids enjoyed themselves. I enjoyed being over with them & Uso even scored my Tiare flower.

Here are some pictures from our fun night!

LDS Missionaries..

When I got home from work today, I turned the news on just to see what the weather was going to be like for the rest of this week & the weekend. To my sadness, there was a story about 2 LDS Missionaries in Salt Lake City, UT that were shot at, 4 days ago. They said the elders names which are Elder Parks & Elder Talapa.

When I heard the name Elder Talapa, my heart almost dropped to the floor. I immediately called Alethea to tell her the news because she's home in Hawaii, Alethea was freaking out. Lem is our cousin but because we were raised together we call each other brother & sister.

It was a good thing that Lem wasn't hurt but still sad that Elder Parks was the one that was shot in the arm. Below is the story from ksl.com.

Please leave these LDS missionaries alone, all they are trying to do is save every lost soul. And they're not just MISSIONARIES, they are someone's son or brother or uncle! THINK ABOUT IT!
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Man opens fire on LDS missionaries in Salt Lake

December 18th, 2008 @ 5:00pm

By Marc Giauque and Sandra Yi

Police are looking for a man who opened fire on two missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints right here in Salt Lake City.

A bullet grazed one missionary, but he wasn't seriously hurt and he did not immediately report the shooting.

The missionaries, identified by the Church only as Elder Parks and Elder Talapa, were walking near 1700 South and West Temple Saturday night and throwing snowballs at each other. One of the missionaries took off his coat to shake off the snow. Police say that's when someone came out of nowhere and opened fire.

One of the missionaries was hurt. "He felt pain and realized he had been hit, he had been grazed by a bullet on his right arm. They didn't see where he (the shooter) went after it happened, or where he came from before it happened," said Sgt. Robin Snyder, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake City Police Department.

Police don't know if the shooter targeted the missionaries or if they were caught in the crossfire of another situation. "We're not sure of the motive because the suspect didn't say anything before or after the shooting," Snyder said.

But the 19-year-old victim didn't report it to police right away. "He said that he didn't want to alarm his family, especially his mother," Snyder said.

The victim came forward yesterday four days after the shooting, making it difficult for police to collect evidence.

Church spokesman Scott Trotter released a statement saying, they "are very grateful that neither young man was seriously hurt. We have no idea what motive there would be for an incident such as this. The safety and well-being of missionaries is always a top priority for the Church and the missionaries have been moved as a precaution."

Police know it could have been worse. "He's very lucky. It's potentially a tragic situation. If he would have been to one side -- a couple feet, 1 foot -- he may not be with us today," Snyder said.

The missionary who was hurt did not go to the hospital. Police say the injury was like a superficial cut.

We don't know where the missionaries are from, only that they are not from Utah.

Gas prices...

Putting gas in your car, nowadays, is the best feeling ever when it only takes a small amount of $$$$$. My husband usually puts gas in before he picks me up from work, but today was the first time in a very long time I put gas in. We stopped over at Sam's Club to buy bottled water & fill up our gas tank. I dropped my husband off at the store while I went to fill up the tank while he was buying the bottled water. To my amazement, it only took us exactly $11.84. Before the gas prices started to go down, it used to take us $40 at the most to fill up & that would only last us for maybe a little over a week. Dang, talk about money-saving car. My husband & I are wanting to get a new & bigger car for the both of us but after all the money we see that we save, we're having second thoughts. We just need to lose weight instead of buying a bigger car, LOL!

The price for a gallon of gas at Sam's Club as of today, December 16, 2008, it is $1.37. Man can't beat that. I don't even remember the last time it was so less, well I guess that's because I lived in Hawaii majority of my life. Anyone want to save money? Move to Utah, but you will have to learn how to put up with these stupid Utah drivers & this damn snow.


If you look real close you can see my Tiare in my ear :)

SNOW..SNOW..SNOW

Yesterday, December 13, 2008, was the first biggest snow storm this winter, grrrr! Snow is so beautiful to see & play in, but when you have to drive it the snow with all of Utah's stupid drivers then it sucks! The roads were so bad in the morning, everyone was going 25 mph on the freeway, some cars got stuck in ditches & the cars with 4WD just didn't give a rats.

So we were on our way to my in-law's house so that my husband can fix our headlight in their garage. It usually takes us about 10 to 15 minutes to get from our house, in Taylorsville, to their house, in North Salt Lake. But because of this snow storm it literally almost took an hour for us to get there. The drive was so boring, I knocked out. After an attempt to fix our headlight we left my in-laws house to go shopping! It stopped snowing but the roads were still covered with snow & most parts were just ICE. Getting on to I-215 there was a big semi-truck that slipped off of the freeway & it was on it's side. I wanted to try and get a picture but I wasn't about to risk having my camera drop onto the freeway.

Anyways, we made it throughout our first snow storm & I just wish that this was the first & last. Atleast now it looks more like CHRISTMAS!

Ward Christmas Party

Since TJ & I are on the activities committee, we had to attend this year's Christmas Party. However, we weren't able to help out with the setup due to another even we attended earlier that day. We made it back to SLC just in time for the party. Myself & other people had doubts that we were going to run out of food & that us members on the committee wouldn't be able to eat. There was enough food, enough for us member to eat after wards, but there was no leftovers!

I had my doubts about how this event was going to turn out, but it turned out to be such a great success & I had so much fun!

Here are some pictures from that night!

Accomplished...

So since I wasn't able to go to work today, because of whatever it is in my back, I decided that I would go to the LDS Church Office Building & request a copy of my mom's patriarchal blessing for her. The biggest highlight of the day was that we had FREE parking for 2 hours, you couldn't beat that!


We got to the Church History Library to find out that I would be able to request a copy as if I was my mom, but it would be sent to her directly & I wouldn't be able to get a copy unless it came directly from my mom. I was fine with that, as long as my mom received it than I was good. The old lady's that worked there in the Library were so nice & willing to help me out! Also as we were getting ready to leave the library, I heard one of the old lady's say, "Oooh, there's a General Authority here today!" My eyes opened so wide & I was so anxious to grab my purse & run after him. The sad thing about it was that I didn't even know which General Authority it was. I peeked to see if I could see him so that I could ask for a picture with him, but he was nowhere to be found.

My husband & I decided to walk around temple square & just act like tourists for the rest of the time we have that FREE parking. We walked out & went into the Joseph Smith Building. There was beautiful music playing in the background, well that's what we thought. When we got to the entrance of the Joseph Smith Building there we seen a choir. OMG, it was so BEAUTIFUL! We stopped to listen for awhile & then headed down the stairs to the Distribution Center. We were going to look for the Gordon B. Hinckley movie that just barely came out. Unfortunately they didn't carry that movie there but we were able to purchase us a picture of Jesus Christ, a pictures of the First Presidency & The FAMILY Proclamation. I was also looking to purchasing a Romanian Book of Mormon, for my sister-in-law but didn't purchase it because we were afraid of how she would react to that gift.



We left the Distribution Center & headed back to the entrance of the Joseph Smith Building & there again was that beautiful choir, still singing. There was also a big statue of Joseph Smith made of marble, OMG! We headed out the door & across the street to Deseret Book to purchase the Gordon B. Hinckley movie as a gift for someone. Once at the Deseret Book Store I had my husband try on some CTR rings & we just looked around. I got a postcard of the Jordan River Temple & wanted to send it to my mom! But now I changed my mind & I think I'm going to send it to my little brother Hyrum (long story)!

That was my lovely day with my husband & we both enjoyed it & would love to do it again...soon!

Here are some pictures from today!

One of the 3 trees on the main floor in the LDS Church Office Building

The mini water show right outside the LDS Church Office Building

TJ & I in front of the SLC Temple! Is this the one?

Another one of us in front of the SLC Temple!


Lion so'o, only if was RED YELLOW GREEN!


This is the only Christmas Tree that I saw in the Joseph Smith Building!


I love this statue of Joseph Smith, frek'n tight...made of marble!!

Everything's going to be okay!

So, since my husband & I decided to work out we've been doing good, so far! Yesterday was our second day & to me it felt like my last! As I was walking on the treadmill, I felt pain in my back just below my shoulder blade on my left side. I tried to stretch it out & do something to see if that pain would go away, but I think it just made it worst! I felt like my body was about to shut down! Anyways, my husband suggested to me that maybe it was just my muscles tightening up, so I just started to stretch more & suck it up. After our walk on the treadmill we headed home, I had to quickly bake a cake for my Relief Society Christmas Social & of course I had to hit the showers. I then went with Ana to our Christmas dinner & it was fun to be there!

Couple hours passed & I was still in pain, the pain was so bad that when I would gasp for air, I couldn't because when I did it hurt so bad. I then text my husband to let him know what was going on, he was on his way to the chapel. The main thing I was worried about was going to sleep because I was afraid that I would just stop breathing in my sleep & then FA! I told my husband how I felt as tears filled my eyes. The first thing I thought of was getting a blessing then going to the ER. Since my husband just recently got his Melchizedek priesthood, I thought that this would be the best opportunity for him to give me a blessing. Since we were also supposed to meet with our bishop the same night, he just called my bishop over & we went to his office to perform this blessing.

Honestly, I truly felt that the blessing helped me out & allowed me to at least breathe right! I still had problems gasping for air, but I knew that I was going to be okay. After the blessing that was given by my husband, there was a knock at the bishop's door. The door opened & in ran his little 3 year old son, Curtis. He is such a cute little boy. Right out the door was our bishop's wife, Annette. I guess she saw that I had been crying so she walked in & gave me a kiss & told me that she loved me, & again that assured me that EVERYTHING was going to be okay. My bishop was so kind enough to give me some medicine & lend us his heating pad. We ended up not needing to go to the ER & just stayed home to utilize the heating pad that was given to us to use.

Thank you Bishop, Annette & Curtis Sandstrom!

'DIE't or Change of Lifestyle?????

So today I was able to start my new schedule at work & I'm glad that our manager was able to make this decision...I LOVE IT A LOT!!! Before I was working Monday to Friday 8AM to 5PM & starting today I still work Monday to Friday but now from 7AM to 3:30PM.

My husband & I both decided to start working out together & help each other to lose weight! So since my new work schedule started today, we started working out TODAY! I wanted to wait until the new year 2009, but like always...HE WON & we started today!

So we're going to see about this new workout thingy & hopefully lose ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL the unnecessary weight!!

GOOD LUCK TO US!!!

Steelers defeat the Cowboys 20-13

HOW 'BOUT THEM STEELERS!

Cowboys vs. Steelers--what more can I say? Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a great win against the Dallas Cowboys. To be honest, I totally forgot about this game & in my family this game is huge! My family & I have been big on the Pittsburgh Steelers, my siblings & I were born Steelers fans. Anyways, the final score for the Cowboys & Steelers game was, 13-20 STEELERS.

My husband is a Cowboys fan, so I guess he'll be poor sport for the next couple days!!

There's always a FIRST for everything

I've never had my own blog before & so I'm grateful for my sister, Vina, who has introduced this site to me. She actually just told me to go online & read her blogs, but as I was reading her blogs I wanted to make one for myself. Sooooo thanks sis, you're the best!

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Friday, December 5, 2008- My husband surprised me with Utah Jazz tickets, well kinda. I'm not a basketball fan & thought that it would be so boring, but I was so excited to go to an NBA Basketball game, so I just went along with it. We were planning on waiting for another game, but since he got it so cheap...WHY NOT?! Yeah, the tickets were only $5 & the seats were way up there, but who cares. It didn't matter to me where our seats were, all that mattered was that I was with my husband doing something different. Since the Utah Jazz play downtown, we didn't want to bother paying for parking or even looking for a parking space so we took the TRAX. It was well worth it, I had so much fun! The most exciting thing about the Jazz game was that I got to see the new lights in the Energy Solutions Arena & seeing the lights from way up there was so worth the $5. LOL!

They also gave away a lot of free stuff, they gave away Geek Squad shirts from Best Buy, burritos from Taco Bell, Jazz frisbees & much more. We actually got a chance to get ourselves a free Jazz duffle bag, it's not that big but it's something.

The Jazz played against the Toronto Raptors from Canada. The game started at 8:30 pm & we got there at like 7:45 pm. Both my husband & I were so tired so we actually left the game towards the end of the halftime show. We got outside of the Energy Solutions Arena & they had all the trees outside lighted & decorated with the Christmas lights & it was so beautiful. We took a couple pictures & got to the TRAX station so we wouldn't miss our ride, LOL! By the time the train (i guess you can call it that) arrived at the train station it was like 10:05 pm. Anyways, ever since we were married I was always in to watching the news & channel 2 news is the best. Well, they have their studio downtown SLC on Main Street & since we were downtown at the time of the 10 o'clock news I wanted to stop by the studio just so that I can wave in the background & to be on tv. So my husband & I got on the train & rode it for like 2 or 3 blocks & got off, we must've got off too early because we had a long ways to walk, before reaching the studio. On our way to the channel 2 news studio we stopped over at the skating rink that they have outside. That was so cool to see, my husband wanted to rent some skates & go skating but I wasn't about to fall on my arse in front of everyone. Luckily I still had battery time left on my camera, I recorded the kids w/ their parents just going around & skating...just like you see in the movies! Downtown SLC was well decorated, almost all the trees were decorated with lights & it was such a pretty sight to see.


After enjoying seeing the families skate together, we walked on over to the channel 2 news studio & made it in time...the 10 o'clock news was still on. I was so excited & I guess my husband was tired because it seemed like he had the WHATEVER attitude, kaloz! The first thing that I noticed was how pretty the news anchor lady really was. Because when you see things on tv, alot of things can be done to make them pretty, but this lady (Shauna Lake) was so beautiful. She seemed to have a 'down-to-earth' personality as well. She was so kind, she turned around & waved at all of the people standing outside...it was AWESOME!


Anyways, our night out in the town was so much fun & I wouldn't mind doing it again (hint, hint).