I'd had enough. Our previous stroller was really great for what we needed it for, but the boys have gotten big enough, and the hills here are steep enough that I was in dire need for an alternative. On Saturday I got this jogging stroller so I don't have to excersize so much when I'm out with the boys, haha. So today I signed up for that relief society trip to the zoo with confidence that I will have a smooth ride and a great time.

Mi casa es su casa

We thought it would be fun to show you all our place since more than likely, you will never see it in real life. We are still settling in and there is far more decorating that we need to do but for now, welcome to our home. I had to divide the film into three because blogger only allows videos of a certain size so just watch them sequentially.

nothin special

So, I'm always getting after people who don't post on their blogs, even when they check on them all the time. I always tell them to blog something even when there isn't anything special to blog. You can just blog about nothing. If someone can make a sitcom about nothing that lasts for like 9 seasons (is that right, I just guessed), then we can come up with one measly post. So this is my example of blogging about nothing.

This is the double stroller i won on Ebay. I wasn't looking for a jogger since they are out of my price range, but this one was a great deal!

These are some older pictures of Ethan looking like a homie G.

And these are some super cute pictures Joe took on his phone outside of the walmart the other day. I absolutely LOVE these jackets. Thanks Aunt Verna via Ray.

I guess I could always say something about Joe's school. He had a test yesterday (which he got 100% on), a test mondy, a test wednesday, a paper due thursday, and another test on friday. Im thinking this is going to be a long week for the both of us. For that reason, we are just relaxing and having a lazy saturday.

Orange Pictures

After so many people commented on the header picture above I thought perhaps you'd all be interested in seeing some other orange family pictures of mine.



This is my cute little...big family. Joe and I in orange, Joe and Britt in white, Parents in blue, Gramma and Norm in pink, Bud and Julie in red, Joshy and Britt (Red) in dark blue, and Justin and Mirella in brown. You can probably spot the twins in orange, white, and brown.





I never thought there would come a day when i was MORE pale than Joe. This is that day my friends.












There was supposed to be a picture of Ethan too, but the poor photog couldn't tell my kids apart so we wound up with two pictures of Noah. Here is the cuter of the two.








And here is the whole enchilada. Is that a common phrase or is it just common to the Petersens? Sometimes I say that I have oods of stuff, and people don't get it. Oods! As in, a lot.

After a Long Day of Manly Softball

Here are some pics of Joe and the boys after our ward softball game. I played too and did quite well if I do say so myself. We all put black under our eyes to intimidate the other teams. The boys of course were the talk of the event with their little eye make-up.

Joe and the boys just being tough guys

A Quiet Moment

Well, This is my first post since coming to Iowa. This is probably the first time that I have had time to write. I have been working hard trying to get all settled in. Any free time I have I am trying to spend with Jess and the boys. Jess is at relief society tonight so I am alone. I haven't taken time the write on the blog because I feel my time at home is so valuable I want to just play with Ethan and Noah all I can. The are growing so fast. They are becoming little people. They sit up on their own for extended amounts of time and both are learning to crawl backwards (slowly). I am two weeks into my four professional school stretch and I have to say it is going well. I can tell now that it is going to get really hard in about a month or so but right now its not too bad. Our schedule is outrageous. The school has prepared an entire schedule for the whole year and it is crazy. We start and end classes at random times; every week the schedule is different. I guess it is kind of exciting to know that my life will not be routine for a long while. Jessica has been so great. She is taking care of me in way I have never deserved. I love her so much and I'm so grateful we are together in this endeavor. She seems happy here. I knew she was so scared to move but she is handling it the way we all knew she would and enjoying here new friends and her sons. In all reality, life out here is great. I know that there will be time when my stress level reaches great heights but I'm ready. We are just starting to learn dental terminology and anatomy and it is really fun to finally be learning things in school that will really help me in my future career.

On a different note, our apartment is coming along. We still have many pictures to hang on the wall but that is about it. One of the first things I did when we got here was build a large shelf in the garage so that we could store more things. I think we finally have the nursery arranged in a way so that everything fits and looks nice. Today we finally got couches. We left our little couch with Josh and Brittney so we needed to get a new one here. We spent a good amount of time searching and finally found the ones we wanted. Now our house is looking like a home. I will put some pictures and/or videos of our place soon so you all can see it.
The ward here is great. We have many LDS dental students in the ward. My class has only six LDS students but some of the upper classes have more. It is nice to have people that share my beliefs and lifestyle. Today was the first day I have been asked if I was a Mormon. There is a girl who is in my lab group that asked me some good questions and said she has been searching for a true religion for a long time. She has become a member of 3 different churches in the last while and says she is looking forward to further conversations about the church. It was fun to share my testimony in a way that I think she understood and provoked curiosity.

I miss you all. I was so very grateful for everything that my parents and in-laws have done for us. When mom and dad came to visit, mom helped stock the fridge and never before had we needed it more. I mean it when I say that we ate up almost all of our savings to get to this point. There is no way we could have afforded the food we needed. Dad also gave me a fathers blessing to start the school year. You would think that I wouldn't have need for a school year blessing at the age of 24 but I definitely needed it. Last year was the first year that I didn't receive a blessing for school and It sure was hard to manage. Thanks dad for being here for me. Thanks for living in a way that you have been able to bless my life every time. We love you all and can't wait to see you in a few months.

Joseph

p.s. Jessica saw a little froggy hopping across the road tonight and then a bunny running along side the road. She got really excited to see those things for the first time and wanted me to share.

When did this happen?

For the past few weeks i've been noticing some differences in my personality that i wasn't expecting. Nobody freak out-I'm not pregnant. Anyway, so back to the personality changes. I've cooked dinner for Joe and I pretty much every night since we've been here. Actual dinners, not mac & cheese, or something like that. In the two years we have been married I have yet to achieve such a successful cooking streak. The only time I suggested we go out (other than when our parents were here) was our anniversary. Where this came from i have no idea. The other strange occurrence is even more strange. In church the last two weeks everyone has been super nice and welcoming. They asked me all these questions, who i am, where i'm from, yadda yadda yadda. The weird part is that i was really excited to meet these new people. normally when I start a new ward I try to hide in the back and do my darndest to disappear. But in this ward I was happy to share. I let people hold the boys and i answered all their questions without thinking that it wasn't any of their business. I actually remembered a lot of their names! This never happens. Speaking of never happens, I willingly and happily attended the enrichment activity last night. I had a great time getting to know people and I am almost stunned. For some reason i released Social Jessica into the ward. Normally i give them Quiet Self-conscious Jessica, and i save Social Jessica for people who've already met and expect her. How did this come about? Maybe its the move and i know i need to make friends. Maybe this is the first new ward i've attended where people actually want new members. Maybe people are praying that the adjustment will be easy and smooth for me. None or all of these could be true. Any insights?