Shonda: The 7th Month

Hello Family & Friends! Shonda is getting really big. Two days ago we were at the Hendricks (they live below us) with some of their friends and I was asked how far along we are. I told them 9 weeks left to find out later that I was dead wrong. We have 7 weeks to go. Thanks to Shonda for correcting me. Where would I be without her? (that was a rhetorical question by the way)

Life has been really good up here in Rexburg. School is going well for me and Shonda has been handling busy season reasonably well. She is a good little trooper. This semester has been nice because even though Shonda works alot, I still have time a few days a week to go have lunch with her at work. Next semester will be a doozy but both Shonda and I are looking forward to a new baby and some good challenges.

The snow is melting and hopefully before Renae comes sprummer will come (sprummer is spring/summer together). We dont really get a spring here. Uncle Leonard in his Doctrine and Covenants class shared that here in Idaho, spring is in our hearts.

Christmas: The Good Life

This Christmas we went to the sunny state of California! Where we were entertained by my parents, siblings, and neices and nephew. Everyone could make it except for the Martinson clan who stayed in North Carolina for Christmas. We started our Christmas celebrations on Monday the 22nd during our family home evening. Since we knew that we would be traveling by Bird, we did not want to lug our presents to California and back. So we opened them before we left. The Arringtons gave us a game called Ingenious and a box of fruit leather. I gave Shonda three Veggie Tales movies and Three Josh Turner CD's. Shonda gave me Neo's overshoes, a classic game controller for the Wii, and a how-to-play the piano book. Santa sent a gift to us too, but it came after the Holidays. More to come later on that subject.

The drive down to Salt Lake was a blessing we could not have had any other day. We had a few feet of snow fall over the weekend before Christmas and continued on Monday. Tuesday was a clear and sunny day. We hit very little snow on the way down and we were praising God all the day long. Our flight was uneventful except for the occasional squaking of our Bird. My dad and older brother, Donnie picked Shonda and I up from the Airport. As we drove home, we laughed an incredible amount. I dont think there was a moment wasted with no laughing.

We spent Christmas Eve at Carrie's house playing games and watching Jackson. Most of the family wanted to see the movie, Desperaux but Shonda and I decided against it. Instead we had the opportunity to watch my nephew Jackson and played board games with Meggan. It was loads of fun. After everyone returned from the movie we ate and designed Christmas cookies for Santa. I created an evil Mickey with the body of a snowman. It was awesome! We traveled back to the Grandparents crib and played Harry Potter scene it. Which I did poorly at, because lets face it: who remembers all that stuff anyway?

The best part of our trip down was Christmas morning. We did all the usual things, open stockings, gifts, and eat alot of food. But there were special moments that I want to focus upon that created truly wonderful memories.

The first story begins right after we wake up and get ready to open stockings. In my family it is tradition that we either go oldest to youngest or in this case, youngest to oldest. After all the nieces and nephews lined up Bobby came next and then me. Shonda, who in age would come after all my siblings and their spouses but before my parents was staying behind to be true to tradition(Christie and her family was not present). My mom decided at that moment, that spouses should just stick together. So Shonda got to come to the front with me.

The Second would be when Shonda dumped out her stocking. Our niece, Mandy was so amazed that Santa had given us nuts and asked if she could have one. Of course we said yes and then she aksed "how do I get this open?" (It was a walnut). The next thing that happened could not have been better planned. Jake said "here, I'll open it for you." He then proceeded to place the nut on the carpet and with incredible skill cracked the nut open by smashing it with his fist. Mandy was much excited and I was simply stunned.

Lastly, opening presents with the kids was such a blast. We truly had a wonderful time watching them open their gifts and get so excited for my little ponies and a firetruck and nerf guns galore! *honestly, the married kids had a lot more fun with the nerf guns than the little ones did* After all the presents, the much awaited Christmas dinner came upon us and we enjoyed. Christmas is after all about sharing and eating. And then perhaps... A little more eating!

The Holidays

My wife Rock Star Shondabo and I the incredible Hater of Cuddles, are glad to have had the holidays together this year. Lets start with Halloween. Well, I shaved my head; although it is hard to tell with my wig on and Shonda wore a wig. No really, she did. We had a handfull of trick or treaters come to our abode. The festivities began a few days before when I told Shonda that I needed a hair cut. She responded that I shoud cut my hair like the picture she has of me on her phone. Background note: Her phone was acting poorly, so she got a hold of one of her sister's old phones and put her phone card into it. On the phone she had pictures of all of her favorite five but me. So I picked a picture for her: a bald, black dude, smiling really big. So I said, "okay." She was not being serious in the least, but I took her up on her suggestion and shaved my head completely bald. It was a good one time experience.

We had Daniel Koberstein and his girlfriend Karla Garcias over that night for food and games. We started the night with homemade tostadas that Karla and Dan brought over. Boy were they delicious! mmmmMMMMmmmm! A few trick or treaters came during that time but not many. Then we moved onto a game of Settlers of Catan, in which one of us won. It was that memorable.

For Thanksgiving we gobbled some gobblers down in Hyrum, Utah with the Petersen Clan. I say clan because they could fortify a small country or create a family crest and it would truly fit this group of people. I, Craig Hayes, made three pies for thanksgiving this year. Prior to this fabulous day, I made two pumkin pies, from scratch mind you, and tested them on my mother and sister, Carrie. The first two turned out great for my first time ever baking pies and my second batch for thanksgiving were a big hit too. If my word is not worth enough to you, please refer to any of the petersen clan who was present at Thanksgiving. The festivities for the day included eating pie, turkey dinner, eating more pie, an air hockey tournament, and a four on four football game.

Black friday came and went with three particular things that happened: Christmas tree chopping, free ice cream cones at Artic Circle, and game night at the Tveters. I was not prepared for Christmas tree chopping. Luckily, I have a brother in law who has relatively similar shoe sizes and allowed me to wear a pair he owns. Thank you Aaron. Shonda also recieved boots from the Dyches. Only her and her sisters all seem to be much more of the same size, so it makes sense that one of them would have something for her. Gratefully they did. Thank you Kenna. We drove past Preston, Idaho and pulled into a snowy wonderland. We found 5 good looking trees and "chopped" them down. Really, we used a hand saw but for sake of classic stereotypical Christmas lingo, we chopped it down. After we gathered our trees and headed back to the car, we went to Artic Circle, where Papa Petersen bought the whole gang food. That was really nice of him. Plus the nice people at Artic Cirlce gave us all free ice cream cones. I thik we got them because of how much we spent there. Its like a club membership at other stores but instead of price cuts you get free ice cream cones...Okay, well, maybe its not like that at all but it sure makes me sleep well at night. Lastly, we ended the day with Joseph and Sarah Tveter and played Settlers of Catan with both expantions. It was great to see the Tveters and play a game.

We finished our weekend up with the blessing of Holly Merretta Dyches. That was a beautiful opportunity for me. I was asked to be in the circle along with many of the Petersen Clan. (I cannot remember all who was in the circle. For more details ask Kenna or Aaron Dyches.) Afterward we took a picture of everyone who was present and then belined our way back to Rexburg to attend our church meetings and give talks. We were allowed 7 minutes each and there were four speakers. Shonda and I spoke last. Shonda gave a wonderful talk on being thankful for the personalized plan our Father in Heaven has for us. I gave a much shorter talk (due to shortage of time) on giving thanks by means of sacrifice. We enjoyed the opportunity to speak in our Sacrament meeting.