Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2009
Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas! The Petty Family has had another great year! We’re really excited for the newest adventure yet to arrive, a baby boy due in the next couple of weeks! Our little family is growing!

Nathan turned 3 years old this November! We celebrated with a “Pirate Party” and invited the kids to wear their Halloween costumes. Nathan has had a stellar swimming season, and continues to amaze Shane and me with his quick thinking, humor and cognitive grasp of EVERYTHING!! He loves to talk on the phone, and will go around the house with it at his ear having great conversations with who ever will take time to talk to him. He likes to paint, color, dance – Like Michael Jackson, sing about whatever is important (don’t bite me, Dinosaur, don’t bite me) and will never been seen without a truck or car on his person somewhere, usually tucked into the safety of his backpack. Pizza or grilled cheese sandwich is his favorite food.

Shane FINALLY received a new church calling in about September. He is a primary teacher to the 11-12 year olds. (This means I do too) He LOVES the kids in his class. He was also THRILLED with the early snow we had this season taking advantage of riding his “Dragon” powder sled. The outdoors man takes part in shooting sports, 4-wheeling, and dirt biking, fishing, hiking... Autoplex is under its 5th year with Shane as the steward over it. He’s made some great contacts within the business and banking world and enjoys those relations. He’s also now a VERY ACTIVE Kiwanis member! He does lots of volunteering with that organization, and I’m very proud of him. Shane has lots of favorite foods, among them: crab and lobster.

I’ve continued into my Ward Activities and Activity Day Girl callings with vigor, and was released from the girls in November. I will miss them. We found out we were pregnant in April! I was thrilled and hoped the pregnancy would be as easy as the first one. It was NOT. This, I felt, meant we were having a girl, it did NOT! We are thrilled NQ will be having a brother! I started nesting early and was ready for Christmas in October, wanting a tree, music, presents and the whole ordeal up and going! I did NOT. Nonetheless, I DID have much accomplished! I’ve done a few cakes and pictures and projects this year, and that’s how I like it. My favorite food is ever changing with my food tolerance; however I’ll almost never turn down quality chocolate!

We’ve been pleased to be party to an engagement this year. Congratulations to Brooke and Wes! We’ve also been very happy to have the Travis, Amy and Olivia Barney family move to Lander! It’s been so fun to have them so close!

Thank you for being a part of our lives!

Love,
Cami, Shane, Nathan and
Soon-to-be baby boy Petty

Tid-Bits at the Petty's

Here are a few tid-bits about the goings on at Petty's Place:

Nathan (like all two-year olds) is very possessive about things. Shane was playing with him the other day with his trucks and said, "Well, I think it should go over here like this. That's my opinion." And Nathan, NOT to be outdone said "NO! It's MY opinion!" This cracked me up. We're so glad he has his opinion.

Yesterday, Shane went garage sailing. He found a Christmas tree. We set it up in the living room to see how it looked. It was the happiest thing that happened all week! I LOVE Christmas and was SO glad to have a tree set up in my living room to admire.

Nathan has starting to learn about similes. For the last two weeks, when he gets chilly, he gives a shiver and says "Momma, I'm cold like milk."

The family went to a whirlwind Utah trip last week. We accomplished little, and were a bit discouraged. Mostly for Autoplex. I did however, procure a few maternity tops...I need to go back and get some cuter ones from Motherhood Maternity (I'm 16 weeks along now, not showing too much yet) I only made it to Kohls. Came home and was really sick for a few days. The highlight was seeing Harry Potter at Thanksgiving Point. No offense Lander/Riverton but digital sound, Big Screen, stadium seating and a clean theatre do make a more enjoyable viewing experience. However, the water I bought was almost as much as my ticket.

I have photo's from Utah and some photo's from rodeo days in Sheridan that I need to get up, but haven't done so yet. They are pretty darn cute, and I'm excited to get them posted. Plus the accompanying stories.

Nathan starts swimming lessons again tomorrow, I'm looking forward to this diversion. And to see how NQ does in an hour swim lesson. Especially since we went to the lake last week and he jumped off the boat, I don't know, at LEAST 30 times. He loves swimming, and didn't even mind his new life jacket. We'll have to go again when Shane can come and help round him up and return him to the boat.

Ah yes, and returning from the lake was an adventure as the truck was filled with gas, instead of diesel at the Riverton Co-Op. Impressive we made it home.

Shane has courageously been cleaning the outside windows of our Northern View. This has terrified me. But they are looking much better! So long as I don't see him swaying around on the ladder, I do fine.

I NEED some new requests for good books to read. I'm not a fan of sad/crying/disturbing types. (Example: Did NOT like the Kite Runner)

Just thought I better get some updates posted! Thanks for waiting.

Cedar City Portions of Christmas and return to the Potty

The score is 2 accidents in about 3 days!! WOO HOO! Great score considering I do put on pull-ups at night and during naps. So even with that supposed "confusion" Nathan is taking to the training quite well. I do have to say that it is much easier to just take him to the bathroom every hour or so and let him try...rather than wait for him to contact me about it...that's when the accidents occur.

Our Cedar City portion of Christmas was great. Shane was happy to spend time with his Dad and his Dad and Carri were happy to have Nathan (and Shane and I) too. The only unhappy was courtney, the kid wary weinie dog. We recieved nice gifts and Nathan hasn't put down his "Mack" pez dispenser since Christmas Day. He 'NEEDS' it with him always. Now he has two 'McQueens' and one 'Mack' that he keeps together at all times.

Here's a snow shot of St. George on our way out of town...sorry I didn't get one when EVERYTHING was covered in snow.
Here's a favorite place of any college student or resident of Cedar City...however, I'm not fond of the new PINK color it has recently established.

Here's the three Petty boys playing with trucks.

The boys again, one not sure that sitting on the couch when there's so much cool stuff on the floor is the best idea.

Neither Shane nor I felt like we spent adequate time in Southern Utah. We are hoping to return again in early spring and spend more time in the area and see more people we didn't have time to see!

All sorts of resolute

Happy NEW YEAR 2009!

Because today is the first day of the year...what do I decide to do...yep, something totally overwhelming and partially insane: I began potty training. Not only did I start the potty training...I did it AND sent my husband away on a snowmobiling trip for three days / two nights. I'm not looking for applause or condolences. I'm just pointing out that I, like Charlie Brown, might just be a blockhead.

Besides this potty training ordeal (we are 1 - 12. One for the potty, 11 for the wet / stinky pants department) I have a few more resolutions I'm going to put out there.

This year (as with much of the rest of the world) I'm going resolve to lose some weight. I'd like to mention that I'm working pretty hard on this already and have had 4 successful, sweaty work outs already this week.

I'm also going to do more skiing, more snowmobiling with the husband, more cooking REAL meals that do not come from a card board box (and that are healthy,) more trying to make Nathan eat better, and I resolve to write in my journal more, go to the temple more and read my scriptures with better intent. Now, these things are all going to fizzle without a goal plan...so I'll work on that this week too. Goals, mini goals, end goals...all good things to have in place to succeed.

Meanwhile enjoy some holiday photos....

The crew at the J.S. Memorial Building

Travis (my super brother) and Olivia (the cutest thing EVER!)

Me, Nathan (who is still wary of my attention to Olivia) and Olivia

The crew on Temple Square admiring the lights.

Nathan enjoying Christmas Morning in St. George

DISCLAIMER: I apologize in advance if you think that I should have more pics of this or that...but it would seem that my vain eye won't allow for too goofy a photo of someone be allowed into a public blog. So sorry for those of you that should have more face time. I will be better at making sure I get the camera in my hands for some of our group activities, therefore insuring that I have adequate numbers of quality pics in which to choose from.

Please stay posted, as I have the Cedar City portion of Christmas to expose. Perhaps by then I can also give you a more solid plan for my resolutions...and please pray that the potty score starts to number in my favor.

The Worst Christmas Gift Ever.

Someone sent me a holiday survey recently about Christmas memories. Questions like: do you use an artificial tree or fresh cut, do you wrap or bag your presents, do you know the names of the reindeer were included on the survey. One question really bugged me. The question was What was your worst gift? This question perplexed me for a several minutes. I couldn't come up with an answer. Are there bad gifts? Gifts that could be classified as WORST gifts?

A gift by definition is this:
1.
something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.
2.
the act of giving.
3.
something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned.
4.
a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent: the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.

Here is something that you have been given. There is no work, no money, and no forthought in acquiring the item. So it was free...given to you. WHY WOULD YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU COULD CONSIDER A BAD GIFT??

My answer to the question was a rock tumbler, because I never did get to use it. I couldn't run it in the house (too loud and messy) and I didn't want to use it in the garage until summer. By the time it was summer I had moved on to other hobbies, such as horse riding. So I guessed that the rock tumbler was a bad gift, because I wanted one...just not the timing of it.

Then I thought of another expample. My brother was bringing home his fiance to meet the family for Christmas. My sister and I set out to find a nice gift for the fiance, knowing nothing about her except she likes Disney's Goofy and the Utah Jazz. That's it. That's all we had. Being in Wyoming with limited store options for either Utah Jazz items or Goofy items we selected some beautful crystaly pink earrings and a soft knitted pink scarf with sparkles. Christmas came and went with the exchanging of gifts. Months later, as we came to know the soon to be sister...we find out....she HATES pink. So, I figure that the pink earrings and scarf could be Worsts Gifts Ever.

I think really I want to get to point that Christmas is more like what we learn from Dr. Seuss:

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. - Dr. Seuss

I have more to add...and it'll have to wait. I have an anxious two year old who has brought me his shoes and his coat and is ready to go. Please excuse any spelling errors...I shall fix them as time allows.