Carter Mountain 2010

Neil and Kaden are all ready to go and pick some apples!

Here is the the view of Charlottesville from Carter Mountain. The big white building is the UVA hospital.

One quick family picture just before we get some yummy apple cider and donuts!

The Apple barn is where you pay for the apples you picked and a fun gift shop. We got Pink Lady and Winesap apples to make our favorite apple desserts like Bavarian Apple Torte and Apple Dumplings!

Oh no! We found a few worms in the apples!

A daddy worm!

The cutest baby worm!

And a mommy worm!

After all the apples, we stopped to check out the pumpkin patch!

It was a fun trip to Carter Mountain! We were glad we bundled up!

All nice and warm at home, Kaden relaxes with his pumpkin.

Ireland Highlights

Neil and I had the awesome opportunity to go to Ireland this past month so Neil could present a poster at the Unviersity of Cork. Here are some pictures highlighting our trip!

This is the quad area at the University of Cork.

Here is Neil with his poster!

We enjoyed touring the surrounding cities and areas. This is King John's castle in Limerick.

The Cliffs of Moher.

Neil and I posing at the cliffs with the Atlantic Ocean in the background!

The Blarney Castle

Neil kissing the blarney stone.

Rebecca kissing the blarney stone. Neil did a great job capturing the riduclous angle you have to recline at to actually kiss the stone.

The view from the top of the Blarney Castle.

If you'd like to see more pictures, check out the ones we've posted on Facebook. Click here.

Grow Kaden Grow. See Kaden Grow!

Kaden jumps. See Kaden jump. Jump Kaden jump!

Kaden rolls over. Roll Kaden roll!

Kaden's Baby Blessing

In July we took a special trip to Utah for a family reunion and Kaden's baby blessing. We were so blessed to have so many family members around for Kaden's special day!

Check out Kaden's Blessing Slideshow:

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Happy Father's Day!

It was so much fun to celebrate Neil's first official Father's Day!

It started early with presents and breakfast in bed!

Happy Father's Day, Neil! We love you!

Welcome Kaden!

Kaden Neil Peterson

June 9, 2010

5:27 a.m.

7lbs 2.5 oz.

21 inches long

We are so thrilled Kaden is finally here! You can check out more pictures of Kaden's first few days at this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=219686&id=682482834&l=3e78b60a37 Enjoy!

The Nursery

Neil and I thought we would share pictures of the nursery. It's still currently a work in progress but we feel like we are getting closer everyday. It's hard to believe that in 8 more weeks this little room will be occupied!

We currently live in a 2 bedroom plus den apartment. Luckily for the baby we opted out on the laundry basket in our room and have chosen to make the cozy den our nursery. It's a perfect size for a baby! (The dresser will also temporarily function as a changing table once we add the changing pad.)

Here's the crib! Did you notice the safari sport theme? The lion soccer player is obviously our favorite. Neil hopes the bedding will inspire our little boy.

Here's my library of children's books which I'm sure will provide some entertainment for our little guy. If not actually reading the books, I'm positive he will be pulling them off the shelf! Also notice the three stuffed safari animals on the top shelf. The giraffe, monkey and lion were all gifts before we bought the bedding and we didn't make the connection until we got the bedding home! Thanks to Sean, Jennie, Kimber and Chloe for being inspired about the nursery theme! It works perfectly!

Washington D.C. Day Trip

On Saturday, Neil and I drove 2.5 hours from our home in Charlottesville to Washington D.C. where we enjoyed many sites and museums!

Our day started early. While walking along the DC mall area, we toured the Air and Space Museum and part of the National Museum of Art. We then headed to the International Spy Museum where we met up with our friends Chelsea and Kevin at the Spy Cafe. After lunch, we entered the museum and took on a secret SPY identity! As spys we were were trained to pick locks, create disguises and decode secret messages. We also got to see some really cool spy tools like a lipstick pistol!

After an exciting afternoon as a spy, we decided to retire our spy mission and head back home. We had a great day with our friends in DC and can't wait to head back to see more!

No Mo' Sno'!

It's that time again when records are broken and even anticipated. Unfortunately, the records we are breaking are not the kind to be proud of: winters of Olympic-sized proportions. It seems no matter where Becks and I move too, mother nature is not far behind to dump snow in record-setting amounts (maybe we deserve gold medals).

You may recall back in March of 2008 in our first few weeks in Cleveland, OH, we experienced blizzard-like conditions one weekend that dropped approximately 20 inches of snow, the biggest storm Cleveland had seen in 30 years. We went on to have the greatest regional snowfall season of all time.

Nestled safely in the Shenandoah valley in central Virginia, Charlottesville usually gets no more than a few inches of the fluffy white stuff each year, often enjoying winter temperatures that average in the 40s. In fact, C-ville gets so little snow, that some school systems virtually removed snow days from this year's schedule. Maybe we should have told them we moving into town. Twenty-two inches of snow appeared practically overnight on December 19th, 2009, making that the largest December snowfall ever for our new home town. But wait, there's more! In the last 2 weeks we have had a barrage of snow storms that have generously donated over 2 feet of snow, closing schools for the last 14 days--most reopening just today, President's Day. Once again, this snow season is the largest on record. Thomas Jefferson would be proud.

Also pictured is "Mt Barracks", the largest snow pile I've ever seen, topped with the American flag. This snow depository was created in the Barracks Shopping Center just down the street from us. I can't even imagine how the bulldozers were able to pile the snow that high. My guess is that it won't be totally gone until our aniversary, April 23rd. What are your guesses?

Boys will be (soccer playing) boys!

Behold! Baby boy Peterson's first soccer shoe! This little beauty was purchased yesterday on our first trip to actually buy something. With more than 4 months to go until the big day, we're in no rush so we only bought clearance items. One apparent bargain was a clearance armoire for $200 off the retail price. It seemed like a steal but 2 hours of inspection this morning revealed both broken and missing pieces. I've contacted the company and hopefully we'll just get a whole new armoire (or we'll just return it and get our money back!) In conclusion, we'd like to thank our many fans for their votes on our baby poll and we hope you didn't lose too much money on the outcome!