Note: Not sure I love this background but it's time to go...we'll look into fixing this later!!!
I PROMISE now that the chaos of the last few months is over I will update my blog on a regular basis again!! :) For now...here's a Christmas letter for all of you...with more pictures to come later (after Christmas!!)
Merry Christmas!! (I’m actually getting these out before Christmas…miracles do happenJ)
As expected this has been a big year of change for our family.Jon graduated in December of 2008 from UC Davis with a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology and continued to work in his lab until June.During that time he was able to get his work published and was even a “feature article” in the journal JWe were very happy and proud!We then moved to Pleasant Grove, Utah to live with Jon’s parents while we waited for his job to get worked out.Jon had been talking to Dr. Westenfelder at the University of Utah and although it took a little time to work out the research funding he was able to begin working in July in Dr. Westenfelder’s lab, Allocure.They just completed phase 1 of a clinical trial where they inject stem cells into a patient just after heart surgery to prevent kidney damage.Phase 1 had 16 patients and the patients did better than normal!Jon is so happy to be in this lab and doing the research he has dreamed about doing.Jon also enjoys his family history hobby (he has been making a family history website to share all the stories and photos he has found), and having fun with the family (tickle tag, guitar hero on the wii, and reading stories to cute little girls).
The kids knew that after Daddy had graduated we would be moving but they were thrilled to learn that we would be moving a few days after school got out to be close to their grandparents and cousins!We had a fantastic summer camping, having princess parties, going on outings and just being together!
Mary (9) started third grade this year and is enjoying her new school and loves her teacher, Mr. Alm.She loves science and continues to read everything in sight!Some of her favorites are the Puppy Place series, the Rainbow Magic series and she is enjoying some of my favorite books such as Anne of Green Gables. She has enjoyed the book club at school and enjoyed singing in a children’s choir that sang at a Christmas concert.
Emily (7) started second grade and was happy to make some new friends and really enjoys her teacher, Mrs. Hays.She has become a fantastic reader and is enjoying math.Emily really enjoys the Rainbow Magic series and the Big Apple Barn series.She loves to play to play Super Mario Brothers on the computer (and is hoping that Daddy will get the new Mario Brothers game for Christmas!!)Emily also likes the school book club and enjoyed singing in the children’s choir for Christmas.
Meagan is growing up so fast!She just turned 5 a few weeks ago and is looking forward to kindergarten in the fall.She really enjoys a going to a preschool once a week here that has gymnastics and cooking and crafts and another preschool once a week with her mommy and her cousin.She is starting to read and play with Amy a lot!She is still my cuddly little girl and I love having her around!She loves animals, especially cats and dogs and loves to be mommy’s big helper.
Amy is our high energy 2 year oldJShe is sooo much fun although you can’t take your eye off of her for a minute or she’ll be up climbing on something or running off for more fun!Her sisters have trained her to be the family dog and she loves it…she imitates EVERYTHING her big sisters do and she is so much fun to watch!She loves to be with other people!Amy loves animals and loves to dance and dress up and do anything her sisters are doing.
I’ve enjoyed working with my mom the last several months putting all of our family history stories and pictures into books.I have enjoyed it although some days it seems to go so slowly!!We have met so many “new” extended family members and it has been like Christmas every time we get mail or open an email with a new family history picture or story!I continue to enjoy my crafts although there never seems to be enough time!Jon and I teach music to the 3-12 year old children at church and we absolutely love it!We all continue to miss our friends and family in California but have enjoyed getting Christmas cards from many of you!We hope you have a wonderful year!Love, the Ahlstrom’s
Jon’s family history websites: http://ahlstrom.weebly.comhttp://petersonhistory.weebly.com
A few weekends ago we took my parents up to Cascade Springs...a beautiful place full of waterfalls back in the Alpine Loop. Jon first took me there when I was several months pregnant with M and I love it!!! There are great paths that wind around and you wander around and enjoy the sights and sounds.
As hoped for, the girls LOVED it!!!! They loved throwing leaves into the water to watch them race down the waterfalls and to see the leaves and touch the water. It was a FANTASTIC morning!!!! Mg was the first to try and touch the water :)
But of course they all got involved!! They could put their leaf on this side of the little boardwalk and then race to the other side to see it come out (the wonderful simple joys in life!!)
And of course Little A had to do all that she saw her sisters doing...except she wasn't quite big enough to reach the water!!! Good ol' Daddy helped her (it was either that or she was going in!!!)
Grandma had lots of fun taking some GREAT pictures!!!
One of my favoritest things ever :)
The leaves were beautiful!!
Grandpa took video footage to make a great video with lots of my favorite things...WATERFALLS!!!
The leaves were beautiful...it was fun driving through the canyon with all the colors...it sounded like the 4th of July with the "oohs" and "ahhs"
"What are you doing Grandpa?"
"Grandma, take our picture!!!"
Yes, her wonderful Aunt trimmer her hair up later that day :) (why oh why do I ruin perfect picture opportunities by not getting their hair done!!)
This girl is too cute!!
Hooray for great weekends!!!! Thanks mom and dad!!
Well, um ,yea, I guess I'm a little behind!! :) Suffice it to say we had a GREAT summer!!!! Daddy is still loving his job (he's still not "officially hired" but that's just a minor detail, right?) the girls love their new school and everyone loves being closer to family. Here are some pictures from last Saturday as we enjoyed one of the last warm weekends...
I feel like just putting these scrapbook pages up is cheating but at least there is something new to look at! :) We were really last week with friends visiting us from Davis (we miss you 2 already!!!) but I think this will be a quieter week and maybe I can get a little more caught up! This was a family home evening outing at the miniature golf course...lots of fun!!! (you can click on the picture to see a larger version if you'd like...)
My mother-in-law has 9 granddaughters...and no grandsons!! So of course we have lots of princess fun! One night Grandma thought it would be fun to get the girls together for a princess picture so they all had Grandma time to get their hair and nails done and then dressed up for the pictures. Afterwards they each wanted an individual picture...here's the fun!!
I don't even know where to start! :) We have been having a lot of fun here...it still feels like we're on vacation and so we've been doing all sorts of fun things with both families and therefore have tons of pictures. I've been having fun digital scrapbooking again so in an effort to catch up here are some of my almost finished pages.
One of the things we decided before we moved here was that we would get a summer pass to the "Legacy Center." It is an awesome city run sports center with gymnastics, basketball, rockclimbing, indoor track and most importantly an indoor pool. It's great...one entire wall of the HUGE room is just huge metal garage doors that they leave open all day so you have the convenience of an indoor pool (no sunscreen...YEA!) but still get the fresh air. It's awesome. It's a zero entry pool with a big playground in the middle, then a deeper section which the bigger girls can touch the entire length this year and then a 5 year and younger pool with some slides and shallow water. It's fabulous and well worth the money. It's right near my parents house and they and my sister have passes and we've been there lots this summer...too much fun!
(You can click on the picture to see it blown up...)
We started our camping trip off a little rough. We were at Nunn's Park in Provo Canyon. There is a river at one edge of the campground which is running really high and really fast with campsites all along the river. With our little girls we chose to go on the other side of the road right along the bike path that goes through the canyon. Shortly after our tent was up and we were getting ready for lunch we heard some screaming in the river, sirens, and then a sheriff's vehicle went flying through the small campground. We heard more and more sirens and found out that a little girl had fallen into the river a little upstream from us and they were trying to find her. There was an amazing amount of police and search and rescue action literally on both sides of our small campsite. We quickly determined that our girls needed to stay on the picnic bench to keep them out of the way and we sent Daddy off to help look for the little girl. I can't describe what it is like to sit holding your little girl and surrounded by your other daughters while looking at the river knowing that someone's little girl is in there. By the time Daddy got there they thought they had found her so he got out of the way. I sat there amazed at the number of police and rescue vehicles that continued to go by, at the helicopter flying amazingly low and slow over the river, and all the people out there wanting to help...all for one little girl. Life is amazing and it was so wonderful to see SO many people out there doing their best. And grateful for people who spend hours training and preparing for theses tragic situations to go in and save the one. Eventually we learned that the little girl was 8 years old and was found and pulled out alive, although we learned she had been in the river about 1/2 hour, had gone down the river about 1 mile and was found face down trapped in debris. A few other family members were treated for hypothermia trying to save her. A previously trained rescue civilian happened to be near the area and found her and with the help of search and rescue they were able to get her out and lifeflight her to Primary Chidlren's Hospital, however she passed away a day or so later. I later learned her parents weren't even there and that they were trying to get to her as soon as possible...I'm grateful she lived for awhile, hopefully long enough for them to get there. How horrible and tragic. You can bet we watched our girls extra careful and I have to admit it was difficult walking around Bridal Veil falls and seeing where she most likely fell in...it could have happened SO easily. SO easily. She was eight...the same age as my oldest who I tend to try to trust a little more and maybe not watch quite as carefully my 2 year old. But they're still kids and the edge by the river is steep and the pathway narrow and sometimes crowded...all she had to do was stand there and get bumped a little or bend over a little too far and she was gone. Life is precious and fragile. I certainly looked at my little ones a little differently after this experience. Give yours an extra hug and say a little prayer for the family of this little girl.
Yes, I know, I've skipped other important events to get to this one, but that's the way life goes today :) Hooray for graduation! At first it seemed a little anticlimactic since he technically graduated back in December but since we were still in Davis we figured we do the ceremony. It was nice and we were glad we did. The day was crazy though since it was also the kids last day of school but we had some AWESOME friends who helped watch the kids (THANKS AGAIN!) and it all worked out nicely. The fun part was that they showed it online so our parents got to watch and even the kids got to watch Daddy on the computer live when it was his "turn" to get "hooded." Pretty cool! These pictures were actually taken the next day (I just ordered the "professional" pictures a minute ago, which is why I'm in the mood to do these pictures now, which does not explain why I am rambling...)
I had to get the "hood" I thought it was pretty cool...love the colors :) Afterwards our awesome friend told us to go out so we enjoyed a nice dinner and went to Daddy's FAVORITE electronics store (for the last time...he was sad...they need one here!). It was a great day and WE'RE SO PROUD OF YOU DADDY!!!!!!
Why bother waiting for your turn just slide down the side!
Why bother waiting for your turn just slide down the side!
Building our first snowman (terrible snowman building snow but oh well!!)
Building our first snowman (terrible snowman building snow but oh well!!)
Oh yea...yum!
Our snowman, excuse me, snowlady (check out the red necklace!)
