20/20 Vision

We started off the new year with some new  experiences- Brenna got to accompany Dave on a work trip 

to Georgia to hang out with Aunt Anna while her dad was busy in the day.  

They shopped, got nails done, ate yummy food and played with Uncle Curt too!  Brenna was in heaven.  

We volunteered at a new place (The Good Samaritan House) where we packed and prepared sack lunches for home less people.  

Everyone worked really hard-slappin on that salami and ham, spreading sauce, wrapping and packing. It felt good to be there. We definitely want to go back...even if Katelee looks like she has been possessed in the picture below!

Harrison has continued his slightly bizarre, yet endearing desire to dress up like people from the past for holidays.  He donned his revolutionary war get up for President's Day. 

 He also created quite the picture-one side of the paper for The British with General Howe, Benedict Arnold and King George up against Washington, Lafayette and another random patriot.  We maybe have been listening to Hamilton!  

So, many of our days are spent printing off sheets and sheets of college logos for him to create game score sheets.  We also do that for NBA teams.  Now, we print off flags and historical locations occasionally.  It's nice to be so well rounded.  ha!  He wants to have a war birthday so his friends can dress up like red coats and others patriots.  I'm sure they all have their costumes ready to go.  haha!

Harrison was on his very first basketball team as well.  He is quite intense and was a super star.  He had one game where the ref had to tell him he could only steal the ball from whichever kid had the same color wristband he did.  

He made so many baskets and would just dribble down and shoot.  Passing is not so natural, so some of his teammates liked to ignore he was open because there was no chance he'd be giving that ball to anyone else...that will be something to work on!  He is so much fun to watch and talk to about sports.  He wants to play on a professional sports team eventually, so he can have a lot of money he says.  For now, when I asked him what he's saving his money for, he explained a couple of goals-a mansion and to get out of here (our house)!  After a dramatic pause and a dropped jaw by me, he explained he meant college.  I'm not sure that's true, but I commend him on his aspirations. 

We've entered a new decade and there are lots of changes going on.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is redoing their YW and youth program that sets goals for the YM/YW.  They actually rolled it out last fall, but the girls had through the end of the year (2019) to finish their personal progres. Katelee did it!  This was an amazing feat considering she did it all in one year!!!  Pretty awesome.  

And so we are in our new year- 2020.  It's pretty catchy, it's kind of iconic.  We think about our vision, our perspective.  It is often said that hindsight is 20/20, perfectly clear.  We can't have that clear vision when we are looking forward but we can trust in Him who has the perfect plan and perfect vision.  We are excited to keep trusting and hoping there won't be *too much to look back on this year and know we would have done it differently!  

We are loving the new Book of Mormon videos that the church has made to accompany us in our Come Follow Me lessons and personal Book of Mormon study.  We watched one the other day and Harrison was pretty passionately thrilled about it.  He was really digging Nephi's experience I guess, becuase he just jumped up and down as it wrapped up and exclaimed, "that video was AWESOME.  it was KILLING IT."  Well played Nephi, well played.  

Jolly Holiday Fun

True to December from, December 2019 was chock full of excitement, festivities and one tired momma! 

We had many performances...here is Brenna  looking stunning after her ballet recital....

The same weekend and an additional week of December was full of Katelee debuting as a young ape in Tarzan.  

She fit right in the jungle as a wild, unruly animal.  It was a fun show to watch especially when the half clad fella personifying the panther hopped on to Dave's armrest.  Dave had to look down, he couldn't even take how immersed he was, it was just too frightening for him, and too funny for me!  We love watching Katelee shine on stage, you can tell she has a great time.  

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday Brenna has been heading to the school early to be in the elementary school band.  She thought she'd give it a whirl.  She has a had a fun time playing, but never ever practices at home, so it may be a one time thing.  We could not stop giggling and praising the band teacher's name as we sat through that concert.  That takes one special someone to teach young kids brass and other instruments at the same time and wrangle them in while attempting to make music.  Kudos to band teachers everywhere!

Harrison joined in the musical holiday celebration with his made up songs.  He made up all sorts of tunes about "that Starry Night"  We have thoroughly enjoyed each one! 

Not only did our family participate in cultural and sporting events, we also watched some others show their stuff! Brenna took her buddy Kate to a BYU basketball game where they ate, cheered, 

made it on the Jumbotron and hung out with Cosmo.  They had the greatest time. 

Dave and I won the religious lottery and scored tickets to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert.  It is no easy feat so we were stoked to spend the evening downtown.  We met up with Shannon, dropped off our donations and toured the Candy Cane Corner site as we always do, walked through the Grand America

 

to see the Gingerbread House

and eat a treat.

We went to dinner and then Dave and I ditched the others for the concert as they enjoyed the Temple Square holiday lights.  

Everything was perfectly helping in our holiday spirit.  Grant and Katelee had a holiday choir concert that was fabulous.  Their middle school choir teacher is da bomb and has the greatest music program.  

Harrison had Grandparents day and Grandma was able to spend a bit of time in his kindergarten class after his adorable program. 

There pretty much is nothing better than 5 and 6 year olds singing 'All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten' and 'Skinnamarink' ending with the anticipated blown kiss.  I love kindergarten.   He also had a VIP week just for him.  There was a bit of a drama one day when a substitute kicked him off of the special chair, it was pretty much heart breaking when he came home sobbing.  But, the day I got to go in and show his class his special pictures and talk all about Harrison was pretty special.   When he asked what he liked to do with his family, Harrison said he liked it when we are altogether and when we get along.  He followed up with "We don't get along very much"  So funny and also true!  Ha! 

The first few weeks flew by and we made it to Christmas Eve!  We went to Boondocks and had a game of laser tag and played some arcade games.  We think Christmas Eve laser tag may need to be a new tradition! We also wanted to do something kind and thought we would try and pay for someone's meal in a drive thru.  Turns out the fast food restaurants aren't hopping on Christmas Eve around 3pm. Ha!  But, we finally found one that looked a little busy, got in line, told the cashier we wanted to pick up the check for the car behind us and the car in front of us had already paid for ours!!  Bless that holiday cheer.  After a few attempts, we found success at Taco Bell, it was like their bells were Christmas bells ringing in the holiday with tacos.  

Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's house was delicious and delightful.  

We had our program, played the white elephant game, exchanged gifts and handed out pajamas.  

Grant did request another onesie so he could be toasty warm after snowboarding.  But, gauging his reaction to this baby blue Yeti outfit, not sure if it was what he expected.  Haha!

Our sports man was content with his jammies- he acted out and posed as a player for each sport represented.


Christmas morning was magical, like always.  Santa came through with the requests from the little kids.  They were the only ones that paid him a visit,

so I am not surprised he remembered their requests.

He remembered that Harrison really wanted a BYU helmet. Not only did he bring a helmet, but a jersey too.

I think he is set for all football.  He pretty much could play for the cougars tomorrow, if they asked him.  Unfortunately, I have told him he will have to wait until he is in college to play.  We will see if I can hold out on that.  He feels ready to tackle.


Brenna got a polaroid camera.  It maybe wasn't the desired color, but I'd say it's a win.


Everyone was so excited to get Lagoon season passes!  We also all took a turn zipping around on our mini-segueway.   Grant and Dave are a little bit of scaredy cats and tried  to balance but one try was enough.  We are going to enjoy rolling around in the house till the weather is warmer and then it will be an outside toy.  In the meantime, it will help me get all my chores done quicker, I am sure!

We played our new games-Sushi Go, Ice Cool and Cover Your Assets.  They were so fun!!  We pretty much do nothing on Christmas day, but somehow we are exhausted.


Cousin sleepover happened.  Grandma is a good sport to let the kids come over and "sleep" during the holiday break.


And it wouldn't be a McArthur December without someone getting sick the week after Christmas.  Harrison got a really bad illness-he woke up in the night struggling to breathe.  It was so sad.  Dave ran him to the Instacare in the morning and he had Croup and Influenza.   Poor kid.  He did a breathing treatment, got some steroids and kindly passed it on to Dave and me. 

We couldn't help but cuddle him when he was so under the weather, so no shocker that we got it too.  Because we were feeling icky, New Years Eve was low key with Harrison and Brenna.  Katelee and Grant weren't sick so they hung out with friends at parties and still rang in the new year with a bang.

And so we start a new year-here's to 2020.  After a December like that, I need to remember to take a moment...Harrison was totally in his room the other day "meditating"  I am not sure that I would typically describe the kid as being "zen".  He took a squirt bottle the other day and told me he was going to spray all around and then "just feel the peace." Wouldn't that be just wonderful if we just sprayed peace and it sprinkled on us whenever we wanted!    I appreciate when he can calm himself down, though.  After a bit of a rough day, loss of electronics and time in his room, Harrison got a hug from me and I told him I loved him.  He responded with "Can I tell you what I wanted to say?  I was going to tell you that you're the worst mom ever and I don't need you anymore.  Then you hugged me and I felt better and didn't need that."  

Lesson learned: peace comes through hugs,meditation, and tiny squirts of water 

It's All About the Food

It is kind of strange how so many of the conversations here at our house revolve around what we love to eat.  But, when it comes to the month of Thanksgiving, it just is a given for everyone.  It was the first thing Dave asked people when he found out we had a little rewards trip to Phoenix for work, "Where should Kara and I eat?!" He spent a lot of time researching good restaurants for our little getaway, but turns out we only went to one of the places because we used the trip to have a mini family reunion!  Thanks ADP!  haha!  

It's been many years since Dave qualified for a small trip, so we were really excited.  We spent a night going out with Brandon and Malia, having family dinner at Russell and Lisa's and visiting the temple to do sealing with Carl and Catherine.  

It was such a neat experience to be there with Dave's parents, especially because it was my first time being a witness.  That is something that meant a lot to me and I loved it.  We rarely have time alone, so it is good to remember we are married!  

School and other events keep us busy so it was nice to get away for a few days.  When we got back, it Dave let Harrison and a friend join him for a BYU basketball game.  Harrison wanted to bring a true blue cougar, so he asked our neighbor Sam to join.  They had a great time!!  

Apparently they were so overcome with excitement, they both passed out on the ride home...in the middle of the day!  Dave had to snap a photo, it was too funny.  

We got to celebrate Grant as the South Hills Tiger of the Month at a breakfast one morning.  We were pretty proud of him for being nominated and earning the award!  

A few weeks before the award ceremony, I got a phone call from Grant's math teacher.  When I answered and the teacher said, "is this Grant McArthur's mom?  This is Mr Larsen, his math teacher.  Do you have a few minutes I can talk to you about Grant."  Now, this kind of call maybe makes my stomach drop.  I was sure there was a problem. I prepared myself for the conversation and then listened as Mr Larsen said, "I cannot tell you how much I appreciate Grant and enjoy having him in my class.  He is such a great kid.  His A grade and H citizenship don't even describe him enough.  The other day I had to leave with a student in the hall to address a situation and when I came back in, Grant was at the front of the class teaching everyone how to do the next problem on their assignment."  After we hung up, I really just started laughing-laughing out of relief and unbelief.  Grant had the same reaction because him teaching the class was a total joke/dare, which sounds about right.  Regardless, we were happy to have a morning to celebrate Grant! 

Back to the food topic...every year at Thanksgiving, Dave requires a ham in addition to a turkey.  The Petrick side does not prepare a ham-that's never been a Thanksgiving staple.  But, finally, after being harrassed and asked every November where the ham is on the table, my mom told us to bring a ham!  HAHA!  We were happy to contribute.  

We loved spending the meal with our Utah family...

We had a lazy morning, well, I should say everyone else besides me had a lazy morning-I was cooking! After we got ready, we met for dinner and everyone went to Frozen 2.  We tried to split up so Grant wouldn't have to be tormented by the singing, but alas, he had to join everyone.  It helped that Caleb wanted to see the animated feature!

After we watched the movie we came back for pie and treats.

I've discovered that most people prefer cake to pie, but not me!  I am a pastry gal all the way.  So seeing this spread was like my dream come true...except I was way too full to try it all. 

We played games and had the typical great holiday.  I would say it was typical, except that we did have an unexpected visitor from history...

Harrison has loved learning about the Pilgrims so much that he told me he was going to dress up for Thanksgiving.  I didn't pay much attention, but sure enough Thanksgiving morn, he needed an authentic outfit put together.  So, we cut a wash rag, rolled up his dress pants, threw on Brenna's knee socks and had Katelee whip up a hat. I think he looks fetching.  It was the highlight of our holiday for sure.  It's nice to know school is having such an impact on Harrison.  He is also in turn, having an impact on his school mates...

The school was having a flu clinic at the same time as the book fair. We had already had our flu shots at Grant and Katelee's parent teacher conference.  But, while we were in the elementary gym walking around the book fair, we heard the most terrified and distressed scream.  We knew it had to be a child anticipating the flu vaccine.  Sure enough, we peek around to see Harrison's classmate, Adam.  I talked with Harrison and encouraged him to tell Adam how he had already had the flu shot and it turned out to be ok!  Harrison decided he did want to go encourage his friend, so we walked over to poor whimpering Adam.  His mom greeted us and asked Harrison if Harry had already had a flu shot.  I told her that yep, Harrison had and he wanted to talk to Adam about it.  So, sweet Harrison looked at his buddy and said, "Adam, I had my flu shot...and it hurt SOOOOO bad."  Oh dear...poor Adam started wailing and I ran out of there red faced. Harrison is indeed a memory maker and we LOVE all our Harrison stories!!

The Fun of Fall

This October, my brother Brad turned 50!!  His lovely wife, Angelique invited everyone to join in and celebrate his birth in DISNEYWORLD!  

It was a miraculous feat-but all 6 siblings and our parents were able to join Brad's family in sunny and humid Florida to party.  

We ate Disney inspired treats, walked till sweat was dripping everywhere,  watched shows, and worked those fast passes. 

One of my favorite rides is Expedition Everest.  One morning, we got up for magic hours and Blake and I rode it time and time again-7 times to be exact, each time in a different seat.  We didn't even get sick, he would disagree, but I think I wore him out! Ha!

We got to try the new Star Wars ride-mixed reviews, I think the next one they open will be magical. 

We hit all the 'mountains,' and watched great firework shows.  We got to try out the new Skycoaster that transports people from park to park.  Luckily we were there the week we were, because the week later there was a secret conspiracy hidden accident.  Nice cover up Disney, nice cover up.

 We all loved the Avatar ride and made sure to get fast passes for that. Even people who wear parkas over their heads (grandma) enjoyed the adrenaline rushes!

 So many fun things to explore! We laughed and rode and sweat and walked and ate and sweat some more.  Did I mention how hot it was??!!

While Brad was the reason for the trip, my dad may have been the star of the show.  

Previous to this trip, Disney had in fact been declared as the antithesis of 'the happiest place on Earth' for him (and Dave, but I didn't need to worry about Dave because he wasn't with us!).

But, this Disney go around, Scott Petrick joined in the party like he was Walt's best buddy.  

He synchronized his 'wahoo' shouts with me on roller coasters, rode every ride, never once had a stroller incident where he lost it at a parent for rolling over his toes...he even was chosen as THAT GUY for the Monsters Inc laugh floor.  I called it to Blake-I told him Dad would be chosen.  When your hair is that slick and you are wearing a salmon colored shirt, how could they not choose you??The rest of the day we had to greet his fans as they recognized him through the park. 

His uncanny ability to fall asleep in random places was in amazing form during this trip.  There was our lunch while waiting for our French pastries...

I actually don't blame him for that.  It was sweltering and we came into nice air conditioning, it was like a soothing moment for us all.  It was much better than when he just called it and laid down in the middle of the walkway of Epcot. 

There was the moment he found respite while the rest of us were trying to escape dinosaurs on our Safari,

 There was the moment below, where he was on hard cement snoozing as he awaited fireworks.   While those all seem crazy, none of them could reach the time we noticed he was missing from the back of the line of Toy Story Mania.  A big group of us was inching up as lines do and then we noticed a big gap behind us-there were no other guests waiting for the ride.  Also missing-Scott himself.  He apparently had fallen asleep while standing in line. The people behind him didn't know what to do...should they wake him, or move around him?  We helped out with the awkward moment and gathered our father and bonded with strangers over the hilarious moment.

I am glad Brad got old so that we could have this trip that probably won't ever happen again, and we could put Dad's talents to the test. He passed with flying colors.  

When I got home, Brenna was able to show of some of her talents in the production of FROZEN.  Her dance schedule doesn't usually permit her to have time to do that, so we were happy she could! 

She was dazzling as a member of the Snow Chorus. 

We had a week long fall break this year, so you bet we were going to put Brenna's National Park pass to use! We hit the road and explored Zions. 

There were some breathtaking hikes and views. 

After one day of hiking, Dave decided we needed to eat some really good food, so why not drive for hours to go to Vegas! Ha!  We went to the Wynn for The Buffet and the kids loved it.  We hustled back in the car so we could get to Kannarraville Falls for a slot canyon river hike.  

The water was COLD and one certain gentleman squealed like a small child when his feet got wet.  I told him I was married to a grandma after being tired of his screams and moans and he manned up!  Poor Harrison, though, caught a glimpse of the slot canyon, and yelled, "No, lets not go in there, I DON'T TRUST IT."

With much coaxing and many rides on his older brother's back, we got him inside the canyon to face the waterfall and treacherous ladder. 

He did it though!!! and we all ended up loving it.  We will have to retry that hike when people are mentally prepared.  Haha!  

Such a day like that called for some rest and relaxation and time by the pool.

We had some face masks, soothing music and wrapped up the day, until my toe met the door of the Marriott bathroom...

Everyone was getting ready for bed and my toe went under the bathroom door.  When I opened it, the door snagged my toe and ripped my toenail nearly completely off.  I started freaking out and loudly saying, "oh no, oh no, oh no," which caused the people to run into the bathroom.  I was bleeding a lot and Dave grabbed a towel in time for me to wrap it and pass out.   It hurt like the dickens and since I lost consciousness, Dave thought it best to do a little ER visit.  I am not sure I would highly recommend that emergency room as the doctor took a look at my bleeding mess and shivered declaring that 'feet are so gross!'  Thanks doc for making me feel better.  The nurse was interesting as well.  He just camped out and told us about other patients he had, asked me who I wanted to do the 3 shots I'd have in my toes/feet-him or the doctor?  It was a little wacko.  I hobbled out with no stitches, just a wrapped up foot trying to hold the toe on by the littlest thread. 

Due to toe injury and the freezing temperatures, Dave got to be the designated trick or treater with the kiddos.  They had a fun time at school with parties and a parade first.  Here was our little sassy skeleton...

and kindergarten size Mario.  He  did some great authentic jumps and Italian accent as he introduced himself.  It was very entertaining.  

Grant "dressed up" as Waldo.  I thought it was a cool enough costume for a rad dude such as Grant 

and Katelee was a cuddly Care Bear. 

The older kids watched scary movies with friends-because they know I don't do that, ok also because they don't want to hang out with me on Halloween, which is totally weird to me.