Los Peterson

Greetings from London, England (quick business trip).



The last time I was in London was to chase down Renae when she went on her study abroad trip. I was just out of college and wanted to prove to her that I loved her and would follow her around the world if I had to. I'm lucky it worked, because it could have been pretty creepy otherwise (and no, I didn't drive past her house at two a.m. every night).

Anyway, I'm sitting in my hotel room waiting for a business associate to pick me up. We're going to Stonehenge.

I just had a huge breakfast which has made me sleepy. And the bed is so comfortable that I just might take another quick nap while I wait for my ride.



The hotel I'm staying at is called Taplow House and was built in 1751. The original building was built the late 1500s, but it burnt down in 1660. Apparently you can still see the scorch marks in the cellar.



Probably the most beautiful feature of this hotel are the 200-year-old Tulip Trees. They are not only the tallest and fattest in Europe, but they were planted by none other than Queen Elizabeth 1.

It is very quiet, which is a nice change from New York City living. I sat and ate my toast and jam, watching the wind crawl through the trees. Very peaceful.





It was only about a 6 hour flight from JFK to Heathrow. If the dollar can gain a little value (c'mon dollar), I'd like to come back more often with Renae. It's the city of our first international date.

Sorry about the little break there. Things have been a bit busier than normal as of late. And when things get busy, I stop doing a few of the things that I normally do quite often, like blogging, laundry and keeping my eyebrows from taking over the top half of my face (I come from a long line of hairy women).

The business (that's busy-ness, not 'bidnas') started last weekend. Our church had a youth conference for all the kids 14-18 years old. It was pretty spectacular.



They all left their homes and stayed with other families in the city (5 boys stayed with us) and went all over Manhattan doing Amazing Race-type games and activities. Here are a few pics of their adventures:


They started the activity with a dance. I'm not sure if that's what Mitch is doing in this picture or not.


Dariana was impressed.


Then they woke up really early the next morning to go see Coldplay perform on the Today show.


They ended up seeing more of this than of the band, but they still had fun.


Richy had the most fun.


They rode around the island on a ferry.


And went over the Brooklyn bridge.


And made some new friends. It was great.

Chris was going to blog about this because he was a chaperon and went with them all over the city - but he's really, really busy - in fact he's in the UK on business right now and won't get back until Sunday morning. He's catching a red-eye flight and coming straight from the airport to church. No hiatus for him. What a guy.

My parents are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary today. For those of you who don't know my parents, they are both pretty amazing. About 31 years ago, they met in Juneau, Alaska, in a bar. At the time, my mom happened to be the lead singer in a band that played in the bar and my dad thought she was a 'babe'. So, when she was through singing, he asked her if he could buy her a beer. That was pretty much it for both of them. They were and still are, in love.



I wasn't quite sure what to get for them this year. The 30th anniversary is supposed to be pearls. We don't have the budget for that kind of gift right now. Maybe pearl onions or some whitening toothpaste to make their teeth 'pearly' white, but not real pearls. Come on. Instead, I decided to come up with my top 30 reasons why I'm glad my mom and dad are married. I guess my sister Rhonda would call them pearls of happiness.

So, here you go Mom and Dad. I'm glad you're married because:

#30. You've been best friends for over 30 years

#29. By staying married this long you've really beaten the odds

#28. Your constant dates at local Mexican dive, La Hacienda have managed to keep them open and thriving for the past 8 years

#27. You like trying new things together, even if you don’t always finish them together

#26. You both love your in-laws (even the weird ones)

#25. You know each other's strengths and weaknesses

#24. You know how to make each other laugh (and all of us)

#23. You've been through hard times and come out together even stronger than before

#22. You both love some of the same things: The Eagles, fresh Alaskan halibut, bargains, zip fiz, tacos, family and Costco

#21. Neither of you are afraid to tell the other what you really think.

#20. You take care of each other.

#19. You've taught each of us how to love someone different from ourselves

#18. You support one another in his/her different interests, even when you don’t really like musical theater or spending 10 days in Alaskan wilderness with a bunch of smelly guys.

#17. You compliment each other in so many ways: Mom has super human smelling capabilities; Dad smells; Dad’s a great storyteller, mom’s a great story hearer; Mom’s a great singer, dad’s extremely tone deaf. Dad makes mom look especially short, mom makes dad look especially tall.

#16. Together you both do countless acts of secret and selfless service for others

#15. You make each other and those around you, better people

#14. You know how to make each other really, really happy

#13. You’re both slow to remember the faults in the other person . . . that actually might be the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s

#12. Over the past 30 years you've sacrificed greatly for one another

#11. Together, you've created a home environment filled with peace, love and charity

#10. You guys are mom and dad to some great in-laws: Chris, Jessica, Amanda, and soon-to-be Eitan, Jordan and Andrea (I think that's going to be the name of Jordan's future wife)

#9. You're also Mimi/Nana and Pop Pop to: Josie, Gunnar, Max and Ashlyn

#8. While you were married you gave birth to Jordan,
#7. Jared
#6. Andrew
#5. Aaron
#4. Rhonda
#3. And Me

#2. You're an inspiration to all of your children and grandchildren.

#1. You were married in the temple so that our family can be together forever.

Happy Anniversary! We love you.

Well, maybe not a whole entire day, but it was at least about an hour.

Thursdays are normally the craziest day of the week in our home - not counting Sundays. Sundays, are as they say in our neighborhood, "O.D. busy". Chris is usually at church for 12 hours or so that day. Such is the life of an Obispo...

But second place in the category of business would definitely to go to Thursday. I work Thursday nights, so I'm usually preparing to meet with my clients before I go. Chris (who is awesome) has daddy/son time with Gunnar on Thursday nights (so I can work almost semi-guilt-free). He's usually scrambling to get as much work done before I go too.

But for some reason, this Thursday was different. It felt more like a Tuesday or even, dare I say - Saturday. We had both gotten a lot of things done and decided to get out of the apartment and take our monkey/baby to the park.

Central Park is two blocks south of us and at the top of the park there's a great little playground geared especially for babies and toddlers. Gunnar loves it.

dkkf↓


Chris brought his camera and got a few cute shots of Gunnar being adventurous. He's not quite walking yet, but getting close.



First time down the slide...



Digging on the older ladies...



Taking a spin in the teacup.



When he got this look on his face we took him out. This is the 'Whoa-I'm-gonna-barf' face.



And Gunnar's latest trick? Invisibility.



Followed by a quick peek to make sure we didn't go anywhere while he was gone.



It was a good Thursday.

P.S. Gunnar's taking another shot at trying some derivative of baby Zantac for his acid reflux. Not sure if it's working or not but it tastes like Windex and bubblegum, so it must be doing something.

Before you accuse me of being an overactive psychotherapist who's getting DSM-IV happy, let me first clarify: Gunnar needs Feeding therapy.

Yeah, FEEDING therapy. Who even knew that there was such a thing?! I didn't. Not until today when we went to our Pediatrician because I was concerned about his weight and she, after examining him told me that, "Gunnar needs Feeding Therapy," did I even know that it existed.


Here's a shot of Gunnar looking blissfully happy on the doctor's scale. (Sorry so blurry!)

I think she's right though. Gunnar needs help. He doesn't eat. And when and what he does eat isn't much. I've been keeping a food journal for him over the past week and it's pretty pathetic: a few ounces of milk here. A bite of yogurt there. Three Cheeri-o's. . .



And then there's the puking, most likely caused by a case of infant acid reflux. Chris and I knew there were problems when I took his bottle out of the fridge yesterday and the mere sight of it made him gag. It's alarming to behold. He vomits just about every day - sometimes multiple times a day. If he were 14 and a girl (or a just high school wrestler) I'd think he was bulimic. And, he's ALWAYS asking me if his onesies make him look fat. I kid, but only to mask my extreme anxiety. I'm really worried about the little guy. He's almost 1 year old and he looks like he's 9 months. It scares me. . .



I guess Gunnar is just a lot like his dad. Chris has really bad acid reflux. So does Gunnar. Chris hates eating and has often stated that he'd rather have an IV than have to worry about a meal. Gunnar may have to resort to something like that :( Chris feels that sleep is a complete waste of time. From Gunnar's behavior over the past 11 months, it seems that he's in agreement with that one too.



Not me though. Eating and sleeping are on my list of top five all time favorite things to do. Maybe even my top two.

I know Gunnar will be okay though. The doctor said he'll be okay. Chris says he'll be okay and that I shouldn't worry so much. But I do. I always do. I'm amazed at how much and how often I worry about this boy.



A couple weeks ago I had a dream that Gunnar was falling onto some jagged rocks and that he was going to die. The nightmare was so vivid that I actually stood up and dove off of our bed onto the floor with my arms stretched out like I was catching a hail Mary pass in a football game. You should have seen the bruises on my knees, and the look on Chris' face. I scared the crap out of him.

Who knew that being a parent would also mean becoming slightly obsessive, germ-phobic, anxious, paranoid, etc., etc. Yikes.

Speaking of needing therapy . . .

Chris' Dad, Scott (a.k.a. PeePa)


Renae's Dad, Dennis (a.k.a. Pop Pop)


Gunnar's Dad, Chris (a.k.a. Hi Dad)

We Love You Guys. Happy Father's Day!

We just got through a major heat wave here on the east coast. It was bad, but nothing a little garden hose couldn't fix. As soon as Gunnar saw the water, he wanted it. You wouldn't believe this kids' grip!



I pulled the hose away before we got into 'water boarding' territory, but he still got pretty hosed.



Then we decided to empty out the icky water from the pool and fill it up again. Gunnar liked that idea too.



He liked it a lot. Notice how he's in the pool but I am not. That water was soooooooo COLD! I don't know how little kids are able to overcome so much bodily discomfort in the pursuit of fun. It's amazing, but not something I particularly miss from my own childhood.



Even though Chris said it couldn't happen in 100 degree weather, I decided I didn't want to risk him getting hypothermia. Check out how red his little hands are!



Gunnar was just 'too cool' to be hot this week.



And Chris was the only one to use water responsibly. He took care of all of the plants.



P.S. Gunnar got his very first shiner last week. He fell on the coffee table while trying to walk and somehow managed to acquire a bruise in the form of a 3 inch line stemming from the corner of his eye.

Then, about an hour later, I heard splashing.

For those of you who don't know, this is almost never a good indoor noise to hear. I found Gunnar playing in the toilet. When I yelled, "Noooooooooooo!" I scared him and he fell down the side of the toilet and cut his eye. Chris takes all of this in stride and writes it off as a 'boys will be boys' sort of thing, but I just feel all of this motherly guilt and pain and love every time he gets hurt. Unfortunately, I have a feeling there's going to be a lot more of this to come.

So, in an effort to bring in some extra moola to our building budget, the community board decided to list our roof deck as a location spot for film, TV and photo shoots. It actually can bring in some good cash if the building gets picked up (photos below).

But in selecting the location agency we want to represent our building, I stumbled across a gallery of Manhattan apartments that will just make your head spin. I spent about 90 minutes yesterday drooling on my keyboard while browsing all the amazing apartments this city has to offer. What's sad is the people who own some of these amazing places probably don't spend more than a month or two at the home each year. Where do these people get this kind of money?

Anyway, before I show the shots that I took of our building and roofdeck, I thought I would link to the real estate porn site. Click here to see them all (I would either have to go with the second home on Row 2 or the first home or Row 15).

So, the question is: If you were a bazillionaire and were moving to New York City, which apartment would you choose?

Here are some shots I took of our building. Cross your fingers he gets some work.



Looking down on to the front deck.




Shot facing south. Central Park in the distance.




The back deck. Columbia University to the left.



I think that's a school and not a church.



Another shot of the back deck.



Isn't he cute? Built in 1900. The one to the right was built in 2008.



Location scouts want to see fire escapes.



This is the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Largest cathedral in the world (no joke).

My side of the family's getting a little bigger. . . We're also happily adding a couple more people into the clan. My brother Andrew just got engaged to his girlfriend, Jordan. She and Andrew graduated together this past April and seem to be very much in love. On August 13th they will be married in the Salt Lake Temple and Jordan Shaw, will become Jordan Grimmer. I point this out only because our youngest brother also happens to be named Jordan Grimmer. So we're all trying to come up with creative and tactful ways to help identify the respective Jordans in conversation. Any ideas?

We've also just welcomed little Ashlyn Marie Grimmer into the family! She was born on June 5th at 12:31 PM. She was 19 inches long and weighed 7 lbs and 1 oz. My sister-in-law Amanda is doing great and my brother, Jared is quickly learning the ways of diaper changing and night time feedings. They're exhausted but very happy. (I can't believe next month will be a YEAR since Gunnar was born!) We're hoping to meet little Ashlyn in August when we go to Andrew and Jordan's wedding (the girl Jordan). Welcome and congrats guys!

We got back from our little trip to Florida a couple days ago. It was mostly business but a lot of pool and sunshine and alligators. Oh, how glorious it is to travel within the same time zone! Maybe from now on we'll only travel north and south. No more of this east/west Gunnar-doesn't-sleep-shtick.

By the way, he's gotten really, REALLY good at sleeping lately (it only took him about 11 months). Now he has a 1-2 hour nap in the morning, a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon and an 11 hour nap at night, with only ONE wake-up to eat. Hooray!

Here he is sleeping on the airplane in his Daddy's arms. This might go down as the best flight ever for yours truly.