Happy Birthday to Me x3

It is official...I am now 27! I am now in my "upper twenties, " but gosh do I feel good!

There were many celebrations. First with the Zeman family the night of our Christmas celebration where Mom made a great cake. Secondly was with both the Zemans and Peterson sides; we went out to Lunch before we headed back to St. Louis (homemade cupcake from the restaurant). And third... on my birthday we were in Houston and my friend Erin made me an ice cream cake (yum, with oreos!)

God has blessed me with another year of life, and for that I am thankful. Thank you all for celebrating with me. I was spoiled!

Zeman Christmas

Christmas at Mom and Dad Zeman's house was great. Considering we don't get to see the family often because of distance, Christmas was a time to celebrate Jesus' Birthday, but to also catch up with family (we miss them!). Laughter, games, food, family and gifts.

Dad and I have the tradition of making the dumplings for the Saurkraut soup and Mom prepares the rest to celebrate this meal like she used to with her family. It's a tradition that will always be close to my heart (we even had leftovers to bring back to St. Louis!).

A Peterson Christmas

We reached a new landmark in life this Christmas - I had to work Christmas Eve! I suppose this is an indication of the rest of my life...

After I preached the "Family Services" in Ellisville on Christmas Eve, Kristy and I changed clothes, jumped in the car, and drove north to Wisconsin in order to wake up to Mom Peterson's Christmas breakfast.

We made it...and it was a great Christmas. Check out the family - wow, we are a good-looking crew! It was great to spend Christmas day with the entire Peterson family.

Our Christmas Date Night

It's been our tradition to celebrate Christmas together (just us two), before celebrating with our extended families. This year we went to see Narnia, out for a romantic dinner at a German Resturant here in St. Louis, drove around town to look at lights and then back home for dessert, gifts (I guess we were both very good this year!), and time together.

Christmas Cheer

We volunteered to help a family in need find joy in the Christmas season. Our church works with the Good Samaritan Service Center for the Homeless in St. Louis and organized a Christmas party with games, Santa, food and gifts. It was great to see everyone laugh and enjoy. These are the cute children that we had the priviledge to care for during this time.

The tree fits!

Last year we cut down a new that nearly took up our whole condo. This year we find our small tree to be just right (way to go Home Depot for cutting it down for us). And the angel fit too and we didn't even need to cut off the top of our tree!

Advent by Candle Light...Girls only

Yep, it's only a girl thing. It was a night to gather us ladies to focus on Jesus, the light of the world. There were about 600 ladies in attendence (each hostest having to set a fancy table for the guests). We (myself and my good friend Aimee) decorated a table which was fun, but a lot of work (Thanks Aimee). I made a cheese cake with my new spingform pan (love it) and we also had chocolate fondue with many dippens. It was a night of prayer, music, socialization and how can we forget good dessert. I was asked to do an gather eveyone and say the opening blessing/prayer (just practice for I am a "real" pastors wife!)

KIP and PIG...what??

This is Pete! Yep, this is the guy that keeps Ryan in line at chruch (aka: supervisor). He calls me KIP (Kristy in pink), I guess my wardorbe has a couple too many pink shirts. I call him PIG (Pete in grey)...I guess that is only funny to us. This is us at the St. John Christmas party.

Busch Stadium Falls

It is true that today (Thursday, December 8th), the last piece of Busch Stadium fell to the ground. There's plenty of debris to be cleared...but there are no more arches circling the top of the stadium. Less than 4 months to Opening Day at the new Busch!

Thanksgiving in Wisconsin

Having both of our families in WI is quite convienent and fun because our 5 days are well spent with family. We spent 3 days in Door County (Mom and Dad Peterson own a condo) where we survived the best of Wisconsin Winter. Then headed back to Milwaukee for the fun filled Zeman celebration. Best of all we were able to see Bryan, our nephew who is now 8 months old and Derrick, Marissa and Noah (wow, they grow up so fast). And of course they are the cutest neices and nephews ever.