The Pearson Family

My New Blog

2009-10-19T00:10:00.002-06:00

I started my own blog. Come check it out at sheepbleats.blogspot.com!

The Ugly Second Toe

2009-06-13T20:17:00.004-06:00

Ah, this picture pretty much says it all! All my life I have been a victim of the "bossy toe". My second toe takes away all the glory and prestige of my "big toe." It's just not right; a toe should not be that long.

Luckily, when I'm feeling down and blue about not being able to wear a certain shoe because my toe won't allow such a fashion choice, I remember there is someone out there who shares my pain.....my sister Heather.

Tyler and I went to Gurnee, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) last month to visit my sister, Heather, and her family. While there we went shoe shopping and got the giggles as to how ugly our feet were. The lady working at the Famous Footwear store tried to convince us that our feet weren't THAT unusual looking. So, we snapped a quick picture of our not-so-unusual feet side by side. This picture confirms it though, we do indeed have ugly feet.

So....who's is uglier? Hers or mine? The left or the right? Heather's foot is on the left, mine is on the right. At least I don't suffer alone!

Video Fun

2009-04-09T20:02:00.003-06:00

Trampoline Face

2009-03-17T11:04:00.005-06:00

Tyler here, hi-jacking the family blog. Ahhh, just like old times. I feel like the newly crowned high school sophomore, re-entering the halls of the Jr. High and thinking "wow, these kids are tiny", like I'd grown 9" in 3 months, octupled my testosterone level, and grew a full beard. Anyhow, glad to be back...albeit briefly.

Sherri and I discovered a fascinating natural scientific phenomenon a few days ago that we plan on submitting to the World Science Foundation or possibly Nobel. The phenomenon is the affect that gravity has on facial tissue at the lowest possible point of a gnarly trampoline bounce. Imagine the massive strength of the earth's gravitational pull holding onto your jowels like a vice grip as your body hurls upward with incredible force. The effect, known as "Facies Tripudium" or "Trampoline Face" causes the subject to appear to age 80 years or, in some cases, take on physical characteristics of mild retardation.

We present to you Test Subject 1A at the height of his bounce, showing hardly any signs of facial abnormality, excluding teeth of course:

And now Test Subject 1A at the lowest point of his bounce, just as the trampoline springs tighten and the fabric begins to hurl him upward. Note the obvious distortion of facial tissue and possible muscle atrophy:

Test Subject 1A is being constantly monitored for evidence of further, unanticipated effects from the battery of tests. At this point we cannot rule out aggression, laziness, attitude, or hypersensitivity as possible side effects. Inversely, Test Subject 1A could also experience extreme and heightened intelligence, politeness, stunning attractiveness, and general studliness.

We are in the process of planning similar studies with other test subjects. We will keep you informed of our findings. We will also notify everyone when our thesis is published in World Science Weekly and will start another blog documenting our journey to the Nobel Prize, entitled "Going to the Show: Our Journey to the Big House."

1...2...54...DEAD!

2009-01-29T22:08:00.004-07:00

I love my mom! January 18th she celebrated her 64th birthday. She was at my home a few days before her big day and we were talking about how old she was turning etc. etc., when Eric suddenly turns around in his chair (he was sitting at the counter, we were sitting at the table) and with horror on his face asks my mom, "are you going to be dead?". I asked Eric what he was talking about and he replies, "you know you turn 1, 2, 54...dead". My mom and I got the giggles and so did Eric. I love that my mom has a sense of humor.

There are a lot of reasons I love my mother, and in honor of her not being 54...and dead, I'd like to list a few of them.

1. I love that my mom will try a home-made luge running from off of Maurie and Kyle's deck in the back yard. (See above picture) Try as she may, she just couldn't make that curve, but she kept on trying!
2. I love that everywhere we go together, she inevitably runs into a 1st, 2nd or 3rd cousin. Somehow, this same genetic trait is being passed on to me...go figure!
3. I love that my mom finally found the courage to cut off her "bun" that she wore for more that 30 years, and try a new sassy hair-do.
4. I love the quirky way my mom says the words; pleasure (play-sure), treasure (tray-sure) and measure (may-sure).
5. I love that my mom sometimes wears purple socks with a green shirt, or pink and yellow polka-dot socks with a orange shirt.....ha!
6. I am thankful that my mom is quick to forgive.
7. I love the way my mom loves my kids. I also love that she lives 3 minutes away from me and can Grandma-sit my kids for me!
8. I love that my mom can strike up a conversation with anyone and is a friend to everyone. Even the homeless Good family (their real last name) whom she picked up from the side of the road and took to a shelter, and then invited to our house several times to have dinner and the missionary discussions...another blog post entirely!
9. I love that she supported and loved my dad until he passed away.
10. I love that she demonstrates her testimony of the the gospel through her actions and example.

I love you mom! Thanks for not only birthing and nuturing me, but for loving me unconditionally the past 31 years! I hope you had a great birthday!

Is There a Star Student in the House?

2008-11-23T23:37:00.007-07:00

Talmage had a great week at school last week. By seven year old standards....it doesn't get much better than this.

He was chosen as the V.I.P. for his class. Being the V.I.P. for Mrs. Tidwell's class entails:

1. Pinning your lovely, royal blue, V.I.P. badge on every morning.
2. Being the first in line and leading your class out to recess, and into the cafeteria for lunch.
3. Creating a super cool, picture filled, poster of yourself to be displayed throughout the week in your classroom.
4. Inviting your parents (and brother and sister too) to come to school and eat hot lunch with you. Yum!
5. Getting to pick the next V.I.P. person for the next week.

As if being chosen to be your class V.I.P. weren't enough, he was also chosen by his principal to receive the "Star Student" recognition.

I packed up old Eric and Maidie and off we went Wednesday morning to see Talmage get his certificate and this blue.....cone......thingy. (A must-have for every child)

He was recognized for his great progress in reading. Nice work Sausage!

Trick-or-Treat

2008-11-05T21:55:00.006-07:00

We had a great time trick-or-treating with all of the Riley cousin's this year! Talmage and Eric's candy bags were over-flowing. I was amazed as we went through their candy that neither boy had ANY smarties! How does that happen? As a kid I loathed getting smarties thrown in my pillowcase. Lucky kids, they will never know my pain!

I Love a Parade

2008-11-02T00:45:00.011-06:00

Is there anything cuter than a parade of children in their Halloween costumes? This was Talmage's 2nd Halloween parade at Westland Elementary. Talmage was unable to wear his mask to school so I had to channel my inner make-up artist and create a zombie-ish face for him. We did this last year too, he loves it! He practiced getting in character before the parade. He would show me his best "dead person" face and ask if it looked real. I of course would shriek, "Ahhhh!!! Talmage!! Are you alright?!! (Talmage would break out of character at this and giggle) Whew Talmage, I thought you might really be dead!"

Talmage was lucky as Grandma Riley, Grandma Gucci and Granny Great were all able to come and watch him show off his best theatrics!

Eric was batman for his pre-school Halloween parade. He wanted to be a zombie, but I thought being batman would be somewhat tamer in a room full of 3 and 4 year olds. Luckily, he was a good sport for this, but he kept wanting to show me his "zombie" face for his pictures, not a batman super-hero face.

It's a Pearson Halloween

2008-10-14T22:47:00.012-06:00

I married into a great family whose motto is, "anything worth doing is worth overdoing". This is a motto they live by, ask anyone who knows them! This year's Halloween party was no exception.

Pete and Shellie threw the party early this year as Tyler's sister, Melissa, and her family were here for the weekend from New York. Up went the graveyard on the front lawn, and up went "Mike" and "Harry" by the front door to greet and create mayhem for the children.

The kids have started to wear their costumes to the party so we can all see what the kids are going to be for Halloween. Talmage and Eric of course elect to be something gruesome, and well...not living...for their costumes. Talmage has never wanted to dress up as something cute like Thomas the Train or a Power Ranger. He always wants to be something that will make you shriek and run with fear. Likewise his little brother has followed this trend. This year Talmage is a Zombie, and Eric is a skeleton.

I still have an influence as to what Maidie will be. She is Princess Leia this year. (No not the skanky Princess Leia that sits by Jabba the Hut, the nice...fully dressed Leia from the first Star Wars movie.) Thank you Katie for the "traveling Princess Leia" costume.

This year's party started out as usual with our dining on several different buffet items. Such as: "Zombie cellulite", (a very yummy artichoke dip...new to the buffet this year) "Ghoul Brains", (a chili and cream cheese dip) and drinking "Bat Urine" (an apple cider, sprite, and dry ice concoction). I never tire of the fun created by this dinner.

As the evening progressed we noticed our cute Maidie Ann was not feeling her best, (notice above picture) and we suspected that she had another ear infection. We decided that I would take one for the team, leave the party, and take her to urgent care. Thank heaven for doctors who work late! We were able to confirm it was an ear infection and start another round of antibiotics that night.

While Maidie and I were away the Pearson's partied on! The adults carved pumpkins for the pumpkin carving contest and the smaller folk created their own personalized cookies and place mats.

Thanks Pete and Shellie for another great party!

E is for Eric

2008-10-02T21:50:00.016-06:00

I love a structured day. Life without some sort of schedule wreaks havoc in my world. When Talmage started 1st grade this year, and started bringing home "real" homework, we had to introduce homework time as part of our scheduled day. So, as soon as Talmage gets home from school, he and Eric enjoy a snack, and then we dive right in for our 15 minutes of homework. While Talmage does his assigned homework, Eric works on the classic preschool criteria of puzzles, tracing letters, and coloring.

Earlier this week, as I stepped away from the homework table, I heard my little darlings quarreling as to whether Eric could really write (or even recognize) the letter 'E'. Talmage was conviced that he was calling Eric on his bluff, and produced paper and pencil for him to write it down to prove it. I was elated as my little genius, without pause, confidently scribbled out a very legible letter 'E'. My inner voiced cheered, "my child is brilliant!!"

My very brilliant child lost his Einstein status two days later as I was walking down the hallway in our house. I happened to come across Eric's new skill with penmanship on the wall. What do you do when your child takes a marker and cleverly display's his talent for all to see in your home? You very sternly tell him (in your best super nanny voice) that this is "unacceptable behavior" and he'll need to have a time out.......just as soon as you have finished taking several "I'm in trouble" pictures next to his art work. The time out was soon forgotten after a hilarious photo session, a very heart felt, "I'm sorry mommy", and help from Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser.

Eric is one I have to watch. He pretty much does the opposite of what you tell him to do, and recently has figured out that being "naughty" is kind of fun.

Last Friday, I was continuing down the road to domestic excellence by attempting to make strawberry freezer jam. I was just starting to bring the pectin to boiling when I realized the house was eerily quiet and I hadn't seen Eric in awhile.

After a quick walk through of the house, I had an inkling to look outside. When I looked out the front window I found him, buck naked, on the front lawn, showing his goodies for the world to see.

I quickly ran out front and asked him what he was doing. His reply, "Mom, I can't find my batman suit!" My reply, "Well buddy, I'm pretty sure it's not out here."

This was another one of those moments when I couldn't help but laugh at the free spirited qualities of my little exhibitionist. Come on, don't we all have those moments when we want to strip our clothes off and go streaking down our neighborhoods? What!!?? You don't...oh..., yeah..., me neither, I was just totally kidding!! Ha, ha, ha!!

Eric, just remember that I will always be watching you!!

Talmage and His Wonder Tooth

2008-09-16T20:33:00.017-06:00

I like teeth. I like people's smiles. That's why I went into dentistry when I was deciding what I wanted to do with my life. I became a dental assistant and enrolled in school to start on my way to become a dental hygienist. Like so many others who want to become part of the dental heirarchy, I got married, put my school on hold, and promised myself that some day I'd go back and get my degree. 13 years later I still think that maybe one day I'll go back to school and fulfill my dream of probing and cleaning teeth, but for now I remain on the bottom of the dentistry totem pole.

Imagine my excitement when my eldest son had his first loose tooth last year. I KNEW that all my training would some day come in handy, (especially since Tyler can't even be in the same room as a loose tooth without cringing) and my moment had arrived. My patient, Talmage, was not the willing participant that I had hoped he'd be. After mild coaxing he let me pull his tooth.....this scarred him for life.

The little pain associated with the removal of a tooth has left Talmage afraid to lose more teeth. The past few months Talmage's two front teeth have decided that they want to meet their maker, or go to that "happy place" the Tooth Fairy takes them when they decide to make their voyage. With that said, we could not look, talk about, or joke about the loss of Talmage's two front teeth without a complete come-apart.

As his teeth became more "wiggly", one of them even started to descend about 4 mm from where it used to be. I could not imagine what was possibly still holding this tooth in his mouth, or how he did not accidentally sneeze the little bugger out. It was like a bad movie when you watch someone be mutilated, maimed by an animal, or blown up, and they still don't die. This tooth would not fall out, and it literally could have fallen right out.

One night as I was "checking" the brushing job Talmage had done on his teeth, I noticed that as I brushed this one particular tooth it actually turned sideways. That was the final straw! I was done milking this tooth along. It needed to come out, and it was coming out NOW!

I told Tyler to come upstairs and hold Talmage while I removed this eyesore from his mouth. (Props go out to Tyler for not passing out!) Before Talmage even had a chance to object, I stood victorious, with tooth in hand.

After it was over he stated that he "didn't even feel it!" It might be that he felt nothing because the tooth was hanging on by the smallest tissue possible, I like to believe he felt nothing because I am just that good at what I do!

And what about the wonder tooth's next door neighbor?.....

Tyler took care of that one with an errant bounce pass that connected flush with Talmage's face playing basketball! (And Tyler says he can't take out loose teeth.....I give him 10 points for creativity!)

My Boys, the Scholars

2008-09-07T10:25:00.012-06:00

Oh, the joys of my small children going back to school!Talmage started the 1st grade on August 26th at Westland Elementary. His teacher's name is Mrs. Tidwell. He has really been enjoying school this year, especially recess and the occasional hot lunch. He'll come home and tell me that he's had the "best meal of my whole life". How can I compete with the Jordan School District's lunch menu? I'm not even going to try.

Eric started his first year of school at Jacque's preschool. He was really excited to go and couldn't wait for me to leave. His favorite parts of school are the snacks (my favorite part of the day as well) and his blue scissors. I hope Mrs. Jacque quickly realizes that everything Eric holds in his hands becomes a weapon of mass destruction. On Tuesday they are having a "Teddy Bear picnic" and he can't wait to take Mr. Bear.

It's fun to watch my kids grow and I'm amazed at all they are able to accomplish at their young ages. I will miss our afternoons of play-dough and Mr. Tiki Head, but I won't miss the all-out-knock-down-brawls of young brothers who spend a little too much time together!

And now I have a little more time to make Joyce's home made rolls.....

Grandma Riley's Traveling Wig

2008-09-03T22:19:00.003-06:00

My mom wanted to create a fun memory for her grandkids when they came to her house. She went to the dollar store, (and other various places) and put together a box of eclectic toys that they can choose from and take home every time they go to grandma's house. A winner of a toy was discovered when she placed this bandana "wig thing" in the box and one of Holly's kids picked it as their prize! After laughing at this wig, and trying it on various people, we put it on Maidie and snapped a picture.

This last weekend we went to St. George to visit and stay with the Gunnell clan. While on one of our excursions we had to stop at the local K-Mart. Tyler ran in to purchase a swim suit, while the rest of us waited in our cars. As me and my possee were hanging out in my car, up pulls Brian next to me....with the wig on. We had another good laugh, and took another picture.

Later that day Holly and I came up with this idea to have everyone in the family take a picture with "the wig" on. Holly is next sending it on to the Chicago Crowther's who we hope will keep the flame alive and snap their family in Grandma Riley's traveling wig.

Maidie Ann - Flapper

2008-08-29T16:22:00.002-06:00

Young Buddy

2008-08-20T15:52:00.006-06:00

New Family Picture

2008-06-30T13:05:00.003-06:00

Deck Evolution

2008-06-25T09:08:00.024-06:00

The story of how we got into our house is rather interesting. A few years ago we were in our first tiny starter home in West Valley City. We had been there less than two years when I decided to act on a whim and see how much we could sell the house for, prompted by articles I'd been reading about the housing boom and the seller's market. A close friend of mine that happened to be a real estate agent said he could easily sell the house for $____ which blew my mind right out of its skull since it was over $50k more than we'd bought it for 18 months prior. Sherri and I talked about it and decided we would test the water. We listed it on a Friday night. The third person that walked through the door on Saturday made a full price offer and wanted us out within 3 weeks.

Wow, this home selling stuff is easy! Naturally we'd be able to find a house just as easily to BUY right? Wrong. Very wrong. We rode with our agents to several houses and were getting more and more discouraged. We considered building in North Salt Lake right next to the toxic waste facility and legacy highway for crying out loud. I mean, we were actually entertaining the risk of having our future children born with three eyes, or no hair, or flippers for hands. I was in the process of building my screen door business and did not have the time to dedicate to looking for homes. I was working from sun up to sun down. It was a stressful time and the first real strain we'd seen on our marriage.

Sherri called me one day while I was working in 110 degree heat in my shop and said "I found a house I think I could be happy in." "Offer." "Well I want you to see it." "I don't want to see it, I don't need to see it, call Derrick and get an offer in immediately." So that evening we submitted our offer. The home had gone on sale that morning at 9 a.m. and by 5 p.m. they had 3 full price offers. They never even put a sign in the front yard. We were told that we had until the following day at 5:00 p.m. to submit our final and best offer. Time to get strategic. Time to pull the heart strings.

Sherri got us all dolled up and took us over to the house the following morning to see the house. I was instantly in love with it. It was all brick and built in the mid 70s. Inside it had one wood wall, one brick wall, and one lava rock wall. Totally retro. The yard was brilliant. But what sealed the deal was the large covered deck out the back. I knew I had to have this house. We lingered there intentionally long after we'd seen the house so we could chat up the owner, Kris, that had left for her morning walk when we got there. She was somewhat surprised to see us still there when she got back but she launched into a conversation with us anyhow. As it turns out, she lived just down the street from Sherri many years ago and Michelle used to babysit their kids. We were a lock. The house was ours.

I learned very quickly that older homes require special love. For instance, I managed to flood the basement twice in three days in our first month in the home with the manual sprinkling system. And the gorgeous lovely deck needed some love. It turned out to be the project from hell.

There are three ways of doing things: 1) Half-azzed. This is where you know you are being lazy, cutting corners, cheaping out on materials, etc. 2) Over the top obsessed perfectionist. This is where you spend 5 days to do 2 days of work, spending a small fortune on materials. 3) Inbetween the first two. Appropriate attention to detail, hard work, common sense on materials. I tend to lean toward #1. Sherri leans toward #2. When it came to refinishing the deck we went with #2, therefore it became Sherri's project. Her animal.

We started by power-washing the deck. In this first series of photos you see what the deck looked like after it was power washed. Some of the stain came up in certain places on certain boards, but for the most part it simply removed all the dirt. Our goal was to match the existing stain as closely as possible. We first tried to simply stain over what was there, but we found that the stain just puddled...never drying and leaving a gooey mess. So we had to power wash it again and this time we would sand it down.

Now my vision of sanding a deck was to go over it lightly, applying just enough pressure to rough it up and prepare it to absorb the new stain. Sherri's idea was to remove every fleck of old stain to get the wood to its natural color. We went through the gauntlet with renting a variety of power sanders and spending a fortune on sand paper and pads, but Mark at Home Depot didn't charge us a dime due to a faulty unit. I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend the Home Depot on 90th and Redwood. I have never ever ever been shown the level of customer service and personal attention than I did from Mark in tool rental. That place has won a customer for life. We paid nothing for what would have easily been $350.00 in rentals and materials. Top drawer.

Once the deck was adequately sanded down we started applying stains. The first one Sherri bought was a "semi-transparent" reddish brown color called california rustic, which turned out to be an almost opaque paint. So she re-sanded what she did and started over with a toner in the same shade. We were looking for something that added color yet allowed you to still see the texture and grain in the wood. This series of pictures shows the end result. We are both thrilled with the outcome and are once again enjoying our lovely deck. And the piles of laundry and dishes are finally being attended to now that the deck project is done!

New Maidie Pics

2008-06-04T09:11:00.008-06:00

I've been getting beat about the head and neck by people that want to see updated pictures of Maidie. So here you go! On a side note, she's starting to develop her personality. She's quite smiley and it feels like she's struggling to communicate. Random sounds and a sparkle in her eye that suggests awareness.

Maidie Ann Pearson, aka "Sweetie Doo"

2008-03-15T21:36:00.017-06:00

Well, we finally have our little Sweetie Doo! And in typical Pearson family fashion, this little one came surrounded by drama. This was a particularly challenging pregnancy for Sherri. She carried extremely low and got pretty big pretty quickly. I recall her saying something along the lines of "get this thing out of me.." around month 6. But she was always cute, as shown in this picture.

We were scheduled to be induced on March 13th, one week before her actual due date. Hallelujah! However, when we called in the night before as instructed, we learned that 6 girls had been bumped that day to the 13th and our chances of actually maintaining our date were looking "dismal." Sherri was devastated. I snuck away with the phone and called the hospital, trying to "grease the monkey." I practically begged, but there just was no room at the inn. Dr. Curtis was going out of town on Friday, so our only shot to have our baby delivered by her actualy OBGYN was to miraculously get in on the 13th. Somehow the stars aligned, God smiled, and we got the phone call. We made it into the hospital at 2:30 on the 13th.

Sherri never did get comfortable. The epideral never quite took like we expected it to and she started to feel intense pain when she was dilated to a 6. The anesthesiologist came in and pumped her full of more epiderajuice, but gave her enough to numb a small elephant. She was subsequently numb from the top of her chest to her toes. There was a moment where the nurse was searching for baby's heartbeat unsuccessfully. She even got to a point where she was visibly panicking. After about 5 minutes of searching the heartbeat finally registered. She checked Sherri, informed us she was fully dilated, and asked Sher not to push. She was going to call the doctor. This all happened within 30 minutes.

Dr. Curtis got there blazingly fast and it was SHOW TIME! The amount of epideral medicine given to Sherri made her nauseous and just as she was about to start pushing she started throwing up. She ended up pushing once and the baby came shooting out amid all of Sherri's "throw-up moves." Dr. Curtis sewed her up, we got Maidie cleaned and warm, and were finally able to unite mom and baby!

Baby Maidie was born at 8:45 p.m. on Thursday, March 13th. She weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. She had a surprisingly large quantity of dark hair. And we recently discovered that she has the distinct Riley family middle toe. Imagine a sloth that can dangle from a tree branch from a single toe. That's what we have here. It's a full inch longer than the other toes.

During our hospital stay Maidie was a perfect baby. She wasn't fussy, hardly made a sound, and had nice moments of actually being awake. We had many loved ones show up to visit including her two older broeys. They love their little sister and were constantly stroking her head and giving her kisses. We are all having to reprogram now that she is home. Everyone has to be extra careful with her and some of our old habits of throwing things about the house with reckless abandon are having to be changed.

Each of our kids has left the hospital dressed up as an animal. Talmage left as a little froggie. Eric left as a monkey. The tradition has been to have a hat with the animal's ears or eyes sewn to it, so Grandma Riley made us up some little deer ears and sewed her name into her hat. It was a darling little outfit. I was so proud to have my little sweetie doo all dolled up to leave the hospital!

Being the dad of a girl is very different. I'm scared again. When Talmage was born I didn't know what to do with a baby but I was determined and excited to figure it all out. And I did so quickly. When Eric was born I didn't skip a beat...it was just like I'd fallen off my bike and simply needed to pick it up and hop back on. But this time it's entirely different. I'm nervous again. And timid. Much moreso than I was with Talmage. Maybe that's an indication as to how protective and smothering I'll be as a dad. This is MY Sweetie Doo. Beware to all those that don't get that!

We love our little Maidie Ann. And we're grateful to have her home!

Preparing for Sweetie Doo

2008-03-08T23:17:00.006-07:00

We are unbelievably excited for this baby to arrive. Having a little girl is so new and exciting! Part of the process of preparing for the baby has been getting the nursery ready for her. What started as a plain white room has turned into Sweetie Doo central! I am proud of Sherri; she had a vision and has come up with an adorable little nursery for Maidie.

The color scheme is pink, creme, and brown, as you can see in this picture. I installed a chair rail at 35" and the decorative trim around the window. Sherri then caulked it and painted it a creme color. She is so meticulous with her painting that she refuses to allow me to help. I used to offer, but I don't anymore. I just let her do her thing. Above the chair rail is painted pink and below is painted brown. We joke about it looking like neopolitan ice cream. Sherri's mom helped make the valance above the window. Sherri's good friend Emily made the "Memories" magnet board.

To add some color to the wall, Sherri bought some 8x10 plain white canvases, painted them the same creme color as the chair rail, then drew some flowers free-hand and painted them. She did a remarkable job, as seen here in this picture. Sherri's talented mother took the little diaper holder that came with the crib bedding set, tore it apart, and made a cute pink pillow. She also made a pillow from the excess fabric from the valance she'd made.

My favorite part of the room is the wall above Maidie's crib. Sherri found some cute wood letters to spell out her name, painted them green (ties in with the green in the crib bedding) and hot-glued on some flowers and butterflies. Then we ordered some silk butterflies online to accent the lettering. Sherri put a crazy amount of thought, time, and effort into this part of the room, and I think it came off perfectly!

Having the room done makes everything seem so real! Hard to believe she'll be here in 5 days.

My Guitar Heroes

2008-02-23T15:55:00.005-07:00

Murder!

2008-02-16T09:17:00.010-07:00

We were invited to the Wilcox home to participate in one of those out-of-the-box murder mystery stories....I believe it's called "How to Host a Murder." We were assigned names and roles that came with suggested costume ideas. For instance, Sherri was assigned the part of an ambitious young reporter with inappropriate ties to mob bosses, while I was to be "Socks". Golfer by day, club owner and illegal gambling ring operator by night. There were several other characters important to the story set in prohibition era New York. It was an absolute riot! The only problem was that it was nearly impossible to concentrate on the story because I couldn't stop staring (and laughing) at Rob! He had just gotten off work, hadn't slept in over 24 hours, had a scruffy beard, and a bad wig. He looked like the sleaziest used car salesman ever. Emily and Katie came as "Flappers", drunken floozies that somehow had personal ties to the victim of the story, "Hal Capone." Bryan was a crooked police detective, Justin was a professional baseball player whose career was being controlled by the mob, and Kelli was....THE MURDERER! The whole story unfolds over dinner; you have your appetizer, then read act one. Then the salad...act two. So on and so on until the story unfolds and you find out who your killer is over dessert. Highlight for me was still Rob's wig. I have nightmares of that dead animal sprawled over his forehead.

A Little Young for Tattoos...

2008-02-10T11:11:00.002-07:00

Guitar Hero III

2008-01-27T01:19:00.000-07:00

What a phenomenon this has become! I, myself, am hopelessly addicted. I finally managed to beat Raining Blood on Hard, then beat the last boss on my second try. I'm about 85% through Expert now. Sounds fun, right? Tell that to my left wrist, right forearm, and all my fingertips. We'll not even talk about the fact that I see multi-colored notes falling in front of me everytime I close my eyes.

As much as I enjoy playing, it's even more fun to see Talmage rock that guitar. He flew through the game on Easy and is now rocking his way through Medium. We like to play together....Talmage likes to "battle." Imagine Tetris but with a guitar. Each player that successfully strings together a certain series of notes gets to "attack" his opponent with nastiness like broken strings, increased difficulty level, double notes, and the dreaded lefty flip. Our agreement is that if we battle and he chooses Easy, then I get to play on Hard. I typically wax him. However, if he moves up to Medium then I'll go Expert and he annihilates me.

Sherri was also a natural. She played twice on Easy and said something along the lines of, "is this it?" So we bumped her to Medium and she fell right into it. She's the quickest learner ever, but I'm still working on her to develop the same passion for GH3. I'll post some videos of Sausage rocking the mullet soon. And I know you Blisses are players too, so next time we get together we'll have to break it out!

My GH3 profile can be found here.

2007 - A Year in Pictures

2008-01-26T20:36:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Pearson Central!

2008-01-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a little bit about us...

Sherri and I were married November 3rd, 1998 in the Salt Lake Temple. I made an effort, albeit a WEAK one, to go to college while Sherri supported the family as the best looking dental assistant in the history of teeth. In those pre-kid days Sherri and I enjoyed going to concerts, playing games, rollerblading, and spending time with friends and family. That lasted for 3 years and then Talmage decided he'd waited long enough. It was time for his grand entrance.

Peter Talmage Pearson was born September 12th, 2001, the day after the infamous 9-11. The most interesting thing about his birth was how he was so alert. His eyes were wide open and seemed to be considering all of his surroundings. "Hmmm, this place is different. Kind of cold, quite dry. Hey, weird looking creatures. Do I like this? Hmmm, I don't think I do. WWWAAAAAAAAAAA!." That curiosity is something that has followed him his entire life. Talmage is exceptionally smart and always focuses on small things. Details like what makes things work. He is fascinated with the concept that certain people are more able to do things than others. For instance, a common conversation is, "Dad, are you strong? Yeah buddy, I'm pretty strong. Are you stronger than uncle Dodo (Sheldon)? Of course I'm stronger than Dodo buddy. Are you stronger than Uncle Dan? No, I'm pretty sure Uncle Dan is stronger bud. Is Uncle Dan stronger than Spider Man? No way son. Spider Man is totally stronger than Dan. Well, is Spider Man stronger than The Hulk? Blasphemy my boy! No one is stronger than The Hulk!" *pause, pause, cricket, cricket* "Dad, who's stronger... The Hulk or God?" How does one win that arguement? It's a virtual Kobayashi Maru. Talmage is now 6 years old and is in Kindergarten. He loves to read, play XBOX, play soccer, and spend time with his brother.

Eric Derall Pearson was born March 2nd, 2005. This was a special time for us because Sherri's dad had died about 10 days earlier. We were deeply saddened when dad passed, but we knew he had a better chance of getting to know Eric during those 10 days in paradise than he would have in his corporal prison here on earth. We were honored to give Eric a middle name that would always remind him of dad. Eric could not possibly be any different than his brother. I don't think he could care any less about why things work....he just wants to stop them from working. He is all boy. A destructor. He will jump off of anything and wrestle with anyone. He is very particular about what he eats and what he wears. He isn't a fan of meat, so I'm wondering if he's really the fruit of my loins. He also likes to pick his own socks which makes for an interesting combo some days. Eric likes to do things on his own terms and in his own time. For instance, he has effectively potty trained himself. Sherri and I started to prepare him for the big boy potty for a few months with absolutely NO interest. Then one morning Eric asked to be put in underwear. "Underwear is only for buddies that use the big boy potty Eric. Ok, I'll use the big boy potty." And he never looked back. He tells us when he needs to go #2 and goes #1 on his own. He has only had 3 accidents in 1 month of being potty trained. Remarkable.

On March 20th, 2008, we expect the arrival of our third child and our FIRST girl. I am terrified. Petrified. I know boys! Girls are undiscovered country. That said, I am super excited to have a little girl in the family and give Sherri some more estrogen to battle the rampant testosterone at our house. We are in the process of preparing the nursery for female occupation. Lots of pink, hemlock green, and brown for "Sweetie Doo."

We currently live in West Jordan in an older home, in a MUCH older ward. We joke about trading crying babies from our first ward for oxygen tanks in our second ward. There are 4 tanks that compete during sacrament meeting. "pssshhhhh, Pffffft, WHHOSHHHHH, KRRRPPAAAASHSHHHHFFFTTTTT." We are thrilled with where we live and couldn't be happier as a family!

Thanks for visiting our blog. We will try to keep it as up to date as possible. Feel free to post comments. We see this as an opportunity to keep in contact with those that have moved away and possibly reconnect with old friends!