Disaster

That is what my kitchen is........a disaster!! Our floor was so bad!! In fact so bad that when I pulled up a third of the linoleum, Steve said that it already looks better. Now, that's bad!! I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into but I have a few more days of pulling and scraping as much crud off the floor til I can tile it.
No pictures yet cuz it looks like a war zone but I think it's funny how hardly anyone comes by the house until I start on one of these big projects and everything is a total mess.

Nathan's email

Here is Nathan's emails to us. The language is tough but he's hanging in there. He's got a great attitude and I know soon it will just "click" and he'll get it.

Hey mommers
hey hows life and all that fun stuff?? THings here are going good.... the language is coming but it is still really tought and i never really know what people all talking about so pretty much i sit there in in confusion... but yeah... im actually able to say quite alot but, the understanding is pretty tough... so i need to work on that, but pretty much all i can do is listen to people... so thats what i do... i listen to people... haha its not too bad though... i know that i will get it eventually...I just need to keep at it...
SO wait did Trent get his call to the same place as Erik... cuz that would be way cool if they did.... youll have to let me know... well anyway... the sun stuff is pretty intense but i am slowlly getting used to it... so it not to bad any more... haha... it will be super weird again in the winter though... wellp i better go... but take care mom... I love and miss you...


Here's the email to Steve.....

Hey Pops
Hey so hows everything going... things here are going good.. the language is still really tough and I'm not really picking up on what people are saying but it is coming slowly... I was actually able to slightly teach about the Atonement on Sunday... so that was really cool. I wasn't really able to tell what the guy said back but I was able to teach it... haha.... So yeah.. Im actually getting used to the sunlight thing and am not waking up at night as much... so that is super nice :D... however at the end of the day i am always super tired so that might be why... haha....
SO on Friday and Saturday was Juhannus... which is the mid summers celebration... which was pretty cool... however we had to be inside by 6:00 so at that point we had nothing to do... but on Friday we went to a BBQ with some members and ate some Sausage.... A LOT of sausage... i don't know if i ever what to have sausage again... haha... but yeah that was fun haha... welp Pa I best be off.. but take care... I love and miss you!!!
Vanhin Nathan Peck

Kingston's Birthday Party

We celebrated Kingston's 1st birthday last Friday. As you can tell.....I'm a little behind. We took tons and tons of pictures and it's so hard to decide which ones to put on the blog.
This is the beautiful cake Jess made for Kingston. It was so cute. She did a awesome job and I'm thinking she could go into business with work like this!!!

Timothy was the official ice cream scooper with his side kick, Josh.
Me and Maureen
And Jess' mom and dad. We had an apartment full.
Kingston wasn't too sure about the cake but he loved all the attention!!!
And more precious pictures.


I (and we) had so much fun!! Kingston is such a joy and I love just watching him. We love you so much Kingston and Happy Birthday!!!!

The Fair

Last night all of us went to the fair here. We saw animals.....Kingston didn't like the sound the sheep made and it made him cry. So I cuddles with him so he would feel better.....loved it!!!
Timothy and Jaron went on a ride that goes upside down frontwards then backwards. Timothy did pretty well with the ride but Jaron came out a little green. We took videos of it but no pictures. Maybe I'll put them on later.
These are the yummy snow cones we got with vanilla ice cream on the bottom. They were good!!!
Emily, Jerry and Josh on the slide. I think Jerry won the race down.




We had a lots of fun and it was great being with family. Then we topped the night watching Brian Reagan. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time!! I love vacations!!

Day 1

We have been in CA for a day now. Maureen (and family) has been awesome in letting us totally invade her home and it's always fun staying here....there.
We hung out a lot with Timothy, Jess and Kingston and I have to say.....it's been so much fun!!!! I couldn't take enough pictures of Kingston and all of us have been playing with him. Kingston is so full of energy and I love all of his facial expressions and his giggles!!!
Here are some of the pics. I took and I have a ton more on my cool, new phone....I will post them later.

Today's mail

We received a letter from Nathan's mission pres. today with this picture. He said Nathan has a lot of enthusiasm for being there and for doing the work. I knew that but it was nice to hear it from the mission president. He also said that the Finnish people are very private people and that they don't like pictures or info. about them on the Internet. So if I leave some blanks in his letters you'll know why. I respect and understand how they feel.
Great picture huh?

Nathan's email

Steve and I both got email from Nathan at 3am. this morning. A great way to start a week!!!

Hey Mommers!!
Hey mommers how are things going back home?? It sounds like you are having a lot of fun!!!!SO yeah things here are going good... My first area is Turku... and it is really cool here... it is a slightly big city but no nearly as big as Vienna.... haha.... but yeah its pretty cool... My first companions name is Elder Bailey... and he is pretty cool... he has been out here fore a while so he knows the language really well... so that's good...Oh and his mom wants to find you on "Missionary Moms" and have lunch with you or something like that... so yeah you will have to find her so that you can do that... SO yeah yesterday was my first Sunday and that was pretty intense... I had to bear my testimony in Finnish at sacrament meeting so that was crazy...it went pretty well tho.... Yeah so pretty much i never understood what people were saying, i would just get a couple of words here and there... so yeah... it was crazy tho... however there is a Australian guy there who speaks only English so it was really fun talking to him because we are kinda in the same boat and what not... so yeah.... well lets see.. i thought my first lesson on Thursday and that was went pretty good... i wasn't able to say much but i did share some scriptures and then testify so that was pretty good and stuff.... yup so its all good and fun here... welp i think that is everything... I love and miss you!!!

Vanhin Nathan Peck

P.S. if you ever decide to send a package...just when you decide to... can you send a bunch of cookies... i don't know why but ever sense I got here I've wanted some... haha... yeah.. so if you ever do that would be great... but if you don't, don't worry about it

And here is his email to Steve. There are some repeats but some new stuff too. Nathan sounds happy and excited about being there. That makes me happy!!!

Hey Pops
hey so how are things going? It sounds like things are going grand back at home. When did you get called in to nursery??? I had no idea about this... crazy... So yeah... I'm in Finland now... and it is so cool... My first city is Turku it is pretty cool here... its pretty nice and all that fun stuff. I meet a bunch of the members yesterday at church and stuff and it seems to be a really cool ward. There is one guy from Australia, who is really cool, but he only speaks English... so he was the only one I could really take to so that was really cool. but so of the other people in the ward tried to talk to me too and I tried to understand but it was super tough, I generally have no idea what is going on at the time... haha... hopefully that will change slightly soon.... So my first Companion is Vanhin Bailey, and he is pretty cool, so yeah its pretty intense, So yeah i was in my first lesson on Thursday, that was pretty intense i would have to say, I wasn't really able to say much but i did read a couple of Scriptures and testified about them... so that was good sense that was about all i could do.... so yeah it was fine... haha... um... I don't really know what else to say... the flight was long, but I think I'm starting to get over the jet lag... so that is good... oh and it is so weird here... when we go to bed and wake up it is like super bright... and it is so weird... ill wake up at the middle of then night and it will be bright is tis so weird... oh. well... i guess when i get used to it, it will change and it will be dark all the time... haha.... oh well... i guess that is everything... oh and happy Fathers Day I hope that it was a blast!!! Your a great dad and i Appreciate everything that you do for me and all the encouragement that you give me... You are MAHTAVA!!!!! thank you for all that you do!!!... I love and miss you!!!
Vanhin Nathan Peck

Russ, telescope, 5k

Emily took this picture of Maddox and I had to put it on. Isn't it adorable?
Russ came by on his way up to SL. We had the fire pit going and had hot dogs with us. It was so good seeing him!!!

The annual setting up of the telescope.





Do you see the guy up on the ladder bridge? He shot off a machine gun letting us know to RUN!! I did not expect that but it sure got my blood going!!!



This is one of my prizes.....a gun lock. Not sure what to do with it but I now own one. I also won a National Guard backpack. It's pretty nice and can use that more. Now that Christopher and I did a 5k, I have two new recruits for next year......Jaron and Lesa!!! Any other takers??

Emily's blog

Emily is starting a blog of her own. She will be posting some of her poetry and writings. So come and visit it. Here is her address:
http://thebubblysea.blogspot.com/
I also have it on my side post if you want to click directly to it :)

Arrived!!!!

Here's Nathan's email I got around 7 this morning. He's in Finland!!!!

Hey Mommers,
So I made it here alright!! The flight was good and everything went well, It is super exciting to be here and what not, well I dont have too much time to email today, but i just wanted to let you know that I'm fine and that I got here okay.My P day ison monday so I'll email you again then, but I best be off I love and miss you, take care
Vanhin Peck

Also here is his address:
Finland Helsinki Mission
Neitsytpolku 3 A4
FI-00140 Helsinki
Finland

Phone Call

At 8:30 this morning we got a phone call from Nathan. He was at the SL airport all checked in for his flight to Finland. There are 4 Elders heading there together. He flies from SL to Chicago, then to Frankfurt and then finally to Helsinki. He will get there at 12:30 Tuesday afternoon his time. Finland is 9 hours ahead of us. We got to talk to him for a half hour. I think he said something in Finnish to each one of us. The one thing that really stuck out in my mind was how happy he sounded. He was so excited to be finally heading to Finland and couldn't wait to get there. He's going to email us when he arrives there and hopefully let us know where his first area is. It was great to hear his voice and I had to tell him all the "mom" things.......make sure you eat, try to get some sleep, remember I love you, etc....
It really made my day but man......I'm sure gonna miss him and I know he'll do GREAT over there!!!

Thanks

I just want to thank everyone who came out to support Em. I know a lot more friends and family wanted to come but because of distance, illnesses and/or time couldn't. Emily did appreciate all of your well wishes and congratulations. She did an amazing job again for Saturday nights performance.
Thank you again!!!

More pics :)

Here are some more pictures of the performance starting with a bow. Emily did great tonight!! We are so proud of her. One more tomorrow night and then she's done.....at least for a few weeks :)