Chris and Kyle

Sunday night Kyle (Birdman) came over to visit. He's here in Utah for a little while and then he and his wife are back off to Florida (home). Kyle is one of my marching band kids that I have adopted into our family. It was fun watching them pull out the guitars, like they've done for years, and play. Good times!!
We all miss you Birdman. Hope to see you soon!!

Nathan's email

Hey mommers.
So things are going good, and yes I did get the debit card. and change calls were on Sunday 8O... I am staying here in Pori and Elder Karlsson is going to Mikkili... and my new comp will be Elder Behnke. So that's pretty exciting... however... the bad news it they are taking our car :( ... so we aren't going to have a car for the winter... Dang it.. so its going to be a cold one.. haha... so.. I don't remember my address at this point in time but i will send it to you in my letter.. oh... and sorry that i wasn't able to get a letter to you last week.. being in Tampere really screwed us up... so yeah... crazy week... So yeah... as you know we were in Tampere for the begining of this week for Stake conference and then for Zone Conference.. and that was really good at Zone Conference the office missionaries actually made us a Thanks Giving Dinner so that was really good.. and then we went back to Pori for 2 days in which nothing really happened, and then on Friday we went to Turku for a District meeting and there we all made a Thanks Giving dinner and it was really good. .We had a turkey and everything, so it was really pretty sweet.. and then yeah.. that's really all that happened this week.. Changes are tomorrow so I'll be getting my new comp, then... so that's pretty exciting... welp thank you for everything!! I love and miss you a ton!!

Hey pops

So things here are going good. We were In Tampere at the begging of this week for Stake conference and for Zone conference which was really good and we were able to get a thanks giving dinner there that the office missionaries made for us so that was really good.. then on Thursday (thanks giving) we had a DA with this lady in our branch who gives us a DA pretty much everyweek, however I'm pretty sure that she had no idea that it was thanks giving because she just made this casserole thing that had nothing to do with turkey or mashed potato's and then there was no mention of thanks giving so I'm pretty sure she had no idea.. haha... but yeah.. then on Friday we had a district meeting in turku where the whole district got together and made a thanks giving dinner and that was really good. then on Sunday, there weren't any talks on being thankful or anything... it was just your normal sacrament meeting.. hahah.. I don't think anyone here knows about thanks giving.. in fact it was Elder Karlssons first thanks giving... haha. So that was fun.. So yeah its pretty cold here this morning it was -17 that's about 1.5F so its pretty cold.. The temperatures have just been drooping.. 2 weeks ago it was at about -2 or -3 but in the last two weeks it has just gone down really fast.. so we'll see what happens this week.. .welp that s about all I love and miss you take Care

Rakkaudella,
V. Nate Peck

Walking to church in the snow

I have to say walking to church in the snow is almost as fun as walking the beginning of spring. Emily and I have snow boots but I know Steve's feet probably froze. He needs boots.....that he can wear at church too.
Steve bought me this cool hat in Montreal.....very french-canadian :) I think it snowed 4-6 inches...very bright and pretty out!!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great this year. Klint and Mary-Jo did such an excellent job hosting it this year. It was so fun getting together as family doing lots of talking, laughing and lots of eating. One of the 'goofballs" of the family.....Maureen :) Pictured with Emily and Kiera. Emily and Kiera were inseparable. Never saw one without the other!!
Josh is tall. Not sure what happened since the last time we saw him. It's crazy how fast these kids grow!!!

In line to get the delicious feast.

Thatcher and Charly had a blast with Jaron. Jaron is a fun cousin!!
At night we played this fun sentence/picture game that Alexie taught us that got all of us laughing hysterically.
A great Thanksgiving with great memories. Thanks everyone!! And thanks again Klint and Mary-Jo!!!

Wow....that was fun!!

Yesterday I went and bought Harry Potter ticket for the three of us to see a late morning showing of it today. The movie was so, so good!! I feel exhausted and yet hyper from seeing it. Time went by so fast. I may have to go see it again. Wow!!...what a great adventure!! Can't wait til part 2 comes out!
After the movie we went to Five Guys cuz we were starving (from fending off death eaters :) ). With running this morning (Steve and I) and then to the movie, I was in desperate need of some food. Five Guys didn't let any of us down.....the most delicious hamburgers!! Now after all of this play it's time to get serious and get some cooking in for Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Nathan's email

Hey Mommers,¨

hey so how are things going back at home? Things are going good here... I'm in Tampere right now so I'm not going to have a lot of time to write, so if you could forward this to everyone... that would be great.. So things are going good here... It is roughly -11 C out side.. however it doesn't seem that cool because it isn't windy or as humid as it is in Pori so its not too bad... so it was fun we had stake Conference last week and that went really good.. and then today we are going to be spending the whole day in Tampere for our Pday so that is going to be fun. Hm.... So tomorrow we are going to have Zone Conference here in Tampere and so that should be fun and then we will be headed back to Pori until Friday when we are going to go down to Turku for district meeting and we will have a thanksgiving District meeting.. so that should be fun. then on Saturday we are going to have Change calls... so that will be weird.. It felt like this change was soooo short.. well it was a week shorter cuz last change was a week longer, but last change didn't feel long and this one just feels super long... its so crazy.... I cant believe that its almost over... well anyway. things here are going good.. Oh and I don't know if you remembered... but were you able to send my Red and Black beanie that i got from Austria??????? Because that would be great if I could have that... but yeah.. anyway... I love and miss you all... Take care and have a Good week.

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Nathan Peck

Nathan's hand written letter

Dear Family,
Hey, so how are you all doing? Sounds like everyone is doing good and that dad had a good trip. So I got the birthday package. Ha ha, I haven't opened it yet so no worries. It is sitting all alone in my suit case waiting for Dec. 15. At the beginning of Dec. I'll know where I'll be for Christmas so if you want to wait till then you can, however if you are going to worry you can send it whenever to the office.
So things here are going good. We were able to find a brand spankin new investigator. He is an older guy who is really big on family so we have been focusing on that. But he is really good. So we'll see what happens.
On Sunday we were teaching one of our investigators and we were teaching about prophets,so we asked her,"Do you think it would be important to have a prophet today?" She was like, "Yeah, well I am a prophet. I have the gift of prophecy." The she told us this totally crazy story about how she knows this. It was weird and then we tried to explain Joseph Smith. So we showed her the picture of the first vision and she freaked out! It was like she saw Satan himself. It was pretty scary. She said the picture was from Satan because it showed that God had a body which she apparently thinks that Jod (mixed up God and Jumala, which is god in Finnish). Anyway, she thinks God is light and glory and that He doesn't have a body of flesh. So we read in Acts where Stephen where he sees Jesus on the right hand of God. But apparently Jesus was standing in Gods glory. So we're like, so God's glory was here and Jesus was here ( I couldn't put Nathan's drawing on this). So she then went on to say some
other weird things that didn't make sense. So then at the end Elder Karlsson bore his testimony really strong and afterwards she just said, "Se on sinum usko ruotsilainen poika, siruin americatoinen usko." Which means, "well that's your faith Swedish boy, your American faith." That's when we decided to leave. And now she's dropped. It was a pretty crazy teach though.
Welp hope you enjoyed the story. That's about everything here. So have a good week. I love and miss you all.
Rakkaudella,
Vanhin Nathan Peck

Crazy :)

This is a picture from the web cam in Pori. It was taken at 4:30pm (totally dark) and look in the pool. Yep...people swimming with snow on the ground. I've been watching this camera for a little bit and you do see quite a few people swimming in the freezing cold. I don't see the fun in that.
And this is the chocolate Nathan sent me. It was so, so good!! It's written in English but the back is in English and Finnish. Sorry for the bad pics. My camera is really acting up. I think I need a new one...hint hint :)

Emily's band concert

Poor Em has been really sick with a bad cold. But she had a band concert and if she didn't go she would get an "F". Stupid rules. So she got ready and played then came home as soon as she was done and went back to bed.
Steve and I got bored waiting for the concert to start so this is what we did. Steve is a goofball!!!!

Family Day

Yesterday was a fun day. I saw lots of family.....and on a week day. Usually that is reserved for weekends. First I went to Smith's and ran into Christopher, Lesa, Maddox, Nicole and Karen (Karen is adopted family). We talked there for around 20 mins. or more. Then I went to pick up Jaron at the bus stop and he stayed the night. Great to see him again and we got to hangout and talk. I watched Maddox for a couple of hours and played. Then we skyped Timothy and Kingston. It was fun hearing Kingston talk and laugh!! A very, very fun day!!!
I love being a grandma "Nana"!!!

Notre Dame

Here are some pics of Jaron at the Notre Dame game, For losing the game pretty badly.....the band had fun. It was raining there so they had to wear raincoats.
Their hotels were in Chicago so they had a blast touring the city, seeing some of the sights and eating at some of the delicious restaurants. Chicago is a great city!! Steve and I loved it when we visited there a few years ago.

Glad you're back Jaron but also happy that you had so much fun!!!

Nathan's email

Hey Mommers,
So its sounds like things back home are going good, that does suck to hear about Tim tho ´:( Hopefully things will pick up for them soon though.. and I think you can wait on the package for a little bit, because I already have my Birthday one... so its just sitting in my suit case right now... so yeah.. you could probably wait...but yeah... So things here are going good.. this last week we were able to find a new investigator so that was really cool. However we aren't going to be able to teach him again until later this week because we are going to be gone on splits. On Tuesday we are going to be going down to Turku for splits then on the way up we are going to have splits in Rauma on Wednesday. So that's going to be pretty fun.. So next week we are going to be going to Tampere for Stake conference and are then going to stay there all of Sunday Monday and Tuesday because we have Zone Conference there on Tuesday and we petitioned to the AP's that we should just stay there the whole time because it would be a waste of gas to drive there and back on Sunday and then do the same thing on Tuesday... so we get to stay there for P-day.. so that will be fun.. however I may not be able to Email next week on Monday because of it.. but hopefully on Wednesday I'll be able to... we'll just have to see what happens... wellp I think thats everything here.. thanks for everything!! I love and miss you a ton!!!
Rakkaudella,
Vanhin Nafey Burger.

Hello Father,
So things here are good... It's actually been pretty warm here lately... about +3 or +4 every day.. so it really hasn't been too bad.. so we've actually been biking around lately.. we haven't really taken the car anywhere except to go to church and when we need to go to really far places.. so its pretty fun biking around. This week we are going to have splits on Tuesday and Wednesday, we're going to turku on Tuesday and rauma on Wednesday. so we are going to be gone half the week.. so that will be interesting to see what happens .. So the language is still really hard.. I'm still not uber good at it, but it is coming slowly.. It just takes time and effort to listen and try to pick up everything they say but I am working and I know that I will get better and better, I just need to continue to work hard... Welp.. thank you for everything.. you're the Best Father ever... and Hyvä Isän Päivä Suomessa!!! I love and miss you!!!
Rakkaudella,
Vanhin Nathan Peck

Choir

Emily has her first choir tour today. They are going to a few retirement centers to perform, then lunch at the mall and then to BYU to watch them perform. Em has been looking forward to this day for the last week...with lots of excitement!! I think her dress is beautiful :)
Last night was personal progress night and this was Emily's display. She's a great dancer and she continues to get better and better all the time.

Me and Grandad

This is a picture of me and my Grandad Jeffries. I don't remember this event but I do have some great memories of him. And I wish I had lot more but he passed away when I was around 13 years old, I think. He did love to watch football in his recliner and I remember lots of time finding him asleep in it after the game was over or before it was. I also remember climbing in his recliner next to him quite a bit. I'm grateful for my mom putting these pictures up and for the flood of memories it brings back.

Pics. of Nathan

Yesterday I got a letter from Nathan and pictures of him. He said he sent me pictures cuz he wrote a lame letter. I didn't think the letter was lame and I totally love the pics!!!

Nathan at the mill he found one day.
District Meeting-Vanhin Karlsson and Vanhin Peck
Nathan and Vanhin Karlsson stuck in an elevator. The grey bar thing is the 2nd floor. We were stuck there for about 15-20 minutes.
We took a fairy (I don't know if that's the right fairy but it's cooler if I took a fairy) across the Turku River and this was the view.

Nathan's email

Hey mommers.
So things are going good here. I got the package this week! Thank you sooooooo much for all the stuff. And the socks are quite nice :D And yeah i knew I was out of money... The Euro to Dollar amount is pretty bad right now, so yeah. everything I bought ended up being a lot more than it should have been. but hopefully the dollar will go back up here soon. Oh and you can wait a while to send the next package... It doesn't take too long to get here, so if you were to wait till the beginning of next month i would probably get there in time plus I would be able to tell you if I get transferred, and would be able to send you that address. so if you want you can wait... Anyway things here are going good, not too much happened last week except for District meeting down in Turku, which was really good. We have a bunch of new people in our district so it was really cool to get to meet them. Um... yeah that's about all... There is snow on the ground now 8D... so that's exciting.. I did a donut in the church parking lot like 2 minutes ago, It was fun... haha... So this week Elder Karlsson is going down to Helsinki for leadership training meeting so I will be here in Pori with Elder Shumway for the whole week so that will be cool... um yeah.. I think that's everything. but thanks for everything. I love and miss you a Ton!!
Rakaudella,
Vanhin Nathan Peck

Jaron in THE band

Yep.....Jaron remembered his camera and now we all get to see him in his cool marching band uniform with his section. I love every single one of them and he said that there are more to come!!!

So look at these and enjoy them cuz no one can put them on facebook yet till Jaron gives the "OK". He is going to put an album up on there so we all have to be patient and wait....even me!! So I will bite my nails and wait....patiently :)
Thank you Jaron!!! You made my day!!
ps. Steve is on his way home :)

Work, work work

I am so amazed at the amount of work and projects Emily has to do in school. Yesterday I spent most of the day running to different stores to get things for them, hemming up her choir dress and helped work on some of them myself because she doesn't have the time to get everything done. While I was resting in between errands I found another paper with another project she has to do that is due Monday. She has to have pictures (lots) of herself to turn in. I found a key drive and spent the next 2 hours loading pictures on it so I can get them developed today....and buy more poster boards. I don't remember the boys having this much to do but maybe they just didn't do them. :)
Steve is doing great and having fun at the meetings. He said he's learning lots and is excited to go to the meetings today.
So I'm trying to think of things I'm thankful for everyday. Today?....besides the usual, I'm thankful that it being Friday that I still have some energy left to run another day full of errands for my sweet daughter :)

Arrived!!!!

Just so you know....Steve arrived in Montreal safely and exhausted and hungry late last night. He hadn't eaten at all while he was travelling but did find a delicious cinnamon roll at Starbucks to tie him over till morning. Montreal is kinda by New York. He said he will write a blog with pictures included about his trip when he gets back. He'll be home Sunday night.
As for me today....cleaning the yard out some more, running errands and hemming up a choir dress :)

Me and Em

Emily is fun to hang out with. She says and does funny things quite a bit and she LOVES to read scary books. She's her own person and I'm glad. The rest of this week will be just the two of us. Steve will be in Montreal Canada for some meetings so the two of us will have fun :)

Grandma Awbrey

Yesterday morning my Grandma Awbrey passed away. She was 99. Just a few months shy of 100. I have tons of great memories of my grandma.....and grandad. They lived on a farm and I remember as a kid running around on their land, feeding chickens, exploring grandad's big workshop, hot chocolate made with milk, looking for arrow heads, eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies, driving the tractor, seeing piles of feathers and not knowing how are why they were there :) and lots and lots of fishing. My grandma taught me how to make a pie and we had lots of great talks. I will miss her but I know she is with my grandad now and is happy. Thanks Grandma for all the wonderful memories!!

Nathan's email

Hey Mommers!!
So I haven't gotten any of the stuff you sent yet... It should still be at the office.. but this week we have a district meeting and i should be getting it then... YAY.. so that will be nice.. I'm quite excited... so yeah everything else here is going really good.. not a whole lot happened last week but it was good... we Actually got to watch 'The Other Side of Heaven' the movie about the missionary who went to Tonga. the was cool it was an investigator night at the church, but none of our investigators showed up, but because one of them lives way up in Reposaari, we didn't expect her to come, and our other one had a 'Team Building' thing for his work out on some island for the weekend so, he wasn't able to come, but oh well. Hmm... I cant really think of anything else that happened this week it was a pretty slow and boring week... um... yeah I don't know... Day light savings time was awesome.. we got an extra hour of sleep .. haha... so that was sweet.. haha.. Well.. I think that's everything.. but take care and good luck with everything. I love and miss your!

Rakaudella,
Vanhin Nathan Peck


Hey so everything here is going really good. It is starting to get cold here, and with daylight savings time, it starts to get dark now at about 5... 4:30ish... so its starting to get dark sooner.

So things here are going good, on Saturday we had an investigators night, which none of our investigators could come too, because they either live too far away, or were busy, but we got to watch The other side of Heaven, the movie about the Tongan missionary, so that was really cool. It was really nice to just be able to sit there and just kind relax. So quite fun, and then being able to sleep in an extra hour was uber much fun.. that was great!!

Hmm.. I don't really know what else has really happened here.. it was a pretty slow week for eventful things... um... yeah that's really all that happened this week.. well Have a great week and a safe trip. I love and miss you.

Rakaudella,
Vanhin Nathan Peck