Friday, April 29, 2011

Coupon tally

For the month of April I saved $99.67 in coupons. I've noticed though that food prices are really going up with gas going up. So when I find good deals I really load up. I love getting food for almost free......sometimes for free. A natural high!!! Another site I am hooked on is city deals. I have ordered lots of gift cards/papers to different restaurants, nurseries, bakeries for half price off or more.
The bees are doing good and surviving. We're hoping to get at least 60lbs of honey this fall. I was working out in the yard yesterday and they didn't bother me at all. Even when I stood right above their hive. The yellow jackets do give me a hard time and like to go out of their way and sting me. We have a few yellow jacket hives that are coming down asap!!!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Need me some vitamins

Last week I went to the doctors for a check up. I've been feeling kinda weird and off so I wanted to make sure I was normal. I got some blood test ran and Tuesday I got the results. One of the big results is that I'm extremely vitamin D deficient. I didn't know you could be deficient in that vitamin. So I have to take 2000 iu of it a day for a month or so and get checked again. But a couple of the symptoms are muscle aches and/or weakness and fatigue. I just thought it was age and running that was making me feel so weak. Also running has been killing my muscles......still. For that last 2 days now I've been on a really high dose of vit. D and hopefully in the next couple of weeks I should see a change. So here's hope for more energy and less pain!!!!!
And I think everyone should go and get their vitamin D checked. There may be a good reason if you're feeling fatigued and your muscles feel sore.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Nathan's email and pictures

Hey Mommers,
Hey so that's super cool about the bees. Pretty funny about the pooping factor.. ahah... Oh and I haven't gotten the package yet... the Mail has been down for the last 4 days because of Easter so We haven't gotten anything In a couple days, but I'm predicting that its going to come today.. so Hopefully it does.. So I sent Dad all the info about the Easter dinner and stuff so you my talk to him about that... Oh and as I'm sure you know Mothers day is coming up... yeah... the number is 3..........., and you will need the dialing out of US number as well... just do the same thing as last time just with the new number and everything should work out swell... So things here are going good. however our investigator no longer has a baptismal date because hes parents are against it but hopefully soon he will decide to get baptised again, He still wants to but he doesn't want to loose his relationship with his parents (hes 21 so he can get baptised if he wants) so we are working with him on that.. so we'll see what happens. welp that's really about it so have a great week! I love and miss you!!! Take care!!1
Rakkaudella,
V. Nate Peck
Hey Pops,
So things here are going good. Easter was pretty good. It lasts for like 4 days here, so it started on Friday (good Friday) and then went until Monday. so it was pretty long. however for Easter they usually eat a lot of lamb and potatoes and fun stuff like that. then for dessert they eat this thing called Mammi... which is really weird... its this mush, that looks like mud or poop... or something like that. and its made out of rye bread... and its weird... its not like super bad but its not really good either... its just weird.. I don't know how to describe it other than that... weird muddy poopy goop...so yeah that's what we had for the last 4 days ahha.
So that's cool about the books. I don't know where you would find the drawing though.. sorry. But as for drawing out here I don't get to often. but I do sometimes... I actually drew a picture of the 'devil went down to Georgia' its pretty cool if I do say so myself. I can probably send it to you if you want... welp. that's really about all so have a great week and I love and miss you!!! Take care!!
Rakkaudella,
Vanhin, Nate Peck

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter

Today is a holiday in Finland.....Easter Monday so no email. Hopefully tomorrow I will get one from Nathan. So here are some pics. from our Easter. Jaron came home for the weekend and it was so fun seeing him!! Emily loves it when he comes!!!


Emily made us fried egg sandwiches for breakfast. They were delicious!!!






And cute pictures of the grandkids and kids. :)
































As for the bees.....they are still alive and doing well. And have plenty of sugar water to eat if they can't find enough flowers.

And........today is Steve and I's 28th wedding anniversary!! :)

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Bees

This morning Steve and I went to Salt Lake to pick up the bees.

You can tell there are hundreds of bees in there....3lbs. to be exact.


Steve sprayed them with sugar water first. Jaron recorded the whole thing while I took pictures and Emily was safe in Jaron's room recording and taking pics.


The QUEEN!!!


Steve knocks them into the hive and bees are flying everywhere. He gets stung a few times and grabs the head gear and gloves.


Jaron and I stand back as bees are flying into our hair and on our arms.
Jaron gets pooped on several times and I get stung on the back of my neck.


Steve is stung 5 times on his head. The bees are now settling in and hoping for lots of honey this summer!!
ps. the recording is pretty funny to watch. :)

Friday, April 22, 2011

Good Friday, Earth Day and made it!!

This has been one of those "survival" weeks. Looking back last Sunday I thought......huh, I really don't have a whole lot going on. Number 1 no-no......never think that. Monday came roaring in and it hasn't let up. I think part of the problem was forgetting to write everything down on the calender (see previous blog) and unexpected things popping up. But all of us made it and now looking forward to a very buzzzzy weekend. :)
And Good Friday everyone!! A great reason to celebrate and to remember the true meaning of Easter.
Happy Earth Day. I would love, love, love to celebrate by getting solar panels on my house for Mother Earth but that will have to wait. I will just continue recycling.

And here's Kingston. :) I sent him a Easter cowboy hat with eggs and candy in it. He's just so cute!!!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Aging

Let all the world know that I'm going to be 50 this year. So to prepare for this half century mark I've been doing quite a bit of reading. I want to know what I'm getting into cuz I really don't have a choice in the matter. So here are some things I've read about what happens when you approach 50.
1. Thinning of hair. I don't mind this one cuz I have really thick hair and for me....thinner would be nice.
2. Weight gain (on average 15 lbs), mainly in the middle. Aaauuuggg!! Glad I know about this one.
3. A need for reading glasses. Already have them. I went to the eye dr. last year cuz I just couldn't focus and so I asked the dr. what was wrong. He said that I have old eyes. :(
4. Memory loss. That's a constant one!!
5. A decline in ability to multitask with agility. I do remember when I could multitask so I haven't loss that memory.
6. Bone loss. One of the main reasons I run.
7. Change in sleep. Sleep?? What's that?

Plus there's a few more. I had to laugh though cuz I can really relate to all of these.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

It's done!!

The bathroom is done!! I love the floor. I love the new vanity. I love the freshly painted walls. I love the new faucet. I believe it's probably the nicest room in the house right now.
And Emily loves the bathroom too. She loves having 3 (one very long) drawers to put all her things in. Two more bathrooms (3 if you include the unfinished one downstairs) to go but they'll have to wait.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Nathan's email

Hey Mommers,
Thanks for the package, I haven't gotten it yet but i probably will in the next couple days.. so ill be looking for it. So that's pretty crazy to hear about Grandma and Grandpa, Well wish them the best of luck on their recovery and i hope everything is Okay. So things here are going pretty good. Last Monday when we were playing basketball at the church there was this guy who one of the Africans we play with brought with him, and so after basketball he ended up talking to us and he started asking about the the church so we were telling him a little about it and then, we had to go to another teach so we left and he stayed and was talking to one of the members about the church for quite some time and the member told us that he was kinda interested in the church and what it was all about. So we were pretty excited about that. Then on Saturday we were going to another teach when we ran into him at the bus stop and we talked and as he was getting on the bus (we incidentally were going to the same place) he said and I quote "minun pitäisi tulla mormoniksi" which would translate to the English language. " I should become mormon." We were so stocked... the words every missionary wants to here.. It was great. so we talked to him some more and then we invited him to come to church and he said that he would. So on Sunday morning he shows up to church and he said that he liked Sacrament and then during Sunday school he said he felt something good and we taught him about the spirit. then during the 3rd hour we taught him the restoration. and during the Joseph Smith story the spirit was so strong that Him and Elder Gamblin started crying. It was super cool (kinda funny part, when they started crying, me and the member really didn't know what to do so we just kinda sat there and gave awkward looks at each other.. kinda funny) and now he's got a baptismal date for May 7... So that's super cool and he is super solid... We're excited about him... and the ward is super excited because a Finn hasn't been baptised here in... a long time... so they're excited. So yeah that was pretty much our week... haha... BTW, you may have to tell this story like 5 times cuz I'm just telling everyone to ask you about it because I don't want to write it that many time. so FYI. anyway Thank you so much for everything!!! I love and miss you a ton!!! Take care!!!
Rakkaudella,
V. Nate Peck


Moi Iskä,
Hey so that's super cool to here about the publication!! Hows the Publication with Pinecone going? I was super excited when I heard that you were going to have that published. That will be super cool to see when I get home.
So things here are going really good. We just got a baptismal date yesterday and we are super excited about it. I wrote the whole story to mom and its crazy cool!!! so you'll have to have her show it to you. Its really cool he's a 21 year old Finn who we meet a week ago and had the first teach yesterday. so it was super awesome!!! We're really excited.
SO how's everything going and how is work and everything? is it really busy with finals?
Oh and Jyväskylä is really cool and yeah its way different than Pori but its really cool and we do get D.A. quite a bit here... we have one almost every day... SO that's pretty cool
Welp that's about everything. So have a great week and I love and miss you!!!
Rakkaudella,
Vanhin Nathan Peck

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Hot Dogs

Christopher and Lesa came over last night and we roasted hot dogs. And believe it or not.....it wasn't even snowing outside!! :)














Emily is helping me design her flower garden and Maddox is helping




Emily and Asher...cute!!
We all put flowers in our hair. Maddox didn't really like it at first but after a while he wouldn't let us take them out. He's a funny little guy!!

















Christopher and Lesa look pretty with their flowers






It looks like Maddox is thinking....."oh please."
.



And cute little Asher!!!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Final

My final was today. This is my final landscape design. I really like it but I know it's going to take longer getting all of this done to my yard than it did to draw it. My professor said she'd come and see it when it's done. I told her that it may be in 10 years and she said that she plans on being around in 10 years. So I'll drop her an email when it's done. :)

I also turned in my portfolio and made a presentation on my design. It's done!! But I will miss the class.
BTW....the bathroom is almost done and I think it's the prettiest room in the house!! Pictures will be posted later.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Spring break

So far spring break has consisted of......

lots of sleep. I was in deficit but I think I've mostly caught up.

homework. My final is thursday night. I finished my landscape design. I think it looks pretty good even though I had to use white out on part of it and you can tell.....oh well. I also got my report written up and portfolio done. So a presentation thursday and I'm done. :)

shopping with Emily. She is now officially ready for Easter......skirt, cute top and a pair of shoes that are very much her. She modeled the outfit and she looks adorable!!

working in the yard. I tore up a bunch of grass and transplanted some flowers. Hopefully nothing will die.

and watching lots of Dr. Who. :)

I love spring break and there's still more days to come.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Proud Mama!!

I'm not the only one proud.....Steve is too. This is such a wonderful letter from Nathan's mission president. A feel good all over moment!!!! Nathan rocks!!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Nathan's email

Mother Peck
Hey so everything in the new area is going good. and I arrived here safely on Tuesday night so no worries.. I'm not going to tell you how you say jyväskylä... because I want to hear you say it on mothers day because I think that it'll be funny.. hahaha... and your not allowed to ask brother Borget (I think that's how its spelled) or any other... person, for that matter, how to say it... because I'll know if you do... So no cheating. So the Ward here is pretty big... WAY bigger than Pori.... so that's pretty cool... so I don't really know anyone still.... I it'll probably take a little bit to figure out all their names.. especially because I'm bad with names so it could take a while to do that. So this city is a university city so there are a ton of foreigners and so tons of people don't speak Finnish so its really weird. I've never spoken this much English before.. its pretty weird... and praying is English is super weird.... I don't really know what to say during it.. haha... but yeah... I guess I'll learn.. hahah... welp that's really about everything here.. Everything is going good. Have a great week I love and miss you a ton!!!
Rakkaudella,
V. Nate Peck

Father,
So things here are going good. The new area is super cool and is really pretty. So its a really nice place, and I like it... So I had no Idea about the cars... but hey that could be super cool to see. Maybe it'll be on a Monday and we'll be able to go see..hahah.. that would be super cool. So Jyväskylä is super hilly.... which is weird for Finland because its generally super flat here... so its weird having all these hills and things.. but is cool. So the ward here is a lot bigger than the one is Pori. and is more diverse in ages.. its about even in all the age groups.. so that's pretty cool. a lot different than the 90% of the people are old women in Pori. So yeah much different. But things here are going good. Have a great week and good luck with school and everything. I Love and miss you a ton!!!
Rakkaudella,
Vanhin Nate Peck

Friday, April 8, 2011

Class and Bath

I must have done at least 5 hours of work on my landscape design yesterday. Got it all laid out with all the trees, bushes, patios and grass in place. I figured out how many of each plant, cost and total costs of everything. I got into class tonight and the backyard just didn't look right. It didn't have that flowing feel. So my teacher and TA worked on it with me til we got it right. Lots of things are moved around again and I have to re-do quite a bit but that's ok. It looks so much nicer. Next week is the final. I have to turn in my portfolio, written report, my design and give a presentation on my design and why I did what I did. It's been a great class and fun too. I'm really thinking of taking the next class up after this one.
Now I have to implement the design I made. Lots of digging up grass, planting and putting in patios. That will wait til it stops raining and snowing.
Emily's bathroom is coming along. I painted it tuesday a periwinkle blue color. It looks better than I thought it would. Jay came over yesterday and laid out the backer board on floor and the ceramic tile. It's like a whole different bathroom.....a pretty one now. When it's done I'll take pics. but it's gonna be the nicest one in the house!! Lucky Em!!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Yesterday

Yesterday Lesa, Maddox and Asher came over. After school Emily got on Little Big Planet. Maddox wanted to watch her play so he got up on the couch, put on the blanket next to her and watched the monkey that was on the game. It was really cute. No pictures of Asher cuz I was holding him. :)

Look at those curls. Kingston has lots of them. I think they are adorable!!
And Kingston out for a walk in his new wagon. Timothy and Christopher use to have one when they were little we'd always take them for walks around UNC campus in their wagon. They look more comfortable now then they did when the boys were little. :)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Happy for my problems :)

Lately I've been finding out quite a bit of sad news about my friends and some of the tough things they are going through right now in life. Some of them are pretty devastating. I wish I could take all their problems and make them go away.....or do something that could help everything to be alright. But I can't. I can help in small ways but not take away their pain. Things like this though makes me think how small my problems are. They are very minor in comparison to what some of my friends are going through. So for now....I'm grateful for my problems and that they aren't any bigger than they are.
And the bathroom is painted. Next.....the floor will be laid out. :)

Monday, April 4, 2011

Nathan's email. He's being transfered.

Hey mommers,
Hey so I'm leaving Pori!!!!! I'm going to Jyväskylä, with Elder Gamblin... so my pick was wrong, but apparently Jyväskylä is a really cool place, and it has the Best kebab place in Finland.. so that should bee cool. haha. . So I'm going to leave one Tuesday afternoon and then travel to Jyväskylä by train and Ill get there about 9:30 that night... It'll take about 3 hours... so it ll be weird cuz ill be alone for those 3 hours on the train,...so yeah... But things are going good... our investigator that i told you about that relapsed is now back on his feet and is going to stop everything today... so that's cool.. I'm a little bummed that I wont be here here for that but oh well... Elder Behnke is staying here in Pori and will be able to take care of everything there, He is also getting 2 new comps so he'll be in a threesome... so that's crazy, its his 3rd one... ahah... but yeah things are going good. I don't really know what else... General conference was super cool... was Holland's talk good? I didn't get the last session... so i don't know how it went. but yeah... lots of fun. I ate way too much ice cream this last week... we ate ice cream after every session... So it was way too much... I think I may die. But things here are good.. I'm pretty excited to got to jyväskylä. So that's pretty cool... but yeah that's really about it... oh.. and I'm not going to be able to write anyone else this week because of the change.. but if you could forward this that would be cool..Thanks. I love and miss a ton!!!!
Rakkaudella,
V. Nathan Peck


Sunday, April 3, 2011

Yard work

Yep.....Steve got a chain saw for pruning. A fun new toy with power. He did get a lot cut down and we have some firewood for the summer
Emily and I did burn some of the stuff cuz there was so much. This is the 3rd fire I've made this week just trying to keep up with all the cutting we've been doing.
When the coals got really good we did roast hotdogs. :)

And Emily balancing on the basketball standard that we really need to get rid of desperately!!!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

March coupons

So for the month of March......I saved $63.63. Pretty good. A lot of it depends also on the sales for that month and the coupons that come out. There were some great sales and then stuff we ran out of and I just had to go and buy. So for the 3 of us......I think it's pretty good. :)

Friday, April 1, 2011

The bathroom update

We hired a guy from our ward to overhaul our bathroom. There is no way on this earth I can do this. So yesterday he came over to start pulling everything out......sink, toilet, linoleum etc. His wife came with him also so we talked while he worked. There were some water issues so lots of turning the water off and on to the house. He got everything out of the bathroom and out of the house. He started pulling up some of the rotten floor boards. As he started lifting up the boards 3 little mice came running out. They ran out the bathroom. One ran into the spare bedroom and 2 of them ran down the stairs. Kim was screaming and I jumped back as far as I could. Doc went crazy cuz she could smell them but couldn't see them. She was going up and down the stairs. She caught one of them on the stairs and killed it instantly as she bit it. I chased her out the back door cuz I wasn't gonna have dead, bloody mice in the house. I called (more liked screamed-she's deaf too) Doc back into the house after she dropped the dead mouse. I took her to the spare bedroom to sniff out the other mouse. I was kinda freaked out cuz I wanted it out of there but didn't want it to run in front of me. Kim left to the front yard. Doc finally sniffed it out under Emily's desk and made the kill. I chased Doc again to the back door and outside. Fortunately Jay found the 3rd mouse and caught it in a towel and threw it in the back yard. You've never seen a happier dog or a more grossed out me!!!!











April Fools!!!! :)