In Oregon

I'm here to help my parents out with my gramma J's funeral and wherever else I can help. It's been a couple of years since I've been out here. I'm always amazed at how green it is here. I got here around 12:30pm. When I got to the airport I went to get my seat assignment.......12c. I thought I was smack dab in the middle of the plane. When I got on the plane was smaller than I thought. Seat 12c is the very back seat.....right by the one bathroom on the plane. It was a good flight. I read for the whole two hours. When I got here we went and got some lunch and then went to the funeral home to get the headstone for my gramma's grave. I'm totally amazed at how expensive they are. They're a major investment!!! So tomorrow we are going to see the minister and mom and I are going to go through gramma's clothes. Tonight I went through some of her jewelry. It just seems kinda weird and not real to me yet that she has passed away. Also my gramma wanted Steve to write the eulogy. Mom read it today and loved it. It's hard writing a eulogy but Steve did a great job. I'm glad I'm here to help out.

Nathan's email

Mommer Wommer
Hey Mom, I'm so sorry to hear about your grandma passing away. That's really sad to hear. I hope everything goes good in Oregon and with the funeral.... Well, things here are going good. Me and my companion get along really well and have a lot of fun together... but not too much fun.. we still get work done.. we actually got a baptismal date yesterday which was really cool. we me this black african man at church (he was a members friend) and we were able to teach him and actually set a baptismal date.. so that was super cool.. we're really excited for that... its on June 25, so that's pretty cool.. we are really excited for him.. Its going to be cool. So DA's had been slow for a couple weeks but this week they've started to pick up again so that's good... we've got 2 or three this week.... I don't really remember.. but its good.. we've also got.. I want to say 3 next week.. so we're doing pretty good.. No more Jyväskylä surprise.. haha (Jyväskylä Surprise = Something that includes all of the following 3 ingredients: Nakki (hot dog), corn, and pea's; other ingredients may be added, such as, rice or noodles, and usually BBQ sauce; can also be made in soup form) so as you can tell... it was a rough week.. but we're doing better now.. we remembered to buy food and we'll be eating good again.. haha... Welp things here are going good. and I hope you have a good week in Oregon, and if you get the chance, you should try to find Matt.. if possible that would be cool. but yeah have fun and I love and miss you a Ton!!!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Peck

Hey Dad,

Dang well that's too bad to hear about Grandma Jeffries :( I hope the funeral and everything goes well. But that's pretty fun to hear about your BCC buddies coming over for dinner!! I bet that was lots of fun.

So things here are going good. Yesterday we got a baptismal date from this guy from Africa that we met at church yesterday. So that was pretty cool. He was a members friend that she brought along with her. So that was super cool.. very exciting. He was really open to it too, when we asked him if he would be baptised when he knew it was true he just said sure why not. Kinda funny answer but still really cool.. we're really excited.

Well I hope you have a really good day and week and hope everything goes well with mom gone. I love and miss you a ton!!!

Rakkaudella,

Gramma....it was a wonderful life. :)

Today my Gramma J passes away. I am flooded with tons of memories of her and of my Grandad. Their house I have always known through out my life. The "dongs" of the grandfather clock, the back screen door that would close so fast that I hoped it wouldn't catch my heels, yummy food-gramma was an incredible cook, where I started loving Fresca cuz gramma always had it on hand, her fun junk drawer that we would dig through, her beautiful flowers everywhere, dressing up in her pretty clothes and sunshine. I'm not sure if it was really sunny all the time we were there cuz it was in Oregon but it felt sunny inside me. I felt warmth with my gramma. I will miss her and her spunkiness. She was the life of the party.


She was tough and a very strong woman. I looked up to her strength and how she could get through some of the most difficult trials in life and continue to live......with a smile.
And she was adventurous. She traveled all over the world. What a great example she was, and still is to me. I love you Gramma and I will miss you!!

Hungry Bees

It's been a very cold and wet spring so our bees are getting a little hungry. Steve asked Jaron if he wanted to give it a try in feeding them. And he did. Steve got the smoker ready for him.


He got geared up and went down to the hive.


Jaron poured the sugar water into the feeder. The bees should be happy for a while now.

Some thoughts on my Gramma

I've been doing tons of yard work (when it's not raining) including today and I've been thinking a lot about my Gramma. She loves flowers!! Ever since I was little I always remember my gramma having tons of flowers in her yard and her yard always looked beautiful and blooming. Gramma and flowers just always went together. My mom also has that gene for the love of flowers and planting. And I have to say that I've got it too. But what's so fun is that Emily also has it. She loves flowers and in the spring, summer and fall she will spend hours out in her secret garden. I hope one day she will have a daughter that will be in love with flowers too. It's a strong gene!! :)

Thinking of Gramma

Several years ago, my gramma was diagnosed with lung cancer. She was suppose to live a year but she's been able to prove the doctors wrong. But lately she has taken a turn for the worse. She's so tired (I think from the cancer and being in her early 90's) and the last week she's had several strokes. She's been moved to a new facility that can take better care of her. But I worry about her. I don't want her to be in pain. I don't want her to suffer. She is an amazing lady. Always giving and she's always had a zest for life. So I keep thinking about her and keeping her in my prayers.

Nathan's email

Hey Mommers!!!

Hows it going back at home? That's pretty cool about Emily on the High Honer Roll. You'll have to tell her congratulations for me. that super cool. She's such a smart little fart. So things here are going pretty good. Elder Shumway and I get along really good, so that's really nice if you ask me, Its really nice when you get along with your companion really well. It just makes the work and everything go much better. but yeah I'm with a new companion now and things are going really great, I'm really enjoying it anyway. So this was a pretty good week, we found 3 new investigators and 2 of them are twins.. so that's really cool I think, they also came to church on Sunday too so that was really cool. Actually right after we are done emailing we have a teach with them so that'll be really great. So one new thing.... this week me and my companion really started getting into herbal tea.... so we've been drinking that every night and its super great... and I think it really helps me sleep and I always have good dreams... so I really enjoy it. Welp that's about everything for now but I hope you have a great week!!!! I love and miss you!!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Peck

P.S. Hey I have a little request.... Next time you send a package could you possible send a Moleskine note book with it... like the normal size with just the lines across, my journal is about to run out of room here in a month or two, so I'm going to need a new one.. but if you could do that it would a AWESOME!!! Thanks!!!!

Moi Iskä,

Hey that is so cool that Pinecone is going to get published!!!! I'm really excited for you. You'll definitely have to send pictures of what it looks like when its finished!!! You'll have to let me know when the movie comes out as well, because I'm sure when it comes out people are going to love it and then want to make a movie of it. So let me know when that happens...haha.

So things here are going great. My new companion, Elder Shumway, is great he is from Florida and is really cool. I'm really enjoying serving with him. So I think that its going to be a really good 6 weeks, I'm excited!

We had a really good week this last week and we're able to find 3 new investigators. That was really cool, and 2 of them are Twins, so that's pretty sweet. I wrote a little bit more about them to mom if you want to read that, but I'm pretty excited about them.

Welp that's about everything!!! i love and miss you!!! Take care!!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Peck

Band Concert

Last night we went to Emily's band concert. I hate to say it but I dread going to these things twice a year but the performances last night were amazing!! I couldn't believe how great the music was. And I'm so glad I went!!! Emily is in concert band and they played 2 songs. Next year she'll be in symphonic band.

She got an award. I'm not sure for what exactly but I had fun taking pictures of her.






Steve happened upon this in front of the school. It's a list of the 8th graders who are on high honor roll. If you look real carefully you can see Emily's name on it. Cool huh?

Rain, rain go away

This is what I feel like doing......going outside and playing in the dirt. But it's been raining for days and it looks like we're going to get lots more. Though we were told this weekend will be nice but monday it's going to start up again. This is one of my new lilac bushes.....pretty!!







So since I'm stuck in the house I got this erg to clean. I cleaned out our pantry and was amazed at the things I found in there. Pretty disgusting. But now it's looking good and all the shelves are washed clean. Now I'm off to clean something else.

No running

For the last few weeks I have been having increasing pain in my heel/calf area. Yesterday the pain was so bad that I barely made it through my 3 mile run.....plus the pain lasted all day. I found out that I have achilles tendonitis. I did some reading up on it and runners do get this but they also said it gets more common as you get older. I'm majorly flirting with 50 so I guess that puts me in the "older" category. So I'm moving on to the bikes, then elliptical and running again but not as much as I use to. I think I'll keep rotating around.........since I am getting "older".
I'm taking a break from the yard cuz of the rain and my garbage can is packed full of grass I dug up. So far nothing has died and I see growth in the vegetable garden. So until the rain stops....I'll be doing some major work on the very neglected pile of dirty clothes that keeps growing bigger by the day.

Nathan's email

Hey Mommers,

Hey so how are you doing? things here are going good. On Saturday we got a change call so Elder Gamblin is leaving to Helsinki and I'm going to be staying here with an Elder Shumway. So that's pretty cool... actually Elder Shumway is already here. he came at 1:00 today and Elder Gamblin is leaving tomorrow.. so that's pretty crazy. but yeah fun stuff... I'm pretty excited that we got a change call... So that's pretty cool. So this week we had Zone Conference in Tampere which was really good. President Brown talked about the Plan of Salvation and got really deep into it.. so that was pretty crazy... It was a lot of fun though. We then went down to a city named Lahti for splits and that was fun I was with a greenie named Elder Haws and that was a lot of fun. We then stayed in Lahti another day for a District Meeting, so we were gone for a total of 3 days.. it was pretty crazy... but it was a lot of fun as well.. I really enjoyed it. Hmmm.... that's really about all that has happened this last week. But yeah good stuff is going on... Hmm... welp that's really about it.. I hope that you have a great week I love and miss you a ton!! Take care!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Peck

Moi Isä,

So things here are going good. We were in Tampere on Wednesday for a district meeting and our president taught us about the Plan of Salvation and went really deep into it, and it was really cool... Lots of cool new info, so I enjoyed that. We then went down to a city named Lahti for splits and a District meeting and that was a lot of fun.. i really enjoyed that, so we were gone from Jyväskylä for a total of 3 days. So that was pretty nuts.

So how are thing going back at home? I hope you get better soon, it never fun to be sick... Hopefully you didn't get it from me because i had a little cold when we were on the phone.... so maybe somehow it went thought the phone signal into space and then back down to your computer and now you are all infected... Sorry... haha.. but i hope that you get feeling better.

welp that's about everything. I love and miss you a ton!!! Take care!!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Peck

and another bug.....

I'm not sure why it's so but it seems like this year we've been hit with a number of virus'. Just this week another "bug" moved into our home or our bodies. Steve got it at the beginning of the week. It hit him really hard. So hard that he actually stayed home from work......and Steve hardly ever misses work. By friday I was thinking that I was pretty free and clear of it. Yesterday it hit me hard. I felt so bad cuz it was Maddox's 2nd birthday and they had a party for him up in Heber. We all went and I kept a good space between me and everyone else. I made it an hour and then we had to go home cuz I was feeling worse. Today I feel a little better and I think Steve does too. We went to Asher's baby blessing this morning and then came home and quickly changed back into our pj's. I'm hoping and praying that Jaron and Emily don't get it. But this has been our sickest winter we've had in a long time. I need some constant warm weather. But why the diet coke? The bubbliness has saved my sore throat a number of times. And once again today it has helped me through another "bug".

So far

This is what I've been working on for days.......now that we have the vegetable garden done. It is so much more work than it looks. I had to dig out all the grass. That took me a few days and a sore back. But I planted some hydrangea bushes, a yellow lilac bush and some very little butterfly bushes. All of them should mature to over 6 feet if I'm lucky. I also planted shasta daisies and cornflower daisies.




So here is my pile of grass. Over half of it is already in the garbage can and two loads have already been picked up.




So now I'm going to work on Emily's secret garden and the front yard. More pics. later. I'm going outside. :)

Nathan's short email and Mother's day

hey mommers!!

Hey it was so great to talk to you on Sunday... That totally made my week. I'm still thinking of everything.. haha... that was a lot of fun. Thanks too for letting me know what a DA is... haha... Those kinds of things are good to know.. haha... well I don't really know what else to say but I love you and miss you!!! I cant wait to talk to you again on Christmas!!! Pidä Hauska!!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Nate Peck

I got this email this morning. Not a whole lot to say after our long talk. Nathan still has his funny sense of humor so there was still lots of laughing. I'm still looking back at our fun conversation. Mother's Day was great. Steve took care of the whole day. Timothy called and we talked for a while. School is starting to wind down for him......he is so dang smart!!! And I could hear Kingston in the background. Can't wait til July!! It's always good to hear from him!! Steve made spam and eggs for breakfast. It was very yummy! Jaron bought me chocolate (he knows my heart) and Emily gave me a fun coupon book she made. Christopher and Lesa came by so they could talk to Nathan too. Christopher gave me a very sweet note that I will keep forever!! Steve gave me a gift card to Anthropologie. He knows my heart too. :) I did a lot of holding and rocking Asher and Emily and Jaron played with Maddox. It was so fun!! Oh......and I even got a nap!!! Steve made salmon and potatoes for dinner with strawberry shortcake for desert. And he cleaned the kitchen afterwards. It was a wonderful, wonderful Mother's Day spent with family and talking with them. I think Steve was pretty tired at the end of the day but he sure made it special for me. Plus he knows that Father's day will be here soon. :)

Nathan Reads D&C 4 in Finnish

Nathan Reading in Finnish!



We did a planned call for Mother's Day. We called him at noon and talked for 1 1/2 hours. Everyone got to talk to him for a little bit. It was so fun to hear his voice and he sounds so happy!!! His favorite food there are the kabobs......not in the pita bread but in the wraps. He does get quite a few dinner appointments but it really depends on the week. He also said that the sun rises at 5am now and sets at 10:30pm. And it's getting warmer.....around 65 degrees. The funny thing is that he said he loves the winters there. He likes the cold and it being dark a lot. So much more was said but my brain is drawing up a blank. But it was so, so good talking with him!! One more phone call and then he'll be home. Pretty crazy!! Can't wait!! :)

Choir concert

Here are a couple of pics. for Emily's choir concert last night. The concert was really good and the music was great. The only problem was that the AC wasn't on and it was a warm day yesterday so it had to be over 90 degrees in there for the 2 1/2 hours we were there. Em said it was really hot on stage too. But they sounded awesome!!!

Garden

This is the garden now. You probably can't tell much of a difference but it comes out 3 feet more than it use too. For the last few days I have been digging up grass and tons of rocks. We also put a fence around the tomato plant part of it to keep Doc out. I hope it works. Steve did all the tilling. I have some veggies in there now but will wait a little longer til I put the rest of them in there.






And these little guys were buzzing around me the whole time. They never bothered me though.










Now I'm wasted!! But still have so much more to do. (I love my Coke shirt :) )

Emily's tulips

I just wanted to put up this picture of Emily's tulips. They are so beautiful!! I've been doing tons of yard work the last few days. We've expanded the vegetable garden out 3 feet and are going to finish the last of the tilling today. Then I'll start planting. I've also been taking out grass from around the trees and planting ground cover. I have so much to do but I guess every little bit that gets done I will be getting closer to my goals. But it will take years. Now I'm just waiting for the garbage man to come so I can start refilling it again. It's heaped so high right now that it's a balancing act.

Nathan's Email

We just did a test call to Nathan!! OMG.....it was so good to hear his voice!!!! Can't wait til Sunday!!!!!


Hey Mommers,

Hey so how are things going back home, that's pretty crazy that you're still getting snowed on there. So I noticed that you didn't do your test last night so i figured either it didn't work or that you didn't try but I'm going to give you some the info again just in case it didn't work or that i gave you bad info:

So our number is: 21

To call in to Finland you need the entry code for Finland and the exiting code for the US, and you will put the exit code for the us on first and then the entry code for Finland then take off the first 0.

It should look like this XXX 21 (spaces not needed when dialing ;) and i don't know the US exit code, you need to find that one out)

So you'll dial all that fun stuff and then it should work... I would assume so at least. So if possible, if you could try today... around 12:30 your time, 9:30 our time that would be good, then I'll know that it works and not have to worry.

Also there is a reduced rate thing... I don't know if you used it last time cuz I think you used Skype (I don't really know but that's my guess) but if you want the number is 221. So you can try that too if you want.

So anyway, I got the package!!! Thanks so Much!!!! It was great. I named the growing Chicken, Winifred (not sure if that's how its spelled) but I call it Fred for short, and if your wondering, Yes it is named after Fred from Angel. However it is shrinking... I put it in the water and it was super big for like 3 days... but now its getting smaller... Its kinda like the opposite of a witch, instead of melting/getting smaller in water.. it grows... and then when its not in water it melts/gets smaller... CRAZY. So yeah nothing really greatly exciting has really gone on in the last week but, things here are going really good. I hope you have a great week. I love and miss you a ton!!!!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Peck

P.S. I'm super excited to talk to you all on Sunday....oh speaking of that, would it be possible that you could call at 12:00 your time... so that i get the call at 9:00. You'll miss a little bit of church but, that would be the best thing for me. Thank you so much!!!!

Spring

We are FINALLY working on our garden. It's been so cold and snowy but we now are starting to see spring. I took the rototiller that Steve's dad gave us to the shop for a tune up and picked it up today. Steve got 1/3 of the garden tilled and will do more tomorrow. Emily and I have also been working on her garden and I have been working everywhere else in the yard during the day. Our whole yard needs a ton of work but I love being outside!!!
BTW....Nathan emailed me a short email saying that his p-day isn't til wednesday this week and will email me then. We are going to do a test call to him so we have everything right for when we call him on Mother's day!!!

Grandsons

Here are some updated pictures of our grandsons. I have the cutest and most sweet grandsons in the world. I am a lucky nana (grandma)!!!
Kingston.....I miss him so much. What a cute!! July will be here soon. :)



































Maddox got dressed all by himself. He is so funny!!......and sweet!







Look at those cute chunky thighs on Asher. I love holding him and squeezing him. He has such a cute, cute smile!!





I love my grandsons so much!! I am so very lucky!!