August is almost over so I wanted to get some pics. of the grandsons that were taken this month. I feel like the luckiest nana/grandma in the world cuz I have the sweetest grandsons around!! I love each one of them so much and they each have a special place in my heart! Maddox, Kingston and Asher.....they're beautiful boys!! :)

Nathan's email

Hey Pops,

Well.. I'm not sure if it plays MP3's... but I guess we'll find out. if you want to play it safe you could just try and put it on a couple of different CD's. but what ever works for you. My companion and I are really excited to hear this pod cast... So you'll have to send it as soon as possible.. Oh... and if you wanted you could send that strait to our address.. but really what ever is easiest!

Well this was a pretty good week. Not a whole ton happened during the week but then yesterday we had a the mission president and the zone leaders both in our ward and it was really weird. I've never got to church with any other missionaries (besides General Conference) and so it was really pretty strange to have everyone here. We then went over to the Stake Presidents house for lunch and for the spiritual message he got me and told me to sit in front of everyone and said "Okay you've got the Mission President the Stake President, the bishop and the war mission leader here, all the people who can help make the work go forward. So do a good job!" So there I am sitting in front of everyone while the other 3 missionaries are just laughing... it was pretty nerve wracking but it ended up going alright.

Well that's really about it but i hope that all goes well and I love and miss you!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Peck

Hey Mommers!!

So how did your week go? sounds like things there are going pretty well. That's good to hear that you've made some salsa!! :D I'm super excited to eat some!! that's going to be great!! So things here are going pretty good. It was a kinda slower week but we were able to get a couple of new investigators so that was really great.. I'm excited about that. they seem pretty great too, so I guess we'll see what happens with them. Yesterday was pretty nuts I told dad more about it so you can ask him for more details but we had the Zone Leaders and the Mission President in church, and it was pretty weird... it was probably the weirdest day of my mission thus far... WE pretty much spent the whole day with President Rawlings... but yeah... it was weird. well other than that there isn't too much going on here.. that's pretty crazy that Nate and Fritz will be coming home so soon. Dang its been a long time sense I've heard from good ol' Fritz... that's pretty gnarly. Anyway things here are good.. I hope you have a great week and I love and miss you a ton!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Peck

No jumping but salsa

So the weather today???.......again, too windy to jump. So it's gonna have to be postponed again but this time for a while. We just don't have the block of time to drive out there over an hour, 3 hours to train and jump and then drive back. It's just a bummer that I couldn't do it when we were out there.......dang wind!!
But yesterday I made 2 batches of salsa. I forgot how good it is. Licked the bowl clean!! I'm making a couple of more this coming week too. I will be making a lot of it cuz I know Timothy wants some, Jaron has put in his order and Nathan had some threats of it there wasn't any around when he got off his mission there will be a price to pay. Christopher will be fine cuz Lesa is making him some. :)
Fall is going to be busy here. Steve starts teaching Monday, my class starts Wednesday and Emily dances 5 days a week (4-5 hours on Saturday). She loves it. Steve is also going on the deer hunt and has a trip to France. Fall is very full. We're also going to do the apple cider press in a few weeks so I will let everyone know about that too......busy, busy, busy. :)

Lori Gets Her Birthday Present

My gift from Steve. Still shocked but I will take my jump Saturday if all goes well with the winds, etc. It just all seems so crazy!! Wish me luck. And thanks Steve.....I think.

Hummingbird

Got him!!!! I've been trying for weeks to take a picture of this hummingbird. There are two of them that come and drink from my feeders. But one of the reasons why I wanted to take a picture is ( to see if I could do it) cuz they like to look in our windows and storm door. Steve and I will be sitting at our computers in the front room and they'll be flying in front of the windows or door just looking at us.......like we were the ones in the zoo. :)

1st Day

Today is the first day back to school for Emily. It's her freshman year....14 years old. Something just doesn't seem right. I picture her as a little girl. Not someone starting high school. I guess it's a sign of me getting old. But seriously.....she will always be my little girl. :)

Nathan's email

Hey Mommers,

So what you're telling me is that there wasn't 9 world wars sense I've been gone... hmm... okay.. I guess that's probably a good thing. Well to say the least I am SUPER CRAZY EXCITED for SALSA!!!!!! you better save a bunch... I love that stuff. I miss it a ton!! That may just have to be the fist thing that I eat when i get back :D Its pretty weird to think about how little time I've got left... I've only got about 7-8 months left. and by the time that Kevin and Reid get home I'll be at 6 :O that's pretty weird... Madness. Anyway things here are going pretty good. it wasn't the most busy week but we were able to get a baptismal date with one of our investigators so that was really cool . Its not for about 3 months (nov. 26) but we think that we'll be able to push it forward. So we're pretty excited about that. So things here are good. My Comp and I get along really well. Its a little different being with someone so much older than me but I really enjoy it too. he's a funny guy too.. He keeps telling me when I get home I have to grow my hair out get a Harley and a dog and just live on the road... haha... I guess we'll see what happens.. haha.. welp that's really about it but I hope you have a great week and I love and miss you a ton!!

Rakkaudella,

Nathan Peck

Hey Pops,

Hey so things here are going good. That's cool that you got to do a podcast on evolution. Cool stoy... Kind of.. On Saturday Me and my comp were talking while tracting and the subject of evolution came up and we talked about it for like an hour or so and Elder Orr also believes in evolution and all that stuff. So it was really cool. And that would be really cool to get a copy of that CD. It would be fun to listen to.

Well it was a pretty good week. and we were able to get a baptismal date with one of our investigators, so that was super cool. Its not for a ways in the future but its a really big step for him to commit to that. So we're pretty excited about that. We think though that we will be able to push it forward in the next couple of weeks but I guess that we'll see what happens.

Welp that's really about all. but I hope that you have a great week and I love and miss you!!!

rakkaudella,

Vanhin Peck

Too early?

I know this can sound crazy but when stores are going out of business and closing I can't help but to think of "gifts". And Christmas will be here before you know it. Steve and I went to a store today that is closing after our lunch and I picked up a few Christmas gifts. It was such an incredible deal for things that I may get anyway. So I don't think it's too early.....just trying to get a good deal. I think my only worry is remembering where I hid the gifts and that I bought these before Christmas is here. I hate it when I find gifts I bought a month or so after Christmas is over.

There is a downer about having and incredibly awesome vacation.....getting back to real life. I look back and it was 3 days of total fun!!! But now I'm back to reality. At first I was kinda depressed about it all. What's to look foreword to now? Today I have a better optimistic view of pushing forward. I do have a lot to look foreword to. School starts for me in a couple of weeks. I'm taking Accounting so I have to get my brain off of vacation/summer mode pretty fast. And I'm doing lots of canning. I made lots of apricot jam from our apricot tree......a dozen pints and around 24 half pints. My tomato bushes are overstocked with tomatoes so in a few weeks I will be making lots of salsa. We also have tons of zucchini and have made 6 loaves of zucchini bread so far. Jaron is heading back up to the U of U Sunday. He starts school Monday and Emily starts Tuesday. Also her dance starts up next week too. And can you believe Nathan comes home in 8 months???? Did that go by fast for anyone else besides me?

Joys

I love copying pictures that Jess puts up on her blog. I really miss Kingston a lot (and all of them!!!) so I save the pics. she puts up. Thank you Jess!! They are such a cute family!!!









Last Sunday, Christopher, Lesa and family came over for dinner. I was holding Asher and he was being very squirmy.....he's a active little guy. So I took him to the hammock to rock. A few minutes later Maddox comes wandering out and wants in the hammock too. So I rocked both of them and sang songs. The joys of being a gramma/nana. I love it!!

Nathan's email

Hey Mommers,
Hey so it sounds like you had a really good trip, and those were some cool pics. That's cool you got to see a artillery gun from WW11(Quote from blog: "We stopped at the beach and at a gun artillery place from WW11") That's cool. I feel like I've been gone for a long time though. I somehow missed 9 world wars. Dang I've been gone forever... I didn't even hear about these. I'm so out of the loop over here in Finland. You'll definitely have to fill me in on these 9 world wars when I get back. That's pretty crazy.
Anyway, things here are going good. My new comp is pretty cool. However its pretty weird cuz he's the same age as Chris.. So its pretty different. But its going good with him. We had a pretty good week and we were able to find quite a few potentials, so that was really cool.. we've got quite a few teaches set up for this week so I'm pretty excited about that!
Welp that's really about everything, but things here are going good! Thanks for EVERYTHING!!! I love and miss you a ton!!!
Rakkaudella,
Vanhin Nate Peck

Hey Pops,

So things here are going good. My new comp is really good. he's the same age as Chris, so that's actually kinda weird, but its nice. he's a cool guy and I've enjoyed being with him so far. He was actually in the army for 4 years before he came and has been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. and then he also did two years of school before he came.. So yeah... that's pretty cool. But he's really a pretty cool guy. I like him.

The work here is going pretty good. We don't have any fantastic investigators at this point in time but this week we got a bunch of potentials that seem like they'll be really good.. so I'm pretty excited. we've got a lot of teaches set up for this week so I think it'll be a really good week.

Well that's about everything! I hope you have a great week and I love and miss you!!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Peck

Left over misc. pictures

Here are some of the pics. that I didn't put up. The first one is on Peak's island. Steve and I hiked up the back of this WWII gun thing. It was pretty high up and he was getting nervous cuz I kept backing up to take a good pic. of him. We didn't stay up there long. :)













This is some kind of seed pod or flower thingy we saw on the hike up.
Walking onto the ferry.












Steve helping to tighten the sails on the schooner.


















Diet coke went everywhere I went. :)































The bridge we crossed over to get to New Hampshire and back to Maine.













Our yummy airplane dinner.














Our shiny red Nissan rental car. I had way too much fun in Maine cuz I am really struggling to get back to normal life. Vacationing is so much more fun.



















This is a huge painting on the wall near the docks.













I miss Maine!

Lighthouses

On our trip we saw a total of 5 lighthouses. We sailed past 2 of them while we were on our windjammer trip. The first one is Spring Point Ledge Light.











This cute little light house is called Bug Light....not bud light....Bug light. :)





















Then on Wednesday we woke up to rain so we thought we'd do more car trips to lighthouses. The first one we stopped at was the Portland Head Light. This one had a little museum in it that we went through. We actually got to go right up to it and touch it.






















This one is the Cape Elizabeth Light. We couldn't get real close to this one. So we got back in the car and drove to the next one.





























The last one we saw is the Nubble Lighthouse. It's on a little island right off the shore. They take a little cable car thing to it. I thought it was one of the cuter ones. :)












The whole trip was fun. We went down to New Hampshire for lunch then headed back up to Portland but that's another blog. We took hundreds of pictures so this may take awhile.

Windjammer

After we got back from Peak's Island we headed over to the Portland Windjammer. It's a 2 hour ride around some of the islands. It really started clouding up and getting windy. We were worried that we'd have to cancel out but when we got there they said it was the best kind of weather to go out in. Lots of wind to catch the sails.







We went on the white boat in the back. Steve helped in raising the sails.







We were a little worried about getting seasick but we didn't. We met some great people on our trip. They gave us lots of info on things to see in Maine.










Towards the end I was getting cold. You can go below deck and get blankets. Also down below is a small kitchen and enough room to sleep 14....and there's a small bathroom. Very cool!!

Peak's Island

I have to break these posts into parts cuz we really crammed a lot into one day. Plus there are a ton of pictures!! We took the ferry over to Peak's Island. I love this island and would love to have a summer home here. The houses are cute and it's a little town. The word that would describe this town is tranquil.



After we got off the ferry we walked over to the bike rental place. It's only 3 miles around the island and it's a nice ride.



We made a few stops. A Greek part of the island that sold honey....bought some.






We stopped at the beach and at a gun artillery place from WW11.
We turned in our bikes and had lunch. We had the best BLT in the world!!! Never had a better one!! And lots of refills of diet coke!!!
Then topped it off with a blueberry ice cream cone. And that's only half the day. I'll blog on the 2nd half later. I love it here!!!