Nathan's email

Hey Mommers!!

Thanks for the pictures!!! Yeah you're right they look exactly the same... haha... but that's probably a good thing. So things here are going good. I did get a a change and I'll be going to Savonlinna! So that's pretty cool. I'm pretty excited to go there it will be good to finally go to another city! This will be my 4 and probably last city, so that'll be pretty cool, I guess. it would have been nice to visit some other places but what can you do? I'm excited thou, cuz ill finally be in the North Zone so I will get to travel a lot more.. so I'm pretty excited about that. President Rawlings also told me some stuff about the area, .Anyway, I'm pretty excited to go up there and I think that it will be a grand ol' adventure.. Oh and my new companion will be Elder Pope... so I guess we'll see how everything goes... Welp that's about all that I've got for today but I hope that you have a great day/week and I love and miss you a ton!!! Thanks for everything!!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Nate Peck

Hey Dad!

Hey things here are going pretty good. I got a change call this last week and will be going to Savonlinna with an Elder Pope. So that's pretty cool. I'm pretty excited to leave Jyväkylä, however it was kinda sad leaving cuz the ward here is really good, and I've been here for such a long time. but oh well it will be nice to finally get another city to serve in! Well tell everyone 'hi' from me and I love and miss you a ton!!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Nate Peck

Kingston and pumpkin carving

I love these sequences of pictures!! I love Kingston's facial expressions!! Thanks Jess for putting them up. :)

Science experiment....honey comb

When we took the honey from the hives we saved the comb and stuck it in the freezer. Last night I took one of the bags out to see what I could do with it. When I melted it, it was muck. As it cooled off, a layer of wax was on top. I scooped it off and put it in a candle mold. The candle looks pretty cool but we still have a pot of honey and goo. So we're going to get a screen and see if we can filter the honey out. It's kinda a lot of work for all of this but it's interesting. :)






























Kevin and Reid are back from their missions. It seems like the 2 years few by fast and I really don't think they aged much at all.

Dishwasher

Our dishwasher died a few weeks ago. So we were doing dishes by hand. I didn't mind it that much. But Emily and especially Steve did not like it at all. So last Saturday we went to Home Depot to buy a new one.......after I did a lot of research on the internet. HD had the model I wanted but it was a little over $100 than what I found it for. So I told the sales guy and he matched the price. Wahoo!!! So we bought it and told him we needed it installed and the old one taken out. Yesterday it was delivered. I asked the guys if they were going to install it. They said it wasn't on their order to install it but just to drop it off. What???? The HD guy forgot to add it on. It was an additional $100 which I would pay to have it installed and the old one out but he forgot to put it on. Well.....the guys installed it for me, for free, and I gave them each a huge Costco muffin. Great deal and they were really nice guys!

















Emily is making her halloween costume. She wants to be a cow so we are coloring black spots on her white hoodie with sharpy markers. We're all feeling a little dizzy.

Pole Beans

This year we grew some pole beans. I'm not sure what they really are but I opened some of the pods yesterday and this is what they look like. The picture doesn't do it justice to the color. The pink ones are a very bright pink and then they are a very dark blue, almost black color. Really pretty. Does anyone know what you do with these? I was thinking of drying them out a little longer and then boiling them. Should be interesting.
I am done with apples. I have been drying apples for days and days. If I see another apple I may scream!!! We still have tons but I'm on major apple burnout. I think my harvesting time is done for the year. On to other things.

Facebook

The last few days I have been more or less staying away from facebook. I lurk every once in a while but that's it. And I've hidden a few people. The reason is I'm really tired of the hate. I know with the elections getting closer it's only going to get worse. A lot of the horrible things people say there are hateful and not even true. I think the comments are even worse. It's kinda funny......I tell my Sunday school class (14 yr olds) that I really don't like the word "hate" and I told them why......how it's such a strong word. They can say GREATLY dislike. That's fine but not hate. So they are really good and not saying it and if someone does, one of the other kids will catch them. When I read so much of this hate garbage on facebook it really puts me in a bad mood. So I did some major hiding and staying off except for comments here and there. And I have to say, it hasn't been that bad. I'm getting a lot of stuff done. :)

Nathan's email

Hey Mommers,

Hey so things here are going good. We've got change calls this week so we'll see if I get to leave here or if I'm going to be staying here for another 6 weeks... I guess we'll see. So things here are going pretty good. Last week was probably one of the best weeks that we've had in a really long time so that was really nice! we were able to find some new people to teach and so that was really good! We've now got some stuff to do other than tract! That's crazy that Kevin and Reid are home... you need to send me a picture of them! So with the package you could probably just wait until i know whats going on and where I'm going. well things here are going really well. OI ISO JUTTU, This morning i finished the Old Testament!! WOOOT... its so good to be over with... but I now officially feel legit that I've read it. so yeah... that's my life... haha.. welp that's really about all, but I hope you have a great week and I love and miss you a ton!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Nate Peck

Hey Pops,

So how are things going back at home? Sounds like things are going
pretty well. Thats cool you'll be learning french. I bet you'll be
able to pick it up really quick. You've already learned German and
learning a second languange is always easier! Just be thankful you
dont have to learn Finnish! haha... I would be worried about learning
that ahah... but you'll do great and i bet you'll be surprised how
quick you pick it up.

Things here are going pretty well. This morning I finally finished the
Old Testament. Which was super cool, its now the longest book that
I've ever read. Pretty crazy. haha.. I'm actually going to try and read
through all of the standard works once before the end of the year so
we'll see how that goes. I figure I read the Old Testament in 2 months
so i think I'll be able to read everything else in the next 2 if I
read 20 pages a day. So I guess we'll see what happens.

Welp that's really about everything I hope all is well and I hope you
have a great week. I love and miss you! Take care!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Nate Peck

Marilynne

Last night Steve and I were invited to Charlotte Enland's (wife of Eugene England) home for dinner with author Marilynne Robinson. There were probably around 12 people there total. Marilynne is such a nice lady and very easy to talk to. There was lots of conversations about her books and a little bit about future books she's writing. Charlotte England was the perfect hostess and so very nice and down to earth. Her home is beautiful and relaxing. I enjoyed so much listening to all the conversations. What a great experience!!

blanket/quilt

Yesterday I finished a 9 squared quilt for our bed to replace the one I made over 10 years ago.....material ripped and batting falling out onto the floor. I made it with some thin batting so it would be more like a blanket than a quilt since I already have a quilt for the bed. I haven't sewn in a while and it was a lot of fun making this. But I think I've had my fill of sewing for now.

The Grandkids

Timothy and Jessica took Kingston to the pumpkin patch.
















I love this picture of Jessica's little tummy. :)
































Christopher and Lesa took pictures in their back yard of Maddox and Asher.
















I have the most wonderful grandson!! They are smart and they make me laugh. I love them all so much!!! And my kids (and kids in law) rock too!!

Luke's Farewell

First off I have to say that Luke did an amazing job on his talk. It was so good!! He's going to be a great missionary!!!
















We left for St. Georg Saturday afternoon after Emily's dance. That evening we hung out with all the family. Russ and Cristy have a such a nice house and the view from their deck is incredible!!! It was so fun staying with them!!!













Steve and I went around taking pictures. It was good to see Mike again. It's been awhile. We had to leave later that afternoon cuz Steve had to teach today and Em had school. It was so fun seeing family again. We need to get together more often.

Nathan's email

hey Mommers,

hey so things here are going good. We had a pretty low week for numbers but we ended up finding a dump load of potentials and have teaches set up for everyday this week so that's pretty rad. Wow... that's really all that happened..haha... but it was a good week. Oh so sorry I wasn't able to get a letter out to you guys last week... we had a really busy pday but i should be able to get one out to you all this week. However so you know I sent a B.O.M. home that I had out here that I marked up and I don't really need it anymore out here but I wanted to keep it... so hopefully that should be coming in the mail. But yeah... That's really about all that happened but I hope that you have a great week and I love and miss you a ton!!! Thanks for everything!!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Peck

Hey Pa!

So how are things going back home? Thats cool to hear about your poems!! thats awesome that you got 4 in there! Hows the Pinecone book coming along? when is that supposed to come out?

So things here are going good. not really too much going on right now. but things are going good. The language is coming along nicely, its still super hard but its really fun and it gets better everyday. There are still times thought when I just have no idea what people are talking about. But that's just the way it goes. Some days I feel like I'm doing really well but others not really, but I just keep learning and keep coming little by little. But I'm enjoying it so that's good!!

Well I hope all is well with you and that you didn't get sick. I hope you have a great week! I love and miss you!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Nate Peck

Apples

Aren't they pretty? I did 13 pints and 1 quart of applesauce today. Which entailed climbing into the trees (really 1 tree. We have that many apples) and picking them, getting hit in the eye by a falling apple, peeling, coring and making it into applesauce. It's kinda a long sticky process but glad I did it and I'm done for now. I still have 4 trees overflowing with apples. Also a second batch of apples are in the food dryer. Why am I doing this? I think cuz I just feel guilty letting them rot on the tree. Guilt does motivate me.

end of season

This is basically how most of my garden looks now. I have to say though it's been a pretty good year. Next week I will probably be cleaning most of the stuff out for the season. I have a few tomatoes still and a few green beans are still growing but it's basically done. I will be drying the last of the cherry tomatoes too. It kinda sad seeing it be over but I guess I will start making plans for next year. :)

picture update

I wanted to get these pictures I copied off of Jessica's blog onto mine. I'm really good at copying but not so good at reposting. Kingston loves his new backyard. Many hours are spent back there.























I'm also really good at taking pictures and also good at leaving them on the camera and not downloading them. So here's a small taste of the ones I've taken. Maddox and Asher are really growing fast!! So is Kingston! It's amazing how fast they are growing!

Nathan's email

Hey mommers!

So how are things going back at the home? things are going alright here. We don't really have too much going on but hopefully that will all change this next week... I hope. We've been doing more of our tracking in the college areas which usually have better success, so hopefully we will be able to find some more investigators. But other than that things are good. The weather here is getting pretty cold... yesterday it was 5 degrees as we walked to church. so it was pretty cold... today's been around 7 or 8 so not too cold. but I'm sure its going to just start to drop from here on out... but that's fine. I really liked last winter so I'm looking forward to this one. should be fun! welp that's really about all for right now but I hope that you have a great week and I love and miss you a ton!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Nate Peck

Hey Pa!

it sounds like your trip to France went pretty good. It sounds like a
pretty cool place!

So things here are going pretty good. not too much has really gone on
this last week to be honest. It was a pretty slow week with a lot of
canceled appointments and people dropping us, but oh well they've got
their agency and they can do what ever thy want with it. But hopefully
we'll be able to find a couple of people who want to really learn this
week. We've got a couple of investigators, including set of twins
that's seem to be doing really good. And hopefully we'll be able to
teach them some more this next week.

Well that's really about all but I hole you have a great week and I
love and miss you a ton!!

Rakkaudella,
Vanhin Nate Peck

Preserve

I preserved ( canned ) 4 things this year. Our little apricot tree produced lots of fruit so I got lots of jam out of it. It doesn't look like a whole lot but knowing that we've eaten half of it already we did get quite a bit. We're slowing down now with eating it now that the jam has honey to compete with. It doesn't look like we got a lot of honey by looking at the shelf but there's another shelf with lots of honey on it too. I just haven't organized it very well yet. But I have to say that it is the most delicious honey and the most expensive there is......if you include the hospital bill and ambulance ride. :)
Then I made lots of salsa. There's an additional shelf of that too....just not organized. I made enough so there would be enough for when Nathan got home.

Then with the left over tomatoes from the garden I canned them to go in chili. Nothing better!! I was thinking about doing apple sauce cuz we still have tons of apples on the trees but I have a hard time getting motivated to pick apples when it's raining and snowing outside.