Spring Break in McCall

Figuring out gifts for the Cheer Coaches this year got dumped on Avynlea by the Boosters who should have done it saying figure it out. Avynlea wanted to do tumblers and originally thought to put vinyl on them to personalize them but the booster who normally would help with vinyl was not being cooperative. I texted Cristal to see if we could use her Cricut and she was willing but she told us our neighbor has a business doing vinyl. I figured that would be easier and so I contacted Michelle Criswell, our neighbor, about it and she said she could do vinyl or she also does engraving and could do that. Engraving sounded like the cooler option and it was not too expensive so we went with the engraving. Avynlea collaborated with her Co-Captains and came up with what they wanted them to look like and I think the final product looks pretty cool. I love how they turned out and think the Cheer Coaches will like them a lot. 

On Sunday March 20th we went to Nyssa for Vincents baby blessing. Sara and Jamie were in town that weekend so that their baby could be blessed by his Grandpa Bob. It was a really sweet blessing and I am glad that we were able to be there for it. Steve was coming through Rexburg on his way from Montana to be at the blessing and he was super kind to pick up Kenedy and bring her with him. Kenedy had a great time riding with him and they talked the entire way, she said it was the best conversation and she enjoyed getting to know him more. After sacrament meeting Kefford and I left with Kenedy to go back to Alison and Bobs so she could leave with Steve to head back. We all had fun holding Vincent but I only got a picture of Rylee with her cute little cousin.

Heather flew into town for her spring break Tuesday night and on Wednesday we packed up the Traverse and headed to McCall for a couple of days. We were staying in the Aspen Timeshare Condos that the Petersons normally stay in in November. We couldn't make it this past November so Alison banked our week and we were able to use the Condo for Spring Break. We go there in the early evening and we walked around the area a little bit, checked out the clubhouse and then spent time in our Condo. The next day we went into McCall to explore and wander. We brought clothes for cold weather but it was really nice outside, sunny and warmer temps which was awesome. 

Heather and I got our Heart picture in front of the lake in McCall.

Us girls went down to the lake to look around and then Rylee took a different way to get back up to where Kefford wa waiting for us.

The candy shop had a pretty scary looking girl doll in their window and I am still trying to figure out if they thought it was cute or knew all along that it was creepy. It was not a cute doll at all and Avynlea's expression captures perfectly how we all felt about this doll.

Avynlea, Keford and Rylee found some fun hats to try on in one of the shops and they look pretty cute in them.

also a nice vest

Rylee and Avynlea wanted to pose with the Bear statue

We were in one of the shops looking around when the shop owner suddenly said to Rylee "is that a bee on you", those of us close to her immediately backed away and then looked at Rylee. Sure enough she had a hitchhiker attached to her shirt and we were able to get it off and out of the store pretty quick. I don't think Rylee appreciated how fast we moved away from her. lol

When we got back to the condo I had everyone find a blindfold and sit at the table so we could do our family bonding game I had planned. I have been buying all of the different flavors of peeps I could find which was 8 and we did a blindfolded flavor test. It was a lot of fun and I think everyone enjoyed trying to guess the different flavors.

We saw a lot of deer around town and we had some come right past the back door of our condo. Avynlea and Rylee took my phone and tried to get as close to them as they could to get a picture. These deer were not too scared of these crazy girls but still would not let them get too close.

The next day we went to the club to try our hand at racquetball. Kefford couldn't play because he had just had hernia surgery so he sat outside the court and coached us since none of us knew how to play. He would open the door typically after every play to tell us how we could do better. He finally wanted to hit a few balls himself and we let him in as long as he didn't hit too hard, he stayed in one spot and was careful with his hits so as to not open up any surgery wounds. We actually had a lot of fun playing and wen back the next day so we could play some more.

We made reservations to go tubing at the Activity Barn on Friday but wouldn't you know that the warm weather we were enjoying was going to bite us and be the reason we couldn't go tubing. We got an email Friday morning from the Activity Barn letting us know that due to unseasonably warm weather the Barn was closing early and therefore no more tubing. I was really bummed about it because that was the one activity I was most excited about and looking forward to. We had fun finding other stuff to do and it was nice to be in McCall with Heather and each other.

Elder Peterson Week 28

This week we were helping the Barkers (a young family in our ward) move to Nederland. About 5 minutes from where they were. But they upgraded from apartment to house, and from Port Arthur to Nederland. Very good upgrade. They didn't have a ton of stuff, so it was quick and easy. We literally just used their van and just put boxes in the back and made a couple trips. Again, young couple, so they didn't have a ton of stuff. As we were driving to the house, on the 3rd load, I was holding a guitar. I started talking to him about it and he mentioned that he has 3. 85% jokingly, I asked if he would sell me one. He said he's got one in the closet (back at the apartment) that I could have. I was like, "oh cool, how much do you want for it?"

Then he goes "you can just take it."

"... really?"

"Yup, it was my brother-in-law's that he left several years ago. No one ever uses it, and he doesn't care to have it back."

"... AWESOME!"

So I got a guitar!  It's not brand new, but it's still super cool. I am very excited to have. I don't know if Elder Child is happy that I have it though... 

Elder Heiner took Elder Child's spot for an exchange on friday. We went out street contacting and after 10 minutes we were talking to a very nice man. John Royal, an older fellow, told us that he's been fighting (and winning) against pancreatic cancer for several years. We got to talk to him for a bit and we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and extend the invitation to read. He said that he would try it and that we could come back any time to talk some more. You betcha we will. We also met another guy, Alfred, but he was extremely high, so I'm not sure we left any kind of impression. Oh well, his dog was pretty nice. 

The next morning we met Elder Child and Elder Masaki to go to the Nederland Festival. Brother Feidler, an awesome member in our ward, asked us to come vote for his car in the show. We gladly did so and we had a blast walking through the whole thing. We were very sad that we couldn't go on any of the rides, but it was still fun to walk through. We found Brother Feidler chatting with several people who loved his car. We talked with him and his wife for a bit, he gave us each a sprite, and then we went and voted. We also saw some other super cool cars. I got a picture of a couple of them, including the batmobile slingshot. We also saw this guy walking a snake around... that was weird.

In Sunday School yesterday we were talking about Joseph and what he did with his brothers. for those who don't know what I'm talking about, it's around Genesis 42 I believe. I could be wrong... oh well. We talked about how clever he was with his plan to see if his brothers had changed. One thing we talked about was how he wanted his whole family around before he revealed himself. He wanted to make sure his dad was okay and he wanted to see Benjamin. Probably the coolest part about the story, to me was that he was able to forgive his brothers, yes, but also that he kept the faith. Joseph had been with the Egyptians, a polytheistic people, for a long time. Many years. Yet he still remembered and followed his parent's teachings. He stayed close with the Lord and did all the things he was raised to do. Brother Fruge, in our ward, said that that's a parents' dream come true. That their child, who has been away from home for YEARS, has remembered what they taught him and stayed true to the values they helped him develop. Joseph wasn't just a very forgiving sibling, he was also a very diligent son. Let us remember his example and follow the teachings of our parents, especially our Father in Heaven.

Stay strong, stay happy,

-Elder Peterson

Lots of pictures... uhhh

I'm not gonna label these ones. If you have any burning questions about them, write me

Happy 15th Birthday Rylee!!

The morning of Rylee's 15th birthday I made pancakes and added sprinkles to them. This was an exciting birthday for Rylee in that this is her first year to go to school on her birthday. I kept teasing her and telling her that school was going to be closed on her birthday but it stayed open and she was off to school.

When she came home I asked her how it was and she said it was not fun...hahaha. She did get sung to in one of her classes which was embarrassing for her and she had lots of people telling her Happy Birthday. She discovered that celebrating your birthday while going to school is not that big of a deal.

Kenedy posted this story on her Instagram and I posted a video I made of Rylee with pictures of her set to the song "Fifteen" by Taylor Swift. I also posted a birthday picture of her.

For dinner she requested Beef Stroganoff and fruit salad. I made the Stroganoff and bought a bag of frozen fruit from Costco. Delicious! Avynlea brought her home a drink from Dutch Bros which was super sweet of her.

Rylee opened her presents after dinner, she got a card and a colored picture from Atticus.

Her friend Avery Miller dropped off a gift of a bag of green apples and a bracelet with a cactus charm on it for her birthday, Rylee was pretty excited about both gifts.

From us she got a pencil case, a body scrubber, a true crime game, an eyeshadow pallet...

DragonWatch books and some new Nike Blazers that she designed herself.

For her Birthday cake Rylee wanted a chocolate Costco cake which I was happy to get for her.

Later that night she got gifts from Tayci...soda, skittles and socks, from Ella... skittles and a gift card and Mikell sand her kids topped by with chocolate and a puzzle. 

5 things I love about Rylee

1) Rylee is so funny and sometimes has such a dry sense of humor and other times can be so goofy and silly, she makes me laugh all of the time and is good at finding the joy in life. I love it when I can hear her laughing as she is watching a movie or TV show and when she finds life amusing.

2) I love Rylee's confidence and how she is who she is. She doesn't change herself to fit in with others, she doesn't need to because she is amazing just how she is. She has her own style and is very opinionated on what she likes and doesn't like. I love that she knows what she likes and isn't afraid to tell me when she doesn't like something I think would be cute on her. 

3) I love that Rylee likes to write letters to Ryker. I suspect that if he didn't write her back she wouldn't be as enthusiastic about it because getting a letter in the mail is always fun. She writes him letters and also enjoys talking to him on the phone when he calls. Rylee is really good at maintaining a relationship with her siblings that have left home. 

4) Rylee's favorite store to go to is the used book store and I love that she still finds so much joy in reading. She always has a book with her and will spend more time reading than doing anything else. I love that we share a love for reading and I hope that she will share that same love someday with her kids.

5) I love that Rylee is willing to do hard things. We have signed her up to do the Associates degree program through her school which means that if she is able to stick with it she can graduate High School and get her associates degree at the same time. When we met with the counselor about it it was pretty overwhelming but Rylee is willing to try it out. I think it's cool that she is ok with trying hard things and is willing to give this a go. 

Rylee's Favorites:

1. Dinner: Any kind of pasta
2. Dessert: ice cream cake
3. Candy: skittles!!
4. Color: purple
5. Scripture Story: Alma joining the church and his life
6. Primary Song: A child's prayer
7. Radio Song: 21 Pilots (Any of their music)
8. Book: Percy Jackson series
9. Movie: Harry Potter series or The Hunger Games series
10. TV Show: The Office or Phineas and Ferb
11. Thing to do: read, go on trips, swim, draw, babysitting, drive!!
12. Place to go: anywhere if I get to drive
13. School Subject: English
14. Store: The Half-Priced Bookstore and Target
15. Drink: lemonade 

 

Elder Peterson Week 27

We went to the soup kitchen again, it gets more and more fun each time. Now that I recognize people and they recognize me, I can have conversations beyond "you come here often?" The answer is usually yes btw. They are all super nice and incredibly humble people (90% of the time). This time towards the end, the woman who runs the thing gave us shirts. They only had XLs though... so mine is a little tight.

This one guy that I haven't seen before came in right before we were going to leave. He sits down and starts going crazy on his guitar. He was crazy, it was so cool. We stood there for about 5 minutes and just watched in amazement. He was singing too and it was surprisingly good. I wanted to talk to him, but we were leaving and he was still singing, so I didn't get the chance. 

This past week I did two blitz-exchanges with Elder Heiner and Elder Masaki,  respectively.  The first one was Elder Heiner and I in their area, it was a good time. We were riding bikes and I got chased by a dog. So that's fun. And then on Saturday I went with Elder Masaki in their area again. I also got chased by a dog on that blitz. Like I said a while ago, I'm really starting to dislike dogs. Texas dogs. Although we did see one puppy that was TINY. It was also very nice and it let me pet it. Perrito. (Puppy)

The blitzs were great though, I got to know them both a lot better, they're great guys. I'm excited to do actual exchanges next week.

Yesterday Elder Child and I were wandering around street contacting, cause we had nothing else to do, when Brother Jeter called us and told to come over for Crawfish. Their neighbors had given them A TON. And since they're an old couple with no one else in the house, they wanted help eating it. Also, Sister Jeter, who grew up in this area, had NEVER eaten crawfish before. Ever. Thus was her first (and she said last) time. Crazy. Afterwards we went over to thank the neighbors while they were still outside. I got talking to the mother, Angi, and she started talking to me about when she visited Utah and went to one of our churches over there. FIRST OF ALL, why was she not introduced to the missionaries when she visited. Wards need to watch for people who visit, and fellowship them. But whatever, I was talking to her and I invited her to come to church with us again. I also got her information and gave it to Elders Heiner and Masaki since she lives over in their area. 

Very effective use of tike if you ask me. Free dinner and a new friend. Boom. 

I also got to talk to Sister Jeter about her family. She has 11 children! Crazy.

This past week I studied a lot about the Plan of Salvation. There's a lot of misconceptions about the Plan in other faiths. One of the biggest being about Heaven and Hell. I'm grateful for the knowledge we have and that our loving Father in Heaven has prepared such a perfect plan for us. Of course, the biggest aspect is whether or not we choose to follow the Savior. 2 Nephi 2 is a fantastic chapter for this subject, and verses 24 & 25 will be some of my favorite scriptures for a long time. Probably forever. 

The Plan is real! And for those of our loved ones who have stepped off the path, we must be loving examples to help them see the blessings that they are depriving themselves of. In the end, every knee shall bend and every tongue confess. I probably botched that, but ya'll get my meaning.

Have a great week! Be careful with your gas...

-Elder Peterson

1) Little Puppy (perrito)

2) Little Puppy

3) Antique Organ at the Jeter's

4) Crawfish at the Jeter's

5) A cool train parked at a... park. I don't like how that sounds. Whatever. Train.

It's Pi Day!

 On Sunday we were playing a game and one of the questions we had to answer was along of the lines of naming something that is not true. I wrote down Robert Pattinson is a good-looking guy because I just don't see the attraction. Rylee took a little offense to it because she thinks he is good looking. Later she took my phone and said she wanted to change the Lock Screen on it, I didn't look at my phone that night but the next morning when I woke up and opened my phone I got a big laugh over what picture she put on it. When I confronted her about it later she laughed and laughed, I could tell that she was tickled over how clever she was about it and it made me laugh even more. What a funny girl.

I talked to Ryker for about 20 minutes the phone this morning and then he called again when the girls got home from school so he could talk to them. At one point I was listening to Ryker give Rylee advice on Seminary and getting what she needs out of it and it made my Mama heart so proud to hear him giving her gospel related advice. Avynlea took some screen shots when she was on the phone and I don't know why she did but I will include them here in my blog for fun.

I love celebrating the little tings and one of the little things I love celebrating is Pi Day, also known as 

3-14, March 14th. It is a fun day to celebrate because we get pie! This year I made a chocolate pie with an Oreo cookie crust and a pizza pie with pepperoni and bell peppers. Both pies tasted so good and it was another successful Pi Day Celebration!