Rylee with friends and Avynlea gives a talk

Rylee got to stay in a hotel in Boise with some of her friends to celebrate Taylee's birthday. I do not normally let my kids stay the night at their friends houses but this was a special case in that it was just the Mom who was going to be there, it was at a hotel and it was the four girls. Rylee had a great time swimming with her friends at the hotel, eating out and exploring Boise.

Ella, Taylee, Rylee and Naomi

Sunday afternoon we found Rylee taking a nap int he funniest position. She was lying crossways across her bed with a hanger in her hand of the arm that was dangling off the bed. She must have been doing some funny things in her sleep to end up in that position. 

Avynlea gave a talk in church and she did a really great job. She says the hardest part for her is preparing the talk, speaking in front of the congregation is no problem. I was able to let my family know she was speaking so that those who could watch would be able to. It is fun to be able to share moments like these with my family and that they can be apart of our lives in this way.

 

Lutes Family Camping Trip Day 5

Our last full day camping with family was a lot of fun. It was fun to camp in the mountains and to have this beautiful scenery to wake up to.

Kenedy, Avynlea, Rylee and Isabelle shared a tent. Ben was in a hammock some of the time and then in the tent with the girls some of the time. It was really cold at night so I think he probably stayed in the tent most of the nights but I am not too sure on this. This morning Kenedy took a photo of the people in her tent when she woke up. 

Joshua, Mallory and Andrew were leaving this day so we made sure to get in some good quality time with Amos, Fredrick and Leona before they left. We sure did have a lot of fun having these kids around. They were fun and entertaining and a joy to be with.

I did the "circle, circle, dot, dot" game on Amos and Fredrick's backs and they loved it and wanted me to keep doing it. I had a lot of fun getting giggles out of these two boys and I also drew some eyes and a nose on their bellies so it made their belly buttons look like mouths. They thought that was pretty funny as well.

I had a quiet moment with Fredrick showing him some things on my phone, probably pictures and/or videos. Then we took some selfies.

We got our family picture with all of the ones who were there, Pink was nice to take our pictures for us.

back row: Alec, Andrew, Kenedy, Isabelle, Ben, Matt, Rylee, Erin, Avynlea, Leona, Joshua, Heather, Kefford and Elizabeth

front row: Mallory, Windermere, Emily, Bonnie, Fredrick and Amos

Grandkids and Grandma

back row: Kenedy, Isabelle, Ben, Rylee, Avynlea and Alec

front row: Leona, Bonnie, Fredrick and Amos

Cousins

Alec, Leona, Kenedy, Ben, Isabelle, Fredrick, Rylee, Avynlea and Amos

back row: Andrew, Joshua, Heather and Erin

front row: Emily, Bonnie and Elizabeth

Sisters

Mallory, Erin, Elizabeth, Emily and Heather

Peterson's

Kenedy, Elizabeth, Kefford, Avynlea and Rylee

Lutes's                                                  Robertson's

                           Amos, Mallory, Joshua, 

Wyndemere, Leona and Fredrick                                  Isabelle, Matt, Emily and Ben

Later, after lunch we headed out of camp to go see the Paris Ice Cave

It was not too deep of a cave which was nice for those of us who would be claustrophobic in a small, deep cave...Me. It was chilly in the cave and there was a sheet of ice on the ground and ice all around. 

Elizabeth and Kefford

Rylee

Ben, Kenedy, Rylee, Isabelle and Avynlea

Heather and I ventured out onto the ice to get a picture together. My girls were laughing at us as we did an old lady shuffle onto the ice, we did not want to fall, lol.

Elizabeth and Heather

Outside of the cave were some fun rocks and cliffs that some of our party climbed. Kefford was the first one to scale the cliffs to get to the top. Avynlea took some selfies with the rocks.

When we were outside of the cave I gave Avynlea my phone so she could take a picture of me and Kefford but she had to get herself in the picture first. 

Kefford and Elizabeth

Once we were out of the caves we had to say goodbye to Joshuas family. I thought this was a sweet moment of Kefford saying goodbye to Fredrick. We love being with our family and so every goodbye is hard.

After we left the caves we drove into Paris Springs to tour the tabernacle. It was pretty cool to see the history inside of to imagine going to church conferences there. 

back row: Elizabeth, Heather, Erin, Rylee and Kefford

middle row: Andrew, Avynlea, Kenedy and Ben

front row: Bonnie, Emily, Isabelle and Matt

After the tabernacle tour we stopped in a museum and looked around and then we got milkshakes at the milkshake place. I have heard legends about the raspberry milkshakes so I was pretty excited to try one. It was good but I prefer chocolate. We also got burgers and fries and I got filled up pretty quick.

Because Andrew left with Joshua's family we didn't have anyone to narrate us through our nightly game of werewolves so it was pretty quiet around the campfire as most everyone just read. One thing about the werewolves game. Andrew has a bag of tokens with every piece being a different character in the game. One at a time we would each draw a token out of the bag and that was the character we would be. We would all have to close our eyes as each character as told to open them so Andrew could se who everyone was and we could see who we were with if that was the case. We played about 7 or 8 games over the course of the camping trip ad every time but once Mom and I drew the werewolves token. It was fun the first time because it was Me, Emily, Isabelle and Heather who were the wolves and we could not stop laughing. That was the one time Mom was not a wolf and the time I was not a wolf I was the Little Girl. after a while it got tiring being the wolf and by the last night of playing it I would draw my token, look at it, see the wolf face on it and just sigh. When I had to look to see who the other werewolves were I would open my eyes and look straight at home who was looking at me with the same frustrated expression. We both wanted to play something different and it was so frustrating that we kept pulling the same token, funny in an ironic way but so frustrating. 

I had a really great time camping with my family this trip. I missed the ones that couldn't make it and wish they could have been there but it was a good trip.

 

Lutes Family Camping Trip Day 4

On Tuesday we went back to Bear Lake for more water fun. I didn't get as many pictures this day but I did get a few.

Isabelle, Avynlea, Ben, Kefford and Kenedy

I was really tired and fell asleep while sitting in my chair reading a book. Looks like I wasn't the only one who took the opportunity for a little nap.

Elizabeth, Heather and Erin 

Us sisters linked up on our floats again and had more sister fun. I was pretty burnt from the day before so I covered myself up more so I wouldn't get more burnt. Later I played in the sand with Amos, Fredrick and Leona for a little bit.

Selfie in the bathroom is always a fun picture to take I guess. Poor Avynlea was just trying to use the toilet when she was photobombed by Isabelle, Rylee, and Kenedy

Rylee, Kenedy and Avynlea basking in that campfire glow

 

Week Peterson Week 46

 Much time in the office again. President Larkin doesn't want us in the office too much, but we have things that come up almost everyday. Plus, Elder Simpson is an Ad Manager on top of technology specialist, so he's almost always got things to do there. At first it was getting pretty boring, because I'd finish my stuff way before he would, but I figured some stuff out. I'll help the vehicle department file some receipts from car maintenance (there's always a lot) or I'll call people in our area to try and set up times to meet with them. Or, if all else fails, I'll just take it as extra study time and read the scriptures or conference talks. It's fun being tech specialist though, because I get to help missionaries with their phone problems. I helped Elder Frogley with his new phone the other day and we also used the call as an opportunity to catch up . The other day there was a huge rainstorm and we lost power in the office for 30 seconds, it was cool. Big rain.

     I kinda love being in a bike area. You'd think it would be miserable because of the heat and humidity, but it's not really that bad. The biggest downsides I've noticed so far are that it's hard to keep water with me and the helmet ruins my hair. But those aren't even that bad, biking is fun anyway.  As for finding people to teach while on bikes... it's difficult. It's a mixture of the area being small, no one is really outside during the day (HOT!), and everyone says they're "comfortable where they are." Remember, I'm in the rich part of the mission now... people don't often care what we have to share. BUT WE SHARE ANYWAY! Or try to at least

     On Saturday we were able to meet with Tawana and teach her the Restoration. It went... okay... First off we had to stand outside because there's no other adult male around, then she kept getting distracted by bugs flying around. It was tough, but we got through the lesson. We testified of the Book of Mormon's truthfulness and invited her to seek that confirmation herself, which she agreed to do. 

     We also kinda had a lesson with our other friend Samantha. By kinda I mean that she called us last night and spoke for an hour and a half. The worst part was almost none of it made any sense. She was rambling about nonsense. Oh well, we pray she'll come around. 

     Yesterday I didn't actually give a talk. They called me the other day and told me they just need me to introduce myself and bear my testimony, which I did. The ward is really small right now because everyone leaves Texas in the summer. Too hot.

     To finish off, we went paintballing as a zone today, it was a ton of fun. I was good enough to not get shot too much , but some of the other missionaries have some good welts. I've got one on my hip, that's about it. It was super fun though. You'll notice in the picture that I look extremely irritated. I'm not, I'm just exhausted and I've got a bad headache.

Anyway, have a good week! 

- Elder Peterson

Lutes Family Camping Trip Day 3

On Monday we got to go play at Bear Lake. It was fun to experience a body of water other than the ocean. Emily brought her kayaks and we borrowed paddle boards from Amy Little add in the floats that we all had and we had a lot of water fun activities. 

Avynlea, Rylee, Kenedy and Kefford

Kenedy, Avynlea, Rylee and Amos

Kenedy was so sweet to take Amos for a ride on the paddle board

I had a lot of fun floating with y sisters on our floats, something you can't do in the ocean because of the waves. We linked up by holding onto each others floaties and then we were able to just drift together and we had so much fun talking and gossiping and laughing at ourselves. I love being with my sisters!

Elizabeth, Isabelle, Emily, Erin and Heather 

Avynlea and Ben

Later back at camp Mallory put out their bubble machine and Avynlea, Rylee and Kenedy had fun dancing in the bubbles with Leona.

Reading around the campfire was an activity favored by many!

Kenedy, Ben, Avynlea and Rylee

Kefford is always so fun with our little nephews. Hr was hanging out with Fredrick doing something crafty and then took him and Amos for rides on his little motorcycle. They loved it and it was pretty cute to watch them.

Another game of werewolf around the campfire

Ben and Avynlea doing something weird over the camp fire