2 August 2009
Hi all! This was a pretty busy week for Jim and he couldn't wait for it to end! Monday Gwen, Cara and the Petersen kids went to their last summer movie. Not one of my favorite ones, but oh well. Cara hung out for awhile and we all decided to go to lunch together so it was fun. Tuesday Gwen and the kids took Cara's car to the mechanic and then Reagan and Cake had a date. That afternoon Cara took the kids (what am I going to do now that she has a normal job?????!!!!!) while Gwen took grandma and grandpa to Cleibe's followup dr. visit. It went pretty smoothly and that night Jim had a presidency meeting and then had to help his HTee with a broken arcadia door (until 10:30 pm). Wednesday we did errands and John and Cake had a date - and he loves the motorcycle she got him! That night Jim made LOTS of calls about a baptism on Saturday (it wasn't announced in church). About an hour after he got done, he found out the baptism was postponed :-( Thursday was grocery shopping and Jim helped a lady move that night so he was gone late again. Friday we hit Sam's club, grandma and grandpa's for a visit, the mortuary for a visit and then we had some friends over to play. That night Jim helped set up for a wedding and then got called to help take down and it was a total joke because he was doing it and none of the family helped. Saturday Jim spent working hard all day long and Sunday was church and meetings. That night he got a call for emergency electrical help and was there until really late too. On to another week and still hoping for our next monsoon to come sooner rather than later :-) Hope everyone is well
9 August 2009
Hello Hurdsmans! This was a little more interesting than past weeks. Monday we had a family day and went to Jeepers (indoor mini amusement park) and the kids had a great time. John and Reagan LOVED the bumper cars and John did pretty good driving/steering them for a kid his age. And Reagan went crazy on the Monkey Barrells where you spin as fast as you can - she made the poor little guy in with her sick! It was then decided that the Petersens will not go to Disneyland until the kids are old enough to go on all the rides themselves (or have CA Hurdsmans there) because Gwen and Jim just can't handle those spinny rides anymore! :-) Tuesday as Gwen was baking bread, Reagan kept talking about making cakes and cupcakes, etc. So when Gwen finally stopped to listen, she realized Reagan wanted to throw Jim a "best dad ever" party! She and John drew pictures for decorations and wrote cute notes and we made cupcakes (yes, my oven was on a long time that day - and it was 110 degrees outside!) But while I was waiting for the bread to get out of the oven, I mixed the cake mix, went to check email and came back to see John on the counter trying to fill the cupcake pan by filling his hands with batter and putting it in the pan. Oh what a day! The kids then went to play with some friends and we had the dad party before Jim went out for his church night. Wednesday we babysat two new kids from the ward while their mom was in the hospital. Thursday we went to the bank and Reagan made a lemonade/grape stand and her friend came and played. It was also a disturbing day because we learned our RS Pres who lives on the next street had a home invasion. It was a very scary situation and from what we have learned, angels were watching over them because they are OK and apparently there had been "a hit" on her from a real nasty ex-son-in-law. Friday we watched the Manning kids while Vickie went to her dr. appt. Then we went to dinner and visited the pet store for cheap entertainment. Saturday Jim did work, Gwen took the kids to a party at the bounce place, then Cake and Steve stopped by for dinner. Sunday, church, meetings, cake at Cake's house. We learned two things this week - Reagan has Mrs. Humes again for a teacher this year. And Aunt Rachel is pregnant (a surprise to everyone!). Have a good week.
16 August 2009
Hi all! This was kind of an eventful week. Monday was Meet the Teacher for Reagan. She turned instantly shy when we got to the school. A lot of her friends are in kdg but none in her class, so she is going to meet a lot of new friends. Tuesday John went to the dr. because we suspected strep AGAIN. well, luckily it wasn't, and we all went school shopping for Reagan. That night Jim had basketball for EQ (he didn't play since the wife threatened him!) The Stake is doing EQ sports and we just learned it's been 8 years since they had a sports program because of the big problems they had previously (the Stake Pres had to pull in some men to talk to). Wednesday school started. Reagan was SUPER excited! She was mostly excited to eat in the cafeteria and have more recess. And John pooed in the potty twice that day (but not since) so it was a big day for him too. Well, since school started on a Wednesday it really threw me off because Wed is always early release and I was thinking it was Monday, so mommy was late for pickup - how embarrassing on the first day! Thursday is a blank, although I will add that we are trying to find a new work van so Jim has been focusing on that. Friday Jim was in Tucson, Gwen and John did errands, that afternoon Gwen and the kids went to Aunt Carolyn’s to see Brian and Jimmy Nusbaum. We also saw the Crandell cousins too and the kids had a GREAT time playing together so we ended up staying longer than planned. Then Gwen took the kids to Cake's house for a sleepover. I guess they did great and it was a nice break for us, we had a very late dinner and had a nice evening. Saturday Jim got up early to help a new family move into the ward and then EQ basketball and working in the garage. Sunday was full of meetings and church.
23 August 2009
Hi all! Hard to believe we are nearing the end of August! This week we continued in the school routine and it's getting a little better. Reagan loves packing her own lunch with dad and usually eats all she takes. It's still hot walking to pick her up, so hopefully we will get some cooler weather here soon. Monday Gwen and John did a couple of VT visits and then Jim bought a new work van and we went to Phoenix to get it. It is bigger and newer and he seems to like it a lot, so now we won't be sinking as much into the mechanic. Tuesday Gwen and John made a run to Sam's club and John loved sitting on the mini motorcycle (all boy!). That afternoon we had Webelos at our house (one of the leaders was out of town so Gwen was the "warm body") and then visiting teachers came to our house. Wednesday was pretty mello. Thursday Gwen and John went to the mall for Kid's Club and riding the carousel and that afternoon the kids went to play with some friends while Gwen took Lois and Cleibe to their follow-up visits at the cardiologist. We waited a LONG time so it was annoying but everything seems to be good with them. That night Jim coached the EQ BB team and had a full night. Remember what I wrote about last week that they hadn't had sports for 8 years? Well, the game after our ward had some fighting so they called it quits! Not sure if there will be more games for those wards...Friday was Pres. Monson's birthday so the kids were encouraged to do an act of service so Reagan got up and fixed Jim's lunch. That afternoon we got the blue van out of the shop (the new ac has gone out 3 yrs in a row!) and that night we went to a family party given by Jim's sister Cami. It was fun to see her family and the kids had a great time. We took Cleibe too and all he said was "that's the best party I’ve ever been too!" He’s a funny old guy! Saturday Gwen dragged Jim to a parenting class given by someone in Cara's ward that does it for a living (anyone heard of Love and Logic?) It was good but so hard to sit there in folding chairs all day! One funny surprise is that in the class was a girl Gwen had graduated from high school with! It's Kerry Beykirch - she dated Trevor Cefalo for awhile. I knew she was in AZ but it was so funny to see her there! Sunday church and the kids stayed home sick with Jim and Gwen took 4 girls to church because their parents couldn't go...so she had a few confused looks! :-)
30 August 2009
Hello Hurdsmans - welcome to Sept (almost!) On Monday, Reagan stayed home from school since she was sick over the weekend and still not feeling well. We headed to the doctor and then stayed home for the day. Tuesday we waited for candy, went and serviced a machine, and Reagan brought a friend home from school to play with. Jim ended up taking Lois to Urgent Care on his way home from work and ends up she has shingles. Cara stopped by for a short visit and then it was pack meeting for Gwen and the kids. Wednesday as we waited for a different candy order we received some very sad news. A former member of our ward had been killed in Afghanistan and his parents still live in our ward (his mom is my cub committee chair and so probably received the horrible news after pack meeting). It has been very humbling putting our flag out daily and it is quite a sight to drive down their street and see it lined with flags. He had been deployed for about a month (he was a PA) and has a 2 month old daughter named Reagan. Meldrum is handling the arrangements too, so I'm kind of glad I'm off during this week of the funeral. Wednesday night Reagan had her soccer meeting to meet the team/coach and Jim and John thought they would hang out and have fun, but Jim ended up having several people stop by, one of which was his EQ Secretary who had kind of mentored this soldier along so it was kind of a therapy session for him to talk with Jim. Thursday John and Gwen went to Kid's Club at the mall and that night Jim had basketball practice at the church. Friday Gwen and John did yard work that took much longer than planned and filled several of the neighbors "green cans". We found out one of our neighbors was back in the hospital so we threw together a dinner for the evening and then Jim headed to the basketball games, where it was worse with the language and reffing. Sounds like basketball might need to come to an end - eh? Saturday morning Reagan was sick again, but worse, so off to the Dr again. That afternoon we got a call that Jim's niece had a blowout on the freeway, so he went to rescue her and came back to get in the pool when we heard from Hilary that her dad was in need of a blessing in Phx. So off Jim went and came home to have UFC at our house. So any of you that give the Petersen's a hard time about not planning ahead...this is why :-) sometimes life (for everyone) is topsy turvey and unpredictable! We are glad to hear that Hilary's dad is home and hopefully feeling better. Sunday Gwen stayed home with kids but we switched off for each other's meetings and then Cake and Steve came over for dinner and then Gwen and Kim went to a youth fireside. The most recently returned Uruguay Mission President lives in our Stake and was giving the fireside. It was fun to remember some things, he did it like a zone conference. Have a great week everyone!