3-30-09

Hope Sydney had a Happy Birthday! Happy Anniversary to Cake and Steve! Monday we had the work van in the shop, Tuesday we were supposed to get a candy delivery early so we could pick up the van for Jim to work, but the candy order came 2 hrs later than they told us - ugh! So Jim had a very late start at work that day and ended late so there was no church night for him. Wednesday Gwen got her VTing done for the month (yippee) and then headed to the cannery that afternoon. The set-up now makes it go fairly quickly, it takes longer to stand in line and pay than to do the canning! Thursday Jim took the day off because the van in fact didn't get fixed and it was in the shop again (when do we give up on this van?!) So Jim took his dad to get new hearing aids. They are called "Zounds" and were invented by an LDS man who has a hearing impaired daughter. Seems like they are working out and we don't have to do as much yelling at grandpa! :-) That night Jim went to do security at HFPE and Gwen watched the kids at home - nice switch huh? The truth is, we've had to pay more babysitters for nights when we both have church stuff going on and Gwen didn't want to have to do that for Enrichment night too. Friday we had an Elder's Quorum party at the park. It was fun for the kids and there happened to be an 18-wheeler delivering a car to someone across from the park so John and Gwen watched it get unloaded, it was kind of fun to see the process. Saturday was misc and then we had the Thornley's over (Cara brought a yummy dinner) and the kids stayed while Cake and Steve went to their Pinewood derby. Sunday was HT, Pres Meeting and Petersen Dinner (Happy Birthday Lois!). The cousins had a great time and the funniest was when Sam, Luke, and Reagan were on the hammock and John went right over and flipped them all off - luckily no one got hurt! Have a good week everyone. Love, Jim Gwen Reagan and John

3-22-09

Hello! Happy Birthday to Uncle Mike! This past week was a little different for us. Reagan was on Spring Break so we didn't really have a routine. Monday was the usual errands. Tuesday Gwen had a dental appt (and got pinched by the dental asst for not wearing green - Gwen was not amused) and then she went to the gym while Cara was kind enough to babysit. That night Jim had church stuff. Wednesday all of us went to Yuma to visit Rog, Hilary and Bonnie before they moved to UT. We played Wii, talked on the webcam to nana and Jake, went to dinner and had ice cream at the Boysuns. It was fun and Bonnie sure is a cutie! We were going to stay the night, but decided to drive home that night since Rog and Hilary had it all under control. It was a late night but it was nice to be in our beds. Thursday Jim did work stuff, Gwen tried to clean house and then we all went to a youth museum here. The kids had fun and it got us out of the heat - what's up with this 90F weather!!???? Friday morning the kids got to play with the newest babysitter while Gwen and Cara went to the shooting range. It was ladies day so we didn't have to pay and there were alot of women there - but we were the only ones without tattoos!!! Saturday night was our big "Les Mis" night in Phoenix. We went with Cara and Steve to dinner and then to the musical. Because it is off Broadway now, it was a local theater group that did the production. It was good and it was kind of cool to be so close to the stage in a smaller theater. Sunday was busy for Jim with HT and meetings, and Gwen survived her first sharing time. Hope everyone is well and have a great week! love the petersen gang p.s. we had a windy day today and it blew ALOT of lemons off the tree. They are always randomly dropping now so you have to be careful not to walk under it or you might get bonked in the head with a lemon!

3-16-09

Hi all! This past week was full of Gwen preparing for the new calling (lots of emails from the pres!) and Jim working long days. We went to the park a few times and even went to the zoo on Friday with cousin Hailey. The kids had fun playing in the water fountain area - even though we didn't see too many animals that day :-) Saturday we had dinner with the Thornley's and the kids played, Jim and Gwen even snuck away to a wedding reception and then it was bedtime. Sunday was a very busy meeting day. The major accomplishment for the week was that the taxes were completed!! This is a big deal because our old accountant always filed an extension for the business returns and this year our personal and business taxes were done by the business due date!!! yippeee - less stress for Gwen! Have a good week. Love, the Petersens

3-8-09

Hi all! This past week seemed busier than normal. Monday Jim had a dr's appt for what we think is bursitis - it actually worked out that he went to the work place of one of the inactive elders in the ward so he got to know him a little better. Gwen had yet another dental appt. Monday night John had a really high fever - it was scary (almost an ER trip). He had had a fever on and off for the past couple of days but we got a dr appt and it turns out one of his tubes is out and that ear is really infected. Glad the fevers are done for now...So Tues was the dr appt for John and Gwen had Webelos and Jim's church night. Earlier in the day we tried to go bowling as a family since Jim had the day off and when we got to the bowling alley, every single lane was filled with white-haireds - most from WA, and that's life in AZ in the winter! Wednesday wasn't as crazy and Thursday we ended up getting a babysitter so that we could fulfill our church callings (somehow that just doesn't seem right). Gwen had Roundtable and Jim had a last minute meeting with the Stake. Friday Jim worked a long day in Tucson and Gwen took the kids to the park and the zoo. It sure wore them out! Friday morning Jim took the kids to a tree competition that our friend Dan does every year in Phx (he placed 2nd) and the kids did a bounce, rock climbing wall (Reagan climbed it twice and it was HIGH!), and got their faces painted. That afternoon Cara came to get the rest of her stuff from the garage clean-out and we went to visit grandma and grandpa petersen. That night Cara fed us while Jim put up a ceiling fan in Stockton's room. And then there was Sunday...Gwen got called as the Primary 2nd Counselor (so I didn't get out of scouts completely!). This will be interesting...after church was the setting apart, Gwen's scout committee mtg and then Jim off to another Stake meeting. Hopefully this week is a little more calm. Hope everyone has a great week! Love, the petersen gang

3-1-09

March??? Boy do I need to get those Christmas Thank You's done! (sorry everyone!) This week was uneventful and very eventful at the same time. Monday was errand day of course and Gwen was cramming to get the tax information ready for the new accountant - have I mentioned our old accountant retired without even telling us?! Tuesday I think we went to the park and then dropped tax stuff off to the accountant and then to the church for Webelos. Our activity was to set up for the Blue and Gold Banquet that night. This is where the eventful part of our week is...Gwen was cutting out butcher paper to cover the tables and suddenly John started crying. Gwen looked up and John had scissors in his hand, crying and then Gwen realized he had cut himself. Where? you might ask....well, he had a little piece of his eyelid gone! Yes, Gwen had a little freakout. It wasn't cut all the way through to the eye, but I didn't know what to do. It happened that there was a guy at the church dropping stuff off for the banquet that has an EMT son. We called him and he and his partner came to the church in their ambulance (good thing I didn't have a bill for this!) and looked at John. They recommended just keeping an eye on it (no pun intended). So we continued getting ready, came home, had kid meltdowns, Jim cancelled his church night (he knew I would never survive alone with the ornery kids, the scout stuff and being on-call all at the same time - thank goodness he came. Also, that was his dinner for the night so he didn't have a choice :-) So it was a later night than usual with the kids. Wednesday was visiting teaching and Thursday John was sick (but the eye was improving) and Jim helped someone move stuff. Friday we stayed close to home but had a friend come play. Saturday we decided was garage cleaning day. What a job! But it looks much better now and you will never believe this...we found more of Cara's stuff! Yeah, Steve probably won't be so pleased, but at least it was food storage! Jim also helped someone move some stuff. Sunday we took turns at church (John had another fever - will the sickness ever end???), Jim taught a good EQ lesson and now it's bedtime. Hope everyone is well, please blow some cooler air our way - it's getting hot! Love the Petersens