August 2009

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!

July 2009

5 July 2009

Hi Hurdsmans! What a fun week we had - Congratulations to Jake and Kenzie!!!! Hope they are enjoying LV and Disneyland! Monday we and the Lunts and nana dropped the boys off with Hilary and headed to the Oquirrh Temple Open House. It was really beautiful and had amazing chandeliers and a lot of pretty stone. Reagan loved the baptistry (she can't wait to be 8!). Afterwards we had lunch and Gwen was able to meet up with her first AZ roommate which was a lot of fun. That afternoon Jake and Kenzie took us to ride Kenzie's horse Oreo. The kids loved it! And that night we had s’mores with Jim and Ann around Marj's fire pit. Tuesday Jim spent the day driving to UT and in the meantime Jake took us out on the boat. We all got to ride the new tube which was a lot of fun and then we played in Mike Reeder's backyard. Jim arrived and the kids (and me) were thrilled! Wednesday afternoon the CA Hurdsmans arrived and the kids had a great time playing with cousins and Gwen got a chance to visit with a high school friend, Kathy Coburn. Thursday was the wedding at the cool tabernacle, with pictures afterwards. Then home for a rest and off to the Maddox luncheon - sure wish we could have remembered more embarrassing stories about Jake to share :-) And that night was the reception and we were able to see some people we hadn't seen for awhile. Jim hung out in the nursery most of the time, but we all enjoyed a yummy snow cone. After that we did fireworks which was fun (especially for us from CA/AZ where they are illegal). Friday Jim worked on projects around nana's house and we got Mike's broken car to SLC and that night we did fireworks again before bedtime. We also took the kids to the train museum and got on the caboose. Saturday we went to the cemetery, and went to rog and hilary's for a quick visit, then it was off to AZ, which we drove in one day. We got home pretty late but were lucky enough to time it right to see the fireworks in Flagstaff, although John was more intrigued with the trains that kept passing. Sunday was church and taking dinner to grandma and grandpa since grandma had a hurt foot and couldn't walk. A couple of fun memories from this trip will be Reagan and Sierra using grandad's old "fashion" cameras to take pictures of everything, picking berries, john "storing" his white sox in nana's fireplace - for how long we don't know, he just opened it and pulled them out of there on Friday! And while we were on the boat, Reagan kept telling Ellie to look at the dragon fly, when Ellie asked where, Reagan said, on the "honkers" (horn) It was funny! It was great to see everyone! Love Jim gwen Reagan and John (John can now say Reagan instead of Da-Da)

12 July 2009

Hello everyone! Well, we have been enjoying some extreme heat...so it's been alot of inside time and pool time for us. Monday we had our movie day and saw "Kitt Kittridge" and even though it may have been too old for the kids, Gwen enjoyed it. That afternoon Jim took his mom to the doctor and found she had a torn ligament in her foot and is now in a boot. Tuesday we waited for a couple of candy orders and had Stockton over to play while Cara and Steve did an errand. That night Jim went to the temple with Elder's Quorum. Wednesday we had the neighbors over to play and that night the kids played with daddy while Gwen did a cub scout orientation. Thursday we had a kid switch, we took John to play at someone's house (cousin Hailey is being watched by someone in our ward so he went to play with her) and brought the sister to our house to play with Reagan. It was fun for them and that night we had our ward pool party at the jr. high nearby. It was really fun! Jim and Reagan did alot of the slides and diving boards. Reagan loved the high dive! I think she impressed some of the kids in the ward with her "no fear". Gwen and John stayed in the beach area on the Frog slide :-) Friday Jim and Gwen had a date and Saturday Jim spent doing electrical service for some neighbors, then he did the lawns in the heat (I don't know how he does it!). Gwen went to a convert baptism (spanish branch) and was called up to bear testimony in Spanish - it's been a long time! And that night Jim had UFC and Gwen watched a Hallmark movie which was really good "The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler" about a polish woman who saved 2500 jewish children during WWII. Sunday was meetings and visits with Cake and our neighbors. Also Cleibe is in the hospital and Jim and Reagan went to see him (and meet someone to help give a blessing to him) and currently they are running tests but he seems to be doing better (they thought it was an ulcer). We hope everyone is well, Happy Birthday Jenn! Have a great week!

19 July 2009

What a week! Gwen was on-call but because it was such a busy week, it seemed to go by quickly. Jim took off Tues/Wed and worked Thurs/Fri. Monday Gwen and the kids took some friends to the movie with them. It was cute, usually too long for the kids though. Monday Cleibe had an angiogram which indicated he needed a pacemaker. We were told it would be that day...Tuesday Gwen and Cara went to the shooting range for "girls shoot free" day and then we went and saw Cleibe in ICU. Something funny about grandpa, his ICU nurses kept asking if he wanted to watch TV or read and he said he was "too busy" to do any of those things! must have been contemplating the meaning of life :-) That night Jim had EQ softball and they had a really good time (after finally finding an open field). And again, Cleibe didn't get the pacemaker...until Wednesday morning. Things went fine and he was moved to a normal room so that afternoon Gwen and the kids went to visit grandpa (Jim had been there all morning with Lois). Thursday Gwen and kids went to the grocery store in preparation of the grandparents coming to stay on Drummer. Then we went to the hospital and it worked out that Cara was able to take the kids to story time at the library close by (Cara saves us yet again!!!) while Gwen got Lois and Cleibe discharged and to their new temporary home. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very cooperative! It was so hot this week!!! That night the kids were fitfull so because of grandma and grandpa in the house Gwen took them to the doctor and John had strep! so grandma went somewhere else and we kept grandpa quarantined (he was already taking antibiotics) so we stayed home. Saturday Jim went to a convert baptism and we brought grandma back to Drummer. Sunday Jim went to his meeting, Gwen went to church and meeting and then petersen dinner at our house to celebrate Rachel's upcoming birthday. Jim had frozen A TON of ice in buckets, 5 gallon barrells, etc and we threw it all in the pool for an ice pool party! It was fun, but they melted so quickly! We hope everyone is doing well, hopefully enjoying nicer weather than us! We are anxiously awaiting our first real monsoon. Have a great week!

26 July 2009

Greetings from hell :-) It's been super hot! Monday we went to the movie "Dog Hotel" and here we learned that dogs are more important than kids going to a stable foster home...but dogs are people too! Monday night we had a doosey of a thunder storm. The thunder shook the house and Gwen ended up sleeping with scared Reagan. Wednesday Jim took the day off (van in the shop too) and we took grandma and grandpa to the hospital followup visit. The following is our "oh my hell" moment of the week: The doctor came into the room, was reading through the records commenting, "oh yes, I remember you mr. petersen" and said this a couple of times. Then he proceeded to tell us about the condition of Cleibe's heart and said, "we have two courses of treatment: we can continue on with the medication or we can put a pacemaker in" ???????!!!!!!!! Gwen quite abruptly interrupted the doctor and informed him that Cleibe ALREADY had a pacemaker put in in the hospital! wow! actually, we had already discussed that we would not be using this cardiologist and that just sealed the deal. Jim did very well at keeping it all bottled inside and didn't explode at the doctor. We got through that and Jim worked the rest of the week and Gwen did some visiting teaching and we all took care of grandma and grandpa. The kids did really great helping out with them. Friday morning Gwen took the kids to the library for Bingo. It was a lot of fun and they each won a book. That afternoon we picked Cake up from the airport (she was visiting Emily in St. Louis) and took her home. Saturday was busy, Jim did the lawns, Gwen went to the gym and then we transported grandma and grandpa back home. They are happy to be home (and back with the dog again) and are doing well. But the kids were not very happy that they left - they loved having them at the house. Saturday night we had Ryan Manning's family over for dinner and pool. Cara and Steve came over too and it was fun to visit with everyone. Sunday was church and meetings and a nice relaxing night. Hope everyone is well.

14 June 2009

Hello all! Well, Jim and I can't remember Monday or Tuesday...except that the kids had their last week of swimming lessons. It's kind of a relief it's over. Reagan really liked hers but John was a little stinker and didn't want to be in the water, even though he loves the pool at home. Cara did a lot of painting at our house on Tues/Wed - it looks really good, what would we do without her!? Wednesday the EQ challenged the Priests to a softball game. It was the perfect weather, cloudy and breezy and the Elder's beat the Priests pretty good! :-) It was a fun night. As we were leaving the field, one of the Elders said to Jim "so I'll see you tomorrow night?" and Jim suddenly got a look of horror on his face, he had forgotten to tell me he signed me up to go to the temple with him the next night! So of course I'm trying to figure out babysitters..luckily Cara was able to watch the kids and it seemed to turn out OK (luckily for Jim!) Again, what would we do without Aunt Cake? Friday Jim took the day off and primed the kitchen cabinets for painting. That afternoon the kids and Jim helped out a family and Gwen went to Cub Scout Day Camp. Again, we were blessed with breezy/cooler weather. Our ward/spanish branch had the biggest group and the boys had a good time. Saturday we worked on cabinets again - Jim's such a good worker! And then he was rewarded by going to UFC and hanging out with the guys :-) Gwen took the kids to the park to get them out of the house. And church today, the normal busy-ness. Hope everyone has a good week, really looking forward to the Utah trip!

21 June 2009

Hi all! It has been a busy week! Monday Gwen and the kids met Cara and the Thornley kids for the Monday summer movie. It was a bit scarey for my kids, but they liked it (Spiderwick). Cara graciously watched the kids that afternoon while Gwen took Lois to her cardiologist followup. It was a long wait and kind of annoying, but hopefully they will find out why she is still not feeling up to par. That night Jim and some guys helped someone move and he didn't get home until late. Tuesday was Jim's 40th birthday! Reagan loved decorating for his birthday and wrapping presents - it's so fun to see her get so excited! We waited for a candy order and that night had a quick birthday celebration with the Thornley's and then Jim was off to do church visits for the night (and again didn't get home until late). Wednesday was another waiting-for-candy-order-day and in the mean time it was trying to get the kitchen cabinets primed and painted. Thursday we did a story time and activity which was fun for the kids and that night we had a ward visitor's center night and then rootbeer floats at the church - again, another late night for everyone. Friday night Gwen and Jim had dinner/games with another couple in the ward. Saturday was misc jobs for Gwen and Jim and putting the kitchen back together. Then we had cake for Stockton's birthday at Cara's house and afterwards, Jim had guys over for UFC at our house. Sunday was the usual church and Lois and Cleiburn came for Father's Day dinner. we hope everyone is well and we are excited for the wedding festivities!

28 June 2009

What a busy week, but it was OK because we knew a vacation was waiting for us! Monday Gwen and the kids had the Monday movie “Madagascar”. They enjoyed this one a lot, even though it still is kind of hard to sit still. We also did VTing and Jim did his usual errands. Tuesday I don’t really remember except Cara watched the kids for a bit and then I watched 3 sisters from the ward for quite awhile. Wednesday the kids had haircuts in preparation for the wedding and that night Jim had church PPIs. Thursday Cara was kind enough to watch kids again while Gwen did more errands. Friday was more visiting teaching that went wayyyyyyy too long but the kids had fun playing (I visit teach my Primary President so there is lots to talk about). That afternoon was spent finishing laundry, packing, etc. That night John had a hard time sleeping and we eventually made our way to urgent care just 6 hrs before our flight was to leave! It was some sort of throat infection (no strep) and was kind of a weird deal, but we came home and slept for 1 ½ hrs and then made the decision to keep our flight (john was doing much better by then). We made it to SLC and went to temple square with nana and Emily and ellie and danny. It was fun and then we stopped to see Rog, Hilary and Bonnie. The kids are having a great time! That night Rog and Hilary came back to BC and we all had smores around nana’s fire pit with Uncle Jim and Aunt Ann. But Gwen was so exhausted from so little sleep! Sunday was early church and lots of visiting. With John and Danny in nursery, we doubled their numbers and Reagan was the only girl in a class full of boys. We are looking forward to seeing everyone, drive safely!