Gees mom, that's a lot of candles!

Happy 29th Birthday to Amber! And we could not fit 29 candles on the Strawberry Cheesecake pie so she got a break in having to blow 29 candkes out. But she did blow all 13 out with one huff!

Memorial Day Weekend with the family

We had Amber and her three kids plus Camille and Jonathan and their two kids here for Memorial Day weekend. The kids had a ball playing out back on our new lawn and having waterfights with their grandpa Pete. It was Ambers birthday today, Monday the 25th and she wanted strawberry cheesecake for her dessert. We managed to fill it with candles and sing to her. She had Brycen on top of the bar in his bumbo seat and he was talking to her about how hungry he thought he was. I just had to share the video with you here.

Amber will post pics of the other kids on her blog. I was in bed sleeping the whole morning after working a graveyard shift last night so I was not in on the outside fun with grandpa. The grandkids told me that they had more fun with grandpa than they could ever have with me and that is the truth. Pete is just another kid when it comes to water fights.

Awesome day for Bev and Ase Berit!

On Tuesday May 19th, Pete took Ase Berit (our exchange student) and I to Hurricane, Utah to Skydive! This has been a dream of mine for years and I thought that I would never see the day when I would actually go, but our exchange student, Ase Berit, wanted to skydive too and she is going back home to Norway in just three weeks so we told her that we would take her so Pete insisted that I went as well. He of course would not even consider the idea of jumping out of a plane. (Big chicken!) The web page http://www.skydivezion.com/ gives you an idea of what it is like, which is absolutely AWESOME! I was hoping to post my video which I paid to have made while I was falling but it won't download. (probably protected) Anyway, go to the site and watch their videos. Just put my face in there and you will see how excited I was to be free falling from the sky and then flying like a bird after the parachute deployed! He even let me pull the rip cord!

Needless to say, I thought that one time would be enough for me but now I am wanting to go again already. It costs a pretty penny though but was worth it. I am going to save up to go again next year with some of my kids. Yes.....I would let my kids do this too!

The man in the first picure is Dave the owner of skydive zion. He spends about a half hour teaching us what to do and then of course, he is tied to the back of us for the actual dive, called tandem diving. He made this dive lots of fun! If you decide to go skydiving, tell him Beverly Peterson sent you!

Dave recording the beginning of my experience

Gearing up and getting instructions for the dive

Ase coming in for a landing

We are seeing green!

After many hours of hard work, we now have green grass in our backyard. On Saturday May 16th Pete decided to buy sod to lay in the backyard. Our attempt at seeding failed and we wanted grass for the grandkids to play on this summer. We called our neighbors, Elisha and Ben Baker who came to help along with the missionaries and Chad Adamson. We had the yard looking really good in just a few hours. We now have the front yard to work on!

Our missionary son

The first picture is of one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. They were found in a Florida swamp!

Next picture is of Elder Peterson with his last companion Elder Sorenson. Doug is now in a new area called Port Orange, Florida and has a new companion whose name I cannot remember. He says that he can see the beach from his apt. His year mark is June 25th and we hope that he can continue to work hard for another year in the heat and humidity!

Now for the yardwork!

We have enjoyed 8 months inside our new home but with the warmer weather, the time has come to work on the outside of the home. With the help of Daniel Stottler and his brother Josh, we now have an extended patio walkway and sidewalk down to the grandkids playhouse. The brick used is from the old LCHS gym that was torn down several years ago and we have been saving them for use in our yard. We did not know where we would use them ,but Pete began laying them a few months ago and Daniel and his brother finished the project about one month ago.

With several more days of work, we prepared a small section for planting grass and today we actually spread the seed! In about 3-4 weeks we should have some green grass growing in this area. We also added a few trees to this section and look forward to some shade in a few years!

On March 6th Beverly flew to Omaha, Nebraska to spend a week with Jenny, Andrew and the two boys, Tanner and Benson Bleak. The weather was fairly cold most days but that did not stop us from going to the Zoo two different days and having a great time seeing all the cool animals. We also took two days and drove to some of the church History sites within a few hours drive from Omaha. We saw Adam-ondi-Ahman, Independance, MO, Liberty Jail, and Far West. There is a special spirit in those places and you gain a new respect for the early saints who fought so hard to help establish the church upon the earth. While out there, I did find time to read a book that Jenny had borrowed called, "The Refiners Fire". It made me want to be a better member and made me realize that I am not doing all that I could to build up the kingdom here upon the earth. I live way below my potential; that is for sure.

I also spent a few days just playing with the boys and watching them laugh at each other. They both have such a sweet spirit and play together well.

Our Missionary in Orlando, FL

So, our son Doug has been out in the mission field for 9 months now and I have not posted a thing about him since he left for Orlando. Thanks to Camille, she updated a few things for me a few months ago. Doug is working hard and having lots of success with baptisms and families he is teaching. He is going to be turning 20 years old this Saturday, April 4th! I am sure that he will have a good time with a member family out there who has planned a birthday dinner for him.

We miss him but would not want him to anywhere else at this time in his life.

Here are a few pictures that he sent me in January. P-day golfing, assisting a member dentist on a day off perform dental work on his companion, and shaking hands with his mission President.

My father has moved on to a better place

The day that we all knew would come, arrived on November 10th, 2008. My father passed away while he was living here in my home. He would ask occasionally why he could not die. He was mostly bed ridden for the past several months and felt as though he was a big burden and of no use to anyone. All of my family members told him that he still had work to do on the earth and that the Lord would not take him until that was written. We knew that he had been working on his life history for a few months and that possibly he was being spared because it was not finished. He then pursued the task of speaking into a recorder or having someone type as he dictated his history. Last week he began to show signs of pneumonia and his appetite was very poor. I asked him if he wanted to see if the Dr. would give him an antibiotic and he said,"No".
I knew that he would not last long with the chest congestion he was having. With each passing day, his color looked a little more pale and he ate less and less. By Monday morning, I could tell that his time was short on this earth.
I called Barbara, Deanna and Doug to tell them that they may want to come over to see dad. My mother was already here with dad. Barb and Deanna got here about 1pm and spent the day talking and typing more of his history as he dictated it to them. He seemed to have rallied a bit and I apoligized to them for having them drop everything and come. But, they were glad to have come and enjoyed helping dad with his history. Deanna was hungry and dad told her to go eat supper. She had Barb come in to sit with dad. As Barb sat with him around 5:55 she asked him if he had anything else to say and he said, "I'm............done." And he closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. Barb came running out of the room saying that he was going. We could not believe it because he was just talking to Deanna 5 minutes before. As we entered the room it was obvious that he was indeed going. We all said goodbye and Pete and a neighbor gave him a blessing to release him. He passed peacefully and quietly. We could not have been blessed more with that release. Mom is doing fine and we will plan on a funeral Saturday at 1pm in Panguitch.

More rooms in the house

One of our guest rooms, the exercise room and the grandkids attic room.

Our New Home

I am finally getting around to posting pictures of our new home.

Here are a few views of the kitchen and dining room.

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Doug Update

Well Doug has been in the mission field for almost 4 whole months now. He is doing really well and seems super happy. We are very proud of him and the changes he is showing already!

Here is a couple excerpts from his letters:

"We have been so busy, we found 8 new investigators this week. Prior to that the most we found in a week was 4. Two of them Jesu's and Sarah are seventh day adventisit, probably the hardest people to teach because of the seventh day. But they seemed open minded and are way cool so hopfully they can get over the seventh day. These are the first seventh day people that committed to read and pray. "................................."Ellsworth (the church ranch) feels like home it is awesome. We drive around in big ranch trucks looking for gators, coyotes, and wild bore. This kid Lance takes out a rifle and we cruise the ranch it is so awesome. They also feed us fatty steaks not spequetti like every meal we get here in Palm Bay. Everyone is so friendly, they told me to come back after my mission to ride air boats and hunt. I am down." (9-15-08)

"Edeline Charisma asked me to be the one that baptizes her family. So that should be awesome, I have never baptized anyone let alone a family." (9-22-08)

"Well our baptisms went great. I was so nervous because I had never done it before but I did all three the very first time no mistakes".................. "I just wrote a letter like yesturday...the weeks are like two days back home."
"I love you all and don't forget to pray." (9-29-08)
-Elder Peterson


"........on the way home from the Ranch a 250 lg. hog with tusks crossed the road. I loaded the gun and my ward mission leader dropped it right where it was didn't even give it a extra step, needless to say it was awwwwesome. On the down side I had a 150 lb. rot wieler dominate me in the dark. It took me to the grownd and i just punched it while some guy was yelling. I should of called the cops but I had to find the nearest bathroom to check my pants. It was scary."
(10-14-08)

Doug & some mission companions having fun at the beach

(Doug is 2nd from the left)

Doug enters the Mission Field

In the middle of our busy life, we stopped long enough to send Doug off to the MTC on June 25.
He is now serving in the Florida Orlando Mission and is loving it so far. The humidity is killing him but he trudges on each and every day, sweating it out like a real trooper. He rides his bike about 20 miles a day and is getting into the best shape he has ever been in.
His first baptism was on Sunday August 17th and he could not be a happier missionary!
Although his mission is an English speaking mission, he has found that almost everyone he meets speaks something other than English! He has learned to introduce himself in French, Creole, Spanish, Cuban , and Portuguese. His first teaching lesson on the day he arrived in the field was to a Hatian man who only spoke Creole! Now that would be a challenge. But, God willing, he was able to communicate and this man is the one he just baptized on the 17th of August! With God, anything can happen and miracles happen each day.
He is happy and working hard. We miss him but cannot think of anywhere else we would rather have him at this time in his life. I'll post some pictures that he has sent us in the next day or two.

We have moved in!

I know that it has been several months since I posted anything on this site and for that I can only say......we've been too busy finishing up the house and moving in to sit down to the computer to post!
On our 29th Wedding Anniversary which was July 12th, we spent our first night in the house. Camille came up from Vegas and worked like a pack mule for three days. She would haul load after load from the garage to the new house. Up and down stairs for hours on end. Before that, she spent a day just cleaning all of the dust from the new home so we could move in. We are truly grateful for her help.
It is exhausting to say the least, to move anywhere let alone build and then move.
We are beginning to feel at home here finally and although every room has little things that need patching or touching up, we can relax a bit for now. Each day we try to do just one or two things on our "still to do" list.
I'll try to post pictures of the finished rooms very soon.

The Cabinets are HERE!

Siding almost complete!

Our big yellow house is just about finished with it's siding. It's just what we wanted.

Now, the yard work is another thing that will take some time and of course, money!

The Man on Stilts / April 3rd

After the sheetrock hanging crew was finished, the man on stilts showed up to begin mudding and taping the seams and nail heads. He was very skilled on these stilts.