Grandpa Petersen

Yesterday morning Justin received a call that his Grandpa Derrall Petersen had passed away. He had been battling several types of cancer and we're glad that he is no longer in pain. It's never easy, though, to lose someone you love so much. Justin was always close to him. Ever since I met Grandpa over 5 years ago, he has treated me like his own grand daughter. I don't have any more of my Grandpas alive, so I've been really close to him as well. We'll both really miss him. He loved working on the farm, relaxing (and working) up the canyon, and spending time with the little ones in the family. He and Justin loved reading Scientific American and discussing the articles together. Nolan was always so happy to see him too. It's easy to see what kind of person he was from just this one picture. We love you, Grandpa, and you are in our prayers, Grandma.

Not a singer

I've never thought of myself as much of a singer. Now I know that Nolan agrees. This morning we were all eating breakfast and Justin started singing a silly made-up song (he actually comes up with great lyrics). Nolan immediately started dancing and "leading the music." Well, when Daddy finished, Nolan looked at me and waited for me to take a turn. I started singing the ABCs. I only made it through the first line when Nolan gave the sign for "all done." No leading the music, no dancing, nothing. Clearly I'm not a singer.

Book Club and Birthday

Last Thursday I hosted our ward's book club. We read Nobody Don't Love Nobody by Stacey Bess, who was my student teaching supervisor two years ago. Stacey was nice enough to come all the way out to our neighborhood and talk with us for an hour. I think everyone really felt inspired by her book and the things she had to say that night. I'm glad we could have such a great turnout.

Justin recently celebrated his 30th birthday! He's not too thrilled that he's getting so "old." But he did love all the cards and phone calls from family. We gave him a new belt and a locator system so he won't lose his wallet, keys, etc. His mom gave him SimCity for the Wii. He's been having fun with that. After we ate dinner, I took Justin to Cold Stone for his free ice cream. As we were walking in, Amber and John were walking toward the door too. Then in line were Jen and Kyle. After a minute or two, two other couples (both Anderson families) we know walked in. Finally I told him that I'd invited all our friends to join us for ice cream. He was pretty surprised. Rob and Lacey came too! Thanks to all of you who came to celebrate with us. I know it was short notice but I think it made his birthday a little more exciting.

Nolan had a wonderful Sacrament meeting yesterday. He crawled under the bench to the family behind us and they were nice enough to give him free reign with their washable (thank goodness!) markers. He colored his arms, hands, neck, mouth, and even his clothes! He's our little tattoo artist! Sis. Broadhead kept apologizing but Justin and I couldn't help but laugh. I'm not really the type of mom that gets worried about these things. In fact, it was the most pleasant sacrament meeting we've had in a long time! Except that I had to sing with the Young Women. I guess you can't win them all! Anyway, Nolan had a great tub after the meeting... the water even turned blue! I think next week we'll bring some of our own markers (or maybe just crayons).

Halloween in Logan

We had a fun Halloween weekend visiting family in Logan. I was a mad scientist (that's Justin's lab coat), Justin was his Dad as a sorority brother, and Nolan was Eeyore. We visited the Petersens, had a fun pizza dinner with the Moultons, and then went to a Halloween party at the Campbell's pool house/garage. We let Nolan eat all the candy he wanted (it's just one day, right?) and he's never been happier! We only trick-or-treated to 3 houses, which was too bad because he loved it! He wouldn't let go of the treats and so the third house posed a problem. He had run out of free hands! I think he thought we'd take his treats away unless he held on tight. The party was a blast! It was the happiest time of Nolan's life! He danced nearly all night. In one of the pictures, you can see him gettin' down in the middle of the crowd. At one point, a couple of mimes showed up and Nolan was so fascinated with them. He wouldn't let them put him down! We went to the fishing pond and had our fortunes told too. It was a great night!