Happy New Year everyone.

Michelle, thanks for e-mailing me about URLs so I've been able to add our grandkids blogs, some extended family, and friends. It's been fun seeing the blogs I didn't know about of Phyllis & Dale's grandkids...loved reading your blogs on this lonesome day alone in our apartment in far-away Argentina while Walt is gone on an emergency flight to take a young missionary home who had just become schizophrenic (?sp) 8 months into his mission. We pray he can be helped and go on to live a normal life.
As I look back at this year, I am thankful for the health and safety of our immediate family, extended family, and friends. I think Beth said..."enjoy every moment on life's gorgeous road."
Love, Mom / Grama Mission / Aunt Eileen / Eileen - Buenos Aires, Argentina

But I only left the kitchen to blog for a minute...

...then 2 hours later I wondered what that burning smell was!
Guess I'll have to go buy more potatoes for the potato salad for the New Year's Day Party at our Area President's condo. Hope I can soak, then scrub that wonderful pan clean.
Where's my portable West Bend timer when I need it?

Caution: Blogging can cause burned potatoes

HAPPY DAY...WE HAVE OUR MUSIC...

Eureka...one of my goals for 2008--to figure out how to put music on our blog.
Not just any music...but our music from the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's.
The sun is shining...oh, happy day.

Counting online to 2009...Happy New Year

Highlights from Google countdown to 2009 site:
A leap second will be added to atomic clocks on New Year's Eve
Additional second is needed because the Earth "wobbles"
World's official timekeepers will add the second to atomic clocks
Note added by Eileen Marie Albertson Petersen: Rats, it would be the one New Year's Eve in our 47 1/2 years of marriage that we are separated. Walt will be on a plane over one of the continents of the earth.

Happy Birthday, Josh "11" on Dec. 30

Wow, Josh...sounds like you've had a great birthday today! You'll have to have your Mom & Dad take a photo of you with your new iPod to put on your fun blog. It's so fun to read about the adventures you have each day, and also about your brothers and sister. Not everyone gets to have such an exciting Christmas week topped off by their birthday! We love you and miss you.
Love, Grama 'n Grampa Mission ...he sends you greetings from his 58-hour mission to-in-and-back from Washington D.C.

Mon, Dec 29 at Buenos Aires West Mission ZC

Grampa Mission is on a mission to Wash. D.C.

Grampa Mission was informed this afternoon (Sun., Dec. 28) that he will be taking an Elder home from the Resistencia Mission to Washington D.C. The flight goes out at midnight Mon, Dec. 29, arrives in D.C. at Noon on Tue, Dec. 29. Then he flies back leaving at noon on Wed, Dec. 31, arriving in Buenos Aires, Thu, Jan. 1 at 10:00 a.m. Porbresito. He will be exhausted on New Year's Day....but we can still make the 2:00pm party at the area president's home.

I need help figuring out how to make our new photo sized down to fit our heading. And I can't delete my Christmas border for a New Year's one. And I lost my "Families are Forever" blinkie.

We will still go to zone conference tomorrow from 7:30am, back to apt about 6:30pm before he has to leave for the airport at 8pm or so. What a life....never a dull moment. I was just thinking that I should be putting more photos of us helping missionaries instead of our P-day activities.

We love you...miss you...thank you...dream of you.

Friday, Dec. 26 we went to the temple....Grampa was kept inside to talk with a Sr. Temple worker who is having problems with his back. So I walked around the outside of the temple with the Walls and I took a photo of the fountain which has the name of temple above it.
Then we drove the 40 minutes back into the city from the temple and all rendezvoused at the Restaurant called Kansas....the only one in Buenos Aires that stays open all afternoon and early evening. Lucky for us it's only about 5 minutes from our apartment.
Today, Saturday, we had a P-day activity with the 6 couples. (One couple went to a funeral yesterday so were not with us.)

Sat., Dec. 27 Hope you're having nice holiday daze

P-day acitivity with six senior couples makes for a fun Saturday...

LaBoca is an old Italian part of the city...which took us 45 minutes on the city bus from the area office. We shoppped at little booths and in their little shoppes for souvenirs of Argentina. I got some postcards is about all. We wanted to buy some carved wooden gauchos, but Sally said they were double the price where she had bought some at another place...so we're waiting till later.
We had a 45-min bus ride there from Santa Fe Avenue near the area office, shopping about an hour, an Argentine steak for lunch took an hour, then back the 45-min. It's fun to be with these new friends. It sprinkled a little this morning so we all took our umbrellas, but by afternoon it was muggy hot...89 degrees. The AC felt so cool in the car driving back to apartment from the office after the hot bus ride, where you guessed it....we had a nap. Well, Grampa had a nap while I'm doing the blog....now I'm going to have a short siesta.
Hey.....it's the custom of the culture here. I know....Janie and Brian, you'll say it's a custom your mission president didn't let you join in on....but hey, when you return at age 70 with your sweethearts you'll get to siesta and fiesta with the senior couples your age then. Something to look forward to.....

P-day adventure at LaBoca with the 12 seniors...

Grampa got perfect photo of Tango dancers...

Friday, Dec. 26 - The new couple is with us...

Arrived Dec. 13 from Salem, Utah - Elder Frank Wall and wife Diane, Area Humanitarian Directors. Unlike the young missionaries, Sr. couples are allowed to have a rest time in the afternoon to rejuvenate us.

The rest of us...

Here's who our new friends are...

From bottom counter clockwise...From Georgia: Sally Chalmers in green dress, her husband Alan (Area PEF); From Kentucky: Deana Leckie, husband Richard (Area Auditor); From Florida--orig Puerto Rico: Justo Casablanca (Area Pres'y Exec Sec'y), wife Lucy.

Dinner together is part of going to the temple...

We love the new way they did our temple session.

The first hour and a half we did sealings for Lucy's family names. Four of us were in one sealing room and the other six in another sealing room. The temple president came and got Dr. Petersen out of our room because one of the Sr. Elders had passed out in the other sealing room. The diagnosis was just that he'd been on his knees too long. When we knew Elder Chalmers was okay, we all did an endowment session together. The temple worker in charge had us sit together as husbands and wives. Very interesting.

Friday, Dec 26 we went to the temple

Nite, Nite, Sleep Tite, Don't let the bedbugs bite

Merry Christmas and goodnight...

Our Christmas day is about over, so we say goodnight and thank you for a wonderful Christmas day...
Remember that we will be together forever...
Someone told us yesterday that "Sr. missionary couples leave their families for a while so that other families can be taught how they can be a family forever together, too."
We love you and miss you for a season, with the promise that "Families are Forever."
Love, Grampa and Grama Mission

Julie, thank you for sharing photos on your blog...

Still December 25th...
Julie and John, we love seeing you and Jacee, Jackson, and Maddie, on your blog of Christmas Eve and just now (6:30pm here...1:30pm in Idaho) of Christmas morning.
How fun is that. What technology.

And we'll love seeing all of the other family Christmas photos on your blogs. I just check on Josh's "Beauty and the Jogus" to see who has current updates.

Emma, we saw your update, too. Loved it.

Love, Grampa 'n Grama Mission - Argentina

CHRISTMAS DAY - 2008 - ARGENTINA

We are 'home for Christmas' when we watch our Christmas gift from all of you. Thank you again. The date on our camera was 12 hours off, so this morning photos show Dec. 24.
Love, Mom and Dad - Grampa and Grampa Mission

Merry Christmas We thank you...

December 25, 2008
We wish YOU a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...

Thank you for the wonderful video of caroling to us on Christmas Eve...we cried through the whole presentation. It was like "our life flashed before us" and we weren't even dying. We love seeing all your photos. Thank you all, and a special thank you to Jen for all the time putting everything together, then staying up all night Dec. 23 to load it in 3 parts to You Tube so we could have it for the day before Christmas.

It helped bring you all close to us even tho we are 7000 miles away.
Love always, Grampa and Grama Mission - Buenos Aires, Argentina
xxxoooxxxxooooxxxxxoooooxxxxxxooooooxxxxxxxooooooo

Grampa Mission feeds pigeons on Christmas

Elder y Hna Petersen's Argentine Christmas 2008

Grampa Mission took photo of Sr. Couples

Conputer case on wheels....yipee

Santa found us in Argentina...

MERRY CHRISTMAS...WE MISS YOU.

After 8 hours
at zone
conference,
a 45-min
health
presentation,
talking with
28 missionaries
with health
concerns,
including 4
ingrown toenails,
Dr. Petersen came
to our apt and crashed
for an hour. He's feeling something like the flu coming on. So I'll
have to nurse him to help him get better.

Elder Petersen helps young Elder from Peru...

What is Dr.

Petersen

doing the

day before

the day

before

Christmas?

Helping

young

missionaries

in Argentina.

We love you.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE WE LOVE YOU

Hmmm,

bread

baking

in my

new

toaster

oven.

We're off

to all-day

zone conf

of all-mission

Arg B.A. North

Dinner with young Elders Dec 22

Sunday dinner with Sr. missionaries Dec 21

Have a nice Sabbath of Christmas week everyone.

Love everyone's blog updates...thanks for keeping us in the loop.
I can't seem to do the type test right, however. Tonight it said
I had "o" words correct. The program is flawed.

I warn you: It's a shock to turn 70.

Walt saw to it that I had "donuts" and
chocolate milk for my birthday breakfast
in Esquel, Argentina - Patagonia part of
Sourthern Argentina... thanks for all your
birthday e-mails. Love, an oooold Grama Mission

Elder Kolby Carpenter, Kirk and Debbie's son

View from atop a mountain via ski lift

Pdte y Hna Cook, Elder y Hna Petersen

Dr. Petersen, Area Medical Advisor helping Hnas.

Great time on missino visit to Neuquen...

We have one more day on our 10-day mission visit to Neuquén. The mission president is letting us use the computers in his office to catch up on e'mails so I thought I´d hurry and send a message on the blog. It´s great being with the missionaries. Walt saw 17 today at the zone conf who had health concerns and he took out one ingrown toenail.

With the 86 degrees, they lavender hydrangeas in full bloom, the fresh aprictos, peaches, figs, and lemons from their backyard trees here, we can hardly fathom that Chrsitmas is a week from today.

I think I see the Sr. missionary couple just returning from inspecting the missionary apartments and I´m using her computer....so I guess it´s goodbye for now...even tho I do have the permission of the mission president to be using it.
Love, Mom & Dad/Grama ´n Grampa Mission/Uncle Walt & Aunt Eileen/Walt & Eileen

Having fun...wish you were here...

We're having a marvelous time with Pres. & Hna. Cook. Great mission president and wife.
The "older posts" show a couple more of our Mission Visit to Neoquen. I'm sad that the photos of the penguin babies down in their nests didn't show up.

We'll be at the Trelew Stake Conference Sat night and Sun morning, then have a 5-6 hour drive to Esquel, where we stay overnight, then after Pres. Cook interviews 2 of his missionaries Monday morning in that town, we drive on 3 hours to Bariloche where we will spend most of the day Monday, December 15. Zone conference is there Tues, Dec. 16, Wed., Dec. 17 we drive to Neoquen. It took them 11 hours to drive from there to Comodore where we flew in and met them. I don't know how far back up north we will be for how long the drive back will take.

Bariloche is the famous Argentine Ski Resort....plus the Cooks tell us they have exquisite chocolate. Their missionaries are top notch and Christlike. It's wonderful to be with them all. They have a total of 157 missionaries.
Hugs all around to our loved ones at home. Our prayers are with you.
Love, Mom and Dad/ Grampa 'n Grama Mission / Uncle Walt and Aunt Eileen / Walt and Eileen

I can't find a good photo that shows their babies...

Each momma

lays two eggs.

So each

penguin

couple

has

two babies

in the

nests

like

this.

But the

grey babies

didn't show up in our photos. Que lastima.

Daddy and Mommy Penguin, mate for life-30 yrs.

Elder y Hna. Petersen with the penguins...

We couldn't get

this close but

this is how they

look from the

trails...

They swim

many kilometers

in ocean to get

fish for their

babies...

Penguin nipped at Walt's pant leg...

The penguin

got a nip of

his leg once.

We were

not allowed

to touch

the

penguins.

Patagonia Atlantic Point - Dec 13, 2008

We loved
seeing the
penguins
today
...Sept
to Dec
200,000;
Jan-Mar
Millions.

Supper with President and Sister Cook...

Even though the hoagie sandwich was like breakfast, lunch and supper rolled into one with fried egg, ham, cheese, and a double layer of melanasia, we still went out to supper tonight....but the Argentine suppers don't begin till 9pm....except lucky us found a restaurant open at 8pm. Yea.

Hoagies bigger than the missionaries eyes...

It's always fun to see missionaries eat.

Area Medical Advisor...South America South

Dr. Petersen is very south...here is one way he helps the missionaries....takes out their ingrown toenails. It's always fun to have missionaries watching the process.

Patagonia...a word I just learned and now I'm here.

Steve, Happy 42nd Birthday today, Dec. 12, 2008.

We're having a P-day and going to see the Penguins tomorrow (Sat, Dec. 13)...which sounds like an exciting thing to do during my last two days of being 69. But most of all we're here to help missionaries. Dr. Petersen helped 19 yesterday and 13 today....with 4 zone conferences to go.
Sat & Sun we will be at the Stake Conference here with the visitor being our area president, Elder Shayne Bowen.

Perhaps we'll have some photos of penguins tomorrow.
Love, Los Petersens - Grama 'n Grampa Mission - Down Under in the Patagonia (Google it)

Merry Christmas from the Patagonia...

We're on a mission visit in the Argentina Neuquen Mission....which southern most tip is near the Antarctic, so here we're south of Australia!

Christmastime is universal.

The Christmas music and Christmas tree bring the Christmas Spirit!

Merry Christmas Everyone.

I think I got some on video....not sure, though.

How will it turn out?

1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby's diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity (chocolate dipped strawberries for girl's camp)
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said "I love you" and meant it (love you hubby!)

11. Bungee jumped - never plan to in this life or the next Eileen

12. Visited Paris - Yes, April in Paris with Grama A & Aunt Eleanor
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty no but been to the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope - I think we did on Gary's small one
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment - several
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort - at Grama 'n Grampa Huffaker's farm
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping - way out with girlfriend on her remote farm canal - but someone came
27. Taken an ice cold bath
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster - not because I wanted to
31. Hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (everyday!)
33. Adopted an accent for fun
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors - if Albion and Jackson, Idaho count
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach - 10pm on Cancun beach must have been midnight somewhere
41. Gone sky diving - I hope none of my kids/grandkids can ever mark this one
42. Visited Ireland
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke
50. Lounged around in bed all day
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Done something you should regret, but don't
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie
60. Gone without food for 3 days
61. Made cookies from scratch
62. Won first prize in a costume contest
All I have time for now...........more later, hopefully -- Fun one, thanks Julie.