"...to this end was I born."

John 18:37

Hi...Hope you are all having a nice Christmas season. Just seeing if I remember how to blog.

THANKSGIVING WEEK COMING UP...

We are thankful for our family and friends...
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!
Love, Los Petersen - Walt & Eileen

OUR PRECIOUS TIME WITH JEN & JERRY AND FAMILY

THE BREWER FAMILY
Just moved into a new home.
Jerry - Dermatologist at Mayo Clinic. Gospel Doctrine teacher in new ward--Rochester 5th Ward.
Jen - Wife, busy mother of 5; loves new calling as leader for Activity Days in primary; teaches nutrition and aerobic classes for the YMCA.
Seth and Sarah just turned 8 in June and were baptised at our Walt & Eileen Family Reunion in Wyoming.
Benjamin is 5 and will go to kindergarten soon.
Joshua will be 3 on July 31 and is all boy!
Baby Elizabeth is 8 months old. We call her "Bizzy Lizzy" because she crawls all over and is about to walk!
We've loved being able to be here with them.


HAVING A GREAT TIME WITH THE BREWERS IN ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA.
THE 8 DAYS HAVE ZOOMED BY WAY TOO FAST. WE HAVE TO LEAVE TOMORROW--JULY 20.

We arrived at midnight in Minneapolis on Tuesday, July 13 (plane delayed 4 hours in Boise, so we missed our first connection in SLC). Jen was there with her baby to drive us the 85 miles to Rochester.

Early the next morning we drove 5 1/2 hours to Nauvoo and went to the visitors' center, the family center where Elder Neal Anderson from Burley was teaching families how to make rope and then at the log Calvin Pendleton home and school where Sister Donna Anderson--also from Burley--taught us about the Pendleton family and showed us how the kids in Nauvoo wrote on their individual slates at school. We also went to the bakery, print shop, blacksmith shop, John Taylor home, then over to Carthage Jail (30-min drive) for the sobering tour and narration about the Prophet Joseph's and his brother Hyrum's last 2 days living on earth before they were martyred on June 27, 1844.

That evening we went to the spectacular Nauvoo Pageant with cast of 170...only 20 of whom were professionals.

Thursday we went on a carriage ride pulled by two handsome matched work horses. The hour ride for the carriage full of 25 tourists was interestingly narrated by President Jack Hill, a senior missionary from Burley, Idaho, who has been called as a counselor in the Nauvoo Mission Presidency. He has recruited about 10 couples from Mini-Cassia to be teamsters, etc. at Nauvoo.

Then Grampa and I did a session in the beautiful, beautiful Nauvoo Temple while Jen & Jerry and kids went to Joseph Smith's Mansion Home, saw their graves, went to the Red Brick store, and then to the home of Wilford Woodruff who is Jerry's 4th-great grandfather. (Grampa and I had seen these sites in June 2001 on a family trip to Nauvoo for our 40th wedding anniversary. Jen & Jerry had not been able to go.)

Then we kept the kids so Jen & Jerry could do a temple session. Every temple has a beauty of its own, and this temple has been made of the finest materials available also.

When we reunited, we drove where statues of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young have the inscription "Eyes Westward" where Parley Street or "Trail of Hope" ends at the river. This is where most of the 12,000 residents crossed the Mississippi River to escape the persecution of the Mormons in 1846. Most of them made the thousand mile plus trek to the barren valley of the Salt Lake which they soon had blossoming as a rose.

Friday Grampa built steps for the trampoline. Jerry was at the Clinic for his research day. Jerry mowed their big lawn in the muggy heat when he got home from work.
Saturday Jerry and Grampa built a ski rack for the garage. The adults had a gourmet dinner at Pescara's.
Sabbath morning was relaxed, then church 1-4pm, followed by a yummy Mormon Sunday roast beef dinner, complete with hot, homemade rolls.
Monday--today, July 19, Jen and Grampa are building shelves for one of the finished basement's storage rooms.
Seth is assigned to teach about baptism, and Sarah about the Holy Ghost for family home evening tonight.

We'll share photos when we get back home and I download them into my laptop. And put new songs on since Jen has taught me how to use iTunes. YaHoo!!

Hope everyone is having a patriotic July...God Bless the USA!

Sorry I've been negligent in keeping up my blog since we came home in March from our mission. We've been hither and yon so much that we feel like yoyos. But we've loved visiting our kids and grandkids in Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and now with Jen & Jerry and kids in Minnesota. We've also enjoyed having some time with Grama A and Jen in Salt Lake City; Dale & Connie in Twin; and Phyllis & Dale in Wendell.

We're looking forward to the Jane & Ray Petersen Family Reunion this Saturday, July 24th. We haven't had one since 1988, which was our 8th one after these began in 1974. Dale got the ball rolling for this one which is at Riverfront Park in Burley.

Help...how do I downsize this photo for my heading?

Today we are commemorating our 49th wedding anniversary quietly at home. We stopped in at our friends' home to ask Ruth Melling to take a photo of us together. She invited us to stay for supper, which she was just putting the finishing touches on. That was a nice serendipity.

So here's our photo that she took and one of her and Don and John who is visiting from New York.

I'm looking for our "professional" Cruise photo to blog about our 2-week Mediterranean Cruise we got home from on June 11. It was fabulous.
We are so thankful to our children for helping us go on this cruise by donating to "the cruise fund" for each holiday and birthday this year.

Our stewardship report in Salt Lake City...

On Friday, May 14, we gave our stewardship report for our Area Medical Advisor mission to the South America South Area.

It was for the Missionary Department of Health Services.

"Serving a mission together after retirement is the best kept secret in the Church," I started my section with.

Walt thanked all the specialists who are on call for the missionary health services committee whom he could call at any time and get help for any medical problem a missionary had.

He also reported that he received 4,000 calls during the 18 months--from mission presidents, the wives of the mission presidents, and often the mission president's wife had the missionary call him directly.

We took about 35 minutes with our power point presentation, which was 5 minutes under our allotted 40 minutes.

We were happy to not go over time, and happy to have it over.

Our other 4 April birthday boys...

Happy Birthday, Jerry, 36 on April 25th.

Happy Birthday, Gary, 45 on April 24th.

Happy Birthday, Kimble, 11 on April 24th.

Happy Birthday, John, 36 on April 24th.We love you all!

Hope you have a great year!

New Stake Presidency in our Burley Idaho West Stake April 25, 2010

Chad Jones, President

Tim Preston, First Counselor

Tracy King, Second Counselor

We sustain our new stake presidency

with all our heart, might, mind, and strength!

Walt congratulating President Jones.

(I lost the first blog I did for this event, in which

I had quotes from Pres. Jones talk.

But it's too late tonight to redo it all....)

A heart-felt Thank You to our outgoing Stake Presidency:

President Joseph M. Sagers

President Garth Williams, First Counselor

President Leonard M. Beck, Second Counselor

We will love you forever.

Happy Birthday, Walt, April 17, 2010 "76"

Walt with Fisher family at end of finale of their

Idaho Ballroom Academy Spring Concert - Rexburg - April 1 6

This shows how young Walt was at age 27

when we married.

See cutline below...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE MAN I LOVE!

I can't get my photos from yesterday and today to download.

Walt celebrated his birthday today with Janie & Shawn,

Daniel, Katie, Heidi, Sam, Ashley, and Michael Fisher in Rexburg.

We got back to Burley in time to watch the Lawrence Welk show,

then I put in the 1942 "Flying Tigers" movie with John Wayne,

but 2/3 of the way through, it said "disc scratched" and

no amount of trying to wipe it clean helped.

So we got to see the last half of the

Utah Jazz/Denver Nuggets Round 1 Playoff game.

The Jazz kept right with them until the last 6:51 minutes.

Names for photo above (lost photo, had to reload it).

Walt with Gary & Kathy, Natalie, Jacob, Steve, Julie, and Maddie.

This was when he had accompanied a young Elder home to Utah

just prior to our March 13 release.

Just home from Argentina - with our son, Steve.

Warm weather, but Walt can't do this until May 9, 2010 -- when it will be one month

after his hernia repair.

Walt helping Grama A plant flowers in summer of 2008

This is how the towns in Idaho and Utah looked in the 1930s

when Walt was born

April 17, 1934. I did this at 11:30pm Sat., April 17, so I don't know

why the date of Sun., April 18 came up!?

I wanted to scan some photos of Walt when he was young,

but I don't have my scanner to do it.

It's good to be home...

A quiet Sunday dinner at home.

Yes, we're just hangin' out together here in Burley, Idaho.

Start working in the temple April 14 on the Spanish session, Wednesday evenings.

Walt's recovering well from his hernia repair on April 9. Two of our darling grandchildren--Jackson and Maddie.

I loaded my photos from the first week in April, and they're lost in the computer somewhere.

This was our last of 5 days with kids/g-kids in Utah over Easter/General Conference week--Thursday to Monday. It's great to be able to drop in on our kids.

Walt renewed the tradition of father's,sons,grandsons going together to the General Priesthood Meeting on Saturday.

We thankful for the counsel from our Prophets and Apostles for these perilous times Some old photos from our Feb. 2009 in Uruguay Walt's friend from his 1954-57 first mission in Uruguay--
Cesar Guerra
---------
I have discovered I'm a jinx to any computer I touch.
My desktop is slower than frozen molasses...and after John worked so many hours to get it speeded up. My laptop won't connect to our newly purchased Internet Cableone plan,
and now I can't get my MixPod music on our blog to "change and save."
Anyone have another music program for blogs that works?

Opps, forgot I had this photo in....also from the Mission Museum in Uruguay.
I'm looking for the "Mormon Modernaires" photo, and the softball mission team for friends who served missions in Uruguay. Sorry guys, I'm still looking.

I know it's not Easter anymore..........I tried for 20 min, and thought I'd "changed and saved" the new music 5x...but the "Save" mode has disappeared from MixPod.
Guess you'll have to listen to Easter music till I can get some help.

Life goes on after mission...

The yellow ribbons, bows, and balloons are still

a happy sight that welcomed us home

on March 12, 2010 from

our 18-month mission to the

South America South Area.

The "welcome home" bouquet is still beautiful.

Here are just a few of our goings and comings...

Yes, life goes on after each mission.

We went to a funeral for Albert Holyoak on Saturday morning.

Well, it went from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Nice...but long.

Elden Wood told us Sunday at Church:

"I told Picola if my funeral goes over an hour,

I will come back to haunt her."

It's been wonderful seeing family and friends.

We introduced Walt's brother, Dale,

to our darling friend, Connie Hess,

in 2002 after he had tragically lost his
darling wife, Vicki, in Aug 2000, to

a sudden heart attack at the young age of 55.

Connie's homemade apple pie, said "We love you."

Walt's brother Dale, and his wife Connie had

us come to lunch on Saturday, March 20.

The chicken casserole was delicious,

and Connie sent some home for our Sunday dinner,

along with homemade bread and apple pie.

Thank you so much! Our brother-in-law, Dale Bunn, is just home

from the Boise Hospital having had a subderal

hematoma drained caused from a fall on the ice

in January. He had his 81st birthday on March 12. How nice to see Walt's sister Phyllis. Although she

is not in the best of health...Karen told us she

still keeps quilting. We saw our dear friend, Murk Lancaster, at his sister

Velma Willard's burial...she was 94.

In fact, we saw 26 dear old Wendell friends on Wed, Mar. 17.

(I lost the photo of Murk...will put in a later blog.)

The Relief Society Presidency and committee for this

Relief Society celebration did a great job.

L to R: Emily Garrard, chairman.

Wendy Weeks, president; Sis. Craner, secretary;

Sister Kemp; Sister Nielsen, counselor, and

Sister Jennifer, counselor.

The decorations were beautiful and the soups were delicious.

The birthday cake at our table, decorated

by Chris Kemp, was too pretty to cut.

I enjoyed a nice Relief Society birthday dinner
Tuesday evening, March 16 with friends.

We had lunch with my sister Janice

at Appleby's before heading home.

We needed to discuss our 90-y-o mother's

health and care facility needs.

Kimble and Carter ready for school Tuesday morning

before we left for Dr. Middleton's office in SLC.

because of elevated PSA, Walt got a prostate biopsy.

Results are benign...great news!

(Lost photo of Kimble & Carter with Steve...add later.)

We enjoyed FHE with Steve & Natalie, Cortney,

Kimble, and Carter at their home in Saratoga Springs,

on our first Monday back.

We had driven to Utah

for Walt's prostate biopsy appt the next morning.

Walt figures he had about 1400 hours flying time

since he got his pilot's license in 1967.

He misses flying.

Mostly we flew to medical meetings across the United States.

The furtherst was flying to a medical meeting in Guadalajara

In Oct. 1972...but that was in the twin engine Aztec.

Walt had to check out our "former" Cessna 206 turbo-charged airplane.

We were 1/3 owners until we sold our share just before

we left for the South America South Area Mission.

Maddie having a piece of Julie's favorite chocolate cake from Stokes.

Why would they laugh at the things I carried home in my purse?

Walt said to son Steve: "Now you see why I'm afraid to put my hand down into her purse!"

We have been released, reported to the Stake Presidency and High Council.Yellow ribbons and yellow balloons adorned our front yard and home...

Bright and early Sunday morning

(even an hour earlier with daylight savings starting)

we were asked to be there at 6a.m. to

give a 5-min each report of our mission

to the Stake Presidency

and High Council.

(I hope I had my eyes open when I gave

my report in English, then testimony in Spanish...

as requested by President Sagers.

Opps....I see my camera has gone waco on the printed date....again.

The date should read: 03/14/2010 or 03/15/2010 on all these photos.

Steve and his boys caravaned with us from SLC to Burley Friday night.

Carter got a tummy ache Saturday evening, so is lying by his Dad.

Janie & Shawn had come last weekend and helped put all our

family photos back up plus helping Julie & John get

our home ready for us to just "move back in."

It was wonderful to have everything in place.

And we like their arrangement of family photos

spread throughout the rooms.

"Thank you" --

small words

BIG MEANING!!!

Some more family time...

Jen, don't worry, you wouldn't

have enjoyed any of the lively conversations.

(Just teasing.)

Julie & John came up three weekends in a row to

help get our home ready for us.

We really appreciate it! Thanks a million!

(The photo of Julie & John walked away on it's own.

I'm getting paranoid about losing so many photos I upload

in and then they vanish without a trace.

No, it couldn't be the chicken and potatoes' photo that vanished.)

Our dear neighbors, Ruth & Don Melling, brought in Saturday evening

supper for 25...chicken, potatoes & gravy, salad, and pies.

Other dear neighbors, Sherry & Steve Ormond, brought over hot scones and homemade bread.

And then other dear neighbors, Marilyn & Dave Gibbons brought brownies.

We thank each one of them -- it is so appreciated.

No wonder we love living here in Burley, IDAHO!

We woke to a couple inches of new snow Saturday morning, March 13. Yellow ribbons and balloons...withstood the snowstorm.

It's wonderful to be home...

Yes, we're home!

It's wonderful to be reunited with family!

For a better photo, go to Julie & John's blog.

(From lower right on our family blog addresses....

just scroll down past all the widgets.)

We arrived at the Salt Lake City airport

on Friday, March 12 about noon.

This is a blog in progress.

I'm going on a ride with Walt now (Sunday afternoon)

around the countryside of Burley. Janie, in the red, was here with Daniel, Katie,

Heidi, Sam, Ashley, and Michael. Shawn had to be at a

national ballroom meeting in Las Vegas.

Brian & Michelle on the left, came with their

four darling daughters. This is one of the new

grandbabies we had not seen: Elizabeth Brinn

born November 7, 2009.

(Elizabeth Jane was born November 2, 2009 and

we will see her when Jen flies in from

Rochester, MN on March 25 for

our speaking in Sacrament Meeting on March 28.)

Gary & Kathy were here with McKell, Abbey, Jacob, and Isaac.

Daniel is to the left. Steve & Natalie were there with Cortney, Kimble, and Carter.

Everyone wanted a photo of their first course.

David & Julie were there with Josh, Anna, Sam, and William.

William was born Oct. 26, 2008 - soon after we'd left.

Julie & John were there with Jacee, Jackson, and Maddie. Brian & Michelle drove from Evanston, Wyoming

with Emma, Taylor, Avery, and Elizabeth.

(this photo got lost....put back later)

Cortney and Katie turned 16 last month.

McKell and Heidi became teenagers during our mission.

(photo got lost of McKell and Heidi...I'll put back in later)

Jacee and Ashley wanted to ride with us

from the airport to lunch at Golden Corrall.

Our dear friends, Ross & Karen Taylor came to the airport to welcome us home.
And we made it okay with every suitcase.

One was over just 1/2 kilo, but they waved it thru okay.

Perhaps that was because one was only 18.5 kilos

and the limit is 23 kilos (50 lbs).

We're thankful for Elder y Hna. Wall driving us to the airport.

Thank you, Frank & Diane.

And we thank each of the other Sr. Missionary Couples we served with.

Eternal friends, for sure!