ah, the life of a Young Women's President

I guess I haven't "officially" announced on the blog that I am our ward's new Young Women's President. It's exciting and scary and BUSY all at the same time.

The most noticeable difference in life at the Hairs will be how full my calendar has now become. Last week (my first) I went to BYC, a fireside, mutual, and chaperoned at a stake activity. I skipped a missionary meeting I was supposed to also attend simply because I couldn't handle going to one more thing. There is SO MUCH. Jason has been extremely supportive (luckily most things are at night close to when Addie goes to bed) but he's also been feeling the pinch of time. His schoolwork is definitely harder this semester, so we'll both have to work on our time management skills so he can study and I can keep this place clean.

I taught the Laurels today and was scared to death. Of course the first lesson I teach was on PROPER DATING HABITS. I was terrified. It went over well and I'm glad to say we have a great bunch of girls. I'm WAY different than their last leaders, no frills or lace tablecloths, but I know there is a great work for me to do and I look foward to digging in and accomplishing much. My counselors are wonderful and are ready to be put to work, so I really can't complain. I'll keep you updated!

And the winner is...

ERIC!! He wins because he did 85% of the work on this deck project and it looks amazing! This weekend was the big push. Eric spray painted and rehung the shutters on Friday while I was priming the supporting pole. Then Saturday we painted the pole and Eric got two coats of stain on the deck. And I have to say that the house looks awesome! No more bushes, freshley painted shutters and pole and a freshly stained deck. Wohoo!

More Pictures

Just in case you didn't look at our blog to see our pictures from Mom and Dad's visit, or you wanted to see them all in one place, today is your lucky day. Click here to see all the action.

Charlie's dad has new job

So Charlie's dad has been very unhappy working for Wal-mart and has continued to look for other opportunities. So two weekends ago he had an interview in West Virginia. Charlie helped him drive down on Thursday and then the interview was Friday morning and then they drove home. Chuck felt really good about the job and how the interview went, but he's felt like that with other interviews before too. So then this passed week they offered him the job and then another company in Battle Creek offered him a job too (he had interviewed there a while ago). So then the place in West Virginia countered with a better offer and Chuck took that one. So his last day at Wal-mart is tomorrow (he's so happy!) and then he leaves for West Virginia next Saturday, the 4th. The plan is for Fay to follow in the middle of January, after this first semester of school is over for the grandkids. They will still have Sabrina's kids and so Sabrina is thinking about transfering down there too. She's going to wait to make sure Chuck keeps this job since the one in Cadillac didn't last too long. I'm a little bummed about them moving out of state. It was nice to live close by them again. Now we will be in the same boat as Jana and Kari, having to do every other holiday with both sides of the family. It's so much easier to have both sets of parents close to each other. Oh well, life goes on. Just thought I share a bit of good news on the part of Charlie's parents. I really hope this works out for them well. Charlie's mom has wanted to stop working ever since they got Sabrina's kids and this new job may let her be able to do that. It'll be good for her and the kids.

Charlie had an interview for a JV wrestling coach position at Swartz Creek high today. The varsity coach did the interview and seemed to like Charlie. We think he might get this job. It would be nice. We're still holding our breath for Hamady high school. They still have a math position available. He hasn't been able to start subbing yet because the company that handles all the subbing positions for Genesee county is dragging their feet getting all his information together and available for schools to use. We aren't happy about it, but there really isn't much we can do now. He has submitted everything they have asked of him. I wish each school did it's own sub hiring. Then he'd probably be working by now. Oh well, it will happen, I just need to be patient.

My classes are going pretty well. I've been able to handle the work load pretty well. I don't feel overwhelmed at all (I was nervous I would).

The kids are doing great. They just started after school programs this week. Lexi and Merrit are in a ceramics class together and Makayla and Chelsea have an arts and craft class on Mondays. Lexi does the robotics club on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Merrit has the chess club and Makayla does dance on Thursdays. I have Chelsea on a waiting list for the young authors' club for Thursdays. They love the chance to stay after school and do something fun. I love them staying too, except that I have to go pick them up. Lexi's robotics club is going to be something great for her I think. They are planning on going to competitions later this year. It's going to be a great experience for her.

First Steps

Harvey took his first steps last week. Sorry for the late news for those of you who are out of state. We've been practicing by sitting facing each other and having Harvey walk back and forth holding our hands or taking plunges on his own. Anyway, he took three steps in a row last Thursday and has taken some more steps here and there ever since. Life will be changing all over again at our house now.

Here's some pics of Harvey trying to figure out how to drink from his new cup tonight. He seemed to think it had to stay on the bench.




Not much else is new here. I've now been officially hired on at my company, for better or for worse. We're into Kurt's "busy season" at work. It's funny that I used to think his busy season was so much extra time spent at work but now I work more than his "busy season" schedule year round. We're going to a carnival for Kurt's work on Friday. They've rented out the whole Washtenaw County fairgrounds. We'll try to get some good pictures.

What are plans for Christmas? Who is coming when and how long are you staying? I hate to press but my family is really pressuring us for dates and I want to make sure we get time to spend with both families. This is our first Christmas ever that won't be at my grandma's house so it will be a tough holiday for my mom's family. And Christmas with my dad's family will be a difficult get together since this will be the first time we've all been together since my cousin's funeral and my Aunt is still in a nursing home recovering. I want to have some concrete plans going into the holidays so that I don't miss seeing anyone.

Our Trip

Dad and I got back last night from Kari's house. We were making great time---until we hit Chicago. It seems that a part of I-80/94 was flooded and we had to find a way around it. I got off in the wrong place and it took us through the local roads with the stop lights during rush hour. What a mess! It took us 3 hours to get into Indiana and back on I-94. You can't imagine how much flooding that we saw on this trip. When we left on Friday, it rained all day and all day on Saturday. Even before we got to Nauvoo, we drove past lots of standing water and we saw the remnants of the flooding that took place there this Spring, there were abandoned houses with water marks on them about 3 to 4 feet up. On the way to Kari's from Nauvoo, like she said, we saw a lot more standing water. At one place the people from the town were swimming in it by the side of the road. We drove through one place where it was flowing over the road, luckily a man came out and motioned for us to slow down before we got to it. Yesterday, as we drove through the subburbs below Gary, Indiana, we saw seagulls swimming in a stip mall parking lot.

Kari has a cute little house that is very nice. The town is a lot bigger than we thought is was after hearing Kari say how small it is. It has over 17,000 people in it. It reminded me a lot of living in Twin Falls. There's a fairly large size town (compared to the towns around it), with lots of stores and fast food places. They have made some good friends and that will help them get through their time there. The school is very nice, and we visited the grave of the man who founded it (I love cememteries, you know). Monday and Tueday were beautiful days with blue skiies and lots of sunshine. We enjoyed the sculpture park and the church sites. Everything was so green there, because of the rain, I'm sure. It took Noah a day or so, to decide that we were alright, but after that, we had a great time with him. I'll have Dad post some pictures that he took.

A New Calling and Vacation with Mom and Dad

On Sunday I was called to be the ward choir director. Yipee! I really am excited, but could use any suggestions for maybe how hymns could be sung differently, or any music that you might come across that would be appropriate. It's going to be fun and I think I'll probably have this calling for the next few years-that's what it sounded like anyway. I've never lived anywhere long enough to have a long standing calling-I might actually get good at what I'm doing. Jana, didn't you just recieve a new call? Mom and Dad told me you did...wasn't it like YW President or something?

Also, I've posted a whole long thing about this past week with Mom and Dad on our blog, so if you want to see pictures, I would go check that out. We had a lot of fun. We met them in Nauvoo and went to the temple and almost didn't make it home because there was so much rain that the road we were going to take home was closed-but Mom and her trusty map found an alternate route. Sunday our friends came over and we had pulled pork sandwiches and they were yummy, if I do say so myself. Monday, Mom, Dad, Noah and I went to Kansas City. It was a beautiful day, but what we didn't know is that everything of note in Kansas City is closed on Mondays. So we went to a sculpture park (pictures on our blog) and then drove down to Independence. It was good we did because we got to take our time going to the visitor's center and Dad took a tour of the Community of Christ's temple. He has pictures of that.

Tuesday we went to Liberty Jail, Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman. That was also a beautiful day and we all got some great pictures, I'm sure. We got back Tuesday night and on Wednesday just hung out. We showed them the parts of Kirksville they hadn't seen and we toured Eric's school. We went out to dinner and Noah had his first experience with macaroni and cheese-he loved it! They left this morning :( and we were sad to see them go. But now we are looking forward to Thanksgiving when we come to Michigan and partay with everyone that lives there (sorry Jana, but I'm sure the wedding will be a blast too). This is Dad making Noah laugh in our motel room in Independence...Noah loved having Mom and Dad here-after he got used to them.

Canning

I should be doing an accounting quiz right now, but I don't feel like it. I'll do it tomorrow. I'd like to share with you my first time experience I had last week. Charlie and I canned for the first time together and for me it was my first time canning (that I can remember, I think I may have canned with Mom once, but I'm not sure). Charlie's parents brought us a bushel of tomatos from their garden. So we used the ones Mom and Dad had given us from their garden and canned them. We don't have a pressure cooker, so we hot wate bathed them. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, just time consuming. We felt like this is a skill we should learn to do especially as food prices keep going up. We actually got 18 quart size jars. We would've had 19 but one of the cans didn't seal. I thought that was a pretty good ratio for our first time. Maybe next year we'll expand our horizons to include pickles or apples or something like that. Well, I was going to post a picture of our cans, but my converter drive isn't working. I'll have to look for my camera cable tomorrow and post the pictures later.

Do Not Worry

Mom and Dad made it safely here yesterday, so all of you who were going gray over their trip, they are fine :) It has rained so much in the last few days (yesterday and today included) that we haven't really got to do anything really very fun. The best time was going to the Nauvoo temple this morning. Since it was raining, we didn't stop to take any pictures, sorry. But I'm sure there will be loads to share later. Just giving an update.

Peace Like a River

Mom, Heather, and anyone else reading this who loves a good book, I highly recommend Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. Have you heard of it? It is beautifully written, the characters are wonderful, and I just loved it all around. It's the best book I've read in a while. Indulge yourself!

Horrible Bushes

Okay Dad, here are pictures of both dreaded bushes. I tried to get as close as I could to the actual trunk and branches coming directly from them. You make the call-I don't know anything about these sorts of things. If you feel like we could get them down to stubs with loppers and your little saw, great! And then we'll just dig out the roots-don't worry, we're going to buy a shovel, Eric wants one anyway and it's a good time for that. Thank you!

A Peterson Update

It has been a while since I've given an update on this blog. I do update my own quite frequently, but I realize that not everyone from the fam checks it, so here is a little of what we've been up to. Eric started real class at the end of August. He now goes to an anatomy class with the first year med students-and yes, he will not have to retake this class when he is a first year...that will be so nice. The class schedule varies every day, so some days he has class at 11, some days at 1 and even the number of times a week he has to go varies-I think it's all a little strange. He is also taking a lab as part of this class and he has the privilege of disecting an entire person during this quarter. Gross to me, awesome to him. He is a part of another "class" but it is really that he writes one or two papers a week and meets with his professor once to talk about the papers and get the next assignment. So, his schedule until Thanksgiving will be pretty easy in terms of him being outside the house-and that's the way I like it.
He is home most every morning and that means that he watches Noah while I have started to participate in a morning exercise group. I could take Noah there and have him watched, but since Eric will already be here, and it's right in the middle of Noah's first nap, it is just easier to keep him home. I have been going to this group for almost 2 weeks now and I really like it. We switch between circuit training and step aerobics and one day a week I am appointed to help babysit-it's a good trade off I think. I am making friends and we hang out quite often-there are three of us. The other two have made other friends as well, where I mostly just hang out with them, so when they are with other people I take the chance and stay home and chill out with Noah-I don't mind one bit.
Noah is much more mobile now. His scooting has taking on a mind of its own, it seems. He is soo fast that some times we can't figure out how he got from one place to another in the matter of time that we just turn around. He loves to sit and does very well and has figured out that if he wants to move around he needs to fall over to do so. He is so much fun and we meet so many people just because he is so adorable.
The pictures below are the deck as of this morning. We bought a hand sander and when Eric has time he goes out and sands what he can. In the picture directly below, the boards on the right are the ones that are sanded-I don't know if you can tell, but there is a difference. In the second picture is all of the sanded boards. He is almost finished-we are hoping to have this project done in the next week...it's getting colder and we are afraid we won't finish if we wait too long.
The other pictures are of Noah, of course. The first is him playing in the laundry basket when I was doing laundry a couple of weeks ago. The last ones are of him today in his new clothes. I went with my friend to Ottumwa yesterday (they have a Target!) and we bought fall clothes for our kids-I am so excited because now Noah will have clothes that actually fit well. Hurray!
Wow, that was long...if you made it this far, thank you for reading!
This deck is going to look amaing!

He was laughing...he is soo funny.
Forgive the scratches-I can't seem to win, he somehow still scratches up his face even after I've cut his nails.
I don't know, but it was funny.

Melt your heart cute!

Apples

Hillary and Kurt, I tried to send you an e mail, but for some reason it wouldn't let me, so I'm putting it on the blog instead. September 12 is when empires are on at Erwins. Since Dad and I won't be here, please fell free to go without us if you want. If you do go, you might ask Jim to tag along as he will be here by himself. According to a lady I work out with who works at the cider mill at Erwins, they're doing a great business already.

Cute little clip of Harvey

Mom babysat Harvey the week Kurt had his surgery and Kurt and Heather met at our house to pick him up before going home. Since Kurt was restricted from lifting him so I carried him out to the swing and we enjoyed watching him swing. He was having so much fun that I shot this short video of him. As you can see, the flailing of the arms must run in the family because we was doing much the same thing that Addie was doing at the Elvis gift shop. Hope you enjoy this.

IT'S FINISHED (almost)!!!

Well, Kurt threw down the gauntlet and as a Mother's Day present completed the east wall of the patio retaining wall (opposite Molly's house). I then had the opportunity (or fun or whatever) of completing the rest of the wall. Well, as you might have known, it took me a lot longer to do than for Kurt to complete his portion. Today, Labor Day, the end of the summer, just moments ago, I placed (and glued down) the last of the capstones of the wall, just under the corner of the deck. Now all that remains is pulling out the dying flowers, whenever they finish dying, and filling in the flower bed with the dirt on the patio, which has been composting for the past two years, up to the level of the patio. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this project beginning with Hillary helping Mom pull down the old brick flower bed wall (Jim actually started it many years ago by taking a sledge hammer to it one day) and Charlie who helped me dig the grass and dirt out of the flower bed (as you may remember, the old brick bed was raised and filled with dirt so there was more than may fit back into the flower bed that will now be level with the patio) and Kurt beginning the wall (and everyone else cheering us on as we worked on it for the past two years -- especially this summer -- please forgive me if I forgot to mention someone by name who did a lot or work [Jim helped me carry the bricks out of the car]).

I will upload three pictures so that you can see what the wall looks like; you will be impressed.

Thanks again to everyone. (Especially Mom for her patience with me.)

Love ya!

This is Noah's new very excited face. Along with the scrunched up nose and open mouth making him look like a wolf, he will also huff and puff like one (although he isn't doing it in this video).

Fun in St. Louis

Our little family went to St. Louis this week. We stayed Monday through Wednesday and had a great time! It is supposed to be one of the most family friendly cities in the nation, and we found that to be true. There are a lot of wonderful FREE things to do there!

Monday we went to the St. Louis Zoo. Kari, Eric and Noah drove down to spend the day with us. It was a WONDERFUL zoo, the best I've ever visited. It was so beautiful, each exhibit was very well done and (did I mention?) it was FREE.
Tuesday we went to the St. Louis Science Center Museum (also free) and spent the whole morning learning about architecture, bones, dinosaurs and space. This is us under the St. Louis Arch that we built with a few other visitors.Here is the arch. We walked underneath it during lunchtime on Tuesday and took more pictures, but this is a good one of it in its entirety. It is situated right on the riverfront in a small but beautiful park. I was pleasantly surprised by how many little parks are sprinkled throughout downtown St. Louis.

Tuesday afternoon we went to Anheuser-Busch headquarters and learned all about brewing Budweiser beer. For two non-drinkers and a baby, the tour honestly was a highlight of our trip. We met some of the famous Clydesdale horses (their stables are more elegant than most people can boast of their own houses) and got to see three historical buildings on their seven block property. The most interesting part for me was the packaging plant, it was amazing! They can run the entire packaging operation with only about five people. We were offered free drinks in the hospitality room, but had lemonade instead. It was a very interesting tour (also free!). Wednesday morning we visited Laumeier Sculpture Park (free free free). It was by far the best sculpture park I've ever been to. There were TONS AND TONS of sculptures. Some out in fields like the one pictured above (can you spot Jason's head in this picture?) and some in the woods surrounding. We didn't wear the right shoes and didn't have enough time to properly enjoy it all, but what we did see we LOVED. I wish this were near where I live. It was awesome.

This is Addie and I on a glass sculpture that also served as a bridge over a little creek.

Maybe we can buy this sculpture one day and put it outside of Jason's future practice.

After the sculpture park we went to The Magic House, supposedly one of the premier children's museums in the country. It was, alas, the only thing we did that was not free, however it was well worth the money! They had targeted areas for younger children (ages one to six years) and older children. There was plenty for Addie to do, and stuff to keep Jason and I entertained as well. Here is Addie "shopping" in the little supermarket.

Now this is what I call a truly unruly perm!

On the way home we stopped at Lambert's Cafe, in Sikeston, MO. Several people have recommended it to us, and it was an experience not to missed! The waiters walk around the dining room and holler at you to see if you want any "pass around" side dishes (fried ocra, macaroni and tomatoes, fried potatoes, etc). Their trademark, however, are the throwed rolls which are tossed from all over the dining room to the hungry customers. It was loud and crazy, but very very fun. Jason's piece of ham was larger than his head!

We would definitely recommend St. Louis. It was so fun, so inexpensive and we had a blast. It was a great way to end off this wonderful summer.

Cub scout camp

I forgot to mention that Merrit and I went to scout camp this passed Friday and Saturday. It was a scout camp, but we invited families to come so we could slide through the loop hole that the church has about cub scouts having overnights. We went to an Oakland county park by Clarkston. It was pretty nice. We had rain Friday night for about an hour. It wasn't too hard of a rain so it didn't get any of our gear wet. Merrit had a blast, like I knew he would. I had an O.K. time. I don't really like camping and the weather was pretty hot and sticky on Saturday so that made it worse. I would've sent Charlie but I'm still the Welbos leader for our ward so I kind of felt obligated to go. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures so I'll have to try to get some from the cub scout leader. She tooks lots (she's better than me).

Curious about Thanksgiving

I've already talked to Mom about this, but we are hoping to come to Michigan for Thanksgiving (that is if Mom and Dad want to put up with us) because Eric has a week and a half off. I already know that Jana and Jason will be in Idaho, but I am curious if Kurt and Heather and Hillary and Charlie know roughly what their plans will be-would we get to see anybody while we're there?

I'm a college student again!

So I was at church yesterday and was talking to a sister in our ward who is a professor at U of M Flint. I just asked her, in passing, when her classes were going to begin. She said that it was this coming Wednesday. That blew my mind because, although I've been officially accepted to U of M, I haven't signed up for any classes yet. So I took myself to campus today and jumped through all the hoops I needed in order to get signed up for two online classes. I am so thankful that I was even able to get in them being that is sooooo late to be signing up for classes. I had to get an override for one of the classes, but it worked out. I really wanted online classes because I don't know if Charlie will be home during the day or not (I really still hope he gets a job and won't be). I know I won't be able to get my whole bachelors degree off campus, but I'd like to take as many classes that way as I can. It just makes things easier for my kids. It was interesting going to U of M campus. I've never been there and had no idea where to go or what I needed to do. It was almost like I had just graduated high school again, at least I felt that way. I'm glad to have that over with. Now I just have to get financial aid squared away so I can see if I'll need loans and how much I might need.

The kids start school on Sept. 2nd (which is when I thought my classes would start, I just assumed). They are excited. Charlie and I blocked out today, tomorrow and Wednesday so we could do a little family vacation before school starts. Because I had to sign up for classes today we didn't get to do exactly what we had planned, but we went up to Birch Run and Frankenmuth for the afternoon and evening and did some fun stuff. They have an indoor mirror maze that we did. It was neat and very confusing, but I'm not sure it was worth the money we paid. Then we walked around downtown Frankenmuth for a bit. What a cute little town. There is a flat-bottom river boat there that goes a ways down the Cass River. The captain does a little tour and history of the town. It takes about 50 minutes. We did that. Everyone but Lexi thought it was neat. Then we got a quick bite to eat and went to see the movie Fly Me To The Moon. It's a computer animated movie that is totally in 3D. It was neat to watch, but the story line was not all that amazing (it is a kids' movie though). We had fun and hope to do some more tomorrow. We originally had planned on going to the COSI museum in Columbus. We decided not to to save gas money and we wanted to be a little closer to home just in case Charlie was called for an interview. He put in an app for a job at Corunna and one at Chesaning. We hope they call this week. So we think we're going to do Potter Park Zoo in Lansing tomorrow and maybe even Binder Zoo in Battle Creek too. We'll see how the day plays out. Here are some pictures of us on the boat in Frankenmuth.