Jeff passed his qualifying exam!!!

Woot!

Another case of lost in translation

Last week I asked the father of one of my young women where his wife worked. He answered, "Herd sheep." "Wow!" I replied, "That must be tiring." After that I had several conversations with the young woman where I said things like, "So do you have sheep dogs to help?" "That's really late for your stepmom to be outside." etc. etc. etc.

Then last night I dropped the young woman off at a discount store called "Dirt Cheap" so that she could meet up with her stepmom. I made the comment, "Wow! Your stepmom is really busy! Two jobs!" Then it hit me, Herd Sheep, Dirt Cheap. One and the same. I felt so stupid. They must have thought I was batty asking them if they had sheep herding dogs etc.

Alabama: Flying rolls, spitting guanacos, charging tigers

Dear all,

J. here. Howdy.

Well, we got back from our little jaunt to Alabama yesterday, and I thought you'd like to see the pictures:

Here we are at "Lambert's Cafe," home of "throwed rolls." Yep, they throw food at you as you eat. Hopefully, you can catch it.

In our comfy room at the Comfort Suites. (What an appropriate name.)

We ate brunch at Hazel's Nook, this little hole-in-the-wall. I liked the sign on the wall.

Even the decorative roosters were getting into Mardi Gras.

That goat was trouble.

This is a guanaco, related to the llama. In a guanaco pack, the tallest one is dominant, so this guy and I got into a power struggle--his ears and posture show that he's trying to stand as tall as he can. (I won, but I was afraid he'd spit. I'd seen him do it twice.)

Melanie and a wallaby.

...the wallaby.

This goose tried to eat Melanie's shoes.

...and we fed the donkeys with some of our Hattiesburg friends, who were also in town.

But, of course, we were there for the young tigers. Behold:

The tigers LOVED this bedsheet--it was covered in straw and tiger urine and chicken guts, and they went crazy when we'd play matador with them, charging us and biting at the sheet and crawling all over it.

The Photo That Made My Day

I got an email the other day with this photo attached. It completely made my day. Just look at these cute Ticos (Costa Ricans)! Their mom, Elena, got baptized about seven years ago while I was on my mission. The oldest girl on the left, Jazmin, was just a baby when I was there. Next is Nairobi, and then Melani. I'm still waiting to find out the little boy's name.

Five Year Wedding Anniversary

2008 in Hawaii

2007 in Roatán, Honduras

2006 in West Valley City, Utah

2005 in France

Honeymoon in San Francisco, California

January 28, 2004 at the Salt Lake Temple

Pre-wedding at Café Río


Here's to another 70 wonderful and exciting years!

How to protect a loved one when there aren't enough seatbelts

I love this picture of Joseph. He gets double seatbelt protection!

We went on a trip to Hawaii with a few of our closest friends...

All 31 of the Petersen crew

It looks like Jeff & I had a little too much fun this day.

I just noticed that Ryan (back row left) is a little too cool for the family t-shirt

Thanks, Kat!

Our young women's president, Kat, was just released, so last night we made goodbye cards and a special Hello Kitty cake for her. Here are some pictures so you can all see some of the amazing (not to mention cute and awesome) young ladies I get to spend time with.

Cathy, Hannah, Kat, Ariel, Melanie

Ah...to be so photogenic

California Pictures

At the Getty Museum in L.A. (one of our many day trips)

Posing by Warren's new pool (I scraped my back on the way out!)

The always wonderful Christensen family with new baby Evelyn

Jeff's Dad (Bob), Jeff, Grandpa Bauer, & Uncle David

Grandpa Bauer playing Rock Band with Courtney

Naughty Kitty Callaway

Uncle Biron & Vickie (Mom)

Jeff's New Best Friend

Our niece, Kally, really took a liking to Jeff on the trip to Hawaii. All she wanted was her "Uncle Jeff." Jeff has long held the mistaken notion that kids don't like him, so this new little amiga boosted his confidence considerably. These photos remind me of a line from one of my favorite poems by Sara Teasdale, "And children's faces looking up, holding wonder like a cup."

My Cute Sisters