Missionary Update

This past weekend we went camping, and while I actually took pictures this time I haven't been at home long enough to blog about it. SO. That will come later tonight while I'm watching SYTYCD.

I did want to post excerpts from my sister's latest e-mail from Brazil. She's left the CTM (the Brazil version of MTC) and is now in her first area. I laughed pretty much my way through her e-mail and thought it would be fun to share:

WOW!!! So I have finally arrived in the real Brasil. My first area is
in a town called Cangauretama. It took me a few days to be able to say the name.
The church is very new here. The branch has only been here for one year.
Yesterday was my first time at church and it was a madhouse. Most of the members
and attendees are under the age of 14 so you can imagine the level of reverence.
Sundays used to be my favorite days...But it´s getting better. My trainer Sister
Leal has been here for seven months and she has made a lot of changes to the
branch and has been trying to train the local leaders. It´s been so interesting
to be on the frontier. It´s really like the frontier out here. The town is very,
very poor, mostly projetos, or projects. Mom, the next time you think your house
is dirty, just think that many people here live with farm animals in their yard
or in their house. Our apartment is probably the nicest place around and that´s
not saying much. Last night, I showered with a frog and we have a majorly bad
ant infestion, but I don´t mind ants, they´re they small kind. I haven´t been
sunburned yet, but I have about 10 million mosquito bites. I need to buy some
repellent. It´s so interesting to be here as probably the only foreigner in
town. Everyone stares at us anyways because we´re missionaries and we dress
differently and the town is probably small enough that everyone knows who we
are, but they especially stare at me because I´m super white and have blonde
hair. Sister Leal says people can tell I´m american just by looking at me. But,
everyone is really friendly about it, sometimes groups of schoolchildren will
follow us saying random English words like hello or see you later!!

The branch is very tiny. There are exactly 6 adult leaders TOTAL (which coincidentally matches the number of missionaries here, including me) and they all have less than one year in the church, but they are all extremely devoted and try their best. Unfortunately, there is very little oppurtunities for education, etc. here. Oh my gosh, mom, you would have died at church yesterday. During sacrament meeting (in which the missionaries still do almost everything) the roof caved in and we had to try to restore order. After that, I was assigned to help in Primary, which was total chaos. The teacher doesnt really know how to teach a class, and especially not to children. For a while I was the only missionary in there and the teacher was giving the lesson by just reading from the manual and reading scriptures. She had me read FIVE verses to them out of the Doctrine and Covenants!! Adults can´t even pay attention that long. Thank goodness Sister Nascimento came in and saved the day. We played the tree of life game and the holy ghost guides you (we blindfolded them, and set up a maze of chairs etc) I was extremely impressed at how well the kids paid attention despite the poor planning etc. So that´s Cangauretama. I can´t think about how much work has yet to be done or else I think I will explode. It´s really like being a pioneer. Except a pioneer in an alien world. You cannot imagine how frustrating it is not to be able to speak fluently.

When I first got here I was so excited to get started, I thought that I would be fluent within days and I would be so busy that I wouldn´t have time to think about home, etc. I soon found out that that´s not the case. We work hard but there´s alot of downtime. So it´s been pretty hard this week to stay motivated and to try to remember why I´m here doing this. It´s been a little bit of a cultural shock, you could say. I love it here, but I miss home a lot. I think that I didn´t prepare myself very well for what it would feel like to be the only one of my kind within 100 miles. But I know that I´m supposed to be here, we had 8 people baptized this week!!! I know these feelings will pass and one day when I come home, I will miss this place instead!!! I love the other sisters here, they are all really kind, they make me feel at home. I know that every missionary feels this way their first couple of weeks and I just need to wait it through.

Another "I'm So Excited!!" Post

This past weekend we were able to go Zermatt Resort up in Midway for a marriage seminar that the Guard puts on. It was so much fun! We went up Friday night, had a night to explore the hotel and just hang out. We met our friends Sheldon and Trinity Loveless up there, and we had the best weekend hanging out with them. That's what I love about the military. You meet tons of people you wouldn't normally meet/associate with and because of the military, you are now instant friends. I love it!

Anyway, the great weekend included sitting through a few classes (which actually weren't that bad), the boys golfing, the girls driving around the range completely lost looking for the club house and drinks, a rousing game of monopoly, lots of laughter and funny moments and several trips to the hot tub. So fun!

It's us! Minus the bags under my eyes (always happens when I've stayed up too late), aren't we such a good lookin' couple?!?!

And here are the guys at the first hole. Discussing.. quantum physics. Graphite clubs vs. steel clubs. Or maybe after a morning of classes they decided to be the best husbands ever. Who the heck knows with these two.

a

All right, now that the update part of the show is over, I can move on to the random things that I'm excited about this evening:

a

1. I have the name of my new soon-to-be-rockin' blog. I am not going to leave blogger as I originally thought, as I like the design capabilities of blogger better than Wordpress. I'm working on the design and putting it together soon. It's going to be great! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your input and great ideas. Multiple creative minds are better than one.

a

2. Now pay attention folks, this one is big... starting this Saturday (I think), I will be selling an assortment of baked goods at a furniture consignment shop!!! A friend of mine works there and I asked her a few weeks ago if the owners of the store would be interested in the above mentioned plan. They thought it was a great idea, so this Saturday is my first day. Kinda like a trial run, to see how it goes. I already have a name picked out for my "bakery" (I'm not really sure you can call it that): Just So Sweet. I'm not planning on making a ton of money off of this. It will be more of an outlet for my hobby so that I'm not suffering from the side effects of being overweight. So if you are in the area and want to stop by on Saturday and see me, let me know! I'm going to have some really yummy treats there and you'll be helpin' me out, of course.

a

3. You all know my blogging idol, Pioneer Woman? Well, she's gon dun' it again. She created this crazy cool recipe collection website, Tasty Kitchen. It's kind of like Facebook, but for food lovers. Anyone can join the community and post recipes of their own. It's all recipes from women who just dink around in their kitchen at home, but create such amazing things. So go join and look me up! I think my username is cpeterson. Or maybe just Caitlin Peterson. One of the two.

a

4. I bought tickets for Jared and I to go see Harry Potter tomorrow night!!!!! WOO HOO!!!

a

All right, I'm all excited-out. There is so much going on and I am bursting to share it with someone! I think Jared gets tired of me saying "I'm so excited!!" over and over again. When he starts giving me "the look" I know it's time to move on. So in conclusion.. "I'M SO EXCITED!!"

New Name Ideas

So I've thought of a few more ideas since my last post...

-Just Lovely (or "Just... ")
-All Things Lovely (Enjoyable? Enchanting? Charming?)
-The Lovely Lady (I'm not sure what is is with the word "lovely" but I'm diggin' it)
-The Amusing Homebody (I think that one might be a little presumptious. Just because I think I'm amusing doesn't mean everyone else will!)
-The Happy Homebody

What's in a Name?

It's that time again... I need some help. I've been inspired by PW, who is my all-time blogging/writer idol, to make a bigger and better blog.

I looked into starting my own website and holy cow! It's expensive. At least too expensive at this point in my life. So I'm thinking about leaving blogger and moving over to Wordpress. I created a dummy blog and have been dinking around with it, trying to figure out how to use it. The feature that I love best about Wordpress is that you can have separate pages within your blog. Amazing! I've been trying to figure out how to do that on blogger for ages. Literally. So I could have a separate page for the family life, a separate page for cooking/baking, and then I'd add a page for books (my other addiction), one for crafting/home decor and then one for health and fitness, maybe. Still thinking about that one. So I'd have one log-in with one blog, but all my hobbies would have their own home. Sounds so organized, right?

Here's my problem.. the name. I've been brainstorming for about two weeks on a catchy name to call the blog and myself. You know something cool like Bakerella, or The Pioneer Woman, Tip Junkie, Thrifty Decor Chick.. or heck, Paula Deen! Martha Stewart! A name that I can call myself, not something like Tiny Kitchen, Big Dreams.. which sounds more like a business name. Am I making any sense at all?

Here are the names that I've thought of so far:

-Mrs. P's Passions
-Curious Cait
-The Savvy Texan
-Mrs. P & Co.
-Cait & Co.
-And I've also thought about something having to do with the word "homebody" but haven't gotten it into a concrete name other than "The Homebody" or "The Savvy Homebody"

I don't really love anything on that list. I like "The Savvy Texan", but I don't actually live in TX so that might be confusing. And "The Savvy Utahn" just doesn't sound as good. And I don't really like Utah, so I definitely don't want that in my title. So maybe Savvy Cait..? (I'm thinking on the spot here, can you tell?)

Here's your assignment (should you decide out of the goodness of your hearts to help a sistah out):

1. Let me know what you think about the current names I have listed. Love 'em? Hate em'?
2. Use your super creativity (which is probably more than my peanut sized creativity talent) and suggest what YOU would think would be a great name. And I know you all are creative, cause I read your blogs. So don't try to deny it.

I thought about offering to make a batch of their favorite cookies for whoever gives feedback. But I don't want to force that on anyone, so if you'd like them.. I'll make 'em for ya' (even if you're in another state! If I can ship them to Iraq and have them still fresh, I can ship them to you no prob). If you don't... no pressure. Just know that I'll be eternally grateful from the bottom of my heart forever.

If you can, leave a comment. If you don't want to do that... then e-mail me at cait.peterson@hotmail.com. I'd definitely love to hear from you!

July 4th

We had a SUPER FANTASTIC weekend and.. surprise, surprise.. I have no pics to post. So here's the low down:

Friday - I was able to get the day off and Jared and I spent the day hanging out with his sisters and then we babysat our niece, Brooklyn, that night. I sure do love that little girl! She's so cute. We did a little shopping, went out to lunch and watched Confessions of a Shopaholic while Brooklyn took her nap. What a great day!

Saturday - We woke up pretty early, packed up the cooler and spent the day at the lake with a couple of our friends. It was overcast for part of the day, but then the sun came out and it was nice! The water was okay. It wasn't super warm or anything, but bearable. Our friends brought a couple of jet ski's and Jared had a grand ol' time riding around on those, as well as snorkeling. I'm more of a chill in the water type of lake goer myself, but it was fun to watch him! We both got BURNED. I put sunscreen on, but I think I was too late. Made the age ol' mistake of thinking that since it was overcast I would be okay. And Jared only put a little suncreen on and it was only SPF4 (what's the point?) and so he's hurtin'. We left around dinner time, went home and changed and then met up with the same friends for fireworks at a local park. The fireworks went on for like 30 minutes! It was the longest fireworks show I've ever been to in my life. Supposedly it was choreographed to some patriotic songs, but I never heard the music. The finale was great, company was awesome and it was just a great day. Patriotic holidays hold so much more meaning for me now after Jared's tour over in Iraq. I'm so proud to be an army wife and I'm so proud to be married to a man who loves his country and is willing to sacrifice his time and energy to make sure that we continue to enjoy our freedom.

Sunday - A very relaxing day, mostly because we every movement was painful. But we did drag ourselves off the couch and went over to Sunday dinner at mom's. Yummy! Then we played dominoes, which is our new fav game. Love it!

Now it's back to work and the daily grind. Yay.