May 11, 2015

It rained yesterday into the night.  There was thunder and lightning and beautiful rain.  The tulips lifted their heads, happy for the drink.  In Utah a rain is a blessing we wait for sometimes for a long time.  When it comes it renews the earth.  Rain comes more often here, hence the green everywhere.  There comes also heavy humidity, and we don't have a fan.  We got very warm.

On our way to the visitor center this morning I noticed how beautiful the trees on the lane were. The leaves came out so fast almost like overnight.

We have enjoyed the last week.  There have been many visitors come.  some on business trips and traveling without their families and some seeing the sign on the freeway and stopping to see the monument and some who have made plans to come specifically to see and feel this site.  Yesterday I spoke to a man traveling from Tucson, Arizona; he was so thrilled to be able to take pictures and send home to his family.

Another couple just wanted to walk around.  They weren't interested in any teaching of Joseph Smith; another couple were from north of here, in a town called Barre, where the granite came from for the building of the Monument.  They have lived here all their lives and had never been to this site. They said that some neighbors told them how beautiful it is, and they decided to come. 

They didn't want to know about Joseph Smith.  Many are afraid that we might try to baptize them, but I asked them if they would like me to tell them the story of how the Monument got here; they were more than happy to hear that.  They were impressed.

Roger has been taking each of the tours (if there is time) to see the ruins of the Solomon Mack homes and the Daniel Mack home just down over the hill from the Monument.  He takes them in a golf cart, and it turns this whole experience into a fun place to have visited.  The foundations of these two homes are nestled in the forest and have a peace and serenity about them.  You can walk to the foundations too, and that is fun.

The spring has brought beautiful flowers that were planted in the fall.  There are wild flowers in the forest blooming every year for many years.  This is truly a beautiful earth.

Mother's Day was yesterday.  It was a day with many visitors here. They brought their mothers to feel the goodness on this site.  We had a nice dinner with the Senior Missionaries; we all contributed. It is nice to have good friends that make holidays feel not so lonely.

Most of the kids called or sent a text to me.  I loved hearing from them.  Max sent a beautiful flower arrangement.  Mary's family and Denis's family got to talk to Emily and Branden from their respective missions.  It was good for them too.  Mary sent us a video of Emily (on Skype) talking to us specifically.  It was a sweet blessing.  Also, as of yesterday, we have been here six months.  It is hard to believe.  We miss home, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us.

Spring!

April 21, 2015

I think I have been more excited for spring this year than ever before.  Vermont is beautiful, but I am looking forward to green.
We were told by one woman, "If you think you are sick of white, just wait until all you see is green."  I think the flowers will make all the difference. We are already seeing the colors pop.

I love the sweet colors of spring!

Last night we had "Family Home Evening."  It consists of the five Senior couple missionaries, and several members of the South Royalton Ward, who are empty nesters.  We enjoy this.  It gives us an experience to make good friends.  Elder and Sister Broberg led a discussion about the "Beauty of the Earth." There were so many memories brought back to my mind.  

I remember the first time we spent a night in our home in Peterson. The night was so breath taking, the stars so bright, they looked like they would come down and literally touch the ground. There were not many homes around us then and the lights were few. The mountains and the sky, the valley and river all brought joy to my heart.

Anne was very little when she would go over the hill and gather wild flowers.  She would bring them to me. She was so small that sometimes I couldn't see her because the grass was so deep. She loved being in nature.

Roger planted the raspberry patch one new start at a time.  Within three years we had a nice stand of raspberries.  This patch became a spiritual experience for me each time I entered it. I didn't allow arguing, or loud music; it was the peace I loved.  One summer we were picking berries and Mary found a bird's nest.  It had three little eggs in it. Each of the kids looked, and each day they would check to see the progress.  The mother bird was very protective of her nest.  She would fly around us and dart at us. We were very careful not to touch the nest. Soon the eggs were opened and featherless baby birds appeared; they were mostly wide open beaks. One day, after watching them, we could hardly wait to see them. They had been growing and they seemed to be too big for the nest. But this day they were gone, and the nest was empty. 

The raspberries have pulled the family together every summer. I love the talking and the laughter that comes from the patch now. Every child has had the chance to be a part of it.

MaLeah and a big bucket of raspberries.

Heidi and Natalie and some amazing berries.

There is a hymn I love that describes my feelings:

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies.

For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flower,

Sun and moon, and stars of light.

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth, and friends above,

For all gentle thoughts and mild.

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

Happy Birthday Diana!

April 13, 2015

Happy Birthday PRINCESS DI!

You are another year older, but loved to the eternities. You danced your way into our hearts from your first breath, your spinning, leaping, and high kicks.  Each day with you has been an adventure.

You were happy to see Santa until the kids before you cried.

 

You have blessed us immeasurably.  We can never forget your performance in "Wonderful Book of Gold."  Here on Santa's knee we knew we had a live wire on our hands. 

You did your own hair from the time you were four years old. We wondered sometimes when you would leave for school if your teacher thought your mother ever combed your hair.  But by the time you reached Junior High you were really good at fixing it!

Girls camp dress ups

You loved high school, you loved the drama of it, loved having lots of friends, and even your brother.

You even invited your parents to the promenade at Prom. That was a first for us. Your lead in "Singing in the Rain" was a highlight. You were the choreographer for Ovation, the prize winning vocal group of all time.

Senior

Boys swarmed the house on any and every occasion. Dances, parties and plays. You were a great student and a fun kid to raise. Since you left home you've always returned to run RAGNAR. We can never forget thinkin of you running way up in Henefer at 1:00a.m. Seven miles all alone in the dark!

Ragnar's " RUNNIN MOMMA"

Your greatest accomplishment to this day is the family you have raised. They're the cutest, most photographed children of all time, and we love every picture. Ben has been a power in your life and ours. We love him!

Happy Birthday!

April 11, 2015

Happy Birthday to our Favorite Ute!

Max #57 Center for U of U, Lance Rice quarterback

Thirty six years ago today Maxwell Kent Petersen blessed our lives.  He was born in Mission Hills, California.  He was born before the time when you could have an ultra-sound and know if you were having a boy or a girl.  We waited with great anticipation, and were happy to have another boy.  We made the move back to Utah when he was a month old, placing our family in Peterson, Utah, the only home he would know growing up.

Max loved Charlie our dog

Max in kindergarten

Max was always a good, boy. He did well in school. He loved sports; he would play whole football games on paper using different strategies to win the game. He played baseball, basketball, football and won the State title in shot put. He was sought out by many university football programs his senior year, and earned a full scholarship to play for the University of Utah after he graduated. He excelled at football and became the starting center under Coach Urban Myer.

He chose to serve a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The MTC at Provo Utah

You can take the boy out of the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boy.

Because he was willing to serve the Lord he was blessed. It was on this mission that he met Heidi, through letters, and from this he blessed our lives forever.

Max and Heidi, Bountiful Temple, December 16, 2000

Max, Meg, Andrew, Katelyn, Heidi, Isaac

We love you Max!

Happy Birthday!

April 7, 2015

Spring?

Spring is trying so hard to come to Vermont! As I look out our office window I see the snow receding but still a foot deep in spots. Several spots.  It is raining today so maybe more snow will melt. We have had a couple of teaser days with the temperature in the low sixties, but that was short lived.

Roger and I took a drive a week ago to see how the melt was coming.  The upper tributary to the White River is starting to move.

You can see here and there the ice starting to be overtaken by the cold mountain water.  There is an interesting phenomenon that takes place in the rocks here.  The water that filters through the rocks freezes and makes it look like frozen waterfalls all along the highways.  It is a pale blue in color and breath taking to behold.

The White river that we cross on a daily basis has had chunks of ice flowing toward the Connecticut River that has massive amounts of ice chunks itself.  

It is almost clear now.  It is beautiful!

We have enjoyed our drives through this beautiful state. It has some beautiful farmlands, lakes and trees.  Perhaps most beautiful in all the US.

I have also loved the covered bridges that can be found on the many roads that cover these Green Mountains.

The most beautiful, peaceful spot in all of New England is the place we see every day.  The angels do attend all who come here! 

God Lives! His spirit is in all we see, all that is virtuous, lovely, all that is of good report or praise worthy, and I will seek after these things.

March 18, 2015

On St. Patrick's day, March 17, 1967, Roger and I were married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake LDS Temple by Ezra Taft Benson, who had been given the authority from God to perform the marriage.

Salt Lake LDS Temple

We have had many wonderful experiences, joyful and sad, that have made our marriage strong.  We love and appreciate each other

and the blessings that have come to us.

Roger and Susan

1967-2015

Yesterday we decided to go to the Temple in Boston to celebrate our anniversary.  We arranged for a hotel within our mission so we would only be out of our mission for the time we were at the Temple. 

As we drove from South Royalton to the Boston area, we used our GPS. (We call it Jill.)  For over an hour I tried to get it to take the address to the hotel.  It kept rejecting it.  Over and over and over again.  I finally called the hotel and got directions.  We drove right to it, changed for the temple.  I put the address into the GPS and it took us right to the temple.  

I was surprised how small the session was.  Roger and I, with two other people, were the only ones in the room.  It was really nice and the temple was beautiful.

Boston Massachusetts LDS Temple

As we left the temple, I told Roger that I thought that if I just hit take us home Jill (the GPS) would take us back to the hotel because I had made a new start when we left the hotel for the temple.  So I hit the home button.  We didn't recognize any of the signs we were seeing on the freeway.  We kept going west and south.  Pretty soon Jill had us on I 90 going southwest.  I said, Roger I think Jill is taking us home to Utah. I had forgotten that Max had put home in as 3200 North Morgan Valley Drive.  She knew exactly what she was doing, and now we were in a pickle.

We took the next exit and pulled over to think things through.  We tried an address that would be close to the hotel, but one we weren't sure would even be an address, because we knew she wouldn't take the hotel address.  We followed her directions having a prayer in our heart that we would find the right way.  Pretty soon we started to recognize the signs, and all the different freeways, and then we recognized the the exit.  We got off and there we were at the hotel.

We laughed about it, but it was pretty tense.  It did take us an hour longer than it should have. But Jill was being obedient, she was taking us HOME!

We spent Wednesday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine.  We took the back roads home, enjoying the drive and the beauty of this earth.

We have been blessed these past forty-eight years and our greatest blessings are our family.  Each has a special deep place in our hearts.  We love them dearly.

Mary, Roger, Denis, Anne, Amy, Elisabeth, Susan, Diana, Max

I love this story:

In early 1905, Junius F. Wells was in Vermont, from Salt Lake City, seeking to purchase some granite for a monument to his father.  While here he thought there should be a monument erected to mark Joseph Smith's birthplace.  When he returned to Salt Lake he spoke with the First Presidency and obtained permission to come to Vermont and find the actual spot of Joseph's birth, purchase the land and arrange for a monument to be constructed before the 100 year commemoration of Joseph's birth on December 23, 1905.  This was a huge undertaking.

He visited with local people that would remember the farm of Solomon Mack, where the Smith family had lived.  He searched land records. In May of 1905 he purchased 68 acres of the original Solomon Mack farm and began to plan the construction of a monument.

The survey of the Birth site

He had learned previously that the granite quarry in Barre, Vermont, has some of the finest granite in the world.  He felt this would be the ideal material for the monument. On  July 24, 1905 the contract was made.

Wells determined that the shaft of the monument should be thirty-eight and a half feet high, a foot for every year of the Prophet's life.

A piece of granite was found that could be cut in a solid piece. It was formed, polished and the transport started.  Barre is 35 miles from the birth site, so the monument would be transported by train to Royalton, Vermont.  From there it would be transferred to the site on specially-built wagons.

The wagons were reinforced and had wheels twenty inches wide.

Moving the granite the five and a half miles from Royalton was complicated by it being November, and the road bed was very soft.

To help alleviate the problem the wagons drove over wooden planks which were continually moved from the back of the wagon to the front as the load was carried up Dairy Hill Road to the birth site.

They were worried about the Vermont winter playing a role in whether they would be able to get the monument to the site. Part way up the hill a mud hole, that was bad because of recent rain, completely blocked their path.  An empty wagon coming down the mountain had become stuck in the muddy swamp, and it was apparent that there was no way to cross it with the heavy wagons. As Junius Wells was about to give in to the many obstacles he faced, he offered a fervent prayer. A north wind began to blow and a "Canadian Clipper" came through the area that night, dropping the temperature 35 degrees in three hours.  The mud hole froze solid, and they were able to get the wagon over the muddy hole with little difficulty.  The weather later warmed and allowed the concrete on which the monument sets to set up, and it wasn't cold for the rest of the project.

There were no huge cranes to place this monument, and yet it was done with skill and has stood the test of time.  The shaft weighs 40 tons and the base weighs 60 tons.  A great accomplishment for the time.

The monument was dedicated December 23, 1905 by Joseph F. Smith, prophet at the time and Joseph Smith's nephew.

There is a peaceful Spirit here.  Everyone that comes can feel it. It is a sacred spot that is blessed by the Lord.  I believe there are times when I can feel the angels close. I know more than ever before in my life that Joseph was the Lord's prophet, chosen before this world was created to bring forth His gospel to the earth for us in these latter days. I love Jesus Christ, he has blessed me richly.