January & February 2010

Dear Family,

The snow is finally melting in the valley, and oh how we are looking forward to spring!  However, we did enjoy a good past weekend at Beaver Mountain.  It was a great Saturday as we enjoyed a half day of sunny skiing, working in the evening, and still being able to attend the Aggie Basketball ESPN Bracket-buster game as it didn’t start until ten that night.  The Aggies have really picked it up this last little while and are on a 12 game winning streak and have the best three point shooting percentage in the nation.  We love the Aggies!

Jake and I are just keeping busy with the usual.  We are both taking 15 credits and are lucky enough to have three of our five classes together- friendly competition;)  Jake is working at Domino’s delivering pizzas and I am working at Hamilton’s Steak & Seafood.  I have the great opportunity of being involved with the Koch Scholar’s program this semester.  Jake was able to participate in it a year ago and loved it.  15 students from the university in all different majors are chosen each semester.  We read a book a week, write a Blog post on a question posed by the professors, and then come together every Wednesday night for two hours to have dinner and talk about the writings of some of the great philosophers, economists, and writers.  Some of the writings we are reading are those of Locke, Rousseau, Aristotle, Smith, Bastiat, Hayek, and Schumpeter.  It is a great learning opportunity that emphasizes conceptualizing and forming your own political and economical ideas.

Jake and I are also co-teaching the Marriage and Family Relations class each week in our ward.  Our ward is very unique as there are 115 kids between the ages of 0-18 months and there are also 4 nurseries for the little ones that are a bit older.  Needless to say, we are about the only ones in the entire ward without children and the newest of the newly weds.  It was a bit humorous as they called us to teach this class, which includes 8 weeks on marriage relations & 8 weeks on parenting- both topics of which we are so very experienced with!  We love learning and teaching together.

We had a great Valentine’s Day.  We went shopping for each other for our “day date” and each got some things we have had on our “want” lists for a while.  Afterward, we went to a restaurant we had never been to before called Kamin Thai Cuisine.  It was absolutely delicious.  Jake surprised me and had roses and a present sitting on the table when we arrived.  They set us in our own private room.  The funny part about it was that these cute little Thai people would shut the door every time they left and then knock again and wait for a bit before re-entering!  I guess they were trying to make it as romantic as possible!

Our new favorite treats are Aebleskivers- a Danish type pancake treat!  Grandma was nice enough to let us borrow her pan, so we would have two to make them in for an Aebliskiver party we had with some friends.  If you haven’t tried this wonderful treat, we would highly suggest it! However, you do have to have an Aebliskiver pan to make them.

We hope everyone is having a good start to the New Year!

Love,

Kristina & Jake Peterson