YOUTH TEMPLE TRIP & ACTIVITY NIGHT

Charly, Elizabeth and Emma at the Cardston Temple

Parkland ward youth at the Cardston Temple

Ross trying to succeed at a 'Minute-to-win-it' game.  (Put a deck of cards on the top of an empty pop bottle, blow them off - leaving only the last card - ONE last card.  It's do-able, but not as easy as it sounds).

Emma at the same activity.  Trying to get the oreo cookie from her forehead down her face and into her mouth, without using her hands.

Emma at the same activity.  Cup stacking and back down in under a minute.  36 cups.

CATCHING UP - Random Summer Pictures

Cousins at Park 96.

We love having this park at the end of our street!

Emma at Park 96

Marissa at Park 96

Erica and I at the Jon Schmidt concert.  So talented.

Toby and "Gloria" his favorite stuffy that Ross gave him

Toby

Marissa, Sydney, and Jenna at EFY

Jenna, Marissa, Sydney at EFY

UNWANTED FRIENDS!!!

One night we looked out the window to see this, or rather 'these' digging around under our front porch, ugh!  Can't tell what you're looking at.....scroll down...

There was a momma, and her 4 kiddies!!!  YIKES!

Thankfully we haven't seen them for several weeks now, and we never did smell them!

(the babies sure were cute though)

UNIVERSITY FRIENDS & ROSEBUD

Traditions are good.

For the past several years we've had a reunion of sorts each summer with some of our favorite people.  Bruce had THE best roommates at University (back in the day...). Last summer as we sat around on the deck at Sylvan Lake chatting, while the 17 kids were inside playing games, it was decided that this summer we would go to the town of Rosebud, Alberta to see the play "Oliver" together, and stay over at the bed and breakfast.  The town of Rosebud is TINY!!  Apparently they have an acting school there, and put on plays several times a year.    These are just a few pictures from our weekend together.

L>R:  Hardys, Humphreys, Chiles, and Rolfsons

Renee, Christy, Carrie, Terri

Darryl, Bruce, Ross, Steve

The B&B we stayed at:  The Rosebud Country Inn

p.s. the play was actually pretty good, the B&B was delightful, and the company was fabulous

A TRIP TO THE ZOO WITH COUSINS

Whitney, Marissa, Cache, Blake, Gma O, Cheyanne

 

Erica, Marissa, Cache, Blake, Cheyanne, Whitney

 

Whitney and Cheyanne (BFF's and cousins)

 

my favorite zoo animal

 

Back row: Cache, Blake, Chloe, Erica, Marissa

Front: Whitney, Cheyanne, Carmen

 

Chloe

 

Cache

Cache and Carmen

 

Cheyanne and Carmen (feeding the ducks)

A NEW TOY

1966 GTO

for Ross?? 

nope

for Bruce??

nope

Too bad, so sad!  This gem belongs to our good friend Mike.  But Mike was kind enough to come over and let the boys take it for a spin.  Thanks Mike!

MISSY'S GRADE 9 GRAD

We had 2 graduations this year.  Emma leaving elementary school, and Marissa leaving junior high.

Marissa graduated from grade 9 and from Wilma Hansen Junior High.  I think she's happy to be moving onward and upward to High School.  She ended up with a nice group of friends, and she will be sad that some of them won't be going to the same school next year.  Of course, one of the perks is that seminary will start about an hour later next year!  That makes all of us happy!

I was proud of Marissa's choice in a nice, MODEST dress.  There weren't many around.

Have fun in High School Missy!!!

OH, DID I MENTION THAT I'M VALEDICTORIAN

ummm NO!!!

Emma graduated from grade 6 and elementary school in June. 

As we were getting ready to go, she casually says "oh, did I remember to tell you that I'm Valedictorian?".
NO, no, you did not! 

"Well, I'm sharing it with a couple of other people". 
Might have been nice to know ahead of time.

Well done Emmy!!  We hope you enjoy Junior High!

SPRING SKIING

Ross and I went skiing together on MAY 11th !!! Now that's spring skiing! 

We went to Sunshine Village and really did enjoy the sunshine!  (The photos were taken on my phone, so they don't truly reflect the sunny, bright day that it was).

Mid- week skiing this late in the season meant NO LINE-UPS.  Yay!

or crowds!

Ross

I haven't been skiing for about 3 years, but was quite pleased with myself to be able to go on a couple of black runs.  I haven't done that since I was Ross's age, and I really didn't enjoy it then.

I had to stop the car as we were leaving the park to let the wildlife cross the road.

I love living in Canada, close to the mountains :)

It was a good day

CALLED TO SERVE

(to hear the audio in the videos, you will need to scroll to the bottom of this page and pause the music first)

Ross opened his call. 

What?!?!?!  He'll be speaking Cree while serving in Regina??

Let's see what's in envelope #2

Hahaha!  Well played Uncle Kevin!

Ross will be serving in the Paraguay Asuncion North Mission! 

Spanish speaking 

He reports to the Provo MTC on August 25th, 2010

We're very excited for him (i think he's pretty excited too)

Paraguay is in the middle of South America.  It's one of only two completely landlocked countries in the Western hemisphere (it is bordered by Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil).  In the summer time (our winter) the 30 degree heat will often feel more like 40 celcius because of the humidity etc.  Ross may be a good person to send there - he isn't a huge fan of air-conditioning.  Paraguay is also one of the poorest countries in the world.  I'm thinking there will be many many opportunities to give meaningful service.  The rats, giant anteaters, tarantulas, poisonous snakes and jaguars might make for an interesting adventure.

Some other trivia bits:  Paraguay has a two-sided flag, meaning, that the front and the back of the flag are different from each other.  Immunizations include: Hep A&B, Tyhoid, and Yellow fever.  Malaria pills will be given by the mission home while he's there. Ross's good friend for the past 18 3/4 years will be serving in the same mission, he reported this week, so only 6 weeks ahead of Ross.

For more info on Paraguay:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pa.html

or

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1841.htm

or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraguay