Stuff

This was the last year that Bradley was able to do the Pinewood Derby. Here they call it the Kub Kar Rally. His age gets to do a 18 wheeler truck. He had fun with his dad working on his car. On his first race they put some liquid stuff on the wheels that gummed them all up. So he lost his first race, but after they put regular graphite on he was able to win some races. He had a fun time!!

One day Bryn got all dressed up and actually let me keep a bow in her hair. She was so cute and just posed for her pictures so well.

This is at Bradley's Birthday Party. He did Fear Factor again and yes he was the only one to puke AGAIN! They did have a blast!!

Brynley has decided she loves to put on my mascara. She does a pretty good job don't you think?

This is Brynley's Crazy Hair day.

The kids had crazy hair day at school. (Brad was sick this day). Yes, Ty does have a flower on his head. Everyone at school loved it. After Kinsey came home we took out all her mini buns and her hair went crazy curly!!

We are all doing very well. It is still snowy and cold here. Hopefully spring will come someday.

Last weekend I went to our Stakes Women's Conference and it was really good. I enjoyed it so much. I really felt the spirit and want to be a better mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend. On May 1 and 2, I am going to Time Out for Women in Edmonton. I look forward to that.

Tyler had a YM/YW activity and went skiing. That was his first time and he loves it!!

The only thing is the hill that is close here is just that-- a hill. I don't know if you've realized by the name- Grande Prairie-- that it is just that-- a great big Prairie. Either way he loves it and has gone again since that activity.

It Seems Were So Boring

I need to update out blog but it seems were just so boring. I added a picture of each of the kids so you could see how they are growing. Brad still loves to read--I was able to pull him away from his book long enough to take this picture. His 11th birthday is on March 1. He is so excited to be 11.

Ty is now officially lots taller than me. He is even taller than his Auntie Sherry. I think he is 5'6" now. We were out riding sleds last Saturday and the kids loved it. He got called a few weeks ago to be the Deacons Quorum President. He is excited to start some of the fun things he did in Utah with the kids up here.

For some reason Ethan wanted to play in the dumpster while he was waiting for his turn on the sled. He is growing so big. He is such a good kid. He is reading awesomely and he had made some good friends at school.

Brynley loves to be outside. She and Sandy were waiting for their turn on the sled too. Bryn is talking a bunch and loves our dog Blaze and our cat Todo.

Kinsey loves to play with the girls. She loves to take care of them and is my most awesome helper. She is my go to girl for helping with Brynley. Actually all of the kids fight over who is going to take her to nursery or hold her in Sacrament Meeting. Bryn is well loved.

Tim just got a haircut- he had actually been growing it out for awhile. The pictures should do all the talking about that.!!

Odds and Ends

Tim was on his way to work last Thursday and just drove out of our neighborhood and saw these two moose on the side of the road. He had to stop and take a picture. Next time he hopes to stop and shoot them for our dinner!!

We have had a very warm February up here. It has been around 34* Farenheit. It just feels so nice but the problem is that it melts all the ice and snow and makes the roads very slick. Last Sunday we got a call from Tim's sister, Sherry, saying that Ron was in the ditch and needed some help out. The reason this is so funny is because Ron is always teasing Tim about how he(Ron) has such a manly truck(diesel) and Tim has such a girly truck (F-150). So Tim went to help him out of the ditch and as you can see in the pictures to follow--- Tim got stuck in the ditch trying to get him out too.

These next pictures are awesome! Brynley got into some of Kinsey's lipgloss and put it all over her face. What a silly girl!!

We have a long weekend this week and Tim and I are going to Edmonton to do some errands, get some stuff done for my permanent residency and go to the temple. I am so excited to go to the temple. It sure makes it harder when it is 4 1/2 hours away. I am now jealous of all you Utah people having a temple so close. Use it wisely!!!

Love ya all,

Carrie

Yes, we are all alive and well!!

I't has been awhile since my last blog and I was just realizing that I needed to keep everyone up to date better. (New Year's Resolution!)

Winter has definately come. It was actually unusually warm here up until about December. Then when December hit it got really cold. The coldest it has gotten so far is -38* celcius, which is about -38* farenheit. Yes we still go out on days like that--if needs be, like work and school. Actually that temp. was at night because the buses don't run if it gets to -35* during the day. We do have to warm our cars up for about 20 min. so they are bareable to sit in. There is ice constantly on the roads because we haven't been above freezing since the beginning of December. The major roads they keep fairly nice- but side and back road are icy.

We are staying warm with our woodburning stove.



The kids are all doing well in school-They are all liking riding the bus-- they all get a lot of reading done. Their teachers all had very good things to say at parent teacher conferences.

We are enjoying the ward. Tim is the ward mission leader so we get to see the missionaries a lot. We just had a lady get baptised last saturday and we all got to go. The spirit was so strong and I am glad that all the kids got to be there.

I am in the Young Womens presidency and am enjoying that. We only have about 9 active girls. So it's a lot smaller than I'm used to.

We hope you all had a great Christmas. We have been so blessed and are grateful to Heavenly Father for all of His blessings, but especially for our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We miss you and love you all.

Pictures

Just another day in Canada

I haven't updated in awhile because there hasn't been much to update. We are all doing well, the kids are adjusting to school and riding the bus and they are all doing fantastic. There are 2 wards here and we have been going to the 1st ward but we still haven't found a house so we aren't sure if this is where we will be. We found a house we really like and it is out on an acreage, but we will have to see. Anyways, the kids have been going to scouts and activity days etc. in the 1st ward and have already made some good friends. They actually do a lot together with both wards, so last week both wards did a service project with the food bank. They were gathering food for them, along with other volunteers from the community. (the food bank was low on food--it seems like it always was back at home too). So Tim took the kids-except Brynley and went to help. It took them about 2 hours but he said they had so much fun. At first Bradley and Ethan were going together from door to door but eventually Ethan got brave enough to do it himself and Tim said he got the most food out of everyone. He's is just such a cutie no one could resist his charm. Also Kinsey and our cousin Jeff were going together and eventually she got brave enough to do it herself too. She also got a lot of food. Altogether they had such a great experience.
Then last Saturday there is an LDS lady who lives close by who's husband passed away years ago and she was out chopping wood for the winter-- we got some trees planted here at Sherry and Rons and then we all packed up and went to help her. It only took us about an hour and we got all her wood cut, split and stacked. She had been out doing that since 9 that morning and when we got there is was about 4 in the afternoon.
We have been so blessed to have the opportunity to serve. I'm also so glad that the kids have been right in there with us helping and feeling the joy of serving others.
Tyler is on the 7-8 grade football team. They have had 3 games and they have won all three. The team is quite good and they have actually won by about 40 points each game. Tyler is really enjoying it and is making some good friends. The head coach is LDS and there are about 6 other kids who are on the team that are too. Tyler also thinks it's cool that there are 3 girls who play on his team as well. Tim enjoys it too because he has been helping coach. He really enjoys that.
I realize I haven't put any pictures up but I will get some up this week.
Bye By(Tyler is kicking me off the computer)

We Are Here!!

It is Sunday, September 7. We got to Grande Prairie last Sunday about 2 in the morning. It took Tim until about 1:00pm to get the cars through the border. When he got to the Canadian border they said that the letter didn't say exactly that we could import it into Canada and they were not going to let him through--again. But he pleaded and they talked to the supervisor and he was able to get through. Yet another sign that we are suppose to be here. So we got here and we are just trying to get all the little things done.-- Change car insurance, health insurance, drivers licenses, etc. The kids started school in the county school-Harry Balfour. It is a nice school and they all seem to like it. They also started to ride the bus which is a new experience for them. Ethan was a little worried about finding his bus at the end of school and came home with an upset tummy. I will meet him on Monday at school to help him find his bus. We are still looking for a house. Everything is only 3 bedroom. When we tell people we have 5 kids they all are amazed and say, ya you're going to have a hard time finding a house. Then when we find one that has more bedrooms, by the time we call it, it has already been rented. It's only been a week and we know the Lord will help us find where we are suppose to be.
We are really loving it here. The weather has been nice. It gets cold in the morning , about 40 degrees but warms up to about 60 degrees during the day.
That's about all the news right now. We will continue to post as things start happening. We really are enjoying being around The Moline side of the family and getting to know them better. We miss The Francis side of the family and hope you will all be willing to keep in touch.
The numbers we can be reached at here are: 780-532-5938 Sherry's house
and 780-876-3965 Tim's cell.
We love you and miss you all.

Carrie