We have now been in Canada for almost two months now. Brad is working on a wind turbine project. He is the geologist on the project. He pretty much stands out in the cold (freezing cold) all day long analyzing the core and rocks that come out of the ground. He seems to like it. He has grown himself a mighty fine beard to help keep his face warm. Sometimes, it is covered in icicles. He works with a great drill crew. The kids love them. They come over for dinner, go swimming with us, and show the kids around the site. They loved being spoiled by other people. The drillers always seem to have something for them, candy, glow sticks, money... In all of my drilling years, or I guess Brad's drilling years, I have never met a drill crew like these guys. Jake and Kirt are wonderful! One day they had my kids come to the site to get rides on the Marookas. Instead of giving the girls ride, they let the kids drive them. I was scared for my life at one point when I thought Olivia was going to take out a tree. Jake just laughed and let her continue to drive. We made it past the tree and Olivia was so proud of herself.

Canada has been a good change for us at this time in our lives. I have been able to focus on the kids. We spend all of our time together with basically no interruptions. (I do enjoy the breaks Brad gives me when he takes the kids out snow shoeing or sledding!) We get to spend our evenings being together as a family. We have been truly blessed to be together, in a nice warm house, and be able to experience this time in Canada together. The only thing I don't look forward to upon our arrival home is the Christmas decorations that are still up.

work, work, work!!!

Aubree - (4 years old) "Mom is always telling me to clean up my stuff. My life is SO busy always cleaning up. I just don't want a busy life. I want to play, play, play!"

101 in 1001

My beautiful, list making sister recently wrote a list of 101 things she would like to accomplish in the next 1001 days. I thought that this was such a great idea that I started to work on my own list. It is not an easy feat and has taken me quite a while to accomplish. I am excited about this list. Like Amity, I too like to make lists and to cross things off. I wasn't going to put this on my blog, but I figured it would help me to actually work on these things. I am now accountable.

1. have a tea party with my girls - we will probably drink lemonade
2. be confident on the piano
3. sew a rag doll with the girls - a little house on the prairie school project
4. practice my violin again - I recently pulled it out and had it restrung and tuned
5. complete a full year of food storage - how do you know when enough is enough?
6. go to the dentist - haven't been since I've been married, it's probably about time!
7. organize and redo pantry - I have a great idea
8 read the Book of Mormon every morning - this would probably help me through the day
9. get up and ready before the kids - i am really not a good morning person
10. defrost and clean out freezer - good idea amity
11. print pictures, organize, and back up on hard drive - that will cost a fortune
12. paint house - not the brick, the trim
13. take kids backpacking - of course brad will be there too
14. finish guest bathroom - frame around mirror, build shelving, hook board, and hang pictures
15. start and finish a journal - don't know that I have ever done this
16. update blog and turn into a book - i am working on this
17. finish hanging, and paint all of the doors in the house - we have only lived there for 3 1/2 years
18. learn to use my camera in manual mode - easier said than done
19. get cupboard doors - like I said, it has only been 3 1/2 years
20. start a gratitude journal - i think we should all be more grateful
21. finish the kids outside playground area - i need brad for this one
22. landscape the front yard - first impressions you know
23. take each child on a one-on-one date - this should be fun, Aubs wants Chuckie Cheese
24. teach the kids to swim - or put them in swim lessons
25. get new couches - i can't wait
26. finish the coin collection grandma started for me - thanks grams
27. go to every temple in Utah - currently 13
28. learn to use photo shop - i need to purchase this first
29. wash all house windows - inside and out
30. find a solution in house for winter clothes - i made a place in the garage, but it doesn't get warm enough to dry the clothes
31. make a fhe chart - long overdue
32. pay off 30% of our mortgage - good luck to me
33. go visiting teaching every month - i'll have to make phone calls while i am here in Canada
34. follow Dave Ramsey - this should help with paying down the mortgage
35. let each kid help cook on a different night a week - and please help me be patient
36. get the piano tuned - it might be too old
37. watch the new years ball fall in times square - I have always wanted to go to NYC
38. go to a Broadway play - I can do #36 & #37 on the same trip or separate - i don't care
39. make menus and follow them - i hear this helps keep the grocery bill down
40. teach Olivia to do her own laundry - and maybe Aubree's and Madelyn's too
41. Complete our 72 hour kits
42. change water in our food storage - this is such a daunting task
43. teach Aubree to read - it is nice that she is eager to learn
44. go on cruise with Brad - I think that it is the best way to travel
45. take the family to general conference
46. do 1000 piece puzzle - lets do this together am, maybe for shay's birthday
47. actually send out Christmas cards - every year I have good intentions
48. fix my watch and wear it - i love my watch, shay gave it to me years ago, it just needs a battery
49. be on time - the watch will probably help
50. can tomato salsa - brad loves salsa
51. call my high school friends - i love these girls and never make an effort to see them - let's do lunch
52. have another kid - i know that it is inevitable and should probably happen in the next three years since my baby is currently going on three.
53. read the BOM in 40 days - it has been a challenge i have been wanting to do for a long time
54. no candy for one year - i didn't say cookies, or brownies, or cakes....
55. go skydiving
56. sew the tramp together - i hate how the sun deteriorates things
57. plant a tree - probably the honey crisp apple tree I have sitting at my house in a pot right now
58. read the standard works
59. make shutters for my house - dad, where are you? I need help!
60. build a greenhouse - we have the supplies, just need to pop it up
61. go on a church history road trip - i have never been. Both my family and brad's family went the year we lived in Puerto Rico. Olivia said she wants to go to the reverent woods that she learned about in church.
62. get some stamps in our passports - if you have them, use them!
63. get the kids passports - we might as well take the little tikes along sometime
64. do the 12 days of Christmas for someone - we have to probably stay home for Christmas to do this.
65. reupholster the piano bench - it is in dire need
66. read 100 books - this should be fun
67. no yelling - Sister Hinckley's kids say that the never remember their mother raising her voice. i would like to be like her. wish me luck. i might have to put myself in time out a lot!
68. send 100 dresses to Africa for project hope and charity - little girls in Africa line up by how many holes they have in their dresses. Dresses are handed out starting with the girls who have the most holes. I hope this project will help teach us all, my kids and I, to be less selfish.
69. stick to our budget
70. pay off our student loans - use the left over money we have from sticking to our budget
71. go on a little house on prairie road trip - brad will love this one
72. teach Madelyn to stop biting - the sooner the better
73. declutter and spring clean the house - and summer clean and fall clean and winter clean
74. finish the girls blankets - i started these 2 years ago
75. read called to serve - the missionary handbook that we have been told repeatedly to read
76. successfully compost - i have failed for two years now at something people tell me you can't mess up
77. raise chickens - brad keeps saying no, i don't know why i want to
78. start making whole wheat bread for family
79. redo vanity - my parents are still storing it for me
80. read Jesus the Christ - i hear it is amazing
81. cook with whole foods
82. get 100 posts on blog - i am well on my way
83. start working on my master's degree - i need to use my brain again
84. write a memoir book of my grandparents - spend some time with them recording stories and asking questions. You only get to have these special people in your lives for a short time.
85. finish the Christmas photos albums i started for mom and brad's mom
86. go on a date with my husband at least once a month - i said at least once a month
87. figure out a chore system that works - this would be wonderful
88. hold family home evening on a weekly basis - no excuse
89. take an annual girls trip - no kids allowed
90. go on a shopping spree - i have always thought that it would be fun. How much money does it take to call it a shopping spree?
91. learn Latin, or at least start
92. sell something on eBay - i don't care what, just something
93. plant Shasta daises all over the yard - heaven!
94. pour a cement driveway - the kids would have a place to ride their bikes and i would have one less place to pull weeds
95. put house numbers on the house and/or the mailbox - this might be appreciated by others
96. hang Christmas lights - i bought some this year
97. clean - detail - the van - we all know that it needs it
98. get over my fear of public speaking - i am not quite sure how to go about this one
99. write a children's book - a least a rough draft
100. learn to cook good Chinese food and throw a great Chinese New Year Party - wanna come Lex? There will be lots of rice.
101. give a Book of Mormon to a friend - i need to share what i love

Homeschooling at its best

Olivia loves that she now has a queen's chair to sit in while she does her work. I love the big table. We can eat at one end and work at the other. That is, unless we are spread out over the entire table with books. Then, we will just have to use the counter.

The beasts

Watch out, these ravens on steroids will eat your kids, and your garbage, and anything else you don't keep hidden away. They're HUGE! We don't need to be afraid of the grizzlies, moose, or wolves, we have ravens.

home sweet home

Well, not quite home sweet home, but our home away from home. We really are enjoying our house here. It is plenty big. I can send the kids into the basement when I need some quiet. And most importantly, the heat is included in the rent!

Grocery Shopping

I had to go to Grand Prairie the other day to take Brad's samples to the lab. It is a three hour drive each way and it makes for a very long day. It has worked out that we have had to go every other week. But we make the most out of it and go shopping. Grocery shopping included. In our tiny town of Tumbler Ridge, everything is SOOOOO expensive. I have had to give into the prices so that we could feed our family, but it hasn't been easy. Milk is $6.00 a gallon, cereal is about $7.00 a box, chicken runs $15.99 a pound, and a bag of 10 flour tortillas is $4.50. We have spent a lot of money on groceries. And then, to top everything off, you have to buy your plastic bags.

So, the other day we went to Grand Prairie and went to the Super Store for groceries. I was told that I would save money by shopping there because they sell things in bulk. Which also translates into: we will be buying in bulk, therefore spending a lot of money. At least we got more groceries than we would have at our local Shop Easy store. Milk was only $4.50 a gallon and that sounded great to me. It will be nice to get back to Colorado and pay $2.00. It will feel so cheap.

The carts are all locked up and you have to put a looney in to unlock them. A looney is a coin that is pretty much equivilant to one dollar. They also have toonies. (Real legitamate currancy!) These are two dollar coins. So you put your looney in and the cart unlocks. When you are finished shopping, you return your cart to the car port garage thingy and your looney spits back out when you lock it back up. I think that this is a great idea. You completely eliminate the job of the person that has to go around the parking lot collecting grocery carts. But, you can't be a dumb American girl who can't figure out how to unlock the stupid things. I got the kids out of the car. It is -10 degrees and the wind is blowing quite strongly. (we are on the praires at this time) I stand in the cart garage for about five minutes trying to figure them out while my children freeze. Finally, I give up, put the kids back into the car, and go to find someone in the parking lot that can teach this poor girl how to unlock the carts. I ask a lady who is loading her groceries into her car and she tells me that she will be over when she is done. In the meantime, I figure that I will give it another try. I go into a different cart garage and feel relief when I find a cart that was left unlocked. I have the kids back out of the car and into the cart by the time the lady comes to help.

Yesterday I went to library story time and talked to a girl about it that has become my friend. She laughed and laughed and then took me across the street to Shop Easy (everything is really close together in this town) to show me how to unlock the carts. It is quite easy!