bbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! it is cold

This weekend we had a bit of snow. Not as much as other places, but still enough. SNow for Halloween is just a little early. I think we got about 6 inches or so. When I woke up this morning it looked so crisp and beautiful, until I saw the thermometer at -15 Yikes it is cold. Apparently it is still warm out according to my husband. I can hardly wait until it says -40. Hope everyone back home is enjoying their fall, since I am in the middle of winter already. Trick or treating should be interesting this year. Everyone will be dressed up in the snow suits. Happy Halloween.

Skating

We have been going skating. The Taylor skating arena is awesome. There is a kids rink and a big rink. There is also a mini play area for the kids. It is such a great set up. Vayda is doing great at skating. She just started and she is really enjoying it. We signed her up for the Skating Club and so she goes 2 days a week. Yesterday was her first time, and she loved it. There are a couple of girls in the club who are in her class, which makes her really happy. She is home today, so we are going back to Taylor to go skating and then we get to go to the Gymnastics drop-in for Tessa this afternoon. SHould be another great day. Hope everyone has a good one too.

Our Girls

Just thought I would update my blog today. Some pics of the girls. We are doing pretty good. Vayda seems to be adjusting to school and our new life up here pretty well. She started a jazz class yesterday and she had so much fun. She was very nervous, but got through it. I am so proud of her cause there have been so many changes in our lives over the past month, actually over the past 10 months.

It actually started back in January, friends of my parents phoned us to see if we interested in buying their 2 acre lot in Summerland. John has always loved that lot and mentioned to them years ago that if they ever decided to subdivide to give us a call. We pretty much agreed to buy it over the phone we were so excited. Didn't know how we would do it all, but we were determined to and that is the reason we are now living in Fort St. John. Maybe doesn't make sense, but we decided we should make some money and go where the work is and than come back in a few years to build our dream house. So that is pretty much the reason we are up here.

So Vayda has had a lot changes happening, but the most important thing is that we are together as a family. We tried for John to work out of town and us stay in Summerland, but that really sucked. Atleast we can be together this way.

There are so many programs for the kids here in Fort St. John. Tessa is going to Gymnastics and Swimming. Vayda is doing skating and jazz and she also started sparks. We are trying to stay busy, cause John will be so busy this winter that we will need to have things to do. It is also a great way to for me to meet other moms. We have been so lucky, these past 9 years we have been in one place and we have met so many great people. We are used always doing things and visiting with other families. I am for sure missing that, but I know it won't be long and we will be meeting some more great people, and then we will be moving back to Summerland. lol.

Our good friends Jenn and Rob and their daughter Katie are also moving to Fort St. John. I can't wait. In three weeks they will be here. I am so excited, I just can't hide it. YEah!!! I will know someone, and not just anyone but one of my very best friends. Vayda and Katie are best of friends as well, so that works for all of us. Gives me a scrapbooking buddy and JOhn a hunting buddy (Rob). So good luck packing your house, and I can't wait to help you unpack when you get here.

So that is it, Hope everyone has a great weekend. We are going to sell Girl Guide Cookies and go swimming and skating. So we will have fun. Take care.

Winter morning

Winter has arrived.

The Peace

This summer we stayed at the Peace Island Park in Taylor. Which is about 15 km from Fort St. John. I am actually very proud of ourselves cause we lived in our 21 foot trailer without running water and without septic. We had to fill up water and dump the septic every 4-5 days as well as moving all around the campground cause people had reservations for certain spots. We spent about 7 weeks living the simple life. No TV, no computer, no phone (we did have a cell). We would go to swimming lessons everyday just so we could shower everyday. Oh yeah we did not have AC, which was hard cause in July they had very high temps, and it would not cool down until midnight or so. Everyday we would hang out at the Peace River or the Pine River. We collected so many rocks, we are rockaholics. When I drove home at the end of summer, my van was filled with rocks for our property back home. We figured it would be a neat idea to have Peace rocks at our property in Summerland. Vayda was so determined, she seriously would spend atleast an hour or two looking for rocks. The blue bridge in the pic above is the Taylor bridge. Everyday we would cross it to go to swimming lessons and Tessa would yell "I see the Peace, I see the Peace" She was so excited to see the Peace when we just came up 2 weeks ago. So slowly I am getting around to blogging about the summer. This summer was definitely a great experience for our family. We will remember it forever.

A visit with Uncle Andy

This past June John had to go to Nanaimo for a week of work, so we decided to go along with him. We were excited to stay at a hotel - The Howard Johnson. Sounds nice, well lets just say the pics of the hotel on the internet were a lot nicer than the hotel itself. Besides that we did have a great time.

The girls and I ventured out and surpised my brother Andy who lives and works at Capernwray - Thesis Island. I so miss my brother. I made sure he was there that day and it happened to be his day off. Everyone at Capernwray knew that we were there, expect for him. The reaction on his face was priceless when he saw Tessa and Vayda. The last thing he expected on his day off that his sister and nieces were going to surprise him. We had such a great visit with him. It is so beautiful on Thetis Island, I can understand why he lives there.

So here are some pics. Only 3 months after the fact. Better late than never. The rest of the week we did a lot of sightseeing and fun stuff. We loved the ocean and the goats on the roof at Kooms, and then Butterfly world was memorable as well. It sure was nice to go back home and sleep in our own beds.

Daddy's Girl

Well, Vayda and John sure had a great afternoon yesterday. They were gone for about 5 hours and came home with 2 grouse, which we then had for dinner last night.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Family and Friends.

This year Thanksgiving is a little different. Usually we go camping with a few other families and fry up a turkey and everyone brings dinner and we have our celebration out in the woods. We are going to have a very simple dinner today, just the four of us. We are so thankfull to be up here together as a family. This past year has been hard on us cause we would never know when we would see John again (work) We are so close, and it is so hard being apart. John is still going to go off to work (camp) but he will so much closer to us than if we were in the Okanagan. Even though it is hard being away from friends and family, it is harder being apart from my husband.

Yesterday we went to Hudson Hope to do some quading. So much fun. We found some sand pits to ride in, Vayda was in her glory just like her daddy. Tessa on the other hand still isn't too sure about the quad. She is so brave with lots of stuff, but when it comes to "noise" she freaks right out. Actually pretty funny. It was a beautiful day, and I took some really nice photos but I haven't found the cords I need to download the pics. You have got to love moving - not.

John and Vayda are going out to spend some time together this afternoon. They are going to get some chickens and go quading, so hopefully that is was we are having for dinner tonight. No pressure!!!!

Anyways, sure hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Be thankful for how much we have and the people we have in our life.

Thanks again for all the help we received from our family and friends during our move up here. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

We made it.

I can't believe it is Friday already. Our internet finally got hooked up today. Telus made a mistake and did not hook the internet up. Don't they know that living up here away from everything and everyone I know I am going to need internet.

Our trip was actually pretty good. We didn't leave Summerland until 3:00 in the afternoon on Monday. The girls did really well. Tessa even had a nap for up, almost 2 hours while Vayda watched movies. We made it to Quesnell at around 9:30, we stayed with our good friends Char-lynn and Jeremy. It was so nice to stay with them and to get to see them and their 3 kids. We got on the road again at around 10:30 am on Tuesday and we stopped at Costco in Prince George for some groceries. We made it to our new house at around 5 ish. A total of about 12 hours of driving.

Vayda started school on Wednesday morning. I stayed with her until 11:30. I think I was more worried and nervous than she was. She seems to like her new school, but is a little scared and nervous. She refused to bring Show and Tell cause she did not want to stand up and talk in front of everyone. Poor girl, I know it will take just a little while for her to get used to our new life up here, but it still breaks my heart to know that she had to leave all of her good friends behind. But before we know it we will be moving back to the not so cold Okanagan.

John has taken some time off so we can get settled in our new house, which is taken a long time. This place is huge compared to our place back home. I will post some pics this weekend.

Anyways, time to make some lunch. Just thought I would update everyone. Yes, we are doing just fine, happy to be together.