The Czech Canadian, Landed Immigrant and Girls

My Oma

2007-12-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it, blogging twice this week. I just wanted to blog about my Oma and post a few pictures of her. My Oma is almost 95 years old. When we went to Europe in September we got to see her. The girls loved her so much and John was so amazed with her. She is an amazing lady. I wish I could see her again soon. While we were in Holland we made sure we spend time with her everyday, and I know she loved it. She is moving into a Senior's home just before Christmas which I know will be so much better for her. I miss her so much, she is just such a wonderful lady and I enjoyed our visit so much. The hardest thing was to say goodbye, cause I don't know when we will be back in Holland. Vayda realized the same thing, so it was really emotional to say goodbye.

Our House

2007-12-03T17:06:00.001-07:00

Well, I am not sure who actually reads my blog, since I really haven't kept it up at all. But I am going to do an update anyways. It is already December, I can not believe how fast time is flying by. We are currently living at my parents house, waiting for our house to be done. Should be sometime in the middle of January. We should be able to move in early February. I can not stop thinking about our house. I am so excited. It will almost be a year since moving back to the Okanagan and a year since I have seen most of our stuff. We have a few things here, but everything else has been in storage. It will be like Christmas when we move in.

Everyday I am thankful that we moved back here to the Okanagan. You just don't realize what you have until you don't have it anymore. This is where our home is. Even on days like today. Our house is coming along very nicely. We started on our basement last week and already it is so exciting to the changes happening. From the digging to the footings. I can't hardly wait until they crane the house onto our basement. Should be quite the sight. I am attaching a few pics of the property just in case anyone is interested.

I will do some more posts in the next week or so. I promise.

Have a great soggy afternoon everyone.

Where have we been?

2007-11-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while. We have had a crazy busy summer and a crazy busy fall. I don't even know where to start. I guess I will start with our trip to Europe. We went to England and to Holland in September. My brother Andy got married over there and we had such a great time. The girls were both in the wedding party as well as John. I will be posting a few pics down below. The trip was amazing. The wedding was at a castle and it was so magical and perfect. After the wedding we went to London and then over to Holland to see all of my family. I was born over in Holland and we moved here to Canada when I was 13 years old. It was so amazing to show John and the girls where I was born and where I grew up. My Oma still lives in her own house and it was awesome to see her and her house. Everything was still in the same spot. John was blown away with my Oma, she is almost 95 and still lives on her own. The girls loved it there as well. We got to stay at my Aunt and Uncle's house and they really spoiled us. I was so excited to shop in Holland. Going to the grocery store was too much fun for me. I brought home a few groceries and I also bought some things for our new house including wallpaper. We were gone for 2 weeks and it sure was long enough. We were happy to be home again.

On the house front, our house is on order (Moduline) We should be in our house in January some time. If all goes well. Our basement should be poored in the next week or so. It is taking forever to get our building permit@!!!! I will post pics of when things start happening at the property.

Hope everyone is doing well. I will be posting more now that I have my computer again. We have been housesitting and haven't had my computer. Have a great week.

Our crazy summer

2007-08-15T10:57:00.000-06:00

I can not believe how fast this summer is just flying by. We have been going non stop. From home planning, camping, fihsing, work and now this week working at the campground. (my dad hurt his back so we have been helping out my mom) The kids are having such a blast down at the campground, they have met so many kids and at night never want to go home. I can't believe how much work running a campground is. I am blown away that my parents can do this on their own. Anyways this is not going to be long post, but I will be adding some pics of our beautiful girls. Hope everyone is having a great summer.

Finally I am posting a blog

2007-07-22T13:39:00.000-06:00

Well, we have been busy.
I can't believe it is almost the end of July. The summer is going way too fast. Which is kind exciting cause in September we get to go to Europe. I try not to think about it so much cause I get way too excited.
We are all doing really great, besides being so busy. John was home for a couple of weeks (well deserved) and we were able to go camping. I can not believe how good the girls are camping this year. So independent. We had such good quality family time when we went to McDonald lake for 5 days. The girls didn't want to go home, but we ran out of water and I really wanted to shave my legs. We were also able to go to the Boilermakers/Peerless Fishing Derby. We also had such a great time there. There even was a live band around the fire. We didn't catch any fish, but we still tried and had a great relaxing time. Right after we got home John went to a job and we are going to be joining him there. We can't wait. We also had some visitors from Fort St John. It was so nice seeing them and showing them around. The girls played hard. They are very tired.
We were also able to pick out a floorplan for our house and we are getting them drawn up right now. I can't believe we are actually going to be building a house. Anyways, I hope everyone's summer is going great. Hopefully we will get some summer weather soon.

I am back on line!!!

2007-06-04T14:02:00.000-06:00

I so missed having my computer. I can't believe I went this long without it. It's amazing how you get used to it. I certainly could have used it this weekend. Tessa has been sick all weekend and we have been stuck inside - during Action Fest. She is currently napping so I have been happily emailing and catching up on some blogs. It certainly will take some time to read everyone's blog.

Well a lot has happened since the last time I blogged. We are enjoying this hot weather and even more we are enjoying a/c in our house. I can't believe what a difference it makes, on how cranky I used to be when it would be this hot. One really exciting thing that happened last week was that VAyda turned 7. I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. She is the most amazing kid ever. A bit of a dreamer, but the most thoughtfull child. She was pretty sad that John couldn't be there for her birthday, but he made up for it by getting flowers delivered to her classroom. She felt so special. On the way to the birthday party she said "I don't need any presents, I am just so happy that daddy sent me these flowers". Ofcouse I started to cry.

For VAyda's birthday party I let her pick out who she wanted there and she wrote out all of the invitations by herself. It is so hard when it comes to deciding who is coming and who is not, cause feelings get hurt among the classmates. Thank goodness I had help at the party cause I coudn't have done it alone. Everyone had a great time. The time flew by. It sure was a lot of work and I was tired that night.

Anyways, I am leaving it at that today, cause I have already been on the computer for way too long. Hope everyone is well, I certainly am cause I have my computer up and going. Did I mention that I am happy to my internet working. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another exciting thing, VAyda finally lost her front tooth. yeah.

MothersDay

2007-05-14T11:56:00.000-06:00

Certainly hope everyone had a wonderful Mothersday. I sure did. It started out Friday night when John had beautiful flowers sent to me and also for my mom. What a nice suprise!!! Then on Saturday evening my mom and I went for Dinner to Earls and went to the Movies. We watched "Georgia Rule". It was a really good movie, there were only 10 people in total in the theatre. On Sunday morning I woke up to Breakfast in Bed. The girls and my dad did such a great job, it was very special. Ofcouse would have been better if John were here but we still had a great day. We also got to go to Steve and Sandra's for lunch and then we had a nice afternoon at home. Then ofcourse the Survivor season finale. I certainly hope Dreamz can live with himself. I can not believe that he did not keep his word. I am glad Earl won, eventhoug Yau Man was my favourite. Then to top it off this morning all my stamps were delivered. I get to play!!!!!!!

Have a great week everyone. I am going to be without computer for a few days, so we will catch up when I get a chance.

I am sewing

2007-05-08T23:51:00.000-06:00

I just started sewing this week. With John away I thought I needed another project. So my mom is teaching me how to sew. I started with a pretty hard project - a dress for Vayda's birthday. It is looking so nice, I will post a picture very soon. I also made a pair of pajama pants for her last night. I think this could be another addiction.

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The other interesting thing is Facebook. It sure is interesting in finding out what everyone is up to these days.

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Vayda couldn't fall asleep tonight, which is so unusual for her. I think because we had such a great afternoon - we went to a family friends house to look at their horses. They have miniature horses and also regular horses. Vayda is so excited about horses, it is her newest obsession. She is already planning out where our horses will be on our property.

Anyways she thinks because her birthday is coming up at the end of the month she is getting growing pains. lol. So funny cause she thinks that the night before her birthday she is going to have really really bad growing pains. So cute the way they think sometimes.

What's new

2007-05-05T12:54:00.000-06:00

Well, two weeks have gone by almost since my last post. Let's see, we have been busy. Imagine that. We have accomplished so much at the property over the past few weeks. I am now addicted to peeling logs. What a good feeling it is to be at our property working away. We just love it out there. John rented a bobcat for a couple of days and he got so much cleared out and cleaned up. This week we will be getting our water hooked up. I can't hardly wait until we will be living out there. We have been going to through house plan magazines non stop. It is so overwelming.

Last weekend we had a great time, we got up to go garage sailing in the morning, and then watched soccer and we were able to work at our property and go golfing with Steve and Sandra. We had such a blast. It was such a beautiful day out and a good thing no one was behind us, cause we were a little slow. Then we grabbed a bite to eat. Nice to get some grown up time while John is home. On Sunday we had another great day. John was able to go out hiking with Adrian, they came home with a few sheds. This week went by really fast, Vayda is really enjoying school. I can't believe how well she is doing. Tessa and I have been helping with hot lunch every Friday which is so great cause we get to sit and have lunch with Vayda's class. They both think it is really special.

On Wednesday I went up to Kelowna with Heidi to pick up my Permanent Resident card. Yeah, I can offically return to Canada when we go away this fall.

We also were able to book our flight for Europe this week. We are so excited, I can't wait. We have hotels booked as well.

John will be on his way to work today, hopefully the next while will go by as fast as the past few weeks.

Hopefully everyone is doing well, we certainly are.

Hello Everyone!!!

2007-04-20T22:51:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

I know I said I would post again soon, but I still don't have my computer set up, so I guess the blogging will just have to be once in a while. This week has been crazy again.

The girls seem to be adjusting quite well. Vayda is getting used to her new teacher, and trying to fit in with everyone. Tessa is enjoying the park and going to Tumble time and spending time with friends and ofcourse Opa and Oma. So nice to enjoy the outdoors. I love it I love it.

I have been going to step/ball classes at the gym and playing ball every once in a while. Thanks goodness for my parents cause John's been away for work.

This week we also did a photo shoot at Heidi's house and I just love the pics so much. I am going to Costco tomorrow to get them developed. I am going to post them even though Heidi has them posted on her blog.

Hope that everyone has a great weekend. We know we sure will.

I am Back!!!!

2007-04-09T22:37:00.000-06:00

Well, it has been about two weeks since my last post. I can't believe this is post # 100. Time flies. We are back in the sunny Okanagan and so happy. Life is good. I guess you don't realize how good things are until you go away and then come back. Family, friends and beautiful scenery. What else can you ask for.

So much has happened in the past couple weeks. The drive down was really good, the girls did awesome. Even without movies. My dad came up and drove the U-haul down eventhough he wasn't feeling good. Our friends Dwila and Curtis were a really great help for us. Dwila took the girls and Curtis helped John and my dad fill up the U-haul. Thanks so much to your family, we appreciate it very much. Our girls miss your girls so much. We hope to see you this summer. Denean, you and your sister are really good friends, we are going to miss you guys so much.

The day after we arrived Vayda started soccer which she enjoyed so much. It sure was nice to see everyone at the soccer field. We unpacked a few things that afternoon (Thanks dad for your help) That evening we went and had a hotdog roast out in the bush with Steve and Sandra (so glad we can do that again) It sure is nice, the girls love the outdoors. On Sunday we unpacked the U-haul (thanks to Steve and Sandra)

Vayda started school on Monday morning and she had a big smile on her face when I picked her up in the afternoon. Vayda loves being back here in the Okanagan.

On Wednesday we received a phone call from my brother Andy. He announced that he is getting married to Amie. (check out her blog - I don't know how to do the link) They are getting married in September in England, so we are all going on a trip to England. We are so excited and happy for them. Yeah!!!!!!

During the week last week we unpacked and re packed to go camping. We left on Thursday afternoon and came home on Sunday afternoon. We had such a blast. The girls played all weekend. Only stopped to go to the bathroon and eat, and ofcourse bedtime.

It was so nice to go camping with all of our good friends. We all just relaxed while the kids played. It was John's birthday on Friday so we celebrated it out in the woods.

I took some really good pics this weekend, but I don't have my computer hooked up yet, so it will have to wait. I haven't blogged for so long, but I am going to catch up with everyone now that I have some time (thanks to my mom's computer)

Hope everyone is doing well.

We have a solution

2007-03-27T08:56:00.000-06:00

It's amazing that things always work out. My dad was supposed to be flying into Grand Praire today but instead I re-booked his flight and he is now flying into Prince George. From there he is going to drive the U-haul up here. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Dad! We so appreciate it.

Ontop of all that we all have colds. John went to work today, which is great except we didn't have a great night sleep. The air is very dry here, so our throats are very dry and sore. Thank goodness for the humidifier we have in the girls' room.

Today is going to be hectic, I am just trying to pack up the last few things and go on the hunt for more boxes. I have done a lot of the cleaning which is good cause we are running out of time. Yeah!! This will be my last post until I get home. Funny thing cause this is Post #99, I can't believe I have posted that many times. Hope everyone has a great week.

What Luck

2007-03-26T16:20:00.000-06:00

Well, I thought our move was going pretty well until I decided to check on our U-haul rental. There are no trucks available in Fort St John or anywhere else for that matter. The closest would be Prince George. Half way home!!!!! I just have to vent, cause it never fails. I know a year from today it won't matter but right now it does.

No one at U-Haul told us about this two weeks ago when I made the reservation, and they are not concerned about it at all. THe lady here at Fort St John said she had 15 calls for trucks today. I can't understand why they wouldn bring trucks up North. Everyone is trying to move away from this muddy dirty place (can't blaim them). Can you tell I am a bit bitter. I can't wait for green grass and spring.

Wow I am impressed!

2007-03-26T09:03:00.000-06:00

Beth got it right. It is the guy on the Canadian Tire money. John was playing around with my new Whale of a punch, and he punched him out of a 5 cent canadian tire bill. He thought it would be fun to see if anyone would recognize him and then a person from Whales recognizes him. We are very impressed. Hope everyone has a great day.

Who is this Guy?

2007-03-25T09:56:00.000-06:00

Just though we would do something different. Trivia time. Who is this guy in the picture. Take a guess. I didn't know how to crop the picutre but if you click on it it gets much larger.

Now I know my ABC's

2007-03-20T09:06:00.000-06:00

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

More snow and cold...

2007-03-14T11:30:00.000-06:00

I don't know when this is going to end. Again for the past few mornings we are waking up with more snow. We are supposed to be going toboganning with Vayda's class this afternoon. But this morning it was -17 with a windchill of -26. Yikes. It is supposed to warm up to -6, but with that windchill it is so much colder than that.

We are pretty much counting down the days here. I will be so glad to be back home in the Okanagan, where I heard the other day it was 15 above. When I told Vayda that it was -17 this morning she said "that's not so bad Mom" I guess we are really used to the cold.

We aren't sure of the exact date when we will be moving but it can't come soon enough. Eventhough I have met two really nice ladies with kids the exact same age as our girls, and I know our girls are going to miss them so much. I can't wait to have coffe at the park with everyone back home. Yeah!!!!

It sure isn't the same as the Okanagan. I can't wait to go for a nice walk and a bike ride. Maybe go for a hike or go camping in the woods. I can't wait to be able to go to the grocery store and get what ever I need and more. A bakery would be nice, since there are only Grocery store bakery's. To have Costco only a short drive away is going to be heavenly, and ofcourse the Mediteranean Market. But most of all I am excited about being back with all of my friends and family, and to be able to enjoy our property.

One of the things that I have learned up here, is that there is no need to go shopping all of the time. We used to buy things for our girls here and there and we would buy things that we really didn't need. My prove was when I donated a bunch of toys to the free store at the Alliance Church yesterday - toys they didn't play with anyways. We have learned to really make our money last and not spend when we don't need. Our girls have learned it as well, cause we can now go to Wal-mart and they don't even ask to go the toy section. They have been so good with not asking us for anything. We are so proud of them. Vayda even wants to give us her money so it can help build our house.

Guess what is just stopped snowing!!! Finally I get to go and shovel the drive way again. Everytime I shovel, I think this may be the last time I shovel this year. Maybe today will be the last day, keeping my fingers crossed.

I read this last night, and it made me feel really good.

"You are so much more than you think you are!
Admit it:
Sometimes you compare yourself to others and feel like you fall short. But you are far more capable, beautiful, compassionate and gifted than you give yourself credit for. In fact, you're the kind of person other people think "wow" about! Face it: You're wonderful!"

Hope everyone has a great day. I made a mistake it is still snowing. Blah!

Today our Baby turned 3

2007-03-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast these past three years have flown by. Tessa is our baby and now she is already a preschooler. Tessa is such a special and funny little girl. She makes us laugh everyday. She is smart and cute and has her own opinion about everything. Her favourite saying is "no, I do it myself". She is grown up in so many ways since she is always trying to keep up with her sister. For the longest time I would aks her how old she was and her answer would be "six" (like Vayda). Today we have gymnastics and we are going to see a drama presentation at the Cultural Centre. We are going out for dinner to "Pizza Boston". Happy 3rd Birthday my sweet girl, hope all your dreams come true.

Pics of our adorable kids

2007-03-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

We are Packing

2007-02-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would let everyone know that we are packing. We are so excited to be moving back. John is going to be mainly working away from home so why bother being up here where there is not really that much to do and I don't really know anyone. I can't hardly wait. The girls are thrilled as well. Eventhough we have met some really nice people here, there is no place like home. I am very glad we did move up here though, cause if we hadn't we would have always wondered. I am excited to get back to some normal weather though. I have had enough of this cold and snowy winter. We are going to be living at my parents place cause they are working down at the Campground again this year. We are giving our notice as of March 1, so we will be arriving during Spring Break sometime. I guess I will see most of you then.

My latest Scrapbooking projects

2007-02-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well, there is really nothing to do here. Another cold and snowy weekend an week. We are actually getting pretty tired of all of this snow. It is pretty frustrating when we have property back home we can be working on.

Anyways,I have been able to do some scrapbooking these days. It's funny cause for the longest time I really wanted a scrapbooking room, now that I have one I don;t want to be down there by myself, so I brought my stuff upstairs and I am actually fisishing some projects.

The first two layouts look the same but one is for Vayda's book and the other goes with the other page for our book. I borrowed Heidi's idea for the frame thing, and I made a paperbag book for Jodi. Hope everyone has a great day.

Happy Birthday

2007-02-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my niece's 13th Birthday. I can't believe Aliah is already a teen. Time flies. She is such a beautiful girl and she is so talented just like her mom.
I don't know how to do the link but check out their site - Kelly -

We also had another birthday in our family yesterday. My Oma who lives in The Netherlands turned 94 yesterday. All of our family got together for a party like they do every year. One of these times we would love to join them. I haven't seen my Oma for over 5 years. She met Vayda when she was just about one, but she has never met Tessa. When Tessa is a little older we will be going over to Europe for a vacation. John's family lives over in Czech Republic, so we will have lots of visiting to do.

Today is another beautiful day in Fort St John. Sunny like always, only about -10 or so. I had to again dig my way out of my driveway this morning. More snow again.

John left for camp on Friday morning to help out his buddy Dale. They didn't have cell service so I didn't talk to him Friday night - which really sucks. It is always a relieve when they call from camp, cause you never know where they will have service.

So John had been waiting to get called out for a few weeks now, and guess what, he received two calls yesterday for work. With no cell service there was no way to get a hold of him. Bad timing, but maybe this means there is going to be more work. He might be home tonight, not too sure.

Us girls had a night out last night. We went to Jen and Katie's house for a Spice Party. The kids all played downstairs and us ladies were upstairs eating. Can't get better than that.

Jen and I are taking the girls skating this afternoon, which should be fun. Tonight is a good tv night, cause Funniest Home Videos and Extreme Home makeovers is on. yeah.

The pictures I attached - John took, and I was very impressed with them. Good thing he has a camera in his truck. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

A few things that happened this week

2007-02-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

Example of how cute our kids are:

Example of a small world:

On Monday morning while driving around JOhn noticed a logging truck with a low tire. He chased after him to get his attention and he pulled over. When driving away JOhn noticed a drawer from a bed-toolbox in the middle of the road. Everyone was driving around it so John pulled over and picked it up. When he arrived home he put an ad in the paper and on the radio. When we arrived home from skating last night he received a call regarding the tool box. He asked some specific questions to make sure if it was the owner of the tools. Then he asked him his name and he said Ian Young, John asked you mean Ian Young who works for Patch Point? (Where John usually works) He said Yeah! Too funny right, well it gets even better cause Ian Young's brother used to be married to John sister Marcella who lives in Dawson Creek.

Example of how people will try anything:

Last night at skating everyone was dressed in pink so I had decided I should take my camera. After getting the girls off the ice it was very hectic like always. John put the camera right beside VAyda on the bench. I went with Tessa to bring her name tag to the coaches. When I arrived back to the benches I noticed John grabbing our camera out of this ladies hand. I didn't know what was going on until John told me about it upstairs. She had grabbed our camera and was planning on walking out with it, until John noticed it and he grabbed it back while saying "excuse me that it is mine" I wish I would have noticed and knew what was going on cause I would have said something and probably embarrassed her. I just think she needs to know that that is not acceptable. I can't believe anyone would even attempt to do anything like that.

Where do I start

2007-02-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

I guess I will start of saying that we are all doing pretty well here in Fort St John. Better now that we are feeling better. On Monday evening I started feeling not so great. I thought it was something that I ate. But then after Katie was dropped off on Tuesday morning the fun started. John started his Air Brakes Course that day so I was on my own. Thank goodness that the girls played really well, and after John got home at 5 I was off to bed. Then later that evening it hit John pretty hard. All night puking, the runs, and aches and pains. He had to stay home from his Air Brakes Course, and ofcourse he got a call for work that morning. We were both in no shape to take care of our kids, but with thanks to Jen we were able to get through the day.

By the next day we were some what better and so far the kids have not gotton sick yet. (knock on wood) It sure is a good thing we were better cause Fort St John is hosting the Northern BC Games this weekend, and we have 2 billets staying at our place. Brittney and Laine are Basketbal players from Vander Hoof. Our girls have been so excited to have them stay with us. We watched their games and cheered them on, they got 3rd place. It sure has been interesting having these girls stay with us. I am so happy that they are good girls, you just never know who will come and stay with you when you sign up for billeting. Tomorrow they are on their way home, after spending the whole morning with us. It sure has been interesting to watch the different sports going on. Vayda had yesterday off so we could watch the sports going on. Their favourites are Skating and Gymnastics. They did really well sitting through a whole entire Basketball game yesterday.

Vayda and Tessa are doing really good. They are both still enjoying gymnastics and skating. I can't believe how much they have learned already. They got to watch their skating coachs' skate today in the Winter Games which was really neat. Vayda is doing really well in school. Her favourite thing to do is reading. She is getting so good at it. Yesterday she read a whole novel by herself in her room on her bunkbed. Math on the other hand is a little harder for her, we are trying to do a lot of it at home, which is making a bit of a difference. She also has lossed another tooth, and two more loose ones on the top as well.

Tessa is her cute little self. Her hair is long enough to put it in a pony again, which she seems to like. She loves to sing along with the Karaoke or in the shower. She is actually pretty good with her little accent.

John and I are doing well. We are very frustrated living here in Fort St John though. Work has been very slow, since apparantly the Oil companies cut back on the drilling (atleast that is what everyone is saying). John mostly has been working for one company and apparantly not even all of the regulars have been working either. John is mostly a structural welder, he hasn't really been giving the opportunity to do pipe yet, which is very frustrading for him. Cause how do you learn if you don't get a chance. So every morning he goes aroung and checks to see if there is work, and comes home dissapointed and frustrated. I don't know how he can even still get up in the morning and make his rounds, cause I would have given up weeks ago. I have so much respect for him, and feel so bad for him. John is a great and talented welder, which is what the dispatcher says at his work, but they are just lacking work. We just can't stand this life style though, not knowing if you are going to work, and when you are going to get work. Part of it also is who you know.

So we are trying to figure stuff out here. Don't know what is happening yet, or where we are going, or if we are going! But one thing is for sure, I am so proud of my husband. He is so smart, strong and he is the best dad and the greatest husband. We have spend so much good quality time together over the past few weeks. We will figure out what we are supposed to be doing and where we are supposed to be going. I just want to know now, and I know that is not how it works in this world. I don't want any one feeling sorry for us, cause we have two beautiful girls and a wonderful marriage. We just had so many hopes for coming up here and they are not working out how we planned, but then again we don't get to make our plan. I don't consider moving up here a mistake by any means, it just is another adventure in our life. We have done some things up here that we never would have experienced other wise.

Again I am not saying we are moving but we are in the middle of figuring things out, or atleast attempting to. We are in need of some happy thoughts, you don't have to leave a comment, but just think a happy thought for us. Thanks so much for reading. I think this is the first time I am actually just typing on and on, so I hope I didn't bore anyone.

I am currently reading "Don't sweat the small stuff, it is all small stuff". Kind of puts thing into perspective. These are some quotes from the book.

"Surrender to the fact that life isn't fair. One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It's not and it won't. When we make this mistake we tend to spend a lot of time wallowing and/or complaining about what's wrong with life. We commiserate with others, discussing the injustices of life. 'It's not fair', we complain, not realizing that, perhaps, it was never intented to be."

"The fact that life isn't fair doesn't mean we shouldn't do everything in our power to improve our own lives or the world as a whole. To the contrary, it suggests that we should. When we don't recognize or admit that life isn't fair, we tend to feel pity for others and for ourselves. Pity, of course, is a selfdefeating emotion that does nothing for anyone, except to make everyone fell worse that they already do. When we do recognize that life isn't fair, however, we feel compassion for others and for ourselves. And compassion is a heartfelt emotion that delivers loving-kindness to everyone it touches."

My goal is to post some more quotes over the next little while. This book really makes you think. So hope that everyone has a great weekend, and give your loved ones lots of hugs and kisses, and remember don't sweat the small stuff.

What happens when mom is Scrapbooking downstairs!!!!!

2007-02-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

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Misc. Pics

2007-01-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures of the girls. The last two are of Vayda I just found them on my computer and I just love those pics. The middle pic is of Charlie Lake here in Fort St John. John went Ice Fishing and took some beautiful pics. Hope everyone is doing well, sorry for the lack of blogging.

We saw it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-21T22:32:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty exciting day for us here in the North. This morning we took it easy and just hung out, typical Sunday morning. Just after lunch we went out with a friend of ours to where she keeps her horses. It was a pretty mild day, a little windy but we really enjoyed ourselves. The girls had fun seeing the horses and doing some toboganning.

On our way back to town, we saw it! With that I mean the Albino Moose! It is rare and pretty special to actually see it. I wasn't able to post the zoomed in picture, but you should be able to see it. I am also attaching some pics of when we were with the horses. Also attached is a picture of Vayda and her friend Kristen and Tessa with her friend Erin. Vayda and Kristen are in the same grade 1 class and Erin and Tessa are the same age as well. Hopefully everyone else had a great weekend as well.

High on Ice

2007-01-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

I just posted a post but it ended up down a ways I don't know why but there is a new post. You should check it out cause it is pretty good.

Baby

2007-01-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

When we were in line at Wal-Mart the other day there was a lady with her baby behind us. Tessa of course has to look and right away she always says "oh, that baby is so cute" She loves babies. She loves holding them even more, I did post the perfect example of how tickled she is when holding babies. The baby she is holding is Lauren - Vicky's little bundle of Joy.

When we got into the van this was our conversation:

Tessa - "Mom, can we buy a baby?

Mom - laughing

Dad - "I guess that would be the only way we could have another baby"

Mom - "Tessa, where could we buy a baby from?

Tessa - "from Wal-Mart"

She thinks we can buy everything at Wal-Mart, I just thought it was the cutest conversation. She was so serious about it too, which makes it even funnier.

By the way babies are on back order here in Fort St John, just like everything else I need. lol

Night at the Spa

2007-01-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

The other night I decided to do a mask and my husband actually joined me. I think we look pretty good. When the girls first saw this picture they cracked up.

High on Ice

2007-01-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was "High on Ice" here in Fort St John. It is an ice carving competition and they have lots of things for families to do. There was a tobogan race, ice fishing derby, snowmobile show, and sleigh rides. And of course many sculptures to admire.

The sculptures were amazing, there were competitors from Russia and the States and of course local talent as well. The castle pictures was actually a maze where the kids could go and play in. We have never seen anything like it.

Being up here in the North is pretty awesome. There are things we have done now that I don't think we would have experienced in Summerland. Although I miss everyone at home, it is nice to start feeling more comfortable here in Fort St John. The one really great thing is that most days it is very sunny out. Like today we are going to meet the Funks to go skating on an outside rink. I will be taking some pics and posting them shortly. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Dog Sledding in the North

2007-01-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

Last Weekend we went to the Dog Sled Races at Peace Island Park in Taylor. It was so much fun. We had never been to anything like that before so it was quite the experience. The dogs were so excited and loud.

Vayda at the Dog Sled Races

Tessa at the Dog Sled Races

Ready, Set, Go.....

The Peace River

Blizzard....

2007-01-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

and I don't mean one from Dairy Queen. The weather is ablsolutely crazy here. The snow hasn't stopped and the wind is out of control. Everything is pretty much shut down for the day. When John dropped Vayda off at school she was the 4th child to arrive in her classroom. I would have kept her home expect she wanted to go cause there was a special concert today.

There are 10 foot snow drifts and people stuck everywhere. I couldn't even get my van out of the garage this morning because of the snowdrifts in front of the garage. John took a little video yesterday afternoon, so I am trying the dropshots thing for the first time thanks to my sister-in-law Kelly. So here it goes. By the way it is a shivering -42 (windchill) here today.

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Friend

2007-01-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

A friend is like a good bra.
Hard to find.
Supportive.
Comfortable.
Always lifts you up, never lets you down and never leaves you hanging.
And is always close to your heart.

Thought it was appropriate when I saw this today.
Hope I put a smile on everyone's face.

Happy New Year Everyone

2007-01-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

We are home, it sure is nice to be home in our place. We had a really good time back in Summerland. It was so nice to see everyone. It was very busy.

Thanks to Mom and Dad for the stay. We had a great time. It is nice to go away, but always feels good to sleep in your own bed.

The girls were so good for us. We spend the night in a Hotel which was a real hit with the girls. The drive was clear except for the Pine pass (of course). We only saw a few deer and a few moose.

We arrived home on New Years Eve, and we were way too tired to join the Funks, but we went there last night and had dinner and played some poker. We will be going over there later to go quading.

Hopefully everyone had a fun and safe New Years Eve, and I sure hope that everyone has a fantastic 2007.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas to everyone. Sure hope everyone has a great time with their loved ones. We are enjoying our time with our friends and family back home in the Okanagan. There won't be much blogging in the next little while but I will start again next year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from our Family to yours.

OOOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-12-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

John claims it wasn't his fault, he says the grader didn't do a good job.

SOLD

2006-12-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I actually haven't blogged about this before. We bought our first place just after we got married in 1997, we got to move in just before Christmas. I loved this place, John worked so hard at making our place just how we wanted it. We renod pretty much everything. Just as we finished the basement we decided that maybe we would buy some property. We lived in this house for 9 years, and we have so many awesome memeries living there. The only thing I didn't like about this place is that it was right in the middle of town. A really nice couple bought our place, it is their first home. We sold it in November so this post is a little late.

Happy Birthday

2006-12-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

I am having a fight with Blogger this morning. I have the best picture of my sister in law Kelly and Blogger won't let me post it. (I don't even know how to do the link to her blog). Besides that I would like to wish Kelly a very Happy Birthday today. Hope that you are having a great day. Can't wait to see you at Christmas time.

Also, I would like to wish my good friend Heidi a Happy Birthday as well. Her birthday was yesterday. Hope you had a fantastic day and I also can't wait to see you at Christmas time.

__________________

Another fight that I am having with blogger is with the new beta blogger thing. I am so confused with the whole thing. Anytime I am trying to leave a comment it seems to lose it and I have to re sign in. I don't know why things have to be so complicated, I just want to leave comments and read blogs.

Today it is snowing again here in Fort St. John (imagine that). It is actually pretty warm out, I think around -9. It is amazing how you just get used to the cold. When it is -20 I don't even have to wear a hat or gloves cause it just doesn't seem too cold, not like -35.

We are all doing good, I have been able to go to the gym these past couple weeks with Jennifer(again would like to the link but I don't know how) it sure is nice to work out and have some adult conversations. We have been trying the daycare thing at the gym, which is going ok. I was able to leave Tessa for about 15 min last time. Jenn and I have been switching off with staying with the girls. This week has been great though cause John has been home for a couple of days so we could go without kids. Some exciting news. The other day when Jenn and I were going to the gym we were behind a class when signing in. They were there to play Wallyball. When we got up to the counter to sign in, the lady said "hold on let me get you another ball" and she took off. When she returned she tried giving me the wallyball. We had to tell her that we were not in Grade 10, we are actually 30 years young. We sure felt good about ourselves, I still can't believe that she thought we were in Grade 10.

Another excting thing is that we have found a show that Tessa will watch. Dragon Tales!!! She also loves Dora, but doesn't watch it like she watches Dragon Tales. SHe actually will sit and watch the whole show, I am so impressed. The other thing that she is doing so well at is puzzles. I just bought her a Back Yardigan's 15 piece and she can do it all by herself. She is so cute I can't even stand it. We are signing her up for skating in January. She will be going skating the same time as Vayda just for 1/2 hour though (which is more than enough)

That is it for today. Have a good day everyone.

Finally my "100"

2006-12-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well here it goes

I was born in Harlingen, Friesland in The Netherlands
I was born at home
Moved to Canada in 1989 when I was 13 years old
I did not know how to speak English when I moved to Canada
I was a gymnast and I still love gymnastics
I have two brothers
I liked going to school, I had a lot of fun
I have a lot of good friends who I miss so much
I met John when I was 17
John was 20 (an older man)
We have been married for 9.5 years. We have been together for 13.5 years
We got married on the exact day that we met - August 30
Our first baby was Oakley (dog)
He is not with us anymore I miss him very much
I gave birth to two beautiful girls
Vayda Emily and Tessa Marketa
Both girls came 3 weeks early
When Vayda was 1 we moved to Boston, MA for a year
We lived in Boston during Sept. 11. It was a bit hectic there, since all the planes were from Logan Airport
I met a lot of very nice people there from all over
I learned to understand the Boston accent
I went to a Red Sox game (on my list to do's)
I love White Chocolate
I love my husband
I love my kids
I used to eat wheat
Now I am trying not to eat wheat, sugar or dairy. It is hard but I am feeling much better
I love reading with my girls
I love snuggling with my husband
I love Costco
I love Grimms Turkey Pepperoni
I love Mint Baileys on ice
I enjoy going to the gym
I miss pilates, there is no one who teaches it in Fort St. John
We just moved from Summerland to Fort St. John
We are moving back to Summerland in a few years
We bought 2 acres on the back road to Princeton. Where we will be building our house
I love the outdoors
I go hunting with my husband
I love going into the woods and sit around a campfire with our friends
I love making smores
I love going camping
I swam with dolphins (on my list to do's)
I like watching Young and the Restless
The Amazing Race is my favourite show
Survivor is another favourite
I like being in control
I love watching our girls sleep
I enjoy scrapbooking
I love talking on the phone
Cajun Chicken Caesar salad from Earls is my favourite meal
I worry a lot, I need to learn how not to worry so much
I love getting flowers
My husband is watching me type this right now
I love diamonds
I love presents
He is currently smiling
I don't know how to bake
I grew up in a bakery (my dad is a baker)
Even with a bread maker I can't make a proper loaf of bread
I love taking pictures of our kids, they hate it
I love coffee
I love Sandra's Cheesecake and her cooking which I miss so much
I actually enjoy doing laundry and cleaning
I love Gouda Cheese - Wholesale is the cheapest place to buy it
I know how to play the flute
I want to learn how to play the guitar
When the girls are a bit older I will be taking lessons
I can't live without my Magic Bullet
I try to be on time usually, but does not seem to happen
I want to take our girls to The Netherlands to meet our family
I am addicted to Quaker Crispy Minis
I eat a lot of eggs
I love the movie Beauty and the Beast, I know all the words
I would like to be a teacher
I will be going back to school when Tessa is older
I used to work as a Office Administrator at a Construction Company before kids
I am allergic to cats
I am scared of mice - which is so silly I know
I love going out with grown ups
I cry everytime I watch Extreme Homemakeovers
I want to help build a house in Mexico with our girls
I like dipping french fries in Mayonaise
I love salty liquorce
White Spot honey mustard is my favourite
I love staying at home with our girls
I feel very fortunate to be able to stay at home with our girls
I love the computer, would not want to be without it
I am very thankful for all the at I have and for our health
I am a private person
I have learned a lot about people this year, more than ever before
I miss everyone back home in Summerland
I love buying presents for people
I love wathcing our girls on Christmas morning
I am very forgetfull
I don't like saying "no" I need to learn how to say "no"
I like reading Woman's World
I just started reading books
I like Granny Smith apples
I can't believe I just made it to 100, cause I wasn't going to do this list, and now I am finished it.

Happy Birthday Jennifer

2006-12-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

Happy 30th Birthday Jennifer. Hope you have a fantastic Day.

Love,

Jolanda

Cold

2006-11-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

John left yesterday for Spirit River (AB) for the week for a job. When he phoned me this morning he said it was very cold. By coffee they actually shut down the job cause it was -47 (yikes). Even the steel was breaking it was so cold. He'll be on his way again at 5:30 tomorrow morning to try again. I never thought it actually would get this cold. I know I keep blogging about the weather, I promise I will be posting about something more exciting soon.

Also this is a picture at one of the lease's John was at a couple of weeks ago. I just love that shot. The other is just another job site he was. For those of you who don't know what he does, John is a welder. He has his own company named TEVA Welding Ltd. (TE from Tessa and VA from Vayda). He mostly works out in the oil patch here in Fort St John. He is really enjoying his work. I don't know how he does it. He is pretty amazing cause he never complains. I do enough complaining for the both of us.

Christmas Party

2006-11-27T21:32:00.000-07:00

On Saturday evening, John and I went to the Patch Point Christmas party. We didn't think we were going to a Christmas party this year cause John now is a sub-contractor. I was so excited when we were invited cause this meant a night out for us. John's sister came from Pouce Coupe (just outside of Dawson Creek) to watch the girls for us.

We ended up sitting at a table with normal people (you just never know who you end up sitting with). We had so much fun, we laughed a lot and ate good food. By the end of the night we were invited to learn how to two step, and to a pot luck supper on Friday evening. I am so happy that we ended up going to the party cause we probably would not have met all those nice people.

It is still really cold here. There was a windchill warning today. They were saying that frost bite could happen within minutes, Yikes. John was working in a heated shop for a few days, but now he is back outside, I certainly wouldn't be able to do that. He said it was -37 without the windchill today. It seems funny that everything just keeps going when it is that cold, including everyone's vehicles. By the end of the week it is supposed to be getting a bit warmer, -20 ish.

I am starting the countdown until Christmas. I really enjoy being up here, but I sure miss everyone back home. Hope that everyone had a good weekend.

Yep it is cold here!!!

2006-11-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

We just checked the weather at the Airport and it is -34 with a windchill of -47
Yikes. Our Thermometer says -34. Yep it is cold, I don't think we will be going out today.
Have a good day everyone.

My cousins wedding

2006-11-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

Vayda just before going down the Aisle

Veronica, Tessa and Vayda just after the Wedding

Tessa Cute little hands and basket

Walking down the Aisle

___________________________

Our girls did such an amazing job. The wedding was beautiful. These pics were taking by the photographer, that is why I am just posting them now. The wedding was 2 days before we moved to Fort St. John, so things were a little hectic in our household. But everything turned out just perfect. Veronica looked so stunning and my cousing looked very handsome. They live in Toronto, but are originally both from Summerland. Again congratulations to the both of them, and many years of happiness.

my poor husband

2006-11-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

So I have been complaining of how cold it is and I am inside pretty much all day. My poor husband has to work out in this weather for 12 hours. It is even colder where he is, with the windchill and all. From now on I am going to stop complaining, cause it is not going to get any warmer any time soon. Thank you John for working so hard in the freezing cold weather. I seriously couldn't do it.

holy crap it is cold

2006-11-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

I know I could be posting this every day this up coming winter, but I am still having to get used to the weather up here. It is cold this morning. Around -21 but then there is the windchill of -31. How much fun. The 3 blocks I could walk Vayda to school, I am now driving. I know it is even going to get colder but I think it is pretty cold already. Hope everyone has a great day.

just another day in paradise (lol)

2006-11-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well, we have had such a great weekend with parents. It sure was nice to see them, and to see how happy our girls were. We sure miss everyone. It is hard being in a place where you know no one. At least this weekend my friend Jen moves here. Yeah!!

Well winter has arrived, we received over 2 feet of snow in the past week. It sure looks beautiful cause the sun came out today. They are expecting another 70cm of snow within the next couple of weeks. Yeah for us. Not only has the snow arrived, but my husband is gone to camp. We moved up here to be together more, cause the work is up here. It was harder living in Summerland than here, cause I know he is only 2.5 hours away, not 15 hours away from home. This job should only be a week or so. Before I know it he will be home, and then on his way again. Ontop of that our girls are both sick. It sure sucks having to take care of them by myself when they are ill, cause they want and need their daddy, and so do I. Well, I feel a little better now. Hope everyone has a great day.

another one gone

2006-11-05T18:25:00.000-07:00

Another one. This would be the third one already. In the spring she lost her two front bottom teeth. Now she lost another bottom tooth. It had been loose now for a while. It was just hanging there and I pulled it out on Friday night. She was kind of scared but I bribed her with money. I asked her "Deal or No Deal" and she said "Deal".

Between us, my Parents (who are here for a visit) and the Tooth Fairy she received $17.00 (The Tooth Fairy only pays $1). She was able to buy her pink poodle, that she has been saving for. She also had enough money to buy Tessa a stuffed horse. She is so kind and giving. She is always thinking of someone else first. When she noticed that the Tooth Fairy had left her $1 she wanted to give it to me cause she said she had enough money. She is so beautiful and she is growing up so fast. We are so proud of her.

Vayda is in Grade 1 this year and she is loving school. She loves to read. She is reading the Robert Munch books all by herself. She has been reading to my parents all weekend. We have started reading chapter books and she is doing so well with that as well. It just amazes me how fast she is learning.

Vayda has enjoyed this weekend so much, cause my parents have been here. They arrived on Wednesday night, after a very long drive. They are going home tomorrow. We have had such a great time with them. The girls love Opa and Oma. Only another 7 weeks or so and we will be home for Christmas, and see everyone. Yeah.

bbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! it is cold

2006-10-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-24T11:01:00.000-06:00

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

2006-10-20T11:38:00.000-06:00

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

2006-10-15T20:57:00.000-06:00

Winter has arrived.

The Peace

2006-10-14T12:48:00.000-06:00

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

2006-10-11T23:36:00.000-06:00

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

2006-10-10T16:40:00.000-06:00

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

2006-10-09T12:08:00.000-06:00

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.

2006-10-06T13:18:00.000-06:00

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.

Surpise!!!

2006-09-12T17:19:00.000-06:00

Last Friday night after dropping Vayda off at the campground for a sleepover with my parents, I pull up to find my husband waiting for me. I can't even tell you I surprised and excited I was. We had such a great summer together that leaving him up in Fort St. John on our 9 year anniversary was really for hard us. It sure is nice to have him home cause we are trying to pack up our house and trying to pack up his tool/hunting/junk room would have been so overwhelming for me. I can't believe that we actually thought we could do this apart thing for a little while. Man, were we wrong. Not just us but the girls. They just light up when Dad is home, and so do I. We have him home for a few more days. YEah yEah YeAH!!!!

We are Home

2006-08-31T22:24:00.000-06:00

Atleast for now. The girls and I went up to Fort St. John for the summer to spend it with John while he was working up there. We had the best summer ever. No tv, no telephone, no computer for 7 weeks. The simple life in a 21 foot trailer. We had a blast. While we were there we decided to move up there for a while. We found a place to live, and are moving as soon as we sell our house here. We are so excited to be with John up there. We are certainly going to miss everyone but it is only temporary, so before we know it we will be building our house here in Summerland. I will update my blog in the next couple of days. Just thought I would let everyone know what is going on.

Guess what I found?

2006-07-14T15:42:00.000-06:00

Yeah!

When we were at the Library yesterday I got my library card out of my small card holder thing and guess what fell out. My memery card. I am so excited. Eventhough most of my pics were on the computer and on disk. About 126 pics from our trip to the island weren't yet on my computer. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Our big girl

2006-07-10T15:39:00.000-06:00

Today I headed to Kelowna, it was our first long van ride with Tessa in big girl underwear. She has been doing so well with the potty training. I first started when she wasn't ready, but when she decided that she was ready, we were on holidays and it was the easiest thing. She is even dry overnight. I am so proud of her, our baby is growing up so quickly. Yeah for Tessa. Althoug trying to find little underwear for her is very hard. She has the smallest little bum.

Summertime

2006-07-09T22:34:00.000-06:00

I removed the pics cause they were too big.

What was I thinking!!!

2006-07-07T09:33:00.000-06:00

I can not believe I did this. Actually I can. I love getting my pics developed and I had good intentions the other day when I headed off to Wal-Mart. I got there and the line up was way too long. I thought I should wait until next time. Well, when I decided I was ready yesterday, I could not find my Memory card anywhere. I originally put the card in my wallet and now it is no where to be found. Good thing I downloaded most of the pics but not all of them unfortunately. I am hoping it will show up one of these days. I am actually surprised that I haven't lost it in the past. I once left my camera at Wal-mart and in a panic I found it at the Customer Service Desk, someone found it and turned it in. Thank goodness for honest people. Anyways, I hope everyone has a great day.

Our new property!!!!

2006-07-04T11:17:00.000-06:00

Well, I have been wanting to blog about this for a long time but held off because it wasn't ours yet. But now it is. As off last Friday we are the proud owners of a 2 acre lot in Faulder. We are so excited. There is so much work to do but we can't wait to finally move out to the country. Don't get me wrong I love my house, but it will be nice not to be right downtown. Here are some pics of our place and our view. We don't know when we will start the building process. We can't even decide on what we would like to build. For now we will stay in our house and decide on what we want to do.

We are Back!!!

2006-06-21T19:36:00.000-06:00

We are back and I am finally getting a chance to go on the computer.

John got called to do a job in Nanaimo and we decided to go along with him. The kids were actually pretty good on the way down and enjoyed the Ferry very much. When we got to the hotel we were a little dissapointed. On the Internet the place looks really nice, well in person not so.

We ended up surprising my brother Andy on Thetis Island. It was so funny cause I phoned ahead to make sure that he would be there, and it happened to be his day off. He was so surprised to see us, it was awesome. Everyone at Capernwray pretty much knew we were there expect for him. We spent the day with him and really had a fantastic visit. I love you Andy!!!!!

The rest of the time we spent at the ocean, the park and the pool, Nanaimo has a great Aquatic Centre, we need one of those in Summerland. We had so much fun.

The only thing about staying in a Hotel is that we all had to go to bed at the same time. The kids were going to bed at around 10:00 pm but than sleeping in until around 10:30 the next morning. Now we are trying to get them back into their 7:30 - 8:00 bedtime routine.

Thank you to Vicki and Donovan for letting us stay at their place on Sunday night. Sorry about not giving you very much notice. Hopefully Megan is feeling better. Thanks so much, it sure was nice to see you guys. We'll stay longer next time I promise.

I am definitely glad that we are back home. Home Sweet Home. I will post some pics of our trip soon.

Another Deer !!!!!!!!

2006-06-04T23:34:00.000-06:00

This year we had to buy John a new truck for his business. He started "Teva Welding Ltd." back in January and has been busy welding all around BC. On his very first trip with his new truck back up north he hit a deer - this did not happen in the middle of the night but in daylight.

It was very frustrating for him, cause he was stuck waiting in his truck for more than 4 hours for a towtruck. A huge bummer cause this is the first new vehicle we have ever purchased. After a couple of weeks he received his truck back. Couple months go by and on his way home from Kititmat last week, guess what happened at 10am Thursday? John hit another deer. I have to say he has got pretty good timing. So once again our "New Truck" is at the Body Shop. Atleast the bull bar saved the front end of his truck and he was able to drive it home. I am so pleased that he was not hurt in either of the incidents. And he wonders why I worry about him so much. Thank goodness he drives a big truck.

This is the "Bull Bar" we got installed after John hit his first deer in April.

This is what his poor truck looked like after Deer #1

The Evidence

This is what John's truck looked like after Deer #2

Our baby is going to be 6 in two sleeps!!!!!

2006-05-28T21:53:00.000-06:00

She loved being burped by Daddy

Haning out with Daddy

Here is our beautiful baby. We can not believe it has been 6 years already. Vayda was definitely anxious to meet us but kind of decided when it was time that she would maybe wait a little longer.

I was induced on Sunday night May 28 (exactly 6 years ago) We arrived at the Hospital excited, scared and nervous. I was induced and nothing happened until the middle of the night. Slowly labour started and when they decided that they were too busy Monday we had to wait (at the hospital) until Tuesday morning to break my water. After being in labour for the whole day and evening, Vayda decided she just did not want to come and meet us quite yet. I was more than ready to have her, and the Doctors decided a C-section would be the way to go.

So at 11:50 pm Tuesday night Vayda Emily was born. Even though she was born 3 weeks early she weighed in at 8.1 pounds. She had lots of dark hair and loved to sleep. She was such a good baby. Easy going and slept through the night at around 6 weeks. Vayda is so special, she is a fantastic big sister and the kindest little kid I know. We have so much fun with her and we are so thankful that she is healthy. It just isn't fair that time is going by so quickly. She is going to be six in two days. I can't believe she is going to be starting Grade 1 this Fall. I will post some more pics of her on her Birthday.

How many push-ups can you do????

2006-05-26T13:25:00.000-06:00

Me, not enough. The other night at Pilates Lisa Halquist informed us at how many push-ups you should be able to do. If you are 30 (which will be me in less than a month) you are supposed to be able to do 45. If you are in your twenties you add on 5 and if you are in you fourties you subtract 5 and fifties you subtract another 5. So my mission is to be able to 45 by the end of the summer. At this point I can do around 25 and 30 on a good day (by the way they are knee push ups). So I thought I would share this interesting info with everyone. Have a good day.

"Farmer John's" Petting Zoo

2006-05-23T22:45:00.000-06:00

If you are looking for something to do, take your kids to Keremous to Farmer John's Petting Zoo. We had so much fun. (we went a couple of weeks ago - yes, I am doing catch up blogging) I guess better late than never. I have a few more posts coming in the next day or so. The girls, actually all four of us had a blast here. We got to feed the animals, and we got a little tour on a golf cart. So much fun - after we went to Tickerberry's in OK Falls, what a perfect ending to a fantastic day. There is even a place where you can sit and bring a lunch. It is five dollars a person - they don't take interac. And no I am not getting paid for this advertisement.

Camping

2006-05-22T23:05:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago we went camping. The girls absolutely love camping. They are definitely the outdoors type. They love helping around camp and getting dirty. I must apologize about the lack of blogging. We have been so busy and our computer just really sucks these days. I for sure will be updating throughout this week, cause I have a lot of pics to post.

Fun in the Puddle

2006-04-13T18:31:00.000-06:00

I just couln't get upset with her, cause she was so cute and excited when she found this puddle. How can you get mad when they are having so much fun. Seriously we should all jump in a puddle once in while. Thank goodness for my washer and dryer.

An evening out with Grown ups

2006-04-10T21:24:00.000-06:00

Steve and Heidi

That is Lisa Brokop between Heidi and I.

My very handsome husband and I

Steve and Sandra

Last night we had an evening out without kids. We went to see Lisa Brokop who was singing at Martini's on Martin in Penticton. She has such an amazing voice and her band was just as good. Thanks to Jodi we had good seats. Also thanks to Steve and Sandra and Steve and Heidi for the good company. What an awesome concert in such a small setting. I can't wait until the next concert.

Who is this cute little Boy?

2006-03-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

Yep, you guessed it my little brother Andy. I was going through pics last night, and I found this one and I think it is so cute. Andy is coming to visit us in a couple of weeks and I can't hardly wait. See you soon Andy.

Love Jolanda

A fun afternoon with the Rogall Girls

2006-03-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

This was Friday afternoon at our house. The Rogall girls came over for a fun afternoon, just before they moved to Langley. We are sure going to miss you guys. Vayda is very sad about her Best Best Friend moving away. We will do lots of blogging and lots of phone calls. Maybe even a visit very soon. Hope your move went good, and I hope that you are feeling better Vick.

Tessa is now Two!!!!!!!!

2006-03-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday Tessa turned Two!!! I can't believe it has been already 2 years. It sure goes fast. She was a little overwelmed but so happy that Daddy was able to be here for her special day. We had had a terrible night before so I was very tired. I thought I had lost my camera, but finally remembered that I left it in the van, so that is why some of the pics look foggy. Thank goodness for Vicki cause she took a whole bunch of pictures for me. We had a little party in the morning and in the afternoon family came over for some pizza. My Aunty Cheryl, Vayda and Mya made the beautiful cake. They did a fantastic job. Thanks to everyone who spoiled Tessa, she was so pleased with everything, although she was very overwelmed. She actually napped, which was nice. Happy Birthday our sweet Tessa.

Silly girl

2006-03-06T16:46:00.000-07:00

Tessa loves to hang out on our bookshelf. What a sweetheart right? Not so. Guess what she is doing right at this moment? Screaming on the top of her lungs in the toy room. She has decided that listening is not for her. She loves to tease Vayda, which usually starts the fighting. I can not believe how determined Tessa is. Her favourite saying is "my mommy Vayda" then Vayda says "my mommy too" then Tessa will say "No, my mommy" over and over. Seriously she will not stop. Unbelievable!!!!

Girls Scrapbooking Night

2006-02-26T00:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a crop night at our house. Instead of going to the store up in Westbank, I thought I would have it at my house. My parents took the girls overnight, so I could have the night to myself. (long over due) Kelly, Steph, Heidi and Anita came over for some food and scrapbooking. We all got quite a bit done. I think all of the layouts are great. There are more but I thought I would just share a few. Kelly made another one of her fabulous paperbag books which she sells by the way on Ebay. If you go to Kelly's Art Website under my links you can check out all of her amazing art and scrapbooking projects.

We all had a really good time tonight. Good food and good company. Thanks for coming over girls. I am glad we were able to do this before I move (snif snif) we will have to do it once more. I am sure going to miss all my friends. Yes, I will be blogging, thank goodness for the computer.

Happy Birthday Vicki

2006-02-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Vicki
Happy Birthday to you

I can't wait to have your kids this morning!!!!! Hope you have a fantastic day.

From the Poetsch Family

where do I begin?

2006-02-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

There are so many things going on in our life right now, it is crazy. Most I can't blog about yet. (Sorry) Very busy and too many decisions too make. We are going to take it day by day and see what happens. (All good things don't worry)
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OUR girls are a sweet, thoughtful, impatient, beautiful, jealous, fantastic, kind, lovable kids (lol). I am so proud of them . Some days I wonder how can I get through the day today? Boy, it is hard being a mom. Don't get me wrong I love staying at home with my girls and being a mom and wife. It is probably the hardest job I have every had to do, and I don't get paid for it - how does that make sense. I get paid with love (again lol)

Vayda has lost two teeth in the past week. I can't even believe it my self. Both times the teeth came out while eating a cookie. So we have had a visit from the toothfairy, and we will be waiting for her tonight. Vayda is so thrilled to finally have those two teeth gone, because for the past 2 months her adult teeth have been growing in behind her baby teeth. It sure looked funny, I think she thought it was pretty special (which I must agree). Vayda has been a great help to me this week, she has been keeping busy. Enjoying swimming and skating. She is a little mermaid who can skate - way to cute.

Vayda is one of the most thoughtful kids I know, she told me the other day, after having kind of a bad morning "mom, I really appreciate everything you do for me", I started crying ofcourse. These days everything makes me cry - way too emotional. Then the next day she said she wanted to get a haircut. She said "I want to give my hair to Sara-Beth" again I started to cry. Just in case you don't know who Sara-Beth is (we don't really either) but Rascall Flatts (country music) sing a song called "skin" and the song is about a girl (Sara-Beth) who has cancer and who lossed her hair (she has already drawn a picture for Sara-Beth as well which she believes we sent to her before Christmas - I couldn't get myself to tell her that we couldn't actually sent it to her). What can I say she is so caring and thoughtful, I am so proud of her.

Then there is my darling Tessa. I am telling you she is a hoot. It is a good thing she is so darn cute, cause she is a troublemaker. I can't believe how smart she is. I am for sure not looking forward to the teenage years with that one. (actually not looking forward to Vayda being a teen either - what am I going to do?)
Tessa is learning new things all of the time. She loves to read with me and sing. Her other favourite thing to do is count. She was counting with Vayda tonight and she was doing pretty good. She goes past 10 misses a couple here and there but she is getting the idea of it. I find it so amazing to watch them learn new things, especially when they figure things out all by themselves. Her favourite new sayings are "I don't know" "my turn" "more dip please" and "I love you daddy mommy" Today she even said "Vayda, opa oma house hot tub?" Way too cute. She also like her sister has a big heart. Anytime it is time for snack or drink she right away says "Vayda too" So eventhough she is a handful, she is also a pretty awesome kid. We are so blessed to have two healty beautiful girls.

I am also so blessed and lucky to have John in my life. We have been married for 8.5 years and together for 12.5 years. He is the hardest working man I know. He never complains about anything - I do enough complaining for the both of us. I love spending time with our little family, we always have so much fun, it doesn't matter what we do there are lots of laughs and there is lots of love.

Well, that should be enough for the night. Time to watch some more Olympics or maybe just read my book - which by the way is very exciting, I started reading not too long ago. I have never made to time to read, now I absolutely love it. I can't believe it took me this long to get started. I guess there was always something else to do!

A little more about me

2006-02-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

1. What is your occupation? Mom and Wife - before kids I was an Office Administrator at a Construction Company.
2. What color are your underwear? Green, Blue, and Pink
3. What are you listening to right now? Country Music of course
4. What was the last thing you ate? Bran flakes with Island Farms Strawberry Yogurt
5. Do you wish on stars? Yes
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Yellow
7. How is the weather right now? Nice and Sunny but a little chilly
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes, Angella. I got this from her Blog.
9. How old are you today? 29
10. Favorite Drink? Coffee and Water
11. Favorite sport to watch? Gymnastics and Baseball
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes
13. Do you wear contacts or glasses? Yes, Glasses
14. Pets? No not right now
15. Favorite Month? May
16. Favorite Food? Cajun Chicken Caesar salad from Earls, I could eat that everyday
17. What was the last movie you watched? Fever Pitch (I think that is the name of it)
19. What do you do to vent anger? Go for a good walk, fresh air does wonders
20. Fall or Spring? Both
21. Hugs or Kisses? Both
22. Cherries or blueberries? Neither, strawberry all the way
23. Do you want your friends to comment? Yes, if they have time.
24. Who is Most Likely to Respond? Heidi, Kelly and Angella
25. Who is Least Likely to Respond? I don't know, and it doesn't matter to me if you don't want to comment, I am not going to lose sleep over it.
26. Who do you live with? My wonderful husband and my 2 beautiful girls
27. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday, when the Canadian Girl Jennifer won the Gold medal in the Olympics. (I am a little sensitive these days)
28. What is on the floor of your closet? A laundry basket with clean clothes. Clean clothes can not touch my floor. (I don't know what is wrong with me)
29. What friend have you had the longest? Char-lynn Bubar since Grade 9
30. What did you do last night? Went for dinner with my girls (what a joy - not) and went home and read my book and talked to my brother Andy (I miss him)
31. Favorite smell? Campfire. We love camping
32. Who Inspires you? My husband and my kids
33. What are you afraid of? Mice, I know I have to get over it!!!!!!!
34. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Spicy all the way
35. Favorite car? My van ofcourse, although a I have a thing for trucks as well
36. Favorite dog breed? Can't decide
37. Number of keys? 3, house, mail and van
38. How many years at current job? Mom for almost 6 years, and Wife for 8.5 years
39. Favorite Day of the Week? Saturday
40. How many States have you lived in? 1 - Massachusetts
41. How many Cities have you lived in? Harlingen, The Netherlands; Summerland, BC; Kelowna, BC; Christina Lake, BC; Penticton, BC; Boston, MA; and now we are going to move up north
42. Favourite TV Show? Amazing Race and Survivor
43. Favourite Activity? Speding time with my family, scrapbooking and pilates
44. How many siblings do you have? 2 Wonderful brothers
45. Favourite Icecream? Strawberry Cheesecake

I thouht I would add a few questions just to make it an even, uneven 45 (Does that make sense?)

Sisters

2006-02-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

I am always telling my girls how special it is to have a sister. These days, they are playing together so much more than ever before.

Tessa is keeping up with Vayda and Vayda is getting a bit more patient with Tessa. I love to watch them interact. Either playing or scrapping.

I can't believe how smart the little ones are already, Tessa knows how to tease her sister and how to get her in trouble. Even though there is a 4 year difference, they get along so well (most days) and they truly love each other.

We are just having so much fun with them.

Drama Queen

2006-02-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

Just some pics of my beautiful daugher. I can't believe she is going to be 6 this year. Time sure go by fast. The girls put on shows for us everyday. They love to sing and dance (especially to country music) I just love watching them. Usually they are in their dress up clothes though.

Burning my own CD

2006-02-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have had our new computer for about six months. Until now we haven't made any cd's. But all that has changed. We downloaded some COUNTRY music from ITunes and made our very own CD. I am so excited, just thought I would share that with everyone. Have a great day!!!!

Where Have I Been?

2006-02-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

Well, we haven't gone anywhere. There is so much going on in our life right now that it has been overwelming to blog about it. In case you haven't heard, we are moving. We are moving up north to Fort St. John. I know, what are we thinking? Well, my husband (John) is a welder and we decided to up there since there is such a shortage of welders there. Yes, he had a great job here but we decided that he should start his own business and work for himself, and make pretty good money.

We named our business TEVA WELDING (Te from Tessa and Va from Vayda). We are so excited, yet a litttle scared at the same time. It is going to be a really neat adventure for us.

We are going to come back!!!!!!!!! It will be just for a little while. And yes, I will be updating my blog more often, but we have had so much on our minds. There is so much involved in starting your own business.

As you can tell with the pictures, Tessa loved watching John setting up his truck. She would just sit and stare. So cute.

Artichoke Girl

2006-01-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

Tessa is just the funniest little girl. She loves to eat garlic, anything salty or spicy. This is her eating Garlic Artichoke Asiago dip. She gets right in there. "more mommy" I hear every couple minutes. This kid does not stop eating. Must be nice.

We are now not getting our Puppy

2006-01-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

Unfortunalety we are not going to be getting our little "Roxy". This is such a hard blog for me, because we all were very excited to adding a new family member.

There are going to be some changes happening in our life. Which it would be so hard to involve a little tiny pup. All the changes are awesome and we are very excited. I will blog about it another time, when we have more details.

We are very happy and content with our life, but when some opportunities came up, we decided to go for them. Instead of baby steps, we are jumping right in, and are up for a new adventure.

The Brad Paisley concert

Last night we went to the Brad Paisley concert in Kamloops with Heidi and Steve. We left at around 3 o'clock and had a great trip there. We stopped to eat at Frog'n Suds ( I think I got that right) Well it took over an hour to get our food, which was very frustrating since we were going to the concert. Although the food was excellent, we had only a few minutes to eat it. We were able to find very close parking and we had awesome seats.

Johnny Reid started out, which was good. But when Brad Paisley finally came out, we were all so impressed. I am blown away with how talented he is. (and how short he actually is) They sure put on a fantastic show, very funny and entertaining. We also had a very good trip back home, a little fog on the connecter, but other than that pretty good road conditions, and thanks to Tim Hortons for getting us home safe and sound (caffeine). Thanks for coming with us Heidi and Steve we had a great time.

Our new puppy

2006-01-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

So, a year and a half without a dog in our home, we just couldn't wait any longer. We haven't decided on a name yet. We just are so excited, especially the kids.

Finally some Pictures

2006-01-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year to Everyone

2006-01-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

Well, another year has gone by. I can't believe how fast time is going. I am overwelmed by what to write about, it seems like I haven't blogged since last year, which I guess is true.

We all got the flu two days after the George Canyon Concert. Vayda started first, then John, and Tessa and lucky me. It was so hard being sick and trying to take care of my family. Tessa probably had it the least. She was just very sleapy, and wouldn't eat. Vayda probably had it the worst. She wouldn't stop throwing up. Poor baby. By the time it was Christmas Eve, we were feeling much better.

We had a very quiet Christmas this year. Most of John's family lives out of town. So John's parents over on Christmas Eve. They always make the best dinner (They bring dinner to our house, yeah!!!) We had a really nice afternoon and evening. They love the girls so much, the girls don't stop smiling when they are playing with them. Thank you for all the gifts Babi and Deda, Vayda loves her Barbies, and Tessa loves her Babie. I can't wait to start golfing.

When we woke up on Christmas Morning, Santa had left the most perfect presents. I still can't figure out how he does it. The girls were so happy. Tessa had no clue why, but Vayda understood everything. She was so happy to see that Santa had drank the milk and ate the Granola bar (no cookies left, sorry santa).

We hung out for the morning and in the afternoon we went over to my parents house. Kelly and the kids and my Aunt and Uncle, and my cousin Christine were there as well. We had a fantastic time. We ate lots of great food and played some games. We always play Rummoli in the evening.

On Boxing day we went out in the woods with our friends for a fun day of fresh air and toboganning. 11 Trucks, and whole bunch of snowmobiles, tobogans, kids, dogs, and a great big fire. We dropped Tessa off with my parents (Thanks so much mom and dad). Vayda had such a blast, she only stopped playing when she was hungry, thirsty or when she had to go to the bathroom (behind the big rock). I actually got to sit and visit with everyone, which if we had brought Tessa, I don't think we would have stayed as long and I would not have been able to relax. I had such a great time. Going up on Boxing Day has been a tradition for the past 7 years. We all bring lots of food and have just a great time with our friends.

My brother Andy also came home on Boxing Day. Tessa and my parents went up to the Airport to pick him up. He had been in England for a week. They had a good day together.

The next day my family (except for my Brother Edwin unfortunately he had to work throughout Christmas, we sure missed him and we can't wait until next year, when hopefully all of us will be togehter) came over for brunch and we opened our presents. The kids had such a great time. All these new toys and games. Thank you to everyone.

On the 29th Andy and I got to go for our traditional lunch at Earls. Cajun Chicken Caesar Salad. It was so nice to get together and visit without the kids. Right after we were on our way to Apex for tubing. Tessa and I just watched. They all had such a great time.

New years eve, we went over to our friends house Jen and Rob in Penticton. Another night of great company and great food. We stayed until 1:00, the kids fell asleep on the way home. The next morning we all slept in until 11:30. The rest of the day we just relaxed.

It has been such a great year for us. Our girls have brought us lots of laughs and tears. They are growing up so fast. Every day I look at them and I can't believe that they are ours. We are so blessed. I will be posting some pictures tomorrow.

Happy New Year to everyone.

George Canyon Concert

2005-12-19T00:35:00.000-07:00

I am so excited I have to blog about it. It is 11:30 on Sunday evening, and I am wired. Thank goodness my mom and dad have the girls, so I can sleep in. Unfortunately, John has to get up at 5:30 to go to work - so he is off to bed.

Tonight John and I went to the George Canyon Concert at the Pen-Hi Auditorium. We started off by going for dinner at Earls (Cajun Chicken Caesar for me and Chicken Hunan Chun Pow for John) We always get the same thing when we go there, cause we love it so much. After dinner we went to Wal-mart (no kids) to get the last few things we needed for Christmas.

Then off to the concert. It was a Christmas Concert. They did such a fantastic job, I can't even describe it. We were so close to the stage, and because it was such a small setting (up close and personal) it was the best concert we have ever been to (we have been to quite a few). The sound was awesome, they put on a great show. There was a storyteller, who told some really touchy Christmas stories. George sang some Christmas songs, and some from his cd's and also some new music. Dave Gunning came out to join George Canyon. They grew up together, and they have recorded some music together. He has such an amazing voice as well. I can't believe we haven't heard much about him. We bought his cd, and noticed that he wrote most of the songs on the cd. He is very talented.

After the concert, we bought the cd's and got Dave Gunning and George Canyon's autograph. We got to chat with them for a few minutes. It must be so weird for them, that people (like us) want their signature. It was just nice to chat with them. It seemed as though Dave Gunning was a little uncomfortable with signing his cd's. I would be too, cause it is kind of weird, if you think about. They are just normal people like you and I.

But anyways, it was a fantastic concert, and I would recommend anyone to go buy their cd's - George Canyon and Dave Gunning. We were very impressed.

Now we can start counting down to the Brad Paisley concert in Kamloops on January 19th. We'll be going with Heidi and Steve. I can't hardly wait.

Now it is almost 12:00, I am still wired.

No more sleeps

2005-12-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

Yeah, today is here. We are so excited. All morning long we have been listening to and watching CMT country music. George Canyon comes on quite a few times throughout the day. I am so excited. I will blog about it tomorrow.

Only 3 more sleeps

2005-12-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about this Sunday night. I am counting down. Only 3 more sleeps until we see George Canyon.
YEAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-12-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

This summer we finally did a Family Photo. Usually they don't turn out, cause one of us isn't smiling. After seeing Vicki's family photo, I got the idea of putting a family picture in my profile. But 1 hour later, still not successfull. So this will have to do. We went for a hike on Giants Head Mountain this summer. Tessa in the backpack on John's back and Vayda hiked all the way up. (we parked just passed the gate) She did really well. She's got hiking legs. It only took one try, and out came a pretty good picture.

Newfoundland 911

2005-12-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

"Hello, is this the RCMP?"

"Yes. How may I help you?"

"I'm calling to report my neighbour, Mike Fitzpatrick!

He's hiding drugs -- inside his firewood."

"Thank you very much for the call, sir."

The next day, the RCMP SWAT team officers descended on Mike's house.

They searched the shed where the firewood was kept.

Using axes, they busted open every piece of wood, but found no drugs.

They swore at Mike, he swore at them, and then they left.

The next day, the phone rang at Mike's house...

"Hey Mike! Did the RCMP come to your house?"

"Yeah!"

"Did they chop your firewood?" "Yep."

"Happy Birthday, buddy"

I thought this was pretty funny when John brought it home from work the other day.

Vayda's First Christmas Concert

2005-12-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Vayda had her very first Christmas Concert at Giants Head School. First of all I can not believe that I have a child in Kindergarten. Second of all, that she is so stunning and beautiful, especially in that long black dress (the pictures aren't that great, I apoligize).

She has been so excited about this concert. She loves to perform, and being on stage makes her so happy. No fear, which is so cute. All the kids looked so good in their Christmas outfits. We have been practicing the three songs for the past few days. They did fantastic. We were all so proud. John's parents, my parents, and Kelly and the kids were able to come watch her, which she was very happy about.

Tessa on the other hand was a piece of work. She was fine for about 40 minutes, and then I had to leave with her. Good thing Vayda had already performed.

The night was a success, I guess that's why I am already blogging about it. Good Job Vayda!!!!

I'll Never Do Better

2005-12-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

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How times have changed

2005-12-12T23:03:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning we went to the Kids Peerless Christmas party. The girls were so excited to see Santa. (he usually makes a quick visit) There were about 30 kids there, they had so much fun playing hockey, and ball.

They took turns to sit on Santa's lap. Vayda ofcourse no problem. Tessa on the other hand wasn't too sure. She cried when we got close, even when Santa gave her a candy cane, she wasn't sure about him. She said "nandy, thank you" while crying.

When we opened up the envelope (with the nandy on the outside of it), each child received a Wal-mart shopping card. John told Vayda that she had received a credit card. (not knowing what a credit card really is) Vayda was so excited she told everyone, guess what? "Santa gave me a credit card". I don't think I ever said that when I was a little girl.

We had to go to Wal-mart right after the party (bad idea on a Saturday 2 weeks before x-mas) but I just couldn't say no. Vayda finally picked out a Barbie puzzle, Barbie book, and a Princess nighty. (30 minutes later) By the time we left, Tessa had about enough, she was screaming and kicking. I just had a fantastic afternoon of shopping. (lol)

Atleast I got to go scrapbooking that night. Six hours of scrapbooking away from my kids. We had a great night.

Chocolate Anyone

2005-12-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

Tessa loves to lick the icing from the cupcake, but when it comes to eating the cake part, she says "all done". She is so cute and funny.

Terrible two's already???????

2005-12-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

Tessa these days is just a delight. She can be so sweet one minute and than just throw herself on the ground and be so nasty the next. She is not even two yet. This morning all she wanted was candy. She was pointing to the cupboard saying "nandy", then I would say "no" and she would throw herself on the ground and cry.

Oh, it sure is a good thing she is so cute.

Although I don't want her to grow up, but I will be glad when this crying stage is done with. One of the many things I do love about this stage is the belly laugh. She has got the funniest laugh. It makes me so happy when I hear her laugh.