Journals (2014)
Once a month we summarize the most memorable events of the previous month and write a note that will be placed in
this section. We keep very detailed calendars in our house and will write when something memorable happens on it when it happens; this makes it very easy to go back over the month and to summarize the best and worst!
this section. We keep very detailed calendars in our house and will write when something memorable happens on it when it happens; this makes it very easy to go back over the month and to summarize the best and worst!
December
December started off very cold- -40C with the windchill! The weather was actually really nice for the rest of the month- it was +4C on the 13th and on Christmas it was +2C! That's the warmest Christmas I remember! Nothing too exciting happened this month- we had some interviews for foster kids, we just need to do the homestudy and get Micah's criminal record check back from Pennsylvania. We found a couple of new games on the computer- one called Creativerse which in kind of like Minecraft that we played together on the computer. It is in "early access" so its technically not a finished game but it was pretty fun. The bad part was that you need to be connected to the internet and by the end of the month we found that all of our internet usage was up! Whoops! Micah also found a game called Banished. Hopefully I can get him to write reviews for these games :) He did write one for Dragon Age: Inquisition- a new game we bought around Christmas. Huge disappointment for him which was sad! The most exciting thing this month was we got a snow plow for the truck (yay, no more getting stuck in the driveway!) and we got two new kittens! Our older cats freaked out but they adjusted to them in about a week. We made a gingerbread house from scratch this year which was pretty fun and we got to make a couple of lasagnas which we put in the freezer for later! A week before Christmas Micah and I went to my sister Brenna's house for our family Christmas dinner. We got to see my parents, Stephanie and Kent and Brenna and Kenley. We had a nice time and they gave us some thoughtful gifts! Micah's favourite gift was a cutting board from my dad that has Finmac lumber lasered into the wood :) Christmas was quiet this year for us- no rowdy missionaries like last year hahaha!
November
This month we did a lot of work to one of our bedrooms that we will use for baby or foster kids! The elders helped Micah rip out the carpet which just left concrete. We eventually want to put nice dark laminate "wood" flooring in the whole house so we decided to just paint the floor for now. So we painted the floor white. A couple days later the sister missionaries came over and painted the whole room white, while the elders helped Micah cut up more firewood. All this happened when I was at work and when I came home I saw that the sisters had left a "heart attack" on the front door- the door was covered in paper hearts that had cute messages on them. It was very sweet! Next thing we did to the house was replace the exterior door. Last winter it was so cold and you could feel drafts by the door so we bought a nice sturdy steel door- it feels so much better! We also replaced 3 interior doors downstairs. I don't know what the previous owner was thinking when they picked the doors for the bedrooms and bathroom but they had glass in the middle! Not much privacy! So we bought these beautiful ones from McMunn and Yates and they look so much better! I started to paint the doors white.The sisters came by again a couple days later and helped me paint the bedroom again- this time the accent colour-red- on one wall as well as the door and closet door. Micah picked out the colour schemes and so far it looks really good! We had foster care training again the month. We also went into Winnipeg and made a couple trips to Ikea. We bought two sets of bunk beds, two bookcases, 4 mattresses and rugs for the bedrooms! The bunk bed came in a maple wood color so when we put it together we ended up painting it white. We also put together the nursery items we had bought when I was pregnant- a crib, change table and armoire. To finish up the red and white room we got 2 red duvets for the bunk beds and red rugs. All I have to do is find some red curtains and I want to crochet a red blanket for the crib. The room looks super cute, just need to take some pictures! We started to paint the second bedroom- this one Micah wants to be black and white. We got to see Elder Ruth (one of our favourite missionaries) on one of our trips to Winnipeg- we met him at TCBY. A third trip to Winnipeg brought us to Home Depot where we bought a nail gun and paint for the bathroom, upstairs living room and upstairs bedroom. We also got to see my parents again with another dinner at Paradise! Midwife suggested trying to get pregnant again soon after miscarriage as body is "ready" but that didn't happen. Had to take Provera again to start cycle. Saw lots of movies this month!
October
This was not a fun month! We went for the second ultrasound on the 6th and it still showed empty sacs. Which means I had another miscarriage- this time I had "blighted ovum". To confirm the miscarriage I had to get my hormone levels checked. Once the midwife saw that the levels were decreasing instead of increasing she could say I definitely had a miscarriage. The only thing was that my body wasn't displaying any signs of a miscarriage which was worrying the midwife. Near the middle of the month I had to use Misoprostol tablets to start the process to remove everything. It was horrible- I hope I never have to do that again! This unfortunately happened the day before Micah's birthday so we didn't really get a chance to celebrate :( We did go into Winnipeg a couple days later though and did a double movie date- we watched Dracula and Fury! We also went out to dinner to Paradise with my Mom and Dad. Near the end of the month I had to go for another ultrasound to make sure everything had been removed by the misoprostol. I was glad to hear it had done its job and I could finally move on! We started foster care training the last weekend of the month- something you need to do in order to be considered for fostering. We had talked about fostering kids for awhile and this seemed like the perfect time to get started. We paid off our student loans this month, which is a really nice feeling :) We went shopping at Ikea and started getting furniture for the bedrooms that we will potentially use for kids and we also got paint at Home Depot. The elders came over and helped rip out the carpet in the bedroom- yay!
September
Not too much happened this month- except we found I that I am pregnant! We are hopeful but still a little wary as last time I got pregnant it ended in a miscarriage. I was starting to feel more tired than usual and very nauseous! Near the end of the month we met with the midwife and I got a prescription for Diclectin to help the the nausea. She also scheduled an ultrasound for us as we figured I was about 8 weeks pregnant. We went for the ultrasound and they found two sacs but both were empty. They said to come back in a week or two to see if there was anymore development. The news was very hard on me, but Micah was very supportive :) Around the house we continued stacking wood (Elder Skabelund became an expert!) getting ready for the winter. On another sad note, we also found out that Micah's parents old the English Family cottage! It was a special place for both Micah and me- and it will greatly be missed.
August
I took two weeks off of work this month to do a road trip! Here are the details:
Sunday August 17: We left Kenora at 12:30am and drove just past International Falls Minnesota. We stopped the car for a little rest and had a two hour nap! Then we continued our journey to Best Buy in Oakdale MN to pick up our new camera we bought online! From there we went to the St. Paul LDS temple which is actually located in Oakdale as well. It was a beautiful small temple in a very pretty residential area. The temple and church meetinghouse shared the same parking lot! We hope those members realize how lucky they are to have a temple so close by! Next stop was to get some food at Panda Express! We used to get Panda (American Chinese food) when Ashley would visit Micah in Idaho- we actually had Panda the night we were married! It was fun to have it again, Orange Chicken and Beijing Beef are our favourites! After Panda we drove 6 hours to Nauvoo Illinois and set up our campsite in the Nauvoo State Park. We stopped at Walmart along the way and got some “Walmart Chicken”- another delicacy only found in the States! The park was actually very quiet- there were only two other campers there. That made it nice in terms of privacy but it was kind of sad to see all those empty campsites! We fell asleep early due to the long day of travel!
Monday August 18: Today we spent the day in Nauvoo! This is a special place for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When the Saints were kicked out of their homes in Kirtland Ohio (having to leave behind homes, businesses, and their temple), Joseph Smith brought them to Nauvoo. When they first arrived Nauvoo has pretty much a big swamp. Everyone worked hard to drain the land and turn the area into a beautiful, productive town. A new temple was built (rock was quarried and wood had to be sent down the Mississippi River). Shortly after the temple was built, Joseph Smith was taken to Carthage Jail where he was killed. Once again the Saints were driven out of their homes-again having to leave a beautiful temple behind- and left for Salt Lake City. While we were in Nauvoo we had the opportunity to see the Nauvoo temple- it was rebuilt by the Church in 2000 after the original building had been damage by a fire and tornado. We also got to take a Carriage ride out to Inspiration Point and a Wagon ride around historic Nauvoo where we saw all the old houses of the Saints. We even got to visit Joseph Smith’s Red Brick Store and saw where Joseph Smith and his family are buried. After looking around (and visiting an old pharmacy) we drove out to Carthage Illinois to see the jail where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed. We met two sister missionaries who gave us a tour. It was interesting to learn how although the building had been owned by different people throughout the years, many of the original things were still there like the door leading into the room where Joseph Smith was killed. When the mob overtook the jail, Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, John Taylor and Willard Richards were in the upstairs room. The mob shot through the door and killed Hyrum Smith instantly. John Taylor was wounded and Joseph Smith was shot then fell out the window, killing him. The same door is still there with the bullet hole in it and the sisters showed us that if you look through the bullet hole you can see the window where Joseph Smith fell from. Very interesting but sad to see.
After visiting Carthage Jail we drove about 6 hours east. Our original scheduled hotel somehow didn’t show up on our GPS, so after getting a little lost and finding a hotel but it being sold out we found a hotel in Springfield Ohio. We took advantage of the 24 hour gym and used the free weights- which we found to be a lot harder than the Bowflex!
Tuesday August 19: Today we traveled from our hotel in Springfield to the LDS temple in Columbus Ohio! At first we thought the GPS wasn’t working again because it took us into a really industrial area of town, but as we rounded the corner we found the temple and meetinghouse. No matter where the temple is though it always looks beautiful J After taking some pictures we stopped for lunch- at Taco Bell! Taco Bell is just not the same in Canada- in the States it is so good and really inexpensive! I also love the Mountain Dew Baja Blast which they don’t have in Canada either. As we were filling the car up with gas Micah saw that on the same road there was a Taco Bell AND Panda Express which was fun to see- we didn’t think Panda went that far east! Back in the car we drove for about another 6 hours and arrived in Lewisberry Pennsylvania. The drive through Ohio was very boring- corn, corn, corn! We hit a bit of West Virginia which was pretty but the roads were so scary because it was so hilly and winding! Pennsylvania is a beautiful state. We had planned to stay at Gifford Pinchot State Park but when we got there we found that the rates weren’t as cheap as we thought, and rain was in the forecast for the next couple of day. So we decided not to camp out in our tent but found a cheap hotel closer to Hershey!
Wednesday August 20: Today we spent the day at Hershey Park! It was very hot out and the crowds were big for a Wednesday. We headed to the roller coasters right away and stood in line for Sky Rush. I don’t know if it was because we sat at the very front, or because this was only the second time going on roller coasters, or because this was the faster roller coaster- but I was so scared and closed by eyes and screamed the entire time! Micah thought it was hilarious J That first roller coaster must have shaken out my nerves because from then on I was fine! We went on all the roller coasters we could find- our favourites being The Great Bear, Storm Runner and Sky Rush. When we were waiting in line for Fahrenheit (about a 45 minute wait) I almost passed out because of the heat! I had to sit down- I was seeing spots! We eventually got on the ride and I could feel the blood finally rushing back to my face. It was really embarrassing. We stopped to get a Rita’s water ice- a new love of mine! Micah had them while he was on his mission in Philadelphia and it is so good! Very hard to describe- kind of like a snow cone where it is icy (not creamy like ice cream) but you can’t suck out the flavour like you can with a snow cone. The closest thing I can think of is Italian gelati but they call it ice and then you can get a “custard” put on top. Sounds weird but it is delicious! We were sitting on a bench eating it and it was hilarious how many stares we got! A young guy even asked Micah if he could have a bite! More rides and walking until about 8 o’clock and we were exhausted! We decided to leave a little early (the park is open until 10pm) and find A & M- an Italian restaurant Micah’s dad found close to his hometown of Hershey. We couldn’t remember how to get there but the lady at the Customer Service desk knew exactly what we were talking about and gave us directions out to Palmyra Pennsylvania. We found A & M and had a meal- the best thing about it are the prices, so cheap! Hahaha After dinner we found a movie theatre and went to see The Hundred Foot Journey. Back to the hotel for sleep!
Thursday August 21: Another day at Hershey Park! This time the crowds weren’t as big. We immediately went deep into the park towards one of our favourite rides- Storm Runner. And we were in luck, the line was super short! Instead of doing one ride in 40 minutes, we were able to go on in 4 times in 40 minutes! It was so fun doing the ride then run around back up to the top to do it again! We went on all our favourite rides again, took some pictures with Hershey characters, then found a skee ball machine and spent some time winning tickets for prizes! We couldn’t go to Hershey Park without getting something chocolate, so we stopped and had some delicious chocolate cheesecake. We then went on the Hershey Chocolate tour which ended with some free chocolate J After Hershey Park we drove out to Pottstown to find the Ice House, a restaurant Micah found while on his mission there. We ordered two types of Stromboli- Philly Cheesesteak and Spicy Chicken and they were so super delicious!! Back to the hotel for our last night there, but first a stop at a pharmacy to get some 1% hydrocortisone cream and another Rita’s water ice for good measure!
Friday August 22: Today we left the hotel and drove up to Palmyra New York. We found that New York is another beautiful state. Once we hit Palmyra our first stop was the LDS visitor’s center at Hill Cumorah. This is another special historic site as this is where Joseph Smith received the gold plates from the angel Moroni which contained a record of the ancient people here who saw Jesus Christ. In the visitor’s center they have a stand of all of the different languages the Book of Mormon has been translated into- really neat to see! We walked up the hill to go see the statue up top- which was a bit of a climb in the humid heat! While walking there Micah saw a cardinal, or what he thought was a cardboard cut-out of one. But then it moved and he realized it was a real one, too funny! It flew away before he could take a good picture of it , but when we were walking back down we saw it again J We then drove to the Smith Family Farm where Joseph Smith grew up. A very beautiful piece of property- I told Micah I could live there! It was so neat to see the tiny log cabin where 6 boys slept in one room and 3 girls in the next! It was a very different lifestyle back then. Walking out the back door of the log cabin, we headed into the Sacred Grove. This is a very special place for all member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Back in 1820 Joseph Smith wanted to know which church to join. He found in his family’s Bible the scripture James 1:5-“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” Joseph decided to ask God which church was the true church, which one he should join. Joseph went into a grove of trees out on the family property (now known as the Sacred Grove) to pray. When he prayed Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him not to join any of man’s churches but that he would be the one to bring Christ’s church back to the earth. After visiting the grove we went to the Palmyra Temple and took some pictures there. What stood out to me about this temple was the stained glass in the windows- trees of the grove! Very pretty. Our next stop was the Historic Book of Mormon Publishing site where the first 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon were published. It was amazing to see how much work went into printing a book! Our last stop was the ice cream place up the street that has an 8 scoop bowl for $4! They have a map inside where you can put a star on where you are from so we put one on Kenora! Back in the car, we drove up to St. Catharine’s, Ontario. We found the hotel and got the last room! Peter McCombie came to greet us- Peter is Micah’s friend from the nursing program in Thunder Bay. Micah helped Peter with his girlfriend- he needed a little help in the romance department- and Micah helped Peter win her over with surprise flowers and sweet texts! So we had to come see them get married.
Saturday August 23: Peter’s wedding was today. The morning we spent getting his wedding gift in order and then we went shopping for a dress for me! Micah is a great personal shopper and picked out things for me to try on, it was tons of fun! The lady who worked at the store was very impressed with his tastes! We saw Cassandra and Peter get married at their church then went over to the reception for a bit. Later we went to see Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and then started the drive home. We didn’t get too far before we stopped at a rest area and had a little nap!
Sunday August 24: Driving, driving and more driving! We drove past Sarnia Ontario, skipped around Detroit but then for some reason the GPS brought us right into Chicago! The traffic was terrible there and there were tons of toll booths! Once out of the city we went up into Wisconsin, which was surprisingly a very pretty place- I had no idea! It was green and had rolling hills similar to Pennsylvania and New York but for some reason felt a little more safe and well kept. Taco Bell one last time, which also had a Baja Blast slushy drink! We continued up north to Superior Wisconsin and then crossed over to Duluth Minnesota. At that point there was a huge rain storm just as it got dark so it was kind of scary driving! Hours later we reached the border at International Falls and finally got home at 3:30am!
Sunday August 17: We left Kenora at 12:30am and drove just past International Falls Minnesota. We stopped the car for a little rest and had a two hour nap! Then we continued our journey to Best Buy in Oakdale MN to pick up our new camera we bought online! From there we went to the St. Paul LDS temple which is actually located in Oakdale as well. It was a beautiful small temple in a very pretty residential area. The temple and church meetinghouse shared the same parking lot! We hope those members realize how lucky they are to have a temple so close by! Next stop was to get some food at Panda Express! We used to get Panda (American Chinese food) when Ashley would visit Micah in Idaho- we actually had Panda the night we were married! It was fun to have it again, Orange Chicken and Beijing Beef are our favourites! After Panda we drove 6 hours to Nauvoo Illinois and set up our campsite in the Nauvoo State Park. We stopped at Walmart along the way and got some “Walmart Chicken”- another delicacy only found in the States! The park was actually very quiet- there were only two other campers there. That made it nice in terms of privacy but it was kind of sad to see all those empty campsites! We fell asleep early due to the long day of travel!
Monday August 18: Today we spent the day in Nauvoo! This is a special place for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When the Saints were kicked out of their homes in Kirtland Ohio (having to leave behind homes, businesses, and their temple), Joseph Smith brought them to Nauvoo. When they first arrived Nauvoo has pretty much a big swamp. Everyone worked hard to drain the land and turn the area into a beautiful, productive town. A new temple was built (rock was quarried and wood had to be sent down the Mississippi River). Shortly after the temple was built, Joseph Smith was taken to Carthage Jail where he was killed. Once again the Saints were driven out of their homes-again having to leave a beautiful temple behind- and left for Salt Lake City. While we were in Nauvoo we had the opportunity to see the Nauvoo temple- it was rebuilt by the Church in 2000 after the original building had been damage by a fire and tornado. We also got to take a Carriage ride out to Inspiration Point and a Wagon ride around historic Nauvoo where we saw all the old houses of the Saints. We even got to visit Joseph Smith’s Red Brick Store and saw where Joseph Smith and his family are buried. After looking around (and visiting an old pharmacy) we drove out to Carthage Illinois to see the jail where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed. We met two sister missionaries who gave us a tour. It was interesting to learn how although the building had been owned by different people throughout the years, many of the original things were still there like the door leading into the room where Joseph Smith was killed. When the mob overtook the jail, Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, John Taylor and Willard Richards were in the upstairs room. The mob shot through the door and killed Hyrum Smith instantly. John Taylor was wounded and Joseph Smith was shot then fell out the window, killing him. The same door is still there with the bullet hole in it and the sisters showed us that if you look through the bullet hole you can see the window where Joseph Smith fell from. Very interesting but sad to see.
After visiting Carthage Jail we drove about 6 hours east. Our original scheduled hotel somehow didn’t show up on our GPS, so after getting a little lost and finding a hotel but it being sold out we found a hotel in Springfield Ohio. We took advantage of the 24 hour gym and used the free weights- which we found to be a lot harder than the Bowflex!
Tuesday August 19: Today we traveled from our hotel in Springfield to the LDS temple in Columbus Ohio! At first we thought the GPS wasn’t working again because it took us into a really industrial area of town, but as we rounded the corner we found the temple and meetinghouse. No matter where the temple is though it always looks beautiful J After taking some pictures we stopped for lunch- at Taco Bell! Taco Bell is just not the same in Canada- in the States it is so good and really inexpensive! I also love the Mountain Dew Baja Blast which they don’t have in Canada either. As we were filling the car up with gas Micah saw that on the same road there was a Taco Bell AND Panda Express which was fun to see- we didn’t think Panda went that far east! Back in the car we drove for about another 6 hours and arrived in Lewisberry Pennsylvania. The drive through Ohio was very boring- corn, corn, corn! We hit a bit of West Virginia which was pretty but the roads were so scary because it was so hilly and winding! Pennsylvania is a beautiful state. We had planned to stay at Gifford Pinchot State Park but when we got there we found that the rates weren’t as cheap as we thought, and rain was in the forecast for the next couple of day. So we decided not to camp out in our tent but found a cheap hotel closer to Hershey!
Wednesday August 20: Today we spent the day at Hershey Park! It was very hot out and the crowds were big for a Wednesday. We headed to the roller coasters right away and stood in line for Sky Rush. I don’t know if it was because we sat at the very front, or because this was only the second time going on roller coasters, or because this was the faster roller coaster- but I was so scared and closed by eyes and screamed the entire time! Micah thought it was hilarious J That first roller coaster must have shaken out my nerves because from then on I was fine! We went on all the roller coasters we could find- our favourites being The Great Bear, Storm Runner and Sky Rush. When we were waiting in line for Fahrenheit (about a 45 minute wait) I almost passed out because of the heat! I had to sit down- I was seeing spots! We eventually got on the ride and I could feel the blood finally rushing back to my face. It was really embarrassing. We stopped to get a Rita’s water ice- a new love of mine! Micah had them while he was on his mission in Philadelphia and it is so good! Very hard to describe- kind of like a snow cone where it is icy (not creamy like ice cream) but you can’t suck out the flavour like you can with a snow cone. The closest thing I can think of is Italian gelati but they call it ice and then you can get a “custard” put on top. Sounds weird but it is delicious! We were sitting on a bench eating it and it was hilarious how many stares we got! A young guy even asked Micah if he could have a bite! More rides and walking until about 8 o’clock and we were exhausted! We decided to leave a little early (the park is open until 10pm) and find A & M- an Italian restaurant Micah’s dad found close to his hometown of Hershey. We couldn’t remember how to get there but the lady at the Customer Service desk knew exactly what we were talking about and gave us directions out to Palmyra Pennsylvania. We found A & M and had a meal- the best thing about it are the prices, so cheap! Hahaha After dinner we found a movie theatre and went to see The Hundred Foot Journey. Back to the hotel for sleep!
Thursday August 21: Another day at Hershey Park! This time the crowds weren’t as big. We immediately went deep into the park towards one of our favourite rides- Storm Runner. And we were in luck, the line was super short! Instead of doing one ride in 40 minutes, we were able to go on in 4 times in 40 minutes! It was so fun doing the ride then run around back up to the top to do it again! We went on all our favourite rides again, took some pictures with Hershey characters, then found a skee ball machine and spent some time winning tickets for prizes! We couldn’t go to Hershey Park without getting something chocolate, so we stopped and had some delicious chocolate cheesecake. We then went on the Hershey Chocolate tour which ended with some free chocolate J After Hershey Park we drove out to Pottstown to find the Ice House, a restaurant Micah found while on his mission there. We ordered two types of Stromboli- Philly Cheesesteak and Spicy Chicken and they were so super delicious!! Back to the hotel for our last night there, but first a stop at a pharmacy to get some 1% hydrocortisone cream and another Rita’s water ice for good measure!
Friday August 22: Today we left the hotel and drove up to Palmyra New York. We found that New York is another beautiful state. Once we hit Palmyra our first stop was the LDS visitor’s center at Hill Cumorah. This is another special historic site as this is where Joseph Smith received the gold plates from the angel Moroni which contained a record of the ancient people here who saw Jesus Christ. In the visitor’s center they have a stand of all of the different languages the Book of Mormon has been translated into- really neat to see! We walked up the hill to go see the statue up top- which was a bit of a climb in the humid heat! While walking there Micah saw a cardinal, or what he thought was a cardboard cut-out of one. But then it moved and he realized it was a real one, too funny! It flew away before he could take a good picture of it , but when we were walking back down we saw it again J We then drove to the Smith Family Farm where Joseph Smith grew up. A very beautiful piece of property- I told Micah I could live there! It was so neat to see the tiny log cabin where 6 boys slept in one room and 3 girls in the next! It was a very different lifestyle back then. Walking out the back door of the log cabin, we headed into the Sacred Grove. This is a very special place for all member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Back in 1820 Joseph Smith wanted to know which church to join. He found in his family’s Bible the scripture James 1:5-“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” Joseph decided to ask God which church was the true church, which one he should join. Joseph went into a grove of trees out on the family property (now known as the Sacred Grove) to pray. When he prayed Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him not to join any of man’s churches but that he would be the one to bring Christ’s church back to the earth. After visiting the grove we went to the Palmyra Temple and took some pictures there. What stood out to me about this temple was the stained glass in the windows- trees of the grove! Very pretty. Our next stop was the Historic Book of Mormon Publishing site where the first 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon were published. It was amazing to see how much work went into printing a book! Our last stop was the ice cream place up the street that has an 8 scoop bowl for $4! They have a map inside where you can put a star on where you are from so we put one on Kenora! Back in the car, we drove up to St. Catharine’s, Ontario. We found the hotel and got the last room! Peter McCombie came to greet us- Peter is Micah’s friend from the nursing program in Thunder Bay. Micah helped Peter with his girlfriend- he needed a little help in the romance department- and Micah helped Peter win her over with surprise flowers and sweet texts! So we had to come see them get married.
Saturday August 23: Peter’s wedding was today. The morning we spent getting his wedding gift in order and then we went shopping for a dress for me! Micah is a great personal shopper and picked out things for me to try on, it was tons of fun! The lady who worked at the store was very impressed with his tastes! We saw Cassandra and Peter get married at their church then went over to the reception for a bit. Later we went to see Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and then started the drive home. We didn’t get too far before we stopped at a rest area and had a little nap!
Sunday August 24: Driving, driving and more driving! We drove past Sarnia Ontario, skipped around Detroit but then for some reason the GPS brought us right into Chicago! The traffic was terrible there and there were tons of toll booths! Once out of the city we went up into Wisconsin, which was surprisingly a very pretty place- I had no idea! It was green and had rolling hills similar to Pennsylvania and New York but for some reason felt a little more safe and well kept. Taco Bell one last time, which also had a Baja Blast slushy drink! We continued up north to Superior Wisconsin and then crossed over to Duluth Minnesota. At that point there was a huge rain storm just as it got dark so it was kind of scary driving! Hours later we reached the border at International Falls and finally got home at 3:30am!
July
July 1st was our 6th wedding anniversary! The years do go by fast! We are starting to get wood for our new wood stoves- the missionaries helped Micah a couple times this month cut wood. We decided to build my sister Stephanie a blanket chest for a wedding present so we spent a good couple days building it then some more days painting it! We were able to meet her and Kent and give them the gift before their wedding. I took about a week off of work which we spent out at the cabin which was fun! Swimming and kayaking were our favourite parts. Movies we saw this month were Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Deliver Us From Evil, Lucy and Hercules. We bought a stand up freezer that we really needed- now we can fill it with blueberries, fish and chicken!
June
Things are going good this month! It has been so much fun exercising and researching good foods and supplements! At the end of June (about 8 weeks into our lifestyle change) Micah has lost 15 pounds, 4 inches off his waist and has gained so much muscle! It is fun to track our progress to watch our improvement :) We went to Winnipeg a couple times this month- we now have a Costco membership so we went through there a couple times! Movies we saw were Edge of Tomorrow, How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Fault in Our Stars and Transformers 4. We also went to the Michael Buble concert in Winnipeg. A very very rainy month with record high water on the lakes.
May
May started off with us splurging a little for ourselves! We play a lot of video games with each other, but with the decline of the console based video games we have been wanting to get more into computer games! Our current computers however could not run a lot of the games because the graphic cards in them were so bad. So we decided to build two gaming computers for ourselves and we started ordering the parts online! The second splurge was a good sound system! Some of our favourite hobbies are watching movies and playing games- so why not make the experience even better by improving the sound? We found some speakers on amazon.com and had them shipped to Micah's parents' house for them to bring them up here for us. That experience was a nightmare (read negative review below) and eventually we found the same speakers on sale at Future Shop and had them delivered to our door in less then a week :) We went to a couple movies in theaters this month- The Amazing Spiderman 2, Godzilla, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Maleficent. We watched Saving Mr. Banks and Cast Away at home. The biggest thing this month is that we have started a big lifestyle change! We are doing it slowly but we are changing our diet and we are adding exercise to be a part of our daily lives. We have a Bowflex machine that we are using for upper and lower body strengthening and it is fantastic! Tom and Judi arrived at the end of the month- Judi will be staying out at the cabin while Tom goes back and teaches a summer course and will come back in July. Snow finally has disappeared (mid May) and we hope it doesn't return for a long, long time! :)
Review of founderdirect:
On May 3 we placed an order through amazon.com to founderdirect for a pair of Klipsch tower speakers. We were told the expected delivery date was May 9-27. This worked out perfectly for us. Since they could not ship to Canada, we could have the speakers sent to Micah's parents in Idaho who could then drive them up to Canada for us. Three weeks go by and we do not hear anything about the speakers. It is getting close to the time that Micah's parents are going to leave but the speakers are taking forever! Most times when placing an order in the USA the delivery is so fast and a lot quicker than their estimated time! We decide to contact the seller to see if they could find out where the speakers are (as we were not provided any tracking information). The email I received from them tells me to look at my order and that the estimated delivery date is May 9-27. I already knew that! I was asking for help in locating the package! I have to email them a second time and several days later they tell me that it should be delivered that Friday. Through all of this waiting we go on to Future Shop and find the same speakers on sale for an even better price and they will ship directly to our door! We inform the company and they tell us they can not do a price match and that they had just paid the shipping company to rush the order. I had never asked them to rush the order once- I just asked them to find out where the package was! I am told we should have done the price match before it was shipped and basically tell me I can't return my item. Through several other emails they eventually tell me to just refuse the package upon delivery and it will be sent back and can be refunded. The package is delivered when no one is home. Founderdirect told me it had been delivered by UPS so I contact them to come pick up the package. Eventually I am told it had not been delivered by UPS. Once again I have to email founderdirect and ask how it had been shipped. I find the shipping carrier and am told that they cannot return the package once delivered- I have to do that myself. So I contact the post office and find out it will cost $100 each to ship them back! Founderdirect refuses to pay for this and gives me no help any way. I have never dealt with a United States company that has offered such poor customer service. The emails I received from them were very unprofessional and quite frankly rude. We will never order from this company again- I would advise others to avoid this company as well! We are very happy with our speakers from Future Shop who delivered quick, courteous service.
Review of founderdirect:
On May 3 we placed an order through amazon.com to founderdirect for a pair of Klipsch tower speakers. We were told the expected delivery date was May 9-27. This worked out perfectly for us. Since they could not ship to Canada, we could have the speakers sent to Micah's parents in Idaho who could then drive them up to Canada for us. Three weeks go by and we do not hear anything about the speakers. It is getting close to the time that Micah's parents are going to leave but the speakers are taking forever! Most times when placing an order in the USA the delivery is so fast and a lot quicker than their estimated time! We decide to contact the seller to see if they could find out where the speakers are (as we were not provided any tracking information). The email I received from them tells me to look at my order and that the estimated delivery date is May 9-27. I already knew that! I was asking for help in locating the package! I have to email them a second time and several days later they tell me that it should be delivered that Friday. Through all of this waiting we go on to Future Shop and find the same speakers on sale for an even better price and they will ship directly to our door! We inform the company and they tell us they can not do a price match and that they had just paid the shipping company to rush the order. I had never asked them to rush the order once- I just asked them to find out where the package was! I am told we should have done the price match before it was shipped and basically tell me I can't return my item. Through several other emails they eventually tell me to just refuse the package upon delivery and it will be sent back and can be refunded. The package is delivered when no one is home. Founderdirect told me it had been delivered by UPS so I contact them to come pick up the package. Eventually I am told it had not been delivered by UPS. Once again I have to email founderdirect and ask how it had been shipped. I find the shipping carrier and am told that they cannot return the package once delivered- I have to do that myself. So I contact the post office and find out it will cost $100 each to ship them back! Founderdirect refuses to pay for this and gives me no help any way. I have never dealt with a United States company that has offered such poor customer service. The emails I received from them were very unprofessional and quite frankly rude. We will never order from this company again- I would advise others to avoid this company as well! We are very happy with our speakers from Future Shop who delivered quick, courteous service.
April
Well this was still a cold month, the snow just won't go away! Not too much happened around here, but we did get our car out of the barn and down the driveway so we were able to go to Winnipeg a couple times this month. We saw some movies during those visits: Captain America 2, Oculus, Heaven Is For Real and Draft Day. Movies we watched at home were: Safe Haven, Odd Thomas, VHS and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. We also went to the opera this month, La Boheme. Something exciting happened at the beginning of May! Micah has written a children's book series and we sent it off to several publishing companies. We heard back from one of these publishers who is interested in Micah's books! We will see what happens in the following months! We started our first project of the spring- getting the house ready for wood burning stoves!
March
Feels like winter is still here... Our car is still stuck in the barn which means we only have the truck to drive. That limited our trips into Winnipeg- only one this month! While we were there we went to Paradise for dinner then met up with our friends Chris and Chasity to go see Divergent. It was great seeing them again, can't believe how old their kids are now (we met Brinn the day she was born!) The only other movie we saw in theatre this month was 300: Rise of an Empire. We watched a really good anime, Attack on Titan, on Netflix, followed by a decent anime, Fairy Tail. We also started watching the show Bones. It was fun trying out our new dehydrator, drying fruit to make some homemade trail mix! It was my 28th birthday on the 26th! Micah gave me a laptop for my birthday, which I love because now I can work on the webpage in comfort! :) We graded a lot of our CDs this month and are going to try to make videos for our favourite songs from each CD. Check out the music section, has been filled out quite a bit. Even after using an ovulation predictor kit, no pregnancy this month... March ended with a snow storm, dropping 12" of snow!
February
Another cold, boring month! We are getting cabin fever and just want summer to come! More movies and tv shows set the tone for more winter hibernation. We went into Winnipeg a couple of times and saw I Frankenstein, 47 Ronin, Monuments Men and Lego 3D. We also saw Robocop here in Kenora. Since we weren't able to get wings from Montana's in January, we went for wing night two times this month while we were in Winnipeg. Redbox was set up at Shoppers so we watched a lot of movies from there- Escape Plan, Last Vegas, Runner Runner, The Last Stand, Hotel Transylvania, Bullet to the Head, 2 Guns, and All is Lost. We finished Homeland seasons 1 and 2, season 1 of Grimm and season 1 of Hannibal. Valentine's Day we had a nice dinner at home and made stuffed pasta shells which was fun! More snow and can't get anyone to plow our driveway! Car is now stuck in barn and we are having to drive the truck everywhere. We have to park the truck on the street and walk down our driveway so our only available vehicle won't get stuck! The only problem is that the truck can't get plugged in out there and it won't start if it gets below -30! Here's to hoping it will warm up soon. Favourite date night this month: listening to Norah Jones while sipping sparkling cider out of wine glasses! :) Second round of increased clomid did not work.
January
On New Year's Eve the water in our house stopped working- nothing would come out of the taps! We were scared that the pipes had burst because it was so cold here all of December. We said a prayer when we went to bed and the next day we wake up and Micah feels like he should take a look at the water purifier. It turns out the drip rate was set to 0! Micah fixed it and water came 10 minutes later! We were so thankful :) Game nights with the missionaries continued this month with Apples to Apples (Katie and Ashley tied for 1st) then Telestrations the next week. Another cold month so most of it was spent watching movies and tv series! We finished watching Breaking Bad, Fringe and season 8 of Supernatural. Movies were watched in theatre was Paranormal Activity 5, Lone Survivor and Jack Ryan. Movies were watched at home were The Hobbit, Devil, Spirited Away, 13th Warrior, Legend of the Guardians, and all three extended versions of Lord of the Rings. Since the elders were leaving soon we got permission from their mission president to take them into Winnipeg for wing night at Montana's. When we got there we were informed that they only had 4 pounds of wings left! Micah selflessly let the elders order them so they could try our favourite wings... Elders Ruth, Warren and Hirschi got transferred out of Kenora on the 22nd. Increased dose of clomid + synthroid did not work.