We Will Miss You!!

JUSTIN and JOHN!!
We had a GREAT time with you and were sad to see you go. Can't wait until you can come again!! Thanks for all the fun...

Farm Kids...

Here are a few pictures of our little farmers:

Justin:


John and Joe, off to work...


Ryan:



Joe off to get Tony so they can make hay:


Nicki hanging out with her best friends...

Nicki's "O Canada" video is here...

Hey there...
Well, we had our Sumas Day Celebration this last weekend, and Nicki got to sing "O Canada" at the opening of the day, and then later in the evening, she sang 6 more songs. The songs she sang were:
Part of Your World, from the Little Mermaid
Reflections, from Mulan
Coat of Many Colors, By Dolly Parton and Shania
When You Say Nothing At All, by Alison Krause
Amazing Grace
Tomorrow, from Little Orphan Annie
Unfortunately, I don't have the 6 songs on here, as it would take me 14 weeks to download it with my dial up. I have it recorded, but not on a cd/dvd yet. She did a great job, and it was fun to watch her.

But...I do have her singing "O Canada"...thought I would share it with you. Just scroll down the right side of this page, and you will see Nicki's singing box. It is the one with her on stage.

Here is a picture of Nicki with the quilt she won from the raffle...isn't it purdy??

LOOK!! NO KIDS!

This was the best get away of all...Tony and I went on our first "get away" with NO KIDS! Woohoo! And we got to go with our good friends, Joe and Hallie. We had so much fun. We went to Sechelt, along the "Sunshine Coast", here in BC. We took the ferry out of HorseShoe Bay, and it was a quick little ride, but nice.
We found our hotel right across the street from the ocean. I was a little worried at first, as we had some pretty hot days prior to our leaving, and when we went into the room there was no air conditioning...YIKES! But, it worked out, and ended up being the perfect weather.
We took a little walk along the water, looking for sea creatures...the only creature we found was this TOTALLY CRAZY ATTACK DOG! We are very fortunate that I still have my leg attached as he came right out of no where and tried to bite the heck out of me!
...(Right, Joe and Hallie??)...
That dog will never be the same again...
Anyways, a friend of Hallies told her about this neat pub at the float plane dock, so we went there and had a really yummy dinner.


Here is the dock we took a stroll along...


After dinner we went along the seawall, and saw a seal...it was a little far away and my picture turned out blurry, but we did see it and it was neat to watch.

We left pretty early the next morning, and we probably should have stayed another night...but it was a GREAT time. We have not laughed that much in such a long time.
It was nice having no kids to control the conversation, well, Tony was there, but we couldn't help that! :)
About 5 minutes after coming home, we were ready to go again...
Thanks Joe and Hallie for a GREAT time! Can't wait for next year...

About 5 minutes after coming home, we were ready to go again...

NW Trek...

Another fun thing we did was go to NW Trek...it is about 1 hour south of Tacoma...
I have been to zoo's before, but this was GREAT! We had so much fun. If you haven't heard of it, you should check it out:
http://www.nwtrek.org/

I won't post all the animal pictures, but we did see the northwest animals: bears, elk, caraboo, skunks, racoons, bison, deer, mountain goats, beaver...ok, it was a zoo...but the atmosphere made it fun.
One story to share:
We were looking at the cougar and Ryan was in his stroller wheeled up to the lookout. We were all looking at the cougar when we heard a bit of a splash. Looked down and found that Ryan had kicked his shoe into the cougar's water pond. Ryan gave a little "Uh Oh". Everyone around us kinda stared at the shoe. We figured we better go to tell someone who worked there. We told them and they said they didn't think they could get us the shoe back but they needed to go get it, as the cougars would eat the shoe. The rest of the day Ryan kept searching the ground and calling, "SHOE...Shoeeeeee..."

Ok, enough of the boring stories, here are the pictures:





After the NW Trek...we headed to Tacoma for a visit with Danielle and Brian...unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. We were too busy talking, I guess! We had a great evening with them, and an even better dinner. (Brian makes a mean burger if you are ever in their neighborhood.)
And Joe will tell you, on the other side of their fence, is the neighbor lady who hangs out in her bikini...:0
Thanks guys for a really nice visit...we had a great time.

Mount St Helens...

We took a day trip down to Mt St Helens and had a great time...We have all heard the story, but until you see it in person, it is hard to understand the depth of it all. Unfortunately we found the only cloudy day to visit...we never got to see the "tip" of the mountain, but were still able to get the idea.



The Meier Family:


Ryan at a lake below the first viewpoint. (I can't remember the name, but this lake was formed after the eruption. When the mountain blew, it blocked other creeks and rivers, and they flowed into and made this lake...)


Nicki and Joe...


Meier kids having fun...

Time for an update...

Well, it has been a little while and we have been so busy! Seems like we have been running the last few weeks, and I have pictures to show...:)

Nicki was asked to sing "O Canada" on Canada Day, so here are some pictures from her special day...
This picture didn't finish downloading, but dial-up takes so long, I figured it was good enough...


This is Nicki meeting the "Abbotsford Idol Judges"


Ryan being patriotic...


Joe and a friend ending the night with watching the fireworks show...

Thinking of you...

In Memory of Kristy Tolsma...
March 21, 1998 – July 6, 2004

Today I am thinking of you, and remembering what a vibrant, sweet little girl you were. There has been much sadness in your family since you left, but I know they look forward to the day they will be with you again.
On this day, 3 years ago, hearts were broken and lives were changed forever. While the sadness in your heart was great, there was the realization that God sent Kristy to you for a short time so that you could enjoy all of the love that she was able to give.
Now she is home, amongst all things beautiful.

Glen, Cheryl, Riley, Derrick, Trevor, Alley and Mathew...I believe that Kristy will continue living through YOU. Your stories, your memories, your pictures, and your grief. They tell their very own story of a wonderful little girl who was and is loved so very much. She had YOUR eyes, YOUR hair, YOUR sweet disposition. Your laugh, your smile, something of each of you, she took with her to heaven. Keep telling your stories, share her pictures, and anytime, I will be there to listen.

Thinking of my good friends today.
Asking The Lord to warm your hearts.
A poem that you once shared with me, I would like to share here...

You never said I’m leaving
You never said goodbye
You were gone before we knew it,
And only God knew why.
A million times we’ve cried
If love alone could have saved you,
You never would have died.
In life we loved you dearly
In death we love you still
In our hearts you hold a place,
That no one could ever fill.
It broke our hearts to lose you,
But you didn’t go alone,
For a part of us went with you,
The day God took you home.
~Author Unknown

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Canada Day July 1
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