Drive to the Mission

 We began our drive to Montreal from our home in American Fork, Utah at a little after 8:00 a.m.  Above is a photo of the beautiful American Fork canyon.

 After leaving Utah we drove through Wyoming. We drove through the desert part and boy was is plain and just sand and sand mounds for miles and miles.

 After Wyoming we drove through Nebraska where we spent our first night at the Days Inn in Sydney.  It was quite nice with a complimentary breakfast the next morning.

 After Nebraska we drove through Iowa.  That night we stayed at the Comfort Inn in Des Moines which had a lot smaller room and I didn't think it was as nice.  However, the breakfast was a lot nicer.

 The third day we drove through Michigan and stayed in Battlecreek at a Best Western.  I liked it best.  It was roomy and nice.  The staff was friendly and the food was better than the 2 previous ones.

 Thursday we arrived in Ontario.  We drove over a huge bridge and there we were in Canada.  We had a long stay in immigration of almost an hour.  Our immigration lady was kinda grumpy and had a million questions.  Why are you here?  What will you be doing?  Doesn't Canada have enough of it's own workers to do the job? Where will you live?  How long will you be here?  Who's paying for your stay?  Is the church paying?  Why not?  Isn't it expensive?  Did you sign a contract?  Well if you didn't sign a contract, it doesn't mean I don't need one.  Wait over there.  Come back.  More questions.  Wait again.  More questions.  Wait, wait, wait.  After a while we went up again and I was able to joke with her a little bit and she began smiling.  We finally got our permission to stay in the country.  Our passports were stamped and off we went.  That night we stayed in a Best Western in Whitby, Canada.  It was very nice, the staff were nice and the food good.  But, it was a lot more expensive and I didn't think it was that much better.
It took us 5 days and 4 nights to drive 2,200+ miles.  Luckily, no one ever asked if we were there yet or how much longer.  Haha.  The only ones who had to stop were the two of us.   It was a pleasant although very long and tiring drive.
Driving through Montreal to the Mission Home took a long, long time.  It was rush hour traffic which starts about 2:00 to 2:30 and doesn't end till after 7:00.  The traffic was just horrible.  Bumper to bumper traffic, very impatient drivers, and drivers cutting in and out of traffic.  It was very stressful.  I have learned that the traffic is always like that.  It seemed much worse than L.A. or San Diego.

My first impression of Montreal was that it is a huge modern city.  However upon driving into it and seeing more, I see that it is more like a European city than a U.S. city.  It has old buildings mixed in with the new.  It is very beautiful.  There are lots of cafes, little shops, parks, tiny roads, and a definite European feel.  It reminded me a lot of Brussels.  It will be interesting to see what it is really like.

Busy September Part 1

                                                             Val's Family

                                                 Papa and S went to the temple to do baptisms

           Anita and Allen and we went to the Black Sheep Cafe.  They make American Indian food and it is          delicious.  Those that live near Provo should go there.

 I made pillowcases for Lana's kids.  G had to have elephants, of course.  Soccer for Ethan and Russian Matryeshka's for H.   Then I made Baby Jakob a knitted blanket.

 Early Sunday morning Val's family, Andrea's fam, and we went to the Stake Center where Papa and I were Set Apart to be missionaries.  We had the most awesome blessing given to us by the Stake President.

 After church we had a farewell party at our house.  It was a lot of fun and also a bit sad to be leaving all of our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.  But, we know we are doing what the Lord would have us do and so we go and serve.

 That evening our great granddaughter Penny Jane was born.  Even though it was so late at night, we had to go and meet her.  Here she is only an hour old.  She is a sweet, beautiful baby.

 Dani did something called hypno-birthing and did really well.  She and Greg made a good team and little Penny got here safe and sound.   Val was soooooo glad she could be there for the labor and delivery.

                 She did not like all the checking out and shots.  She's about an hour old here.

                                   Great-grandma and great-grandpa with their darling Penny.

 4 generations.  Lana got here just in time to witness her granddaughter's birth.  Good timing Penny.

                                    Jenna and Clayton both had little colds, hence the masks.

                                                                 Happy Grandma

                                                                 Proud Daddy

 We got home after 2:00 and the next morning, quite early we were up and ready to leave for the MTC. It was early Monday morning the 10th of September 2012.

Here we are ready to enter the Missionary Training Center.  There were 72 Senior Couples in our group.  There were 2,750 young missionaries and 400 more entered on Wednesday.

Brigham City Temple and Williams Wedding

 Early last Saturday morning, about 4:30 we got up to go and visit the Open House of the Brigham City Temple which will be dedicated later this month.  Andrea got the tickets for all of us and then she got really, really sick so she couldn't even go.  I felt so bad about that.  I felt sad that she couldn't go.  The Correas went also.  Pedro just got his mission call.  He will be serving in the Las Vegas West Mission, leaving Oct 10th.

 The temple is very beautiful both inside and out.  It's little, but so so beautiful.  Directly across from the temple is the Box Elder Tabernacle.  It is also very nice.  It's old and has actually been rebuilt after a fire, but it's very nice.

                                               

                                                 The temple view from the tabernacle.

 Saturday evening we went to the wedding reception of Jordan Williams.  His parents Kathy and Sid have been our friends for many, many years.
In fact, I taught at the same school in Rosamond, Ca as Kathy did.  We had a lot of fun together, talking about the kids, comparing lessons, having lunch together, as well as talking about personal stuff.  That first year I was there, we both taught 4th and we even had some activities together for our classes.  In Ca part of the curriculum is California history and whenever I taught 4th, we always did a mock gold rush.  kathy and I did one together that year.  It was a ton of fun.  We made little draw string bags out of burlap and each student got one.  The moms and I painted rocks with gold spray paint and that became our gold.  On the day of the gold rush, the moms spread that "gold" out in a designated area and later the kids searched for it.  In another area we had tables set out with "stuff" that they could buy with their gold.  There were donated things and things that I bought such as games, toys, chips, jump ropes, candy, books, and all sorts of things.  First the kids would weigh their gold on a scale and then according to how much gold they had, they could go shopping.  The Dads would do a bar-b-cue and after shopping the kids and the parents would eat.  It was usually hot dogs, hamburgers, chili, chips, and soda.  It took us all afternoon to do the gold rush and it was a blast.  Whenever I think about teaching, I always have great memories.  I really loved teaching and working with the kids.

 Back to the reception.  It was held at a lovely reception center.  Everything was so elegant.

 Kathy and Sid both looked wonderful.  I think it's been about 7 or 8 years since we've seen them and it was great fun to catch up.  Actually Kathy had called me a couple of days before while we were driving home from Ca and we talked for about 2 hours.  We really had a lot to catch up on.

                          The bride and groom were a beautiful couple and so "in love".  

                                 Everything turned out just perfect.  I am so so happy for them.