Where do I begin

So many changes in the last couple of months!

Grab a cup of hot cocoa for a lengthy update. 

In no particular order except the first one. 

We left BC. After 21 years we have returned to Alberta but this time not to Southern Alberta. Funny thing is we are north and west of Silverton and the Slocan Valley. Directly South as the crows fly, we would get to Vernon, BC. Hilarious I know. We now live in a small isolated town of Grande Cache, where our new ward meets in Grande Prairie, 2 hours away. There are 2 benefits; Marilee, Drew's Mom lives in GP and it is the Stake Center. This is the first time since leaving Alberta where the drive to the Stake has been less than 4 hours. So when we head up to church, we go on Sat and spend the night with Marilee before going to church at 9am. TBH I am not looking forward to the January switch to 1pm. It will mean driving home in the dark on those days in the winter when the roads are driveable, which I anticipate will be few. Drew has received the approval to perform the ordinance of the sacrament in our home. The first time we did it Drew barely had time to finish chewing the bread before it was time to bless the water. There were only the 3 of us. OH BOY! What a transition this has been. Today we had 7 in our home for church. We only had the sacrament. Upcoming plans are skyping with the Aaronic Priesthood for lessons and receiving a video feed for sacrament meeting. I know Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. It is humbling to BE a part of the answer to someone's prayers. It has been 5 years since there was a sacrament meeting in Grande Cache. I am grateful for the Priesthood in my home. 

Drew and I work at the same school. Sheldon Coates is a K-3 school of about 160 kids. He is the Principal and I am the Library Assistant. Alick said it is my dream job! Part-time, library and young children!! He is right. There is a LOT of work to do there but I am up for the challenge. I started training last week. Tuesday, class visits start! I have so many plans. I will try not to work too hard or too much overtime. I do have other responsibilities. 

Next challenge! Early Morning Seminary. My boys know I am NOT an early bird. Always dreamed I could be. Well now I have the chance. 7 am classes necessitate an early rise with clear thinking. Doctrine and Covenant is our course of study. If it weren't for a couple of wonderful living examples in our former Nelson branch I don't think I would have even thought of attempting this venture. I know it will be for Alick's benefit, spiritual growth and learning and this is why I am jumping in to do it. Sorry to my 2 eldest sons who had to slog through home-study and online seminary. Life was way too full to overflowing back then I am not sure I could have handled it all. Funny thing happened, our first class we woke to no power and 6 " of snow!! I hope it isn't a sign of things to come.. 

Before leaving the Slocan Valley we planned and prepared the best we could. We are very grateful for all the help we received in packing, cleaning and moving. This move went much smoother than leaving the island for a number of reasons. It was still tough to leave our dear loved ones behind but we knew we couldn't stay there. Our dear friends from the Branch and Drew's Dad, Wayne came and loaded the truck. We fit everything we wanted to take even though at one point it looked like we would have to leave a 3rd of the load behind. OH we did leave one of our dear kitchen chairs behind by accident. :( I had help packing boxes and cleaning up the place which was timely. Sad thing happened the weekend before we moved. Alick's bike was stolen, the rotter, whoever it was. Apparently it was discovered after we left behind the garbage dumpster by our place a couple of weeks later looking not so nicely. Upon arrival we received some timely help again. This time to move in a few things namely the couch, cupboard units and the piano. I love hearing Drew play the piano and so I INSIST we continue to lug it around with us. It was pretty cool to use the 100 year old freight elevator to take our belongings down from the apartment in Silverton to the street level. The piano just fit on. 

We purchased a new vehicle. We prayed our dear red grand caravan would get us moved. The tranny was starting to show signs of tiredness whenever we put it in reverse. So we parked in places where we only had to put it in drive and go forward. That was fun! We had too much stuff to put in only the uhaul truck. We needed the van and little utility trailer for the bikes, canoe, houseplants, table and chairs, and a number of fave things that I didn't want squashed into the truck. Many prayers for that vehicle were spoken and in the end answered. Our drive here was uneventful! It even continued to take us up to church and back 2 Sundays. Drew felt we needed to look around and knowing ICBC only gives you a month to insure it in your new location plus we figured it would not likely pass inspection that we would have to pay $200 for, we chatted about what vehicle we would look at. First let me share with you that the highway we now travel to church on is a lovely road for the first half of the trip. After that it is filled with large trucks. I'm telling you very LARGE trucks. Oilfield ones, diesel work trucks, over-sized load ones. More truck traffic than I have ever seen. On our trip here in May for the interview we saw Moose, Caribou, a Wolf, Grizzlies, and Deer. Needless to say I did NOT want a cute little car that is excellent on gas. A truck isn't so great on gas and you have to worry about empty truck boxes in the winter. Drew wanted something good on gas. I wanted bigger. We compromised with a white Nissan Rogue. It is a lovely vehicle. A little something I will need to get used to is only having 5 seats. 

My parents came for a visit. I must admit in days gone by it was stressful getting things ready company, most especially my Mom. This time was pleasant. Probably because we now only have 3 of us in the home, our home is bigger, and we haven't seen each other in quite a while. We toured around our little town, went out for Chinese food to celebrate my new job and enjoy the time out together, walked through the labyrinth, chatted and really had a lovely time. 

We are renting a bigger home with 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, a fireplace, dishwasher, washer/dryer, a basement to store our gear and a yard with trees for Drew's hammock! Mom had a little nap in the hammock and did the ice bucket challenge there! Way to go MOM! We have a lovely view of the valley. The best thing is we still live in the mountains but because of our elevation we are up closer to the tops of the mountains and not down in the belly of the valley. The leaves are turning yellow and Fall is approaching. I have a little garden growing under a little temporary plastic greenhouse. I love to experiment in the garden. Kale, Beets, Spring Greens and Radishes. 

Living on the North Island for a time we didn't have missionaries. The Campbell River Elders would come up from time to time and stay at our place. I invited our new 'local' serving Elders (Grande Prairie Wapiti Ward, our ward) to spend the night if they needed when they come to Grande Cache. I got a call from the Mission office to confirm we knew the rules and checked on some things about us and our place. Apparently there is a law we are not to run an electrical cord across a public sidewalk, which in the Winter will not be a problem because the driveway is long enough for at least 3 cars. 

Our first Sunday in our new ward we were greeted by a couple of friendly faces, hugs and a picnic lunch in the park across the street! Dear Evelyn Smith was visiting her daughter and family in GP who happen to be in our ward. I love the church family we are a part of! We are still connected to our dear friends the Smiths from our former Island Stake. The following Sunday Drew was greeted by a good brother he knew from Lethbridge days, Wyatt Carrel. We are loving our new ward. This past weekend Alick went on a YM overnight camp and had a great time! He is looking forward to the next one already. 

Hyrum graduated High School and Seminary! Way to go SON!!

Dexter moved to Edmonton!

Carter moved to Calgary!!! He found a place near Mount Royal University and Dexter moved in. 

Cody, a friend of the boys from Castlegar was planning on moving in and the weekend his folks were taking him over they offered to take Hyrum for a 'visit'. He enjoyed it so much he decided to stay and look for a job. So before we moved, the boys all settled in Calgary together. I find it amusing we all moved to Alberta within a few months of each other. Now all of a sudden our family shrunk to 3. Alick admits he LOVES being the only child now. :D I am still getting used to buying less groceries. MUCH LESS!! I bought a 3 pack of cucumbers from Costco and ended up throwing half a cucumber away because it was rotten and gave one to the neighbour kids who's cheer for having cucumber for lunch Alick said it sounded just like they were on the movies. 

Phew, the end for now.

Photos another time, sorry. 

Winter in the Valley

We have taken many pictures but only some of them are accessible for me to use today.

Time at the Temple with Grampa! We have managed to attend a Temple 8 times in the course of the year! It was very exciting to beat our goal of 4 times a year knowing we were moving closer. Vancouver, Winter Quarters, Spokane and Cardston were our destination locations. (Carter was the fortunate one to go to Winter Quarters in Nebraska before returning home from a 2 year mission.)

Brave Ammon defends the Kings flock. This is Alick's birthday cake from our amazing Home Teacher, Bro Smith. Later we celebrated his special day with banana splits and a fun time with a couple of new friends. 5 of the Neilsons have birthdays in this season of the year. Hyrum received an Angel food cake with Strawberries and whip cream!

The missionary returns!! It was a bit of crazy day travelling home. Upon arrival in Vancouver it was discovered Castlegar's flight was cancelled. We had attempted to change the flights before heading home but it never occured. Around here the nearest airport is known as cancelgar. Low cloud and a runway nestled near the mountain makes it an unsafe place to land on a cloudy winter day. Searching for alternate options was challenging, Cranbrook was full, Kelowna wasn't until Midnight so Penticton was the final destination for Carter's air journey. Carter patiently waited for about an hour for us to arrive and we then travelled 5 hours to Silverton, our new home in the Slocan Valley. 

New adventures in the Kootenays. The guys got together and went to the firing range over by Salmo. There were a variety of guns to try out. Alick likes a .22.

We discovered we prefer snowshoeing and snowboarding to skis and ice fishing. There have been a few snowshoe adventures and winter hikes and a lot of snowboarding going on here over the last nearly 5 months. We even went in the evening in the dark. Summit Lake has night skiing on Fridays for $9. The guys piled in the van and headed down the road 20 minutes to the little local ski hill. 

Neilson family Christmas snow activity fun followed by a fire in the yard with Hot Cider and a lot of laughs! This is the best part of moving closer. We only had to travel an hour and 15 minutes to be with all these amazing happy family members. 

Our little tree for Christmas in the Kootenays! 

The latest news!

I am not sure where to start and because of this I have put off adding a new post for over a month now. 

Life is pleasant here in the valley. I have taken the time to recharge my spiritual batteries and look after the family. It is a welcome change of pace. I haven't jumped into volunteering in the community yet. It will come in time. We are loving the fact that we now live down the street from Drew's Sister Lara and her awesome hubby Jer! A weekend in August was spent at Grampa Wayne's and Grandma Vonnie's with most of Drew's siblings! We are closer to both sides of the family and took advantage of the long weekend in October and made the journey to Lethbridge for Thanksgiving with my family! It was wonderful! We do miss our former home and dear friends back on the island. We all have had moments of sadness of the people and things like smoked/candy/jerky/bacon salmon, ocean beaches, tide changes, gymnastics, many many many birds, walking to church, fog, and even political views that we no longer see or hear but commit to memory. 

We have taken the opportunity to do a little exploring and I know the guys are looking forward to playing in the snow. It has been fun watching the valley move into Autumn with all the lovely coloured leaves and we get excited as we observe the snow line creeping down the mountainside as we get closer to Winter. We have hiked in the alpine, swam in the lake, walked along the old rail line trail, traveled to Spokane for a Temple trip, played board games, dipped in the Hot Springs, been to Cranbrook for church conferences for youth and family, played volleyball in Trail, watched a couple of movies and can hardly wait for Carter's return. 

It sure is nice hearing Drew play piano or harmonica at home. We purchased a used violin for Alick and in the new year we hope there will be a spot for him to take lessons with an amazing teacher that comes to Silverton once a week from Nelson.  Drew, Hyrum and I joined the community choir! We are having a great time learning new songs and getting to know a few folks in the valley. People come from Hills, Silverton, Red Mountain and New Denver to sing together. There must be about 50 of us. The guys are singing Tenor and I am singing Second Soprano. We are being asked to memorize the music and there are 12 songs. Hyrum's fave is Mumford and Sons Winter Winds. The concert will be held on the 2nd Friday of December! There will be a Branch Christmas night of Music in Nelson on Sat the 14th of December. The Branch kindly changed the date from Friday to Sat so we could participate. We will sing Sally Deford's "Baby in a Manger" again this year. I think this will be the 3rd time our family has sung it. I think it is becoming a new tradition in our family. We are enjoying the return to using and developing our musical talents. In October there was Branch Conference. It was lovely to hear from all the members of the Stake Presidency and the Relief Society Presidency. I felt I was blessed by their presence and testimonies. I sang The Olive Tree song and they were so happy to have had a special musical number a part of their meeting. I prayed before singing that the congregation would feel the beautiful message of the song. The lovely part of the performing was having such an accomplished pianist to accompany me. We both felt it an honour to perform together. :D I have learned there are a number of people in the branch who sing so it will be lovely having musical numbers in church on a regular basis from a variety of people. 

We finished reading the Book of Mormon at the end of October!!! We will have a little celebration. It was a goal of mine to finish before Elder Neilson returns home from serving a mission in the Nebraska Omaha Mission which concludes in 2 weeks! I can hardly believe 2 years has gone by already. 

 

On another note Hyrum and I are memorizing the seminary scripture mastery verses this year. He has a super teacher. This is his last year of seminary and he wakes up on his own each morning, gets ready for the day including showering and eating before logging on to Skype in our home office on the desktop. After seminary he makes his lunch and heads out to the bus. It is the first time in Neilson history that the boys have had to ride the bus to school and not come home for lunch. The bus stop is conveniently downstairs in front of the store. 

Heading to School in New Denver

The view from our front porch.

Our new church family, the Nelson Branch, has a number of lovely people we are enjoying getting to know. Drew is the new Adult Sunday School teacher and I am the Primary teacher to 3 lovely young ladies ages 6, 9 and 11. The boys continue their duties with the Sacrament each week. We love watching Alick stand by the table next to the Young Men's President who is well over 6 feet tall, both in their dark suits. Recently Alick and one of the missionaries serving here exchanged ties. Elder Spencer is from Idaho I believe and loves the farm. On a shopping trip to Value Village we found a tie with green tractors on it. We bought it and Alick made a trade for a new tie. I hope to get a picture of them with their new ties this coming Sunday.  

We are working on dairy free food for Hyrum and wheat free for Drew. It seems Hyrum and dairy do NOT go well together anymore. Drew's is a choice to eat better. (No more pastries) We made gelato this summer using coconut milk. It was good though very sweet and will use less sugar next time. 

Gelato
2 cup cream
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup citrus (we used pina colada flavour mix)
1/8 tsp salt
Stir altogether until sugar is dissolved then freeze.
YUM YUM YUM!

We have had our fair share of potholes in the road and dead end paths. 

~On one of our journeys from the coast to the valley Drew drove his little red Dodge Shadow and I drove the not so small red Dodge Grand Caravan. With all the travelling we knew we would be doing this year Drew purchased BCAA. Thankfully we had it and a working cellphone because on Highway 3 up the hill just out of Hope, Drew's car died. It just quit running. No sputter, shake, moan, clunk or anything. I noticed he was no longer driving behind me so I turned around and found him pulled off to the side of the road a little ways back. I then returned to Hope where there was cell coverage, called BCAA and returned to Drew and the car. We began the process of stuffing the have to have belongings from Drew's car into the van. Thankfully there was some wiggle room. Drew decided to leave the car with the shop it was being towed to, made arrangements to call them a few days later and carried on. It was a little squished in the van but we managed alright. It turned out the car was going to cost more to fix than it was worth so we stopped by the shop on another journey through collected the rest of the belongings and said good-bye to Drew's car. 

~We brought with us our 3 Goldfish. They survived the move and managed to live on the diet of lettuce we gave them and the water change. The first one to die happened at the end of August I believe. We lost #2 this week so we are now down to 1. 

~As the weather began to change and temperatures dropped we found ourselves with new unwelcomed roommates. Furry little 4 legged ones... Mice :0P Thanks to a loaner trap from Jer, which needed to be re-baited because the first time they ate the peanut butter without setting the trap off, we caught one. Fingers crossed they don't return, we haven't seen nor heard of another one since. After a thorough cleaning and re-organizing of the cupboards that they could get into we enjoyed a little peace. 

~We managed to keep the wasps outside but September brought the invasion of the Leptoglossus occidentalis otherwise known as the stinky Western Conifer Seed Bugs, which we think smell either like bad bananas or maraschino cherries.  They sure look interesting but we do NOT like them cohabiting our apartment. At first we just picked them up and threw them outside but after a couple of days of that I bought Doctor Doom and sprayed the doors and windows. It slowed them down but they still continued to come in. Needless to say they don't live long in the house. 

~The dishwasher doesn't work and how can I forget the kitchen sink wasn't draining. At first it was just slow to drain. Then it quit draining. It was a yucky mess. We tried removing the trap. The landlord gave us some caustic drain cleaner that stunk far worse than all the leptoglossus occidentalis bugs altogher. In the end the plumbing was done incorrectly and there wasn't a vent. So a plumber fixed it all up and we are happy. 

~New winter tires were put on the van yesterday. It is the hot topic everywhere you go... I got my winter tires put on this week. Have you done yours yet?... 

~Lastly since the time zone change happened the sunset is now at about 5pm. We still have 6 weeks to go until the shortest day of the year which happens to be Drew's fave day of the year! BTW it rises around 6:30am. It is going to be a long winter in the evenings. 

I have a few projects I would like to begin and it looks like there will be ample evening time to get going on them. 

Love you all so much. 

C

Uprooting isn't easy

In less than a month we will be uprooting as I have come to understand it. Moving sounds so cool and adventuresome. Don't get me wrong it is adventuresome but after living in a community for nearly 21 years it doesn't feel like an adventure, it feels like uprooting a large, beautiful, well adapted to the climate, culture and community tree. And it hurts. I am excited to be relocating nearer family. This part brings me such peace and contentment. It feels like an acknowledgement of the sacrifice we made moving here so far from family and communities we grew up with. 

A dear, wise friend suggested I allow myself to spend some time dreaming amidst the chaos of rounding up boxes, packing, cleaning, gardening, dump runs, thrift store drop offs, registering for school, picking classes, meals, dishes and laundry, sorting files for work to pass along, and making arrangements with companies, dentists, and doctors, not to mention making plans for renting a new place and setting things in order for the renter of our home. 

Before I started dreaming I spent some time reflecting. If felt like the moment in time a few months ago that happened again tonight. While out walking at the track on my morning walk with another dear friend we stopped to gaze at the gorgeously breathtaking sunrise. We squared our shoulders to take in the entire sight. As we turned back to continue walking the track something on the other side caught our eye. It was a bright full rainbow. So for the moment we were suspended in between 2 amazing sights of nature. Tonight another beautiful sight though not as bold as a few months ago, this time a stunning sunset and a full rainbow against the dark sky. This is where I feel I am at in life.... between 2 amazing stages of life. 

Sunrise at the track

Twenty Years 

by Corianne Neilson

Talents shared, talents improved ~ Gifts to be honoured, treasured
Wet, soggy, foggy weather ~ So much grey
Evergreen, healthy rainforest growing through all seasons
Never enough warmth but always a loving face
There is beauty all around, sky, land, water
Years of memories ~ mostly good, some not so good, no regrets

Yearning for longer holiday time with family and dear friends very distant
Eagerly returning home to share the harvest of the garden and drink the pure clean water
Always smiling ~ Always loving ~ Ever loved
Reverence for the blessings of a life lived
Step up to serve in callings and when prompted ~ being the answer to someone's prayer

Sunset in the neighbourhood

Dreaming will come another day. For now I am going to go get some rest.