A Day to Re-Connect

We spent the rest of the day re-connecting with our grand-children.  Of course, Papa HAD to teach Ashlyn to say "OHHHHHH...."

And we HAD to go for some yummy ice cream...

Trevor & Kaden

  Papa & Devon

And, of course, we had to get in some hugging and kissing:

                

...and just genuinely adore being there!!

Monroe Olympics

What do you know? We arrived at th,e Monroe's home just in time to participate in the Monroe Olympics - organized by Tanner.  Of course, it was probably the hottest and most humid day of the year! (and, since we were going to be playing outside, I didn't think I'd need to put on any make-up or do my hair...note to self.... there's ALWAYS a camera around!) My disclaimer up front is that we didn't get pictures of everything & got so involved in the competition, that we just forgot sometimes!
Tanner called us all to the starting lines for the first event... the obstacle course (which is, of course, one of the events I didn't get pictures of ):

Team Papa / Devon claimed the gold medal. But Team Tanner/ Nana came in second... of course,
the silver medal wouldn't fit over my head! Third place and the bronze medal was Team Kaden/Trevor.

The next competition was a bocce ball competition :

The last event... thank heaven.... was a water balloon toss. A welcome refreshment at the end of a very sweaty competition.  (thanks to my techno-wise kids Brooke and Lindsay, I have discovered a very cool app that puts your pictures into a collage, so you may see this type of picture waaaaay more!)

It was a fun day- and way more fun than those 'other' olympics that took place this summer in London!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Our grand-daughter Arie Krey shares a birthday with her Papa on this day- Aug. 3.  Here she is in California with the fantastic M&M cake that her mom & Aunt Lindsay made for her!

And, on the same day, half-way across the country, is her Papa- Roger - at Brooke's house in Indiana.

Our wonderful mission president gave us permission to take a quick trip to be there for Ashlyn's blessing.

But he had a really wonderful cake too!

(In case you can't read the candles... it is number 64 !  And still going strong!!!- Love you !)

Some pictures of our family...

These are just some miscellaneous pictures that were sent to us this month. We love getting pictures and seeing how everyone is growing! These first ones are of the Krey Family.

Zach, Arie, and Mason Krey.   Here they are at their outing to the beach:

Here are some pictures of Lindsay and Cameron's kids Cambria and Colby... and, of course, Lindsay's famous MUD-RUN:

Lastly, here are a couple of pictures of our newest grand-daughter, Ashlyn Monroe at 2 1/2 months:

Sent just to make her Papa smile, since she's sticking out her tongue like her Papa!
WE LOVE AND MISS ALL OF YOU !!

District Study

Each Wednesday we drive to St. Lazare to have District Study. It takes us about an hour to drive there.
These Elders we serve with are so wonderful ! They are such obedient and dedicated missionaries.
It is such a pleasure to get to know them and see their strength and righteousness.

Front:  E.Mieville (France), E. Kastendieck (Alberta Canada), E.Neitz (Alberta Canada)- our district leader.  BACK:  Elder Prawitt (Bountiful, UT), E. and S. Mahaffey, E.Brandt (Gig Harbor, WA), Elder
Teuira (Tahiti).

Today was Elder Neitz's last District Study before he goes home - so we made him a cake!  We're really going to miss this Elder. He served in Hawkesbury so they stayed in our apt. every other week when they came to work in Cornwall. He's such a great Elder.  We wish him well as he returns home and starts school in Edmonton at the University of Alberta.

Pioneer Day

Today was our Ward Pioneer Day celebration. We and the two young elders were in charge of putting it on. It was a ton of work, but everyone here was so impressed at the organization and how well it all came off. The best outcome...everyone had a lot of fun!  We also invited the branch closest to us in distance - Hawkesbury - which is an hour away - to come as well.  We held it outside - at our ward building because we have so much lawn all around the building.  We had 6 stations set up. At each station we'd tell a short pioneer story and the miracle they experienced - then play a game associated with the story. There were 3 teams of people who all rotated together through each game.

Station 1 - Story of finding buffalo along the trail during the middle of winter and being able to shoot. It kept the families alive through the winter. Then we had the bean-bag/can throw competition. (The Branch President in Hawkesbury - President Roark- painted our buffalo - or Bison, as they call them here in Canada.)

Brother and Sister Bilodeau:

Station 2 - (of course, I forgot to snap a picture of this) The story came from the Movie- 17 Miracles-
Two little girls were out away from camp and walked into an area with tons of rattlesnakes. They prayed for help and then decided to jump over every snake they came to on their way back to camp. They made it safely. The game was an obstacle course/3-legged race with rubber snakes scattered throughout the course they had to jump over.

Station 3 - This story was also from 17 Miracles. One day, late into the journey in the middle of nowhere, a mother whose family was starving was led to a cave where a man had beef jerkey drying. He gave her enough to fill her apron. It saved her family and many in the company. Going back to thank the man, she couldn't find him or the cave.  The game was a water balloon relay in an apron. This was the game we were in charge of....(note to self- - water balloon pop easily in the heat!)
Station 4 -  The next station was the story of Hyrum Smith's wife whose cow fell ill. They really needed that cow - so she asked the Elders to come and administer to it. The cow got better and saved their family from hunger.  The game: Our young missionary - Elder Neitz - our resident cowboy from Calgary, Alberta, Canada taught everyone how to throw a lasso:

Then each of the people had to rope a cardboard head of a steer they had mounted to a pallet.

When their entire team had roped the steer, they all had to carry the pallet down a course..(To Salt Lake, of course!) Elder Neitz and Elder Kastendieck demonstrate.

 Above, Bishop Tim Schnell giving instructions

President Roarke in foreground and Bro. Mazzerole (with back turned), DJ Lupien, and Bryce Burgeois in red.
The last game I didn't get a picture of either! sheesh!  The story was of how they could only have a certain number of pounds of things in their handcarts and what the families were required to take versus what mementos they just wanted to take. The game was a handcart relay... but, being fresh out of enough handcarts for everyone, we used wheelbarrows - only you had to pull them like a handcart rather than push them. At each exchange of the relay you had to add some items to your cart.

The final station was the Virginia Reel. All pioneers had to their days with some kind of fun or music- So they were taught the Reel by Walter & Sherrie Svenson.  Above left - Vince & Gillian Bluff, The Keiths from Hawkesbury, Linda McCaskill dancing with Adam Lupien.

 Christine Russell, Anastasia Ayotte, Bro. Svenson dancing with Lydianne Lupien, Sherrie Svenson- at far right, Chona Ayotte and Lori Schnell.

Then, it was time to EAT !!!   Our Bishop, Tim Schnell manned the BBQ. While we waited in the shade, some of the older people in our ward told of the pioneers who started here in Cornwall. Brother Glenn Keyes - our Stake Patriarch spoke first.

Chona Ayotte on left - President and Sister Roarke on right.

Sister Sherrie Svenson - wife of the previous Stake President.
After the BBQ if anyone wanted, they could go back into the church...(and since it was air-conditioned, MANY did !) and watch the movie 17 Miracles.  We had a wonderful day with a great turn-out. Lots of memories were made today.