Timberlea Ward Picnic

Bishop Harper is cooking burgers and dogs, and as fast as he can finish them they are eaten by the closest young man. The Second Councilor, Tom McWilliams is he able assistant. The picnic was at Gregoire Lake. (pronounced greg-WAAAH-er for all us non "bilingual" types)
Our once and future dentist. This is Tod Beaulne (pronounced bone for all us ... you know who you are) and his son Braden. Tod is the First Councilor and our dentist.
Jacob and Jeff Fitzner leaving for a little jaunt on the Seadoo. Jacob asked to what he should hold on, Jeff's PFD straps? Jeff said no, not to hold onto him. What Jeff neglected to tell Jacob was to hold onto something since the acceleration is phenomenal. This photo was taken just minutes before Jeff was hauling Jacob out of the water. Had there been judges, they would have given Jacob a 9.5 for the back flip off the water bike. Two spectacular wipeouts in a week, but at least there were no scabs after this one.
Samuel in the middle of a game of Ultimate that spanned nearly the whole park.
Joseph, or Water Baby No. 1, returning from a ride for one of the deacons in the ward. Joseph and Samuel are both really good pilots of the Seadoos. They are also really good boys. We are fortunate to have 3 sons that are not afraid to work hard, and share with other people the things that make a good activity into a great one. (a smile, a helping hand, a good example)

Strawberry Fields Forever

The local Garden Store here is called Dunvegen Gardens. They have one store in town, a very nice nursery that has most everything one could want for home gardening and landscaping. Their other location is known as "The Farm." It has a huge greenhouse and many large fields planted with vegetables and fruits. The strawberries are small, but full of flavor. The other vegetables, like these beets, are really great too.
These are some of our friends, Julia Fixen (from the other Ward here in Fort Mac), her 2 daughters, and her husband in the back ground. On the left in the striped shirt is the son of Barbie Bullock, the First Councilor in the YW in our War, Lochland (Locky). I think the field is lovely.
Locky had a great time in the field of berries, He and the 2 girls picked and ate lots of berries and a little bit of mud. I hope they remember this trip when they are older.
The field was a little on the damp side and the mud a bit on the sticky side, but the experience was fantastic. We could pick as many berries as we could fit in the bucket for $12. The mud washed off, but the fun of the day did not. I'm pretty sure there is no food in the world better than any food you harvest yourself.
The long and (un)winding road. Barbie and Locky at the end of the day with their load of berries. He carried most of his in his stomach, content and loved.

Success Drives Home a Point or Two.

Well, Joseph has earned his drivers permit (heaven help us all). Here in Alberta, the drivers permit is available to youth of 14 years old. So, after studying hard for days on end, he took the test and passed. Now he is singing the "Can I Drive?" song. (double click the photo for a closer look at the permit)

Jacob, however, has decided that since the motorcycle accident perhaps it is better that he just run here and there. He developed a love for running as a missionary, and he also developed a love for "green shakes" (see below). After a recent run, he looks like a million bucks, but he does not smell like it.
Nor does he feel like it. He says he likes the running shoes, but the face says more than that. Notice how the flowers behind him are leaning away from his feet too?
Elvis has left the building.
This is one of the famous "green shakes," which consists of fruit and yogurt. The color seems to be more of a deep muave to me, but I am not known for my color picking abilities. Perhaps the green part comes from the organic-ishness of the ingredients. He had a friend over on this particular day, they had been running in the local park. He claims to have been running with her, not running for her. She is a beautiful young woman, and a univercity soccer player, so I'm sure he may have been running from her with all the zeal of a recent RM. (lol)

Day Two. Things to Do and Things not to Do.

This is what you do:

So when a missionary returns home, it is time to catch up with family and friends: sisters, and brothers-in-law, and friends, and other missionaries that served in other missions.

And this is what you do:

It is also time to help your brothers in a small service project for a neighbor. A little cut and trim for a new mother in our Ward, and then on to the regular lawns that they cut and maintain for money, and our yard too, just for good measure.

This is what you don't do:

When you are obedient to your parents, and not ride motorcycles on the streets before your mission, you learn good lessons and have all the health you need to serve the Lord. When you do not listen to the whisperings of the Spirit, and you ride motorcycles on the street, you learn different lessons and loose some blessings (like skin on your knuckles and elbows).

This is why we don't ride motorcycles on the street. Especially without proper riding gear and protection. We got him all cleaned up, and bandaged up, and with a few tears of sadness, we rejoice the damage was not worse. We all shared in the event, even the bike owners. After running to the store to get enough bandages, two families sat down to share some emotions and some Texas Sheet Cake. As we say in Canada, "At the end of the day, it is all good."
And this is what you do when you have brothers:

What is life without a little fun along the way? The scrapes and bruises will heal, and we will talk about this event for years to come. We are very grateful to have Jacob home.

Hugs and Kisses,

Alan and Michelle

Elder Jacob Alan Simpson Returns Home

We welcomed Jacob home from serving a mission today. What a great reunion! We are so pleased that he served faithfully and honorably, and now he gets to begin a new chapter in his life. He was surprised at how tall Joseph and Samuel are now. Joseph is taller than Jacob, and Samuel will be taller in less than a year. We are so happy to see him return from his mission service.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. A little pushing and shoving to burn off a little breakfast energy is always good. The rules of the competition have changed a bit too. Joseph is not a push-over, and neither is Samuel.
Here are all our sons at our picture spot. Every Fast Sunday we take a picture of the boys in this same spot. How we can add Jacob to the mix for a while. Jacob is trying (unsuccessfully) to hold down Joseph.
One of the first things he wanted to do was go skating or play "shinny" hockey. We got to do a bit of both. After we bought his new hockey equipment, we went to the local rink to play for a bit. We played for about 20 minutes, then here came lots of players in pads. They proposed teams in accordance with colors (blue and black jerseys against everyone else, red, white, green, etc.). Several of the players were either college players, or Junior A players, or semi-pro. We had a blast with them. Below are Jacob, Samuel and Joseph (left to right) during warm ups.

We really had a great time skating, but then we came home and fixed dinner for Jacob. We fixed what he asked for, and at the end of the meal he said he he was very happy to be home, and very satisfied. He recounted some of the events of his mission service, and told us some of the highlights. We expect over the next few days to get more stories and events recounted to us.

Again, we thank each of you, our friends, that have helped us raise such a good son into such a good man. We are planning a trip to visit in California soon, where Jacob was encouraged to report informally to his old stake president. We will continue to make plans for that upcoming trip.

We love you. Hugs and Kisses,

Alan and Michelle

Young Men's Encampment (1 of 2)

Last week Joseph, Samuel, and I had the opportunity to attend and participate in a regional young men's encampment in a place called the Kootenay Plains. It is a beautiful valley in the Canadian Rockies, nestled in between Bamff and Jasper National Parks. The plains is a winter camp for native peoples (called First Nations here in Canada) and there are several relics of the old camps. The area is also a winter feeding ground for elk, moose, white tail deer, and other wild life. Looking north from our camp site. The lower ridge was used for the Scouts, for on-site rock climbing. It was about 40 feet high. The upper ridge was about 3 times as high, and back almost 1 kilometer from the lower ridge. The grassy meadow in the foreground is about 5 kilometers long,and almost 1 wide.
The mountains in the distance are in Bamff National Park. One of them is known as Big Chief. Can you see why? The meadow is sprinkled with wild flowers and range grasses. Some of the flowers are smaller than the heads of pins, and others are almost as large as your palm. We identified tracks of bear, moose, deer, wolf, and caribou in the muddy areas.
This is the view from the top of the rock climbing and rappelling area the Venturers used. The lake is Abraham Lake, and is almost 75 Kilometers long. The water level is down, and pale color of the water is due to the light sandy lake bed and the cold water (38 to 40 degrees F) The river we canoed on (the North Saskatchewan River) starts at the spillway of the dam on this lake. The North Saskatchewan River turns into the Athabasca River, which runs through the middle of Fort McMurray. We could have canoed all the way home (in about 1 month)
Here is the North Saskatchewan River. It looks very peaceful, and it is until you put a bunch of canoes in it.
This is the view to the south of our camp. Around the fire there are 14 pairs of shoes drying from the previous day's activities on the river, and on the mountains you can see fresh snow. Yes, fresh snow in July. We had frost in camp.

This truly is a beautiful place. I can hardly wait to go explore more places in the Canadian Rockies, or the Boreal Forest,or other great places up here. For additional historical information, look up David Thompson in Wikipedia. He was an early Canadian explorer who established the first routes over the mountains, and lived in the Kootenay Plains for several years while exploring the area.

Young Men's Encampment (2 of 2)

So what do you do when you are in such a beautiful place? You help make it a little bit better through service. Samuel and his Deacons Quorum helped clear paths at a nearby historical park. It was at the coal mine in Nordegg, Alberta. They also cleared litter and then got to see some of the old mine and equipment.
Camp wouldn't really be camp without a great hike. The Scouts scaled a local peak to eat lunch one day. After the hike up, they slid down the snow patches on their bums. At one point, the guide slid down a portion of the snow, planted his feet and vaulted/summer saulted over a boulder, then finished the slide down to the dry area. The boys were very impressed.
Since you cannot hike everyday, all day, why not go mountain biking? The Scouts took a ride on the White Rabbit Loop on the last day in camp. They had a great ride, and all of them finished the trip without injury, (except for one of the adults who cut his thumb when he bonked). Samuel managed to break the derailleur on his bike, so he only had 3 gears to ride in.
While the Scouts stayed in camp, or were close by on day trips, the Venturers (Teachers and Priests) spent most of their time out of camp. The first excursion was to rock climb and rappel. See Joseph (nick named "mountain goat" by the guides) above? This was his second climb. The guides asked him to clean the route of loose stones. His first ascent of approximately 45 feet took him all of 1 minute and 10 seconds. After the climb, the boys could hike up another 65 feet to rappel down 110 feet to the starting point. I got to rappel as well.
The venturers also took a 2 day canoe trip down the North Saskatchewan River for about 75 kilometers (47 miles more or less). The scenery was great. There were about 40 class 1 rapids, and about 7 class 2 rapids, and 3 class 3 rapids. Everyone of our group ended up in the water (snow melt from mountains that never loose all their snow) swimming for their lives. It was a difficult trip, and very challenging, but very rewarding. I ended up pulling one young man from the water, and he later told me he thought he was going to die until I got to him to help him.

The Venturers also built a section of fence to keep the bears in camp. I'm sure the fence was originally intended keep them out, but since we already had one (or more) in camp, the fence must have been to keep them there. The camp leaders called the Rangers, who ended up shooting the bear with rock salt and making him mad. The bear then played hide and seek with the Rangers for 3 hours, and eventually won. One Tranquilizer, or one 30-30 would have been better in my opinion.