Grandma Here

Hi Everyone,
Grandma's back - Oh no ---GROAN, GROAN

Thanks for your posts. Glad the Jordan Hudkins crew had a nice little holiday. I bet the two short people enjoyed the zoo.

Cassidy, you didn't say what you were doing in Colorado. Were you
* Holidaying
* Checking out Post Secondary Institutions
* Hockeying
* All of the above
* None of the above
* Other

????????

I have not done much scrapbooking in the past week. In fact, Grampa's been doing most of the cooking around here. One evening we had T-Bone Steak, so tender that you could cut it with your fork. Tonight we had HOT DOGS - (that you could also cut with your fork!!) He's done really well. He has also made lunches for us to take to work the past few days. Very much appreciated.

So far I have 82 pages (double-sided) scrapbooked. That's 164 pages!! I've finished the 1960's and working on the 1970's but find that some 1980 pictures are mixed in so there are LOTS of them! It has been a fun nostalgic trip.

I came across a 1974 Christmas letter I received from the missionary who baptized me. Robert Clark. I wish I could somehow track him down. He wrote that letter from Texas. They had just returned from 4 years in New Zealand and had 4 young children. It would sure be fun to find him. I tried going on the internet and looking up ldsmissions.net but didn't get very far. I don't even know what the mission for Winnipeg was called in 1958. Do any of you have an idea of how I could locate him? it is Robert Clark (with no 'e').

We are keeping busy at the temple and Employment Center. There are 5 weddings booked for the temple this Saturday. (extremely busy). Grampa will be doing the first one in the morning.

Really enjoy hearing from all of you and especially the pictures.

Love you all. Keep up the posts.
Gramma

Hello!

Hello everyone from the RichHudCox lol...*are last names squished in*
We just got back not to long ago on our lil family get away..! We went to Calgary and took the kids to the Zoo..and the science center all i can say is Fun ooh and the tower...that was fun too! Kids were really crabby at times...but it happens, i don't blame them that's aot of driving we did...Then we went to Edmonton! Went to my Fave place...Good old IKEA, i could have been there for hours but the boys were not having that ha ha "Like Father, Like Son" i always say! After that we pretty went to Athabasca to have a night with my grandma.....then it was homeward bound...was nice to get out with just the four of us, but was nice to come home and sleep in my OWN bed haha sleeping with the kiddies was a lil hard since they move soooooo much!! Now were just doing some things around the house..and also getting ready for Austins Second Birthday!!! Nutts!! He will be 2 on Friday, and were going to have a lil party for him on Saturday! Our baby's are growing up so fast! Keisha is almost done pre-school she will be having her Grad new the end on May! I'm so happy and proud of both the kids! Jordan is doing real well...Work..Work..Work..hah nothen to much new there! Poor guy, but someone has to bring in the Cheese ;)


Posting Up Photos Soon!

Take Care All...
Kristina, Jordan & Kids
xoxox

Hi to all from colorado! the state!

Hi to all. this is cassidy and jeanine, we are writing to you all from colorado. We arrived here about three days ago and are having a great time. I am meeting lots of people and looking at as many hockey camps as possible. I have only seen one rink so far but man is it awesome. it is huge and my buddy cameron that we are staying with said its only one of about six here that we can go play in. and the best part is that he said there is two ice sheets in every rink. jeanine and I love it here and the views we have seen are amazing. its kind of hard to get use to though because for two days it was 75 f. but today when we got up it was about 45 and snowing so I don't know what clothes to keep on hand. oh well I guess we will get use to it. well I got to go we have drop in in an hour so I will write again soon.

love you all!
cassidy and Jeanine

Bird's Here

Well hello guys, haven't been on for a while but definitely enjoy reading all the blogs and seeing the amazing pictures that have been shared. Everyone looks so good and I can't believe how old everyone is now...SHEESH!

Things with Jon and I are good. He is finishing his last exam tomorrow and hopefully studying in the bedroom, although I think I hear remnants of the hockey game every few minutes....hmmm We are busy looking to move out of the apartment mode here and get something with a little extra room for the little extra person joining us. It is so hard to find things that fit what you need! I am still busy in my 2 kindergarten classes working with all my little people, they are fun but really tiring by the end of the day. We just got back from BC for a friends wedding and it was so nice to have a bit of a break and to relax a little bit. Wish we coulda crossed the border to come visit States Fam. =)

We went for our second ultrasound today and everything looked good. They got some great shots of her heart and her lips have arrived!!! Hehe Not that we were worried, but you never know =) Anyways I ended up having a student do the imaging and we received a free 2D shot and decided to purchase a 3D one. They are kinda cool, she looks.....like something. Jon says Goblin but my mom says no way do Hinko's look like goblins and that must be a Bird trait! So here she is, a shot of my belly and us at the wedding. Enjoy and talk soon!

Love, Jon, Alyson and Helicoptor

Hahn Picture

Grandma had Brent scan this picture so it could be sent to everyone. We thought it would be nice to put it on the blog so everyone could see it. Hope you all enjoy!!!
The one and Only
Uncle Troy

Spring, just around the corner???

Just a short update from Roxanne and I. It snowedfriday aft most of yesterday and so far all of today. we are expecting more snow tomorrow.
We painted the walls in the Master bedroom and the ensuite. (Roxanne did most of it. She also painted the main bathroom sandlot gray (kind of a darke beige). Next will be the kitchen living room/entry and the computer room.
We hired someone to install the ceiling, baseboard/trim and a couple of doors. we are trying to get the ledge on the pony wall and trim painted before Aaron and Chelsea move in. Their lease is up in May and the rent is still skyrocketing. So much for rent control. Thats what happens when you vote in business men that are protective of their businesses and don't care if the people can't afford to make ends meet. Free enterprise sure breeds alot of greed!
The downstairs bathroom is now completed. I still need to install some pot lights in the family room and a walkin closet for bedroom #3 as well as some heat duct diffusers. We are now getting ready for a family dinner with Aaron, Chelsey, Jordan, Kristina, Austin and Kiesha. Brandon is doing fine and has a new love in his life. We met her at Easter and we like her alot.

Thats all for now,

Take care.

SNOW!!!!

Well, This is the beautiful Pacific Northwest where we had a wonderful 68 degree day on Wednesday, and the last three days in a row we've had SNOW, and sun and rain and sun. Like they say, if you don't like the weather in Washington, wait ten minutes. How true that statement is. Today when I was working at the house, it snowed five different times, it was a good thing it didn't stay.

Anyway, If anyone is reading the blog, please write, I would like to keep up on all the action going on north of the border.

Take care everyone, and God bless,

Troy

No Noise

No one on the blog for a while, so I'll let everyone know what is going on in the U.S. The top floor was poured on Friday, not as good a job as the other floors (it is what it is). Pat and Cass rolled trusses today and Rob started on the stairs. The roof should be on by Friday. The plumbing is about 1/4 done.

Nancy and I stayed home for our anniversary, Didn't do much. We had ten people here for pizza and ice cream cake for Pats' birthday (25 today).

Take care all,

Please write soon, we love to hear from everyone.

Troy and Nancy

deceased !

On April 7th 2008 at 10:45pm, we lost a beloved family member. Millie....Hudkins. I can't remember the middle name and we even had a naming ceremony!

Millie was the first hamster to fulfill a life in our house. She was a good hamster. She lived with happiness and love. Her only imperfection was a missing toe on her top, left, paw. She never bit a finger, toe, or nose. On April 8th 2008, at approximately 7:45pm there was a tree side funeral service held. The guests were Arland, me, and the cat.

R.I.P millie 2006-2008
looooooove, emma

Pics from Salt Lake

Hey guys! This blog thing has really taken off! It's so awesome!! I had the opportunity to be at the saturday morning session of conference IN THE CONFERENCE CENTER!! It was a very neat experience!! We left wednesday night at 3am and got to Salt Lake on Thursday night. We spent all day Friday touring around and seeing mikes Mission! It was really neat to meet some of the people he taught and see the sites. We had an amazing lunch at Cafe Rio!! I wish we had those in Canada! Best mexican food ever!! We drove back alll night saturday after the priesthood session and made it just in time for the afternoon session on Sunday! Not many can say they watched conference in two different countries on the same weekend! haha
Anyways, here are some pictures! Hope everyone is doing great! Love you all,
Addie

General Conference

Just a short note now that Jenny has gotten me on here;
This weekend Leslie and Alyson were up tp Ft. McMurray for a Community Baby Shower. I had seen it on our local channel and phoned right away and registered them. Then I thought they probably won't be able to make it. Then they both decided to come and I thought I hope it's not lame after driving 10 hours for it. But, it was quite well done and they got a lot of free stuff in their little bags. Plus, I found out about a Doula Course this coming weekend which I have decided to take. A doula is a labour coach and it is something I have always been interested in.

Louis is out of town in Red Deer until Wednesday and Graham is on straight nite shift for a few weeks shutdown, so it is a little weird at our house right now. Mikel is "the man" at the moment.
Jenny is subbing at her old school in a grade four class until they can hire someone else.(a teacher was unable to finish the year out due to health reasons - and I think they are not trying to hire someone else too quickly in the hopes that Jenny will just stay) I just finished a song practice for a young lady I have agreed to accompany at music festival and have a message on my phone to call her high school back for another possible little job. A person could be as busy as they wanted to at this time of year.

How did everyone enjoy general conference? I thought President Monson was great and particularly enjoyed the last session when he was a little funny! I really enjoyed when the choir did arrangements of Primary songs - they are always my favorites.

Write again soon!( maybe )



I have really enjoyed the pictures on the blog of both China and the house building!

Old guy finally on!!

I've read with interest the blogs and have enjoyed the pictures, but have been reluctant to get on, I don't know why!! I guess I've been afraid to get on in case I'd like it. Great pictures Arland, and enjoyed your brief travelog. You must have had a great time. Hope you're feeling better by now. Thank goodness you didn't get sick over there and were able to enjoy the time away.

Sure have enjoyed the pictures of the progress on the house and i'll bet the whole family has learned a lot about "stick" building. What a rare experience, you are all so lucky.

Love ya all,
Grampa .

Heat Pipes

Wel, here we are MacKenzy, Nancy and I running over 2300 feet of tubing on the top floor (this better be the best heat ever).






We had a little rain but still got things done.


















There was a lot of working going on, Oh but not when Kenz had chips in her mouth trying to look like a duck.

















Here is a mini video I took with the digital camera, I don't know how good it is but try it anyway.



This is when Nancy and Kenzy needed a break.....

We Love you all and Appreciate all those who participate in the blog.

Love Uncle Troy

Whip Cream Lemon Cake

I know this is probably dorky, but I thought I'd share a recipe with you. Last Saturday we had all the Employment Center staff over and the manager's new wife (oops - she's not new. They've been married 52 years). The NEW manager's wife brought dessert. It was light, tasty, inexpensive and fed a lot of people. I thought I'd share it with you. I'm going to make it for our Empty Nesters group next time I have to take dessert.

WHIP CREAM LEMON CAKE

1 Plain white cake 9 x 13
1 Pkg (small) lime jello
1 pint whipping cream
1 pkg lemon instant pudding
1 1/2 cup milk (to make pudding)
3/4 cup boiling water (for jello)
1/2 cup cold water (for jello)

Have a cooled plain white cake ready.
Dissolve jello in 3/4 cup boiling water and add 1/2 cup cold water.
Poke deep holes in cake (lots)
Pour jello over cake. Refrigerate.

Topping
Make the instant pudding. Whip the whipping cream and mix together with pudding. Then spread this mixture over cake and refrigerate. Mmmmm - good but very light.
Great for a pot luck.

Love,
Gramma

The North is finally melting!

I just had to write after seeing Arland's trip pics....AMAZING!!!!! I am sure that it was an experience you will cherish forever, I bet it was worth every cent you had to save! Please share the most intereting thing that you saw or learned, what was the wierdest?

The house looks great Troy & Nancy gang! Pretty exciting to see it come together bit by bit.

All is good up here in the north. Alyson and Leslie are coming up this weekend for a community baby shower, so hopefully they get some cool things. Mom has bought them a few more 'mat' pieces of clothing. She is super pumped and quite the shopper! It will be fun to see them and spend time together. Mikel just finished Spring Break and spent the week visiting family in Edmonton, attending his first concert ever...the FOO Fighters....Graham and I took him, they were amazing! He said it was a bit loud, it was a rock concert though! Graham starts a shutdown this weekend so he will be working nights for 6 weeks or so. Hopefully it will fly by. I am subbing at my old school here is Fort Mac, I am in a grade four class until they hire a new teacher. It is pretty fun, they are a good bunch and the teacher that left was totally old school so the class work so quietly it is actually kinda wierd, but good!!!! It's a blast!

Mom and dad are well! Mom is getting excited for her Salt Lake Quilting trip with Auntie Sylvia...those two are hard core.

Oh, the snow is finally melting up here! WE CAN SEE GRASS WOHOO!!!!

Love Jenny

House Pics as of Today

Here are some new pics of the house.




Patrick and Cassidy have pretty much
framed the whole second floor by themselves.


They have done a great job we are very
proud of them. Calorado is on spring break
this week and started helping the other boys today.











We laid the tar paper on the whole upper floor today, and will be laying the tubing this weekend. Then the concrete comes in again.





















We love you all and miss you much.... Please write..... we like to keep up on everyone!!

Troy & Nancy

Pictures from china

Hi everyone I'm back from china!!! It was lots of fun and a great experience. Here are some pictures


Our band was combined with other bands from across

Canada and we were able to perform in the forbidden

city concert hall.

It was a nice clear day at the great wall.

The Pearl Tower is Shanghai's most famous radio tower.

The temple of heaven is very unique in its traditions and architecture

The forbidden city has tones of old Chinese history

Tienamin square (don't know how to spell) is a huge plot of land covered in concrete