Happy New Year Everyone

Happy New Year to each one of you.
Have we told you lately how much we love you?
Well - in the words of wisdom from four little ones nearly half a century ago, we love you "all around the world and infinity".

In 2010 we wish you love, health, happiness, safety and the Lord's richest blessings.

Keep facing the sunshine and all the shadows will fall behind you. Stay close to each other and to our Heavenly Father. Our strength is in our family. Let's keep it that way always.

Love,
Gramma & Grampa

PS: Now - MY wish for ME in 2010
I wish that all those people who 'look' at the blog and haven't written in a very long time would share some thoughts with the rest of us. We love to hear from you, even if you think it is trivial. We like the connection - and those who have been so good about sharing. Thank you. Please keep up the good work. We love hearing about the little things and seeing pictures.

Belated Merry Christmas

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Cal and I had a good time seeing the nieces/cousins and the babies (I know Aunty is jealous) and spent some great time with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple days. We visited a lot and even played some cards, and just to let you know that Grandpa and Uncle Troy (who have carried the torch of cheating at nerts) have been dethroned and the torch has been passed to Grandma (still not sure if Cal was an accomplice or just guilt by association). Grandpa and I won anyway, (see cheaters never prosper). So let this be a lesson to all you grandkids, If you want to cheat well at cards follow Grandpa and Uncle Troy, But if you want to be stealthy about it talk to Grandma for tips. I'm sure she's been pulling the wool over our eyes for years, but after much dedication and investigation as to why we always lost I think we have finally found a way to win (catch Grandma).

Grandma and Grandpa we love you very much and will still play cards with you (just pay closer attention).

Love to all, Uncle Troy,
Miss you Baby, Little Miss, Cass and Jeanine, Mat, Pat and Heather

Remember this,

A New Years resolution is something that

goes in one year and out the other.

Merry Christmas Everyone

O.K. I decided I would be the FIRST to wish you all a wonderful Christmas, filled with love, joy and thoughts of the Saviour.

I am so grateful to Him for coming to earth and being an example of how we should live our lives and then to make it possible for us to return to live with our Heavenly Father.

I hope that we all remember the reason for the season and give thanks.

The gift for us is that Troy and Cal will be able to spend a bit of time with us. We are looking so forward to that, as are the cousins. However, as we look forward to our good fortune, we are mindful of the family in Bremerton -- anything worth doing is never easy. Please know that we love you and are thinking of you and wish you were here with us as well.

Anyone travelling - please drive safely.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Much love to everyone,
Gramma & Grampa

Polischuk's on Vacation!

So we are back and looking forward to Christmas!! Getting away is always great but there is no place like home. The days of being DINKS (dual income no kids) are over and with that has come a change in vacationing, still awesome but waaaayyy different. Amelia had almost two suitcases to herself, no jokes Graham and I crazy packed our stuff sharing one. Oh how things change, I use to bring one bag for shoes/purses/puchases...now diapers/food/baby gear. Amelia did great, the hardest was our flights. She wasn't a terror by any stretch but she reached a point both times where she would have liked her own space with no one crowding or touching her - tough luck on an airplane sweetheart!! The little woman watched and looked at everyone and everything, just taking stuff in with those little peepers. It was a blast, so fun with our wee woman and Grandma Hinko! Grandma still loves to travel and since Grandpa Hinko passed takes the opportunity to travel with others.

Cruising is fabulous; the shows amazing, the musicians talented and the food, oh the food!!!

We left Florida and stopped in Grand Cayman, Honduros, Mexico and the Bahama's.

A family pic on the ship!


Making Amelia's hat go Austrailian outback style!!


Kisses from momma, she clearly was only 'sorta' enjoying them!!

Weirdly Graham's Dad and Janis were in Mexico so we had planned to have a date.

Amelia after trying my strawberry marg...yum yum!

Beach in Mexico, not a beach to go swimming in that day!

One of the sunset views from our deck!

Grandma Hinko and I posed for an amazing background!!!

It just seemed so 'un'christmas like wearing shorts and seeing Santa in shorts!!!! It seems REAL christmas like upon our return to Canada!!!!!

In retrospect it seems wrong to have let this guy hold our child! Sorry Mia!!

She loves drinking from a 'big' girl cup, fun times especially when she is dressed pretty!!!!

Chillin on our deck with her dress stuck on that head.

On the little boat, going to the BIG boat!!

Just a cute pic of the short one, such smiles now!!!!

In her sailer outfit Grandma (my mom) bought for her. Of course one must sport nautical wear when going nautical!

Hope fully not boring for you guys but wanted to show my parents and thought you all might get a few laughs from the Amelia pics! We are slightly obsessed with her, a good thing though I think. ~ Love the Polischuk's

A Miracle of Sorts

I just thought I'd share with you a little sort of miracle.

Last Thursday and Friday we had the missionary couple from Yellowknife staying with us. We brought home a missionary car for them to use and had them park in our spot where they could plug in. We parked in the visitor parking (no plugging in there). The missionary car stayed here over the weekend all snuggly and warm under the carport and plugged in.

The miracle is that our 12 year old car with well over 200,000 k on it started immediately each of those days when we were the coldest place on planet earth. Now - I believe this to be a miracle and that we were definitely being blessed. Could it be because we are doing a mission???

I just wanted to share.

Love you all,
Gramma

celebrate death aunty itll be ok!

this is for all we have lost and all we care about love the family miss u all so very much!

Sad News

This is to let you all know that we have some sad news in our family.
Auntie Roxanne's father passed away yesterday morning.

The funeral will be On Friday, December 18th at 11:00 a.m. at the Rose Garden Funeral Home in Barrhead. It is located next to the arena.

To Roxanne, Brent, Brandon, Aaron & Jordan and families - We pray that your happy memories of Grampa Schneider will be a healing influence at this difficult time. Please know that we love you.

Love always,
Gramma

hey all its cal i am finally on here i know!

hey now that the american family is coming back seriously this time i have one question.

When is the big big bad hudkins family reunion gonna happen and where of course come on grandma set it up lets go set it up for some time after june when mom and them come back =) i miss everyone oh so much im working like a dog and wish i were sleepin like a log but im not about 5 hours every night working 2 jobs lol i may be getting a truck soon here. i finaly talked dad into buying a bass guitar so we could finaly jam together im teaching him slowely but surely lol mike hinko im gonna come visit u eventually and we can jam together to ok gimmie some time to get a few days off work and ill fly up some time and addie, mike, chris,jordan,aron,brandon maybe a phone call or 2 gimmie an adress so maybe i could drive up and stay a few days with you guys some time or maybe a little cousin cousin bonding time in lethbridge u know what just bring the whole family lol i know dad would like it anyways its late and i work with bruce jensen tomorrow on my day off of both jobs lol workoholic i know dad to but it keeps us out of trouble anyways i love you all and miss u oh so very much and cant wait to eventually see you all again very soon.


Love CAL the Hitman Hudkins you all enjoy the snow now

Holiday Wreath Cookies

I was looking in my "Grandma's Touch" cookbook and came across this recipe. I thought it was such a neat and easy recipe and would look really pretty on a tray of goodies to take to a neighbor or visiting teacher.

HOLIDAY WREATH COOKIES
30 marshmallows
1/2 cup butter (or hard margarine)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. green food coloring
3 1/2 cups cornflakes
1/2 cup small red cinnamon candies

* Line 2 large cookie sheets with wax paper
* Melt butter, marshmallows, Vanilla & food coloring. Stir until marshmallows are melted. (If doing on stove top, do it on low heat or in top of double boiler so it doesn't burn)
* Remove from heat and stir in cornflakes
* Drop rounded, greased spoonfuls of mixture onto wax apper. Shape into wreaths & decorate with red candies.
* Store between layers of wax paper

I haven't tried them yet. I will do that this afternoon.

Have fun with this recipe. Be careful with the food coloring because it can get on everything.

Love,
Gramma

Christmas Cheer...sneak peak!!!

Here is a little sneak peak at our Christmas Card picture...it was quite the proces to get a good one with all of our 'babies' somewhat cooperating!!

We are pretty much ready for Christmas, shopping 95% done but wrapping 0%, oh well that can wait until crunch time if needed. We actually leave on Thursday for a cruise so I'm focused on getting ready for that. Amelia will have her first winter vaca, I bought hats and shorts for her at the end of summer and then hit a store last week that had markdowns with some summer clothing priced at a $1.00 SERIOUSLY GOOD DEALS! The little woman is set for her cruise and the Sutcliffe & Hudkins wedding in Feb.

I am with Grandma, the blog has been mighty quiet. I know that another family just had a nice sunny trip, would love to see a few pics! It is a busy time of year though - this computer time has been my 15min of 'personal time' instead of packing, laundry and christmas cards. Have a great Christmas, love you.

Little critters posed and sorta smile from Mia!

Down, Rudolf going down!!!

Oh kind Tula letting Amelia chill out!

Good times at the Polischuk's! Love ya ~ Amelia, Graham & Jenny

Much Too Quiet

You are all sure a quiet bunch. When did that happen? I seem to remember everyone talking at once and having lots to say. Now even the blog is quiet!

I know there is some good news out there - how about sharing it? (RMH)

Last weekend Charlene, Sylvia and I went to a quilting retreat - well, lots of ladies quilted but some of us are quilting challenged and so I scrap booked. Still working on those pictures. It seems the more I get put into books, the more my pictures multiply. Maybe I should put my camera in the deepfreeze like some people do their credit cards.
It was a nice weekend and gave Grampa a break from the old woman he lives with. I think he enjoyed McDonalds, Wendy's and Chinese food. I'm not sure which one of them cooked the most for him, but I do know that his favorite place to dine is the golden arches.

We set up our tree this evening. Next week we have two zone conferences. The senior couple from Yellowknife are coming out and will be staying with us. We're looking forward to getting to know them.

Hope to hear from some of you.
I love you all very much,
Gramma

Jacey's puppy adventures

So this video is a bit long, but wonderful. We were in Lethbridge visiting my friend Manda Baker and her dog Cody is just amazing with kids. So Jacey was pretty interested in him and would follow him around with her eyes and he came to sit by her and she reached her little hanny out and pet him. I was seriously crying the whole time I videotaped because this is just an amazing little feat for her. She was also so interested in a horse a few days later in Lethbridge. It was a rodeo and we just walked up to a lady to ask for a pet, Jacey loved it and was not even a little afraid of the huge animal standing next to her. She just reached right out and was petting. We are just so proud of our little bird girl!! - Mama Bird

It has been FOR- EV-ER!!

Little Piggy indeed, look of pure evil right here

Flashdance called, they want their move back

The three cousins just hanging out

This girl was beyond silly in her seat,

she couldn't stop giggling long enough to suck

Surprised by her piggy tails

Trying out piggytails

Sharing our look of SHOCK!

Our silly look before Fam Pics

Post Tubby=Awesome!!

Alas, our little Pirate... Arrr...

Hey guys, sorry it has been forever since posting. We have been busy settling into the new place, once the pics are on the walls, I'll post pics as well. But just wanted to show some of the growing lady. She is hilarious now-a-days, just a riot. What a little personality she has!! She is really doing well and developing. She has been bumped up for an extra physio a month which rocks and she has been approved for government disability. Bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter. Able to do so much more for her now. She is trucking along and eating more and more "big girl" food...which makes the big girl diapers...well big girly! =) She is just great! Jon and I are getting excited to decorate for Christmas, this is the first year we have a tree and lights and a house to put those lights on and the tree in....good thing we waited eh!?! We just wanted to shout out and say hey and show off our kid some more!! Love you all, take care. The Birds

Send Birth Dates

O.K. everybody - please send Troy all the birthdates in your families. I don't have them all. He posted his e-mail address a while back. I think it's nice to see them on the sidebar.

No - he didn't ask me to post this (just in case you're wondering).

Love to everyone,
Gramma

So True

We have been so anxious to give our children what we didn't have ..... that we have neglected to give them what we did have.

Halloween 'n such...sorry for the delay!!

So family I've been meaning to post a few recent pics of the short folks in our crew, a bit of a late post but thought you might enjoy seeing our 'little dragon', 'bumble bee' and our 'bird girl'!!! So cute don't you think. These were taken at Kingston's Birthday Party, the little man is now a big 1 year old!!

Smiling Amelia...I just had to include this pic!

I am in LOVE with her and this pic...so fond of that round face, dimple chin girl!! I just think that she looks so beautiful here!

Hope all is well with everyone!? Can't wait for Christmas. We set up our tree today and turned on the lights tonight...November 20th is close to enough to December!!!!

Love you all ~Amelia, Graham & Jenny

One of Kenzy's B-day Celebrations

Yesterday I took lunch to Kenz at school and we had a little party in Mr Suggs class. The advantage of having an LDS teacher and family friend. We had a fun time. Mackenzy had some of her friends come and join us for her special lunch. As well Sister Suggs, two of her kids and my girlfriend Annie joined in on the fun.

Happy Birthday Kenz

Hope you have a nice day! Happy Birthday.

Ten Years

Hi Everyone,
We just got back from the Temple Workers' Annual Devotional. As always, it was a spiritual meeting. This December our temple has been in operation for 10 years. Before the meeting began they had a power point presentation showing the construction right from the groundbreaking through to completion and then through to this summer where it showed the beautiful flowers around the grounds.

For speakers they had each of the Temple Presidents: President Salmon, President Patterson and President Holt. Charlene - you would be interested in the choir. They sang the same song that the choir did at the presentation. The choir was made up of temple workers.

There are now 240 temple workers. It was so enjoyable to see them all together and to feel the strength and unity. We were able to visit over lunch after the meeting.

What a special blessing the temple is in our lives and what a great privilege it is to serve in His Holy House!

Just wanted to share this spiritual experience with you all.

Love you all so very much,
Gramma & Grampa

Kenzy's Moment.......... Claim to Fame

Kenzy and I had a claim to fame experience like grandma, but with a twist. On Sunday we had a special stake meeting. We had a member of the Seventy come and speak to our stake. The member of the Seventy was Elder Clayton. He explained that the reason he had come was because as of January they are changing the way the members of the Twelve and Seventy do things. They said as to dated that there are 2800 stakes now and still only twleve and seven presidents in the quorms. This is making is very hard to get around to all the stakes. So in January they will start meeting with several stake leaders at a time and then the stake leaders take the information or maessage to their individual stakes. So the reason we were chosen as one of the last ones to get a member was we had not had someone come out in 15 years. We were lucky.
So Mackenzy and I got to church 40 minutes early to get a good seat. We were sitting with a friend of mine and Elder Clayton was going around the chapel talking with people and shaking hands. He headed our way. A member of our stake presidence introduced my girl friend, then me and then Mackenzy. Well Elder Clayton asked Mackenzy how are you in spanish. Mackenzy responded, same to you. He laughed. Then President Gillespie said they are Canadian so you need to talk Canadian to them. So Elder Clayton then resonded How are you doing EH!!! We all had a good laugh and he moved on. Mackenzy then turned to me and said in a casual tone so who's that? I looked at her and said that is who we came to hear speak. Mackenzy turned 19 colors of red and said mom I can't believe I just said that to him. We all had a great laugh and it was the talk for the rest of the day. She did say now I know why they tell us all the time to be carfeful what we say to people, as you never know who you are talking to!!!
Sorry for the long story it our little funny we thought we would share.
Love and Miss you all
PS.......Especially Troy and Cal
Nancy

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Hi to everyone, I hope everybody will forgive me for not putting all of the special dates on the blog.

Anyway..... If everyone will e-mail me with all pertinent dates and names with birthdays and anniversaries from all of the families I will work to get them on the side calender reminder.

I am trusting the parents of the younger parents to make sure I get all dates and names (with spelling) to me I would feel bad if any dates get missed.

My e-mail is troysslnw@gmail.com

I will try to get dates entered as I get them.

Thank you in advance to everyone.

I have enjoyed my second full week at the plant and am learning a bunch about the way the structures go together. Itis a very interesting operation.

Love everyone very much,

Husband, Son, Brother, Uncle Troy

BIRTHDAY MANIA --- AGAIN !!!

Just wanted to remind everyone of the rash of birthdays this week!
Yesterday on Thursday November 5th was Graham, tomorrow is Jordan, followed by Mom(Grandma) on Sunday. Jordan is a "young" 25, a little birdie told me Graham has hit the big
three - o and I don't know if real ladies tell their true age. Mom?

Halloween Fun

Mackenzy and I went to the tri-stake dance. We both dressed up. We both had a great time. Mackenzy dressed me in my costume. I got alot of complements. I think she did a great job. She is a motorcycle racer and I am a stick man. You see in the light it doesn't make alot of sense but in the dark, that is where I stood out the most. The kids at the dance loved it.

Troy, Jenny & Grandma and Everyone Else

Troy and Jenny here are the pictures of my Pumpkins and Halloween stuff you requested. Troy thanks for helping me cut them(Uncle is a great craftier)Jenny here are some ideas for RS (and any one else). Grandma here is our blog for you. I will try to be on more often again.

Halloween ideas


































































Brothers playing hockey on the same team. They have alot of fun together. The lovely supportive wife's who spend alot of time freezing and watching. Love You All.

Lethbridge or Bust

Well I am getting settled into my new job in Lethbridge, Alberta..... Yes.... it is not a typing error.

I don't have a contact phone number at this time, I can't have a phone on me at work anyway.

If anyone needs to contact me they can e-mail me and I will get back to them.

Love Everyone,

Uncle Troy

Mike Got a Job!

Hey Family!
I thought since it's been ALMOST TEN DAYS since anyone has posted anything that I would make a post. We have some great news! Mike got his first Co-op position at a company called KPMG. He starts his first term in January and it will last for 8 months and then back to school. He had to go pick up his job offer package at the U of A and inside was a few papers and a Dr Suess book AND a laptop bag for his laptop that he receives from accepting the offer.
Love you all! Talk to ya soon!
Addie & family

The package!

This was Camilla's first bubble bath. She loves her baths soo much! It's a blast!













We thought this was adorable and were glad we captured it on film. Camilla is grabbing her ear and pulling it while she sucks her thumb. Totally cute.