Goodland pictures

Thursday's adventures

Hi everybody. Today is Thursday. Last night we slept on an air mattress at the Hick's house in their living room. We woke up this morning and Heather (who is pregnant and due on Thanksgiving) made us pancakes. We enjoyed playing with the girls. They are both so loving and precious! Heather and I ran to Super Target (which I had never been to before) and then Aaron and I planned out the rest of our day. We decided not to stay over again in Denver to avoid the Denver AM traffic. Denver traffic is crazy anytime of the day. Aaron and I left mid morning and went to Park Meadows mall in Denver. It was very fancy. It had wood floors and fireplaces and rustic furniture. We walked around the whole mall twice without going in hardly any stores....the way we usually shop. We went to Sbarro for lunch and decided to hit the road around 1. We decided to drive about 3 hours and stop to enjoy an evening in a hotel...just sitting around watching TV and actually eating dinner inside a restaurant. So, we drove across flat Colorado and Kansas and ended up in Goodland, Kansas. I'll attach the pictures. We went to the Super Wal-mart here and went to a little diner we found in downtown Goodland. Now, we're just sitting around waiting for Big Brother to come on and catching up on our e-mail. Tomorrow, we're driving to somewhere in IL and spending the night and we'll finally be home on Saturday. See you then. Home sweet home!

Belated wedding pictures

The picture to the left is Aaron's Mom lighting the candle.



These pictures are of Lani (Aaron's younger sister) and her boyfriend Dan. Michael (Aaron's nephew) is in between them. Kelli is Michael's Mom. Are you confused yet?

Hicks pictures and picnic

This picture is of Andy, Emma (4) and Hailey (2). Emma loved "rock climbing." I stayed on my little rock while the rest "rock climbed."

wildfire pictures

Wednesday?

Hi everyone. So I guess today is Wednesday. Yesterday was Tuesday. You can't keep track of time when you're traveling. Yesterday, we traveled all day from Trail, B.C. to Hardin, Montana. We stayed in the Western Motel which was supposed to have free wireless internet but it wasn't working. Now, we're at Heather and Andy's in Denver, Colorado. They actually live in Littleton. We went to a park tonight which overlooks mountains and Pike's Peak. It was really pretty. We'll leave here on Friday morning. I am unable to post pictures because I'm not writing from our personal laptop....which has all our pictures on it. Traveling is becoming tiring, and I'm looking forward to being home. Yesterday, we saw a forest fire as we were driving through Montana. We have good pictures of that. I'll try to post again soon and I'm looking forward to seeing familiar faces! Love, Missy

Today is Monday

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't written. I'll do a quick summary of yesterday and today. Yesterday was Sunday. We woke up, went to Tim Horton's for breakfast with Lani and Dan, and then went to the church that Aaron grew up in. "Aaron and Missy are here from Toledo, Ohio" was part of the announcements. Everyone looked and clapped. :) Then we went to lunch with Mom, Robb, Rob, Tex (Rob's brother) and Rob's niece and nephew. After lunch, we went to visit Auntie Rhonda and chatted for awhile. Then we came home, mapped out our route for our next week of adventure. Then we went to the Colander restaurant again, but this time with Mom, Robb, Lani, Dan and Lani's 2 friends. Aaron ate so much he thought he was going to throw up and we had to leave. That was my least favorite part. Thankfully, there was no throwing up, so we went to visit Auntie Marie. That was also a nice visit. We made it home to watch the last 1/2 hour of Big Brother. Around 10 we went to sleep and actually slept in until after 7. It seems we've actually kind of adjusted to the time change. That means that it's time to go home and readjust to normal time. Today is Monday. This morning we woke up and went to Aaron's Dad's house for breakfast. He made us breakfast and we visited. Aaron helped him make business cards, and we looked at pictures of the wedding. Then, we went shopping at the Canadian dollar store and bought Canada "decals". We went to Zeller's (kind of like K-Mart) and bought lots of Canadian candy that you can't get in the U.S. and Ketchup-flavored Pringles (also a Canadian delicacy). Then we went to Canadian McDonald's. This afternoon I spend relaxing outside on the patio swing reading and watching TV. Tomorrow morning, we should be leaving around 7 am and we will probably be driving to Buffalo, WY where we'll spend the night on Monday night. I'll update more hopefully if we find a hotel with wireless internet. We've been lucky so far!! See you all shortly! Love, Missy

The Wedding Day

Well, I hope everyone has enjoyed Aaron's posts. We've had a very busy last few days. Yesterday (Saturday), we got up in the morning and put on normal clothes so we could go out to breakfast. We went to a little deli with Mom, Robb, Lani, and Dan. I had a yummy egg ham and cheese croissant with an awesome mocha coffee drink. Then we went back to the hotel and changed into our fancy clothes. Aaron's Dad and Mikey (our nephew who is 7) met us there. Then Aaron and I, and Lani and Dan went with Aaron's Dad to A&W. At A&W we had a family reunion. Some aunts and uncles on the Stott family side were all meeting there before going to the church for the wedding. I had fries (with salt and vinegar on them...which is the Canadian way to eat fries) and a hotdog. We also met up with Kelli (Aaron's oldest sister) and our niece Lexi, who's 3. We got to the church a little before 1, even though the wedding started at 2. What else is there to do?! So, we sat around for an hour waiting for the wedding to start. The wedding was nice. I held Lexi for most of the time so I didn't have time to cry. She was very squirmy and wanted to crawl under the seats. At one point she escaped from me, escaped from her Mom, crawled under the seat and ended up on the platform where the prayer/candle lighting ceremony was happening. There were little fake flower petals all over the floor and Lexi would pick them up and pretend to smell them. We'd told her to do that earlier so it would make a cute picture. So, after the wedding, we went to the reception early where Aaron was put to work setting up the sound system and putting together the projector and screen for the picture slide show. While Aaron was working, Lexi, Michael and I looked at the goats (Janelle's family owns a farm). I took Lexi around to look at the chickens, goats, and horses. We even picked an apple and tried to feed it to the goats. It was nice to be able to spend time with my niece and nephew that we hardly ever get to see. The reception was outside right next to a little river. It was beautiful. It was sunny yet windy and not too hot. Canadian weddings and receptions seem to be a little different. They have something called "Open Mike" where anyone can go up to the emcee table and talk about the bride or groom. We left the reception after 9, and got home to Trail around 11ish. I had changed out of my black dress and was into my pajamas before our car had even pulled onto the road. I'll try and post pictures of Lexi, Mikey, Lani and Dan when I have a chance to borrow the computer with the picture. Love, Missy

trip to the Wedding

I know these should be before the wedding pics, but that's ok. I drove a day early for the bachelor party, which some of you might see some video from after we're back home. These are my trip through the mountains.

The Reason We Came

Well, this is the reason for the whole trip. The wedding was awesome. This one pic is the look on Daniel's face when he saw Janelle come through the door. Then it's Janelle with her dad. Then the last one is obviously them together at the end. My brother doesn't usually show a lot of emotion on his face, but this look shows a lot. For the all the girls, I'm sorry I'm not giving all the details you want to hear, I'll guess you'll have to wait for Missy to add a womans perspective. It was very hard to not cry like a baby. The hardest part of this whole ordeal now is knowing I'm going to be 2500 miles from Dan. I don't know about wanting to live out here, I really do miss BC, pictures just don't explain the beauty. There's a very different atmosphere out here, & this trip makes me miss it more than any other time I've been home the past 8 years.

Grand Forks

We're Alive!

So, it's 10:20 at night and we are now in Grand Forks. I arrived here around 2:30 at Janelle's parent's house in Grand Forks. That is where the rehearsal dinner as well as the reception is going to be. I've never been so excited to see Aaron. I'll try to post pictures of the tent he slept in last night and some of the pictures of the drive to Grand Forks. Aaron's Mom had been cooking for the past many days because she was in charge of the rehearsal dinner. We had pulled pork sandwiches w/coleslaw, potato salad, caesar salad, and tarts. It was yummy. We're sharing a room tonight at this cute little motel with Lani (Aaron's sister) and Dan (Lani's boyfriend). Out behind our room is the beautiful little creek/river. Aaron's bachelor party experience was quite fun. He said he slept better outside in the tent than he had the past few nights. They rolled a car and shot clay pigeons and other dangerous activities. It was quite fun for all. I'll post pictures of people starting tomorrow! Love, Missy

Today is Thursday

So, what did we do on Thursday? After much thought I remember. At lunch time, we met Rob at Subway and had lunch. Aaron left shortly after that for Grand Forks where the wedding is going to be held. Aaron is going to Daniel's bachelor party tonight. They're going to smash a car?! and sleep outside in a tent. I stayed behind with Mom and Robb. We went shopping around Trail and to the mall. We picked out a nice pink flowery skirt and pink shirt for Aaron's Mom for the wedding. Then we got Chinese take-out. We'll be leaving for the rehearsal dinner tomorrow. I'll try and update tomorrow, but I may not be able to update again until Saturday night or Sunday. Pray for safe travels to Grand Forks and a blessed wedding day for Daniel and Janelle. We love you all!

what a day usually looks like

So, this is us doing what we do everyday. And this is the picture of us when we went out to lunch at the Colander yesterday.

Trail pictures

So, here are pictures of a drive through Trail. The first picture is of the Trail mall sign. The house is Mom & Robb's house. The last picture is what you see when you're driving into Trail. Isn't it gorgeous?!!!

Canada pictures

So, this is a picture of the highway driving to Trail. And the pine trees on the mountain are enormous here. Today is Wednesday. On Tuesday, we did end up walking around downtown Trail. We ate lunch at "The Coffee Coop." Did you know that they don't have free refills on drinks in Canada? Also, they give you salt and vinegar for your french fries or you can get gravy with your fries? We went to the Canadian Wal-mart. I love walking down the food aisles because all the food and labels look completely different. You can get ketchup chips or dill pickle chips. We bought absolutely nothing. We went to the Trail mall I was telling you about and ran into Rob. We bought nothing there too. Our Scion XB is a big hit in Trail. Everyone has never seen one before. People crane their necks to look at our car as we drive past. It bugs Aaron because he wants a bumpersticker that says "I'm from here!" meaning he's not a tourist but a Trail native. We ran into Aaron's dad in downtown Trail. He was wearing sunglasses and we didn't recognize him. We might spend time with him tonight. We'll be having lunch with Daniel (Aaron's brother) today at the Colander. The Colander is the most famous Italian restaurant in Trail. Last night we slept on a waterbed. It was my first experience sleeping on an ocean. Everytime Aaron moved, I moved. It was more pleasant than the first bed we slept on here. It was a futon mattress on top of a foam pad. I would roll over and hit my head on the wall and then stretch out and my feet would hit the wall and my head would hit the drawer behind me. That's why we decided to try the waterbed. Aaron's Mom's house had 2 "beds" to choose from. Tonight, Aaron is threatening to sleep on the floor. We have an update to our plans. We may be staying over in Denver, CO on the way home to visit our friends, Andy and Heather Hicks. We'll still leave here next Tuesday, but we'll get a completely different road trip on the way home. Well, I guess that's all the updates. I'll try and take more pictures today. Everytime I've tried to upload pictures it hasn't been working, but today must've been a special day because you get to see 2 pictures!! Love, Missy

Our first full Canadian day

Hi everyone. Today is our first day that we woke up in Canada. Aaron and I both woke up around 5 am (which was 8 am our time). We had to both purposely try to go back to sleep. Yesterday we spent the day doing nothing. It was quite nice. I read more of "Like Dandelion Dust" by Karen Kingsbury. It's about a couple that adopted a little boy when he was born. The biological mother had given him up because the biological father was violent and was in jail for domestic violence. Bio mom signed off on the adoption papers and forged the Bio dad's name because she knew he'd never sign them willingly. Well, 4 years later when the bio dad gets out of jail and finds out that he has a son somewhere, he demands to get the son back. Because the adoption papers were fraudulent (bio dad didn't actually sign), then the adoptive parents have to give the boy back. It's a heart wrenching book and really makes you think about adoption! It's written by a Christian author, so I'm sure that there will be a good ending, but until then...ahhh! I also sorted my recipes yesterday because I'm making a homemade recipe book for Daniel and his wife for a wedding present. Last night, we met Rob (Aaron's best friend from Trail) at a local coffee house. Rob lives in Manitoba now and came home to Trail so we could visit. He's going to go on full time staff with Mercy Ships and just started raising support yesterday. We were his first people to talk to about it. Today, we don't have any plans. Maybe we'll stop by the new Wal-mart in Trail or go to the mall in Trail. It's similar in size to Woodland Mall in BG. More pictures of what Trail looks like are to come. I'll just send some more pictures of our scenic adventure across the country today. Talk to you soon.

Aaron's additions

Well, seems like there could be some important details that were missed. I forgot to tell Missy our total miles driven on this adventure. Day 1 was 940.1 miles. I can't really remember what it was on Sunday (day 2), my math says about 981, but that sounds high. We drove from 7:00 am to 7:30 pm, but it was 14 1/2 hours, figure that out. (went through 2 time zones)
Today, day 3 wasn't so bad, 4 hours, about 190 miles according to my microsoft streets & trips.
All I know is the odometer says 2074.1 miles for the whole trip. I must say, I've always wanted to drive this trip. Turns out it really wasn't so bad.
This is the Canada border crossing.

Day 3

Well...we're here! We've been here about an hour in the lovely city of Trail, British Columbia. The last 2 hours of the trip were tough. We were less than a half hour from the Canadian border and got caught in major construction. The kind where you sit there for 20 minutes while the other side gets to go, and then it's your turn. Aaron was going crazy and hitting his head against the headrest because he was so anxious to get home. Overall,the trip wasn't as hard as I expected. I only watched one movie (out of the 7 or 8 I brought from the library). I did finish one book by Karen Kingsbury. It was really really good. I'm about 1/3 of the way through my next book by the same author. Well, I don't think we have any big plans for the rest of the week. Saturday is Daniel's wedding. Right now, Robb (Aaron's step-dad), Aaron, and I are all sitting at the kitchen table at laptops typing away. I'll update with pictures later! Love, Missy :)

Day 2 pictures

oh...and in this picture you can see the bugs splattered on our windshield. :)

Day 2- The States of North Dakota and Montana

Hi everybody-
Well, we survived our second day of traveling across the U.S. We started the day with free continental breakfast (I only stay at hotels with free breakfast!!). We had make your own waffles and then set off. We drove through flat North Dakota which later turned into beautiful mountainous North Dakota. Montana is the longest state known to man. It was very curvy..up and down and around mountains. We took lots of pictures. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch and even went in to eat. It was good to not sit in the car. I had the new snack wrap. It was very good. You get excited about food when you're stuck in the car all day. I watched a Broadway DVD that I got from the library which was entertaining. Aaron is gone right now getting McDonald's because he never ate dinner. We're staying at a Baymont Inn in Kellogg, Idaho tonight. Tomorrow morning we wake up, eat our free breakfast and drive home to Trail. Trail is only about 4 hours away. We didn't want to keep driving when we were too tired. The pictures should have captions. When I drive, it's always exciting, but we do get the best gas mileage. I took a picture of the front of our new car, because it is covered in splattered bugs. Aaron calls it a bug cemetary. Our car gets great gas mileage, but aerodynamically it is great at killing bugs. The sunset picture is of the sunset in Idaho. Thanks for reading our blog and talk to you soon!

Our first day- Missy's perspective

For those of you who don't know. Aaron and I are driving from Toledo, OH to Trail, British Columbia for Aaron's brother's wedding. It was cheaper to drive than to fly...even with the gas prices. So,we bought a new car (Scion XB) and a bunch of food to eat in the car, and set out this morning at 7:05 to be exact. We drove all the way through to Jamestown, ND. The picture that is attached is of North Dakota somewhere. The camera was packed away for most of the trip so I missed taking some good pictures of boring Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. I think Wisconsin and Minnesota were pretty. Green trees and rolling hills. I drove for 4 hours in the afternoon until my driving drove Aaron crazy and he took back the wheel. We had some awesome Auntie Anne's soft preztels at an "Oasis" (fancy name for reststop) outside of Chicago this morning. That was a highlight. Tomorrow we'll be driving from Jamestown to somewhere in Montana...maybe Superior. We don't have any hotel reservations made. We're making them as we go. We're at a Quality Inn tonight that has a free continental breakfast. I hope it's good. Well, it's been quite a day, and I'm quite tired. I didn't do hardly any sleeping in the car. Hope you enjoyed our first update. We'll update again tomorrow. We love you all! Please pray for safe travels and that Aaron would enjoy each other's company while stuck in a car for 12 hours. :)

Our first day-Aaron's perspective

Well, it's 9:37 pm, central standard time. After a little more than 15 hours in the box we got to our first stop. We had planned to go
I 90 the whole way but changed it to I 94. We got a little farther today than we had planned, which works out great. We are in
Jamestown, ND. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be in Superior, MT. We could then be home by 1:00 on Monday, which is a few hours
earlier than previously thought. Looks like it'll be another 14 hours on the road tomorrow.
One awesome thing about ND, 75 MILES PER HOUR. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look! I just learned how to post a picture. This picture is of my sister, 2 step sisters, Dad, and Step-mom. Aren't we an adorable family?

My first try

This is my first attempt at starting a blog of our adventures. I surely love reading everyone else's blogs so I thought I'd start one of my own.