Trip to Portland

Photo Shoot

Darbi and dad went out on a photo shoot today. We went over to lake Coeur d' Alene for the annual eagle migration. She chose this as her fun thing to do over Christmas break. These arethe pictures that she took.

Olympic Torch

Mission News

hey fam- So i guess you all want to know if i am being transfered since it was mentioned in both emails. so yes, i am . i'm going to kentville Nova Scotia. i'm pretty excited because i will get to go back to yarmouth!!! i loved it there. i want to take you all back and show you someday. but another fun thing is i will be serving with elder peteresen the same one from the mtc. so that should be interesting. i don't know the address yet. so if you just want to send the package to the mission office, i will be there for christmas. kentville is about an hour away, but president gave me permission to drive up and be at the mission home for all the festivities. i'm way excited. i won't lie though i'm pretty devastated to be leaving fredericton. it has been hard to say goodbye. it happens though eh? i really love it hear. Kentville will be good though. it's a good ward and a good area. The bad thing about it being transferes is elder gray is now going home friday. i will miss him, but we are going to stay in contact till i get home. which really isn't that far away. only 9 months left. kinda sad though. that is great that you had such a good thanksgiving. mine was a little lack luster. not very good, and with four old old people. so the conversatoin was off the hook. lol. gotta love it though. made a memory i guess. lol. that is cool that you actually got to watch football!!! that would be a dream come true. lol. and yes i will be there for next thanksgiving. i will be pretty excited. a good ol' american thanksgiving. what a treat. well i think that is all i have. oh fill me in on jaren's girl...lol. that is funny. waht a guy. i have no idea who she is. umm.... yeah i think i'm out of things to say. i love you all and hope you have a great week. and i'll get you the kentville address next week. My week was pretty good. just doin the same old thing. we have found some cool new investigators, but are still finding our butts off!! we knocked for 3 hours straight yesterday. that was exciting, mainly becuase a story surfaced. so for lunch we had a donair pizza. i don't know if you know what that is. it's an atantic canadien thing. but we are knocking, and BOOM!! I have got to go poo, BAD. the nearest washroom was a 5 min walk away. so we are sprinting to this store so i can go. i'm sad to announce that a little got out, but i was able to save most of it for the poor can. lol. it was a funny story now that i look back on it. probably one of my proudest moments as a missionary. they say you aren't a real missionary till you poop your pants. well i guess i can say i'm a half real misisonary. lol. i hope you all have a good week. I really love it hear, my mission is a great place, and the place where the Lord needs me right now. i love you.Elder Nick Novakovich

Nikki's Velveteen Carli

You have seen pictures of our little dog before, but have you seen her lately?

In November on 2008 Mike and Jaren drove to Preston Idaho to pick up our little treasure. And that she was. At just 8 weeks old she was so cute and timid and cuddly and soft and sweet and loveable and LITTLE!!!

Well now it is October of 2009 and now she is NOT SO LITTLE anymore. What happened to my little Carli?

Now my Carli is just...well see for yourself!

Missionary News

mom and dad-it might be cold there, but maybe i can interest you with some snow???? yup you got it. it snowed last night. winter is here. yeah, i have most of my snow stuff, but i need boots. but they are so expensive it is dumb. i found some nice ones for about 125, but i don't know. i might just tough it for the last winter. what do you think. anyways, i'm really exited right now!!!!!!!!! last night we had a stellar lesson with Lorn and he wants to be baptized a week from today!!! yup my first one, found him, taught him, and we are baptizing him. i'm so stoked, it is like no feeling in the world to bring the gospel to someone. a true truth seeker!!!! I know it is all a blessing from my Father in Heaven though, i make sure to thank him every night for being able to take part in this miracle. so next wednesday, our ward mission leader is going to baptize him. i'm so stoked!!! he is an amazing kid. another cool story or testimony builder for me was last night he told me he wished he would have done the date that we tried for originally which was the 10th of october. so goes to show as missionaries we are inspired even though it wasn't some grand revelation. it is amazing how the Lord works by small and simple things. but what matters is he is being baptized!!! wahoooooo.Other than that things are going well here. it is cold, but things still move along. we are working really hard and trying to do our best. the mission tour was amazing, basically we just had Elder Maynes(a seventy) come and talk to us. i got to have one extra meeting with him since i am a zone leader. that was fun. he just trained us and taught us how to be better servants of the Lord. I really love it out here. it is so cool. time goes by so fast and i get upset cause i want it to slow down. but i know the Lord has more in store for me after. that is amazing about zoe, she is a stud. i still wish i could have learned piano, i plan on just taking it upon myself to get lessons when i get home. tell jaren and darbi good luck with their races. i'm sure they will do amazing. and good luck to both of you on the weight loss. i'm slowly getting fatter and fatter every day.lol. well lets see, anything else...oh no word on transfers yet. i have no idea really. next week i will though. umm...keelp carli around, i will be mad if she isn't there when i get home mom. i did order that quad so who knows when it will get here. and i will be watching for your letter dad. mail has really really slowed down for me. i get it about once ever two weeks maybe. about one or two a month on average. oh well. it keeps me focused and i don't mind to much. i do want the family to know that i love it out here and there is nothing i would rather do right now. i love serving the Lord, he lives, i know he does. The Book of Mormon was translated by the prophet joseph Smith by the power of God. I know that this work is true and we have the possibility of being a family forever. I find such comfort in knowing i will be with all of you forever. i love you all, and always remember to do your member missionary work. it really helps. have a great week.love,elder nick novakovich

X-Country 2009

Well the East Valley X-Country season is well under way and Jaren, Darbi and Zoe are right in the thick of things. We are having a great time watching, cheering and running to different parts to the course to encourage the runners. Jaren has an agenda this year due to a lost season last year. Darbi is working close with the coaches to improve on each race and Zoe is proving that she certainly can run.

We have had several meets to date and the kids are having a great time. We travelled to Missoula last weekend and ran the Mountain West Classic. There are about 53 teams involved in the race and our East Valley Boys team too 11th place. They really are working well together as a team this year.

This weekend we went to Yakima to the Sunfair Invitational Meet. This is a fun race. There is a hill that doesn't quit and lots of gradual hills and sharp turns. Both Jaren and Darbi did well in this race. Jaren ended up taking 15th in his flight.