Good times had by all!!!

We are done our holidays now. They never seem long enough do they. We had a great time most of the time. As many of you know, holidays are sometimes not vacations with two small children, but overall it was wonderful. We went as far west as Salmon Arm(sorry Peter, Chels, and Eva)and then worked our way home slowly north towards Jasper then east through Drumheller. We had so many memories and good times. The highlight for me was the Wildlife Discovery Center in Innisfail, AB. This is where they raise and train many animals including lions, tigers, camels, monkeys, and many others. The best part were the bears. They had about 10 bears, grizzlies and blacks and one Kodiac. They were well trained enough that the one grizzly came right over to us, within three or four feet(on the other side of the fence)and put on a bit of a show for us. He smiled for the camera, literally. Many of these bears were and are in numerous films and commercials. The other highlight for me was getting to stay with John, Angie and their kids for a night(oh, and Hugo). I had almost forgotten how awesome they were. Thanks guys. The highlight for the kids had to have been camping and visiting cool sites around Drumheller. Kiara especially is obsessed with dinosaurs, so that was a treat for her. Much thanks to all those we stayed with including family in Weyburn and Salmon Arm. make sure and check out our holiday pics on our flickr site. We love you all. Mark, Melissa, Kiara and Kori

LIFE UPDATE FROM ME TO YOU

I just wanted to let everyone know how we are doing lately, if you care, but even if you dont, I will tell you. Things here are great. We have been so blessed lately. The kids are doing great. It is summer so Kiara wears dresses lots and reminds daddy everyday of how big she is getting. Kori turns one year old this summer and that is a frightening thought. I am trying to convince him to get a job and pay rent, but he just doesnt understand! So frustrating! But really the kids are great. We are all happy that summer is here and enjoy lots of time in the back yard. Melissa is doing well. She is still working her butt off between daycare and selling childrens books (www.melissa.yellowducksonline.com In case anyone is interested, they are great books!) We are so excited to be on holidays starting on July 14th. We are working our way out as far as Salmon Arm, B.C. for sure, but may go further. It is very hard to plan a holiday when you want to see everyone, but also want to camp along the way and not have a rigid schedule to abide by. It seems as though we almost need a month to do both as opposed to two weeks. Anyways, we are still excited. I also accepted a new position within the agency I work for at a different group home. I have worked there before, temporarily and Uncle Scott Roberts has also worked there before. It is a great opportunity for me to get some good experience with a treatment-oriented program, which is what I want to do. This position begins immediately after our holidays on July 29th. There will be some challenges for me here as there is currently no program coordinator, but I am sure that it will be okay. Well that's about all I can tell you for now. Stay tuned for a full update with pictures from our holidays. Love you all.

Mark and his funky bunch!

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There you go grandpa and grandma. She's still talking about it.

NEW PICS ON FLICKR FINALLY

Hello Anaheim/We want Stanley!!!!!!!!!!

Have you heard about the court case in Alberta lately. There is a 12 yr. old boy who is enduring a custody battle between his parents. The boys mother was beating him, so the judge turned over custody to the father. The boy disagreed with this ruling, revealing to the judge that his father beat him regularly too. The judge agreed that dad should not have custody, so continued to grandparents, uncles, aunts, even older cousins. Each time the judge mentioned a family member, the boy cried and said that he was beaten by all of them. The judge, now quite frustrated eventually made history. For the first time ever a child is being turned over to be cared for by an organization. The judge, after exhausting all of his options, turned the boy over to the Edmonton Oilers. His reason, of course was that THEY ARE NOT CAPABLE OF BEATING ANYONE. Sorry John and Nathan, I couldn't resist. Oh and by the way, my Canucks won last night in game 7 against Dallas in case you missed that!

I've been EXPLORERING lately!

The reason for my lack of blog etiquette lately is because I have been busy trying to purchase a (new to us) vehicle. It started out being very fun. When you narrow down your list of vehicles to buy, it gets exciting. Maybe its just a guy thing! In fact I am pretty sure it is. Anyway, we went with a 2003 Ford Explorer with low mileage, 7 passenger, blah blah blah. It's nice. It ended up not being so much fun though towards the end. I think my wife thought about punching me in the face a few times, but she didn't and I am happy to say that we are still together. It really was not that bad, but had its moments for sure. I am also back to work full time so that contributes to my lack of blogging as well, but I will try to keep up better. Sorry to all of you haters out there who cannot understand that, you jerks! Well anyways, I am glad to say that I think that I learned my lesson last time when i foolishly purchased a 2001 Pontiac Sunfire for about $3000 more than what I got this next to new vehicle for. Lesson learned and finally blog updated. Im out!

GIVE PRAISE WHERE PRAISE IS DUE

For all of those who know me you will know that i am actually not 21, but that is what i told some kids from work and they actually believed me. That made my day. Then i was reminded of last year when a couple of the kids thought i was 34. Either way, i am getting older for sure. I can feel it physically for sure, and sometimes mentally too, i guess. I play hockey with two or three guys my age, but mostly with 19 and 20 year olds. Sometimes i wish i was that young again(when they still seem to have energy at the end of the game), but mostly i remember how much of a jerk i was when i was that age and am glad that i am 28(there i came clean, im 28). Anyway, i have been thinking about the past lately, mostly because of my 10, yes 10 year high school reunion coming up next weekend. So many things go through my mind when pondering the past. Regrets.... some, but mostly gratitude. I think about all those in my life that cared enough to invest in guiding me to where i am today, especially God, obviously because he gave me grace. Someone recently asked me why i belive in God. I told them that because of the things i have seen happen in my life and others that i know, there is no way i couldnt believe. God is good!!! My siblings are rad!! They give me so much pride. That may sound weird, but all of them seem like famous people i know sometimes. What i mean is that i couldnt be more proud to say that Peter, Blair, Keri, and Joy are my friends, let alone my siblings. I love that they are my real friends. Mostly, i am thankful for my parents. Since going back to work i am constantly reminded of how many families are torn apart and will possibly never get okay! To those of you who didnt grow up the way i did and maybe didnt have loving parents, please dont take this as some eliteist, holier than thou, rubbing it in sort of thing because it is only meant to give praise where praise is due. I have had many friends, coworkers and clients over the past few years that i have talked to and i honestly cannot think of one (that i know of) that would have had a safer, more loving, more Godly, more close to perfect home life. This is because of my parents undying love for their God, eachother, and of course their wee ones. I AM ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO MY MOM AND DAD FOR BEING THE BEST EVER!!! I hate sappy stuff, but am now crying because i know that because of this, my kids have a chance to have this same life that i speak of. For those of you who did not have a loving home, remember this!! If your kids do then they will learn to make their home loving and their kids will learn the same(God willing). Because of this, i am also thankful to their parents, my grandmas and grandpas for their mad skilz(good parenting). To sum up, I love my mom and dad more than this futile attempt at an appreciation could express, but i hope that you all now know that Kerry and LaVonne Roberts are outstanding and the best parents, lovers, and people i know!