Yukon Quest Dogsled Race

Weather Report

Sun rose today at 8:56 a.m. and will set at 5:16 p.m. for 8 hours and 20 minutes of day light. A gain of almost 7 minutes a day.

High today +30 low +25.

The strange thing was it was –51 on January 28 and exactly two weeks later on February 11 the temperature was +45. An astounding difference of 96 degrees in two weeks. They said it never gets up to +45 and some years February is colder than January. We were real worried about that on Jan 28th. The strange thing is this warm weather we are having is troublesome for frozen pipes. When there isn’t much snow and it gets warm the pipes freeze more than they do at –50 degrees. The warm pushes the cold down. That is your science lesson for the day.

Now, if you are our friends or family you are way to busy to read my ramblings today so don’t. Or just skip to the part about the Yukon Quest and my “Love You” salutation and we will still be friends.

We could have problems with exercising but we were given an exercise booklet in the MTC with lots of well illustrated exercises and a big elastic band. It has been too cold to be outside to walk, which we would really like to do but the good news is we have a big apartment and there is plenty of room to walk around, do our MTC exercises and do some stair climbing. On Tuesday and Thursday I do my pool exercises (on dry land) so I can think of my friends in the pool. We walk around the church a couple of times a week and use this time to study our scriptures. It has taken us one month to learn D&C 4. We aren’t’ slow are we? This past week we have been able to get out into the BEAUTIFUL country and walk. You saw our picture last week of the beautiful Frozen Chena River, which wasn’t frozen in the spot of our picture because the power plant puts in hot water so the water was open and there were ducks floating every where. There are lots of trails and we can just know that this winter wonderland will be beautiful in the spring.

Does everything on a mission have to be just great? I hope not because we had our problems this week. Everything went wrong, our printers and computers at the Family History Center, the library and even at home wouldn’t work. We felt like we should have been doing more but we couldn’t work any faster because of technical problems. But to even make matters worse we had our first “No show” appointment and our wonderful investigator went on a retreat with his old church. That doesn’t sound good does it? Well, we aren’t’ giving up on him!!!! But 17 months seemed like an awfully long time a couple of days last week.

Saturday we went up town and watched the dog sled races. We were right down on the frozen Chena River, just a couple of blocks down from the open water in our picture last week. There were 22 teams and each team had 14 dogs pulling their sleds. The dogs were so fun to watch because they LOVED it and were so excited to run they just kept jumping up and down and barking so loudly. These dogs are all tied up to the sled and each other but one dog was so excited he kept ducking under his reins to the next dog and finally got frustrated and just jumped straight up in the air over the black dog and back again. We laughed and Burt got a couple of great pictures before the handlers came over and held on to the dog so he couldn't jump any more.

Another team #17 was so excited that the driver got off his sleigh and stood right in front of his dogs and talked to them, gave them a hug, and got back on the sled and they took off. The teams are going to be running for 1000 miles to White Horse, Yukon. Look on a map so you can see how far it is. They say the dogs don’t settle down until about 10 miles out of town. They will run most of the way on the big Yukon River but sometimes will be up in the mountains.

Eagle Pass will be especially difficult because the wind blows so hard. The drivers and dogs all sleep on the trail and there will be food drops for them occasionally along the way. It will take them at least nine days to get there. It is called the Yukon Quest and was a fun thing for us to watch. What a fun, rugged sport!

The gospel is still true!!
Love from two Old Froggers.

Yukon Quest Photos

We went to the start of the Yukon Quest dogsled race on Saturday and it was so interesting and fun. The race is considered to be the toughest dogsled race in the world, harder than the Iditerod. It's 1000 miles long going from Fairbanks, up through Eagle, down through Dawson City and ends in Whitehorse. They cover the distance in 9 to 10 days which is unbelievable to me. There are food cache's for the teams but that is all the help they get. They sleep on the trail and are pretty much on their own. I have to tell you about the white dog, he was so excited that he could not stand still. He kept jumping over the dog next to him. Finally one of the handlers had to come and hold on to his harness so that he would not get tangled in the lines.

Valentines Day

You kids can get into all the cute Valentines hearts and kisses stuff that would make this note look so good. We don't have any so if you could send us some. I just wrote that part and remembered that Caroline sent a note so I copied her little red heart. Isn't it cute. What a surprise now, I can type red so I will say HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL OUR LITTLE FROGGERS!

Saturday we went up town and watched the dog sled races. We were right down on the frozen Chena River. There were 22 teams and each team had 14 dogs pulling their sleds. They dogs were so fun to watch because they LOVED it and were so excited to run they just kept jumping up and down and barking so loudly. These dogs are all tied up to the sled and each other but one dog was so excited he kept ducking under his reins to the next dog and finally got frustrated and just jumped straight up in the air over the other dog and back again. We laughed and grandpa got a couple of great pictures before the handlers came over and held on to him so he couldn't do that any more.

Another team #17 were so excited that the driver got off his sleigh and knelt down right in front of his dogs and talked to them. They calmed down a little and then he got back into the sled and they took off. The teams are going to be running for 1000 miles to White Horse, Yukon. Look on a map so you can see how far it is. They will run most of the way on the big Yukon River but sometimes will be up in the mountains. Eagle Pass will be especially difficult because the wind blows so hard. The drivers and dogs all sleep on the trail and there will be food drops for them occasionally on the trail. It will take them at least nine days to get there. It is called the Yukon Quest and was a fun thing for us to watch.

News from the Tad Poles, Poly Wogs, toads, (what were the girls called?)

• Breanna and Caroline get their braces off just about the same time. Send us a picture without your braces, you two.
• Collin is through playing basket ball and they had a pretty great season.
  We are showing his picture around Fairbanks and they think he is darn cool.
• Breanna just got through cheering for the wrestling team and they took state. And look out if you are driving in Southern Utah, she has her driving permit. But I hear she is a very careful driver.
• We found a Hunter street and our clerk at the store this morning was named Breanna and she was so cute and friendly.
• Sorry, Dylan, we haven't found Dylan mountain yet!
• Keaton's basket ball team didn't lose any games.
• Caitlyn's team did very well in a very difficult math competition.
• Hunter congratulations on the A's and B's. We sure have smart grandkids.
• Caroline and Hunter think Alaska is way too cold for them. Remember though, if you are such a summer person you will miss all the beautiful and fun things in Fairbanks this time of year. Check out Grandpa's email for some really fun pictures of the dog sled race we saw on Saturday.
• Caroline reminds us that our missionary grandson and cousin, Jeff, has been on his mission for 10 months. He is doing very well, as is Cousin Dave in California.
• Two hearts for Dylan! He turns two in Valentines day!

We are loving the missionary work and finding lots of people who want to learn more about their families. One Relief Society wants us to do a program for their Enrichment night and we are excited to do that. We had our first transfer, that is when some of the missionaries go to another part of Alaska to work and we get new ones here to take their place. It was a sad day for us because we love those Elders and Sisters so much. We keep thinking about Jeff and Dave and how much the people in Mexico and California love them.

Love from two Old Froggers (thanks to Caroline for that title) who love you all very much. We miss you so keep those emails, cards, and letters coming our way. Be sure and check for Grandpa's pictures.

Valentines Day

You kids can get into all the cute Valentines hearts and kisses stuff that would make this note look so good. We don't have any so if you could send us some. I just wrote that part and remembered that Caroline sent a note so I copied her little red heart. Isn't it cute. What a surprise now, I can type red so I will say HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL OUR LITTLE FROGGERS!

Saturday we went up town and watched the dog sled races. We were right down on the frozen Chena River. There were 22 teams and each team had 14 dogs pulling their sleds. They dogs were so fun to watch because they LOVED it and were so excited to run they just kept jumping up and down and barking so loudly. These dogs are all tied up to the sled and each other but one dog was so excited he kept ducking under his reins to the next dog and finally got frustrated and just jumped straight up in the air over the other dog and back again. We laughed and grandpa got a couple of great pictures before the handlers came over and held on to him so he couldn't do that any more.

Another team #17 were so excited that the driver got off his sleigh and knelt down right in front of his dogs and talked to them. They calmed down a little and then he got back into the sled and they took off. The teams are going to be running for 1000 miles to White Horse, Yukon. Look on a map so you can see how far it is. They will run most of the way on the big Yukon River but sometimes will be up in the mountains. Eagle Pass will be especially difficult because the wind blows so hard. The drivers and dogs all sleep on the trail and there will be food drops for them occasionally on the trail. It will take them at least nine days to get there. It is called the Yukon Quest and was a fun thing for us to watch.

News from the Tad Poles, Poly Wogs, toads, (what were the girls called?)

• Breanna and Caroline get their braces off just about the same time. Send us a picture without your braces, you two.
• Collin is through playing basket ball and they had a pretty great season.
  We are showing his picture around Fairbanks and they think he is darn cool.
• Breanna just got through cheering for the wrestling team and they took state. And look out if you are driving in Southern Utah, she has her driving permit. But I hear she is a very careful driver.
• We found a Hunter street and our clerk at the store this morning was named Breanna and she was so cute and friendly.
• Sorry, Dylan, we haven't found Dylan mountain yet!
• Keaton's basket ball team didn't lose any games.
• Caitlyn's team did very well in a very difficult math competition.
• Hunter congratulations on the A's and B's. We sure have smart grandkids.
• Caroline and Hunter think Alaska is way too cold for them. Remember though, if you are such a summer person you will miss all the beautiful and fun things in Fairbanks this time of year. Check out Grandpa's email for some really fun pictures of the dog sled race we saw on Saturday.
• Caroline reminds us that our missionary grandson and cousin, Jeff, has been on his mission for 10 months. He is doing very well, as is Cousin Dave in California.
• Two hearts for Dylan! He turns two in Valentines day!

We are loving the missionary work and finding lots of people who want to learn more about their families. One Relief Society wants us to do a program for their Enrichment night and we are excited to do that. We had our first transfer, that is when some of the missionaries go to another part of Alaska to work and we get new ones here to take their place. It was a sad day for us because we love those Elders and Sisters so much. We keep thinking about Jeff and Dave and how much the people in Mexico and California love them.

Love from two Old Froggers (thanks to Caroline for that title) who love you all very much. We miss you so keep those emails, cards, and letters coming our way. Be sure and check for Grandpa's pictures.

Life's Lessons

We Love Our Families With All Our Hearts

We are on a mission teaching the gospel and we talk a lot about families.
We are teaching families how to do their Family History so they will know their families and can do the temple work for them. Families are the most important thing we have because we will be together as families in the Eternities. That makes us so happy. . . We have not met very many children since we came to Fairbanks because we mostly work with mother's, dad's and couples without children so it makes us miss our grandkids a lot.

Our hearts are turned to our grandchildren more than we ever have before and we are so thankful for every one of them. We know how sad it would be if we didn't know that we will be home in 1 1/2 short years to see them again.

The scripture that we use to teach people about family history fits our family as well. This scripture is found in the last book in the Old Testament page 1184.

Malachi 4:5-6 Behold I will send Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.

ALASKA IS COLD

The weather has been very cold in Fairbanks. In fact it is the coldest it has been in 107 years. We have had about 3 weeks of -40 degree temperatures with the coldest being -51 degrees on January 28, 2006. We are warm and only feel the cold when we run from our warm car to a warm house or store.

On the very coldest day Grandma ran without a cap from one store into another, thinking it wouldn't be very cold. Just as she got to the door her ears hurt very bad. She realized that her earring post were metal and picked up the cold, transferring it into her ears. They were sore and red for a whole week. We were reading the scriptures when grandpa started laughing "Here is my life's lesson."

2 Nephi 13:17-18 (Abridged by grandpa) Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the (ear) of the daughters of Zion. And in that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments, and cauls, and round tires like the moon.

To Our Little Froggers

It is time for a letter from your Frozen Granny. One of the things we have been looking for are places and things with the grandkids names in them. We found a Valley named Ivan's Valley, North Pole has a Lolly St. (we have an Aunt Lolly), there is a Grey Fox St (Cousin Grey) , and writer's first name was Dermott (the McDermott family girls can name a boy Dermott). We are teaching a family whose last name is Lane (Uncle Lane). We will keep looking and let you know when we find your name.

It has been very cold and actually fun to know we can survive extreme cold.

Other fun things are things they have been doing at the science lab. They throw pans of boiling water out side and it makes a big puff of frozen steam, no water. When they blew bubbles outside they froze. Instead of bursting, they dented and deformed and blew across the ground in a circle of breeze. When they did break, they shattered like plastic or glass. This can only be done at -40 so I don't think you can do it in Utah or Oregon. If you want to see it you will have to come see us next winter. If it gets that cold again we will let you know. It is like spring outside right now but they say it will get cold again.

We spend a lot of time studying and learning more about the gospel so we know how important it is to read the scriptures. We heard a speaker talk at the MTC about her children reading the Book of Mormon before they get baptized. We thought this was a wonderful idea and would like to challenge each of you to read the Book of Mormon before we get home. Get some colored pencils and just start reading. You don't have to understand every thing you read bit when you read something that you do understand you could underline that in a color. When you read something that you really really like you could underline it in your very favorite color. You don't have to read very much. Set your goals to read each night according to your age, five minutes a night for one, one chapter for another, or maybe just 2-3 verses would be enough for the very youngest. Let us know if you will accept this challenge.

We sure like it when you write or email us and we especially like your pictures, it makes us feel like you are near to have your pictures hanging on our wall. Have any of you learned a life's lesson and found a scripture to go with it? Following is my life lesson and grandpa thinks his is very funny.

Please send us some of your lessons. If you send them to us we can send them to everyone else.
We love and miss you and thank you for supporting us while we are here with your love, letters, and prayers, Grandpa and Grandma Robbins

River Walk

The sun finally came out and we took a walk along the river as you can see it was very pretty.

We put on our full "arctic gear" for the event as well.

We are very busy with the Gift of Family History packets and have spent 4 hours in the library today working on them. We have found that we get much more done at the public library than at the Family History Center because the public library has all the programs available, including Ancestry.com, two computers we can use, a meeting room that we can use, wireless hookups for the notebooks and it does not cost anything !!! Can't beat that.