Canada Trip, Part One!

We spent last week in beautiful, Southern Alberta.  We were surrounded by nature, family, great food, and some much appreciated lower temps!  Our first stop was Idaho Falls, where we spent the night with a childhood friend of mine.  We were just 5 years old when we met in ballet class!  And now we have 6 kids between us.  We stayed up way too late, and had so much fun seeing her cute family!

These are just some silly pics of us taking a break from the long drive. 

 We found a small park in Montana to stretch our legs, and actually had a lot of fun!

We spent two nights in Waterton, and loved every minute of our time there!  

The kids were spoiled with binoculars, butterfly nets, duck calls, and fishing poles!  

We put them all to good use.  Thanks Uma!

Bronwyn was our master butterfly catcher, and caught 3 within about 5 minutes.

Magsy spent her time making wishes.  :)

Stopping at the Princess Store at the Prince of Wales Hotel.

Ty just had to be in the princess picture!

We rented these super bike carts, and sported them all around town.  

They are harder to operate than they look!  

We got a great workout, and it was a super fun way to look around.

Cardston, Alberta Temple

I just love Ty in this shot.  He kind of thought the temple grounds were a playground...

We had a great time at Fort McLeod.  My girls love learning, and I so love that about them.

It was fun to think about what life was like back when Alberta was being settled.  

We also loved watching the traditional horse performance, but none of my pictures turned out.

This picture of Hil got more comments on Facebook than any other picture I uploaded!  This in on our hike at "Buffalo Head Smashed In".  A place where Indians would run buffalo off of a mountain cliff so the buffalos would die, and the Indians could get what they needed from them.  It was a fun hike, even though by then the kids were pretty tired.  Plus, I just love seeing Hil's tiny baby bump in this pic!

One-third of my life...

10 years ago I married my best friend.

We were just babies back then!
But now after 3 college degrees, 3 kids, a house and a minivan...
We are
GROWN UPS!

The first few years were AWESOME!.

Then we had a few in the middle that were super hard.
(Honestly, I am really hoping that the next 10 years are easier.)

And the last few have been awesome.

But through it all, I always have this guy beside me.
And that makes life pretty great.

Plus, together we made this.

And since we got married here...

I'll always have something to smile about.

Relay Awards!

Relay for Life

Over $140,000 raised

Over $4,000 raised by my team, High 5!

Biggest Fundraiser award goes to... my mom!

She raised $1900.00!

Late night award goes to... Bronwyn

(Shown here during the survivor lap)

Bronwyn didn't crash until 5 in the morning!  

That's what happens when you combine sugar, lights, music, excitement and a 6 year old!

Endurance award goes to... Todd's brother, Brian.

He walked the track from midnight to 6 am!

Cutie award goes to... all the girls.  

We are in sooo much trouble when all 6 of these girls hit high school.

$1,000 award goes to.... Magsy.

She didn't actually do the fundraising, but we let her have the glory of our family raising over $1000.

She was very excited to wear the red shirt and ride in the golf cart.

Coolest mom award goes to... me.  :)

I made sure each girl had money, treats, and glow in the dark stuff.  

You gotta admit, that's pretty cool of me.

And the most supportive friend award goes to... Jen!

Not only did Jen donate online, she came to ALL of my fundraisers and even came and walked the track for a while with us.  If feels so good to be loved.

2nd Best Day of the Year!

2nd only to Christmas Day, the 4th of July is definitely one of the best days of the year!  No build up, no shopping, no wrapping gifts, no weeks of baking in preparation, no work!  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE all those things about Christmas, but it's so great to just have a day to party!  

Fun, food, friends, family, and fireworks!

Our day started downtown at the Chalk Art Festival.  Thankfully, it wasn't as hot as years past, but we still had to cool off in the fountain.

Then we spent the afternoon at Todd's brother's pool.  

Ty either sat on the steps, or jumped off the diving board!

Then it was time to head downtown and find ways to entertain Ty until the fireworks began.  :)

It was oh so sweet holding Ty while he watched the show.  At first I could tell he was a little unsure.  He was tense and kept saying "Mom" over and over.  I held him tight and pointed out the colors.  Then he LOVED it!  But if I loosened my grip on him at all, he would grab my arms to remind me to hold him tight!

I have spent the last few days contemplating if I am patriotic or not...  There have definitely been times in my life where I have felt very patriotic.  And when I think back about how America came to be, and how brave so many people were, I am certainly proud of that.  Proud of religious freedom for sure... Which brings me to my next point.  Do members of the church need to be patriotic?  Being an American has nothing to do with being a member of the church, yet our testimony meeting was ALL about the 4th of July.  Granted, I got a little choked up at the end of the meeting when we all stood and sang the National Anthem... but I wasn't about to stand in front of everyone and gush about our country.  A broken health care system, public schools going down the drain, a poisoned food chain, enormous debt (national and consumer), a growing lower class, democrats and republicans that would rather be right than get something done....  What's so great about it?  Sure, I'm really thankful for women's rights and very glad that slavery and all the civil rights issues were worked out before I was born; so I'm not saying there are no redeeming factors here.  But does being a neutral citizen make me less of a mormon?