Canad-er

Wow, it's been a month already??

We have been doing some serious driving! Brett and I figured out that our van has drove over 3500 miles this past month. Utah twice, and then on up to Bozeman, MT, and to Canad-er and back. But we had so much fun, I just love going back to the "homeland" (can you tell by how much I write about it?)

First we went to Grandpa Weston's funeral. It was beautifully planned, and everyone spoke so well at it. Will was a bit of a pill at it, so I spent half of it out in the hall, but then he calmed down again. He screamed while I played the piano...nice little solo! Our drive took 12 hours instead of the usual 7 due to a bad snow storm, and I-80 closing down. So Brett with his great map and navigation skills, took us on some side roads, down through Craig, CO (nice to see Sherm for a few minutes!), and we finally made it to Woodruff by 10pm. The kids did so well travelling, and with some movies to watch, and books, and other things to do, made it through okay. So because of of the long trip, we missed the viewing that night. But, we made it for the funeral, which was good, so Brett could give his talk. Did a great job, as usual. Shirley, Kayleen, and Sharon told some fun memories, Ronda told a poem, and then I was out in the hall...(the bishop spoke, and some of the Weston nephews sang).

Right after the little lunch they had, we headed up to Bozeman, MT (6 hours). We stayed at a motel (yeah, a motel!!!--the kids LOVE motels). Brett gave his speech the next morning there in the convention room. I tried to peek in and listen, but Will started yelling "Daddy!", and when I wouldn't let him go up to him, he started crying. So we were out of there. We took Brett to the airport at around noon, and he flew back to Denver. We headed to the Great White North, and stopped in Spokane (actually Newman Lake) at Dev and Lynette's. The boys loved playing a bit of street hockey with Jackson and Mack, and the girls got their make-up done, and dressed up by Summer. Haley and Summer watched the kids on our return trip back, so that Dev, Lynette, and I could go and see "Clash of the Titans". Wow, what a movie!

The next morning, we went to Dev's shop, and saw him and Jackson working, and then we were off to Canad-er. We got there by lunch time, and Mom and Dad looked great! Mom's knee is recovering, and she's almost able to do most of what she was doing before. We went to Ainsworth hotsprings (twice), Tim Horton's, Main Street Diner, PHYSIOTHERAPY (the Canadian way to say it) with Mom, did a carpeting project in the hallway, rearranged the living room, and got to see some old friends that I haven't seen since I've been married...Steve and Charisse Marks. It was a great week. After a tearful goodbye on Amberlyn's part (she sobbed for a good 10 minutes), we crossed the border (I had to declare $70 worth of candy...) and drove back to Spokane, went to the movie night (as I said before), and picked up Brett at the airport at 11pm. The next morning we were off for Billings, MT, where we stayed at a very fun motel with a water slide park attached. It was fun to say the least! The last and final day, we made it back to Brighton, CO. Quite the trip. I'm glad my parents trained me well as a child, to travel in a car (we drove to UT every summer as a family).

Here's some pics:

Visiting Gram and Grandpa Bruce

Miles with Easter treats

Amberlyn with Easter treats

Coloring eggs

The chess pros

Gluing it down

Almost done

Mom and Dad cut the pieces

Gram and Miles

Snuggling

Ainsworth Hotsprings

Grandpa Bruce and Amberlyn at A&W

Ainsworth Hotspring's caves

The Marks Family

Uncle Dev and Jackson showing us the shop