Driving to Oregon

Wow! What an amazing drive. We popped the kids in the car at 4 am and headed to Oregon. It was majestic to watch the sun rise in the east and cast it's amazing rays on the westerly mountain range. The light was so warm and beautiful I wanted to eat it.

This picture was taken from out of the car window. The dawning of a new day. Beautiful!!
The ride though the rocky mountains was absolutely breath taking! It makes me home sick just to blog about it.

Not once did we stop the car... for fear that the kids would all wake up...we told them they couldn't play or talk until 7:00. Then we slid the time back as we drove *he he he* cuz Bend Oregon is on Pacific time. So we actually had peace till 8! :-)

So all these pics are taken from the coziness of my passenger spot in the car at about 60 mph. Not bad, if I do say so myself. :-)

This one as some windshield bugs :-) LOL! I had to share lots of pictures, because this was one of my most favorite parts of the trip.

We did see a moose, it was just a cow, and I didn't get a picture of her, but I did get a picture of this warning sign, that lets you know that you aren't just looking for deer, but for much larger game! We saw TONS AND TONS of deer, they were all over the place during sunrise. We counted, but of course I didn't keep the paper.

I thought it was funny that this town was named Yahk. LOL That's a terrible name for such a beautiful place.

THE BRYANS:

We went to Oregon to see my sister and her 4 children. As we approached Bend we were NOT impressed at all with Oregon. We had just completed one of the most majestic drives ever and the last few hours, heading into Oregon were horrible, boring desertish... bleck. But then... once we hit Bend, we found out why people live there. Wow, what a beautiful area! The Bryans took us around to see some sites.

If you look closely Alex and Ethan are at the top of this waterfall.
Liza and Elise having some cousin bonding time.
We went up here to go "tadpoling". The kids had a blast catching tadpoles and minnows, but they were so disappointed when mean old auntie said that the tadpoles weren't coming home. Alex was particularly cheesed "what did we catch them for then??"

This was our Sunday after church activity. We packed a lunch, and ate it while trying to keep warm. There was still snow up here on this mountain, and in the shade, it was quite cold. The kids jumped around on the snow and then walked out into sunshine to catch tadpoles.
There are Ethan and Alex again, off in the distance. They were done looking for tadpoles and moved on to minnows.

There were all these beautiful wild flowers that were very fun to photograph, along with the beautiful mountains and lake. Such a pretty spot

We were supposed to meet Ben and Emily up there for lunch with us, but they didn't get there until we were done and heading back to the cars. :-( They did come back to my sisters house tho, and we got to visit for a little while before the kids got too cranky.
The older 3 girls took over their Great room. As you can tell by the blur of the photograph, there was a party going on right there...
The big boys were nice enough to include Logan in their play. I'm not sure what that play was, but they were shooting stuff, and that's just what they like to do.

Tori and Abbie reunited! They had a great time playing together! They stayed busy the whole time!

Katie and Caitlyn had a ball too. I'm not sure what the wacky hair on caitlyn was, but it must have been the result of a really good time. Everyone had a friend and everyone enjoyed the evening. The adults had a fun conversation about Brian Regan, and were entertained by Logan quoting Buzz Lightyear "You're a sad strange little man, You have my pity." LOL!! It was SOO funny. We were so happy to be there with the Bryans and felt blessed to have Ben and Em and the kids show up to play with us too.

Wrapping up the Northern portion of our trip...

A HOCKEY STORE!?!?!

This store was a Hockey Heaven! I've never seen quite so much hockey gear in one place. It was really cool, and totally Canadian!
Pads and goalie masks.
Hockey gloves........ and more hockey gloves... WOW
WOW... maybe this isn't as cool if you're not a hockey fan, but seriously....look at all this stuff.

Brent and the girls enjoying the store... I think Brent was over stimulated. :-) Boy did he wish he could justify purchasing all new hockey gear.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE... this is so CANADIAN!! Usually you see shoes lined up like this... SO COOL!
Once again, I had to squeeze in visits... so the trip out to this "new mall", was partially made because we would be closer to my cousins, and they could come out and meet us at the mall. It was so great to see them too. Above is Alex, Jace and Liza
And my cousin Tobie and I. Tobie is my age, and we were raised pretty close to each other. We spent a lot of summers swimming and riding bikes together.
And Michelle came out to visit too. It was SOO nice to see them, even if it was really quick and at the mall where we were totally distracted by food, kids and shopping. :-)
Here are Conner, Katie and Tori. Conner was REALLY excited to be at the mall meeting up with cousins that he doesn't recognize.
This made me laugh... Here is Tobie, taking a turn shooting a gun at Bass Pro shop. YES! That is a coach purse hanging off her arm... LOL I just thought the whole situation was funny. :-)
While at the mall, I ran into an old friend. I knew Doug from back in the days when our families used to camp in the same camp ground, and then as we got older we would see each other often at the regional dances on Saturday nights. It was funny running into him.
Lil' Jack and Katie.
I loved this display in the mall... It says: "Hockey definitions: Webster's: A game played on an ice rink by two teams with six players on ice skates who's object is to drive the puck into the opponents goal with a hockey stick. Canada's : LIFE"

I was also lucky enough to be in calgary on the day of an old friends wedding reception. Brad and I were in seminary together, went to dances together, he even dated a friend of mine, we were friends for a long time. Brad is a guy who has just the hugest heart, and I am so happy that he finally found a wonderful woman to take to the temple!
He is such a goof ball, I hope this sweet girl has her seat belt fastened.
I had to laugh at his white socks! Really Brad??? White socks!?!?! Oh dear.

Somehow I DID get a picture with my dad... maybe because he isn't camera shy. I don't know why. None the less, I have one. We had a weaner roast at his place one night... the kids love to play in that big back yard, jump on the trampoline and have cook outs. On this particular night, I showed up at dads expecting to eat hot dogs and was delighted to find that he had picked us up some stakes and was Bar BQ ing stakes..... ALBERTA BEEF stakes. Oh YUMM O!!! They were absolutely divine!!! I love me a good old stake.

And a pic of dad with the kids too. We sure had a good time in Canada. Spending time with Family is a wonderful blessing that we don't get to partake of very often. We had a great day, every day and are so thankful for those who hosted us.

Stampede Day 2

Sadly... the only picture I have of my mom from our trip. And it's her elbow. :0( But.... The way Katie is looking at her, speaks volumes about how this child adores her Grandma! Such a sweet little smile as she listens so intently. I LOVE this picture of Katie.

So Day TWO of Stampede was all about rides! The kids had a blast!! It was MUCH warmer this day!! Much better for riding rides.
Alex and Tori.... they loved this ride. They rode two different versions of this one, and several times i may add.
The whole gang, chillin' for a minute in the shade.
We got to go in and watch a Figure skating show. And wow, I was so impressed by it.
Elvis Stojko (an Olympic Figure Skater) performed beautifully. The music was fun, and oddly enough, a little hard rock ish.... it was weird, but cool
This cool guy did some amazing moves using his incredible upper body strength... it was nutty how he could move on that pole with no supports what so ever!
AND....... We got to watch Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (Canadian Olympic Gold Medalists)!! They were beautiful, and as far as my totally untrained eye could tell, flawless. It was such a pleasure to be there and see them skate.
and them more rides.....
and More rides.......
oooooh and a picture of me in my cowgirl gettup. I took this so that I could send it to Michelle while I was away, but then I didn't load it onto a computer so that I could send it... so now EVERYONE gets to see it. :-P
And..... more rides....
and..... Tori is getting sick of riding the little cars, but clearly, they are still super cool to Katie. LOL!!!
And as the night gets dark... (10:30pm) the kids go round and round, on their favorite ride. The lights all flashing and the games buzzing with prizes and winners.
This is another favorite picture of mine. The girls are trying to race around and get back on the caterpillar roller-coaster for the 12th time before it shuts down for the night. Tori has take the lead roll here in helping her little sister get off that last big step quickly so they can make it around before the man turns off the ride for the night.
And then, at nearly midnight, when it seems you just may die from all the walking around, and listening to kids whine..... you buy some fresh potato chips, throw on your own seasoning, salt and malt vinegar for me, and you watch the fireworks.

And you eat...... your very last "those little doughnuts" for the season.

and just incase you're wondering...... Yes...... he ate 100 over the 2 day period. LOL!! and he said that last one tasted delicious!