Red Rock

On our last full day in Canada, a group of us drove back to Waterton and visited a few favorite places again.  Red Rock was one of our stops, and boy was it fun!  We and planned on going swimming this day, but the weather was a bit on the chilly side, so we decided to go to Waterton again.  Little did we know, swimming would take place anyway!  Once at Red Rock, the urge to play in the water was a little too prominent for the wee ones.  Keep in mind, this water is pure glacier run off.  It sent chills up and down my spine just putting my feet in.  So when I watched my little girl jump in with her clothes on, it took my breath away.  However, she loved it, and even got her not-so-thrilled-about-cold-water-cousin Lexi to swim with her.  Brody was the first one to put his whole body in, and I couldn't believe it!  Pretty soon, all the littles wanted in, so we let them go for it, even without swimsuits!  I guess I should have learned by now that if there's water, chances are, my kids will want to swim in it.  Oh well.  I guess every child needs to swim in their clothes at some point!

Me walking the little girls across the water.

Hunter at Red Rock

Tralee

Mother-daughter selfie at Red Rock

Lexi and Tralee, best cousins

Tralee right before jumping in

At this point she was saying, "Cold!  Cold!  It's cold!"  However, that didn't stop her from jumping in over and over again!

Zayah was a swimming fool!  We all agreed she was so tough because she's the only full-on Canadian cousin. 

Tralee and Lexi jumping in!   Crazy girls!

They called themselves the "Cool Sisters" or something like that afterwards and then pinky promised.

Brody jumping in

The water was freezing, but Tralee looked at happy as can be every time she got out.

After a while of watching his cousins, Hunter said he wanted in the water.  I knew he would by miserable if ALL his clothes were wet, so I stripped him down to his undies, strapped on Brinley's water-wings, and told him to go to town.  He went in up to his knees and was done!  Luckily, the water-wings didn't go to waist.  Zayah put them on and keep swimming to her heart's content.

I DID get this awesome picture of Hunter out of it though!  I mean, he looks GREAT!  This won't end up in his graduation and/or wedding video at all!

Our group at Red Rock

 When we finished swimming, we went out to dinner in town.  While eating, the rain began.  It really started to fall after a bit, so we hunkered down at the candy store, and picked out some treats while we waited for the rain to die down.  Tralee found some tongue tatoos her and Lexi modeled for everyone.  Then we stopped one last time at the Prince of Wales hotel, and then drove back to Grandma and Grandpa's.

There are really no bad days in Waterton.  I'm so glad I was able to spend our days there with some of my favorite people.

Another Day in Canada

After Tran's wedding festivities, we had a few days to play with family before we had to get back to reality.  We spent the day after the wedding at Waterton National Park with John and Cassi's family.  We climbed Bear's Hump, which might not have been the best idea on that super hot day.  Luckily, we're a bunch of people who like to laugh, so we made the best of it.  In fact, Cassi and I were laughing a lot up the hike.  We were making up songs, inventing new Disney princesses and telling their stories (our children were NOT impressed), and talking about beef n' butter.  All things that don't sound funny now, but were hilarious to us in the moment of our hike-and-heat-induced delirium.  The kids were super happy they had cousins along for the experience. 

The kids are pictured above at the start of the hike, and the little girls below somewhere in the middle.  They look more tired below.

Once at the top of Bears Hump we basked in our surroundings and enjoyed the scenery.  Uncle John planned ahead, and knew there would be chipmunks at the top, so he brought along sunflower seeds to feed them.  The children all thought this was the best thing EVER!  The chipmunks would take the seeds right out of our hands.  It was pretty cute.

Cassi and I pictured below, looked all tough and accomplished after our climb.

Now for some chipmunk/scenery pics:

After our hike, we went to the lake to throw in rocks, and then into town for dinner and ice cream.  While at the lake the kids found tons of caterpillars and made them a little home/fort right on my towel.  That was nice of them!  After enjoying our food, we walked to the docks, and relaxed again by the lake.  The little girls had fun burying Jim with rocks.  It was a fun day in Waterton.

Once back from W-town a few of us drove to Rommerils to end our night fishing.

The whole day was a success.  I'm so grateful for the family we have, and the memories we've made with them.

Tranny's Wedding

The main reason for our Canada trip number two was to celebrate Tranny (Tralee couldn't pronounce Channing when she was little and always said, "Tranny."  So, it's been Tranny for us ever since) and Cody's wedding.  I helped Tran with her and Cody's invite and insert, so that was a lot of fun.  I think they turned out pretty cute. 

Judy bought all the little girls matching dresses, and I helped make the sashes and headbands to go with them.  All the little girls wore cowgirls boots, and it was beyond adorable!

Hunty and Brody were the ring-bearers.  Such beautiful girls and boys!  

We had to stop and do the customary silly face picture.  All these little cousins play so well, and love each other so much.  I love cousins!

Tralee Marie and Lexi Jo each have one of their Great Grandma Truda's sister's names in theirs.  These two also get along, share secrets, and play so well together.  They could be sisters!

We took a family picture before the nuptials began.  When I saw the bridesmaids dresses I knew I had a problem.  My dress was almost EXACTLY like the bridesmaids dresses!  The only other dress I packed was white!  One knows you can't wear white to a wedding!  So, I asked the bride what she would rather have me wear.  Tranny told me I could just wear the turquoise number and be an honorary bridesmaid.  Phew!

The great Chastity and Celeste are pictured below with their children, minus one.  Brody didn't make the cut for this picture I guess.

Hunter's so handsom!

Lyla Belle was so adorable I couldn't stand it!  She's pictured with her daddy below.

Jim, John, and Brody looking tough.

Jim and I took a selfie before the wedding began.

So did Chast and Celeste.

Cody is such an awesome addition to the family.  He's a new convert to our faith, and couldn't wait to make Chan Chan his wife!  It was adorable, as they were saying their I do's he never once took his eyes off of her.  True love!!

Here come the little flower girls.

I love Zayah's face in the picture below.  Cute little munchkin!

Hunter and Brody looked so handsome as ring-bearers!

Tranny and Ross.  They both tried their hardest not to cry, and they both did.

Look how happy Tranny looks!  Such a beautiful bride!

We were all super excited about the wedding.  Especially Hunter.  He couldn't contain his excitement.  I mean, look at him below!

After the ceremony, we all got to hug and congratulate the bride and groom.  I love the pictures of Tranny and Jim below.  They have such a fun relationship.  We love Auntie Tranny around here!

After the ceremony and before the family dinner, we did a VERY important experiment.  I purchased both US and Canadian Kit Kats and Oreos and put some of one on one plate and the opposite on the other plate.  Then everyone did a taste taste and decided which one was better.  After everyone cast their votes, I revealed which plate was the US treats, and which one was Canadian.  Canada won HANDS DOWN!  In fact, the plate with Canadian goodies disappeared, while the US treats remained behind.  Why are Canadian chocolates and cookies better than US you ask?  What I know is this, Canada uses sugar, not corn syrup.  Canada also doesn't use hydrogenated oil.  Canada does not put wax in their chocolate either.  So. . . for these reasons (plus more I'm sure), Canadian treats taste better.  No contest.  Jim already knew that, so he had to do his pompous face to tell me, "I told you so!"

After a little while, we walked over to the church to eat the family dinner and watch the program.  It was fun to see all the decorations we had helped with come together.  The place looked AMAZING!  Judy put so much thought and effort into the wedding, and you could tell.  The pictures don't do the event justice, but you get the idea.  I'm so happy I was able to help with some of the details (you'll see in the pictures below).  Jim was the MC of the program, and did a great job properly embarrassing and toasting Tranny and Cody.  The food was yummy, and we had a great time celebrating the happy couple.

Jim and I made the frames for Tran and Cody.  I also helped Nikki frost and decorate the cupcakes.  Look how cute it all looks!

The bride and groom wanted a popcorn bar, so I helped make some printables and frames to display by the popcorn area.  I also made sticker labels for the bride and groom to put on the flavorings.  They turned out cute.  There was an ice cream bar at the reception too, so I made another printable and frame that said, "All you need is love, and a little ice cream" as well as sticker labels for the ice cream dishes.  I didn't get any pictures of that, but I'm sure you can imagine how adorable everything was based on the pics provided!

More frames below.

After the family dinner, Cassi and I took the kids back to Ross and Judy's for a bit.  Then, we made our way back over for the reception part of the night.  As the reception was winding down, just the family and close friends were there.  Some sillies started coming out.  It was fun. 

I helped take down some of the reception, but decided to let Jim and the remaining take-down crew clean up the rest.  Cassi and I walked back to Ross and Judy's together with the wee ones.  The sunset was beautiful on the way back, so we took some sunset selfies.

Once back at the house, we helped wash some dinnerware from the wedding, and put food away.  That's when Cassi, Nikki, and I noticed the wedding cake topper and decided we better take the picture below and send it to the bride and groom with the caption that said, "Thanks guys, it was delicious!!"  Haha!  We're hilarious!

That pretty much sums up the wedding day.  It was a busy, cute, adorable, fun-filled, exciting day!

Congrats to Cody and Channing Baker, may you have an eternity of happiness together!