Waterton

On Sunday, after the farewell, we headed out to Waterton. Baylen was in heaven because Frank let him use one of his really expensive lenses. Therefore, we have probably 100 pictures of the six hours that we were there.

Our first stop was at Cameron Falls. This is one of my favorite things to see whenever we go to Waterton. There is a little hike that goes up the side of it so that you can see it from the top, too.
It was so fun having Frank and Linda there with us. They were so kind and brought dinner for us (BBQ steak!). They were also super good at spotting bears, elk, and deer.
The chipmunks in Waterton are so brave. They will eat out of your hands. Ashlyn loved interacting with them!
We spent some time at Waterton lake...
We hiked around Red Rock Canyon...

Ashlyn being Ashlyn...

On the way back to Taber, we stopped at Uncle Weldon's house and then by the Cardston Temple (this is the temple that Boyd and Terry were married in)...
On Monday morning we began our drive home, we stopped by the farm to see the pony on the way out. Ashlyn was still asleep and I wanted her to sleep for as much of the drive as she would, so I didn't wake her up. She still hasn't forgiven me.
Well, there you have it. You know it's a good trip when you have to divide it out over three different blog posts :) We definitely need to do it again sometime real soon!

More Canada, Eh!

On Friday, we made the three hour drive up to Calgary. We drove by the house that Baylen lived in for several years and then headed to the Leisure Center. Baylen is always talking about how amazing this pool was (they had season passes there when he was a kid and he would walk over and go swimming all the time). I have to admit that I didn't see how the pool could possibly be as cool as he made it out to be, but it was!!! I wish I would have gotten some pictures of the actual pool. There was a wave pool, a HUGE water slide, and an amazing water play place (kind of like McDonalds but with water, 10 times bigger, and 100 times cooler). All the walls were painted in a rainforest theme. Super amazing. I'm not sure why America doesn't have pools like this, but someone really should open one.

I didn't take very many pictures because I was swimming, but here are a few...

That evening we went over to Boyd's twin brother Lloyd's house for a jam session with Boyd's siblings. That family sure loves their music. They jammed for a good three hours.
I was surprised and proud that all four of the kids sang a solo with grandpa (in front of everyone). I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.... they are Sillito's!

Mickell sang "Grandpa"
Tanner sang "Grandma's Feather Bed"
Hailey sang "Rodeo Princess"
Ashlyn sang "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam"
That night we slept out in the motorhome. It rained nonstop ALL NIGHT. When it rains in Canada, it RAINS!!!

On Friday, because it was still raining, we decided to do some shopping. In fact, we spent most of the day shopping. The kids were good sports.

At one of the stores I was paying for my purchase. The cashier asked me where I was from. When I said Utah, she acted totally amazed (like I was visiting from the south pole, or something) then she said, "I LOVE your accent." Accent? I've thought a lot about that since then and am really curious what my accent sounds like!

While at the mall, I took Ashlyn to use the washroom (as they call it there). While I was helping her, she replied quite loudly, "You always need to help me in the bathroom when we're in the country of Canada." I'm sure that sounded kind of strange to all the people who heard her, but it made me laugh.

That night we drove back to Taber and took grandma out for Chinese. Canada is famous for their amazing Chinese food. I find myself craving it all the time.

After dinner, Baylen and I took the kids on a walk (they were crazy hyper which is evidenced in these pictures)

Of all the souvenirs out there, this is what Ashlyn insisted on getting. We thought it was kind of fitting since she is probably best described as our little firecracker. She was so spunky and full of excitement on this trip. There were several times that she would say, "This is the best day ever." or "This is the best rainy day ever."

One day while I was doing Ashlyn's hair, she matter of factly said, "Grandma Holman looked so cute yesterday in that stripped shirt."

Anyways, I think this picture pretty much says "ASHLYN"

The crazy, happy energy rubbed off on her sisters...
At least the boys in our family are normal :)
On Saturday, we went to a get together in Lethbridge with the Orr family. Because Boyd's mom passed away when he was a newborn, he was raised by his aunt and uncle (the Orr's). This is a picture of Boyd with his cousins (who were basically like sisters to him). I love how Boyd lights up whenever he's around this family. You can tell he has such a love for and is so grateful to this sweet family that took him in.
That night we had a BBQ at Shelly and Tim's. I guess we didn't take any pictures. But it was good food and good company. The kids really hit it off with Baylen's cousin's kids. In fact, I think Ashlyn found her kindred spirit, Rayna.

Don't worry...still more Canada to come!!!

Oh, Canada!

We have been trying to get up to Canada to visit for years now. Things got a little tricky when they started requiring passports at the border. We finally got passports for our cruise last year. However, we couldn't justify another big trip since we went on a cruise, to Disneyland, and to Hawaii last year. So, we decided that this was the year for Canada... no matter what. We jumped at the chance when Boyd and Terry offered to drive us up the end of May. They were going up for Ethan's mission farewell. As an added perk, we got to travel up in the motor home. I am convinced that a motor home is the only way to take road trips now. It was soooo nice. The kids played up top, played games at the table, watched tons of movies, took naps in beds, and loved being able to move around. We didn't even have to stop to use the bathroom since we had one on board. Here are a few pictures that Baylen snapped during our drive...

We have a trusty driver, Boyd...
Our co-pilot, Bergan (the poor guy got a crash course in parenting 101 from driving over 30 hours with 4 kids)...

The Saint, Terry (she helped me so much with the kids!)...
The very excited kiddos...
and us (No, he did not have his arm around me for 30 hours)...

The drive was pretty uneventful, for the most part. We made it across the border with no problems and made it to Taber in great time. It was so good to see Grandma Holman again. She hit it off from the beginning with the kids.

It was Ashlyn's first time meeting grandma
That night we had fun hanging out at grandma's. She had some home movie's of Baylen and his siblings that were seriously funny. My favorite part was something I heard in the background. One of the brothers yelled out, "Baylen, you're the worst brother I ever had." Obviously it was just a little fight they were having, but I couldn't stop laughing.

Here's we are watching the home movies...
On Wednesday we started the day with grandma's famous hot cakes... Heaven! Then we spent the day hanging out in Taber. We walked around town (which was really tiring since it consists of one whole block!)...
We, of course, had to get a Canadian slurpee. We got some strange looks for getting so many slurpees on such a cold day. They didn't understand that we only have the opportunity to have these about once every eight years.

On our walk, we found this huge corn. Taber is world famous for their yummy corn. Baylen had to get a picture because he's always telling Corey that everything is bigger in Canada.

We also hit up the local dollar store looking for Canadian candy bars. Not only did they have candy bars, they had EVERYTHING! Canada sure knows how to do a dollar store! We also found a cool Calgary Flames jersey at Walmart for Tanner. He is now officially a fan!

That afternoon, we went over to Shelly and Tim's to see their fish pond. We didn't find see any fish, but we had a lot of fun on their ATV's!
Next we went out to the farm. It was a super muddy mess, but Ashlyn was in heaven. I hope she gets to live on a farm someday because she is a farm girl at heart. We couldn't keep her away from the animals!

This horse was pregnant. She actually had the pony while we were up in Canada (picture to come)
There were so many babies

Baby kittens...

Baby lambs...
There were so many amazing places to take pictures. It was killing me that most of them were surrounded by huge swamps of mud. However, we did get a few pictures in front of the house the Terry grew up in (There are three houses on the farm. They kept building new ones as their family grew!)

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

Preschool Graduation

This year I was invited to help teach a little neighborhood preschool for Ashlyn and five of her friends. At first I was a little nervous to do it. But, I felt bad that Ashlyn would be home alone with me all day every day. So, I decided to do it so that she would have a little social outlet. I'm so glad I did! Ashlyn loved going and was sad on the days that she didn't have preschool. She also loved when it was our turn to teach. I actually really had fun teaching, too.

On the last day of preschool, our group decided to do a little graduation party. Yes, I know that Ashlyn still has another year of preschool. But when you get invited to a party celebrating YOU, you go!!!
We played games, had treats, and gave out diplomas. For some reason, Spencer Hulse is missing from this picture. But, here are the rest of the kids.

Libby Allen, Ashlyn, Hope Potter, Sydney Gibb and Ethan Newman
So glad I got to teach this little cutie!
Congrats, Ashlyn!!!