B.C. Trip Days 2 + 3

On Saturday, July 9, we continued our very windy and incredibly beautiful drive through the mountains until we finally arrived at Jared's Aunt's house in Summerland at 8:30 p.m. B.C. time. We stopped at this neat little restaurant for supper in Revelstoke, B.C. My Uncle and Aunt just happen to go to one of our sister churches in Vernon, B.C., so we decided to go the next morning. The only thing was that it was an hour and a half drive, so we had to leave by 8:30 a.m. Thankfully, we had all gotten a decent amount of sleep, so we were able to get up early and make it to church on time. It also just happened to be my Uncle's birthday that day and they were having a family lunch after church (I have 5 cousins, 3 of them are married and I hadn't met one of my cousin's wives and my other cousin's baby), so they invited us to join them and that was wonderful! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of all of us together, although I think I have one on my phone that Jared got. This is their house where we ate lunch. The kids got to play with my cousin, Eden, who is a few years older than Kiera. The only ones I got a picture of: my Uncle and Aunt with my cousin, Ezra.

We took a drive up the hill from my Uncle + Aunt's house to check out the view.

This trip was very last minute, as Jared came up with the idea on Tuesday and we left on Friday. On the Wednesday before we left, I called up my sister and let her know that we were going to be heading in her direction. They live 4 hours away from Kelowna (in Washington) and at first we were thinking about meeting halfway in between. It was complicated because Art works evenings/weekends and Jenene works days during the week, so we didn't think we would get to see all 3 of them. Miraculously, they both got time off of work last minute and decided to drive up to Kelowna on the Sunday and stay overnight until Monday!! It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip! It was so short and sweet but totally a gift from the Lord! We met them at their hotel and then went to DQ for a late supper, along with my cousin Beth, her husband, Shawn, and their baby boy. This happens every time the kids see Uncle Art. He pretends that they're bugging him, but you can see that he's actually smiling and secretly loving it! ;p I forgot how beautiful the mountains are and I love being reminded of what we saw when I look back at these pictures! It's also nice to be reminded of warm, sunny days now that the weather is colder. Happy Monday!

July 2016 Part 1

We started off July by going to Grand Beach on Canada Day. The kids thought that burying each other was a very fun game. We went to my Mom's house for a weiner roast supper and this was the sky as we were driving home in the evening. It looked like it was on fire...it was incredible! A few days into July, Jared came home with a brilliant idea (on a Tuesday) that we should spontaneously go on a road trip during his week off, which was the following week and leave in 3 days, which was a Friday. My first reaction was panic, but I managed to do everyone's laundry, go shopping, make food and pack for our trip during that time! Jared's Aunt, who lives in Summerland, B.C. (half an hour from Kelowna), graciously opened up her home to us. She has a remodeled 100-year-old house and the upstairs has 4 bedrooms and a bathroom, which she doesn't use except for guests. We left on Friday evening, July 8th, and arrived on Saturday evening, 26 hours later. This picture was taken on the Saturday morning, 2 hours away from Calgary. I love canola fields, especially against the bright blue sky. We went to Denny's for breakfast in Calgary and met our friend for breakfast who lives in Calgary. We were standing in the entrance, waiting to be seated, when the arcade game with the claw arm and the clear box full of stuffed animals caught my kids' eyes. I wasn't paying super close attention, but I suddenly saw Kiera moving the arm, picking up a stuffed animal, and dropping it into the area where you pick up your prize! Haley had found some coins already in the machine, pushed the coins in and then Kiera grabbed the lever and got a prize on her first try! Blake quickly claimed it and all of the kids were thrilled at what they had accomplished! I was shocked, as I've seen teenagers and adults spend quite a bit of money trying to get stuffed animals from those machines and the kids did it with very little effort! I laughed and thought that was a neat gift from God!

After Calgary, we hit the mountains and then the picture taking kicked into high gear! It started off cloudy and rainy but it's interesting how quickly the weather can change in the mountains in just a short period of time.

I love seeing the little waterfalls running down the mountain Jared thinks tunnels are cool, so he wanted me to take a picture of them. I absolutely love the color of the water. I love how the mountains speak of God's majesty, power and beauty! I took many more pictures that day, but I figured I would leave it at that for now.