Canada

Driving away from the mountains to our family reunion... When we got there we settled into our cabin. The first night it rained but the rest of the days it was beautiful!! There was a little creek behind our cabin so Britton and I went to go through rocks...
By Friday most everyone began to arrive. I believe we had almost 35 people to celebrate Oma's 80th birthday!

Uncle Rob and Auntie Leslie set up games -- always entertaining!
Paityn loved the weather!
On Saturday some of the family went swimming in the creek!It was the same creek behind our cabin so Uncle Rob, Auntie Leslie, Dirk and I walked along it back to the cabin to join the rest of the family. It was a beautiful walk!

For my grandmother's birthday we each made a scrapbook page and my Auntie Patrice put it all together so we could give it to her!

We celebrated her birthday on Saturday night!And of course we had "Oudman Idol!" Tamara and Brandon did 'swagger wagon' - it was highly entertaining!

I think my grandparents are adorable! :)My sister and I being dorks!We left to come back home on Monday...and then it was back to reality on Tuesday!

THE Hike

The views from our cabin the next morning were breathtaking!Dad and I before the hike....Here is some information about the hike: Mt Allen/Centennial Ridge Trail
- highest maintained trail in the Canadian Rockies (9249 ft)
- we hiked almost 21 km (a little over 13 miles)
- it took us a little over 10 hrs to finish the hike
- we hiked almost 2000 feet down in 1.2 miles

Brandon, Angela (my step sister) and my dad all did the hike!
Last year my dad did this hike by himself. It started raining and he got lost, fell and hit his head. He was out in the mountains for almost 24 hrs. He wanted to finish the hike so we all did it with him!
The views were amazing!

We sat and ate lunch in this meadow....
And my dad turned and said we were 1/4 of the way there. He pointed up and said that we were going to peak that mountain!
The hike after the meadow changed...we began rock climbing. I am not the biggest fan of heights but the views were completely worth it!

God's beauty shines in the mountains!I am very proud of my dad for wanted to do the hike again!
Our very own little snowman!We came across some little mountain mouse but no other big animals -- thank goodness!There were points in the hike were I thought I wasn't going to make it! My legs felt like they were going to give out. I relied on two people for strength. My dad and my Heavenly Father. I remember my dad holding my hand during the steep parts and always checking on me to make sure I was ok. I am so grateful for him. Throughout the hike I was praying for strength and courage and wisdom and peace. And I kept repeating "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" and "Nothing is impossible with God."

The view from the top!

We made it!!

When we got to the end, I wanted to kiss the ground but my legs wouldn't let me! I slept like a baby that night and was VERY sore for a couple of days!!

On the way to Canada

Flying to Canada was an adventure! I worked the two nights before so I was slightly sleep deprived... We didn't fly out until 2PM but I knew that if I slept a little bit I would be even more tired and probably grumpy so I went with delusional and laughed a lot. I felt a little bad for my sister because she got to travel with her two adorable children, Brandon, and sleep deprived me! It all ended well!!

And when we got there it was completely worth it!!
We met up with my dad and step mom and I went to bed!!

At the Zoo

On Saturday we decided to go the zoo! It was a beautiful day outside and we hadn't been to the zoo yet. We started out at the monkeys... We walked around for awhile and ended up inside to see the reptiles because it was hotter than we thought it would be!

Bre wanted to play so we took a nice break and watched her!

I love these two very much! God has blessed me...
And I am very grateful to have both of them in my life! I am going to miss them terribly when I am in Canada!