Drive PT 2

It has taken way too long for me to get this up but here we are. So we made our way to West Yellowstone. We had a few stops along the way and the drive was very pretty. We also saw this. 

A real cowboy herding his cattle along the road. It is not very often that you see this. I have to say thought that I felt really super touristy taking this pic. We stayed in the town of West Yellowstone that night and woke up early to take in as much of Yellowstone as we could. Here are some of the highlights. 

This is Old Faithful. It was only steam really that we saw because it was just cool enough that steam covered up the water.

Lower Falls

Upper Falls

This is the majority of the things we saw here. It was really nice. Again the fall colors made it all the more beautiful. We didn't really see much wildlife though which was disappointing. We might have seen a buffalo from a distance but that is it. 

On our way out of the park we stopped at another lake to eat before we drove a couple of hours. 

We had some complications on our drive after we left the park. We looked at the map and picked a town that was a couple hours a way that would be good to stop at and get Jane to sleep. Well we arrived at the town and there was nothing there. I don't know if you could call it a town even. I mean there was a gas station and maybe a bar. So we hadn't eaten, it was time to get Jane to bed and we don't know what to do. So we look at the map and the next closest place on our way is Casper. So we decide to drive two hours to Casper. It was kind of a pain but we finally made it and got to bed. 

The next day we only had about 4 and a half hours left. That was the only nice thing about driving to Casper the night before. So we just drove and drove. We pulled into our house about 2 pm on Tuesday. We spent the rest of the night unloading and moving furniture back upstairs. Thanks for James and Camille for helping us so much. I just have to say that we are so happy to be home. Sometimes it is good to get away so you can really appreciate what you have. I do have a new appreciation for things. I am sure that as time goes on that it will wear off but I hope not too soon. 

The long long drive pt 1

I decided that I should break this into two posts because we took so many pictures. So let's get started. We finally got on the road on Friday about 3 o'clock. I decided to load the trailer myself (bad idea) and have Jeff go to work. It took me way longer than I thought it would to load and the loading only happened thanks to my friend Amy. What a life saver she is. Anyway that is why we left so late that day because the original plan was to leave at noon. So we stopped briefly in Cardston. Saw the temple and got some food. Luckily, it did not take us very long at the border. We were worried that they would stop and search us but they didn't. I guess we look trustworthy. We then drove on to outside of Glacier National Park. We stayed in a little tiny town that had most of it's hotels closed down already for the season. I think there was only one other person staying that the motel we found.
The next day we went and saw some things in Glacier. Here are some pics of the day.

I don't really remember the names of some of these places but it was really pretty. It was especially pretty with all of the colors changing. One of the most popular things to do in Glacier is something called The  Road to the Sun. They were doing construction on it so that we could only go half way up it. Sadly, most of the day in Glacier was raining and so we didn't get out and do any hikes or things like that.
We left Glacier in the early evening and drove to Great Falls MT. Most of that day was just time in the car. We drove towards Yellowstone. I have never been to Montana and was amazed at how pretty it was just driving along the freeway. I guess I thought it would be more like Wyoming and if you have ever driven in Wyoming it is not too fun.
At lunch time we decided to get out so that Jane could crawl around. He was not loving being in the car for such a long time. We found a little lake and thought that having a scenic picnic spot would be better.

Jeff took this last picture because he wanted one of the car pulling the trailer. It was pretty here but really windy. We had some minor mishaps at lunch in which Jane poked her eye with a stick and Jeff ate paper. That last one was kind of funny. We got back into the car and headed to West Yellowstone. That is up next.

Goodbye and Hello

Well we finally made the long trip back to Denver. It was quite the adventure (I will post about that in a couple of day). I wanted to just talk about our last week or so in Calgary. Our friend Jacqui said that we couldn't leave Calgary without seeing elbow falls. So the last weekend we were there we all took a trip up there. It was pretty and all but it mostly fun just hanging out with the friends we have made.

The falls

Jeff, Graham and Brennan getting a little too close

Audrey practicing her poses. Oh they start so young

We hiked down past the falls to a calm part of the river with big rock the people sometimes jump off. The water was really cold but Jane liked it. 

Rocks are just the funnest toys.

Oh the days of innocence.

Graham slid down the river on a rock that is kind of like a slide. He is a little crazy, like I said, it was really cold.

It is interesting that some of the best weather days we had in Calgary were the week or two before we left. It was nice because it lent to lots of going outside and exploring.
The following Monday we had the Cartwrights over for some Ethopian food. I made ways too much and we couldn't have left overs around. Then the following Wednesdays we had them over again with the Harkers and made grilled pizza. The packing and loading and we were off on Friday.
Overall we had a really good experience being in Calgary. Even though we complained at times we are so happy that we did it. Of course, we will mostly miss these friends we made. Thanks for making our time in Calgary so fun and memorable. You guys make it so that I would want to come back and visit there :) Oh and I will miss nanaimo bars. They are so so delicious. I am going to have to find a good recipe.

Nana's Visit

I realized that I hadn't posted anything about my mom coming to visit with us. It was so nice of her to take some time off of work and make the trek up here. Luckily, she was able to get on all the flights with no issues. The first day she was here we went to the farmers market with my friend. They have a little play place and Jane had a blast in it.

Jane was not afraid to get in there and play with all of the other kids. She would have stayed in there all day if I would have let her. It was kind of gross though and she got so dirty.

We also went to Banff with my mom. We have been there a few times with different people but it still amazes me how pretty it always is.

It was really great to have my mom here for Jane's birthday. I have already posted all the pics from that. We had a good time. Of course me and my mom got a puzzle and spent a bunch of time doing that. We also ate a lot of delicious food. Jane loves spending time with her Nana and we do too. Thanks for coming mom.

Raw Birthday

I know that some of you people think I am kind of a freak about food (mostly Jeff's family ;) Jeff really wanted Jane to have a cake that she could eat with her hands and would get all over her. Well she hasn't had any sugar, wheat, oil and all that stuff. So I kind of didn't want to kill her with an overload all of those things. So I decided to make a raw dessert. What is that, you wonder? Well I made a chocolate mousse pie that was made out of avocado, agave (a sweetener) and cocoa powder. The crust was almonds, dates and a little lemon juice. Okay you are not going to believe this, I made whipped topping out of cashews, honey and vanilla. I was amazed by that one too. I couldn't believe how much it tasted like whipped topping. Delicious stuff. Don't knock it till you try it.
Enough about the pie. My mom came into town and so we decided to invite some friends over and make a little party out of it. We even got party hats.

Jane didn't really get opening the presents. She didn't get to pull of the wrapping and so my friends daughter just ended opening most of them.

Here is Jane with some of her swag.

There is the raw chocolate mousse pie. It really was a hit. Even Jeff really liked it and don't believe him if he says otherwise.

She was a little hesitant at first but as you can see, she went to town on that pie. In this last picture, the band holding on her hat had slipped up to her mouth and she kind of looks like the joker. We had a good laugh about that. Overall, the party was a hit and Jane loved the food. Unfortunately, mother nature decided to give Jane a present too and she has had a bit of a cold since her birthday. It is not horrible but we had a couple of bad nights because she couldn't breathe very well.
Here is a little video of some of the festivities.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. We especially loved the video from the Knudsens (we are excited to see you guys and meet claire).