CANADA: Picnic, Cars, Waterton, and BBQ

My cousin, Julie, hosted a fun get together at a park in Lethbridge on Friday afternoon.  I hadn't met Dallin's wife, Amanda, and their little girl, Rachel.  As well as Travis's wife, Lindsay and his son, Gordon, and new baby, Khallie.  Pictured L-R:

Gordon, Lindsay, Kim, Khallie, Travis, Rachel, Julie, Laynie, Amanda, Dallin, Cindy, Matt, Gavin and Lloyd.

Travis and Me

Julie and Me - I had just dropped the camera and picked it up just in the knick of time!

Gavin photo bombing we three.

Friday evening, we attended Aunt Kim's community event of the movie, Cars, shown in a shed.  Kim hadn't seen the before yet and she laughed all the way through it, which made me laugh and made the movie 100 times more enjoyable.

The next day, Travis's family and Uncle Lloyd came with us to Waterton.  We went up to the Prince of Wales Hotel.  I had never been inside before, but there's a gift shop and lobby that we were able to see.

It was SUPER windy at that point and Laynie got dirt in her eyes.  Travis says the hotel is haunted...

We visited Shelby (Travis's sister) at her work (Trapper's Restaurant) in Waterton.  Then ate a picnic lunch by the bay.

Inside the visitor's center.

Cameron Falls

Skipping stones

Cameron Lake

Red Rock Canyon - this was pretty awesome - lots of red rock with a river running through it.  TONS of people were there and we had to get back to Kim's for a BBQ.  Carly was visiting her mom and Aunt Dixie was able to come down with Carly to stay at Julie's for a while, so we were able to visit with them.  Lisa came down from Brooks for the BBQ, and Aunt Marilyn also came.  I was able to talk to her a bit and asked her what memories she had of Grandma...  She replied, "Oh she was a crusty lady!  I was scared of her!"  LOL!!!  Too, too funny!

We cleaned Aunt Kim's house while she took her granddaughter, Katie, home then went to bed.

 

Nostalgia

Old Chief

The main reason for this trip was to show Matt and the kids where my mom grew up and where I went about every other summer to spend time with the Cahoon side of the family.  Driving into Cardston, Alberta Canada was emotional for me!  I showed Matt and the kids the houses my mom grew up in:

This little home was my mom's first home.  It is located just northeast of the temple.  Her best friend, JoAnn Low, lived in the house on the right.

When my mom was 16, her family had this home built on the south end of Cardston (Aetna).  It was a really nice home at the time, but my grandma hated living there.  She wanted to be closer to the center of town.  So after only living there for 1 year, they moved back into town...

To this home.

This is the home I remember my grandma living in when I was little.  It was beautiful inside and out.  My grandma had a way of making a house a home.  She had sentimental wall hangings, beautiful furniture and a knack for decorating. 

When I was around 13, Grandma moved to this home - only it was 20 times cuter when she lived there!  No ugly brown and the garage (barn) in the background had a painted wooden cow and goose off to the sides.  The front door was encased in a sort of like green house room.  I would have loved to see the inside...

The last house my grandma lived in is 

where my Uncle Lloyd lives now.  Only it was blue.  Grandma lived here for a few years until she decided it was best to move to a type of assisted living place.

Just like her head stone states:  We miss her.  She was a wonderful lady, and I'm so glad she was my grandma.

I was just 3 years old when Grandpa Cahoon passed away of a heart attack.  He had helped his son, Jerry, move some furniture into his new place, then laid down on his bed to take a nap and slipped away from this earth.  Grandma thought he was still alive and wiggled his foot while saying something like, "Time to wake up, George," to get him to wake up, only he never did.  I only have one memory of Grandpa Cahoon.  I wish I had more.

Memory:  He was at my house in Gunnison and gave Brian and me rides on his back.  He was on all fours and Brian and I would climb onto the couch, go to the arm of the couch to get onto his back.  We were all giggles riding around the living room floor on Grandpa Cahoon!

I also remember the day my mom found out he had died unexpectantly.  My mom had been ironing in the hallway.  She stopped to answer the phone.  It was Grandma on the other end, letting her know that Grandpa had died.  I remember being very worried for my mom, then watching her go back to her ironing, with tears and sobbing.  I remember feeling helpless, like I wanted to fix it, but couldn't.

 

House of Mystery, Montana

Thursday was a big travel day, but we managed to squeeze in some fun at the end with a visit to the House of Mystery and Montana Vortex in Columbia Falls!  When I was around 7 years old, I visited this place with my mom and brothers and remember it being so crazy weird!!

The gravitational pull/magnetic force of the earth is not the same in this particular spot in Montana.

The house was built right in the center of the vortex.

You aren't able to stand up after sitting down.

Brooms stand on their own.

You hang at a slant.

One side of the ladder pushes you toward it and the other side of the latter propels you away from it.

Marbles roll uphill!

They have a golden door to walk through and LOVE is on the otherwise.  :)

The tour guide had us do somethings that altered the perception of our height.

Matt was skeptical at first - it wasn't until he started walking up to the house and started feeling dizzy then stood at a slant that he became a believer.  LOL

You had to lean back to stay upright.

The floor is level...

Yet notice the difference once they switch places.

Even the trees had faces and grew at a slant.

Millie wasn't allowed to come into the House of Mystery, but doesn't she look cute in her little pink sweater?

 

Yellowstone

We spent 2 days in Yellowstone.  I love this National Park.  It is so diverse.  We were able to see some pretty awesome wildlife, and visit some places I had never been in the park.