Grandma Palmer's Funeral

Friday was the day of the funeral. Ava and Jackson were obsessed with mixing drinks at breakfast.

The funeral was at a church that was right by our hotel so that was really convenient. The funeral was great. Brandon and all his brothers were pallbearers. 

We headed over to the cemetery. I was so worried about us standing around at the cemetery for an hour in the cold Calgary weather so I made sure we all brought beanies and gloves and that the girls were wearing tights and boots or closed toed church shoes. I probably over prepared but we definitely were not cold. I even wore pants under my dress.

All the kids got to put a flower on the casket.

Karen and all her siblings.

Jackson and Tyler wouldn't eat any of the food at the funeral lunch. Those boys sure do make traveling a little tricky.

Back to the pool for more swimming in the afternoon.

Then we got to go to Blaine's house for a family dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs that evening. Brandon and I walked out in the dark to the river. We got up on to the dock and then we saw something gliding by us in the water. It seriously looked like it could be an alligator swimming by but Blaine told us it would have been a beaver. 

I took the kids out to the river later and right when we got there we heard this huge noise and I had no idea what it would be, and then we discovered it was a bunch of geese we had scared and they were flying off and landed in the river, making the loud noise. Anyway, really wish I could have seen that property and the water front behind Blaine's house during daylight hours.

Some of Brandon's cousins that we met showed us some pictures they had taken earlier in the week of the northern lights and they looked absolutely spectacular. It's one of my dreams to see the northern lights in person. I was so close, but it didn't quite happen.

Had to document Ross playing an arcade game, ha ha.

These kids had so much fun in Blaine's basement in the theater and playing arcade games and eating all the treats they could.

We saw three deer as we were driving away from Blaine's house. It was such a good day.

Snuggles on the coveted floor spot.

 

Ava had the time of her life with Maisie and Mavis. She sure loves being with her cousins.

These kids had so much fun swimming together. They made up lifeguard games, came down the slide in a big long train, and all sorts of other things.

They are all jumping out of the water in this picture.

Had to take a picture of the Costco menu. We stopped at Costco in Lethbridge again on the way home for lunch.

Mckinley's coat was so fitting for being in Canada.

Cute Kallie.

As we were driving towards the border we saw signs for a duty free souvenir shop. I assumed it would be really expensive but I wanted to stop and take a look anyway. Mckinley likes to collect key chains from different places she goes. Brandon hates it, ha ha. But anyway, they had super cute Canada key chains and they were a really good price so we got some, and a hat as well. It made me so happy.

Finally got to eat at Taco Bell in Great Falls.

Kallie got her turn to sleep on the floor.

These two are so stinking cute together.

Tara's family stayed with us again. We tried to stay at the same hotel since the water slide would be working but they were completely booked out so we had to just find a different hotel that didn't have a water slide. I was dying over these giant bowls they had for cereal at breakfast.

It doesn't take much for these kids to have fun. They just love being with each other. They ended up putting chairs and tables in the pool and were having so much fun with them. Until the assistant manager of the hotel came in and got us in trouble. The kids think it's funny that they got in trouble at 2 of the 3 hotels we stayed at.

Love driving through the mountains in Montana. The scenery is just so beautiful. Pictures don't do it justice.

Stopped in Butte for Little Caesars with Tara's family. We didn't think about where we would eat it so we just ended up parking our van by theirs and eating in our cars, ha ha.

Such an amazing trip. I'm so glad we were able to go. It was so great being with family and being able to support Karen.