Spring happened

The Dorns spent the night on Saturday as their parents got a weekend away. The girls were excited to show them the stream and they fought over choosing a movie, all the normal extra kid stuff. 

Big bunch of noise and rambunctiousness for scripture time. 

On Sunday Spring happened! The trees are blossoming and it’s been lovely and comfortable weather. Spring in the DMV is magical. 

Delaney woke up yesterday with a weird rashy face. But she felt fine. 🤷‍♀️ I walked with them to school and talked to nurse Dana, and even though we felt like she’d be fine, I went ahead and kept her home. These are difficult times, Corona virus is everywhere, and I’m all about being cautious. Not crazy, but careful. She took a bath and we applied hydrocortisone cream and this morning she woke up clear faced and bushy tailed. 

We picked up ice cream treats for home evening treats on our way home from piano, and we enjoyed them on the porch, for the first time in 2020. Happy days are here again!

And for good measure, this boy!!!! 😍😍😍

Final leg

I finished up at the temple and went souvie shopping. I asked several people where to go and no one had great answers. I finally found what i was looking for at Walmart of all places. I got magnets and keychains and hats and a sweatshirt for myself that I love, love, love. Then I picked up some delicious Chinese food and had a lovely, quiet evening at the hotel, soaking up some much needed solo time after a long time away from home. 

I had planned to be on the road by 6am, but I had talked to Laura and she ok’d a later departure. I got up and ran on the treadmill, ate, and headed out. 

I listened to Chasing the Scream, which was fascinating, btw, and enjoyed the rural Canadian countryside. 

The Cardston temple was the cherry on top of my Canadian temple tour. 

This temple was dedicated in 1923 and was one of the very first built in this dispensation. It’s one of the classics that you see pictures of all growing up. And I finally made it!

It is by far the most unique temple I have ever been to. As we worshiped we walked up, and up, and up until we were at the top little dome. 

I am so grateful I was able to immerse myself in the temple and the covenants I’ve made and the power and peace I feel when I serve. It was exactly what I needed after 3+ weeks of family time, which is amazing, but can also be stressful. 

I grabbed some sub-par Canadian KFC from the tiny little town of Cardston, and headed home. I shopped at a few more convenience stores on my way towards Great Falls and added another magnet to my collection. I also ran out of data on my phone, so I mapped my way home old school, and I did it! 

Going through customs was not my favorite thing, but around 6pm I made it home to my crew and one of my besties.

I just can’t explain how much this trip meant to me. It was tricky to plan and took a lot of people to make happen. I felt bad asking this favor of brand new parents and also my dear friend that had just gotten home from traveling cross country for a wedding, but everyone so generously gave of their time and it was such a perfect birthday gift. I’m such a simple girl and this little international road trip was so super exciting. 

Michelle’s epic Canadian road trip

I left Edmonton just before 12 and drove straight to my hotel in Calgary. I had gotten a free room with points and it was a super nice hotel! I went in and took the worlds nicest nap. When I got going to Calgary it was lightly raining a nice summer sprinkle, and when it stopped everything was sparkly and beautiful. LOOK AT THIS TEMPLE!!!

You know how you can go someplace and just feel like you belong there? That’s what I felt in Calgary. It was all beautiful. I liked everyone I talked to. The temple was beyond gorgeous. Maybe we’ll live there someday, who knows. 

#excited

Perfect time of day to serve in the temple. 

This is the view from the other side of the temple. It sits up on a hill and you can see the beautiful mountains and downtown. 

💕💕💕

I just couldn’t believe how luck I was to be there.  

Beautiful all the way around. 

Laura sent me these and I found them when I got out of the temple. 

They were so happy to see her!

And of course Emmy love Laura too!

Oh Canada

I’ve given myself permission to not catch up on every blog day I’ve ever missed. But there are some cool experiences I want to always remember. While we were in Montana I was able to get away for an overnighter in Alberta, Canada. It was so amazing, I can’t even explain it. I was a mom at 17, so I’ve not done a lot of solo traveling in my life. This was only my third night alone in a hotel room, and one of those nights was just because I flew in late and it was snowing. 

I originally was just going to go to the Cardston temple and call it good. But then I saw that the Calgary temple was  just 2.5 hours up the road. And then I saw that Edmonton temple was just 2.5 hours up the road from there. And I couldn’t not do it. 

I worked and reworked my options to be able to do a session at each temple. The Calgary temple had odd times, and Edmonton is so tiny that that one was difficult too. I finally cane up with this plan, that I wrote in the notes section of my phone and cut and pasted here:

*Leave at 1:30am - drive straight to Edmonton temple for 10:30 session

*Leave temple at 12:30, drive to Calgary, either to temple or to hotel for nap, 4:30 or 6:00 session 

*Leave hotel by 6, arrive in cardston for 9:30 session. Leave by 11:30, and straight to GF 

I was soooo excited! It took a lot of juggling and planning. Lexi and Cade were leaving for Oregon, so Laura came up and watched the girls for the night. I was so thankful, she’s such a good friend to me! I had planned to go to bed super early and wake up and leave at 1:30. I did get to bed early, but I was so excited and after  tossing and turning for awhile, decided to hit the road. 

Guys. It was scary to be driving in unchartered territory the middle of the night. And I’ve driven cross country by myself before. I stopped for a drink and even that was dramatic and scary. First stop there were shady looking men outside and I was like, nope. Second stop was still all men at the convenience store, in fact, I saw only men till 8:00 the next morning. It was weird. 

I listened to Mindy Kaling’s funny new book and are and enjoyed the quiet. I love being alone, it was just so awesome. I stopped right before Canada to fill up my gas, and had trouble there too. My cc didn’t work at the pump and I thought it was because I was so close to Canada and hadn’t let my bank know, so then I called them and it turns out it was just that I needed to pay inside. 🤷‍♀️😂 

The customs guy asked where I was going and when I told him I was going to the temple in Edmonton he gave me some serious side eye. Then I explained that I was doing a temple tour and that made more sense to him. 

The whole time I was like “I’m driving by myself in Canada!!!” I’m euchre q country bumpkin, I know, but it was a great adventure for me. 

Alberta is farmland and it was pitch black and I was driving hundreds of miles from Great Falls to Edmonton in the middle of the night and if I had broken drown I would literally have had a heart attack and that would have been the end of it. I did lots of praying and all was well. 

I was beyond thrilled when the sun finally came up!

It’s 7.5 hours from GF to Edmonton, so right around this time I had to stop and fill up too. 

I am my fathers daughter with all my driving pictures. It was just so beautiful and I wanted to remember every second. 

I got a quick Tim Hortons brekkie just outside of Edmonton and hit the temple. I looked longingly at the downtown and wished I had time for sightseeing, but this was a temple tour I was on, so I had to stay focused. 

This temple is tiny! I know tiny temples because I recurved my endowment in Ciudad Juarez, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been to a teeny one. 

And it is right across from the stake cwntwr. And I do mean right across, there’s a one lane road between them. I had to do a panoramic. 

I arrived a few minutes early and got all my pictures taken. It had recently rained and everything was clean and had that just rained smell. 

Standing in front of the temple door looking at the stake center, just to give an idea of how close they are. 

I went to the recommend desk and asked where the restroom, I’m sorry, I was in Canada so I asked where the washroom was so I could change into my dress. The sweet man was like, just go on into the temple changing room and change into your whites, so I went into the temple in my jeans. It was so weird. 

And a happy girl leaving her first Canadian temple. 

No time to lose, and I was on my way to Calgary!

Snow

Matt and girls are skiing/snowboarding in Canaan Valley today. I’m so glad they love it. I wish I did too, but I don’t. One of these days I’ll go snowshoeing, cause I think I might dig that. And maybe one day I’ll snowboard again. Who knows. 
Dad and I tried out Slice House and I enjoyed a delicious cilantro chicken pizza. His Parmesan was good too. 

Lu sent me a pic of this happy guy. 

Chris borrowed a tall ladder and cleaned our outside dryer vent. 

He also cane inside and cleaned the duct. 

We all have the same dryer vent issues in the LG, so I posted on our neighborhood page that Chris could clean vents Saturday, and he’s got 11 people lined up! So cool!

This girl came in 3rd on her pacer test. I don’t think she feels like an athlete a lot of days, so I was so happy for her! I so want all my kids to know how strong they are. 

It’s Dr. Seuss week, but the days were pretty boring. Wear red, now wear green, now wacky tacky. Boring. They do love a good tacky day, so I grabbed this as we walked to school. 

Makey makey fun on hat day. 

Sandy went lighthousing and sent me this map. I love me a lighthouse buddy!

The girls loving having the Aina’s living nearby, and they all love the stream. Sarah sent me these fun shots. 

I love when they can play and be kids even though they are growing up. 

Dad and I went to dc for an appt. I brought the somd thug life with me, I guess. 

I was trying to get a shot of the Capitol, but you can’t see if because of the grey day. 

This boy is ridiculous. Canadian tuxedo and cowboy boots? 🤦‍♀️

We celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday with green eggs and ham and cat in the hat pancakes. This pic was taken right before I stormed out to the car. We’ve got some dinner issues going on, and I know I’m part of the problem. Needing a family council fo sho. 

Frankie got a package from Roslyn in Italy and she was SOOO excited!

A cute light up dolphin, she was so thrilled! We’re hoping to see their family when we’re there this summer. 🤗

Last Friday these fools went skiing in Virginia. Apparently at one point they got separated and Laney proceeded to ski for half an hour by herself. She went up the lift several times and down the mountain, all by her 8 year old lonesome. I guess it’s good that she’s independent? 🤦‍♀️

Frankie the snowboarder. Could her dad be any happier? No. The answer is no.