Canada eh?

I love my family!!! We only have a family reunion with the Parker side every 2 years so going to Canada is always a treat!!! I make the request that I didn't want to be stuck in a car, driving to Canada, eating soggy cake (love you Mom for at least brining me a cake) so this year I requested that we leave before my birthday. And since I am the Princess we did just that. We left Tuesday night getting out of town around 6 p.m. Stopping for gas, and eating we got to Raymond Canada about 4 a.m. We were SO TIRED!!! Slept for a few hours and off we went to see Grandpa and my aunt and uncle in Cardston (about 30 min away) We had dinner reservations at my uncle Reeds house so off to Raymond again to eat delicous BBQ chicken and beef (for the meat eaters of course) Uncle Reed makes one GOOD BBQ. It was delicious. Well it's tradition now to go to the hood-a-rite colony, why I don't know because they are such fasinating people. They are kind of like the Amish, but they believe in technology, they dress like the pligs, but thy only have one wife. They live a very simple life, where they live off everything they grow. They cook, grow gardens, go to school, go to church all on their colonies. They go into town to sell their goods, and for appointments and things like that. They are the friendliest people you will ever meet and they will do anything for you. We went there so my uncle could get a back of potatoes and we ended up leaving with potatoes, pees, head of califlower, head of purple califlower, cabbage, 2 loafs of bread all for $5. The girls took us on a tour of the colony showing us where they go to school, church, laundry, where they eat, milk the cows, where the cows are raised- everything. They are just as curious with us as we are with them. They are super nice and we always love to go see them. I didn't have any picturs of them because they don't believe in getting their pictures taken, something about it takes a part of your soul. Interesting culture and life style they have.

Thursday was my Birthday!!! Kelly had baloons, and a crown for me!! I wore the pink boa all day! The rest of my brother and sisters got there that morning so we decided to go see Waterton. It's a toursist attraction, it has hiking, shopping, swimming (if you like the cold) and it's always fun to go see. We saw a deer, close enough that we even petted it. We even saw a BEAR!!! WAHOO We had a great birthday!! Had GROSS pizza for dinner but great company. It was a nice relaxing birthday.
Then the family reunion!! My family is always wild and crazy and we think of the fun things to do. This year we had a Amazing race - we had to complete all these task and be first to the finish line. Had all the same rules as the TV version, just on a smaller scale to fit into our camp site. Just some of the things we did, eat a pie (check the pictures) eat jellow with a spoon, chug a liter of soda, eat all my grandpas favorite things: sea weed, some kind of meat product.. I don't know what else I didn't have to eat them. We had to untie ropes, launch and catch water baloons. We had so much fun. Unfortuanly my team came in 4th place.. but we would have been 1st if it wasn't for some mis-communication with the committee. All in all we had so much fun with the race!! Then we hit the lake for a nice cool dip!! Uncle Reed bought Jet Skis so we tubbed and rode around the lake all afternoon. FUn in the sun!! Nights in Canada are always cool and the bugs are dreadful - if you aren't careful they will eat you alive. Being with family is always so much fun, specially with my family we have 11 brothers and sisters on my Dad's side, about 64 grand children and a heap load of great grand children. So when we get together we GET TOGETHER!!! Thanks for a great reunion and a wonderful Holiday!!! Enjoy the pictures of our trip!