Canada

We got up early Saturday morning and packed for our Labor Day weekend getaway. The drive to Canada was great. It was a sunny day and the scenery was gorgeous. I was in a really happy mood all day. Once at the Canadian border we showed our passports and Vessel's birth certificate. The border control employees were really stern and intimidating. They asked us all kinds of questions like who we were going to visit, how we knew them, what our plans were in detail, etc. But we were eventually given access into the country after about a 30 minute wait.

Here at the Coutts border.

Our first time in Canada! Mike posing next to the sign at the border.

We took I-15 all the way up to our friends' (the Harkers) house. It was a straight shot, which was nice and Roy and Kathy's house wasn't hard to find at all. They have a beautiful house that they built themselves. Mike and I really liked it. When we got there our friend Twila was already there with her 2 kids Kizzia (3 yrs) and Jayden (8 mos.) Kathy and Twila had made some lunch for us and we sat out on the balcony and ate. Afterwards everyone had the idea to drive to Lethbridge and go to a cornmaze. It was actually pretty fun. The weather was beautiful and everything was just so nice.

At the cornmaze entrance.

Mike went with Vessel on a cow barrel train pulled by a small tractor.

There was a petting zoo and a playground for the kids. Vessel liked petting and feeding the donkeys, cows, goats, pigs, and chickens.

Isn't this the cutest little goat you've ever seen?

The sign reads "unattended children will be sold at the market."

It was the first time for Kathy, Chelsea, and Daniel (Kathy's daughter and son-in-law) to go through a cornmaze, which was pretty surprising to me.

Me, Mike, Vessel, and Kizzia.

After our time at the cornmaze, we drove into town and did some shopping at Lethbridge.
Me with some of our Canadian currency.

And the most exciting thing is that I found Outrageous shampoo for a buck 98! This used to be my favorite and most used shampoo back when I was a freshman in high school and then it was discontinued in the U.S. But not in Canada! So I stocked up! Does anyone remember this shampoo? It's the greatest!
We also bought a few other things during our travel.
Many labels are in French. Rootbeer=Racinette

Back at the Harker's house we had a big cookout over the firepit in their backyard. Our friend Matt (Twila's husband) got off work and met us there. We had an excellent outdoor feast! That night we played games around the table and then called it a night.

Sunday we woke up to horrible weather. It was rainy and cold and quite miserable. We went to Matt and Twila's church to hear their sacrament talks. Then we went back to Harker's ward to hear Chelsea and Daniel speak. After church Kathy prepared the most delicious Sunday meal. She is seriously my idol. I admire her so much. She is the Martha Stewart of Canada. She makes EVERYTHING from scratch. She sews, knits, quilts, and all does all kinds of crafty things. I am astounded by her! She made Vessel a really awesome bib while we were there. She's very sweet. So after dinner we ate the best fresh peach crisp and homemade vanilla ice cream that Twila made. It was HEAVENLY. The rest of Sunday was spent just talking and catching up with our friends.

On Monday, we went to a free pancake breakfast in Magrath. Labour Day is a pretty big holiday in Canada. After our wonderful pancakes, Kathy offered to watch Vessel so we could attend the Cardston, Alberta Temple to do a session. Daniel and Chelsea accompanied us. The Cardston temple is like no other temple I've been in. It is huge and really unique looking. Something interesting is that the Angel Moroni statue does not sit atop this temple. The other really unique thing about this temple is that the inside is covered in beautiful wood. With each room we entered the wood got darker and darker. Mike and I really liked our experience there!

It was raining pretty hard after the session, so these pictures aren't the best.

After our temple session we stopped at the local "Extra Foods" market to pick up a little snack.

Mike with his No Name dill pickle potato chips. They also had Ketchup chips, but we didn't end up buying them.

Me with some chocolate bars.

Later we went over to see Matt and Twila's new house. We talked and ate dinner before we made our journey back to the States.

Our trip to Canada was delightful and good times were had by all!
Thanks to the Harkers and the Jensens for showing us Americans a good time!