June Updates on Allie

Funny words of Allies
Oatmeal- "Opla"
Milk- "Mimi"
Peek-A-Boo- "Cheach a Boo"
Binky- "Minchy"

Favorite songs
ABC's
Twinkle Twinkle
I love to see the temple

Favorite color
Orange

New things Allie has learned
Sing her ABC's
Count to 8
Knows her colors-orange, yellow, blue, pink, and white

Cute memories
6-11-08
We were driving in the car and I said "one." Allie followed me by counting all the way to 8! I was impressed. We have gone over numbers before but I didn't realize it would sink in so quickly.

6-12-08

While eating breakfast today Allie asked if I would cut her waffle up. I told her yes and proceeded to cut it up. Allie in the middle of me cutting up the waffle said, "thank you mommy" That is the first time she has said thank-you without me having to ask her to do so. How rewarding to know something is sinking in.

6-14-08
We were trying to go to sleep in our tent and Allie starts busting out the ABC song and sang it right from A to Z. She loves to play with her Leapster ABC's and I guess it finally sunk in

6-25-08
During lunch I finished my bowl of applesauce. Allie proceeded to say "mommy all done." She then grabbed my empty bowl and started scooping her applesauce into my bowl and then handed me back my bowl with some applesauce. Such a sweetie.

Grandma Julia's 50th!

We headed off to Sun Valley for the weekend to celebrate Grandma Julia's 50th Birthday Party. Papa rented out 2 condo's for the weekend and we piled in all of Blake's immediate family which included all 22 of us. It was my first time to Sun Valley and we had a blast! Everybody was out biking, swimming, dining....it was so fun.

We spent a lot of time together with everyone, which usually doesn't happen, but was so fun. We went biking with everyone a couple of times thanks to papa renting everyone bikes. We all went swimming and hot tubing in the gigantic hot tub; Blake was in heaven. Blake will not swim in the pools because they are too cold. The hot tub was pretty much the size of a pool and he was in heaven. He was the last one out of the hot tub and he almost got left behind. All of the cousins ran around together and enjoyed their time. Thanks Papa and Grandma Julia and happy 50th!

Allie enjoying her time out on the patio of the condo

The fam

We got some news while we were there...Von (Blake's little brother) and Desiree are getting married. Our new sister-in-law to be.

All of the cousins with Aunt Lilly and Aunt Natalia enjoying ice cream

Jane, Lucy, Allie, and Brynn. All of the girl cousins

Nothing like playing Scum with the Hansen's

Allie and Bryn strapped in, plugged up, and ready for the ride

Out on the greenbelt

The whole crew for a pit stop

Of course, we can't forget any organized family pictures while we are all together. We had to do family pictures not only on Saturday, but also on Sunday when we were all in different outfits. This is a cute one of the two loves of my life.

Day 6-Northern Idaho and the drive home

On Thursday we made our way through Northern Idaho to Boise. We took our time stopping in Coeur d' alene, Moscow to visit the UOI campus, and Lewiston to check out the paper factory. Northern Idaho was just gorgeous. I wish that we had the lush greenery that they had up there and the rolling hills in palouse county.

We were able to get home, somewhat unpack, and get some clothes washed before we repacked. We headed out in the morning to Sun Valley for a fun weekend with the Hansen's to celebrate Grandma Julia's 50th birthday.

The view outside our window-Lake Pend Oreille

Allie enjoying some play time at the park on the beach of the lake

Another view of Lake Pend Oreille

Day 5 -Johnston Canyon, Icefields Parkway

We had quite the packed day. We started out by driving up Bow Valley Parkway..a scenic drive through Banff Park. We stopped to do a little hike at Johnston Canyon. It was a paved trail that ran through a canyon. There was a .5 mile hike to the Lower Falls and a 1.5 mile hike to Upper Falls and we ended up going to both. We were a little disappointed that we ended up hiking the extra mile up because the Upper Falls weren't as impressive as the Lower Falls.

As soon as we got back to our car it started raining, and later this turned into SNOW. Well it turned out to be a perfect day to do a lot of driving. We hit Lake Moraine and Lake Louise. Both lakes were gorgeous although we were at both very briefly due to the weather. We walked around at Lake Louise and went inside the gorgeous hotel that was here.

Afterwards we drove for awhile up the Icefield's Parkway. What spectacular glaciers, icefields, and awesome mountains. We only wished it would have been a better day so that we could have seen the tops of the mountains; we didn't have the best luck with the weather. We made it up to the Icefields and turned around to head back down to the United States.

We made our way through Kootenay National Park where we got to see a bunch of elk, a moose, and our last bear of the trip. Our drive through here was just gorgeous...beautiful colors splashed across the mountains. We finally made it into the United States around 9 p.m. and made our way to Sandpoint for the night.

A big horned sheep; one of the only animals we hadn't seen yet

Blake and Allie at Johnston Canyon's Lower Falls

There was a cool little cave that you could walk through to get a better view of the falls

The snow outside my window as we were driving

The Icefields. You can take a tour bus up across these spectacular 20,000 year old pieces of ice

Two black bears seen on the way back down through Icefields Parkway

An impressive elk on our way through Kootenay National Park

Another moose that we spotted driving through Kootenay

It's always nice to be welcomed home

A picture up in Bonners Ferry Idaho...Northern Idaho is just gorgeous.

Day 4-Calgary and Banff

We drove into Calgary and originally were just going to drive through downtown. Blake spotted this very cool pool with fountains and we decided we would get out and walk around a bit. Allie enjoyed taking a dip in the pool to cool off. We also walked through some outdoor shopping areas and it was a bustling city and quite nice.

Next, we headed off to Banff and when we pulled into the park it started raining really hard. We had had great weather up until that point, so we couldn't complain. We drove around the town of Banff and checked out some of their nice "castles" that they had. After the quick drive through town we hunted around for a hotel since we weren't going to attempt to camp in the rain. I made Blake drive me around until I could find the cheapest place. So we finally checked into our hotel and just hung out for a few hours, which was kind of nice.

We went to dinner that night at Spaghetti Factory. It ended up being one of the only kid friendly places since a majority of the places to eat at were either way fancy or bars. The town of Banff was pretty as it was surrounded by high peaked mountains. We found for us there was not much to do besides shop at expensive restaurants and drink....neither of which we like.

Hanging out in downtown Calgary at some very cool fountain place

There were tons of kids cooling off in the water so Allie thought she also wanted to try

Banff Springs Hotel-only $450 a night for a night in this castle

A man multitasking-Blake watching the game while also keeping an eye on Allie

Day 3-Waterton Lakes National Park

By far Waterton Lakes National Park was Blake and I's favorite place on the trip. We pulled into town in the morning and had a whole day of fun. There was a little townsite down by the lake and the best wildlife.

We started out the morning by going down Akamina Parkway to our end destination Cameron Lake. On our way in to the lake we got to see our first bear. It was a grizzly and we didn't get any good pictures because it was on my side of the car; no further explanation needed. When we got real close I freaked out because it was only about 3 feet away and I made Blake pull forward. We had plans to go on a canoe ride at Cameron Lake because they say that there are tons of bears at the end of lake you can go and watch. To bad we had to put yet another thing on our "to do" list for next time. There was still way to much snow so they wouldn't let anyone out on the water. On the drive back I told Blake that I would be happy if I could see a bear in a tree...well as we rounded the corner I got to see just that. A baby black bear up in the tree.

We headed back to town and encountered deer everywhere! No joke, you couldn't pass a yard and not see a deer. We came across a mom and her two fawns. Allie just loved them and I had fun trying to get a great picture. We stopped to play at a little park in town and let Allie burn off some energy. We headed over to Cameron Falls, which ended up not being to impressive, so we headed off to lunch. There weren't many choices and so we decided to go to the place that looked the busiest....Zum's; it was famous for fried chicken. Well, we didn't venture to try the fried chicken but I did have my first buffalo burger...so good.

After lunch we drove the Red Rock Parkway, an 8 mile road of beautiful prairie's and colorful mountains. On our way back down we got to see three more bears in the trees. There was a mamma black bear and her 2 cubs. We checked into our hotel, which was our splurge for our anniversary. We got to stay at the Prince of Wales Hotel on the very top floor overlooking the lake. It ended up being a beautiful view, but a very old room. I think we spent more time on the balcony then in our room.

As we went on our evening drive we got to encounter 2 more black bears...Blake's philosophy did not hold true. After I saw my first bear, Blake told me that we wouldn't see any more bears. He said that everyone always gets to see one bear per trip...not true here. We had a great little time in this park.

A view of Cameron Lake and the large glacier in the back

My first sighting of a bear in the tree

Allie enjoying herself at this old school park. Everything was made out of metal and wood.

My favorite picture of one of the baby fawns

The Prince of Wales Hotel. If you look at the top balcony, you might be able to see the speck which is Allie and I

The view off of our balcony at the Hotel

A black bear photographed by Blake

Another black bear photographed by Blake

Our view that night overlooking Waterton Lake

Day 2-Cardston and Many Glacier

We started out the morning by crossing the border to Canada. The closest chapel for church was in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. We then went to visit the Cardston Temple, which was very unique in style.

We leisurely made our way back to camp to enjoy lunch and relax. Allie played a little with her new friend Ivan (the dog). For some reason the dog pretty much hung out at our campsite whenever we ended up being there. We are definitely big fans of the KOA's; pools, playgrounds, showers, a dog...what more could we ask for.

In the afternoon we made our way to one of our favorite spots-Many Glacier. It was beautiful! There was a big hotel on the lake with a beautiful view of an awesome glacier. We put a stay at this hotel on our "to do" list for next time. We also saw some mountain goats right outside of the hotel and Allie just loved these. We went for another evening wildlife drive and got to see our first moose.

The Cardston, Alberta Temple

Allie in rare form-SMILING at the camera

Allie and her friend Ivan

A view from Many Glacier Hotel

The ugly Mountain Goats

A view from the deck at the hotel

Allie found herself a nice little bench to take a rest on

Another view of the Many Glacier

Allie enjoying her own little soda with her dinner

My first view of a moose in the wild

Day 1-West Glacier and St. Mary

We awoke on Saturday morning only to find out that the "Going to the Sun Road" through Glacier was closed part way. We started out the morning by taking a one hour scenic boat ride across Lake McDonald. I always seem to forget how windy and cold it is out on the water so we Allie and I only lasted outside for a very short time. After we enjoyed a yummy pizza at a place called Jammer Joes. Pizza ended up being our food of choice for the trip.

Since the road through the park was closed we ended up going to the East side of the park the long way. It was such a beautiful drive; well worth the extra hour that it took us. We got over to St. Mary's which was on the East side and ended up going on a couple of hikes later in the afternoon. Our first hike was into St. Mary's Waterfall and we continued for another mile until we got to Virginia Falls. Allie just loves hiking; she calls them "wee rides." She will sit in the backpack and say "wee daddy" and hence came the name "wee ride." We were also able to check out a cool slot canyon called Sunrift Gorge.

After dinner we had our first evening drive. These ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip. We would bring Allie her binks and she would always fall quickly asleep. Blake and I would drive through the park checking out the wildlife, being that this is one of their more active times during the day. We had a great time and got to see our first elk and her baby this night.

Trying to brave the wind and cold. It is pretty sad that we didn't make it near as long as all the elderly you see around us

Beatiful Lake McDonald and one of the many awesome mountains

More view of the mountains

These red cars are part of the originality of the park. The roofs are open and you are exposed to the elements of nature. The tour guides take you through the park for a narrated tour. This is one thing that we left on our "to do" list for next time

On our drive to East Glacier.....some more spectacular mountains

Our hike to St. Mary Falls. My favorite hikes to go on are ones where we end up at water so I can cool off

Allie enjoying her "wee ride"

Another waterfall at Sunrift Gorge

We had a great campsite at East Glacier KOA. We were right by a little creak and we were the only tenter's in site

Great view of St. Mary's Lake from our evening drive

Our first elk that we spotted. She had a baby that is not visible in the picture