Sunday in Waterton

From Monday, August 29, 2005 journal entry:

Sunday started slow. We played around a bit in the tent - I messed up my toe. Let me re-phrase that, Landon broke my toe! He will deny it, but we all know the truth! (Okay, the fact that it wasn't really broken, does look bad on my part - but I swear he did!) I don't really remember how it started. I'm willing to bet it was Cadi. She likes jumping on Landon, especially if he is sleeping.
 

Eventually he rolled her over and returned the favor...

 

We had fun. Eventually we did get up though. And then we headed over to Landon's apartment to clean. He goes home on Wednesday and they are needed to inspect his house first. It wasn't too bad since we were working together.
 





Ryan declined trying the uniform on. Pansy. lol (No really, I love you Baby. And you don't need to wear a fire fighter's uniform to look hot. *wink*)

So Landon showed us how it was really supposed to fit a person...



Cadi wanted to wear Landon's sunglasses. He was a little nervous to let her, they are kind of expensive. But because he is so nice (and because her daddy isn't the only one wrapped around her little finger) he let her put them on for just one picture...



After playing iside the fire house, we went out to wear the truck was, letting kids get in and look around. Acadia took a turn up in it too.


I think Landon said his mom used to have a car like this...











Of course, those pictures don't show the cool tire pieces. But I think I have some pictures coming later that do.

The ward (or is it a branch?) in Waterton is interesting. They have a small meeting house. Pretty much, it is only a chapel. And they only meet for Sacrament Meeting - no other meetings. And, that one Sacrament Meeting - is at 8 p.m.! We were planning on going, but Acadia had actually been requesting to go to bed on time. (Can you believe that?) She made the connection that when she went to bed on time, she was happier and enjoyed her mornings better. Really! And she came to this conclusion all on her own!!!
 
Because the ward met so late, we decided to just have a "devotional" at the campfire instead. Acadia led us in a spiritual discussion. It was kind of nice. Of course, Cadi thought we were re-enacting Primary and tried to get us to sing the "Hello" song to eachother, then wanted talks and prayers... lol
Landon didn't stay the night with us at camp that night. He had to work in the morning. So instead he hung out at the campfire with us until about 11. He wasn't feeling all that great so we made him go home to get a decent's night rest. This was the first (and so far only) night that we went to bed before midnight since arriving in Waterton.

Check out all the pictures from the Canada Trip. There are a ton, just browse through all the sub-albums. Have fun!

Then the guys ditched us to go look at some cool cars. While they did that, Cadi and I played at a little playground. Now would be a good time to point out how cool Canadian playgrounds are. I'm serious! In the states, we are so sue-happy that we don't have any really neat playgrounds. In Canada there were tons of fun pieces to play on. Lots of interesting ways to use big tires (besides as swings) that were really neat. Cadi had a good time.

The boys took pictures, but I don't know which ones would be of interest to post. So I will just post the couple that Landon's in, then the one of the (one and only) mounty that we saw in Canada, and the two from the playground that they took when they rejoined us...

Around lunch time we went into town. There was a big car show and Landon was supposed to be helping serve hot dogs with the fire fighters. This summer he has worked as a volunteer fire fighter while in Waterton. Turns out that they had so many people that they ran out of hot dogs early and didn't need Landon afterall. So, he took us to the fire station and let Cadi and I try on his uniform. That was fun. Not flattering, but fun. lol I have never worn a fire fighter's uniform before.








Doesn't Cadi look super cute???

Here she is trying to force feed him a granola bar.

The fun just keeps on coming.

After such a full day on Friday and then camping that night (not to mention staying up late), you would think we would take Saturday easy, wouldn't you?  Well, think again!  From the journal entry written on Monday, August 29. 2005:

On Saturday Landon took us to Red Rock Canyon.



It is one of his favorite places in the park. He likes the challenge of climbing the rocks, trying not to get wet. He took Ryan a little way in to do some climbing while I kept Cadi with me to play in the creek.





They had the camera, so I don't have pictures of her playing. The water was icy cold, but it didn't stop her! The creek bed was mostly smooth rock, much of it covered in light moss. That made for kind of a fun water slide at parts of it!

Later the boys came back and took Cadi to a water hole. I stayed behind with the camera and went down the creek a little more to take pictures. It was really pretty. They had fun in the water hole and I guess I kind of wish I had gone with them, but I really like some of the pictures I took.





Later, we went to Cameron Lake and took a rowboat out on the water. When we got there, I video taped Cadi and asked her where we were. She answered, "Cameron Lake." "Cameron Lake? Who is it named after?" "Cameron." (That makes sense.) "Cameron? Who is Cameron?" "Landon." "This lake is named after Landon?" "Uh huh." lol

Okay, the first half of the rowboat ride was kind of boring for me. I was in the front. I started out there with Cadi but after just a few minutes, she left me to go hang out in the back with Landon. Ryan was behind me, but facing the back because he was rowing. So everyone else was back there and I was by my lonesome in the front. (Does anyone feel sorry for me yet? Oh wait, there was one more thing...) Plus, I kept getting splashed by the oars. Bad. Every once in awhile someone else got a little wet, but no one got as wet as I did. And it was cold. (Okay, NOW does anyone feel sorry for me? You still don't? Tough crowd!)

I love this picture of Cadi!





Rowing was fun. We really did laugh quite alot. First of all, Ryan rowed the whole time. Now, my boy usually enjoys the rowing machine at the gym. You would think this would have prepared him to row us across one little lake. (Okay, not so little.) Hehehe We zigzagged and turned this way and that. We gave him a bit of a hard time. But he was a good sport and we all knew that none of us could do any better.



Landon saw Ryan working so hard that he got tired and decided to take a nap.



Landon did make himself useful here... We have a joke among the three of us that I won't go into because it really wouldn't sound that funny if I tried to explain it. But, out there on the boat (for some reason, I don't really know what started it) Ryan started doing some breathing exercises. And Landon managed to get some of it on film. I just hope Ryan doesn't get mad at me for showing it!



But even better than that was that I took video of Landon taking the picture. Including of the moment he mimicked Ryan's picture. And thanks to my awesome Digital Camcorder, I took some pictures off of that video. And if Ryan gets mad at me for that last picture, it's nothing compared to what Landon's gonna do when he sees what's coming next! (Smile Landon - you know you love me!)









Oh my gosh, I am so dead! Moving on...

We laughed alot in that boat. At one point we were laughing to hard that I was crying. My abs hurt so bad! At least they were getting exercise, right?

Eventually I moved to the back and Acadia went to the front. I have to admit, it was a lot funner to be with Ryan and Landon instead of up in front by myself. And finally I would stop getting drenched by those dang oars (and the man behind them!). Well, almost. He still managed to splash me a bit - still more than everyone else. Maybe it was a sign of affection? Yeah, right.So when I joined the cool end of the boat... lol. Ryan started doing his Smeagol impressions. Funny! And I got it on video - and pulled off some pics to share. Imagine the split personality here...







Yeah, I love him!

So the lake was very pretty. We were out there as the sun went down, so not all of the pictures turned out as well as I would have liked, but this will give you an idea of what it looked like...









I guess we were taking longer than we were supposed to because no sooner had we started rowing back to the other side of the lake, when we saw a little dingy coming out toward us. 'Oh, they must be coming to tell us to start heading back,' we thought. Hehehe Oh no, they actually came to take us back themselves! They tied our boat to theirs and towed us back across. Man did we feel stupid! Poor Ryan, he was the one sitting in the "driver's seat", looking like he didn't have it in him to keep rowing! So not true, but that's what it looked like! So, what did we do? We laughed about it. (Of course.)



Once we got over how much we looked like losers, we enjoyed the (quick) ride back.







Once we were back on shore and took off our life jackets, I noticed Ryan was... uh... lactating. lol Or so it looked...



Again, we stayed up hecka late at the campfire! It was at least 3 am when we went to bed. Ryan, Landon, and I are a really good group I think. We can laugh and laugh. It is one of the best friendships I've ever had. And I really think a big reason why it is so awesome is because Ryan and I both get along with, love, and consider Landon one of our best friends. He is just family to us now, it is something Ryan and I both feel. I love that.

More pictures are available from Red Rock Canyon and Cameron Lake. Plus, you can see all the pictures we took in Canada by just snooping around in all the sub-albums yourself. Just don't get lost!

Busy Day - Lots of Pictures!

We were so busy having fun that I didn't take time to write in my journal until Monday, August 29, 2005. So this is written a few days after it took place.

Thursday night we stayed up watching LOTR - Yeah Baby! Then I went to bed (at about 2:30 am) while the boys stayed up (til 6:30 am!!!) playing X-Box. (Heather- And you thought it was bad when he and Steve got together!) But, to be fair, they both got up with Cadi and I for breakfast and fully participated the entire day. *smile*

Acadia helped Landon get up. "Open your eyes..."





First I made us breakfast burritos. Yum. Then we hiked Bear's Hump. (Comparable to Bubble Rock's hike in Acadia - for those of you familiar with that.) It was gorgeous!



We sat on top for awhile and just looked over Waterton. It was so beautiful. Landon pointed out a few things, we talked awhile, then headed down.







It was Super Windy!!!







Landon has been up there at night and says it is amazing. If it weren't for the mountain lions and the fact that we were a small group, we may have tried to go up later to see the view after dark. But we (read I) are wimps and never did it. Oh, but I wished we could!!!

On the way back down, Acadia found a friend.



Although we enjoyed staying at Landon's apartment, we also wanted to do some camping. So that afternoon we went to Crandall Campground and got ourselves a campsite. At first we weren't sure how the site we got would work out - but it turned out to be perfect. First of all, we set it up pretty nice. And most importantly, it didn't have any other sites right next to it - which ended up being a very good thing since Ryan, Landon, and I pretty much were the last ones up in the entire campground every night.

Then the moment Acadia had been waiting for all summer - Landon took us horseback riding. Oh. My. Goodness. Was that an awesome time! We rode for 2 hours. It was fun, beautiful and just - Great! Acadia did really well. The rest of us laughed - ALOT! LOL

Acadia rode Rodeo, I rode Duchess, Ryan rode Joe and Landon rode Tex. I have no idea what the guide's name was - or her horse. Ask Landon, hehehe. (We love you, Landon! *wink*)

Ryan had the camera the whole time, so there aren't really many pictures of him - except for a couple "self shots". But there are lots of pictures of our butts!



For the first while, Ryan was behind Landon... Joe really liked to ride up close to Tex... And I mean, really close...





We crossed a creek (twice - once each way) and that was fun.Okay, now this picture just makes me laugh! And I hope Landon doesn't kill me for posting it - but trust me, if he doesn't for this one, he will for some of the ones I'm gonna put up in later posts! (I love you Landon!) In case you can't tell, he is being a cowboy. I was infront of him and had the chance to turn around and see this from the front - it's really too bad I didn't have the camera then!







Most of the time we were in open fields, but sometimes we were in trees and brush.

















Here are the rare pictures of Ryan while riding. Unfortunately you don't see his horse at all. Trust me, he is on one. lol





While we rode back to the stables, the sun set behind the mountains. It was really very pretty but unfortunately the pictures didn't really show that. This is what you get instead.



Ryan took some nice pictures of the view while we were out, here are a few.







When we got back, most of the horses were put in the stables right away. But the guide's horse was left out and Acadia couldn't resist going over to say hi. The horse was very sweet with her. She nuzzled Cadi and any time Acadia started to leave, the horse would stamp it's feet until she came back. It was very cute.



All but Cadi were a little sore afterwards, but it was SO WORTH IT! Thank you Landon!!!It's really too bad I don't have any pictures (or any other way) to capture those times. But I do have a ton more pictures of the horse back riding - and even a few more from the "hike" up Bear's Hump. To see all the pictures from the Canada Trip check out that link and browse through all the sub-albums.

After we finished with the horseback riding, we went to the pool and hot tub. There were a bunch of deer grazing right outside of the Rec Center.



The pool and spa felt so nice. Ahhh. It was fun too. The only problem was that someone had to stay with Cadi the whole time. First Ryan was swimming with her while Landon and I were in the hot tub, then I took my turn while Ryan and Landon played water volleyball. At one point Cadi slipped and fell on her rear end and that wasn't much fun.

Our first night at camp was fun - well, every night has been fun! lol We stayed up SO LATE! - Again, we have every night. I LOVE our campfire time! We talk, laugh, joke, etc. And we've talked about all sorts of things. Some serious stuff, some silly.

Ryan, Landon, and I have a really good friendship and I don't know that we have ever had the chance for it to develop like this before. I am so glad that we have come here and that we are in this setting. It really makes for wonderful experiences. And we are making tons of memories on this trip!

I do not remember the last time I have laughed so much! I have laughed till I cried, laughed till I couldn't breath, and laughed till it hurt. And then I've laughed some more. Ryan and Landon crack me up - especially when they feed off of each other!