A Trip to Canada - the adventure!

Tyce, Lauren and I were able to go up to Canada last week to visit my side of the family. Grandpa brands calves Victoria Day weekend each year, so we decided to go and help out. We left about 8:00 Thursday morning. The kids did awesome. Our first stop was Idaho Falls. Ate some lunch, well...Tyce and I ate lunch. Lauren just wanted to walk/run around. She was tired of being in the car seat. Filled up with gas and hit the road again. Our next stop was in Simms. One of those tiny towns in Montana. We filled up with gas again. Lauren and Tyce had fun talking to the lady working there. We hit the road again and made it to Grandma & Grandpa's house shortly after 8:00 p.m. Awesome...only 12 hours....with 2 kids.

The weekend was a lot of fun. Cindy & Steve came down from Calgary to help out too. The kids had a lot of fun riding the horses, swinging in the swings, sitting by the fire pit, playing basketball, helping chase the calves, gopher hunting and riding the 4-wheelers. Thank you Grandma & Grandpa for a very fun time on the ranch.

Lauren, Uncle Curtis, Tyce, and Grandpa

Grandpa and Lauren

Tyce

Lauren and Grandma

Lauren loved to say, "Yee Haw"

No Hands! Grandpa & Uncle Curtis tore out the old tire swings and made new ones. The kids loved many "under ducks" aka "under dogs".

Tyce's job was to pull the rope to lift the gate so the next calf could get in.

Lauren enjoyed some pop while watching the men work.

Braeden, Curtis, Steve and Randy working hard.

Tyce's other job was to chase the calves down to the pen after they were branded.

Tyce had a blast finding gophers for the other guys to shoot. I was actually surprised at how into he go.

And Wednesday morning we hit the road. We left Grandma & Grandpa's place about 7:45. No problems crossing the border. Things were going well. We made it to Helena for our first stop (4 hours). Grabbed some lunch at McDonalds, filled up with gas and hit the road again. Went through Butte and Dillon. Just south of Dillon, the van starting made a really weird noise. I pulled over and called Kirk. Through some trouble shooting, we realized that if I turned off the A/C the noise was gone. A/C off we continued on.

We went through Lima, cruise control on. Lauren was enjoying a movie, Tyce was playing his DS and I was listening to a book on CD through my MP3 player. (Hurray for electronics!) Suddenly the van began slowing down. I pulled over and then van had turned off and it wasn't turning back on. I didn't panic. I grabbed my cell phone to call Kirk and sure enough...NO SERVICE! Well...I let Lauren out of her car seat. And we sat and waited. I was thinking, while vehicles drove past, even if someone does stop- what I am going to ask them to do to help? The van wasn't turning over and the next decent sized city is Idaho Falls- about an hour away.

After about a half hour and older man and woman stopped. I gave them Kirk's phone numbers and asked them to drive until they got cell phone service and then to call him and tell him I was broken down 10 miles north of the Idaho/Montana line and to maybe call a tow truck. Luckily the man's cell phone worked there and I was able to get a hold of Kirk before he left work. He found the phone number for a roommate I had at BYU-I who lives in Rigby, ID. I called her and she was willing to drive to pick me and the kids up and let us wait at her house. Luckily a lady stopped and she had room for the 3 of us. I grabbed the valuables out of the van and a little bag of clothes in case we needed to spend the night. Andrea and her Dad met us at the freeway in Roberts and took us to Andrea's house. The kids and I hung out there and Kirk and I tried to figure out options for towing the van home. I'll save you all of the frustrating details!

Kirk was able get some help from some of our neighbors. Voyne lent him his truck, Allen let him borrow a trailer, and one of Kirk's co-workers, Paul, let him borrow a thing to pull the van onto the trailer. Kirk took Thursday off. He left about 5:30 and headed north. He picked up the kids and I at Andrea's house and then we headed back into Montana to get the van. I was relieved that the van was still there, without being damaged. We finally got it loaded (after a few frustrating moments) and then hit the road again! We stopped in Dubois for gas, a garbage bag and duck tape (the driver's side window went down and wouldn't go back up.), and some lunch. Next stop....HOME!!

I have to admit that it was a frustrating 24 hours. However...I am very grateful for Andrea and her girls for letting us stay at their house and for feeding us. Thank you to Andrea and her dad for driving out to meet us at the freeway. Thank you to Sarah...the kind lady and her daughter who gave us a lift from the van to meet up with Andrea and her Dad. Thank you to Andrea's mom for picking up some pizza for us for supper. Thank you Voyne, Allen and Paul for letting us borrow the big stuff for hauling the van home. Thank you Kirk for coming and getting us :)

I am grateful that we weren't getting the van home due to a wreck and that Kirk wasn't trying to get up to a hospital or hospitals to see us. Things can always be worse :)

Our prayers now are that the repairs needed aren't too major - keep fingers crossed!

Home sweet home...charging the battery so we can hopefully drive it off!