Tour de famille (and a stop in Banff and BC)

Rachel will be set apart as a missionary in about a week. She and Auntie Josie took a road trip up to Canada to see some family and some places before Rachel settles down to business. 

Here they are at Elizabeth's house on the first night of their journey. She lives in Rexburg, so they didn't get too far their first day, but there's just something about driving 10 hours versus driving 13 hours that feels so much more doable, so I'm glad they stopped. Plus they got to visit with Elizabeth and her family!

Here they are with my cousin Eric and his family up in Grassy Lake:

They loved spending time on the farm!

Here they are with my cousin Heather's daughters Miley and Sadie:

They stayed with my mom's cousin Lavon in Okotoks (and Heather, Lavon's daughter, lives close by with her five daughters, so I was glad they got to pop by for a visit).

And here are some pictures of Rachel meeting her little cousins for the first time (I have some pretty big feelings about this):

M will be 5 next week and Rachel has never met her...so it almost goes without saying that Rachel hasn't met E or C, either. How wonderful that she was able to meet them before leaving on her mission! Good for these girls (Josie and Rachel) for making such an effort to do so!

I was surprised by how little C looks! When I've seen pictures of her she's usually been in a stroller or swing or something. She looks so tiny when she's being held by a grown up!

I think Auntie Josie is so cute peeking out behind baby C here:

They went out for lunch at McDonald's (so the kids could play and visiting could continue). Here they are before saying goodbye:

And here are Rachel and Josie with David in the middle:

The day before visiting with David, Josie and Rachel drove from Grassy Lake to Banff (I am told that Josie drove that entire stretch!) and stopped at Lake Louise.

Which is stunning!

And then because the Alberta-British Columbia border is so close, they drove over into BC to say hello. They were a little annoyed by the state of the sign, which was covered in stickers and graffiti, but nonetheless happy to have made it to three separate provinces in a single weekend! 

They had a bit of a scare when their check engine light came on. Andrew told them to go to Canadian Tire just to see what was wrong (my mom, surprisingly, was on team persevere) and it was an issue with the air conditioner pulling too much coolant (which could wait to repair). But they also found out their brake lights were out, so they got those fixed (which is probably a good thing). 

They spent the night somewhere in Montana and should finish their trip today. 

Hard to believe Rachel's mission is just right around the corner!! Thanks to Auntie Josie and my mom for helping make this trip happen, and to all the family along the way that hosted these girls to make their trip affordable!