Brittany's Wedding

On this beautiful sunny Saturday, my dear niece Brittany got married in a beautiful garden. Here are a few pictures of the family there. (This is for you, Aunt Lela!)

Brittany was an absolutely beautiful bride, with a gorgeous dress and fabulous hairstyle. Cody was quite handsome also!

I enjoyed sitting at a table with my sister Hope, her daughter Janelle, and my sister Linda. My husband and boys sat there too.

My brother Dave (the father of the bride) and his lovely wife Sandy. I could't decide if I like the natural, unposed look...

...or the posed picture, so I am showing you both! (Sorry Sandy! You looked beautiful also! And Dave - very handsome!)

This lovely couple, my niece Venisa and Anthony, will be getting married in December! Sorry, I failed to take a picture of Doug and Anisa on the other side of the table!

My sister Jean and her lovely family. My cute little niece Serena came trotting over to my table and spent some quality time with me....I was the "gum aunt" at the recent family get-together in BC! Best thing I ever did!

My niece Jody and her husband and adorable little girl Jenna. (People really love it when you take pictures while they're eating!)

My niece Dawn and her family who are growing up way too fast, here from Hermiston.

Mom, brother Galen and Carol, and Jody's son.

Since I missed Simon in the last picture I took one of him and Brenden. Brenden doesn't seem to love getting his picture taken...

And of course, the handsomest men at the party...Missing Craig because he couldn't get off work. Wonder what they were scheming about?!

As the bridal party stood at the front and again at the reception when I saw the bridal party at their table, I couldn't help but think that Brittany's brother Tyler should have been there. He has been gone for nearly 6 years, but he will always be dearly missed. I like to think that he got to take a peek from heaven to see the joy of this wedding and to know that Brittany has found a wonderful life partner to walk with her through all of life's joys and sorrows (and may the joys outnumber the sorrows a millionfold!) I pray that God will bless them greatly with a long lifetime of wedded bliss and delight with each other.

Back Home

We are home, after a trip that took us 24 days and more than 3000 miles. We saw rain fall on the majority of days, but many of those also included sunshine. When I perhaps had a hint of whine in my voice about the weather, Will pointed out that the rain tended to stop when we needed to get out, set up or take down. We were able to get in a few hikes and didn't get rained on. All those cloudy skies didn't make for great pictures of all the beautiful country we saw, but it didn't affect the millions of pictures (ok, thousands, well hundreds for sure) I took of my dear relatives at the reunion! Will and I enjoyed each others company 99% of the time and that ain't bad!

Here are a few of my favorites on the trip home. We stopped by the Athabaska River for a stroll on our way home after our one (very bad) meal at McDonalds and got to see a fantastic sunset

I was very unhappy about the view at Lake Louise. Those low clouds didn't make for a great view of the glacier.

But as we left, a unique rainbow lay across the mountain. Will obligingly pulled over so I could get a photo.

And a sweet shot of Will and Zeek sitting around camp a few evenings ago. Zeek was the perfect sleeping travelling dog as always. One night I got quietly out of bed to take something for a headache. I courteously did not turn on a light because I didn't want to wake Will. I was down in the kitchen when Will turned on the bedroom light. I thought it was so kind of him until he leaned out and barked sternly, "NO!" Shocked, I said I was just taking some pain reliever. He said, "Oh, I heard noise and thought Zeek was up!" Wow! He seemed slightly psycho for just a moment there!

I think we got home just in time. Will recently made a comment about rating me on stubbornness and I had to cut him off to inform him he was getting close to a 10 on annoyingness. So I shall stubbornly go off to work tomorrow and he can stay home and be as annoying as he wants!

Ode to Canada

A special posting by guest columnist, Steve Troyer, (host of the first Troyer family reunion at his home near Fort St. John, BC) nephew of LeAnn, who wishes to make it very clear that posting this does not imply agreement or endorsement of the opinions and viewpoints expressed herein by this fascinating up and coming writer (who surprisingly is known by the younger generation as “Crazy Uncle Steve”).

Ever since the humiliating defeat of 1812, the thought of attempting an invasion of Canada has struck fear in the heart of those brave and free citizens “south of the border”. But that all changed last week when they came by land and air under the cover of record-breaking rain storms. Some blended into civilian society and boarded commercial airlines, landing in the far isolated north and travelling south in borrowed vehicles. Others chose the unsuspecting modes of wheel vehicles - some rented, some Japanese, and one brave soul even succeeded in navigating one of the Federal Government’s bailed-out, bankrupt and still inferior GMC trucks all the way here. They set up camp on the soggy fields of suspicious relatives on the east side of Fort St. John. They stayed tuned to Fox News, where the blathering wind of hyper right-wingers including O’Reilly and Shepherd failed to pick up on the progress or intent of the northern invasion, focusing instead on the astute negotiations of the unemployable in Washington attempting to resolve the mysteries of debt and default.

Perhaps this was the deeper purpose for this trip to the North. How can it be that these Canadians with a military hardly large enough to defend Charlie Lake have managed to defend themselves against the ravages of the Great Recession? How did they make their dollar, barely worth sixty cents of the mighty greenback just a few years ago, surge past the deeply loved American currency, even with a value undefendable at its current devalued state? Perhaps there is a secret in the wildlife.
With deer hiding behind every other tree, moose on every corner and bear filling the in-between, surely it is this livestock of the Queen that accounts for the wealth of this foreign land. Or perhaps the fresh clean air provides for fresher freer thoughts – thoughts uncontaminated by the ultra-polarized commentators of political thought. Perhaps all the hot air from these talkers - along with the politicians that feed their mindless ramblings - is the true contributor of global climate change. How else do you explain the ever increasing tornados and extreme storms in what once was a “no spin zone”. And why do these storms always seem to occur in that southeast corner of the nation with the highest concentration of politicians?

But never let it be said they learned nothing from their friendly neighbors to the north. What can they learn from the strength of the great nation to their north to resolve the helpless pandering and hand wringing in America today? Perhaps it could be this simple.

First, they should ask us to come and lead their country. Bring our strong Canadian dollar, cheap oil and gas, and stable civil government. Let them share in our jobs, fresh water, clean air and cheap land. All the unemployed politicians could get jobs driving vacuum trucks in the oilfields, hauling sewage instead of just creating it. Think of the fresh ideas and perspectives they could gain by a few years of physical labour, where their future pensions depended on their current performance more than the continued lending of the Chinese! Let’s just see if they would share their national leadership, headed by the fair Queen herself!

Secondly, turn their military into something useful like a pipeline crew to build stuff instead of blow stuff up. We could build enough pipelines and bridges to get all that clean water and cheap oil down there and all the unemployed people up here. Win – Win!

And lastly, let’s help O’Reilly get a job. What could he do that was productive, once we have done away with the underperforming politicians and replaced them with those Canadian leaders, who are rather dull but just get things done without much of a story. Perhaps he could work at a McDonalds drive through window – at least no one expects what comes through the little black speaker box to make sense. Or maybe we could send him to do a mosquito census where he could spend some time in nature doing something worthwhile that would actually benefit society. All those folks listening in a trance to his conspiracy theories and other idle talk, would then have time to go an do productive things which would reduce unemployment, raise GDP, strengthen the currency and solve the rest of their problems. All just by learning from their Canadian neighbors and letting them help!

Quit snubbing that great and successful country to the north! Let it lead you out of your malaise! Give us some credit – its owed to Canada!

Troyer Antics

While the women were in the kitchen making dinner yesterday, my nephew Steve picked up his wife Katie’s phone and sent a few texts, one to his sister Jewel that said something like, “Would you please quit talking so much and get to work?” And one to his sister-in-law Mary something like, “Your kids are really loud, could you get them to quiet down?” and so on. The kid in this mature, responsible man is always lurking just under the surface! I wonder if that's what he was telling his brother Phil about in this picture...if not, I'd love to know what they were talking about! Never a dull moment at this family reunion!

Troyer Reunion

My niece Jewel and I sat down yesterday and figured out some stats on the first ever Troyer Reunion happening now at my nephew Steven's place near Fort St. John, BC. We have 23 children here, age 2 months to 17. We are only missing age 2, 13, and 16! There are 22 adults. They keep busy swimming/hot tubbing, jumping on the trampoline, playing air hockey, basketball, Dutch Blitz, Spoons, and other toys. I have not heard one child whine and the only crying has been for minor injuries. I have not heard any fights and only observed one dispute that was brought to a parent for help resolving. What an amazing bunch of kids.

I have awakened the last two mornings to hear my husband and brothers laughing outside our RV. The days continue with lots of laughing and good food. I am feeling so loved and respected...shortly after we got here Steve told his children I used to be his favorite aunt when I was younger. Later conversation revealed that it perhaps had something to do with the birthday cards I used to send containing a dollar! I told him I had a new tactic to become the favorite aunt now and offered gum to his 14 year old son Stanley, who declined, saying he’d rather have a dollar! I love this family!

We really are missing our missing families - Dave, Doug, Tom, Hope and Linda! It would be even more fun with all of you! I'll post some pictures here later!

A Close Encounter

Yesterday a quest to find and photograph an orange lily wildflower turned into a heartstopping moment for me when I fought through an overgrown path along the creek at the picnic area where we had stopped and discovered this on the other side!

Wow! The mama bear and two babies were across the creek from me so I felt safe enough to take a few pictures before retreating back down the path to a safer distance. Most of the pictures I snapped didn't turn out so well because I was shaking! I had seen numerous warnings and instructions there at Jasper National Park about what to do if you have a close encounter with a bear. My personal favorite was "Speak to it firmly but calmly." But what are you supposed to say?! I felt no need speak to it! They all ignored me.

Will and I were there all alone, and we enjoyed watching them play, safely across the creek from us... and with our truck nearby!

Truly an experience to remember! There were no lilies there, but I found and photographed lots of them on a path we took today! The thrill of seeing the bears certainly overcame any disappointment about no lilies at that picnic area!

Reckless Over the Fence Ventures...

Oh Canada. How happy I am that we don’t have a river site tonight, because when we walked along the river, I discovered that the mosquitoes are so much worse down there than up here.

A few days ago we stopped to view Nooksack Falls in Washington. The first thing we saw was this large sign warning of extreme danger and "respectfully enumerating those known to have perished while visiting Nooksack Falls". Will observed most of the eight victims had something in common – they were males between the ages of 18-25. Pretty scary and very sad. The sign declared, "Without risking your life, it is not possible to get views of the falls that compare to the professional photographs on this display."

When we walked beyond the sign and looked over the fence, what did we behold but someone in that demographic, along with his female companion, busy taking pictures of each other with the falls behind them.

I squelched the motherly impulse to yell at them to be careful and get back up here right now. I also virtuously heeded the warnings and stayed on the appropriate side of the fence.

I am often disappointed with the quality of the pictures when they show up on this blog. This picture isn't supposed to be this dark!

Yesterday we were camped near Bridal Falls (in BC, not Oregon!). There was a warning signs there also: “Caution: Hazardous Area. For your own safety, do not proceed. Violators will be subject to fines, etc.” Many people were disregarding it and traipsing on up the steep hill to get a better view. I tried to take some pictures from the very unsatisfactory viewing point...then I stepped over to the other side of the fence to photograph these interesting tree roots.

Once on the wrong side of the fence, I was soon climbing the hill. The view was so much better there.

The worst part was awkwardly but carefully stepping down the steep slope, with the viewing deck full of people who would all witness it should I fall on my rear. In fact, Will had already seen one woman do that. But with my customary gracefulness, I made it safely down. As we started back down the trail, Will decided to take a fork in the trail heading up - and where should we end up but up as high as I had scrambled! Oh well, the rush from the risky behavior was worth it!

We later visited Hope and admired the view of the Fraser River and the many wood carvings all over town. Any resemblance between this guy and another one we know and love who uses a walking stick??

Everyone in this story survived the forbidden trips across the fence. But tonight many mosquitoes have made it into our fifth wheel in a risky venture of their own and they are not living to tell the tale! I haven't killed this many mosquitoes or had this many bites in years!