Family Reunion in Canada: Part VI - Waterton Lakes National Park

After my grandmother's funeral we headed towards Waterton Lakes National Park. Before we got to the park we stopped in Glenwood where my grandfather Woody grew up. We saw his old house along with the graves of two of his siblings who died young. 

The family regrouped at the Glenwood Pioneer Ice Cream Parlour before getting back out on the road!

As we continued our drive we saw more and more mountains!

At the Waterton gates we saw our first dear! She was accompanied by her two young fawn and they were cute!

After winding our way through Waterton we made it to the Lodge. This huge house is where most of the family stayed, the others were at a small hotel in the downtown Waterton area.

[Back of the Lodge where we ate our meals]

[View from the back yard]

[Spending more time with the baby!]

[Luke playing with Dane]

 After dinner we walked down the Lodge's front steps and found ourselves at Cameron Falls.

Family Reunion in Canada: Part V - Grandma Gladys Holt Stringam's Funeral

My sweet Grandma Gladys Holt Stringam died in her sleep on June 6, 2015. We had a service for her on July 2, 2015.

We all gathered at the Church across from the B and B at 9:30 AM for family pictures. 

 Then the grandchildren and great-grandchildren practiced singing "The Family is of God" which we sang during the Funeral Service. 



From 10:00 - 11:00 PM there was a viewing with an open casket.

After that we had a family prayer, closed the casket, and then followed the casket into the chapel. There we went through a beautiful program which included a tribute from the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, a biography given by the oldest granddaughter Cheryl, a musical number by the grandchildren and great-grandchildren, a talk by Max Holt, and another musical number by my extremely talented cousin Zac. Her biography was so amazing to hear. She had such an amazing life. 
 

After the Funeral Service we went to the Temple Hill Cemetery where the grave was dedicated and my grandmother was laid to rest next to her husband of 44 years (married in 1954), Woodrow ("Woody") S. Stringam (1913-1998).

[Jeannie (wife of my mom's deceased half-brother Wade), Karen (mom's sister), Reed (mom's brother), my mom, and Janice (mom's sister)]

After the grave was dedicated the roses were passed out to those who wanted one.

We laid our roses on the casket, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the Church where we had a light lunch.

Family Reunion in Canada: Part IV - Raymond Parade and Stampede

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!

We got up on July 1, got some hot breakfast, and then headed to downtown Raymond to watch the Raymond Parade! 

*Side note: My family participated in the parade back in 2000 to celebrate my great-grandparents 100th wedding anniversary! We rode on a trailer and threw out candy!

[Dane trying to steal food at breakfast. According to Ryan, Dane's motto is: Always be Eatin'!]

We parked at my Aunt Janice's (mom's sister) and walked down to road to find our seats.

There were a bunch of blankets laid out for us. Missy and Brady got their Canada tattoos on and then the parade began!

[Luke and Andie with their Canadian pride!]

[All the little cousins lined up with their candy gathering bags]

And the parade began with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (aka Mounties)! 

The weather at the parade was a little strange. It would get hot and humid and then get cold and start raining. It wouldn't last long so the parade carried on! I hid under a tree so I didn't get pictures from the second half of the parade. Oops!

[Missy, Dane, and Andie taking shelter from the rain]

After the parade we we back to Aunt Janice and Uncle Brian's house for a family BBQ. There were probably close to 60 people there! And my Uncle Brian did a great job with all the tasty chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs.

[Missy, Ryan, and Brady]

[Andie, Luke, Aunt Karen (mom's sister), Darryl and Sharman]

[Brock and Morgan]

[Uncle Reed and his family]

[More family]

[Becca and Jared]

[Janice, my dad, my mom, cousin Cheryl and Brandon]

And of course, we had my grandmother's famous Angel Food Cake! My cousin did a great job with the recipe and it tasted exactly like my grandmas!

And this is my new friend! She is such a good baby! We spent a lot of time together :-)

After the BBQ some of the family went to the World Famous Raymond Stampede! 

We got to the Stampede just in time to watch the Wild Horse Race! We actually came in through one of the back lots and the horses were right next to us when they took off running! It was pretty fun!

We got our tickets and then found our seats with Reed and his family.

[Me, my mom, Andie, and Luke]

Reed and his family left early but we had to stay and watch the bull riding! It was worth the near 4 hour wait!

After the Stampede we went to Lethbridge to find some dinner and Dairy Queen (the same one my mom use to go to when she was a kid). We then drove by my Grandma and Grandpa Woody's old house...

...and also by the house my mom grew up in. 

We went back to the B and B where we waited for the fireworks to start. At 11:00 PM they started and we had great seats from our beds in the B and B. The show went on for 15 minutes and it wasn't too bad for a small town. 

When it was time for bed Missy and Luke decided to have a glow stick fight. Kids will be kids :-)