Celebration of Life-August 4th 2013

My Uncle (unsurprisingly) did not want a funeral after he passed, but his daughters decided to have a party instead.  So they set up a "Celebration of Life" to not talk about the sad, but to share stories and pictures and all the great things we loved about my Uncle.

I got this shirt, but I liked my cousins "fuck cancer" shirts, better. 

We took some pictures in what we thought were "typical" poses of my Uncle. This first one is so true to him, the sunglasses even are his :) - and Micah and I were actually playing "Cheyann", who can always strike a pose. (Literally every picture of her that I have ever seen, even when she was like 2, she is posing. It's awesome!)

They wore boots and socks in his honor also, because that's what he always wore. I can't remember ever seeing him without his boots and socks.

 & since he was also a master of the bunny ears-

It was a great celebration of a great life, well lived, well traveled and well loved. 

Thanks for all you taught me :), for the camping trips, hiking trips, traveling abroad trips, taking me bungee jumping, Idaho cabin trips, all the times you took me to Taco Bell (my high school favorite), car advice, life advice (he really didn't think I should be a teacher!)... you will be missed.  ♥

Chief Joseph Days

Right after I got back from Glacier, I left for Joseph, Oregon with my parents to go to Chief Joseph Days.  My Dad's family has gone up every year for YEARS- seriously my grandma Colleen (I guess she is really my great aunt, but I call her Grandma), has gone up 51 out of the last 55 years! Isn't that crazy?! I think it's awesome... her kids/grandkids always go up this week to spend time together. I love that they have that tradition, I wish I had that with some of my family...maybe we need to start :)

The first night we stayed at my Grandma's in LaGrande, and went to pizza. We talked about how much we missed my brother....

 ^ this pizza was SO good!!!!!!

We set up a tent in the back yard- they have a small three bedroom house (and only 1 bathroom) that in no way would fit the 26 people that were there. So there were about four tents out back to house people as well. My mom and I slept in the tent, and my Dad slept on the porch.

Friday night we went to the rodeo :)

It was really fun! When the rodeo was almost over, someone behind the grand stands got pepper sprayed, and the pepper spray wafted into the stands... it was AWFUL. Overall the rodeo was amazing though.

Saturday we went to the parade, and when I came out my Mom was with a dog someone had asked her to hold! :) My Mom isn't exactly a "dog person", it was really cute.

 After the rodeo my Mom and I spent some time walking around the cute little town.

It was a really good, fun weekend with family we don't see enough! I totally want to go back next year.

hike | Glacier National Park- Lodge & road trip back

The last day at the park, Joe decided that he wanted to bike up To the Sun road, so we drove to get him a bike (you can only bike on the road before 11 and after 4, so he biked it after 4). I went to the lodge and looked around while he biked.

It was a really nice and relaxing day, and a perfect day to end the trip! :)

The next day, we drove back. It was such a pretty drive. We stopped at this lake which I thought was amazing.

There was a TON of construction. Which wasn't a huge deal...

 ...till I ran over a rock in a construction zone and my tire got shredded.

 The construction man that stopped to help us assured us that this happens ALL THE TIME. That did NOT make me feel better AT ALL.

Because I have all wheel drive I had to buy FOUR NEW TIRES. Can't even talk about it. I was NOT PLEASED.  Still, it's not the worst thing that I could happen....so all and all it was overall a GREAT trip!

oh & at the tire store, the guy asked "so are you the stereotypical useless girl who couldn't change a tire?" I was ashamed to admit that I was. 

hike | Glacier National Park- Shotgun Lake

I was super determined to hike to a lake, so the 3rd day we hiked to Shotgun Lake (13 miles). Just one mile in, we saw this cool waterfall-

And had these cool bridges. I love bridges like this ... I just think they're really cool. My Mom is also a really big fan of them so I think it runs in the family.

 ^ water is so clear...shoes are so dirty

A lot of the hiking was in trees, and it was much less crowded then the Highline Trail but then we would get to these beautiful clearings, which made it worth it.

 There were also a lot of streams to cross (with more cool bridges)-

And we finally got to the lake! It was beautiful! 

^ we ate lunch at the lake before heading back. There were some people that backpacked in & were staying the night, I was jealous. Next year, that will be me!

^ this was pretty typical of the hiking. This is around where I saw a bear!!! Joe was pretty far behind me, getting a drink or something, and RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME A BEAR RAN ACROSS THE TRAIL!!! I naturally did exactly what you're not supposed to do-ran back to Joe and loudly whispered "OMG THERE IS A BEAR!"  I then clapped (to make noise) the last three miles back to the trailhead. 

We got back pretty late (around 7), so that was it for the day. Such a good day hike!

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