Keith & Kelly's family flew in to Calgary on Saturday. Yay! They realized awhile back that Jaclyn's farewell would coincide with Arizona spring break and made travel plans. Even better: the stake baptism date for Dirk & Marie's daughter fell the night before Jaclyn's farewell, so we were all together for that as well!
We didn't plan a family picture, but as we were sitting in the chapel at the baptism I realized this was an opportunity that might not come for a long time. Luckily, Marie's very talented friend, Nichole, was there with her camera and made the best of the situation for us.
(This picture would be even better if we were all way-in to basketball.)
Jaclyn's farewell was awesome. Here is her talk. She spoke about prayer, and as much as I appreciated the content of her talk, what I really enjoyed was the tender, open-hearted way she delivered it.
By pure serendipity our ward choir performed Heavenly Father Loves Me with Chloe singing the first verse as a solo which was special. Jaclyn took it really easy on me for the family dinner and open house - she asked for ham, rolls, fruit & vegetable trays, and chocolate sheet cake (which plenty of other people contributed). Once things settled down around our house we made plans for the next day with our snow-deprived relatives.
We came up with the coldest picnic I've ever been on in Banff National Park (or anywhere else),
Followed by the most picturesque tobogganing I've ever seen (behind Banff Springs Hotel).
Brynlee
Chloe & Emerson
Jaclyn & Emerson
Snow-Angels: Phoebe and Emerson
Avery
Monte isn't new to sledding, and he certainly seems to have the uphill part all figured out.
With Keith there, and bigger kids, I didn't retrieve a single sled which was a totally different experience than I've had in the past.
Next we went shopping and out for ice cream on Banff Ave, then we warmed up in the hot springs.
Here's Keith in his rented 'traditional' swim suit. All great comedians know when to abandon dignity for a laugh, right?
We ended our day with dinner at Balkan the Greek Restaurant, said goodbye to Ortensia and her kids who were heading back to Edmonton, and made our way back to Calgary to Steven and Ken who couldn't miss school and work on Monday.
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And Carmen got her certificate for advancing to Mia Maids. It was an Olson filled Sacrament Mtg.
Wonderful weekend!
I think the family photo turned out great!! What a blessing to have so many of you there for the baptism and the farewell. (By the way, I still don't know where Jaclyn will be serving...how did I miss that?)
It was such a great weekend all around. So many special and wonderful moments for the family to share. It was great to be all together.
Banff looked beautiful. I want to buy a traditional suit for Dirk. Loved that.
Love! What a great opportunity to get the family together and in such a pretty place. I love the toboggans and the traditional swim suit:) Good luck to your beautiful daughter. She is going to be wonderful.
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