Alberta is like that fairytale land you'd think was too enchanting to actually exist.  From the mist-blanketed mountains to the virgin forests so pure that one breath can cleanse your mind of the tumbling vanities of our modern world, this part of Canada reminded me just how beautiful our mother earth is.  
 Last year when we helped move our grandparents down from Salt Lake, we discovered a projector and dozens of picture slides dating back to the fifties.  One of the sets showed my grandma young and smiling with her cute vintage fashion-- and a stunning emerald lake behind her.  Turns out this was Lake Louise, and my jaw dropped the very second I set my eyes on it.
 In Banff we walked through a highly sulfur-scented tunnel and saw an sacred Native American hot spring shimmering below the cavern's stalactite.  
Some of the small Canadian towns reminded us a lot of the ski towns in Utah and Colorado.  Mom was super excited because, as it turns out, the candies we discovered in Spain are actually called livewires and are popular in Canada. 
We also stayed in a hotel next to the Olympic stadium, complete with a fabulous water
slide that we couldn't help but go down over and over again in the ten minutes before the pool/hot tub closed.  The three younger kids were so ecstatic to relax in the room that they offered to stay back with a cheap Wendy's meal while us older people ate at a fancier restaurant.
 I told them they shouldn't feed the wild animals knock-off Cheeto puffs, but they couldn't resist the urge to bribe furry critters into their laps.  We saw lots of animals including moose, bison, bighorn sheep, and antelopes, but no bears-- to my strange family's disappointment {not mine}.  One night while camping Adam YouTubed a video of a bear growl, played it right outside the window and made Sophie cry.

 The only time I had ever been to Canada was as a toddler visiting Niagara Falls. This time we started off by climbing two suspension bridges-- one over a botanical garden and another over a river with a waterfall.  My siblings thought it was hilarious to run over them as fast as possible.  My mom, on the other hand?  She rubbed her hands raw by clinging for her life to the rails.
I absolutely love Vancouver with its gleaming skyscrapers and boats and maple leaves and random steam-spewing grandfather clocks.  Rachel is obsessed with sushi, so this heavily-Asian community was basically heaven for her.

Sunday morning when we were driving to church, Dad blew through a red light.  I chastised him, but a few minutes later as he slowed while turning left into the parking lot, suddenly the car wouldn't stop.  It took a moment and he was forced to reverse in the turning lane in order to make it.  As it turned out, brake fluid was gushing from the vehicle, and had he not run the light, he would've rolled into the intersection! To make matters worse, the church was locked and completely empty.  Apparently today was stake conference. Luckily a member of the bishopric happened to stop by and, after taking us to conference, rounded up a bunch of people to chauffeur us, feed us lunch, and fix our car. Basically if you combine Mormonism with Canadianism you get the kindest people in the world.  Although it was Sunday, these mechanics were clambering over each other to make repairs {our caliper had shattered!} and refused to take payment for the labor.  They also couldn't believe how the Lord had protected us-- the days before we had been driving on thin, windy, cliff-drop roads and we'd be doing the same tomorrow.  If the brakes had gone out any of those times....  I'll just leave the rest of that sentence to your imagination.
 Heading east we fell head-over-heels in love with the Kangaroo Creek Farm.  Established in the 80's as a sanctuary for the sweet marsupials about to be killed in New Zealand, the farm now thrives with kangaroos, capybaras, emus, goats, tail-wagging pigs, booty-shaking ducks, peacocks, sugar-gliders, etc.
Baby MaiMai is a baby albino.  One of the other I held had only been out of his mommy's pouch for 5 days!
{capybara}

{baby emus}

Soon after this pic, the bird pooped in Sophie's hair.
Soon after this pic, a clump of Liv's hair fell out.
 Soon after this pic, the emu bit my mom's ear.