The Mays in August

Back in August, my parents and sister came to visit for Caleb's baby blessing. Of course, we also took them for a bit of sightseeing and enjoyed spending time together.

Their visit also meant my dad got to meet his youngest grandson.

Basically as soon as he walked in the door, we introduced them, and the affection was immediate.

I love watching my dad spend time with his grandkids.

It's obvious he loves them, and they return that love. 

One of the places we headed was Banff National Park.

First we headed to our old standby hike, Johnston Canyon.

Easy enough for pregnant or recently post-partum mothers, grandparents, and toddlers, but gorgeous waterfall and view.

Craig desperately wanted to go in the cave that leads to the waterfall, but once we got there, the sound of it scared him and he wanted to go back. 

So we did. It was a beautiful day for it, and we had a nice picnic lunch following our hike.
Then we headed to Cave and Basin Historic Site, where I finally figured out what their special snails look like.

Calista and Craig love going there, even if it smells funny.

After the sulfur pools, we wandered Banff a bit, getting ice cream and beaver tails and chocolate. Finally we took everyone to try Kyler's favorite Banff restaurant, a Cajun place called Touloulou's. 

Oh man, so good! 

We also went to the dinosaur museum in Drumheller, though this adventure was without Kyler - somebody has to work sometimes!

Calista and Craig loved showing everyone all through the museum, and I appreciated having more adults than children around.

Kiddos even got a present from Grammie and Grandpa: a new dinosaur book!

The museum was definitely exhausting. On the way home, Calista and Craig both fell asleep.

Which was fine, since we still had another thing to do that day...

Watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics!

Loradona and I haven't watched olympics together for a long time, and we are obsessed, so we were super stoked to get to watch some together.

We ordered pizza (Kyler got one to himself) and began grading all the different countries on their outfits. Next time, we will have a standardized rubric, I swear! 

We're all a little obsessed with the Olympics.

And finally, we had the main event: Caleb's baby blessing at church.

He was awake for the whole thing, surrounded by friends and family. Kyler blessed Caleb to be a kind soul, with faith and trust in Heavenly Father, and resilience to his siblings - and sometimes, I definitely think he's going to need that resilience!

It was a beautiful blessing, and I am so grateful to have Kyler as the father of my children, and that he is a kind and good man. I wouldn't mind if our children take after him.

Calista got to go to primary with one of her cousins, Lily, and loved having her there.

After church, we headed back to our apartment for lunch, Olympics, and some ukulele duets.

It was great having family come to celebrate Caleb and spend time together.

I loved having my family come into town. Thank you for coming to visit us!