Canada Trip 2016

Our Canada trip was pretty busy this year - mostly dedicated to Grandpa's 90th birthday bash and Dustin's wedding.

We didn't find time to go to Calaway Park, which the kids were really disappointed with, but we did find time to do a few other things.

Grandpa Allred and Grandma Irina treated the kids to ice cream at the play place.  It was great for the kids to have somewhere kid-friendly to burn energy while we visited.

We heard there was an amazing shoe sale at the mall so we took 9 kids...eek!  I ended up killing time on the rides with 9 kids while Genny shopped. 

Every time I go home, I'm re-amazed at just how flat it is!

This was my first visit home since Mom's funeral.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be but visiting the grave made everything fresh and raw again.  I have my moments but I am so unbelievably grateful for knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and the peace that comes with knowing that she is happy and with loved ones and it is only a matter of time before I see her again.

We took time to love on our newest nephew and first male addition to the Steed family, Bronson.

Cassy is a great aunt and always makes a point to take the kids on a special outing.  This time she took them to the new Jungle Book movie at the Movie Mill.  What a brave woman she is with all those kids!

Haha, Reed! What a ham!  These three made a lot of mischief and mess!

The night before we left Canada, we found out that Grandpa Allred was in the hospital in Raymond.  We decided to stop in and see him on our way home.  I'm SO glad that we took the time to do that, even though we had a long drive ahead of us because it was the last time we saw him, as I expected it would be.  Grandpa kept talking about how ready he was to move on from this life, that he had had a full life and had no regrets.  I thought that with an attitude like that, he wouldn't be here much longer. He passed away the day after Christmas, after being in and out of the hospital for months.  I'm so glad he was able to be active and alert right up until his passing.