And it came to pass . . .

Another great road trip has come to an end.

Last night we met up with a good friend in Bozeman and chatted while we dined on some yummy Thai food.  Once again, Douglas attracted some attention, this time from two ladies who looked over at our table and said, "If you need someone to babysit while you eat, here are two grandmas who would love to hold the little guy."

We retired somewhat early for the night, but not before a bit of goofiness took place.

 This morning we attended church in Bozeman and then we drove down to Pocatello to visit with the Gunn family.  Good food, entertaining conversation, and a rousing game of Apples to Apples.  What an evening!

This is the ground we covered over the last couple of weeks.  

Approximate mileage:  4,500

Number of in-car diapers changed:

Daniel - 1

Sam - the rest of them

Thank you to all of you who contributed to making this trip a success.  Until next time!

Puttsy

I'll explain the title of this post below.

Big D and little d had some man time yesterday afternoon while Mommy attended the Cardston temple.  We relaxed on the temple grounds while trying to keep the cold breeze off us.

Little d took a nap.

We visited the Remington Carriage Museum.

Did you know that George Woolf, legendary rider of Seabiscuit, was born in Cardston?

Fay Wray, actress in the old King Kong movie, was also born in the Cardston area.  This fountain was built in her honor.

Upon completion of our second visit to Canada we drove south to spend the night in the Ben and Jana home, and I had a blast chatting with their three funny (and smart!) children.

Explanation of the title of this post:  I was talking to the kids while Douglas was jumping up and down on my leg.  I mentioned that I hoped Douglas wouldn't squirt out his diaper onto my leg.  Jackson, who was off to the side listening quietly and playing with his Legos, chimed in with a short story.  I'll paraphrase it for you: "One time I was sitting on my Dad's face and I puttsied on his face."  At the word, "puttsied," I laughed and flashed back to my own youth when we used that word in place of other words that refer to the release of toxic fumes from the posterior.  I couldn't believe it!  I hadn't heard that word in 20 years, maybe more.  So thank you, Jackson, for bringing back that humorous memory.  Now I want to know where that word originated.  In all my internet searching, I could find only one reference to the word: http://www.you-can-be-funny.com/Dictionary-Of-Todays-Words.html (scroll down to "puttsy").  When did the Hammond family start using it?  Where did the word come from?

I had my plans laid out perfectly.  We would stay with Jana and Co. Friday night and hang out with them Saturday morning, and then we would drive down to the Billings temple around noon on Saturday, because the temple is normally open all day on Saturdays.  However, Sam called the temple yesterday and found out that due to the Women's Conference scheduled for Saturday night, the temple would be closing after the 10:00AM session.  Oh no!  How could I come this far and not attend the Billings temple?  Sam, once again, was kind enough to sacrifice some sleep in order to help me fulfill my goal.  We drove away from Great Falls at 5:00AM this morning, tired, through a hard rainstorm, and made it before the temple closed for the day.

One of the temple workers recommended a good breakfast place for us (we were hungry!) in Billings.

And boy did we enjoy it!  That's the biggest pancake I've ever seen.

O Caaaanada, we're back!

 We drove through Glacier National Park this morning on our way to Cardston, Alberta, Canada.

 One of the temple workers at a temple we visited in the last couple of days said of the Cardston temple, "It's basically located in the lone and dreary wilderness."

 A new flag or two might be in order, no?

 I think I have a new favorite temple.  The Cardston temple is unlike any other that I've visited, both inside and out.

 Dad, have you been to this one?  If not, you've got to get up here.  Sam was kind enough to let me do a full session while she hung out with Douglas, and I was so impressed that we are going back tomorrow (Friday) so that Sam can do a session while D&d hang out.

 We drove another 2-3 hours north of Cardston to Calgary, arriving just in time for the sunset.

 Don't be fooled.  He's not laughing because of his daddy's weird faces.  He's laughing because he left a large, fresh poop stain on his mother's skirt shortly before this photo was taken.

 Calgary temple at night

One of his favorite positions

What does a vexillologist study?

Answer: Flags

That was the question of the day at the front desk of the Holiday Inn here in Kalispell, Montana.

Speaking of Holiday Inn, yesterday we showed up at the Holiday Inn in Richland, Washington, and I went in to ask if there were any rooms available for the night.  There was one left for $159.  I asked if they had a discount for military veterans.  They did.  The guy gave me the government rate: $89.

Today I called ahead to the Holiday Inn here in Kalispell to ask about room availability.  They had rooms available for $209.  Once again, I asked about a discount for military veterans.  They gave me the government rate again: $89.  I think I like Holiday Inn. :)

We were running low on diapers for Douglas, so I went to the store this morning to pick up enough to last us the rest of the trip.  I'm not sure which is worse: changing diapers, or buying them.  Sheesh.  Pretty expensive for something that is quickly soiled and discarded.  Douglas is worth it.  I feel for those with multiple children in diapers.  I suggested to Sam that we return to the days of the loin cloth.  For some reason, she doesn't like that idea.

 The Lord is kind to me when I want good photos.  This morning I arose with the sun and dashed over to the Columbia River (Washington) temple to get some sunrise photos.  When I arrived, I had approximately 10 minutes before the sun was eclipsed by the incoming clouds.

 Hey Dad, doesn't this temple look temple-of-Solomonish to you?  I really like the design.

We departed the Tri-Cities area and drove northeast to Spokane.  Along the way we decided to take a short detour.  After driving through miles of this . . . 

 . . . we came upon this: Palouse Falls

 Gorgeous (on the left) + Beautiful (on the right) = Heavenly

 Castle Rock

 How can anyone not believe in the Creator after seeing something like this?  One small example of His many amazing creations.

 "Dad, you woke me up for another temple photo?  Ugh."

Spokane Temple

You're going to do WHAT to my grapes?!

We bid adieu to Brian and Berni this morning, went over to the Vancouver temple for a quick visit, and then we headed back to the border.

The border guard asked if we had acquired anything in Canada.  Berni gave us some grapes and bananas to snack on during our drive, so I told the guard about the fruit.  He said we could keep the bananas, but the grapes would be confiscated, frozen to an ultra-cold temperature, and then incinerated along with other items banned from entering the U.S.  He also took the remainder of our California apples, because they were not labeled and therefore could not be proven to be worthy of re-entry into the United States of America.  Since he didn't ask if we had acquired anything else, I didn't tell him about the amazing honey and almond butter Brian gave us.  I'm not giving up the honey.  I shan't do it!

Then we drove back into Washington . . .

. . . and back to the shellhouse!

Finally got to see the original Husky Clipper.

 How many people can fall asleep holding their feet in the air?  Douglas......so talented.

 We made it to the Tri-Cities area where we stopped by a softball game to say hello to Aubrey, one of Sam's former roommates.  Driving through Richland, Sam and I agreed that we would put it on our list of potential places to live in the future.  Nice area.

 I love the Columbia River temple as well.

Douglas didn't want to go to sleep tonight.  He wanted to hang out with the big people.