A Picture Book of our Trip to Pick Up Spencer in Canada!

Here we go, headed to Canada to pick up our youngest son, Spencer, from his two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We have never really been to Canada, because I am pretty sure the north side of Niagra falls doesn't really count.  We were looking forward to enjoying time with 'Elder Perkins' and getting to know some of the people he had worked with and had learned to love.

Our party included my husband Scott, myself, our daughters Darby (with the book) and Becca (asleep) with her son Titan, who would turn one while we were on the trip.  The trip took two days, and we booked into our hotel on Thursday night.  On Friday Scott and the girls went to pick him up and bring him back to the hotel.

And who do you suppose he was the most excited to see?  Or should I say 'meet'.  Spencer had four nieces and nephews born while he was on his mission.  Three of them are now turning one, the fun age, and Spencer plans to  be every one's favorite uncle.  If the friendship he developed with Titan on the trip is any indicator, he is well on his way to his goal.

And now we shall LET THE VISITING BEGIN.

Our fist stop was to meet Gel, a teenage investigator that Elder Perkins and his companions have been teaching.

Next we went to meet three generations of lovely ladies he had  been teaching as well. Tami is the Mom and her daughter is Brittany, her granddaughter is Emma.   Of course its Halloween time, and costumes are involved.  Do you like Elder Perkins new look?  Also, don't overlook the 'witch kiss' detail.

At Wilma's house it was birthday party time.  I loved the Halloween decor outside!! Because this was her son Joseph's birthday party, there were lots of goodies including 'sticky rice' which is a purple rice pudding, Yum!!  It was also fun to meet their friends, including Joy who also comes from the Philippines, and speaks the same regional dialect.  Wilma and two of her three children are new members of the church, and it was fun to run into them at later church events.

The next morning it was off to do a session in the new Vancouver Temple.  Darby was nice enough to stay behind and babysit adorable Titan, thanks Darby!

We then enjoyed some down time at the hotel and lunch at IHOP where they had all you can eat pancakes.

More Visits took us to meet more wonderful people, this is Noel and Raquel and their daugther, Janna.  The women in this family were also recently baptized.

Next it was time for Trunk or Treat at the church house.  To the left is Becca with her baby elephant, Titan.   Spencer is shown here with his favorite Vampire (otherwise known as Noel), which was appropriate as we were listening to Breaking Dawn through out the trip in preparation for the coming movie.

More spooks and witches. The one second to the right is the scariest for me.  Any idea what it feels like to know that your baby is 21, definitely frightening.

 
 We met more wonderful members of the ward after moving inside for the food and dance portion of the event.  I was astonished at how welcoming and kind these people are.  I was also charmed by how they all interacted with each other with no reluctance due to age, gender, financial or marital situation or color.  It was a bit of heaven.  I am not surprised that Elder Perkins felt no desire to leave these people, neither would I.

Here we are after church on Sunday at a little going away bash presented by ward members for Elder Perkins and Elder Mueller who was also going home, and whose parents had come from Switzerland to pick him up as well.  Here they are with some of the ward youth.

And finally its time to say goodbye to his former companion, Elder Larsen, second to the right.  Nope not related, though he was also raised in Bountiful and even went to school with my niece back when she was Alicia Larsen.

 Last of all we had to visit a couple of Elder Perkins favorite haunts. including a visit to an 'All-You-Can-Eat' Sushi place.  (What is it with Elders and All-you-can-eat places?)  Here we see Becca feeding Titan with chop sticks
 And now you can see the remnants of ALL we could eat.  I promise, all those dishes ARE NOT MINE.  I am not a huge fan of sushi, but the food was great, with the best terriaki beef I have ever had.  Strangely they also had jello jigglers, and Titan snarfed down half of the 7 orders.  BTW jello jigglers and chops sticks work just fine. Last of all the view from the sushi place is of the Asian Mall where we shopped.  Great stuff, and lots of really amazingly dressed Asian women shoppers, just like those we saw in Japan two years ago when we picked up our daughter Emily from her mission there.


All in all it was a great trip.  After this last picture we drove four hours to Kelowna over a snowy mountain pass, but for some reason I never got out my camera again.  We met some amazing members there, and then picked up my friend Stacy who lives nearby and had been visiting with her mom there.  She drove back with us, including stopping to spend the night and visit with our daugter Brittany in Boise.  Britt was great hosting and feeding us on the way up and back.  We don't see her and her boys as much as we would like, so that was a treat too.  Of course it was especially great because Spencer got to see two of his nephews as well.  Thanks Britt.

We got home late Thursday afternoon, spent and ready for a vacation from our vacation .... I am still not up to speed. Thanks for coming along!!