Palmer Family Blog

The Mountain Home

So my parents own a cabin/acreage down near Cardston which they call "The Mountain Home". It always seemed so nerdy and cheesy to me, but I've grown very used to saying it now. Anyway, the reason they call it the Mountain Home is because it's right by Old Chief Mountain. You have a great view of it from the back of the house. Therefore, it's the mountain home. My parents practically live there, and their home in Calgary is a weekend home. They've been doing major renovations down there, expanding the kitchen and living area so that all of our families can very comfortably be down there at the same time. It's almost done and I must say, it is amazing!!! And my dad did it all by himself. He used to build houses back in the day, and he certainly hasn't lost his talent! We went down there for the long weekend and we had such a fun, busy weekend! Katie & Rob and their kids were there, Jonathan, Mandi & Brooklyn, Jeffrey, Jacey & I went, my parents were there and even my Uncle Ken was there. He lives in Australia, but recently came to Canada for the first time in 25 years I think? for his mother's (my paternal grandma's) funeral. I've never met him before. It was fun to see all the "Draper" in him that I see in my dad and grandma.

We went down Friday night and got there just in time to play a mean game of Star Wars monopoly with my nephew, Jordan. He's a huge Star Wars fan, and loves that his uncles will indulge him. I got suckered into playing too and thankfully lost rather quickly so I could do something else! Saturday we went to this water hole under a bridge where there's a rope to swing from. There were lots of other families there as it was a hot day. I decided that kids are MUCH braver than adults. I swear all the kids swung from the rope several times before I had the guts too. For one thing, the water was cold, there was an otter in it, and the rope was kind of high for me, and you had to swing down from all these jagged rocks. I'm just trying to justify my fear. It probably wasn't that bad. It was fun though, I swam around pushing my nephew in his floaty for quite a while, I got out just in time to find out that my brother found a snake in the water and caught it. Good thing I didn't know about the snake or I would never have gone in!

Jordan was the bravest of all the kids, he LOVES the water!

Sunday we went to Waterton. Holy Cow!!! There were SOO many people at church! People were standing outside waiting to get it. Lots of people left. We managed to squeeze in upstairs in the little primary room where I sat on the floor with Jacey. We listened to church only, there was no video. After church, we had a picnic by Cameron Falls, then walked up the path to get a better view. I'm such a wuss. I about died carrying Jacey and it was only about 10 minutes. It was straight uphill though. In my defense.

Monday, I went horseback riding with my mom and dad. It was very fun, but my body is so sore! It was downhill for the first part and it was so hard on my knees and butt! Even my sides hurt from bouncing from side to side. I didn't know if I was going to last with my broken tailbone, but I was okay. There was one point where we went through a gate that said no trespassing. My dad said it would be fine. But 3 minutes into it, we found a pack of about 10-15 horses. And they started running towards us. We quickly turned around and then my dad told me I better get ahead of him and my mom, cause my horse was in heat and if there were any stallions, I was in trouble. Fabulous! Needless to say, I was scared out of my mind. My mom bravely stopped her horse and didn't let any of the other horses pass her until we were safely on the other side of the gate. Next time...we won't trespass. Jeffrey got to go horseback riding after us with my dad and Jonathan. Then all the kids took turns with my dad or mom walking around the property. They all love the horses so much!! This was the first time that we really showed Jacey the horses and he loved them!!! My mom carried him right up to their noses and helped him pet them. He was so excited!! I love that he will get to grow up with them and learn to ride them when he's little! It's so fun!

Alexa's first horse ride!

Carter has the cutest grin ever!!

Well, that was our weekend. We drove home Monday evening and that was that. I haven't been down there for a while because of the renovations, so I was so happy to have gone! It's so much fun and there is always so much to do!! We're going to Cardston again this weekend, but for a Cameron family reunion. (Cyndi's side of the family). I'm really excited for that! It should be a lot of fun!!