James' cousin was lost at sea in October and so on Tuesday we went to his memorial service in Montana. It was James, Sierra, Tom, Brady & I. We left for Montana on Monday at 3am. It was a long drive but we kind of took our time. We had to drive down to Tacoma to pick up Tom so we ended up in Helena, Montana around 4:40pm local time (3:40pm Washington time). We actually didnt run into much snow on the way there. It was completely dry until we got half way into Idaho and after that it was mainly snow on the side of the road. It snowed for a little while but melted before it even hit the ground. Helena had a little bit of snow but it was mainly icey. Lots & lots of ice in the Hotel parking lot. About 10 minutes after we arrived my father in law arrived. Sierra was super excited to see him. We brought our bags into our hotel rooms and then left to eat dinner. We had a heck of a time trying to find somewhere to eat. Helena is pretty small for being the capital of Montana. And all the roads are one way and they have like 5 way intersections and stuff.. very confusing. We ended at some no name pizza joint which was REALLY good. After dinner we went to James' cousins Christmas choir recital. After that we went back to his aunts house. It was nice to meet some of the family i'd never met. My father in laws Aunt was there too. We found out she actually lives pretty close to us. We hung around there for a little. After that we went back to the hotel. We were pretty tired. The next morning everyone woke up and went to breakfast. It was pretty good. After that we drove to James' aunts house again and sat around and chit chated until it was time to go to the church. The memorial service was very emotional. I wish I would have had the pleasure of meeting James' cousin. He was very well loved. Sierra started crying when a lady came up and sang "what a wonderful world". After the service we went downstairs for a reception type thing. Sierra started crying again and so my father in law came up to her, kneeled down and gave her a big hug. It was so cute. When it was time to leave we offered up our trailblazer for the left overs that needed to be transported. James' uncle told me to move it to the loading area which was right off of the parking lot. I got into the car and started driving down the hill to get into the loading area. I get about a foot down and begin sliding on the ice. I ended u sliding past the loading area so he just had me stop there, put my emergency break on & put it into park. So I do that and James opens the back and I begin sliding again! I ended up having to keep my foot on the break too. As soon as James closed the back of the truck I began sliding again! It was scary but I did a good job, lol. After that we went back to his Aunts house. We hung around there for a while and at 6pm we left for Washington. The trip back was pretty uneventful. A little bit of snow but not too much. We got back at 3:30am. We were super tired. James had to leave for work at 5:30 am. Sierra went back to school on Wednesday... but she went in late.
Tonight is James' ships Christmas party. In a little I have to get all the door prizes ready to go. I hope we win something!!
This was a store in Montana which had like 500 signs along the freeway
Snow...
Almost there!!
Sierra & papa
The goobers
at breakfast
After the service we all changed into more comfy clothes
Brady doing Magic
If you want to see more pics I have more on my webshots page. The link is on the right of my blog.
