We blessed Lily while we were in Colorado, which was in July. We were grateful that my parents and my brother David (who just got home from his mission!) could come down to Tim's parents' and both sides of the family could be a part of Lily's special day!
It was pretty funny when my parents and David got to the Chartrand home (it was their first time there, and they happened to come during an exciting day in the country). A bear had been lurking around the property for the past few days and gotten a hold of most of the chickens. So a ranger had come out and set up a big bear trap, complete with a deer heart covered in chocolate syrup. Well, the bear took the bait and got trapped just before my parents arrived. Imagine my dad's shock when they were greeted inside with, "We're on our way to see a bear that we just caught! Do you want to come with us?" My dad opted to stay inside, although he still didn't quite feel safe, especially when he asked, "You lock your doors, right?" and we all burst out laughing. Tim's mom's reply was, "We keep MOST of the doors CLOSED, except for the mud room!" I'm sure it didn't help when she told him that she had seen a bear on their porch a few days ago trying to open the front door. Anyway, when all the excitement had settled down and people needed to use the bathroom, we had to inform my family that there was NO WATER, so we needed to keep track of which toilets had already been flushed once, and we had to use storage water jugs to wash our hands. Tim's dad is the one who built their beautiful home, along with their own well, and it had been acting up for the last couple days. On top of that, when Tim's dad finally made it home, he was covered in spackle from head to toe, having just finished spackling his mom's house. I could tell that Tim's mom felt bad, but everyone was having fun, and it made for an exciting weekend! It made me realize how much of a part of Tim's family I feel now, and how much we love them, as well as my own family, as different as both sides are. We had a lot of fun spending time with our families, and we were so glad that we had our families there when we blessed Lily.
