Thorleys' Northern Exposure: We are in love with Calgary summers........

Wow, can you believe it; the temperature in Calgary climbed all the way to 84 degrees this week. That's for all you stateside people who are basking in the 100 degree plus heat. I can't say enough about how much are enjoying summertime here in Alberta. If we could figure out a way to have healthcare coverage in Canada, we would spend each and every summer here. Lovely!

I am writing this on Saturday evening from our timeshare in Canmore. We have had a wonderful weekend being out and about. We left the office a bit early, on Thursday. We first drove to Okotoks to see a missionary with a sprained ankle (fortunately, nothing appears to be broken). Afterward we had dinner in Okotoks and then continued on our way toward Canmore passing through some incredible meadows surrounded by aspen and pine. At one point we drove through a brief downpour and as we passed again into the sunlight, we looked back and could see a beautiful rainbow over the area we had just passed through. From there we drove on through occasional showers until we arrived at our destination in Canmore. I will include a picture taken last Spring of where we go. We are so fortunate to have this available to us so near by to enjoy.

WorldMark Timeshare in Canmore

As you can tell from our blog posts, we have a hard time staying away from the mountains. After a busy week in the office we love to head for the foothills or deep into the mountains and visit the branches and wards of the Church. Yes, we do stay busy in the office but we suspect you find it a bit boring when we tell you of things we do in the office as we have previously shared the work we do, so I will move on to our weekend activities, which we hope you find interesting. This weekend we are again in the Banff National Park and will go to the Banff Branch of the Church on Sunday. Banff is just a bit further into the Canadian Rockies from Canmore.

Mountains between Canmore and Banff

We had an enjoyable day sightseeing on Friday and did so again today.

View overlooking Banff City from Mt. Norquay

Today's adventures, however, were highlighted, not by amazing vistas, but by being able to watch our twin grandsons open their mission calls. This was done via live video on Facebook. Daughter, Tana, their mother, let us know that the envelopes had just arrived and of the plan to share the moment with family and friends. It was wonderful to be able to share in this great event. Ethan is going to the New York Rochester Mission and Jonah is going to the Los Angeles Mission, - great news, but here is the big surprise; they will both go to the MTC on October 5th where they will learn ASL and serve as ASL missionaries. They are not new to signing; having some background in ASL has obviously played a role in their selection to be ASL missionaries. For those who don't know, they have a teenage sister who is deaf, and they have two Down Syndrome little sisters who communicate best with signing. Dad, Curtis, is an audiologist and their mother is a speech therapist and are both trained in ASL Older brother, Joshua, is majoring in Audiology at BYU and signs, so ASL is already in Ethan's and Jonah's blood. If you would like to share in the opening of their mission calls, go to Tana Whicker's Facebook page and scroll backward until you come to the big event.

Later this afternoon we were able to meet with all five senior couples serving in our mission. We had a wonderful potluck dinner with them and a nice visit. I will share a picture of the group and the view from the back lawn of the Banff Branch building where we met.

From L to R; Elder & Sis. Thorley, Elder & Sis. Sonntag, Elder & Sis Peppinger, Elder & Sis Gardiner,
Sis. Shields (Elder Shields is the photographer and unfortunately not in the picture).

View to east from back lawn of Banff Branch Bulding

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Sunday additions:

Also of note this weekend, - my grandniece, Shelly McRoberts, took part in the Miss Teenage USA pageant held in Las Vegas. She is the reigning Miss Teenage Wyoming. While she didn't win the national title, I'm sure she is not thinking much about it as the uppermost thing on her mind is her approaching marriage happening this week on August 6th. She is also about to celebrate a birthday, sooooo, way to go Shelly; we are proud of you and the example you set in modest fashions worn at the pageant. If interested in her participation in the pageant, go to her Facebook page and see what a beautiful young lady she is. She represented Wyoming very well.

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We are back home now in Calgary. We got here just ahead of a downpour with some pea-sized hail mixed in, and lots of lightning and thunder. From our vantage point on the 12th floor, we love to see the thunderstorms roll in, do their thing, and move on. As we look into the distance toward the mountain, it looks like there is another storm bearing down on us as the one we just experienced moves on east.