Last week in America

Hey everyone!

I have been doing so many wonderful and exciting things in the last few weeks! My last week in America I went to Choteau where my friends Abby and Amanda live. While I was there we had some super lovely warm weather. During that week we went fishing, hiking, shooting and horseback riding!  We also went to Glacier National Park which was super fun :)

Abby took me gopher hunting my first day in Choteau :) it was kinda scary but really fun :P I spent most of the afternoon shooting with this 22 rifle. We just did it out of the trucks window so we could lean on the windows. It was rather fun :) 

I ended up hitting at least 3, maybe 4 gophers! It was kinda freaky and exciting all at once... gophers are kinda cute! But a pest on farms... :P So here are 2 of the gophers I shot! 

Abby looking all pro shooting :)

We both had a go of the pistol too but it was heaps harder to aim with and unbelievably loud!! It made my ears ring :P

Me, Amanda and Abby :)

This is where we went fishing. Isn't it beautiful?!?! We tried a few different spots but never caught anything 

Our trip to Glacier! Those are the mountains we were heading for... 

We went in Amanda's Mustang convertible!!! So so cool :) We had the top down for basically the whole day. It was such perfect weather for it! 

At one of the gift shops just outside the national park we found some amazing sunglasses and hats! :D 

Abby sat in the back the whole time and it was so windy and cold for her that she rugged up with her hoodie and the picnic blanket while Amanda and I were not cold at all in the front seat! :P 

This is the beautiful horse I rode! Her name was Socks... and she was really old and reliable. A good one for a first timer like me! :)

It was such fun!! We rode all around a friends property and had a blast! We rode for around 2 hours and were so sore the next day! :P Pretty worth it though :) It was super gorgeous as the sun set too 

Then I caught a train to Portland (it was 17 hours long and over night) where I hung out with a family friend Mary Lynn for a few days :) We went to the Northwest Trek which is a big zoo/wildife park. It was amazing and we saw some amazing animals!

At Northwest Trek we saw... mountain goats...

Elk...

Canada geese (plus babies!)

Bison, also with babies :) ...

Coyotes...

Bobcats!!! I was so excited to see the bobcats cos they were MSUs mascot...

Raccons :) they were so cute and playful... 

Wolverine... I didn't know they actually existed! :P This does not look like Hugh Jackman!! ...

Porcupine - such a funny looking thing... 

Beaver...

Skunks! - they kept moving so I couldn't get a super good photo of them... 

Bears!!! We saw 2 black bears and 2 grizzly bears :D it was rather exciting!! ...

This guy pulled down a tree. It was really amazing! 

We saw the grizzly bears up pretty close as they were eating 

We saw other animals like wolves, a lynx, river otters and a moose but we were too far away and they were too well hidden to get any photos :( It was an amazing place though!! So much fun :) 

I then caught a bus from Portland up to Canada!!! And now I'm here, back "home" in Surrey with my wonderful Canadian friends. I really love Canada and I'm loving meeting all my friends again. It's kinda weird because last time I saw them was 9 years ago when we were all 11 and now we are 20! I'm so glad we have just picked up right where we left off :) ...after catching up on half our lives!! :P

Reflections...

Hey lovely people :)

Guess what??? School's finished!!! (like 2 weeks ago :P) and now I'm about to leave Bozeman :(

I've decided I don't want to leave Bozeman though... I really like it here! And I have made some wonderful friends who I don't want to leave! It's got me thinking about what an amazing semester I have had here in Bozeman and all the things I have done and learnt and experienced. So I'm gonna tell ya'll what I've learnt and how I've grown and changed this semester!!! :)

Firstly, I have grown so so much in my walk with God. Having to trust Him for everything can do that to a person! :P I have loved going to Bible study and CrossLife and church every week and just learning so much about God. We've been doing a study on the characteristics of God in CrossLife and Bible study which has been AMAZING!!! This semester I have found myself praying so much more often and reading my Bible all the time! More than I ever used to :)

Something else I have learnt... sorta connected to the last one is that I have grown as a person. I have grown as a preservice teacher at MSU and learnt some amazing things that I can't wait to use in my own classroom one day :) And I've learnt that maybe God has more planned for me than I had planned for me! I really feel like He's been broadening my thoughts for the future and what I can do, which is super exciting! To see God lead me and change me and help me follow His will :)

Another thing I have discovered is that living somewhere and not just being a tourist is a wonderful thing until it's time to leave!!! I feel like I've left a bit of my heart here now... same as in Canada when we lived there... and I love it and hate it all at once! It's really cool that I have so many connections and friends and memories here now but it makes it so much harder to say goodbye and leave! Even if I am going home to see my family who I haven't seen in forever :)

As for my experiences and adventures... well you just gotta look back through my blog posts to see all the wonderful things I've been able to do here!!! ;) and it's not over yet! I'm about to head off on a big traveling trip ending in Canada for a month before I fly home!

But don't worry... I'll tell ya all about what I'm up to and keep you in the loop with photos and stories :) And hopefully I'll be back in Bozeman before ya know it! ;)

WILCOX'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess what?!?!?!?!? My family came to visit me this week!!!!! (almost all my family... my brother had to stay behind to go to uni...) We had the best week together :) I loved every moment and was so thankful they were able to come and visit me and see my life here! Meet all my friends and see my school and my church and everything that I've been doing for the last 4 months!

When they arrived on Tuesday it was snowing! Really heavily too... Sophie loved it :) We Skyped Hayden and were a whole family for a bit!...sorta... technology's great hey?!

We went to Yellowstone National Park on Thursday afternoon and stayed at an RV park just outside Yellowstone for 2 nights and explored Yellowstone. It was amazing and so beautiful and there was so much wildlife! And snow!! We figured out Sophie goes crazy in the snow ;P It was fun :)

We saw bison... 

...millions of bison!

And 3 moose!!! Mum was so excited :) it was pretty awesome!

Sophie loved the snow so so so so much! It was quite funny. Any patch of snow we went past she had to walk in and play in! She so cute :D 

The rest of the week was spent meeting up with all my friends and introducing everyone to my family! It was so lovely :)
We had dinner with Sarah Anne (who I went to Canada with) and her boyfriend one night.

I took my family to church on Sunday morning and then again on Sunday night for an Easter music concert which was AMAZING!!! There was a massive choir and they sang some amazing songs :) Afterwards we talked and laughed and joked around with Hilary (another of the girls I went to Canada with) and her fiancé Robert (whose car we took to Canada!) They were such fun :)

On Monday we had frozen yoghurt for lunch with my 3 best friends here in America :) From the left... Alyssa, me, Abby and Amanda. The 4 A's!!! We often have dinner together and go to Bible study and CrossLife together :) such beautiful Christian girls! 

And then on Monday night we had dinner with Lyndsay's Bozeman family!! (Lyndsay came to Bozeman 2 years ago and did an exchange just like me) From the left... Jay, Chad, Diane, me, Jenna and Nick! More super lovely people who made for a very fun night :) 

And then they left this morning (Tuesday). I'm so so thankful they could come though. And so glad they could meet my friends and see my life here and see where I live! Now I only have a week and a half left of school! :( kinda sad. But it'll be nice to just hang out and travel around about the place :)

Here are some photos of us, just in case you forgot, from our week :) 

The RV had a dog on the window... called Welly. He was pretty cool :)

Love you all! And happy belated Easter :)