Guest Blogger: Brothers Conference 2012

For the last 2 years, the Salmon Brothers have got together for a little reunion and bonding time.  This year the reunion, known as a conference, was held in and around Calgary.  We were joined by Paul Alvarez for a portion of the time and although Kyle Hoffman was invited, his schedule did not permit him to attend - next time.  Upon arrival we went to witness Dad in action at court in Drumheller.  Following that we made our way to the Hoodoo's. 

 Here we witnessed an old train bridge near an old mine location.  Although there was a no trespassing sign, we didn't feel the bridge was used too much, but we were careful because you never know who is watching.

A view of the Calgary Skyline with the new "Bow" building prominently displayed. The skyline has really changed over the years.

Scott was fortunate enough to bring his family along and we all got to spend some quality time hanging out with one niece and four nephews.

A hike near Lake Louise was just what we needed on a beautiful fall morning.  These are the sights I miss while living in NYC.

John often wants just a photo of himself at random times and in random locations, so here ya go.

Fairly scenic, don't you think?

Views from the top of Fairview Mountain.  It was great to climb and be outdoors and reminded us of the need to stay fit and be ready for our trip to Kilimanjaro (whenever that is) 

This is Scott on top of the world. (Well on top of Fairview Mountain).

And this is me, on top of the world.

Here we all are at the summit.  We had the goal to be off the summit by 2 PM, but we got delayed and left late however we made it out without injury and with only moments to spare (for our next appointment, that is).

I celebrated my 33rd Birthday while in Canada and although dearly missed my own kids, I was surrounded by many loved ones and had a delicious cake - thanks Sue Ann!

Here we are about to leave for another day of conference, to attend a tour of Tony Stevens Dry cleaning plant and meet with Jerry Pratt to discuss foreign currency trading and transactions.  All I can say is "dressed for success."

The Plant.  I hope I don't get in trouble for posting this picture of the state-of-the-art technology.  The tour was amazing and a lot of fun.  I think we asked more questions than Tony had time for.

Calgary downtown scenes while stopping in at the obligatory Peter's Drive-thru.

One of the highlights was being able to attend the Calgary, Canada Temple open house.  This is technically a picture from the back but it is what most people will see from the road.  It was a beautiful building and much larger than I had supposed.  It was dedicated a few short weeks after we attended (Oct. 21).

I didn't get many photo's of the Temple during the daylight and these last two were shot through a window of a moving vehicle, but at least it gives you a little taste of what it looks like.

We did a few other things for which I have no photos of, namely having many discussions and training sessions.  One of which was Paul teaching us how to draw and become creative in our drawings, specifically in drawing a princess for our our little girls.  We attended a Brazilian meat fest, movie and had BBQ cook off to name a few other things. All in all it was a great time. A heartfelt thanks goes out to our amazing wives for letting us get away and spend some time with just the boys. You women are the best!