September

September was spent breaking into our Gridley life. We played with cousins a lot...

I started working with my Cub scouts...

and Ezra got more brave and would swim in the pool by himself, and jump to Daddy.

 

I thought it was great when Ezra came down the hall with these stickers on him.

He put the hair sticker by his hair, the shirt on his shirt, the shorts on his shorts,

and shoes on his feet!

 We made Ezra this train track with his tracks and Grandma's tracks combined!

We also had great FHE at the temple with the whole family that lives around (minus the grandparents). Bob gave a wonderful lesson and the food, company, and view were great! Thanks to Rachel for taking over the photography responsibilities.

Graduation Party

We had a graduation party for Bob. To show our thanks for the education Bob has received we made school kits for the church Humanitarian Program. We got all of our family involved and I think it went over well. We are just so glad that Bob is done. He still wasn't working at this part thanks to little lame mistakes on paperwork (not done by Bob but his school and the sheriff's office) but thankfully he is working now!

We were in charge of the bags, and I made Bob help me sew them!

I love rice krispies and Bob made this one nice and festive!

We threw in a little August birthday party too. 

All the family was there, even Great Grandpa Bowling and the Oregon Bowlings.

Unfortunately the LA McDowells bishop died unexpectedly so Craig had to run the ward.

We missed them, but luckily they got to come visit a little bit later.

Aren't those bags stylish. I hope the kids like them.

That bag on top was by far the craziest. Hopefully some child will think it is awsome!

Pit stop with the VanDusens!

Once I was finally completely done with school (thanks to Henry, the Cargills and the Pritchetts for getting me through my last few weeks in Boston), I met up with EmmaLee and Ezra in St. George.   On our drive to finally settle in Gridley we stopped to meet up with our friends. They happened to be visiting their grandma who lives at the perfect halfway point for the trip!  She owns the Double Eagle Resort at June Lake in the Mammoth Lakes region.  She has an awesome cabin that the Van Dusens were staying at that totally had room for us and other family that was visiting (with still more room to spare).  As you will see it's in an awesome place and it was a joyous reunion for Emily and Ezra.

They almost tackled each other when they hugged when we first got there.

We went hiking to see some cool waterfalls.

Apparently they had record precipitation this year because this waterfall doesn't usually exist.

Sorry we were too frustrated with the internet here to re-post with the proper orientation.

Lyla was already looking too grown up after just a few months.

We really wish we could have stayed there for a week.  There would have been plenty for us to do, but we were happy to be on our way to Gridley!

Utah in July part II

The last week of our trip was much more exciting than the first 4 weeks. Four days before my youngest brother Josh's wedding my dad got in an accident. We had been at an FHE with some of my cousins and their families at Gunlock reservoir and afterwards my Dad and brother headed up to Enterprise to drop off my Dad's motorcycle for new tires, or some kind of repair. On the last stretch just before you come into town my Dad hit a deer. Luckily my brother was following him and was able to call 911, stop traffic, and let us know what was going on. It was definitely scary, but in the end my Dad spent one night in the hospital and came home with a broken collar bone, 5 broken ribs and lots of road rash. They said that if he had not had on his helmet he would have died. I saw the helmet and I am pretty sure they are right. So fortunately for us all he was able to go to the wedding. My mom and I took care of his dressing changes, helping him eat, and helping him get around. I took the night shift the night before the wedding, so by the time the reception was over my Mom, Dad and I were exhausted. Luckily my sister took Ezra off my hands so we were able to get some sleep. Thanks Jamie and Tony! Ezra was sad that Grandpa couldn't play because he had "really big owies" but luckily we had already been there a while. Bob got stuck at school and missed the wedding by 3 days, but it was a beautiful wedding and we are happy to have Samantha as part of our family.

I believe that point of impact was where you see the truck parked in the background. 

The deer ended up here, my dad was a little farther, and the bike was even farther.

Luckily he hit the deer right in it's belly because that is the softest part.

Unfortunately that meant my dad was plastered literally with blood and guts.

Notice the intestines on the side. Sorry if it is too graphic for you.

Here is his bike covered in blood. We were amazed it wasn't more damaged.

My dads helmet looked a lot like this except with more deer poop on it and a big chunk scraped off it.

The tail light and handlebar both look like this on the side that slid on the ground.

It broke out a blinker light and his rear view mirror and 

scraped some spots but all inall it is still in working condition.

 We could have had some pretty good family pictures if Bob had been there.

Dang that BU!

 It was super hot and my Mom was on the verge of passing out so 

here ended the family pictures at the temple!

 I promise that Josh is slightly taller than me but I was wearing heels

and Jamie has on even taller ones.

 I feel like cute little Sam makes us look like a family of giants!

Clearly these happened first but I am too lazy to change up the order.