28 August 2022

Gibson was bored last Sunday night so he drew this dragon wearing a kilt, a great send off for his and Brandan's trip to Scotland. Perhaps this dragon is a relative of the Loch Ness monster.

Becky dropped Brandan and Gibson off at the airport very early Monday morning. We'll catch up on their adventures later in this post.

After the sun came up, Becky and Helen hiked Mt. McLoughlin, the tallest mountain in Southern Oregon with an elevation of 9493 feet. Mt. McLoughlin is a dormant volcano and its distinctive cone shape is visible from our neighborhood. Gibson summited the mountain during Aaronic Priesthood camp and Helen wanted to do it again. Becky is always interested in hiking and happy to come along. The lower part of the mountain is covered with beautiful forests.

The upper part of the mountain is bare. The last half mile or so is a scramble across loose rocks.

Helen made it to the top first.

The views from the top are amazing with 360 degree views.

On our way back down we saw two peregrine falcons flying together. This is a photo of one of them. It felt amazing to be eye level with the soaring birds.

When we got home, we took our shoes off outside because our shoes were so dusty. Our feet were almost as dirty as our shoes. It was a tough, amazing hike and fun to spend the day together.

The pear harvest started on Tuesday, a couple of weeks later than usual. Helen and Becky have gone pear picking a few times this week. The pear farm was worried about not having many pears this year, but late spring rains and continued good weather means the harvest will be just about normal.

Becky spent a lot of time this week getting ready for school to start. She'll start working officially next week. This week she spent planning and attending meetings for the new teachers in her school and district. We have 8 new teachers and a new principal in our school. The eye on the left belongs to our principal, Jen. From the left are Joely (digital arts), Lena (language arts), Maureen (language arts), Nikala (visual arts/photography), Caitlin (math), Becky (math) and Jordyn (science). Ana, the new Spanish teacher, is not in the photo. Exciting times!

Meanwhile, Gibson and Brandan were working their way toward Scotland. Due to a series of unfortunate events, they missed their connecting flight from JFK to Edinburgh. The airline booked them for a flight Tuesday night and gave them hotel room for Monday night. This meant Brandan and Gibson had an unplanned day in New York City. They took the subway to downtown Manhattan.

Here's a photo of them on the subway. Their luggage was all still checked in at the airport so they wore the same clothes for a couple of days.

Here they are at Times Square.

And at the 9/11 memorial marking the place where the Twin Towers once stood.

They arrived in Edinburgh Wednesday morning. This is a photo of the Royal Mile. We will have to wait for them to fill in all the details when they get back. For now we can enjoy their photos.

Gibson is not driving through Scotland, but it looks like it with the driver's side on the right side of the car.

This is Eilean Donan castle.

Afternoon "tea"-- hot chocolate and scones.

A bagpiper.

Loch Ness

Another photo of Loch Ness-- so beautiful!

Brandan and Gibson attended a Highland Games event near Inverness. Highland games include events such as caber toss (a caber is a log), hammer throw, tug of war and shifting stones.

Brandan's Morrison ancestors are originally from the Scottish Highlands. In modern times, there is a grocery chain called Morrisons. Brandan and Gibson have another week to enjoy more adventures!

21 Aug 2022

 The first three photos are from last weekend. Helen and Sofi went to Delta, Utah with Emma and her family. Emma's family owns a house on the edge of the Gunnison Bend Reservoir. This is a photo of Helen jumping off the dock.

This is Helen and Emma in the reservoir.

And here are Sofi and Helen at the end of the dock. They had a great time celebrating Emma's birthday, jet skiing and wake boarding.

Gibson made a batch of snickerdoodles on Saturday morning.

14 August 2022

 We said goodbye to Sofi and Nate Sunday afternoon. Sofi flew back to Utah and Nate went home to Seattle. We loved having them visit, even though the time flew by way too fast.

On Wednesday, Gibson left for Aaronic Priesthood camp and spent 4 days at Lake of the Woods.

Helen left a few hours after Gibson, heading to Utah to spend 5 days with Sofi.

Wednesday continued to be eventful as Brandan tested positive for covid and started isolating. He's experienced cold-like symptoms and has continued to attend meetings and see patients virtually.

Sofi took Helen to the Melting Pot, one of her favorite restaurants.

Helen had two college tours scheduled in Utah. The first was at the University of Utah.

The second was at BYU. We're interested to learn what she thought of both.

Here's Sofi repping the U at the Y.

Becky had big news this week as well. She accepted a full time position teaching math at Crater High School. She still has a year of school left in her Masters' program and other requirements to finish before receiving a teaching license, but the teaching shortage is severe. It's going to be a crazy year trying to teach full time while attending school full time and maintaining some kind of family life.

This is a photo of Becky's classroom, desperately in need of cleaning and organizing before the first day of school. If being a first year teacher on a restricted license weren't enough of a challenge, the school only has one other math teacher, also beginning her first year of teaching. The school doesn't have an adopted curriculum, and since all of the other math teachers quit or retired, we have to decide what to teach and how to teach it. School starts in 3 weeks. The school is being remodeled, which is great, but it also means there is no air conditioning or running water in the first floor. With delays and supply chain issues, it looks like the water will be turned back on in October. The construction is expected to last another year. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the temperature of the room is roughly the same as the surface of the sun. Bring it on!

Gibson came home from camp on Saturday morning. He had a great time. Highlights of the week include summiting Mt. McLoughlin, being on the winning triathlon team, playing volleyball for hours and spending time with friends.

And, apparently, dressing like a Russian grandmother, as this photo taken at camp shows. From the left are Ed, Cason, Gib and Levi.

Gib spent Saturday afternoon at Ed's house where they shucked a mountain of corn for Ed's family.

Becky's mom was transferred from the hospital to a rehab center/skilled nursing facility. She's improving from her surgery, but has lost a lot of strength in the hospital. She has physical therapy twice a day to help her regain the ability to walk. Annette has taken extraordinary care of her since she was admitted to the hospital.

7 August 2022

Sofi came to visit us this week! She worked from home during the day and then we hung out together in the evening. Sofi, Brandan and Becky went to the temple on Tuesday night.

Sofi and Becky got pedicures Thursday night and Helen got a manicure. Here's a photo of Becky and Sofi's toes.

Sofi played video games with Gibson.

We saw this photo of Abe with his zone during zone conference on Facebook this week. We're looking forward to talking to Abe and finding out about their boat trip.

The main reason Sofi came to visit was to attend her friend, Carson's, wedding on Friday. Nate came to visit Thursday night and stayed the weekend with us. From the left are Nate, Sofi, Carson, Emma, Helen and Gibson.

We rafted the Rogue River on Saturday. It was a pretty relaxed trip with a cooler full of cherries, a few rapids, a big water fight with a raft full of 9 year old pirates, Helen jumping into the water to swim and Becky getting dumped in the water on accident. In other words, a pretty typical day on the water.

In the evening we went to see The Tempest at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. OSF its still very concerned with covid. They had to close for a week last month because too many of their actors had covid to stay open.

Here's a photo after the show. The Tempest is a contemplative play, with reflections on injustice and revenge, that ends with redemption for everyone.