6 August 2023

On Sunday we had our last video call with Abe while he was on his mission. Talking to Abe was a huge highlight of our week since he left after completing his home MTC in 2021. Hooray for technology!

 

On Monday morning Helen got her wisdom teeth removed. She had two difficult extractions and spent the week recovering.

With Helen out of action and Ed out of town, Gibson was missing his two best buddies to hang out with. He came to school with Becky one day to assemble a standing desk for Becky. She's keeping her regular desk for a work surface, but wanted a standing desk for her laptop.

Gibson also put most of a 1000 piece puzzle together. We started the puzzle a few weeks ago and had finished little more than the outside frame. Gibson worked for hours to finish the rest.

Here's a photo of the completed puzzle.

Sofi and Nate drove down from Wenatchee late Thursday night. Sofi didn't felt well after they arrived, but Nate spent Friday with us exploring the Applegate. We hiked to the Bigfoot Trap since Nate hadn't seen it before. The trap was built in 1974 by the North American Wildlife Research Team after a man who lived near the Applegate River claimed he found 18 inch footprints in his garden. The NAWRT got a permit from the US Forest Service to build the trap and they operated it for 6 years, baiting it with deer carcasses. They only caught bears. Today the trap is bolted open for safety and is a popular hiking destination. Becky particularly loves it for its weirdness, although maybe she judged the NAWRT too quickly. We saw clear evidence that Bigfoot had recently visited the trap as "Bigfoot was here" was spray painted on the side of the trap.

After the hike we went to Applegate Lake. Gib threw a giant log into the lake like a caber.

Gibson, Nate and Helen swam and paddle boarded in the lake.

Meanwhile, Abe started out his 30 hour Friday by flying from Busan, South Korea to Seoul, to Seattle and then to Medford. We met him at the Medford airport at 11 pm. Here's a sign that Sofi, Nate, Helen and Gibson made to work all of Abe's name into a pun.

And just like that, Abe was back!

A large group of friends came to the airport to welcome him home. From the left are Mary, Seth, Noah, Jason, Sarah, Angela, Nate, Malakai, Spencer, Julian, Gibson, Sawyer, Gabe, Scott, Brandan, Jared, Abe, Spencer, Becky, Luke, Helen, Justin, Sofi, Brant, Kristi, Chase, Grace, Emma and Estelle.

Six friends left in 2021 for 4 different countries on 3 continents. Abe is the third to return home. Malakai and Spencer met Abe at the airport with a welcome home sign written in Japanese, Korean and Mandarin, the languages they learned on their missions. Camden and Jake will be the next to return and Ashton is the last. All 6 will be roommates at BYU Provo this fall.

We brought flat Abe along to welcome three-dimensional Abe. 

On Saturday we drove up to Mt. Ashland to play disc golf. We stopped to play a little corn hole on our way to the disc golf course. Our little ski hill is putting more effort into becoming a 4 season destination.

The course is off to the side of the bunny slope. This is a gentle incline as far as ski runs are classified, but the slope made playing disc golf more challenging.

Here's an action shot of Abe.

And here's one of Gibson. It was a gorgeous day to be on the mountain with blue skies and about 20 degrees cooler than in the valley.

An ice cream shop opened in our neighborhood this weekend, just in time for Abe. We stopped for a treat on our way home.