23 August 2015 - Back to School

We've been taking advantage of lots of baby holding time since we got here.

Our house finally has a foundation! No walls yet, but hey, it's a start.

You may notice in the picture above that Madeline's arm looks like it has a cast on it. It's actually not a cast, it's a bandage. I didn't get any pictures of the incident, but her bandage is covering some elbow road rash she got when we hit a deer on my motorcyle on Thursday. We were going to Aunt Tiffany's house in West Jordan for Madeline and Meghan to have a sleepover before the school year started. We were almost there, just about in front of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple on Bangerter Highway when a large buck jumped into traffic and eventually right into our path. I had gotten the bike slowed down but was unable to avoid hitting the deer. We were very blessed to not crash, but just as I was about to get the bike stopped, the deer rolled under my front wheel and I had to lay the bike on its right side. Both Madeline and I had scraped elbows, hers was worse than mine, but we otherwise survived without much damage. I can't say the same for the bike, which may or may not be salvageable, but in the grand scheme of things, that is not what matters. We definitely had guardian angels around us that evening. I was in too much shock to think to take pictures of the motorcycle laying on the dead deer, so I can only immortalize the event by describing it. I'm just glad everyone was OK. After getting checked out in the ambulance, we were able to continue on to Tiffany's house so the sleepover could still happen.

The ever-serious new driver on her way to her first day of school.

All three girls are attending Freedom Preparatory Academy in Provo this year.

Madeline is in 6th grade this year.

Emily is starting 8th grade.

Our cousin Hannah is starting school as well. She arrived this week from Virginia to start at BYU. On Saturday we had a cookout at Canyon Glen in Provo Canyon, and the girls cooled their heels in the Provo River.

Summer may be winding down, school may be starting up, but we're not done having fun yet.