Lucy's Broken Arm

Lucy and Carly are training a pony for Joan Moebis (Joe Saville). They have ridden him for a couple months, and Lucy had a good ride on him in the arena. They unsaddled him and Lucy got on bareback with a halter to ride through our yard to the back field. He must have been trying to keep up with the other horses because he took off and started bucking and then stopped hard and changed directions. That's when Lucy flew off and slid under the fence.

She started to get up and Austin could tell her arm was broken and told her to lay back down. He took her to the emergency room after he grabbed a popsicle and checked the gopher traps. Hanna and Carly each texted me while I was at work, and at first I didn't know if I should believe them because they have tricked me before.

Then I realized they weren't joking so I walked over to the hospital. Austin was just about to text me to get Lucy's health card number because he couldn't remember what year she was born:)   They did an x-ray and called it a greenstick fracture. It was broken right above the wrist.  I waited for a while but headed back to work when I could see it would be a while before the doctor came.

Austin was texting us updates because Lucy was very entertaining after the medicine kicked in.... Dad, this is just like Heartland....Say 8. Say 8....

"This is the most depressing day of my life - can't swim, can't ride a horse, can't ride a bike..."

After 4 weeks of summer torture and having to shower with a bread bag over her cast, she finally got her cast off.  Thank goodness!!

Leaving the Nest

Tuesday, August 15

7 am

Jill's boxes and her horse, Salsa, are loaded. Austin, Lucy and I have our suitcases loaded.

We leave Cardston.  

We had to go through Coutts border crossing because we had to have the federal vet check the horse.  Lucy and Austin were in the truck. Jill and I were in the car.  We saw 1 million orange cones because there was road construction every few miles.  Once when it was Jill's turn to drive, the sign said Left Lane closed ahead.  Jill lifted up her 2 fingers on each hand so she could tell which one made an L so she would know which side was left.  I said, "Jill, I can't leave you in the world alone if you don't know left from right."  She said, "But Mom, at least I know how to problem solve."

As we were driving down, Jill's rodeo coach texted Austin and said that the practice arena and stalls in Orem weren't quite ready, so we could bring Jill's horse to his house in Genola.  15 hours after we left home, we pulled into his house.  We were road weary. We unloaded Salsa and then had to drive almost an hour back to stay at Rachelle's house in Saratoga Springs.

The next day we went to campus and signed Jill up for a bank account, an institute class, got an ID card and bought her books. Then we just hung out with Rachelle's family that night.

Thursday was move-in day.  We stood in line for 1.5 hours to get Jill's key to her apartment. We unloaded her boxes with the help of the sister missionaries who where there helping students move in, said hi to 3 of her roommates, and left for Freshman orientation.

Thursday night we laughed and talked with my family on Jeanette's back deck. Hazel is the cutest baby of the year.

 On Friday, after Austin gave Jill an awesome Father's blessing, we took her to buy her first groceries and things you need the first time you move out on your own - like toilet paper.  We had made a list, and we filled the Wal-Mart cart until it was overflowing.  I realized that we were shopping like we do in Canada - for a month supply.  We used to shop weekly when we lived in Utah, but now we shop monthly.  Jill will have to figure out that it is better to shop weekly when you can see the grocery store from your house and because you are sharing a kitchen with 5 other girls.

After we unloaded her groceries, we unloaded her saddle and tack into the trunk of her car. I hope she appreciates Dad's bits and his 2 new ropes that she took:)

And with that, we hugged Jill and drove away.  Tears.

The first text we got from Jill that night...Burned my hand on the pan making a grilled cheese sandwich

Having your first child leave the nest is so exciting and sad all at the same time.
We are going to miss Jill!!!!

Gwilliam Family Reunion

This was the year for the Gwilliam Family Reunion. The week turned out to be busy. Hanna went to a basketball camp in Seattle.  We went to the family reunion for a day, and then we had to head back so we could take Jill to college.

Carly really wanted to stay for the whole reunion so she stayed with Grandpa and Grandma.

We had fun while it lasted.  Carly had fun the rest of the reunion.

Last Family Outing

On the last day we could all go on an adventure together before Jill left, we decided to go to Glacier National Park and hike to Virginia Falls. We did this hike a year ago and it rained most of the hike. This time it didn't start raining until we are about 15 minutes from our car, but it downpoured. It has been a super dry summer, so getting rain isn't common this year.

After our hike, we ended up eating our sandwiches in the car because it was raining.  Then we stopped at Two Sisters Cafe for milkshakes on our way home.

We love our adventures with Jill, and we are going to MISS having her around.

Hike to Crypt Lake

Jill loves to climb mountains. There are 3 hikes in Waterton National Park that they call the Triple Crown.  Jill wanted to hike the Triple Crown this summer - and of course she did.  On her days off from working at Zum's Restaurant in Waterton, she found a hiking friend and climbed mountains.

I joined her on her third hike - Crypt Lake.  It is a unique hike because you have to take a shuttle boat across Waterton Lake to the trailhead.  So we get off the shuttle with 100 other people hiking the same trail. Jill said she wanted to hurry onto the trail and not get behind slow people.  So we were the second set of people up the trail.  The first few minutes felt like a race. I have never hiked so fast.  A few people did pass us, and then the group kind of spreads out and  can go at their own pace.  We still hiked much faster than I normally would hike. It was a good workout.  

Melissa Carter and her brothers were on the same hike, so we took our picture with Melissa.

The other unique part of the hike is that you climb a little ladder, crawl through a cave, and then have to hold onto a cable while you make your way across the last cliff edge before you reach the rest of the hike to the lake. It makes the hike exciting!

We were the 15th & 16th people to reach the lake. We made it up in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Most people take about 3 hours.  We enjoyed our lunch by the lake and then headed back down.

We had an hour when we got down before the boat came back, so we lounged by the lake.

Then of course we stopped for ice cream at Big Scoop.  Hanna wasn't too thrilled that I was trying to take her picture. Her friends were all for being in the picture!

Here are a couple pictures of Jill from her other hikes - Carthew-Alderson with Charlie Weston and Akamina Ridge with Teegan Perry.