Our Days in Bend...

Here is another picture of sweet little Westley!

And of course, his big brother!!

My aunt Susie was nice enough to drive over with my Grandparents and was such a help and fun too! Chloe loved helping Auntie Susie make cookies! Chloe dumped some extra cinnamon into the cookies, but luckily they were still delicious!

One of the days we met my Mom at a Chinese restaurant for lunch so Chloe had to try out the chop sticks!!

Her method of stabbing the food worked pretty well, although it wasn't the most elegant!

She thought they were really fun to use!

Back at Mom and Dad's we were enjoying the beautiful fall weather!

I'm not sure what she thought was sooo funny!

Exploring the yard!

It was nice to spend time together since we hadn't really planned on it!

He was having so much fun!

So was Sage! I don't think his feet are touching the ground here!

These three had fun whenever they were together!

One of the nights we decided to have a weenie roast for dinner with Sean, Kyra and the kids!

It was pretty cold out, so sitting by the fire was the best place to be!

The kids chowing down!

Lincoln was wondering where Eli's table manners were, I'm sure!

Cheeeeese!

Lest you worry... This little sweetie was cozy and sleeping in the house!

Snug in his jammies!

Rurr, Rurrr goes the tractor, or at least that's what Eli says!

Combing Great Grandma's Hair

Because of Dad's accident my grandparents came to Bend for a few days too, which was nice for us since we got to spend a little time with them when we ordinarily wouldn't have! Chloe had a lot of fun combing Grandma's hair at night before she went to bed! It was really cute-she would comb it and try to put pins and curlers in it too!

Trying to get that curler in!

Meeting Westley!

One bright spot to our trip home was seeing the newest little one to join the family! Westley Steen was such a sweetie and reminded me a lot of Lincoln, although I'm not the greatest at picking out features and deciding who a baby looks like!

Me holding the newborn- I think he was five days old here! Nothing like a newborn bundle to love!!

Look at that sweet scrunchy face!

The three older ones having fun playing on the chairs all set up for meeting

So Very Thankful!!!

It's hard to know what to say about a plane crash where everyone is okay, except that I am so very thankful!!! It is frightening to even consider what might have happened, and when you look at the pictures it seems pretty amazing that everyone got out alive!

We were already on our way to Mom and Dad's when Brynna called... We knew that they (my Dad, Brynna, and Bill) were flying in that afternoon and so when she called I asked her if they were already home! Then she told me that they had been in a plane wreck and that Dad was in the hospital, but okay... They didn't know how badly he was hurt and she didn't know if they were going to stay at the Prineville hospital or move him to Bend, yet... It turned out that they moved him to Bend and we learned that he had broken his back.

We didn't go in to see him that night, but when we went in on Saturday he looked pretty bad... They hadn't really gotten his pain under control and he couldn't move without hurting. It's so awful to see those you love in pain and there is nothing you can do to ease it! The days kind of blur together, but I think it was that night that he found out he had pneumonia and the flu... It was around the time that his lung collapsed that they sent him down to the ICU. He spent a night there and once the lung and pneumonia was better under control he was moved back upstairs.

They finally got the MRI and he had fractured L1, L3, and L4 so he was scheduled for kyphoplasty surgery. In case you are wondering about kyphoplasy check out the link... It sounds pretty cool if you ask me!! After the surgery Dad felt a ton better and he came home two days later! He is doing really well!

We are so thankful that everyone is okay and it's amazing to me that it sometimes takes these events in our lives to make us realize just how fragile we are! In a moment things could have been so very different, but I'm thankful we can talk about this as an eventful story and not a tragic event! Makes me want to value those around me, and remember that we truly are not our own!




The pictures from the crash!

Brynna and Bill were sitting in front... The yellow is where Dad's feet are

If I remember correctly this is the engine...

Hugging a tree...

Some hunters heard the plane engine die and then heard the crash... They were there within 10-15 minutes... One was a paramedic, which was very helpful, not that he could do much in the situation, but at least he was calm and knew what to check for!

Spaghetti Face!!

My messy boy loves to eat!! I used to worry that he wasn't eating enough. I think he must not have cared for mushed up baby food because now I can't seem to fill him up!!!

Mt. Ranch

Every fourth Sunday we go up to Mt. Ranch for meeting, and this last time we were invited to spend Saturday night at Steve and Lesa's! We had so much fun with them, and it was nice to see some places I'd never been to on the convention grounds! It is just beautiful up there! I wish I had taken more pictures, but I didn't pull my camera out until after lunch on Sunday!!

Getting rid of some energy!!

Catching up first...

A few pictures of the kids playing in a puddle they found in the park!

Splash, splash, splash!!!

The whole park to play in, but the puddle is where it's at!

Drying out in the swings!