Emily

Hi Family,
Well, summer is over and school is in session. Casey finished out his job with Cub Country, and actually admitted to liking it in the end. He made some new friends, and it helped that one of his good friends from school started working with him for the last couple of weeks. Right after he finished his job for the summer he attended O.Y.A in Idaho at the base of the Tetons. He had a good time rock climbing, white water rafting, horse back riding,etc. He went with his two best friends, Nick and T.J. I asked when he got home which was better E.F.Y or O.Y.A? He said E.F.Y because they had dances, and no bugs!

While Casey was in Idaho, the rest of us except for Travis (who stayed with Dorothy) went up to Yellowstone for a couple of days. It was so beautiful. We saw elk, bison, and coyotes, and a lot of pretty cool gysers. We picked up Casey and his friends on the way home in Rexburg, and went to Bear World. That was a unique experience to drive through the bears, especially when John stopped and a bear decided to hop on the top of my car. That was pretty freaky and made the price of admission well worth it. They also had a very tame moose who let us pet him and rub the felt on his horns .. pretty amazing!

Travis started preschool, Casey-9th, Mitch-4th, and Alyssa started Kindergarten after Labor Day. She absolutely loves it!

Last Tuesday morning, while I was in report at work, Casey called me and told me John was having "a low" and basically wasn't being himself. It had happened several nights in a row over the weekend so I warned the kids before I left work that if Dad acted incoherent or out of his mind to give him some juice. (John has had type I diabetes for 9 years, and this is really the first time he's had any "low" episodes in at least 5 years. I'm sure it's because he hasn't been feeling well, and he did some pretty physically exhausting stuff over the weekend so he was just too tired in the night to recognize the lows, so he could get up and get something to eat). Anyway, I could hear him in the background of the phone call, I gave Casey some instructions and told him I'd be right there. So, I left work and ended up running a red light where I ended up t-boning a guy--totaling his car. Nice huh? The police officers were really nice. I told them I was just in the zone of needing to get home. They offered to send medical help to the house, but John was already fine by then. I was pretty shakin up, but neither one of us was hurt badly. I'll just need some chiropractic care for awhile, and my car should be ready to pick up this week.

I went to Annamarie and Blaine's 50th wedding anniversary "sock hop" last Friday night. It was an open house with some dancing, and "Dippin Dots" my kids favorite. Their children each payed them a tribute, and then Blaine read Annamarie a poem he had written. It was really cute ..fun party.

John just got back from elk hunting today. His brother had a tag for a bull, and they camped up on Strawberry peak where they had a skiff of snow. We had actually all gone camping there in August, and it was cold then. Anyway, he was successful on day one, but it took two days to pack the animal out. They were in steep terrain, and in a no motorized vehicle area. He said he had a great time, and the scenery was incredible.

Well, I hope everyone is doing well. Happy Fall!
Love, Emily and Family