Boise, Montana, a Baptism, and more

Well, we made it! We traveled to Boise, then Legendary Lodge Montana (near Missoula), and back. We did a couple stretches of over 8 hours a day in the car with Ava and survived. Actually, she was quite a good traveler, and slept most of the way, only getting fussy after about the 8 hour mark (we were all a bit fussy at that point!).


First we had a great time in Boise seeing Linda's family. Her cousin Becky has a newborn as well, so it was fun to connect with them and Linda's other cousin Susie and her Aunt Marje.

Linda and Baby Ava and Becky and Baby Metolius

Ava at Linda's cousin's Cabin on McCall Lake:























Next we took the long way up to Missoula near Salmon Lake to meet up with my Mom's side of the family. We had a great turn-out, with even Ava's cousin Mason in attendance! Austin was a nice help on the trip with his sister and also had a good time with the cousins.

Here is Austin having too much fun with a Spud Gun:



















Ava in her Montana cowgirl outfit with a scruffy dad:



We were very blessed to be able to get Ava baptized while in Montana. Her cousin (2nd cousin, twice removed for those into genealogy) Archbishop Curtiss baptized her in a beautiful ceremony in a little chapel at Legendary Lodge with only family in attendance. We're so lucky to have her baptized at one of my favorite and most beautiful places in the world.
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Baptized as Godmother Aunt Tina assists:





















Austin and Ava after the Baptism:


























We did see a bear in the campsites, but luckily he avoided us and tried to track down the Californians instead. :)

Ava is 11 months old in one week, which is hard to believe! She was over 17.5 pounds at her last checkup, and still doing wonderfully.

Linda had another checkup with her oncologist and continues to be cancer free. We are so thankful she is doing well. She still has some fatigue, but has been exercising daily.

Cute Baby! Our friend Gail Eby took this lovely photo of Ava that I needed to share:






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. Movie stars: Linda's good friend Sherry Binger made an amazing video of our journey. I'm working on a method to share such a large file size via the Internet with everyone - hopefully I can figure it out in the future.
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Rob.