The end of my summer packed quite a punch, from some pretty high highs to some very low lows, and back again. Kindergarten started for Pearl yesterday and has been wonderful so far, and I finally feel like I can catch my breath for the first time in a month… and I have a couple of photos from our vacation to share! There are a lot more on my instagram if you’d like to see those too.

Andrew and I took the kids on an almost two-week trip to Idaho and Montana and we visited four lovely places we’d never been. First we stayed in Sandpoint, and went swimming in Lake Pend D’Oreille and got ice cream every day, which was pretty awesome. Then we drove to Missoula, which I fell in love with from about minute one. It’s such a beautiful town, with so much cool stuff to do, and we had the best time… except that I fell near the Clark Fork River and ended up in the ER with a badly torn ligament and high ankle sprain. It certainly could have been much worse, and I’m so grateful it wasn’t, but I’m still hobbling around slowly, nearly three weeks later.

The drive from Missoula to Ketchum was one of the most beautiful stretches of the world I’ve ever seen. I think I took 300 photos in just that few hours, the clouds were just so gorgeous and the openness was stunning. In Ketchum I got to see one of my oldest friends and her kids, and finished up my second Anna Maria Horner hand-quilting project by our hotel pool, looking at mountains (which happily is one of the few things you don’t need a functioning right ankle for).

We finished up our trip in Donnelly, which is on Lake Cascade, and swam every day, and best of all visited Gold Fork Hot Springs. I have never been anywhere quite like this magical spot, we went every day we were there, and I am already wondering when we can make it back.

We have been home long enough for me to applique a big rainbow onto a brand-new backpack, sew a first-day-of-kindergarten skirt, and start chipping away at various work projects, but I haven’t had the time or energy to post fun things, as I was hoping to. I try to stay positive here, but the last couple weeks have been pretty rough and I’m still in a lot of pain, so moving pretty slow. Things that would have been easy a month ago are pretty daunting right now. My new book comes out in a few weeks which I am so thrilled and excited about, so I’m really hoping to be back at full strength for that. And thanks to some well-timed encouragement from Kim I’ve gotten pretty confident at left-footed sewing!

I have some other things to share, but for now just wanted to say hello, and happy fall, and hopefully see you soon.