17 Weeks

Well, I have like 5 posts that need to be written or published. Our ward set an awesome/lofty goal of doing Indexing (Familysearch.org) 100,000 names in the month of November. And the women are competing against the men. So I decided to participate. Not JUST because of the competition, but because we had a combined 5th Sunday meeting and had a lesson about it and the Spirit in the room was OVERPOWERING. I was so excited to bring a little of that Spirit into my home.

So that's what I've been doing with any spare time I can find. My goal was 1,000 names. It's mid-month and I am up to 811 already, and I hope to surpass the 1,000. By a lot. I try to do it as fast as I can by finding the typed records. :) One record (a ship's manifest) had all these CRAZY names from Hungary, in old scrawled writing...and I was literally going nuts trying to decipher it.

The neat thing is that I have felt the Spirit more often with me, and in my home. I've become more sensitive to things/language that I am seeing/hearing on TV. I finally FINALLY found the willpower to clean my house (more on that in a minute) and I have just felt more peaceful and happy. I HIGHLY recommend that you all give it a try! It's fun, easy, and you feel so good, knowing that you are assisting in the work of the Lord and with temple work.

So- the house. When I got sick, back at 5 weeks along, I stopped cleaning the house. (And cooking actual food of course, but that wasn't as big of a deal, the kids are always happy with Chicken Nuggets and Mac and Cheese.) I just napped every afternoon, laid around all the rest of the day and evening, and let the house go to POT. Occasionally I would throw in some underwear into the wash when we ran out. Samuel did his own laundry too, and he continued to do the dishes like always, bless his beautiful soul. He also scrubbed the toilets twice and the tub once. Kalia and Annie...well...their room was ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. Couldn't see the floor horrendous. And I REFUSED to clean it for them. The little pigs. :)  And every day I would just let them eat what they wanted, wherever they wanted it, and would let Ella just entertain herself with anything that wouldn't get damaged or hurt her. And then I'd just leave it there because obviously I didn't want to bend over.

In Samuel's words, the house looked "worse than he had ever EVER seen it."  That's pretty bad!! And to add to the general mess...CLUTTER TOOK OVER OUR LIVES!!!! Every flat surface was covered. It was SO depressing. When I finally started to feel a little (okay, a lot) better, I got hit with the stomach flu (nobody else got it, except Annie who had it first, and only threw up once. I threw up for 2 days and stayed nauseated for 3 more.)  That was miserable all over again. Although right before the flu hit, Samuel BEGGED me to clean our room, which I did. Pat on the back #1.

The point is, I was SO UTTERLY OVERWHELMED that it was like I was frozen. Absolutely stuck. If I DID attempt to clear off a flat surface, it would be messy again before I could get to another area. It was awful. I knew that my only hope would be to get the whole house clean (seemed utterly impossible) and then to do maintenance every day. THAT I can do. It's so much easier.

I wanted to get my mom down here to come help. She's the best cleaner I know. I offered to fly her down here, which she agreed to, but I needed her here before Thanksgiving (when our upstairs homeowners will be home, and we will not be...therefore they could come peek in on our living quarters and we'd never know it). All the flights were expensive. So I tried to get her a ride down here. Couldn't find one before Turkey Day. So I just felt so hopeless.

Then Indexing happened. And then we had the adult session of stake conference (you know, the only one you can get much out of). And even though they were talking about other things, the Spirit whispered to me that the Lord would be more pleased with me if my house was clean and orderly. And while I'm sure I had some thought like, "I just can't do it! Not by myself!" I was reminded, "But you can do it if I help you."  And I know that He would. And He did. And an unexpected event came up that required a baby-sitter (a paid one, not my usual in-laws who come over) and I knew I would DIE if anyone saw my house looking the way it did. (You have to remember that being in the basement, we easily get away with nobody coming down here; if anyone comes over, we just talk to them and visit in the always-spotless upstairs.)

So, having no choice, but feeling like somehow I had help beyond my own, I cleaned this dang house. Everything except my bedroom, but I still have 4 days to get that done. And the 6 loads of laundry that I pulled off of my girls' bedroom floor. (Took 2.5 hours to clean it, laundry aside. BLLLAAAHHHH!!!!!) I have also gathered about 4 garbage bags worth of stuff for donations (hidden away, or else my girls suddenly remember how much they need that toy that they NEVER play with) and I also found about 3 garbage bags-worth of trash around here. Oh, and the girls know our new rule: If I see ANY clothes or shoes left anywhere on the floor after they go to bed, they are going STRAIGHT TO OUR DONATION STATION. It feels amazing to purge.

Can you believe I am confessing this? Well. I don't know how else to survive the first trimester. My heart SERIOUSLY goes out to women who are sick for longer.

Finally, one other wonderful thing that has come into my life is VOLLEYBALL. My favorite sport. I haven't had a chance to play it regularly since high school, oh so long ago.

Some women in our ward get together every Thursday nights and play for 2 hours or so. It's pretty competitive and SOOOO fun, and surprisingly, my Braxton Hicks contractions, which were really acting up as of week 14, have actually stopped almost entirely. And even though I still hit the floor a lot, going after balls and stuff (really, that's one of the most exciting parts) my baby stays safe and happy and healthy all tucked up in the womb. Sure hope it's another low-risk, healthy pregnancy. So far so good.

Finally, since it's the #1 question I'm getting these days, we find out if the baby is a boy or a girl on the Thursday after Thanksgiving. Everyone seems to think it's a boy, but I haven't felt that way for most of the pregnancy. So hopefully they will all get past their disappointment if the big day reveals another girl. It's not our last baby, so there's always hope for a boy someday. I really do feel like we are supposed to have a boy eventually.

Well that will have to be all for now. Random updates on birthday parties and Halloween and such will be up later. Maybe in December when I am not indexing so much. 

13 Weeks- Quick Update

 Stomach Relaxed. I looked like this when I was about 24 weeks pregnant with Kalia.

 Stomach flexed- I'm laughing at my "stand at attention like a soldier" pose
Sidenote- see the curve in my lower back? It really makes my stomach and my butt both stick out further. True story.Dang it. It used to make me look  really skinny in high school when I had tight stomach muscles. :)

 Proof that I do wear makeup. Pretty much only on Sundays, although for a quick pick-me-up before I run to the store, I do blush and eyeliner. Takes 30 seconds. That's right. I started making runs to the store. I only feel sick about 2 days out of the week now. Still haven't tried to tackle the messy house. That's my project before November hits.

 Annie has a different body type than Kalia or Ella. She is much softer and less muscular. And she LOVES to dance. I think she shows some promise. So she started ballet.

I'm doing Joy School with Annie. She loves it and it's turned out super fun. Here's their Halloween party and parade. See the tall boy next to Annie? That's her "love." It's mutual. He says he's "in love." She talks about him constantly and can't get enough of him. We had him over to play the other day. They were just like any two kids. No lovey dovey stuff going on. They really just like each other's company I guess!

Finally...I can't wait for Halloween! I have a custom-made costume coming up! Thanks to a generous, kind, talented friend...
HINT: It involves glass slippers!

11 Weeks

Well, I cannot thank you enough for the support through that super hard period of SICKNESS!!!

I have the craziest news ever. I never threw up, not once! And I'm starting to feel better already!!

This was totally unexpected after such an intensely nauseating beginning...and I didn't dare make this post until I heard a heartbeat and made sure everything was okay, which I did yesterday. (165 bpm! I was so relieved, I cried.)

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO thankful that it wasn't as awful as last time, and even more grateful that it is ending sooner. It's much better to expect it to be really bad and really long, and be pleasantly surprised, than to do what I did with Ella's pregnancy, and expect it to be not horrible, and not too long, and then have it be both those things.

Love this quote: Expect the worst, hope for the best, and enjoy the in-between.

I went back and read my blog about my pregnancy with Kalia, and it seems that this is also when my symptoms let up with her, and I didn't throw up in the first trimester with her (although I did randomly throw up a few times in the second trimester.) 

I'm not exactly sure why it was easier this time, but after doing some research on
HELPHER.ORG (for women who suffer from Hyperemesis (extreme pregnancy sickness), I got some really good tips, and they really seemed to help.

Most helpful tips:
*Protein helps nausea . I basically quit eating bread and crackers and pretzels. I started eating greek yogurt every day (Fage sweetened stuff) and smoothies with protein powder and again, more greek yogurt, and tried to eat anything I could that was high protein. Usually, I couldn't prepare it or it made me sick, so I relied on other people to supply me with food- Samuel, my mother-in-law, and anyone who wanted to help.

*On a tip from a friend, I bought Boost protein drinks and Atkin protein drinks (the chocolate milk kind, taste pretty good actually, and have vitamins too.) I drank these throughout the day, and even took some sips at night if I woke up to go the bathroom. These really helped.

*I took Unisom (I learned it MUST be the Doxylamine drug in the Unisom, and not the other one) along with 25 mg of B6 every 8 hours, including during the day. I took 1/4 a Unisom in the morning, again in the afternoon, and the other 1/2 of the Unisom at night. My sister told me that there is a build-up effect and you want to keep it in your system. This seemed to help a lot too.

*I took a nap almost every day. I always felt better on days I napped.

*I laid around and held SUPER still when I felt really close to throwing up.
According to the website, "Motion makes nausea worse" so...no exercising or movement unless it was absolutely necessary.

*I had trouble drinking water (didn't like Gatorade much this time either) so I have been a bit dehydrated- my lips are peeling and I'm in a bad habit of incessantly peeling the dry bits off. Gross.) But anyway, Samuel brought me home some Raspberry Lemonade (by the Simply brand, they also make orange juice and limemade, etc.) And it tasted SOOOOOO good, I drank that all time. I think Lemon in general is helpful for nausea, and even though there was sugar in it, which I normally don't like in drinks, it was better than nothing. And probably better than soda with high fructose corn syrup.

*The website also says that once you start throwing up and dehydration and lack of nutrition really sets in, it makes the cycle of throwing up harder to break, and the sooner you can manage the symptoms, the sooner the sickness can end in general. This seemed to be true in my case.

*I'm sure that the Priesthood blessing I got when I was 6 weeks a long helped. I was promised the nausea would lessen. And even though it technically got worse, of course, it certainly lessened in the severity I was expecting.

Well...I HOPE this helps some of you are pregnant or will be pregnant again!! I am not 100% feeling better, but I have had several days in a week where I ALMOST felt normal. I finally started doing a little laundry. Eventually I will get the house clean and it will feel REALLY good around here!!

And finally, since I haven't thrown up, I have already gained FIVE pounds. Dang it. That's a lot for me in the first trimester. I hope that I can slow it down a little in the 2nd trimester, now that I have a little experience counting calories (from before I got pregnant-- thanks to the very awesome/helpful App called MyFitnessPal.

Thank you again for so much support! It really does make a difference.
And I have to apologize to the person that I wrote about previously, who told me that since maybe my nausea started sooner, maybe it would end sooner....and I said I wanted to laugh and then slap her. I wish I had never said that. One because that sounds so mean. But Two because maybe she was right? So I had to put that out there. I've felt bad about writing that...although it does give insight into my raging hormones....   :/

Ella- 18 months- For the Record!

 Oh how I love this little girl. She has been soooooooooooooo fun to raise. Samuel always says he would have 10 more if they could be just like her.

 Her food sensitivities are a little better- She had an ice cream cone last night from McDonalds. I didn't hear any complaint of a stomach ache, but she had diarrhea this morning. But if there's not stomach aches, that's improvement! I think she will take the trade off! In this picture (above) she was enjoying a few bites of the neighbors birthday cake.  Two of Ella's "fetishes" include SHOES (anyones) and SWIMSUITS.  Multiple times a day she brings me shoes (usually matching) and says, "Shoes on?" And since we are still swimming down here in October, she finds swimsuits laying around and tries to put them on (usually without success)- so she brings them to me and says, "Su-suit? Su-suit?" She is totally happy once she has it on, even over clothes, and she doesn't necessarily have to go swim.  

 I've started putting her hair in a ponytail.  Samuel told me to stop it- it's making her look too old. But it's losing a little bit of curl, so sometimes she looks a little shaggy if I don't do something to it.

 How cute are baby wedge shoes? LOVE these. So sad she's almost outgrown them. (They came from Target.)

 She has this silly side to her personality and makes us laugh a lot. Especially Kalia and Annie, they think she's pretty funny.

 She still has those deliciously kissable cheeks.

A few more things I want to remember about her at this age:

She takes 1 nap, but recently has been sleeping for 3-4 hours. I LOVE it. It's really helped me be able to rest in the 1st trimester.

 She sleeps til about 7:30 or 8:30 every morning. Sleeps 12 hours at night.

She loves to say "TA-DA!!" when she does anything cool. 

She is talking a lot, and putting her large vocabulary to good use. She's putting two or three words together, some of my favorites being "Dere it is." (whenever we go hunting for her beloved pink blankie) and "Don't pease" (trying to teach her to STOP SHRIEKING.) She says that one with furrowed eyebrows and a pointed finger. Also, she is starting to be able to say, "Annie shoe" or "bye...Papa" or whoever she knows is leaving. She's also a little parrot, so when I carry her around and talk to her, I say, "Do you want to go to the park?" "Park." "Okay, let's get your shoes on." "Shoes!" "Should we bring a snack?" "Nack!" "I'll bring some apples." "Appo!"  I really appreciate her efforts to talk. I'm a big fan of "use your words."  :)

Whenever I tell her anything, and then say, "Kay?" She always answers, "Kay" like she's totally in agreement. Also, whenever I say, "right?" She answers, "Right." These always make me smile.

She is OBSESSED with playing games on the Ipod Touch. She is so attuned to any sound it makes (an email alert, the click it makes when you slide the unlock screen) she can hear it from the other room. She comes RUNNING in and starts incessantly asking, "Phone? Phone? Phone? Phone? Phone?" Usually she gets it when I remind her, "How do you ask?" And she (still) rubs her tummy (signing it) and says "pease."  But lately she's been saying please like her sisters, in her NICEST voice. It's so cute.

She likes to play a variety of games, but lately she's been checking out my Bejeweled Blitz. And sometimes she can do it (accidentally.) And when the gems start flaming, she says, "HOT! HOT!" and she won't touch those gems. It's funny.

She had her first ear infection last month- both ears actually. I thought it was pneumonia because of certain other symptoms but luckily it wasn't. Sadly, I put out a steam humidifier, and when I set her down to straighten out her blankets, she went right over to it and put her hand on it and got a second degree burn (awful blisters) on part of her hand. Luckily one visit to urgent care took care of all those problems, but her poor hand was a mess for about a week.

Other than that, she seems to have a good strong immune system. Both times someone caught Strep in our house, (once me, once Annie) she didn't catch it. Miraculously, somehow no one else caught it either time. 

She is really into splashing in the tub. I hate this. She's also discovered that she is tall enough to easily get in and out of the tub, and she does it constantly. I don't enjoy this either.

Lately she has been soooo cute when I put her to bed- still a pack and play in the storage closet. She will snuggle up into a ball on my chest (like a newborn) and then stick her ear right in my face, so that I can sing right into it and nibble on her ear. She laughs hysterically. I love putting her to bed. I sing her "Hush little baby" every night, and she's started singing the last word of each line. Melts my heart.

Speaking of singing, she loves to sing, especially the songs from Nursery singing time (which is my calling). So Eensy Weensy spider, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle...all these songs are some of her favorites and she never gets tired of them. She also likes to sing bits of songs from the radio, like "So Bad...So bad..." (from Call Me Maybe).

Speaking of nursery, she has already been going for 5 months because Samuel is her nursery leader, and I've been going to all 3 nurseries doing singing time. She loves to have a "nack" during snack time.

She still drinks her Similac formula, at least 16 oz a day, sometimes 24 oz. And yes, still out of a bottle, and usually when I put her down for a nap and bedtime.  But she drinks almond milk and water and juice out of a cup, and she will always tell me which drink she wants.

She weighs 25 lbs.

She climbs on everything. She climbs things on the playground that an 18 month should NEVER be climbing on there own. So glad she hasn't fallen (knock on wood.)

She jumps off of everything, as long as there's something soft to land on.

She jumps off the diving board to anyone that will catch her.

She won't swim with floaties on. She can swim about 60% on her own.

She loves toys that play songs and brings them to me constantly to turn on.

She asks for help by saying, "Help you?" because I'm always asking her, "Want me to help you?" So she also often brings me the Ipod when she gets stuck and says, "Help you?"

She loves going outside for any reason (a lot like Kalia.)

She lately doesn't like to be carried or ride in a cart. She wants to RUN everywhere.

Her pooping schedule is out of wack, and she regularly goes whenever we swim (hate this) and after I've put her to bed. I have to go check her closet every night for a whiff of anything stinky before I go to bed, and often I have to wake her up and change her.

She still hasn't figured out how to climb out of her pack and play.

She LOVES books and loves when I read to her.

She plays better independently than any child so far.

This is good, because 4 mornings a week, it's just me and her.

She loves ice.

She always points out pictures of Jesus.

She still has lots of baby fat and is super cuddly.

She likes to sit on the couch and watch a "show" with me after Kalia and Annie have gone to bed (and when a 4-hour nap has made it a little too hard for her to fall asleep.)

I catch her frequently at the computer, pushing buttons on the printer and hearing it make sounds or spit out paper, or pounding away on the computer. I guess she likes technology. 

She won't eat a lot of chewy textures (like bread.) She also won't eat a lot of slippery foods either. My best chance of getting her to eat any fruit or veggie is to make sure it is pureed like baby food. So often I still just feed her that. Her diet has lots of room for improvement.

Every day she asks me for a vitamin (she calls them "amin") and she points to them up on the shelf. They are my gummy prenatals with DHA. I figure they are probably actually perfect for her.

She likes to sit on the potty with the help of the tiny toilet seat, and she pretends to wipe and then stuffs toilet paper into the toilet, but she has never gone, and I'm not trying to get her to yet, but I like her enthusiasm!

She really is just the happiest little thing, and really good natured and easy to be around (for the most part!) We couldn't be happier that she's ours.

How bout a lil piece of news...

Well, I think that the hype of blogging is slipping away. I think we've known that for sometime, as we've mourned the days when we'd get 18 comments on a post. Now we blog more for ourselves, which really is probably even more important.

However, for those few readers I have left, I thought I'd share in our fun news. I don't usually announce this early, but I NEED ADVICE!!

Yay! I'm pregnant!! We prayed long and hard about whether to take this on right now, but in the end we felt like someone was missing and that everything would work out.

I am 8 weeks along, as of Sunday Sept. 16th.  I started feeling nauseated at FIVE WEEKS. FIVE WEEKS!!! Not fair! That is the earliest I have ever felt sick. Some well-meaning person said, "That means you'll be over it sooner!" And I almost laugh/slapped her because YEAH RIGHT. What it means is that I get two extra weeks of misery.

Now I am doing everything in my power to not throw up, because once I throw up, I won't be able to stop. Last pregnancy with Ella, it lasted until 14 weeks. So lets just PRAY it doesn't go past then.

The last 3 weeks since I got the positive test have been three of the LONGEST weeks I can remember. I feel like I NEVER want to do this again, although I know it will pass. This all-day nausea SUCKS.

For those kind souls who want to tell me that I am sicker because I am having a boy, I don't think we can say that at all. I had 6 weeks of sickness with Kalia, 3 weeks (only 3???) with Annie, 8 weeks with Ella, and now probably 10 with this one. Chances are, it's another girl, and comments about it being a boy kind of make me feel bad already, because it's probably not, and we are just fine with that, so everyone else should be too.

Now, if you have ANY advice of ANY KIND on what helped you not throw up as much, or what helped your nausea lessen, I am willing to try anything. So far, this is what is helping me:
1.  Unisom and B6 all throughout the day
2. A priesthood blessing
3.  Ginger tea
4. Soda
5. White bread/toast
6. A full stomach- hard to achieve because I REALLY REALLY DON'T WANT TO EAT.
7. Not drinking when I eat (hard for me, and now I'm a bit dehydrated.)
8. Laying down/not moving around (you should see how my poor house reflects this)
9. Seabands (motion sickness bands on the wrist)
10.  Taking my prenatal at night

Thanks to those 10 things, my all-day nausea is still under control. It is making my life MISERABLE, but I am not puking yet. I'm absolutely dreading the puking that I know is coming.

The thought of any meat or dairy just sickens me. But some people have recommended protein shakes. I don't know if I could swallow it, but I'm trying to get down greek yogurt.

I have a prescription for phenegran which I will fill if I can't keep food down...but Zofran is not an option for me, my insurance won't pay for it, so that's one suggestion I can't take, unless you want to mail me your leftover pills. :)  Anyway, that's our good news, my due date is April 28th. I got to see the baby and hear the heartbeat last week, and it just warmed my heart so much.

Now give me your advice!!!!  PLEEEEEEAAAASSSSE! K thanks.

School Days

Here I am fussing over Kalia before her "first day of school picture."

 Well, we ended our lazy summer days, it seemed to come so early, but sure enough, on Aug 6th, Kalia became a kindergartner. She was not worried at all, in fact, she has been looking forward to this for months. (We went to an open house night back in April and she's been super excited ever since.)

For her first day, she wanted to wear her sparkly skirt, her princess shirt, and she wanted her hair straightened with a flat iron. She is already one of the tallest kids in her class, but she wanted to wear these shoes that give her an extra inch.
SHE LOOKS SO TALL. AND SO GROWN UP. So strange!

 We drove the half mile to the school, luckily even Daddy got to be with us for the drop-off, although he waited in the car with Ella because it was so crowded and there was nowhere to park.

 We went into the classroom, and she found her desk,

 and immediately sat down and started coloring.

 I told Annie to go over and say good-bye (I love this picture.)

 And also, you can see Kalia's teacher in the picture above, she is in the yellow and brown striped shirt. She looks super young. I think this is her first year teaching (ever.)

 No glancing back from her! We left and it was really a simple process. Whew! She does have one friend from the neighborhood in her class and at her table, the other girl at the table, Mia Chamberlain. That's been great!

 This is the bulletin board outside her classroom. Her name is under the "i". She was happy to find that.

So meanwhile at home, Annie and Ella decided they like each other. This was a really cute thing to watch, and it was interesting how it just naturally happened once Kalia was gone.

 The next day, Annie decided she needed to wear Kalia's "first day outfit."

Kalia wore this outfit, and came home with a hole in the knee. And they didn't even have outdoor recess. (Still too hot for the kids to be outside, darn it.)  She is coming home FULL of energy. Full day kindergarten is NOT enough to tire her out, in fact, it bottles up her energy, and we have to find ways for her to get it all out when she gets home.

The next day,  Kalia got to be dropped off at school on the Motorcycle.

Here's a day later in the week, it was "rainbow" day at school, so she finally wore this dress that she never, ever would wear before.

 Annie has since taken over the role of "older sister." I was taking picture of Ella eating an Oreo when Annie saw the need for a hand wipe, and started cleaning Ella's hands for me.

 I really love this computer picture, because this is almost exactly what Kalia and Annie used to do. Now Annie runs all the controls and plays the games while Ella watches.

 Two weeks after Kalia started kindergarten, Annie started Joy School.

 She loves it! It's probably most suited to her personality than any of my other girls, so I'm glad we got invited to do this.

 And here's Kalia with a bandaid on her face....sad, sad, story...

I was trying to get Kalia to school extra fast, so I just put her in the bike trailer, and started pulling her (really fast) to school. On the second corner that I had to turn, the bike hitch broke and the momentum sent the trailer flying, it roller over itself once, and threw her out. She landed on her face. We were in the middle of the road, so I am really thankful there were no cars coming. I felt so bad. Her face looked pretty awful for about a week. Here I had to bring her home, change her shirt, bandage her up, and drive her to school half an hour late. That's why she's in this picture with Annie.

My friends assure me that we will laugh about this someday. I'm not quite there yet. :)

Anyway, it sure is nice to only have 1 kid, twice a week, for almost 3 hours!
School is awesome!

Kalia is doing great and comes home with so much work completed. I love that we don't have to do it at home, because she tries much harder to impress her teacher than she would ever try for me. She also has time for music, art, library time, PE and other things that wouldn't be possible with half-day, so I am glad that she ended up going full-day, although initially I was pretty worried about it.

Anyway, back to Annie, here's the other kids in her Joy School. The tall one in the back is (apparently) a special friend or a crush, because I was informed that they held hands the entire time, even during rest time.

GREAT.

Beautiful Sedona

 Our family took a late-summer mini-vacation to Sedona. I had never been there before, and my mother-in-law gifted us with a 2-night stay at the cutest little place. We all slept in a studio...we put Ella in the bathroom in her pack and play, Kalia and Annie slept on the pull-out couch, and Samuel and I of course had the nice bed. The only hiccups were from #1 anyone having to pee in the middle of the night had to squeeze into the bathroom and try not to wake up Ella, OR pee in the sink. (GROSS. Kalia told me the next morning how Daddy helped her pee in the sink. I was appalled at the thought. Boys...)  Also, Samuel was 3 days into a course of antibiotics and went off without them.  So we spent most of one day trying to get a new prescription. A HUGE thank you to our Dr friend who came through for us when our own Dr wouldn't call us back.

We hiked a fun trail called "Cow Pies", tried to feel the spiritual energy of Sedona (a.k.a. "Vortex") that we kept hearing about, and admired the variety of churches on every corner. And one up on a rock.

So here's the rest of our trip in pictures. The ones at the bottom are Slide Rock State Park. SO much fun. Although my kids were definitely the youngest ones there. It's a little better for older kids. The water was icy cold but so refreshing on a 100 degree day. :)