Oh so much to do!

I have so much I want to post about...but I just don't have the time! Things are crazy here right now, and I have a ton of things on my to do list! I will try and get a few things posted from the past few weeks. Hopefully, I will get it done sometime this weekend. Thanks for being patient with me!

Go check this out!

Leelou is giving away tons of cool prizes! The deadline is soon, so go check it out!

Four Month Checkup

Today was Allie's four month well check! Things went well for the most part. Here are her stats:

Weight: 14 lbs 4 oz -- 65%
Height:24 3/4 in -- 69%
Head: 15 3/4 in -- 23%

These make me laugh because she has such a teeny tiny head. Also, she started out with such a high percentile for weight and it just keeps going down at each checkup and her height started really low and it keeps going up! So funny!

The doctor said she is completely healthy and developing the way she should. Yeah! He also said I could start her on cereal since I feel like I am getting attacked every time I feed her :) So tonight we start that adventure! She also got three shots and one oral vaccine. I guess that can be kinda classified as good news because it means she won't get those diseases (most likely)!

That was all the good news here is the bad news. As soon as the doctor saw her he said, "Oh her birthmark has grown quite a bit since last time huh?!" Of course I had to agree. He also told me that the bump forming above the birthmark is actually part of it, just deeper under the skin so the color doesn't manifest as strongly. He determined that we do need to go to an eye doctor to get it checked out. We go tomorrow and I think they said they have to dilate her eye. Not pleased when I heard that! He also told me that her eye will probably continue to get worse until she one! Great! What other bad news can he give me?

Well, none actually. I just worry about my Allie. I just don't want this thing to get worse. I worry that it won't go away and she will be ridiculed by her classmates when she gets older. Kids can be cruel about things like this. I worry that she will have to get treatment for this and it will be painful. I worry....

T.I.T

Wow, what an adventure! Russ wanted Buffalo Wings. I decided to try and make them. I asked him if he wanted Original Wings or Crunchy wings. He said crunchy. Turns out he didn't understand what I was talking about and wanted the crunchy ones. Ya know the battered ones?! Anyway, we had a few burnt fingers and a few duh! moments with this recipe but it turned out really good. Hope you enjoy it and try it soon!

Winger's Buffalo Wings Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/3 cup Franks Red Hot pepper sauce, or any other brand of Louisiana hot sauce - not Tabasco
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 12/ cup hot water (I would use boiling water! Just so you don't get burned fingers like me!)

Directions:

1. Place brown sugar and corn syrup in medium saucepan and melt over medium heat until boiling. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly or it will burn.
   
2. Add hot water, pepper sauce and vinegar. ( Be careful! When Russ added the "hot" water for me it steamed because it wasn't hot enough and it burned my fingers! )
   
3. Stir all ingredients together well and continue cooking at a low boil, stirring often until mixture has reduced to a syrupy consistency (about 15 minutes). The sauce will thicken considerably as it cools.
   

Instructions for Original Buffalo Wings

1. Split the wings at the joint and remove the tips.
2. Spread the wings out on a rack in a pan and refrigerate so they drain off moisture/blood, a minimum of 24 hours. This small step will help produce a crispier final product. (Oops! I forgot to do that!)
3. Heat deep fryer to 350-360 degrees. (I used a frying pan with oil over medium heat.)
4. Fry wings in small batches until done, about 8 -10 minutes. (Mine took about 8 -10 minutes per side!)
5. Drain of excess oil and immediately place in large bowl and coat with hot sauce and melted margarine.
6. Serve with celery sticks and blue cheese.

****If you have a tried and true recipe you'd be willing to share, leave a comment with the recipe title and post the recipe on your blog so we can all come and check it out. Thanks for playing; the more the merrier! ****

Layouts for the week!

Here is my first page as CT member for Digi Designs by Nicole! I really like this kit. It was meant to be a birthday kit, however I thought my ultrasound of Allie worked with it as well! That is the great thing about Nicole's kits, you can use them for so many different kind of pages! Wahoo for that!

Credits
Digi Designs by Nicole -- Celebrate! Kit
Piece of Cake -- Freebie_template01
Fonts for Peas -- Pea Lazy Llama

This is the preview for Nicole's papers from the Celebrate! kit. She posts her kits this way:
Mondays/Papers, Tuesday/Embellishments, Wednesday/Alphas, Thursday/Insta-Scraps, Friday/Add-on. So make sure you check back each day to pick up the whole kit! You can access her site at: Digi Designs by Nicole. (Click on the words and it will take you there!)

Credits
Stolen Moments -- Cornucopia of Colors
Paper 1c
Cathy K Designs -- AppleFest Addon
woodFrameWrapped
Designs by Tina -- 04_O_FridayFreebie92608
Me -- Wordart

Weight loss!

That's right! I lost one whole pound! I'm not going to complain. Atleast I lost SOMETHING! The evenbetter news is that all my clothes have gotten looser since last week. I must be building getting toned! Did I tell you that Russ makes fun of the way I excercise? He says that I look like a cheerleader cheering on whatever TV show I am watching at the time. Oh well! Gotta go jump some more!

Things I've been meaning to post!

First off I want to thank everyone who left such nice comments when I was having a very frustrating moment. The good news is that Russ finished on Saturday early and I got a few things done without Russ. I guess I can handle him being gone on his days off but that doesn't mean I am happy about it!

Well, I have been meaning to post some pictures for awhile, so here they are in a long post! Hehehe! Hope you enjoy them!

About two weeks ago we got out the Exersaucer. Allie demands to be sitting up and this is the only thing that will keep her sitting up. We have to wedge towels around her so she won't flop around, but she seems to enjoy it.

One morning Lily walked into my bedroom like this. I asked her what happened and she didn't know. It stayed swollen like this for two days. We never did figure out what happened to her.

After rocking Allie to bed one afternoon I came out to see how Lily was doing on her art project. With her head down Lily said, "Mommy, I don't want to go in time out." I asked her why should she go in timeout. She lifted up her head and pointed to the marker all over her face! At least she knew that she had done something wrong!

Friday night while Russ was at work I managed to give these two a bath. It was an adventure, but I got it done!


To pass some time on Saturday while Russ was at work we went to Tautphas Park. We had lots of fun!







At the park they have these chairs that spin. Lily LOVES to go on them. It is really hard to get one though, because all the kids are fighting over them.

It is amazing what I will find in Allie's carseat. This one really cracked me up!

Lily and I planted some flower bulbs my mom had given her. We planted them at the end of May. Just barely have we gotten any flowers to bloom. They are really pretty. Too bad the other pot of flowers didn't even sprout!

I made a Creative Team!

My last few posts have been a little complainy, so to rectify that I have some exciting news! That should be upbeat and happy right?! My exciting news is that I made creative team for Digi Designs by Nicole!

I know some of you are out there thinking "What is a Creative Team?" Let me explain. I do digital scrapbooking as you know if you read this blog at all. Anyway, there are people out there who design these wonderful digital scrapbooking kits. These designers sometimes decide to have Creative Teams. The purpose of a Creative Team is to make layouts that the designer can display on the website so people will get excited about their kit and see how they can use the kit. Also as a creative team member you usually post your layout on your blog and in a gallery to create more buzz about the kits.

Now that I am on Nicole's digi team, I will be creating at least one layout a week with her newest kits. Well, except for when I am on vacation because I don't have photoshop or the Internet at my parents house :( All of you who digi scrapbook should definitely check out her site! She offers her kits for FREE! and they are way cute! Check out my sidebar and you can find a link to her blog or click here. Also, check out her blog tomorrow so that you can see my short bio and my newest layout!

Frustrating!

I know I really shouldn't complain about what I am going to, because I know a lot of my friends are worse of than me...but I need to vent. If I don't I am going to cry. I have a headache and don't want to cry...so here is my vent.

Saturday is "our"day. When I say our day, I mean it is the day that I get to spend with my husband. Most of the time we are shopping or doing work around the house, but we are home TOGETHER. Russ came home today and told me that he had to go into work tomorrow. Not just for a few hours but for the whole day. Not just the work day hours...but the WHOLE day! He wants to get there by 8:00 am and stay until close to 10:00 pm. I told him it was fine, because he has been working so hard on his thesis, and he has made a major break through. I was trying to be supportive, but on the inside I was screaming NO! To make things even worse, he went back to work tonight and probably won't be home till after 10:00. As I listen to my baby scream because nothing will satisfy her at the moment, I wonder how am I going to do get everything done tomorrow without my husband to help. I admire all you that do without your husband on a regular basis. I just am not that strong!

Blah! Grrrr!

Yep, that is what kind of a week it has been. Very blah! And of of course grrrrr, as well! The grrrr comes from the fact that Lily has had at least one accident every day this week! It usually stems from the fact that she is throwing a tantrum or too involved playing. The worst is when she peed on my bed this morning. She soaked through two thick quilts, a sheet, a bedcover (I know that isn't what it is called, but I can't think of the right word!), and a mattress cover. It still got on the mattress with all those layers! That one bed makes three loads of laundry! Oh and don't forget today was laundry day anyway, so I have two other load of laundry to do! Grrrrr!

Blah comes from the fact that I haven't been feeling well. Both physically and emotionally. My lower back is aching. I can't figure out why. Emotionally...well I feel very isolated. I rarely go out of the house because Russ has the car most days. During the winter it only gets worse, because it gets so cold I just don't want to go out. To deal with the isolation, I get on the computer WAY more than I should. Then I start to feel guilty because I know I should be spending more time with my kids. What vicious cycle this is. Any one else get in this cycle?

T.I.T.

First of all go check out Elena's recipe for T.I.T. It sounds delicious! (Check out my right sidebar to do this, I am too lazy to link it!) The recipe I tried this week was awful! Poor Russ has to eat it the rest of the week :( The good news is that I tried a recipe out last night for FHE treat. It was a success! Here it is:

Cookie Cups

Ingredients:

• 17.5 oz package of oatmeal cookie mix
• About 24 raspberries
• 1 small pkg of pudding (We chose cheesecake! Yum!)

Directions:

1. Follow directions for mixing dough from package of oatmeal cookie mix.
2. coat a 12-cup muffin pan with vegetable cooking spray and place a heaping tablespoon of dough into each cup. Press dough into bottom and up sides of cups. (It is definitely more than a tablespoon that you use!)
3. Bake at 375 F for 20 to 24 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove pan from oven and press back of a spoon into sides and bottom of cookies to reshape into cups. Let cool 10 minutes. Add pudding and fruit. (Make sure and watch the cookies! 20 minutes was too long for my stove and they ended up a little hard! Also I poured the pudding directly into the cookie cups after mixing it. Then I refrigerated it. Worked like a charm!)

****If you have a tried and true recipe you'd be willing to share, leave a comment with the recipe title and post the recipe on your blog so we can all come and check it out. Thanks for playing; the more the merrier! ****

Layouts for the week!

Something really cool happened to me last week. I downloaded a scrapbook kit and made a page out of it (No, that is not the exciting thing!) I made a page using it and sent it to the designer to see. I like letting the designer see what I have done, just so they know that people are really using their stuff. Anyways, she asked me if she could put it on her website. I was soooo excited. I of course said yes. You should all check out her website, not just to see my page, but to pick up a template from her as well. She designs blog templates as well. You can find her blog here!Well, here is the layout I was talking about.

What a Chick!

Designs by Dani
octtemplate
Allie Brown: Plaid Chicky
Paper 6
Paper frame2
Paper frame
Fat ribbon
Diecutflower2
Bracket
Paper 13
Brad
Girl chick
Fonts for Peas
Pea Lazy Llama

Not enough excercise!

Apparently I didn't exercise enough last week. I stayed exactly the same. I guess that means I need to get my but in gear and do some jumping ( I have a little exercise trampoline) Jump, jump, jump!

Three Sickies!

Russell, Lily, and Allie are all sick! Russ hadn't been feeling well all week, so he finally went to the doctor. He found out he had a really bad ear infection and bronchitis. He is on a ton of medicine but isn't doing much better. He sounds awful!

Lily of course has been sick for about five to six weeks now. Yes you read that right! She came down with a cold the beginning of September. She had it for four weeks, kicked the thing for two days, and came down with it again. Poor thing just cries when I have to wipe her nose. It is getting really raw! We also decided to only go to Sacrament today so that Lily wouldn't get all the kids in nursery sick. She was not happy with that until we told her that she could watch a movie when we got home. That sure cheered her up.

Then you have Allie. She did finally get over that eye infection! Yeah, no more eye drops! However, as soon as the eye drops were finished she got VERY congested and started sneezing like crazy. She is starting to clear up, thank goodness.

Me?! Well, I am just trying to take care of these three without getting sick myself. I don't think I have ever washed my hands this much in my life. My hands feel like sandpaper because of it :(

National De-Lurking Day!

Lula over at Lulaville has declared today National Delurking Day. My friend Elena decided to De-Lurk her blog, and I am following suit. (Most of this I directly copied from Elena's site! Thanks for doing all the work Elena, you worded it soooo much better than I ever could!)

Anywho...I think it is a GREAT idea to have a day that is SAFE for non commenters to delurk all together. Believe me, I am the chicken of all chickens when it comes to commenting. I'll even be nice and leave a little comment love on your own blog. You don't ever have to comment here again (unless you want to of course), but I would really love to know who you all are.

Since adding fidgit(sp) I have noticed mysterious cities popping up on it. Cities that I swear I don't know anyone in. I think most of them are coming from links from my friends sites. I don't know...but I would like to!

So today on National Delurking Day won't you please tell me who you are? Pretty please? And in return, I'm going to Delurk myself on a couple of blogs that I frequently stalk. See...we're all going to make new friends today. How fun!

Oh and all you regulars, you can comment today too because you know I love it.

So whho's gonna be first?

T.I.T

I tried a new recipe this week. Truth be told, I didn't enjoy it all that much. Russ liked it enough that he said I could make it again, at least once a month. Even though I wasn't jumping up and down with joy that I found this recipe I am still going to post it. Along with this I am going to post one of my most famous recipes. My chocolate chip cookie recipe. This recipe has a secret ingredient....vanilla pudding. It makes these cookies fluffy yet chewy! Every time I give these to someone the recipe is requested from me. I am not trying to brag because it isn't my recipe. It isn't even a family recipe! My mom got the recipe at Relief Society. Give it a try, you just might fall in love with them. Oh, and I know I posted this recipe before but it wasn't on T.I.T. so I thought I could reuse it :) (I don't know what is up with the formatting, but I couldn't fix it! Sorry!)

Mini Farfalle Chipotle Chicken Pasta in Fire Roasted Tomato Cream Sauce

by Picky Palate

Ingredients:

1 lb Barilla Mini Farfalle pasta

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ Cup white finely diced onion

2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped, from can (3 if you like spicy)
1 fresh corn on the cob, kernels removed
1 Cup drained black beans
2 Cups diced cooked chicken
1/4 Cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

2 14 oz cans Muir Glen Fire Roasted diced Tomatoes
½ Cup heavy cream
Pinch salt, pepper, garlic salt

Directions:

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.

2. Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil into large 5 qt skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, chipotle, corn, and beans. Cook for 5 minutes, until softened. Stir in cooked chicken and cilantro leaves until heated through, reduce heat to low and set aside.

3. Place both cans of tomatoes into food processor and pulse until nearly smooth. Pour into chicken mixture. Stir in cooked pasta; stir to combine. Stir in heavy cream, salt, pepper and garlic salt to taste. Cook until heated through and serve. Garnish with additional cilantro if desired.

8 servings (These are VERY Large servings!)

****If you have a tried and true recipe you'd be willing to share, leave a comment with the recipe title and post the recipe on your blog so we can all come and check it out. Thanks for playing; the more the merrier! ****

Layouts for the week!

I've decided to post my scrapbook layouts only on Mondays. That way they don't consume our blog and if anyone wants to skip the post it makes it easier if it is all in one chunk. I probably will only have about one layout a week to post, but oh well! This one is from when Lily was just a few days old!Lily’s 1^st Bath
Just 2 More Things
Template6
Kristen Aagard -- Cuddle Duck
Alphabet
CuddleDucky
BabyBlues_Paper
GrungySolid_Paper
WetTowelWhite_Paper

Weight loss!

On my sidebar I have started a weight loss ticker. (Did you notice that I didn't put my weight up there? hahahaha!) Hopefully it will motivate me to continue to excercies. I know that weight isn't the most important thing. I really would just like to look good instead of "fluffy". But seeing numbers going down on a scale gives me some sense of achievement. Anyway on Mondays I am going to post my progress...if there is any. Well since last Monday I have lost 2 lbs! Wahoo! I guess it is those three walks I went on in one day because our car was broken down. Anyone want to excercise together? I just walk around my neighborhood or do a video. We should all encourage each other. Sorry to all the guys out there that read our blog....this is proabably boring to you! Just so you know, the above number is not an unrealistic number to lose. I am trying to get back to my "pre-Lily" size which is actually a lot higher than my "pre-marriage" size.

Zion National Park (A Little Late!)

I finally got my pictures from Zion National Park! Our brother-in-law Rob had some recovery software that he used to get them back. Isn't he awesome?! Thanks Rob! Even though this is really old news I am still going to blog. Hope you all enjoy reading about our vacation!

Saturday, August 16th
After a seven hour trip from my parents house in Utah we made it to the Watchman campground. Most of Russell's family made it to this camp out. We were missing Barton and his family and Trent and his family. After getting there we started to set up camp. While setting up camp Sarah and Wesley watched Lily and Allie! What a huge help! I think Allie got handed off to a couple other members of the family throughout the process. Thanks to all of you for the help! We all just kinda chilled this day, and helped each other set up camp. Leslie and Ryan didn't get there until at least 6:00! Poor them! Dinner was REALLY late for them!

(Sarah, Lily, and Zion playing in the hammock!)

Sunday, August 17th
Sunday of course was a day of rest. We all ate breakfast together which turned out really good. I was a little worried because it was something called Eggs in a Bag. I am soooooo picky about my eggs. In the end I just scrambled ours in a bowl and then dumped it in the bag. Everyone else just kinda pinched theirs to mix it up. Yuck!

After breakfast we all gathered at the Kemeney's/Parent Jones campground for a "game time". This was our way of having a sacrament meeting without really having one. We played Seek. Really fun, but we learned just how much the adults DON'T know about the gospel. Just teasin' we all did pretty good, but some of the questions were HARD!

After lunch time we all just hung around our campsites. I begged Sarah to braid my hair in little braids for me. It was such a relief when she was done. My head was sooooo much cooler! Did I mention that it was in the high 90s while we were there? I think it might have been in the 100s some of the time as well. After dinner that night we all gathered at Ryan and Leslie's campground and had S'mores and Banana Boats. Leslie is the queen of great desserts! Later that night the adults played a fun question game that helped us all get to know each other better. (Sarah braiding my hair)

(Lily enjoying her S'more)

Monday, August 18th
This was the first day of actually doing things at Zion's. for those of you who haven't been to Zion's, there is this shuttle you can take up the canyon. It stops at multiple places that you can get off and go on hikes. The funny thing about these shuttles is that the Jones family almost took up a whole bus! We all got a good laugh out of that! We got off the shuttle at Weeping Rock. This was a wonderful hike! It was a steep incline, okay not that steep, but very short. Maybe 1/2 a mile. Perfect considering we had a lot of little kids. When you get to the top you see a rock that looks like it is crying. Water is dripping out the side of it! So very cool! The only bad part about this was that I didn't cover Allie with her blanket well enough. Her cheeks, nose, and feet got a little burned! :( She didn't complain about it, but I felt bad none the less. We then got back on the shuttle and came back to camp.

That afternoon the camp hosts saw us walking around as family. They took a head count. Apparently there were too many us for how many campgrounds. With a lot of talking we worked out a situation where we could move to the South campground and not have to rent extra campgrounds. The host there turned his head so that we wouldn't have to. So Monday afternoon was spent uprooting camp putting it in the car, transferring it , and resetting it up. Blah! Not fun!
(Riding the shuttle)

(Weeping rock)

(Russ and Lily catching water with their tongues off of weeping rock. Gross!)

(The Jones Family....well most of us)

(Allie spent most of her time in the bouncer. It kept her clean and away from bugs on the ground. I couldn't get over how cute and relaxed she looks in this picture!)

(Lots of wildlife was around the campground. I was very surprised to see deer walking through it!)

Tuesday, August 19th
This day we had a really slow start. We didn't get going on our hike until 10:00. Oops! We just walked a long a trail that goes about halfway up the canyon. Almost at the end of the walk we discovered a nice swimming hole. Most of the family jumped in with their clothes on. I of course stayed dry. I hate that wet sticky feeling. While there Russ sat Lily on a sandbar and told her to stay there. He walked over to the shore to talk to me for a second. We were talking when I heard "Mommy! Mo....gurgle!" I looked over as the river took Lily off the sandbar and swept her under the water. Russ dove in and got her. She was okay, but really scared. The rest of the time we were there she wouldn't let go of Russ.

After everyone got out of the water we caught the shuttle to a little museum they have at the base of the canyon. We watched a short film about the canyon. It was pretty cool. That afternoon we found another swimming hole closer to the campground. I got in and swam around with Lily. The water was cold but felt nice. This hole was also really nice because it was all shady and had a large sandy area. I was able to lay Allie down on a blanket and not worry about her getting burned!

(Russ jumping off a rock at swimming hole #1)

Wednesday, August 20th
This morning we got off earlier! Yeah! We again rode the shuttle up to Zion's Lodge. From there we took a hike up to a place called Emerald Pools. This hike was a little rough on some of the youngsters. Lily was beet red by the time we hiked back down. The hike was worth it though. It was a like a little oasis in the middle of a desert. I wish we could have continued up the trail to Upper Emerald Pools, but there is no way the kids could have made it.

After having a quick lunch back at camp everyone suited up and rode the shuttle back to the first swimming hole that we found. The kids and adults had a great time! That night I cooked some dutch oven peach cobbler for everyone. I wasn't sure it was going to turn out, but worked out awesome! Russ really liked it which was most important because he was the one who had requested it.
(Our family at Emerald Pools. Can you see small waterfall behind us? Pretty huh?!)

(Did I mention this is what I spent most of my time doing? Feeding Allie if you couldn't tell! Poor Allie would always come out covered in sweat because it was so hot under that blanket)

Thursday, August 21st
Sarah and Wesley had decided they were going to hike part of the Narrows. They invited anyone to come along that wanted to. All of the Jones family started out with them. The first mile of the trail was paved. After that you had follow the Virgin River. You were constantly walking through it. Me being adventurous decided that we should hike farther than just to the end of the paved trail. We didn't realize exactly how deep the water was going to be. Russ spent most of the time carrying Lily. A couple of times I had to left Allie's legs up so that they wouldn't get wet. Crazy huh?!

Russ grumbled a little bit about going on this hike. He didn't want to get blisters from his feet getting wet. By the end of it he was really happy I had convinced him we should go! We saw some AMAZING landscapes. We went in about another two miles (maybe). We never made it to the "Narrows" part but oh well!

After getting back from the Narrows I begged Russell to take us into Springdale so we could go to the souvenir shop. I had been trying to do this all week, but we always ran out of time. While looking around at the souvenir shop a lady came up to us. I recognized her. When we had been hiking back out of the Narrows she had been hiking in. The only reason I remember her is because she had on some funky spandex. Anyway she came up to us and handed us a child backpack carrier thingy. She told us that she had seen us walking in the Narrows and that she was very impressed with Russell for carrying Lily around without a carrier. She then preceded to tell us that she was heading back to Dubai the next day. She had decided her four year old son had finally outgrown their carrier. She asked us to take it because she knew we needed it. We Thanked her again and she reiterated how impressed with us she was. I was so excited! I had wanted one of these things, but they were always to expensive for us. When we got home I googled the brand name which is Kelty. I found out this particular carrier is worth $200! I seriously about peed my pants. What a nice lady!

That evening all the adults got together and had a great came of Catch Phrase. It was so fun to get to see the comical side of Russ's parents and the rest of his family that I don't know to well. We had some pretty good laughs that night.

(Standing in the Virgin River on our way to the Narrows!)

(Lunch break! Oh look, Allie isn't asleep!)

(Lily and Rylie on the shuttle! Lily really became attached to Riley on the camping trip. They are only two months apart. Too bad they live in California!)

(Side view of the carrier)

Friday, August 22nd
Time to go home! We all broke camp. We had everything packed into our car by 11:10. We were supposed to be gone by 11:00. Oops! We had all decided to go see this man made tunnel that takes you to the East side of the park (We were at the South side of the park). Everyone got in their cars and started them. All except us. Our car wouldn't start! The battery was dead! Poor Wesley had to dig under all their camping stuff and his spare tire in order to get out his jumper cables. The car jumped fine but we couldn't turn it off for fear that it would need jumped again. So we all caravaned through the tunnel. It was neat to imagine that it had been dug by hand when it was soooooo long! We also went and saw Checkerboard Mesa. It wasn't as cool as we thought it would be. After turning around we came back to Springdale were we all stopped and ate lunch.

After lunch we tried our car and it started! Wahoo! That meant we could leave and not have to have Sarah and Wesley follow us to my parents house. After six hours of driving we made it to my parents house. Phew! Our vacation was over! (While fixing the car I gave Lily a movie theater size box dots to keep her entertained. It worked like magic!)

I wish I had taken a picture of our car to show you all. It was so full that on the way down to Zion Canyon I had to drive and Russ had to sit between the two carseats. On the way back I did the same. We really need to get a bigger car if we are going to go on any more vacations! Here are the rest of the pictures from the trip. There are a lot of them! Don't feel pressured to watch all of them, but do know there are many beautiful pictures in it!)

Oh no!

Here is the update on Allie. We gave her the eye medicine for the five days, but her eye still looked a little goopey. I decided to wait and see. Two days later it was really goopey again and a blue bump had formed right next to her birthmark. So we went in to the doctors.

The doctor looked at it and said she PROBABLY just never got rid of the infection completely. He wasn't all that sure that was what it was though. He thought it might be a blocked tear duct, but it probably isn't he said. In the end he decided to have me give Allie the medicine for another five days and have me massage her tear duct to make sure it isn't a clogged duct. If it isn't better in five days we have to go back in so he can look at it. He also thinks we probably should take Allie in to an eye doctor to have them check and make sure her birthmark isn't causing the whole problem. We will only do that if it doesn't clear up from the medicine.

As far as the bump goes, he wasn't sure what it was either. Do doctors know anything these days? I think it was what caused him concern and wanted her to see the eye doctor. These aren't the best pictures, but if you look close you can see the bump. Poor Allie! Hopefully, this medicine will fix the problem this time!

Free Purse give away!

Who wants a free purse? Go check out this website and you could win one! http://www.handbagplanet.com

Sisters

I finally have a new layout to share! This one took me FOREVER to do! I redid this thing from the beginning four times! Who says Digital Scrapbooking saves you time? This is one of my favorite pictures of Lily and Allie.

Sweet Shoppe Designs – Jdelfin
Cookie 101_51
Summertime Designs -- Limeade Kit
Stripes Paper
Dotted Ribbon
Green Gingham Ribbon
Tag 1
Black Damask Paper
Green Gingham Bow
Button 3
Button 4
Audra’s Little Scraps -- Distressed Frames Family 1
Sisters