It's been a while!

Boy how the summer flies by! This last month has been pretty busy for us. I haven't been to church in almost a month, and sadly, today will be no different. Fathers Day was great... I got Joe the game Acquire (its a favorite of his- one of the few he is even kind of interested in owning... he LOVED it!) and a tie with the girls pictures on it. It was so easy to make! I used THIS WEBSITE and just uploaded the pictures I wanted on the tie and VIOLA! Joe loves his tie! I missed church that day cause Lil had thrown up once the night before. Now she does this randomly every now and then... WE are thinking its a food reaction or allergy, but have yet to figure out what is causing it. Anyway- since church is at 9 in the morning, I didn't feel comfortable taking her to church until I KNEW whether she was REALLY sick and throwing up constantly or if it was another isolated incident where she empties her belly and then is fine. Turns out it was the latter. She was totally fine after she threw up. No fever, no yucky tummy ache, nothing. So we decided to go up and visit Grandpa (Joe's Dad) and wish him a Happy Fathers Day. Well, Joe and I really paid the price for that decision. All of his family had gotten together at his Dad's house, and everyone brought desserts to share. And, ANYONE who touched the peach pie got FOOD POISONING two days later! Joe had a full slice, I took a single bite of his pie... And sure enough, we both found ourselves wishing for a quick and painless death come Tuesday.

Now- to add to this, we were supposed to be leaving for vacation Wednesday! Not the best timing for food poisoning to rear its ugly head... We decided that if we felt well enough to NOT throw up or stop at every bathroom along the way we would still make the long drive to CA the next morning. Also, in case it was the flu (which I was CONVINCED it wasn't- ya never forget what food poisoning feels like) we wouldn't leave if either of the girls got sick. Well- Wednesday morning rolls around, and neither of us are interested in ever eating again, but we were holding down crackers and Gatorade just fine. SO- off to California we went! The good thing about traveling with food poisoning is that we saved a TON of money by NOT eating fast food! We packed food for the girls to eat, but neither of us were remotely interested in eating greasy hamburgers. I INSISTED that we stop at Jack In The Box around dinner time (Utah doesn't have Jack In The Box- so very sad!!!), but instead of my usual Sourdough Jack, I got a side salad :S It took us another 3 days before our appetites finally returned. But- at least we weren't nauseated anymore!

We had a ton of fun in CA. We took Lil to San Francisco (I guess we took Lacey too0 but she won't remember it...) She got to see some seals off the piers. She had a waffle cone of strawberry ice cream from Pier 39. We then headed up to Family Reunion to camp on the Russian River near Monte Rio. It was nice weather, and the camp ground was very well shaded. The girls did well in a tent, though Lacey was running a fever every night we were up there. She would be fine during the day, but for whatever reason, she would run a fever while she slept. :S Unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot we could do about it. We gave her Baby Motrin (which I always have on hand) but its not like I could just head on home, seeing as how HOME was 15 hours away... My kids are the queens of one symptom illnesses! She wasn't acting sick, she wasn't even fussy- just feverish at night...

(That first picture was a picture of my family at Reunion back when I was Lacey's age...)

Of course I took my camera on this trip, but didn't take ANY pictures. DOPE! Well, I did take a couple pictures of Lil in San Francisco. I just haven't gotten them out of the camera yet... Lil got to play in the ocean, she got to play in a river full of otters. She got REALLY REALLY dirty playing with my cousins kids... I wish I HAD taken a picture of her covered in dirt that first day- it was impressive! She looked like a raccoon! She had a blast, and was pretty well behaved for the drive too! (Thank goodness for portable DVD players!)

(And THIS second one is my family at Reunion when I was roughly Lil's age...)

Once we got home from the trip things got back to normal fairly quick. Last week I went swimming at my cousins with my two girls. And I learned an unbelievably scary lesson. The inner tubes with a seat sewn in are not necessarily safe. In fact they CAN be more dangerous than not having a floating device at all! Lil flipped over in her inner tube and got stuck under the water. I had Lacey in my arms, so I couldn't get to her very quickly. Luckily Julie managed to get to her and flip her back over. Lil was somewhat traumatized by the whole ordeal. As was I. I know its important for her to go back to the pool. I don't want her to be petrified of water, but at the same time I don't want to take her back! It really had me freaked out. I also know its important for her to talk it out, which I do encourage her to do, but its hard for me to listen to it knowing that me being inattentive for such a short period of time could have killed her! I assumed the inner tube would keep her safe, OBVIOUSLY I was VERY wrong. And I will say this, that inner tube is no longer in existence in this house! I am just very grateful that she is okay. Since the incident, she has mentioned time and again how Julie saved her (thank goodness!) and how Julie is her best friend (mine too!). She is such a great kid, and I am so thankful that I still have her here with me.

So I sit here writing this while missing yet another week of church. :( I currently have sinus issues, a cold, AND possibly pink eye. My eyes don't itch but they are awfully pink and I woke up this morning unable to open them. Yuck. I miss church :(

All in all, this month has been pretty eventful, and next month is shaping up to be pretty busy as well! Including a recipe exchange at my house on Wednesday night... Here's to a busy summer!

(You know- looking back at this post, it seems we have had a decent amount of illness this last month. Here is to hoping for a healthy remainder of the summer!)