Kara's first flower arrangement

I haven't taken many pictures lately, so just a short update today.
A few days ago, the girls were playing in the backyard, and admiring the pretty flowers. Kara wanted to know if we could cut some flowers for the kitchen table. So I let them each pick out a few flowers, and put them in a vase. We had a lively few minutes when we discovered an earwig had hitched a ride in the house, but he was easy to deal with. Kara was the main "stylist". The white ones were droopy at first, but much perkier the next day. (now they're all dead, because I didn't change the water). I think in the spring she'll really like doing some little arrangements, because we have tons of other trees and bushes that I think will be really pretty.

Kiersten totally thinks she helped more than she actually did. I'm glad to let her think so, she was just as proud as Kara, even though she didn't touch the flowers once we brought them in the house. She was a contributor after the fact, though. The next day I found some dandelions floating around in the water, and today, before I threw them out, I saw a silk flower floating in there as well.

An updated pic of Evie's head wound. It doesn't look nearly as bad as I thought it would when we took off the bandage. I think it still may scar, but it's looking better now, and hasn't bothered her at all. Hard to believe such a small thing caused such a big fuss, but it was really scary at the time, and SUPER bloody. I should take a pic of her now. We went to a birthday party over the weekend, and she was diving headfirst out of the bouncy house, so now she has a few scratches and bruises on her little face.

how we spent the rest of our trip

On sunday we headed over to Kerry and Lana's for brunch, and to spend the night. The girls talked Papa into saddling a horse for them to ride. Kiersten loved being up there by herself. she was all smiles.

Karalee got to ride without Papa holding and leading the horse. she is getting so big. It's fun to see them doing things like this.

Even Evie got to take a turn.

We had our friends Aerik and Brooke over with their little boy, Chase, who had not been on a horse before. It took quite a bit of persuasion, and a little trickery to get him up there, but he seemed to like it. Afterward he said something like, "I'm 4 and I can ride a horse!" His 4th birthday was the day before.

On monday we drove to Montana to stay for the night. We went to this fun water park called Splash montana. It was perfect for kids. The main pool doesn't go deeper than 3 1/2 feet. I didn't even notice the deep pool with swimming lanes until we were driving away. We had lots of fun here.

Ben and the girls enjoying the lazy river.

Kara was barely too short to go on the big water slides, but she still had fun on the little kid slide.







We stayed in a hotel in missoula that night, and left after breakfast the next morning. We got home around dinner time. Ben and I both showered, and then Ben headed out to get some dinner for everyone. While he was gone, Evie was sitting on the couch playing with some toys, when she stood up, smiled at me, and then just fell off sideways, hitting her forehead squarely on the coffee table. I can still see it in slowmo in my head, and keep wondering, why didn't I jump up to grab her as soon as she stood up? Why didn't I set her back on the floor as soon as she climbed up? I guess because she climbs everywhere, and hasn't ever fallen off the couch, but that's really no excuse. In my head it seems like I had time to catch her as she was falling. But it happened anyway, and she started screaming of course. As I picked her up, I saw she had a red scratch running across her head, that didn't look too bad. But as soon as I noticed it, that red line turned black and popped open, spraying both of us with SO MUCH blood! It was terrifying. I rushed into the bathroom, and got it as under control as I could and tried to call Ben, but I heard his phone ringing from the other room. So I got dressed and got her ready, and looked up ER's in the gps, so I could leave when he got back. He was back within minutes, and I told him what was happening, he saw the bandaid on her head and said it couldn't be that bad, but when I lifted it to show him, he agreed that she needed to go to the hospital. the neighbor came over with a first aid kit, and we got it bandaged better, and off I went while Ben stayed with the other kids. Having always waited hours in the ER, I was prepared for a long night. But show up with a one year old bleeding profusely from her head, and you get taken care of straight away. Everyone there was really nice, and she didn't cry at all. When I walked in, both the receptionists looked at me and said, "coffee table?" I was shocked, but they both just laughed and said it happens to every kid. ( I guess Kara and Kiersten were some miraculous exception) The Dr. decided she could close it with dermabond, so she didn't need stitches, which was great. So the hardest part was just holding her still for the glue to be applied, and I had 2 nice male nurses to help me, so it wasn't all that bad. One of the nurses gave her a soft little teddy bear to snuggle with, and she was happy with that and grapes from my purse. So, it was a scary and sad night, but it turned out the best it could have, I suppose. here she is all glued shut and bandaged up. It hasn't bothered her, unless she see's her reflection in the mirror. Then she picks at the bandages a little.

Katie's wedding

Katie's wedding was on saturday. We went to the temple to see them come out, and to get my bridesmaid dress (which was miraculously sewed the night before. I literally got fitted for it at 5pm, and it was done by the next morning!)
After the temple, everyone headed over to the Hilton for the ring ceremony. Vicky and Pam waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Ben and me walking down the aisle together.

Kara and Kiersten were flower girls. Evie didn't walk when she was supposed to, so Ben ended up just grabbing and holding her. It was really hot, so Kara was a little whiny.
She didn't walk down the aisle, but still made an adorable little flower girl.

Tommy wasn't too happy about his role as ring bearer. I love this pic of the 2 groomsmen holding their fussy babies.2 of our favorite people to hang out with.
It was a really sweet ceremony.

Kiersten and Jason after the ring ceremony.

the wedding party. Kara kept putting her hand over her eyes and complaining about the sun, so that ruined some of the shots. I guess that's what happens when you go from 70° weather back home to 90°+ in Idaho.

bridesmaids

Back for the reception. We let the girls take a nap after the ring ceremony, and came back around 6 for pictures, and the reception. The girls loved playing out on the lawn, and it was cooler, so they were much happier.

I wanted to take a picture of Kiersten, and she immediately made a silly face.Daddy-daughter dance. Kiersten was so excited to dance with Ben, but noone realized when it was time to join in, so they missed it. He made up for it by dancing with her tons later on.

Mother-son dance. More than one person asked why I wasn't out there, and I had to remind everyone, I have no sons! Vicky looked thrilled to be dancing with Jason.

And Ben danced with Lana, who seemed to enjoy it until he unexpectedly dipped her.

Daddy and Kiersten

Ben dancing with Abby.

Erika was nice enough to take a few shots of Ben and me dancing. I love this one because it looks like Brennon is shaking Katie up and down.

of course he had to dance with the bride too. Katie looked so happy all evening. I've never seen her smile so much.

more dancing.

groomsmen doing the YMCA dance

Kiersten kept asking me if she could dance with Victor, and I told her to go up and ask him. Finally she came to me in a huff, and said, "Victor keeps dancing with Nancy, and not ME". so Ben was kind enough to dance with Nancy, freeing Vic up to dance with Kiersten. you have to look over Ben's shoulder to see them.

they left through a bubble tunnel. It looked really cute.

they also realeased all the butterflies that had been part of the centerpieces. On landed one Ben's arm and stayed there until he picked it off and handed it to Trevor.

playing in Island Park

Since we were going out to Idaho for Katie's wedding, we decided to go out a few days early and spend some time at Mark and Vicky's cabin in Island Park.


Even Katie came up for the afternoon on thursday. We had tons of fun playing in the water, and made smores later that night. Uncle Charlie roasted a little bat that had been terrifying Ben and Nancy in the cabin that morning.


We also went up to big springs, which was just a few miles away.
Kiersten really took a liking to uncle Charlie, and wanted to hold his hand, talk to him, and ask him questions all day.we were disappointed to find that instead of tons of really huge fish to feed, there are now one or two fish and tons of seagulls.


Vicky bought this blow up toy, but it had a few holes in it. So Ben made her crawl in there first to prove it was safe for the kids to use.


The kids all loved playing in the water. We had a couple of really nice days, and amazingly, no one got sunburned.

Ben and Kara on the jetski.

Kiersten's turn to ride.Evie had fun in the water too. She loved borrowing Tommy's little float toy.

Ben and me in the water after wiping out.

Vic and Ben playing around on friday morning.

Nancy took Tommy and Kara out in the paddle boat.

The girl's thanking uncle Charlie for having us up to the cabin.

I just downloaded 300 pictures off my camera from our trip, so I'll be posting again soon!