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.

a week in Idaho

On monday, we headed out to Kerry and Lana's to spend most of the week there. The girls were excited as usual about all the animals. Papa bought them little helmets so they could go riding. Kara went first. She had fun.

Kiersten really liked it. She kept begging to "dwive" the horse herself.

She also wanted to make friends with the roosters, but they kept getting away from her.

Kara always loves playing fetch with Duke.

Grams had bought a little tea set and some dress up things. They enjoyed their afternoon tea party. I think they used chocolate milk in the tiny little cups.

We decided to go visit Grandma Hill one afternoon. The girls had fun at her house, and Ben and Kerry were able to fix a few things for her while we were there. Evie crawled all the way up her stairs without assistance.

On friday we drove to Twin falls to see Nancy, Victor, Tommy, and Whitney. She is such an adorable little girl! She is just precious. Evie was walking up to her while she was sleeping on the couch, and Kiersten exclaimed, "oh no! Mommy, Evie's gonna get the princess!".

I wish I could have spent much more time cuddling with her, but I had a really bad cold, and didn't think I needed to be coughing all over her. I did hold her for a bit, and was able to hold in all my coughs until I was done holding her. It's nice to hold a baby that just lays in your arms instead of wriggling all over.

saturday we had an easter egg hunt with Tommy. That was the girls' third hunt, and they weren't tired of easter at all. They had tons of fun.

Tommy and Evie had some baby friendly eggs to find.

He loved finding those blue eggs, but did get distracted a few times with his fun backyard toys.

The girls got super spoiled again! And after they had these 3 hunts, they got to come home to the easter things that had been left behind. So they have candy that should last the rest of the year.

Kara took some of her easter candy to school for her class helper day. I think next year I will hardly buy any candy!

Evie got to try her first sucker. She was enjoying it until it got dropped in the grass too many times, and got taken away. Now if she sees her sisters with one, she goes crazy trying to get at it.

the daddys enjoying the hunt

Later that evening, Grandma Van Sickle was taking dinner out of the oven, and Evie was standing nearby. She put her hand down on the oven door and got a second degree burn on her hand. I have been racking my brain to remember what I was doing, and why she had wandered in there without Ben or me noticing. I was helping the girls with something, but I just can't remember. I felt like the worst mommy in the world! It was really sad and scary, but she handled it well. She only cried for about 15 minutes. When I took her to the doctor on monday, he was surprised she would let him handle it and dress it with no fussing or crying. I guess it must not hurt as bad as it looks like it should. He thinks it will heal fine. She had an ear infection when I took her in, so he put her on an antibiotic, and said it will also prevent the burn from getting infected.

my big, tough girl! Still so sweet and happy, even when injured. She was even good for our long drive home to washington.

7/31

we drove up to Idaho to see ben's dad, and to break up our drive home. Here he is meeting the baby. I love how she is reaching up to him. Katie and her boyfriend, Brennan came over. He did pretty well with Ben's endless teasing.

sleepy time.

there is usually an impromptu concert when we go to Papa's house.

The Miller's happened to be having a reunion this weekend. We were able to go to the lake with everyone on saturday, and to dinner.

The girls had tons of fun. They did get a little more color than I'd have liked. We just aren't used to that idaho sun.

Everyone was glad to meet Evangeline. Here she is being held by Ben's aunt DeeAnn.

It was a little hard to keep track of all the kids, and we had a few scares with missing kids, but everyone was found in the end.

Kara playing in the water.

my Kiersten baby.

getting ready to leave for dinner. Kerry and Lana got there right as we were starting to pack things up.

I woke up from a nap to find that Papa had given Karalee a guitar to play.

Kiersten soon joined with a drum, and they got Papa to dance for them.

They love playing with all of the animals, especially poor Boo-Paw, who they are constantly picking up, or chasing around.

Playing fetch with Duke.

Evie was happyto be able to relax out of the carseat, which she now hates being in. Her cheeks are starting to get chubby.

we left at 1 AM to drive home. Ben slept from the time we got back from dinner, til about 12:30. I kept the girls awake as long as I could, but they were out by the time we were ready to leave. They still slept for most of the night in the car though.

Papa's house!

We took so many pictures in Idaho, I decided to break them up into seperate posts. Most of our trip was spent with Ben's dad and step-mom. Both girls just love their Papa and Grams. Here is Kara riding a horse. Kiersten got a turn to ride too.

Kiersten absolutely LOVES Duke. He is pretty terrified of her though. She spent a lot of time chasing him around, trying to pet him.

They had this cute bike for Kara to ride. She spent a lot of time on it, riding all around the yard.

Kara loves her Papa.

Both girls also really loved holding, petting, and pretty much pestering poor Boo-Paw.

Lana came home from work with this swimming pool one day. It was fun for the kids, and the animals liked drinking there.

more pool fun.

getting a shower.

They also had this fun riding toy for Kiersten to play with. She really liked it.

Ben and Kerry put up a chain link fence to keep the girls away from the canal.

feeding the horses.

Kiersten baby and Mr. Doodle.

Kiersten kept getting jealous of Kara getting her hair done, so I gave her a pony tail for the first time. it didn't stay in very well, though.

Kara petting Jebby.

Kiersten loved Jeb. She even sat on him for a few seconds before he ran away.

Papa and Grams relaxing.

Kara really wanted Duke to jump through this hoop. She did finally get him to do it twice after about 20 tries.

Kara and Duke played lots of fetch. If they were both outside, there was usually a ball getting thrown or caught.

We still have tons of pics from our trip, so I will probably do another update tomorrow!