We had a visitor

We don't know how he got into the house, but there he was staring at us. He, unfortunately, did not survive the capture and we had to flush him down the toilet. It was in an odd way kind of sad. I don't know why. Maybe because he's a reptile and not a bug. Because I have absolutely NO problem killing bugs. He was just a baby lizard, not much bigger than 3 inches or so.

Poor little Leah

This is Leah before.




And this is Leah after. It might be hard from the angle of the first picture, but try and note the drastic difference in the size of her lips. It was SO sad. I thought I was going to have to get her stitches on her lip. But she stopped bleeding pretty quickly. She had a nasty bruise on the inside of her lip for a few days though.



Here's what happened: She was standing up on a KID size chair (Ashlyn's little pink one if you all know what I'm talking about). She fell forward off the side. Hit her face onto the tile floor, and then flipped over onto her back. The crazy thing was that I was standing RIGHT by her. It all happened so fast, I still didn't have time to catch her in mid fall. Poor little thing. She laid on my lap for about an hour and then was back to her normal little self, so I guess it wasn't so bad after all. Phew!!!

Some Random unsolicited advice

If you have never taken a kickboxing class, than it's probably not a good idea to try TURBO kickboxing (unless of course you are coordinated and can step in and pick up a totally choregraphed class with ease. I am not and cannot). HA...you should have seen me. I must have looked ridiculous. I walked out after 20 minutes. What a doof I am!!!

Our Tiny Piece of Earth Part II

A long time ago (March to be exact), I posted a picture of our little patio area. I promised I would show an "after" picture, but then forgot. We fixed it up months ago and the girls have been enjoying it for some time. We had to get a big umbrella because it is in the sun most of the day, but it is a nice little place to come outside and relax without worrying that the girls can "run off". I know it's small and humble (and definitely lacking in grass), but we like it and are glad we have it. Now we just need a little grill and a few more plants to replace the ones that have died (I don't have much of a green thumb unfortunately).

And since I don't know how to embed a link, here are a couple of "before" pictures again. (Does anyone want to tell me how to embed a link please?)

Noah's Ark at the Skirball

We went to the Skirball Museum yesterday with a bunch of friends to see the Noah's Ark exhibit. It was lots of fun. Totally kid friendly. It's a Jewish museum, but they somehow managed to keep God out of the entire Noah's Ark story. I'm still trying to figure out how that works, but oh well. It was fun anyway. The art was really cool. Lot's of the animals were made out of random objects. Fans for the owls wings, coils for their bodies. Stuff like that. There were pulleys, and levers and all sorts of cords to pull and buttons to push. Ashlyn thought it was "pretty amazing". She particularly liked making it "rain". Here are some pictures from the event. It's a permanent exhibit, so if you want to go, there is plenty of time. It's pretty busy right now though, so if you want to go, make sure to get tickets in advance.

Hey, there's Beth and Tyler

Cool Owl huh!!

I think this is suppose to be a yak. What do you think? I couldn't quite tell.

Brooke and Renee. Aren't they cute with their little babes?

Leah building some blocks.

Ashlyn was brave enough to climb up, but climbing down was another story. I had to go up and get her. That thing was definitely not made for adults.

Leah making the wind blow.

Here's Ashlyn making lightning. Too bad you can't tell from the picture.


**Renee- I saw you snapping lots of pix. I tag you now.

Randomness

Apparently Leah thought this little alligator was thirsty because I walk over to get a drink, and I find mr. alligator waiting for one. I'm sure she didn't really know what she was doing, but I had to laugh and take a picture of it anyway.




On another note, this is a picture Ashlyn drew this morning. It is mostly for family because Grammy (especially) likes to see Ashlyn's art work. I love watching her draw. She's really getting good at staying in the lines. And I think that squiggly line down the middle is suppose to be lightning. I don't know what the little thing off to the side is though. Maybe it was practice.

Our Trip

So, the trip to Iowa started out a little rocky. Can we say "planes, trains, and automobiles"? It was similar to that. We did finally make it to Iowa though, 24 hours later than we were suppose to be there, but we made it. And thank heavens, our luggage made it there later that same night. Whew.....

Once we got to Iowa, the trip was great. Paul and I left Sunday morning for our Bed and Breakfast in the Lake of the Ozarks (which is in Missouri for those of you who don't know. I didn't until we booked our room.) We had three whole nights of no children (not that I don't love them, but you understand). The trip was amazing. Our room was gorgeous and there was so much to do. We went to Bridal Cave and walked 250 feet below the surface to see some of the most amazing rock and mineral formations I have ever seen. At the end of the cave there was a perfectly crystal blue untouched lake. I could have stared at it all day. We also went hiking in Ha Ha Tonka State Park, did some shopping at the outlet mall, saw a movie, ate like crazy and went on a boat tour. It was simply the most relaxing and wonderful trip we've been on.

We headed back to Nauvoo on Wednesday to watch fireworks and be with the family. We spent the next couple of days there just hanging out and walking around Nauvoo. The Nauvoo pagent was just beginning there, so we went and watched all the events going on. Everyone was dressed in Pioneer clothes and playing games and dancing. It was like stepping back in time. I don't know how they did it. I was roasting from the heat and I had on nothing compared to their long dresses.

The trip home was a piece of cake compared to the trip there. Everything went well and I even got some TCBY at the airport in Denver during our layover. (That is my most favorite place for frozen yogurt.)

A special thank you to our family for watching our kids and making the trip so nice. Give me some time and I might start thinking about heading out there again at Christmas (I'm still trying to forget our cross country drive). HA.....

Here are some pictures from our Ozarks trip.


I'm still thinking about those scones. They were the best I've ever had.

This is the view from our room.

Ha Ha Tonka State Park. We climbed 320 steps to get to the top. It was good exercise after our big breakfast.

Isn't this beautiful. This is the top of the park.

This is the boat cruise we went on. The greatest part was that it was air conditioned inside. I'm definitely not use to humidity anymore.