Our weekend....

This will be a long blog.... just a fair warning. So, we had planned on leaving on Thursday early afternoon. I was getting everything packed and ready when Emily woke up from a unusual nap, and she was feeling rather warm, and she was complaining that her foot was hurting. So I took off her sock, and lo and behold her second toe was red, swollen, hot and hard feeling. The day before she was playing barefoot under an acorn tree, and I thought that she had just hurt her foot by stepping on a fallen acorn. I didn't make a big deal out of it, and actually was annoyed a bit at her crying so hard over stepping on an acorn. So, right after David got home from work, I took her into the walk-in clinic. By the time the doctor saw her, her foot was swollen up to her ankle. I was getting concerned. The doctor said that she had definitely been bit by a spider, probably a Brown Recluse. So they gave her a shot of medication. The nurse warned me that the shot would hurt worse then the bite, and that she would not be able to walk very well for a couple days. Needless to say, Emily did not like that shot. We ended up staying home that night, and we left for the camp out Friday morning, after the pharmacy opened, and we got her medication that she will be on for the next 10 days... every 6 hours. Ugh. Her foot is fine now, and she is now walking without a limp. The only sign of the bite is the scratches that have come from her itching it randomly.

So on to the camp out. We arrived at a beautiful campground north of Sedona, called Oak Creek. It was a very nice place, and got pretty crowded by nights end. The Stradlings, the family who invited us to go with them, came the night before as originally planned. We had a great time. The kids really enjoyed playing together. This picture is of Jay, playing with their twin daughters, Moriah (redhead), and Moira (brown hair). They are the sweetest little girls! And by the way, that blanket-idea didn't last long. Jay was off it, soon after this picture and crawling all over the camp sight. He was a mess... and ate his fair share of dirt. Yum.

Later that night, we all roasted marshmallows, struggled in getting the kids all to sleep, and then enjoyed an hour or so of some good adult conversation together by the fire. In this picture is Nathan, Aubrey, Saxon (their son, almost 3) and Emily. These four kiddos had a blast playing together. They were running all over the place, laughing and exploring everywhere. It was a good time for them.

And last but certainly not least was Betsy. She was too old to play with the "babies" and too little to keep up with the older four, so she was content to keep herself entertained with the Stradlings huge chocolate lab named Rocky. He is a good dog... and put up with much torment from all eight kids. Here is a shot of Betsy riding Rocky. Now for those of you who don't know, just 3 months ago, Betsy was absolutely petrified with fear when it came to animals. We don't know where the fear came from, but we wanted to remedy it, so she didn't have a abnormal phobia to deal with in her life. It was one of the reasons we got Max, our dog, and it took a couple weeks, but she finally relaxed with him. And soon after that she started accepting other animals. And now, here she is literally on top of a dog that is taller then she is, standing! We are very happy to see her reacting good with animals now. It is a relief.

Saturday morning, we all broke camp, and headed up the road a few miles to Slide Rock. It is a river that flows through some slick rock. In the summer is is packed with people, riding down the rocks; a fun natural water park. We did not get in the water (for heavens sakes, its October, overcast, and rainy!) There actually was one crazy guy that played polar bear, and jumped in. He was nuts! Brrrrrr. The kids had fun running and playing on the rocks. It was a good time, and I had never been to Slide Rock, but had heard about it quite a bit as a young girl. I think we will be going back next summer for camping and playing in the water.

We got home just in time for David to get to Priesthood Session. He went to the church, I stayed home and bathed all five little darlings. Talk about dirty!!!!!! I had to refill the tub after each child. Yuck. We missed the Saturday sessions, but I have already watched the Sat AM session on the Internet, and will promptly be watching the afternoon session. Good messages..... and I will blog more on that later. It was a very fun weekend and we had a good time getting to know the Stradlings better. Now I am living in LOADS of laundry that smell just like a bonfire. Yum. I have it all sorted and will be heading up to my friends house later today. I am looking forward to that.