started with an er visit and ended with a fainting...but heck, everyone was healthy in-between

thursday morning started with a bang...by 7:30 the boys had been whisked away to aunt jacque's house to wish her a happy birthday, ken was about to leave for work, and ellie and i were playing with our new stroller. then wham, ellie fell out of the stroller and landed hard on her chin. we knew immediately that she would need stitches. so by eight we were at the urgent care waiting for a doctor to see her.


the urgent care was wonderfully not busy, so we didn't have to wait that long. the doctor wrapped ellie's head to hold a numbing agent against her chin. she really didn't like that (as you can see). she ended up with three stitches and a lot more tears.


on friday, with ellie in stitches, we headed up to show low (where the temperature is much much cooler) for a taylor family reunion. we went up with lynn, jacque, and lynae. riley is named after her great-great grandfather franklin riley taylor, for which everyone in the reunion was a descendant of.


lynae was a great help with riley and ellie. she gave them lots of love, and they loved her just as much back.


the camp-ground was "interesting." there were wild horses running around, swings, a trampoline, and a small lake with canoing. we spent friday afternoon canoing on the lake. grandma j and jax took the boys out first.


the boys had a lot of fun on the canoe. it reminded me of canoing grandpa carlsruh in wisconsin.


we spent a lot of time hanging out with family...here's grandma johnson holding riley (someone was always holding riley the entire time, which she loved).


riley is almost 3 weeks old, and is growing so fast. her cheeks are filling up. she is still the easiest baby, although she really does prefer to be held ALL the time.


ellie with grandpa john taylor. it was so fun getting to know his siblings better.


my favorite part of the weekend was spending time with the kids in a meadow near a creek, lined with rocks. the kids loved throwing rocks into the stream.


grandma j explored the meadow with ellie. here's them enjoying the beauty of nature.


otho loved digging through dirt. he spent the weekend hanging out with a group of kids, catching blood, and taking walks with his dad.


abe spent the weekend collecting rocks for his rock pile. abe also made a lot of friends and petted horses.

the weekend ended on a different note - saturday afternoon ellie was chasing horses when ken notice her fall over and faint. we're not sure what caused it (i think she had heat exhaustion from playing so hard and not sleeping at all). it shook up ken, so within minutes we headed back home.

so ellie gave us two scares this weekend, and has already set a record for er visits in this family (let's hope she doesn't have any more). it didn't help when she threw up on the drive home, or when otho threw up last night in bed (i am still trying to attack the laundry mess that has been created from camping and throw-up).

anyway, we're glad to be home, and somewhat healthy. and no matter what, it was worth it!