July Highlights...

I have been really bad about posting this month. I have been in a little bit of a funk. Hopefully August will be much better. This month has been very crazy and we have had a number of fun things happen. Here are some of the highlights:

• Emma Rae, my newest niece, was born on July 15.- 7 lbs 12 oz, 21 inches, and a ton of hair.
• I got my first passport.
• We were called to the nursery, again.
• We finished all of the requirements for the adoption process and are now just waiting for my background check to clear through Idaho before we can be approved.
• Our garden began mass producing yellow squash- if you want some come and get it. We are also going to have about a million tomatoes in a month or so.
• Matt and Cindy came to visit for the weekend.
• Trent and Liz (our good friends from N.Y.) came over for dinner.
• I did three Stamp' Up Parties.
• We celebrated our 4th anniversary.
• We went camping twice (see posts below)
• I had LASIK (see post below).

Magleby Mountain

Scott's family spends the 24th of July weekend camping near Fish Lake in Central Utah. The Magleby family owns a number of acres in this area so we have affectionately labeled the area Magleby Mountain. We had a great time.

6:27

Those were the three numbers on my alarm clock this morning when I woke up today. It is about the typical time that I wake up everyday, but today these numbers were amazing to me...I could see them clearly and without the aid of contacts or glasses. I have worn glasses or contacts since I was in third grade - close to 23 years-oh I am getting old :). The last several years my eyes have gotten much worse and without contacts/glasses I would not have been able to function. Yesterday changed my life... I decided to have LASIK earlier this year, but I knew I had to wear my glasses for at least two weeks and was putting it off. I have not worn glasses in public for more than a day since I was 13 and got my first pair of contacts. Scott got a flyer on this great deal for LASIK that was good only until August 31, so on July 1st I decided to be brave and put the contacts away and pulled out the glasses. After 28 days of glasses, I am happy to report, that after a quick and painless surgery, I CAN SEE! Thank heavens for modern technology.

Camping

One of my family's favorite things to do in the summer is go camping. When we were kids, my parents had a shell camper that fit in the back of the pickup. I think my dad picked it up for $500 and after my mom made some new curtains and reupholstered the cushions it was as good as new. The kids would ride in the camper (probably something that was not really very safe, but a lot of fun) up to the Calamity Campground next the the Palisades Reservoir in Swan Valley, Idaho. All of us would sleep in the camper (keep in mind with mom and dad there were nine of us) and we would spend hours swimming in the reservoir. We loved it!

As we have gotten older we have outgrown the shell camper and have changed camping spots, but it is still fun for me to go camping with my family. So I was really excited when it worked out that Scott and I could join my family in Spencer this weekend. Thanks to all of the snow we got last year, it was still really green in the mountains and the wildflowers were amazing. We went on a 4 wheeler ride, went on a hike, cooked some good food over the fire, and relaxed.

The Good and Bad of Chicago

Chicago was a very fun place to visit. Scott had meetings Sunday-Wednesday so I was so happy that Becky and Sophie were able to come up and visit for a couple of days. We stayed at a great hotel within walking distant to most things that we wanted to see. We did walk a lot, which a probably a good thing since we also found a lot of fun "Chicago" style food to eat.

On Monday Becky, Sophie, and I went to Sears Tower, Shedd Aquarium, and Millennial Park. The Sears tower was amazing... it really made you realize how insignificant you are. The cars looked like matchbox cars and the people like ants. Sophie was so funny at the aquarium- we had been telling her that we were going to see some sharks and she seemed really excited about it, but when we got there we could not convince her to even look at the animals. For lunch that day Becky and I tried out a Chicago style hot dog (see picture above). It has an amazing amount of stuff on it including: onions, mustard, sweet relish, a slice of pickle, tomato, sweet peppers, and celery salt. Surprisingly it was pretty good. Scott met us for dinner that night and we tried out Chicago style deep dish pizza.

Tuesday we walked down to Navy Pier. Navy Pier is this really family friendly place that has a bunch of fun shops and a huge Ferris wheel that we took a ride on. That afternoon we found this really fun water fountain to play in and Sophie chased the seagulls and pigeons (which I think was her favorite part of the whole trip). We were having such a good day and then I went to pull out my camera case and it was gone. In my camera case was my cell phone, my camera, and all of the pictures from the trip so far. Apparently theft is a big problem in this part of Chicago and I was the latest victim. The silver lining in the whole thing was I had put my ID, cash, and credit cards in my pocket just a couple of hours earlier or they would have been taken also. Tuesday night Scott and I went to dinner at this great Italian restaurant and then went to see Wicked. It was amazing!!!

Wednesday we went to breakfast and then walked around the city for a few hours. Sophie chased some more birds and we took Scott to "The Bean" in Millennial Park before we had to leave. It was a great trip.

Help!

For our adoption paperwork we have to make a two page collage showing our family. This is how birth mothers decide on potential parents for their children. I have put together two spreads and I need some help deciding which one would work best. The pages are supposed to represent us, what we like to do, ect. As I looked through our pictures most of ours or posed shots that pretty much look the same (so next time you are somewhere with us take an action picture of us together :)). I thought this part of the process would be really easy because I scrapbook all the time, but it is hard to decide which pictures to include that will attract someone. So I am taking votes- which one should we use. (I know the pictures are bad, but you get the idea)

Quadruplets?

Scott and I decided to be brave this weekend and have three of his nephews and one niece to spend the night. I was a little worried about having four of them at the same time, but we had a great time. Friday night we made homemade pizza and then played in the park. Around 9:00 we put on National Treasure 2 and I thought for sure they would all fall asleep during the movie. I guess it is only me who falls asleep during movies because at 11:30 all four of them were still awake. I am not sure what time they actually fell asleep, but they were wide awake at 7:00 the next morning. On Saturday morning we went and saw Kung Fu Panda. Over all I think everyone had a fun time. Although we had a great time, both Scott and I were exhausted on Saturday night. I don't know if this is a sign that we are getting too old to have kids or... if we shouldn't have quadruplets.