Melser Family

I know, I know, its a little late but, Halloween!

2010-12-10T23:50:00.000-08:00

So we were clowns for Halloween (except for Jadyn, our little Ladybug). We couldn't find noses at first but found some in time for Halloween, just not for these pictures (hence the nose paint). It was a hit.

What a cute little baby girl with her daddy. She could have cared less about Halloween. So we ate most of her candy for her, she loves the suckers though!

Kelly was such a little doll. She has a pair of "wee squeaks" shoes that were perfect little squeakers for her clown costume.

We don't normally dress up really but it was fun to go as a clown family this year.

Infantile Spasms (aka West Syndrome)

2010-07-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

Warning! This is a very long post! You will be rewarded with photos at the end!

It has been a scary and interesting journey with Jadyn these last several months. Around 4 months old I noticed her making some odd eye movements, mostly it looked like she was rolling her eyes up (briefly but uncontrollably and in clusters). Our doctor was unsure that anything was wrong and didn't think we needed to take any action. While we were waiting for another appointment to see the doctor the problem got worse. She started having head drop attacks and her arms would jump out (like a startle reflex) and her legs would buckle. After some doubt and frustration we insisted that Jadyn be seen by a neurologist to try and figure out what was going on. The first place we called wanted us to wait until August and we couldn't even think about waiting that long. Luckily when we called Phoenix Children's Hospital they could get us in at the end of April. The first appointment was a little disappointing because the doctor saw her but wasn't worried enough to admit her to do any testing and so we had to make an appointment 2 weeks later for an EEG (electroencephalogram). While we were having the EEG done the tech went out of the room and came back a minute later and said our doctor wanted to see us right after the EEG was over. That made me a little worried, but then I figured that if there was something wrong then that is why we were having the test done, to find out what it is and what we can do to fix it. When the doctor came in he gave us the news- Jadyn has infantile spasms. The indicators for this diagnosis are the seizure spasms, retardation (or regression/developmental delay), and hypsarrythmia (which is found on the EEG). She had the seizures and the hypsarrythmia and to this point, hadn't had any delays in her development. We heard 3 different options for treatment- ACTH, Prednisone (both cortisone steroids), and Vigabatrin (a seizure med). Since this is not your average form of epilepsy regular seizure medications don't usually work (with the exception of vigabatrin). There are lots of different methods for treating it, but ACTH and Prednisone are the front line treatments right now. After a little discussion we decided along with our doctor to use prednisone. Let me give you a little info on prednisone. The regular maximum dose is 60 mg per day. There are tons of side effects including but not limited to: high blood pressure, high blood sugar, serious hunger and weight gain, water retention, extreme mood swings, ulcers, depression, etc. Jadyn was started on 90 mg twice a day (180 mg per day) and also a two doses of infant pepcid to help prevent ulcers. After 24 hours she was seizure free. :) The first couple of days Jadyn was happy and interactive. After the meds built up, she was hungry all the time, depressed, and crabby. She stopped progressing developmentally (she was almost crawling before the meds and she is still not crawling right now, although she is getting closer and closer everyday) and just uninterested in anything, she mostly wanted to lay down or be held and was in a "funk". It was pretty sad, but we knew if it got rid of the hypsarrythmia like it got rid of the seizures it would be worth it. We had another appointment for an MRI scheduled in 3 weeks to check for any brain abnormalities that might have caused the infantile spasms. As we hoped, the MRI was normal, no problems. At that point our doctor gave us weaning orders for the prednisone (actually prednisolone). That day we dropped down to 60 mg twice per day and we had an appointment to come back in 2 weeks for her second EEG to see if the hypsarrythmia was gone. She was still having a rough time on the meds, but with every drop she would have an extra rough day (from withdrawal) and then get a little better. By the time we were down to 30 mg twice a day we were starting to see a little less miserable baby. At her second EEG the hypsarrythmia was gone! What a relief to know the meds had been working and that even while we were weaning the seizures didn't come back and the hypsarrythmia was gone. Later that week on our way to Utah for a family trip she started smiling at me then actually giggled (she was only on 15 mg per day at this point). It made my heart so happy to see her responding to me in that way after her whole life of being cranky, then extra cranky on the meds. Every day after that she just got happier and happier and responded more and more to us. She has now been off the medication for 3 1/2 weeks and is doing so great. She still isn't crawling and is behind on a few other things, but she seems to be learning more each day and making progress each day. We recently had her evaluated to see if she needs help catching up on her milestones. We just found out that she qualifies for therapy services and are excited to see her begin to (hopefully) reach more milestones like crawling, clapping, eating finger foods by herself, and then even cruising and walking. We have been so blessed that she has one of the mildest cases of Infantile Spasms and that she responded so well to the treatment. There are so many things that prepared us to help her through this struggle before we even knew that she would be going through it, and we know that Heavenly Father was watching over our family. That is basically it for now. We have another appointment scheduled on August 9th to see how she is doing and then I think we will have a follow up every once in a while to see how she is doing because about half the kids that have this diagnosis are later diagnosed with another form of epilepsy. We don't think this will be the case with Jadyn, but there is always the possibility. Even though it worked out for our family, lots of other families aren't as lucky as us and my heart hurts for the pain and suffering those kids and their families are going through trying to battle this. Next up are some pictures of Jadyn over the span of her life since the last ones posted are from when she was born. (Sorry about that!) We didn't take a lot of pictures because she wasn't very happy a lot of the time, but hopefully the ones we have will suffice.

This was at Christmas, gotta love the Mr. Potato Head Glasses!

This was around March I think.

This was at Kelly's Birthday party. She had been on the Prednisone for a day and a half at this point and was feeling good because the seizures had stopped and the meds weren't built up in her system yet.

This is about 6 weeks into the prednisone treatment. She was getting on a lower dose and starting to feel better, but you can really see the crazy weight gain.

Look at those crazy eyebrows. They seem to be getting a little thinner again.

She used to hate the jumper, now she loves playing in it.

Hanging out with Daddy during the 4th of July. She had been off the prednisone for a couple days at this point.

She sure loves her Papa. This is also during the 4th of July weekend.

These next pictures are of Jadyn a little over one week off of the prednisone. You can really see a big difference in her face as she is losing the weight. She has been practicing her crawling skills, but still isn't crawling.

I was trying to get some good shots of her chubby little body. She is so cute!

What a cute little chub face!

She is a pro at sitting on her own now. She just went from a crawling to a sitting position all by herself, it was really exciting to see her making that progress.

Baby Jadyn

2009-09-26T10:43:00.001-07:00

She has been a fussy little girl from the beginning! She is getting better and better all the time (for me anyway) and is adjusting to life at our house pretty well. The morning she was born I was scheduled for inducement at 7:00 am. Around 12:30 am I started labor and waited until about 2:15 am to wake up Travis so we could head to the hospital. We had to go in through the ER entrance since the main entrance was closed and after we checked in we had to wait for what seemed like an eternity (to a lady in labor) for someone from the labor and delivery to come escort us up (it was seriously like 15 minutes we were waiting though). When we finally got up to labor and delivery things went well. I guess she didn't want to wait for her 7:00 am appointment because she was born at 6:41 am and we couldn't be happier (and never more tired after that early start)! The girls weren't allowed to visit because of age restrictions with flu/sickness problems and they were bummed, but Travis got to show them Jadyn through the window in the door. Luckily we got to go home the next day so they got to hold their little sister and still love holding her.

Jadyn Elizabeth Melser was born at 6:41 am on 9/19/09. She weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. She pooped all over Dr. Coss as soon as she came out as a big thanks for helping her get here.

This shot is later the same evening when my parents came to visit. It is amazing how much they change in such a short time frame.

Grandpa McDowell with his new granddaughter. The girls are in the lead 6 to 5 now.

Grandma McDowell enjoying the new baby.

Lucy loves to hold Jadyn whenever she gets the chance. She is always sure to have her hands washed and ready before she even asks to hold her.

Travis is taking some time off from work to help out with the new baby.

This is a picture of Lucy's handiwork, she loves taking pictures. Although the camera seems to have malfunctioned while in her possession, so no new pictures will be available until we get it fixed or get a new one. Travis is going to take the bigger girls on Tuesday to Flagstaff to the Best Buy and figure out what our options are.

Lucy's Birthday!

2009-07-16T22:39:00.001-07:00

Lucy had her 4th birthday July 2nd. She is a great helper to have around the house, when she isn't getting into trouble! She is so funny and thoughtful, just have a chat with her sometime.

The Beautiful Birthday girl

gotta lick the candles

ah, the joys of noise makers, you are lucky you don't have to hear them non stop!

fabulous Barbie scooter from Grandma and Grandpa McDowell

lovely Disney Princess bed set from mom and dad

Kelly's Birthday!

2009-07-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Kelly turned 2 May 17th. She is such a fun sweet girl!

stack of presents

happy girl

ooh, money!

lovin' the Blues Clues dvd

yummy cupcakes!

It's a girl!!

2009-06-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

We had our ultrasound today and just found out we are having another girl. She is still due September 14th, my birthday. With my record it will probably be sometime after that though (within a week I would guess). I will try for some ultrasound pictures later if I can figure it out!

Here is a standard profile shot.

This is a profile shot of her yawning.

A crazy looking foot.

I can see it, but for anybody who doesn't know where to look, it is just above the word Girl!

Just a few pictures of the kiddos

2009-04-24T21:45:00.001-07:00

The Adventures of Lucy

2009-04-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago we were in Mesa for a baby blessing and we were staying at Travis's brother's house (Chuck and KaraLyn). Before dinner the kids were jumping on the trampoline and those kids can get pretty crazy up there sometimes. Lucy and Macee aren't particularly experts when it comes to balance either so you can imagine they have had a few spills after a while on the trampoline. Well, I didn't really see what happened, just Macee and Lucy crying, I didn't even notice Lucy's goose egg at first. Here is a shot of the beauty that resulted. A week or so later Lucy was "brushing" her hair with a little round brush and managed to get it really stuck. Travis gave it a good try since I was at work, but Lucy had finally had enough and cried herself to sleep. When I got home and found out what happened I went to the store to get some detangler spray to hopefully help with the task ahead of me. It took about an hour and lots of pulled out hair, but we got the brush out and Lucy's hair is still intact. She didn't find the whole pulling the hair out of the brush enjoyable, on the upside I haven't seen her brushing her hair with anything since. This picture is how I found her when I got home from work.

Family Golfing

2009-04-24T21:06:00.000-07:00

We have been having some great weather for this past week and so we decided to go golfing. We went on Saturday and then again on Monday when I got home from work. Lucy wanted to bring the camera and I thought that would be a great idea, so here are a few of her photos as well as mine. The girls love golfing, but Kelly usually gets tuckered out by the 7th hole making it slightly difficult to finish the last couple of holes, it is still fun though.

Lucy getting a shot of me after finishing up a hole.

Travis teeing off on the next hole.

Lucy always wants to drive the cart, she ran into a tree once. . .

Kelly loves to ransack the cart if we don't take her out on the green with us.

Updates

2009-04-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

So, for all of you who were waiting in suspense, we did find some corned beef and it was delicious (the whole dinner was). I had the pleurisy for about a month, an agonizingly long month, and now I am just a little sore in that area because it made me have some serious back spasms. Everything is going well in the pregnancy and we won't find out the gender for a several more weeks. Probably around 26 weeks I think my doctor said he will set up the appointment. Our Sunbeams class is going great, we have about 11 kids on a regular basis so I am glad we are together in there. We just had sharing time and it went great, the little kids all participated and seemed to like it so I count it as a success. Other posts with pictures are coming so stay tuned.

No Corned Beef?!

2009-03-18T15:06:00.001-07:00

Can you beleive that when my dad went to get the corned beef for dinner, neither Basha's or Ed's IGA had any? Crazy, nobody on the mountain had any I guess because he said the butcher told him they had been getting calls from all over from people trying to get some. They said they won't get anymore for a couple of weeks. So I guess unless we find some sooner, we won't be having St. Patrick's Day dinner for a few weeks. I can hardly wait!
Also, some of you may have noticed that I have a poll up on my blog. Feel free to vote on the issue. If you want to say more than just vote, feel free to leave a comment on this post, but don't forget to vote.

Finally a new background

2009-03-02T21:58:00.001-08:00

I finally updated the background on our blog from winter to a St. Patrick's day theme since it is March and I love St. Patrick's day. MMMmmm, corned beef and cabbage, it doesn't get much better than that!

Drumroll Please

2009-03-02T21:49:00.000-08:00

I can't really say I have been putting this post off, I have just been busy and distracted. After blathering on and on about the last couple of weeks, I have some news that dates back a couple of months. The three times in 5 years doesn't only apply to talking in church oddly enough. I found out a little while ago and was waiting for a heartbeat before I announced worldwide that we are expecting another little baby for our family. The due date is in September, and I am currently 12 weeks (or 13, I am having a hard time remembering currently). So, surprise! You all knew it was coming, and have patiently been waiting for my announcement. It is very exciting and scary news, 3 kids, wow. Lucy has been telling everyone and reminding them constantly that "Mommy has a baby in her tummy." It is so funny and cute, and she says that it is a girl ( "like me" ) named Spencer (like her current favorite little baby boy cousin). Lucy also has an announcement to make, she has a Dora in her tummy, so we can expect that addition to our family sometime in the future as well I guess. I hope we are ready!

The Week that felt like a MONTH!

2009-03-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

After a stress filled Sunday of speaking, I woke up Monday with a slightly bothersome pain in my right shoulder and lower to mid right side of my back. I thought I might have just slept on it wrong or something, I wish! I was feeling a little icky that night so Travis decided to stay home from work just in case I got worse. Well, during the night at about 3 in the morning I woke up in excrutiating pain and could hardly breath. I was totally stressing out, and was trying hard not to hyperventilate. Thank goodness Travis was home he was so concerned for me and was really worried about me; he gave me a blessing and then (the lucky guy) went back to sleep. I was still in alot of pain, but just knowing he was going to give me a blessing helped me calm down alot. I said my own little prayer after he went back to sleep and then tried to figure out how I was going to survive the rest of the night. After I calmed down the pain subsided considerably and I was able to breath a bit easier, but still with a significant amount of pain. I somehow got into a slightly comfortable tilted sitting position to sleep in and fell asleep for a few more hours. The next day I felt better during the day but still called for a Dr.'s appointment. I couldn't get in until Wednesday, but thank goodness it was then instead of the next Monday when the nurse originally suggested. It turns out I have something called pleurisy. It is supposed to go away in a couple days with rest and taking it easy with anti-inflammatories and pain meds. Well, it has been a week now and the doc had me do a chest x-ray today to verify there were no other problems (none could be found thankfully). The problem is, I still wake up in excruciating pain every couple hours at night and have to wait til it subsides to try and find a semi-comfortable position to try and fall asleep in, only to do it all over again in another couple hours. Today has definitely been my best day yet except for the massive headaches I have been fending off due to lack of sleep. Oh brother, this post is going on to long, but I have more. Thankfully Travis stayed home most of the week because Lucy and Kelly both took turns throwing up, and on the only night Travis went to work Kelly woke up with what I figure was (and is still getting over) Croup. Very fun for me, although I was thankful that I had a hard time falling asleep that night because her cry was so week I wasn't sure it was actually her at first. I took her in the bathroom and turned to hot water on full blast in the shower and started getting her to breath a little easier. It was pretty scary at first, but she was calm the whole time, just not breathing well. She seems to be getting better everyday, so thank goodness for that. There is probably more I could write, but enough is enough. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, but this was probably to boring to want to ask any questions about.

Three times in 5 years!

2009-03-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

Last week, February 22, a Sunday guess what Travis and I got to do? We had to speak in church, for the 3rd time (in our same ward!) since we have been married (5 years on the 20th of this month). Here is the story. A member of our bishopric, Ryan Hall, came into Town Hall to sign his kid up for basketball or something and I happened to be at the front desk. He kept looking at me and I could tell he didn't quite know who I was and then he said, "Do I know you?" So I responded, "You should, I am in your ward." He was pretty embarrassed and apologized for not recognizing me. I told him we had been in the primary the whole time he was in our ward, so he wouldn't have seen us around necessarily. The problem is that since he didn't recognize me or know much about us, he thought others might not know us either, so he wanted us to speak in church. We were able to avoid it for a couple months, I think he first asked us to speak sometime in October but we were going to be out of town or something. So then in November he asked us to say the Sacrament Meeting prayers, which we did, and which I also thought would get us off the hook for speaking. No such luck! He finally caught up with us and we spoke last week in church. It was his last order of business because this week we got a new Bishopric put in. He must have really wanted us to speak; it actually wasn't terrible, he assigned us good topics and we were able to take up all the time even without a youth speaker. Our talks came out of the February Ensign, mine was the Functional Family with a few other sources to fill it out and make it more interesting than just reading the article. Travis' was something about Acheiving your Full Potential, it was given in a youth fireside so he really had to try a little harder to be able to apply it to everyone instead of just the youth. We got tons of compliments, but I think people always do that. Good times, but if anybody asks us to speak in the ward we are currently in anytime in the near future, I might have to turn them down! Well, I don't really turn down church stuff, Travis is a different story though.

So much to say. . . I'll give the short version

2009-01-20T00:46:00.000-08:00

We had a fun holiday season with our families this year. A lot of my family came to town for Christmas so we got to hang out with them and more importantly our kids got to play with each other. After Christmas we went to Utah and got to see a lot more extended family and also my brother Rob and his family. We had a great time playing games and chatting about things going on with us, and as always, the kids had a great time playing with other kids. We got home from Utah and had one day for me to work and then left that same day after work for Travis' cousin's wedding in Thatcher. It didn't even seem like we were even really home for that little time, it was more like a stop on the way. We had fun though and everyone was so glad when we were finally home for good to sleep in our own beds and house.

Little Monkey!

2008-12-09T19:56:00.000-08:00

Lucy likes to choose her own movies to view on the DVD player. Unfortunately if I don't get there fast enough to give her options to choose from, she takes it upon herself to climb up and see what she wants to choose. This time she was busted. I think in the last shot she was a little worried that she was about to slip and fall. As a side note, if you call her a little monkey she says, "I am not a monkey, I'm a big girl!" or "I am not a monkey, I'm Lucy!" So there you have it.

Sister, Sister

2008-12-09T19:36:00.000-08:00

Our girls love hanging out together. They may fight sometimes, but overall, they are very content to do most things together. Here they are chilling out in Lucy's bed watching a show on the DVD player.

Here they are being silly on the table at Grandma and Grandpa McDowell's house. They aren't supposed to be up there by the way. . .

Since we got home from Disneyland the girls have loved getting rides in the laundry baskets. Lucy especially loves giving Kelly a ride. I usually get to push both of them around after that. They think it is hilarious. This picture was a few months ago, it is too cold to let Kelly run around in just a diaper these days.

My Tummy Hurts. . .

2008-12-09T19:25:00.000-08:00

All you moms out there, I am sure you can sympathize to some extent. Lucy had been saying she didn't feel well all day, but she acted like she was fine. Well, in the evening I was on the computer and she wanted to stand on the chair behind me. I said okay, but while she was standing there she said, "My tummy hurts." She proceeded to throw up all over me, which was delightful and since I was already covered I called to Travis to have him take pictures of the glorious occasion. I'll spare you the close-ups, but you have to see these shots!

Sorry

2008-12-04T13:34:00.000-08:00

I know it has been so long since I posted, I promise I will get some posts up soon. Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Halloween! Ha Ha Ha Ha. . . you have to say it in your scary voice!

2008-11-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

I think I might post a slideshow of more cute pictures that we took of Halloween, but here are a few pictures for now.

All week the girls were wearing Halloween outfits, I think I might even let Kelly keep on wearing the skull and cross bones t-shirt, it is dang cute.

Thursday night I made dinner for a sister in our ward and bought Halloween cupcakes to take for dessert. I got enough for us to have one also and the girls loved them.

Kelly wore the ladybug costume we got for Lucy one year and Lucy wore a Cinderella dress that Grandma McDowell made for her. I helped a little, but my mom is really the one with the talent, so thanks mom! Lucy has been wearing it all day today too, she loves being a princess.

I Got Tagged!

2008-10-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

20 years ago...
1. I was in Kindergarten, Mrs. Talbot's class.
2. My Great Aunt Ranee (my middle name) taught me to write my name in cursive.
3. I was such a tomboy, I thought I was sooo tough.

10 years ago...
1. Got my driver's license.
2. Broke the school record for the 4X800 relay with Mandi, Casey, and Celeste?
3. barely! Survived Ms. Cunningham's Sophomore English, nothing compared to my D grade from the Queen Bee my senior year though, ouch.

5 years ago...
1. Moved home from California after a hiatus.
2. Started working for the Town of Snowflake at the Library (go figure).
3. Met Travis and started dating, got married the following March.

3 years ago...
1. Lucy Ranee was born July 2nd, cute little girl.
2. Started working at the golf course because they had flexible hours and I could take Lucy with me.
3. That might have been the year we had to talk in church twice within a couple of months, how unfair is that!?

1 year ago...
1. Kelly Sue was born May 17th
2. Started working at Town Hall again after a part time opening became available there, better hours, better pay. . .still get free golf
3. Called to be team teachers with Travis for the 11/12 year olds in Primary

This year...
1. Started my blog, I know, that is super interesting right?
2. Took the kids to Disneyland with my parents, what a blast!
3. Got moved to the 9/10 year old boys in Primary, they needed some direction and we are the ones to give it to them, but seriously, they are good kids.

Yesterday...
1. Played outside with Lucy and Kelly for a little while.
2. Ate dinner at Trapper's
3. Stayed up til 3 am reading.

Today...
1. Made dinner for a lady in our ward who had her first adorable baby boy. (meatloaf)
2. Watched House (from the dvr)
3. checked people's blogs

Tomorrow...
1. Kelly in a lady bug costume, Lucy in a Cinderella dress (made by my mom)
trick-or-treating
2. Watch or maybe just listen to Payson kill the Snowflake Lobos in football. sorry guys, you know it is going to happen.
3. Begrudgingly send Travis with his dad to Utah. . .

In the next year...
1. This isn't an announcement, but PROBABLY have another kid.
2. Stop working and stay at home, not that I don't love working
3. Start taking more classes again, got to get the degree!

I don't tag anybody, but if you want to do it, go ahead!

McDowell Family Pictures

2008-10-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

My whole family got together this last 4th of July because Drew was speaking at a July 4th flag raising ceremony. We took some great family pictures, I liked this one of my parents and brothers.

I really liked this shot with all the siblings, it is probably the best one we have ever taken together (maybe the only one) as adults (James is tall enough now to be considered an adult I think!)

We were taking the pictures in the morning and Kelly was having a rough time during the grandkids pictures since she usually "sleeps in" in the morning. Lucy wasn't doing great either but she was doing better than Kelly in this shot. We also got some family picutes done of just our family that I will post when I get them.

Corn Maze and Pick-a-Punkin' Patch

2008-10-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

Carla, Darren, and Haylie came to visit us over the weekend and we had some fun. Travis and Darren went golfing (9 holes), then we went to a local corn maze and pumpkin patch. We got some good pictures for the weekend. Lucy was sad to see Haylie go, she loves hanging out with people other than just boring old mom and dad.

I'm going to work

2008-10-15T23:52:00.001-07:00

Lucy found this cute little bomber jacket that my little brother James used to wear, she calls it her work jacket. Whenever she wants to "go to work" she runs to put it on and says, "going to work!" Tonight while Travis was getting ready to leave she saw him put on his jacket and said, "Dad, come with me." So down the hall they went, where she proceeded to boss him around into getting her work jacket down from the hanger. They came back out to the front room, decked out in their jackets, ready to go to work. Luckily I talked Lucy into staying home from work for the night.

YES! on 102

2008-09-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

We all know how important this is for us, especially within our own religious communities that support the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman. Please remember to vote on election day, especially for this proposition in AZ.

Stink Bugs

2008-09-23T00:39:00.000-07:00

The girls love playing outside. Today while Lucy was napping Kelly and I were out front. I was taking trash out so I was in and out several times. Kelly loves everything outside. . . eating dirt and rocks is high up on the list of her favorites. Today she discovered something else though, stink bugs. I came out of the house after gathering up some trash and she had something in her hand. I proceeded to open her hand (which she thought was hilarious) and low and behold, a stink bug was squirming around in there. GROSS! So she finally dropped it and it went along its merry way. Unfortunately Kelly wasn't done with it, she decided to find that stink bug when I went back in for more trash and when I came back out she was cracking up, sitting in a big pile of dirt, holding that stink bug. The stink bug was okay, but man did her hand stink. We got rid of it for good this time and smelly Kelly's stink bug adventure came to an end.

Disneyland

2008-09-17T22:46:00.001-07:00

We recently went on a trip to Disneyland and it was fantastic. Grandma and Papa McDowell came with us and helped out tons. The girls were a little shy with the characters at first, but started to get the hang of it eventually. Lucy is a little adrenaline junky. She was tall enough to go on the Matterhorn and Gadgets Go Coaster and she absolutely loved them. She liked all the other rides too, but especially the fast coasters. Kelly didn't like the rides quite so much but she still loved Disneyland. We ate plenty of popcorn and churros and got way too much other stuff. It was so fun and we are glad we got to go.

Blogging. . .

2008-09-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

It is tough to keep up with blogging. It has taken me a little while to figure out how I want this to look but I think it is probably good enough. We will see how it goes. Stay tuned for more.