Suffering

Okay, so maybe "suffering" is a little too extreme, but there's no denying that I have a bad case of the end o' summer blues. It has gone by WAY too fast! All my goals and plans...well, there are always weekends. Except for the two hours every Saturday for the next 8 Saturdays when we'll be at Kira's soccer games (which I'm expecting to be quite entertaining). Who am I kidding...I'll never get anything done again. (How's that for dramatic?) Getting back to school and work is kind of a bummer, but I just have to remind myself of how lucky I am to have it off in the first place. I love my job!

The rottenest thing is that my little sweetie girl is sick! All of a sudden, she's come down with a high fever on the night before the first day of school. (Maybe she has backtoschoolitis?) We're so bummed, and are really hoping she'll make a super speedy recovery and be able to go. Adam's feeling crappy too, as are several family members who we hung out with in Utah this last weekend. Yep. We drove to Nampa on Thursday, then on to Ogden on Friday. We got there in time to go to dinner at my mother-in-law's oldest, dearest friend's house. Saturday morning we went to the Dinosaur Park, but I missed most of it while Rachel, Jeff and I attempted to rescue a baby bird that was stranded on the ground and soaking wet. We ended up taking it to Ogden Nature Center where they quickly determined that the poor little thing was most likely suffering from West Nile Virus. Yikes. Poor thing--it had just barely fledged, and was still covered with downy feathers. I have to admit, I loved holding it (in my latex gloved hands). Thank goodness I left the camera with Adam! I love this photo of Kira with the scary dinosaur coming at her. (The down side is that we didn't get any pictures of the itsy, bitsy birdie.)

The highlight of the trip was Grandpa's (belated) 80th birthday party. It was so great to see Adam's grandparents, all his aunts and uncles, and so many cousins and their kids, most of whom we haven't seen in YEARS. (We hadn't been to Utah since I was 7 months pregnant with K.) We were glad we were able to go, even though it was only for a short visit. Next time we'll have to stay longer. There are so many fun things to do there, and I didn't have any nosebleeds this time!

Oh yes, and the highlight of the trip for Kira was losing her top front tooth! When we returned to the hotel after a long day out and about, Henry was VERY excited to see us. There was much cuddling & wiggling on the bed, and somehow Henry bumped my arm and I accidentally knocked that wiggly tooth out with my elbow! Kira was thrilled to have it gone. She's had trouble eating for the past couple of weeks. Now the one next to it is super wiggly too. It looks like Kira will probably have a pretty good Jack-o-lantern grin for Halloween! (Too bad she's going to be Lily Quench. She'd make a great boxer or something!)

The tooth fairy didn't even have to track Kira down, as she's decided she's saving her teeth to "cash in" all at once so she can buy a doll she's really wanting. (An American Girl Doll knock-off--I just can't see spending $100 on a doll that'll be trashed in a few weeks.) At least the girl has goals!

Well, here's to hoping that tomorrow brings good health (and less suffering) to my loved ones.

PS: FYI: As of this moment, Adam has killed 3,058 zombies. Go Adam!