Losing Limbs . . . Almost

Some snippets of the week:

Gavin likes to sleep on the pull-out mattress next to the nightlight because he gets scared on the top bunk. Sometimes we find Paige down there with him. The bunk bed is empty. Too cute.

This baby loves corn on the cob; it's perfect for tiny chewers.

That's a pot of pearsauce. And that's my I'm-not-gonna-smile-cause-I-hate-canning-day face. But the sauce is delicious, and there are so many pears, so I should prolly do some more this week.

Saturday we spent the day at Pine Valley Reservoir. Leif said we would be leaving at 8 a.m.; I said 9ish. Of course, we were on the road at 10:30, stopping for fuel and fishing supplies. We picked up Bernan at her apartment in Washington, and the Cliffords joined as well. When we first got into town, we stopped at the old white Pine Valley church and did an informative tour. Interesting for adults; boring for kids. Our great great grandpa Horatio helped build the church, so it's always fun when you can connect yourself to a place and its history. I wish I could go to church there every week.

The kids were equal parts hungry and bored to tears at this point, so we made lunch up by the reservoir then hauled our stuff to the far end of the dam, where Leif set up the kids with their poles. Nobody got even a nibble, so some of us went for a walk down the paved trail. The little kids hunted for white mushrooms that they threw against the pavement for the exploding effect, and Dax slept in the backpack carrier on my back. The older girls had stayed back at the dam playing in the water with Matt and Bernan supervising and were quite soaked by the time we got back. We loaded up and meandered up to the end of the road where we did a little more trailing and the kids raced sticks under the bridge. It was a wonderful way to get out of the heat for the afternoon.



But it couldn't last forever, so back toward the heat we went, stopping at Marv's for burgers and fries and a near-fainting experience. I was the only one who ordered that last item, and I wish I'd stuck with just the burger. It was the weirdest thing, and sounds so dumb to retell, but I really almost passed out because my pinky fingernail got ripped off a little.

Long story short, I reached for the door as Kaelee opened it from the inside, and my pinky finger got smashed right between the two doors. I'm guessing it was the combination of hunger, heat, and injury that made me so woozy, but I spent the next 30 minutes or so sitting on the ground or lying on the booth bench inside. The worst part was when I had to perform surgery on myself later at home and almost passed out again. It hurt so bad! But it doesn't look that bad, so of course I've been teased relentlessly by my siblings, especially my brothers. Meanies.