I love this picture of Ashley. She is so cool.

Sorry Scott we cut off your head. oops

This past weekend we went to Tempe Town Lake to see our friends Heather and Scott at the Salsa Festival. We tried about 20 diffirent salsas and even had one that had strawberries in it. Heather and Scott's salsa was truely the best. They didn't win the contest for the best salsa but won a weekend getaway to a resort.

Sedona Joy smiling
Sedona chillin in her swing. She is loved.

Our little Sedona sucking her thumb.

These last couple of weeks have been eventful. I took the kids to the park last Tuesday and about 5 minutes of being there, Deacon fell off the slide and cut his fingers, as I looked closely at them I realized he needed stitches. If you know me I get freaked out about blood. I raced home to call Will and of course I'm in tears. We went down to Will's office and Will had to give Deacon three numbing shots and gave him 5 stitches. It was heartwrenching as I had to hold him down while his dad did this. Deacon was so brave. As Will stitched him up Deacon was crying and taking bites of Ritz crackers and then a otter pop. So we knew Will numbed him up pretty good. He got the stitches out one week later and still won't use that hand.
Deacon right before he got numbing shots and stitches. Our first child to experience this.
I have to report he still loves his dad.

Deacon sitting on our new kitchen table. We also purchased this at The Pototoe Barn. Nolan took this picture as I am cleaning something off the floor. My life story.

Nolan is posing on our new couches. We love them and we love The Pototoe Barn. He is handsome. Our dog Kramer in the background.

Uncle Sam's Refund

Will working on his Jeep. He got a new slip yoke elimanator. Don't ask me what it does.

The New Look

So after weeks with playing with it I finally figured out how to change the look of our blog. I will give Kim a lot of credit here as she found the site that helped to explain it. It has been some time since we posted so here are a few updated pictures of the family.


Sedona is getting bigger and she has started to develop some rolls in her little legs and a double and triple chin. She is a pleasant girl and is starting to smile. I am pleased that she loves to smile at me but really its because I know the trick. I only try to get her to smile right when she wakes up or after she eats. She will usually give me a great big toothless grin a couple of times a day and this is what usually gets me thru the day. She is not attached to Kim like Deacon was at this age and likes to take naps on Dad's chest (a fact which I use to get a cat nap here and there).



We made a back scratching line and everybody but me was getting their back scratched. This is an activity which is beloved in our house. I have made the kids addicted to getting their backs scratched but I do enjoy sitting and scratching their backs.


Proof that she smiles (it's not just gas). Lynda can get her to smile too but not as effectively as I but she will smile at anyone if they catch her in the right mood. As proof we went furniture shopping and she was really excited about smiling at that little baby in the mirror. She just smiled and coo'ed for about 2 minutes. We have great kids and we can't deny it. W are so blessed to have them in our home. We thank our Heavenly Father every day that we have the opportunity and the means with which to care for them. They teach us something every day and try us from time to time.

Keep reading as there is another post below this that was added a few minutes ago. Have a great week everybody. Come visit us sometime.

Will and Kim and the QCMcLaws Clan

Sickness

The sickness began with Ashley, then Nolan and Deacon can't be left out so he needed a pillow and ice pack too. They are smiling but they were not happy. I(Will) must have brought home strep from the office because it started with me and then Ashley and then Nolan got it. We started them on some antibiotics and things seemed to improve...but we should have realized that something was amiss when Ashley got an abcess on her right ear lobe next to ner new pierced ear. We took the earing out and I drained all the pus and had to switch antibiotics to get better coverage.

Then one week ago on Sunday Nolan woke up and said that something had bitten him in the middle of the night. As I looked closer I recognized that these were not bug bites but he had hives...probably from his antibiotics. By Sunday night his knees were swollen, his legs hurt and he could not stop itching. I recognized that this was not a case of your everyday "hives" but a rare reaction called Erythema Multiformae. The next two days were miserable for Nolan, and I must say I was getting worried. Kim was a basket case. She kept asking me "Is this normal?" and "When is this going to go away?" Tuesday night I called my dad and he hepled me administer a blessing. By Wednesday morning he was 80% better. Nolan asked me the next day "Why don't you give me and Ashley a blessing every time we are sick because that totally worked." From the mouth of babes. In answer to his question I don't often think about giving blessings when they have a cold or a cough but I will from now on. If you click on the pictures of Nolan you can see how the rash looked close up. (From a medical standpoint it was a very cool rash). Now one week later he is almost 100% better. Tonight is the first night that he has not complained that his knees, shoulders or elbows hurt him although he did have a couple of spots appear and bother him for a couple of minutes. All in all it has made Kim and I appreciate what a real trooper this little man is. He is quite brave, very strong willed, and most of all a really happy boy, things which are hard to see when he is his "normal 5 year old self". We love him and are glad to have him healthy.