{Scottish Highland Festival}

During the first weekend in September we headed across the bay to attend the 150th Scottish Highland Festival.

It was super fun! Sean and I both have Scottish heritage so it was fun to spend all day Saturday seeing all the things. I have never seen so many kilt in my life - it was awesome. 

Scottish rock bands - yes.

Wearing some period chain-mail.

Miriam was kinda freaked out about this knight.

Evette and I fighting in battle

The fam and I waiting for the fights to start. Teams of 5 going at it in 80 lbs of armor with real swords and axes and stuff. It was super intense! The girls were a little nervous, especially since we had front row seats, but Sean and I were fascinated!

Did a little archery, Evette did great!

Miriam was scared of the cows. She was kind of scared of everything lol.

There were a couple very interesting outfits that we saw that day....

For lunch we grabbed some meat pies and potatoes - the super long wait was worth it!!

There was a whole section dedicated to the different Scottish clans and we found mine real easy!! Touch not the cat but a glove!

We also watched some of the heavy athletics such as throwing the caber (tree trunks), putting for the stone, etc. It was so fun! The girls were not as into watching these as Sean and I were, unfortunately, but the bits that we were able to watch were incredible! 

There were also a couple different stages and places with different dance performances and competitions going on, which Evette was really into.

It was a hot and sweaty day, but we had a good time.

{A couple of sickos}

A few days after we got back from Tahoe, the girls and I had a rough day. It was a sad morning. Miriam was just screaming and crying while we were shopping at Target, for no good reason! And Evette was just grumpy pants and was upset that I wasn't buying her everything that was covered in Elsa.

We cut our errands short and went home. As soon as we got home, Miriam threw up. Oops. And she had a fever. Oops. So... apparently there was a perfectly good reason for Miriam to be so sad! Mom of the year award goes to someone else.....

Anyways, she had a fever for about 24 hours, slept a lot, cried all day, and then was perfectly fine. I think this all happened on a Tuesday... It came on fast and was gone shortly thereafter.

On Friday morning Evette was tired so while Miriam napped, Evette and I took a nap together. When she woke up, she had a super high fever. She was so lethargic, so sad, and threw up a few different times as well. 

We had to back out of the camping trip that we had planned with our friends, and we were all sad about that. We laid around all afternoon and watched Mary Poppins.

 After not being able to eat all day, having cold chills, and and having her fever reach 104*, I took her to the ER.

 We were there from about 7-11pm. It was rough. Lots of waiting....After checking her out, they tested for strep and had her pee in a cup (which she thought was crazy) for a UTI - both of which can cause fevers. The wanted us to wait for the results of the urine sample, which was why we were there so late. We did get little naps in between all the things. 

And she got a little stuffed animal to cuddle with! A giraffe, her favorite animal! She affectionately named this giraffe Tiny. Adorable.

We survived the ER. They told us to give her Tylenol and Ibuprofen. On Saturday she was feeling somewhat better. Her fever was down, only about 101-102*, and a little bit more energy.

Unfortunately, as the day went on her throat started to hurt her a lot. By the time dinner time came around, she couldn't hardly eat or even drink water without crying. I looked at the back of her throat and it was all swollen with little sores on it.

So, our hot dogs in the backyard to try to make up for the fact that we missed camping, didn't go so well since she didn't really eat. 

All this time we were waiting to hear back from the DRs to see if she had strep. I was kind of hoping that it was, just so we could have an answer and get some real drugs going through her system.

Since her throat got so sore that night, we decided to take her to the dr again Sunday morning. Sean stayed home from church and took her.

She woke up Sunday morning looking and feeling a ton better! Like night and day!

We got the results back for the strep test right before her follow up appointment - it was negative.

The doctor said it was just a virus that got real bad and that it was nearly over already.

She was just fine by Sunday night, and wasn't contagious starting Tuesday morning.

Poor sicko babies. 

{McQuay Family Reunion - Friday night/Saturday}

I love this sleepy bedheaded baby.

After that big long hike, the us girls left the boys and babies to start cleaning up and packing up the house while we went to go get a pedicure. 

It was the best! So relaxing after a big week!

After pedicures, the girls went with daddy to pick up some pizza for dinner.

  

We ate up on the roof and it was great fun! 

For dessert, we had birthday cake! Within about a month, we have 5 birthdays on this side of the family! Brenden, Natalie, Megan, James, and Evette. So, we added up all the birthdays and put 78 candles on this cake!

   

Here's the anniversary couple with the 5 birthday kids!

Miriam sampling the frosting - we waited to frost it until after all of the candles were removed, so that we would have some frosting left on the cake :)

 

The next morning, we all woke up early, packed it  up, and went our different ways across the country. Some to Utah, some to Texas, some to California.

It was such an amazing trip. I'm so grateful for the parents for puling this all together and for everyone for doing what they needed to get there! Such a fun time together. I'm so grateful for the wonderful family I married into. Good times, my friends.

{McQuay Family Reunion - Friday 1}

Friday morning we all geared up for another hike. We were all pretty tired by the end of the week and were looking for a super easy hike with some water to splash in at the end. There was some miscommunication which resulted in a different sort of hike, but we all survived more or less!

It sure was beautiful!

It was a learning day with some endure to the end mixed in there, but that's how life is, amirite?