Bingham Girl's Weekend

This weekend my mom and sisters came to Midway for a weekend getaway together. We had such a blast! We played games, sewed a baby quilt, and went to art galleries and boutiques around town. It's always so much fun having the girls get together to bond.

me, Kathryn, Mom, Emily

On Saturday, we had quite an hour of drama. We had been at a local boutique, looking at crafts and things. There were samples of lotions and body scrubs all over the place. We all kept putting products on and feeling so chic, smelling each other. Well, I came across a spray bottle that was labeled cranberry spice. How could I pass that up?! I took the lid off and sniffed, but couldn't smell anything, so I sprayed a little on my wrist. Oh man! It smelled SO GOOD! I could not resist spraying two or three squirts on my neck. I reveled in my great new aroma.

I came across my mom in the store and asked her to smell me. She wanted to know what I had used, so I showed her the spray. Well, she read the bottle and said, "It says it may irritate skin." What? I looked at the bottle. Then I looked at what it was displayed with - incense. Not body spray.

I said, "Actually, my neck IS starting to sting a little bit. I guess I'll go wash it off in the bathroom." By the time I got to the restroom, the sting had turned into more of a burning, and my neck was turning red. I washed and scrubbed with soap as best I could, but nothing was soothing me and the red was inching up higher and getting brighter.

I hustled out of the restroom and found my mom. When she saw me, she said my neck looked lobster red! We hustled home to take some Benadryll. However, on the way home, I started to worry that I shouldn't take any medicine without my doctor's approval. I called his number, but he was not in the office. Urgent care had closed two hours earlier. And no one answered the phone at the emergency room. (Gotta love small towns at times like this!)

Instead, my mom made me an oatmeal poultice. I layed on the couch and pretended I was getting a spa treatment for the next hour. It really did make it feel better. An hour later, I was as good as gold. Crazy, I know.

Thank goodness for oatmeal and cold water.

We had a fall feast for dinner - soup in a pumpkin. It was so divine. My friend Rebekah made it last year in Alabama, and Todd has been dreaming of it ever since. We had wanted to make it together before he took off for Oklahoma, but ran out of time. So my mom and sisters and I had it in Todd's honor instead. Here's the recipe:

Slice off the top of one medium pumpkin; clean out the inside of pumpkin and set aside. Saute four cut-up chicken breasts in three tablespoons of butter until golden. Remove and saute three sliced carrots, two sliced celery stalks, and 1/2 cup scallions. Add one can each of cream of chicken soup, cream of celery soup, and chicken alphabet soup. Stir in one can water, 1/3 cup sour cream, and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. Mix well and pour into hollow pumpkin. Top with pumpkin top. Place on baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 90 minutes. Scrape pumpkin sides when serving. Makes eight servings.

Mmm. Pumpkin soup. Divine.

And last but not least, I finally took another belly picture for you all. Oh, and Todd's captain is hoping to send the troop to Afghanistan a little early, so now I'm nervous that Todd'll miss The Bean's arrival. They're hoping to leave December 5th. My due date is December 1st. We'd appreciate any and all prayers that she'll make her appearance before Todd takes off.

Me and The Bean a day shy of 34 weeks.