Wunda Girl: Trip to Barf Lake

Not only was there a Salmonella outbreak across the Nation, but apparently there was also a not-so-prolonged throw-up fest outbreak at our home- which I'm glad it was not salmonella, but it still was terrible.

Abigail had had a bout of throwing up a week previous to our trip. We thought it was just a fluke. Nope, it was just the beginning.

The night before we left we decided to fly out instead of driving... this would mean that we had to get up at 4:00am and take me and the kids to the airport... but it would be worth NOT spending a billion hours in a car with all 3 kids. Since I hadn't packed yet, I spent half the night running around throwing stuff into a suitcase for our week-long family reunion trip to Bear Lake. It was about midnight when I heard a huge retch come from the girls room. Addie had thrown up all over her bed. ARE YOU SERIOUS!?! We were supposed to leave in 4 hours to get on the plane! Ok- it's alright. Just clean up the mess and keep going. We'd already paid for the tickets and we'd just have to make this work. I debated canceling the plane idea, but then that would mean postponing our trip all together. No- this MUST be a fluke thing. There's no way it could be the same thing Abigial had had a week ago. No way. No stomach-virus is that strong.

STOP.
Interjection:
In my defense... I was running on fumes. Had I not spent the last 3 nights working night shifts and getting NO sleep the days after I would have had a completely different mind set. But I just about had a million breakdowns during those 3 days previous... so I jsut couldn't handle one more thing!!!!!
Ok- I'll go on. Don't judge me by my next decision-making skills.

We got up at 4am and went to the airport. I was careful to have Addie holding a vomit-bag the whole time "just in case"... and I didn't give her a drop to eat or drink since she had thrown up the first time- so I was certain she wouldn't have anything in her tummy to vomit- I was right- and Adds was a trooper. I took a photo of her to keep the memory of how brave she was... (had I known all that would follow after this photo I wouldn't have had to document this moment, as it would be ingrained in all of our memories forEVER...

Notice that she is sleeping on Taylor's blankie??? This will be a key factor in the days to come.
We got to Utah and decided that we'd stay at Mimi's house (since everyone had already left to go to the lake) until Addie was completely better... After all, we wouldn't want to expose everyone to anything now would we?
By the time we got off the plane Addie was feeling somewhat better, and after a good night's sleep, she was practically herself the next day. So we waited until evening to get to the lake, all the while telling everyone not to hug Addie yet "just in case" because she had been sick 2 nights ago. Meanwhile, everyone was passing around the baby. Oh Baby Taylor- you're so cute! Kiss kiss kiss. Oh look at the baby! Nuzzle nuzzle, kiss kiss. Here, hold the baby-snuggle snuggle. It was the baby that did it. The baby.
The next night, Taylor barfed all over her crib. We spent the entire night up trying to catch the baby barf (which interestingly enough smelled just like grown-up barf) and trying to keep everything "clean" and sanitized. By the next evening, I was sick. The next night, Dan and Tera were sick. Within 2 more days Mimi, Papa, Megan, Mindi, Hailey, Kimball, Corinne, Noah... need I go on? EVERYONE (except a precious few) was down. It was an epidemic. Literally- there was no room to throw up in peace. Kimball and Dad were ralphing in the kitchen sink w the garbage disposal on... all the bathrooms were taken up. There were no more big bowls to go around. This thing had even jumped condos! T-bone was queasy... Heidi was going to die of hand sanitizer poisoning, Steve jumped ship and went home, Rick left to and "uh.. I have to go to work...uh". Luckily Deb and her fam had skedaddled from day one, and Jer and Ash got to hear about it all over the phone.

I FELT HORRIBLE. WE WERE THE CULPRITS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No waterskiing.
No wakeboarding.
No frisbee throwing.
Just vomiting. The entire week. Those who weren't sick were taking care of the sick. By friday everyone felt better, but only half the rooms were occupied. The rest were vacant. We had so much food left over because everyone couldn't eat for a couple days. Ahh. The horror of it all still makes me sick.

I guess in all, it was a real bonding experience.

But as for me, I could've bonded just fine withOUT sharing barf-bowls.

Poor Kimball's girlfriend who came to meet the family. She was one of the lucky one's who escaped the wrath of Up-Chuck. I'm afraid she probably didn't get the best side of our family... :)

Everyone was such a good sport about it all... they tried to make us feel better. Thank you all for that- I love you and we're sorry! At least we'll have these great photos to remember:

Ok- this one just makes me feel so sad! It's like they're DEAD!

Notice the Throw-up bowls the boys are carrying around.

hand sani..........

You are all my heroes.
Best Family EVER.

So those who DID stick around for friday, ended up having a great time on some wave runners! Here's a few photos of when people weren't sick:

Look at her cute fangs!

Someone put dish detergent in the hot tub... It was crazy bubbles everywhere.

Mimi was so cool and she paid for all the kids to go climb a huge rock wall. Abigail made it to the top once, and Adds made it both times in record time!