JULY

I am definitely mourning the fact that July is over and school starts in less than two weeks.  We had a a wonderful July...and for some reason it posted in the right order so here is our July in the correct order...

School lunch...some of my kids love it and others hate it.  I love that I don't have to make or clean up another meal.

 

We had a few low key days between summer camps and the kids loved just hanging out and playing in Nona's backyard.

We loaded up our scooters and headed to Liberty park for a little scooter adventure.

We planned to feed ducks...but there were mostly geese.

The kids loved stopping to play at various playgrounds around the park.

 

We also stopped by the Tracy Aviary.

We met my cousin Rachelle and her family at Lagoon the first Wednesday of the month. My kids loved riding Rattlesnake Rapids with Rachelle's youngest Griffin.  They rode several times in a row.

We also decided that with good company we should finally brave the long line for Primordial.  Phin, Millie and Silas loved the ride...Lou and I not so much.

 

Rachelle, thank you so much for meeting up with us.  It was so good to see you and your family.  It means the world to me that you would squeeze us in on a such a short trip.

We headed up to Eaglewood in North Salt Lake for fireworks.  The Plaiziers/Moores are so kind to allow us to tag along.

Some Shasta soda reps came around and gave us some free soda.  I suggested Silas put his can in his shoe so that it wouldn't tip over...that recommendation took off and soon we had lots of Shasta in shoes.

We spent July 4th up in Cache Valley with Seth's side of the family.  The kids loved playing in the water.

 

Later that night we did Fireworks at home.  Here is Phin doing his best Dr. Strange impression.

 

Lou wasn't a big fan of the fireworks.  As soon as we started she used my hand to cover her eyes...it wasn't long before she turned around to snuggle up and fell fast asleep.

 

We had so much fun with cousins at Lagoon for Nona's birthday.

 

These cute cousins were waving to Lou as they waited in line for Puff.  She was riding the elephant on the adjacent ride.

 

Papa reserved the Rose terrace and we all met up for lunch.

 

It was so fun to have everyone together to celebrate Nona.  I made her Cake by Courtney's delicious Red, White and Blue Berry Cake.  It was so yummy.

 

 We all went to the magic show after lunch and then rode the train.

 

Then a few of us headed to Lagoon-A-Beach...this was our first visit this summer.

 

The next day I headed up to Jordanelle Reservoir with Millie and Phin.  Bart and Collete invited us up to ride on their boat. 

 

At school lunch one day a Nutrition Service representative came around and gave the kids a cute little fruit or vegetable pencil and a little notebook.

 

Conrad and Lou had a little tea party one afternoon.

 

The kids also loved playing playdoh.

 

Lou knows how to accessorize.  She insisted on pushing her empty doll stroller with a backpack loaded up with her favorite treasures.

 

I love to listen to Conrad and Lou playing at the park.  

 

We had a little time to spare between dropping Phin off for a class and Millie and Silas' Paris in the Park class so we visited several parks during the week.

 

The kids loved this Olympic themed week of classes.

 

I also got really brave and took Millie, Silas, Lou, Carver and Conrad to a dollar movie in Kaysville.  I was prepared with cups and bought popcorn.  I was amazed at how well Lou did...it was really her first full movie.

 

Phin spent an entire week at a Code Ninjas camp.  In the morning he took a Creative Design Studio class where he learned how to create digital art and in the afternoon he took a Dojo Design and 3D Printing Class.

 

We went to our local library for a magic show.  Millie was chosen as a participant.

 

We met friends at 7-Eleven for free slurpee day.

 

We also went swimming at one of Nona's neighbors pool.

 

Then we headed back to 7-Eleven so Phin could get a free slurpee too.

 

We went back to Lagoon and rode Primordial again...this time the kids got to save the owl.

We visited the Lego store. 

 

Lou earned her Bluey pool and has loved playing in the water.

 

We took a little day trip down to Provo one weekday.  We went to the Museum of Palentology.

 

We also visited the Bean Life Museum.  I hadn't been since they moved the museum.  It was AMAZING. It felt like we were on the Night at the Museum set.

We also saw the Brick by Brick exhibit at the Harold B. Lee Library.  It brought back so many memories to be back on campus and in the library...but BYU has also changed so much.  It seems like most of the buildings are new and things seem to be constantly changing on campus.

We walked through the bookstore and stopped for a photo with the Cosmo statue.

 

Then we stopped for ice cream and mint brownies at the Creamery on 9th.

The kids had been dying to take the paddle-board out again so we headed down to Wayne Bartholomew Family Park in Springville.  This little reservoir for keeping an eye on the kids.

 

Since Lou did such a great job at the dollar movie we went to the "real" theater to see Inside Out 2.  

 

We love luxury loungers.

 

We also had plenty of downtime.  Lou is obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Funhouse.  Here Millie is encouraging Lou to get up and move when the song comes on.

 

I took the kids to the Church Museum to see the Minerva Teichert exhibit.  They loved the hands on temple exhibit.

 Silas especially loved making his own temple spire.

 Then we stopped at the Marmalade Library to play.

 We had a water night for Activity Days.  

 We also visited SeaQuest Aquarium.

 Although they don't look like it...they were pretty excited for lunch at Pizza Pie Cafe.

Then we went to a rockets class at Hill Aerospace Museum.  Each child made a "stomp" rocket and was able to launch it using the compressed air launcher.

Seth and I celebrated our 14th anniversary.  My parents were so kind to watch our kids for a night.  We went to Wise Guys to see the comedian Greg Warren.  The next morning we went to the temple and then had a lovely brunch at Penny Ann's Cafe.

 We picked the kids up in the afternoon and took them to the pool.

We braved the face paint lines at the Days of '47 Float Preview Party.  Carver was the real hero for bringing a couple of card games that kept the kids entertained.

 It was fun to meet up with Collette, Spencer and Aaron and see their Stake's float.

 We also loved playing at their house after the float preview.

 We visited the Clark Planetarium before going to Despicable Me 4.

 On July 24th we reserved a pavilion and headed up to East canyon state park. We invited lots of cousins and were so happy they could join us.  It was fun to see the kids play in the water and on the beach for hours.

 

 

 

We headed down to the Main Library in Salt Lake to play giant chess.

 Then we visited the Museum of Natural History.

 Kim had frozen some sharks in a block of water and the kids had fun digging the sharks out.

 

One of my favorite things that Lou says right now is "I help you" or "I be your helper."  Her she is helping Millie squeeze some limes.

Kim found some fun "paint" toys on clearance and was kind enough to share them.  The kids had paint guns and then paint balls that they could throw at each other.

 

Then we had to say goodbye for now.  Carver  and Conrad are headed back to Arizona.  We are sure going to miss our Arizona cousins.   

 

Our niece/cousin Hannah got married on July 27th.  Here we are all dressed up outisde of the Logan temple.

 We had a little bit of time before the wedding dinner so we headed to Gossner's for some ice cream and squeaky cheese.

 Lou loved playing hide-and-seek with her cousins before the wedding dinner.

 

Seth and Phin took a picture with Mark's picture cut-out.  Mark is currently serving a mission in Indiana.

 They say that if it rains on your wedding day you will have an abundant life...well Hannah and Jordan will apparently have a very abundant life.  Right as we sat down for dinner it started to pour absolute buckets.  Jordan was kind enough to let Millie wear his jacket as we all huddled under a pavilion out of the rain.

  Lou loved "slow" dancing with Seth.

 Millie loved dancing with cousin Gavin.  Millie was completely mesmerized by the whole wedding day...she thought everything was magical.

 

I volunteered to make Mary's birthday cake.  I ended up making Cake by Courtney's Coconut Key Lime Pie Cake.  It was absolutely delicious and definitely in my top 5 favorite cakes.

 

 The kids had their last Lego Creators Class.  Phin and Millie made the "longest" track.

 Silas made some kind of flying machine.

Millie was sad we haven't had a "Millie dinner night" this summer.  So we made a few Greek recipes over a couple of days.  She loved the cookies that are filled with yummy walnuts.

 The next day we made some yummy meatball gyros.

Phin started a new Sports Fitness Class.  It is an hour and half a day and they play lots of different sports...kickball, pickleball, basketball, etc.  He has loved it.  I have loved that it is close enough to home that he can ride his bike.

 

We visited the new West Jordan park.  The kids loved that they could "swing" with Lou.

 The zip-line was a big hit.

But their absolute favorite thing was this "elevator."  They would hop on at the top and it would slowly lower them down to ground level.