SUZ

Here is our July in reverse. The kids spent a few days up at Grandma Jo and Grandad's while Seth and I attended Salt Con to celebrate our anniversary. They were so happy that other cousins were visiting too. They had tons of fun with Emmaline, Kaden and Reed. They spent time at a local splash pad.

They also played on Grandma Jo's inflatable slide.

Seth and I had a great time at Salt Con. We found a new yummy place to eat... Holy Smoke BBQ and Grill...and it will for sure be a conference tradition going forward. I will just highlight a few of our favorite games. Seth really liked this MicroMacro Crime City game. It is a Where's Waldo type game where you try to work as a team to solve a series of crimes.

We also liked Magic Maze. This is a cooperative maze race game where each player is only allowed to make a certain move (right, left, up or down)...so you have to work together to explore and then escape from the maze.

We also liked MegaLand which is a Red Raven game. This is a video game themed game where you try to beat a series of levels as you gain more powers/victory points.

I really liked Calico. In this game you are drafting different quilt pieces and building a quilt. You earn victory points by building certain patterns.

We also played Mariposas which is another game by the designer of Wingspan. I loved the theme of this game and think this game designer is pretty brilliant.

On our way to Grandma Jo and Grandad's we stopped at Gossner's for some ice cream.

We also had our last school lunch of the summer in July. We were blessed to have cousin Carver join us on this trip.

In July we took recreation classes through North Salt Lake. Phin took Basketball and a Mad Scientiest class. Millie and Silas took a Tiny Tot and Little Imaginations class. Millie and Silas had a water day for their last Tiny Tots class. Silas loved hitting water balloons with a bat.

Phin and Millie spent a morning at Cross E ranch for their Junior Rancher Summer Program. The made butter, planted seeds, painted with egg yolks and played water games.

Here is Silas with his decorated crown from his Little Imaginations class.

Holly, one of my college roommates was visiting Utah while dropping her step-daughter off at BYU Idaho. I was so happy she made time to visit so that I could meet her precious baby Max. He happens to share a birthday with Millie. This was my first time meeting him and the first time I have seen Holly since her wedding in Philly almost two years ago. We had the best time catching up.

We took a trip up to Southern Idaho in July. We were so happy that Jeff, Kim, Carver and Conrad could join us. Our kids think that camping with cousins is the best. We visited City of Rocks. It was gorgeous.

This is window arch. It was a short walk from the trail head.

Millie made me laugh so hard when she excitedly yelled..."there's a big rock over here."

We also went on longer hike and saw some beautiful scenery. It looks a little smokey here...smoke from the California and Oregon fires.

City of Rocks is a favorite spot for climbers. If you look at the photo below you will see a few climbers near the top of this rock.

We stopped in Albion, Idaho at the Piggy Sue Bar-B-Que food truck for some grub. They gave the kids cute piggy noses and they spent the evening at our campsite playing the three little pigs.

We had planned to rent kayaks in Twin Falls and kayak up to Pillar Falls...but all the kayaks were sold out. So we ended up spending the afternoon at Dierkes Lake. Silas wore himself up and cuddled up to me for a nap.

Phin loved going off the diving board and was brave enough to do a front flip.

Phin the King of "seaweed."

Jeff brought his paddle-board and Phin was in heaven paddling Carver and Millie around.

I loved seeing these cute cousins all lined up eating their dinner. They had the best time playing together at the campsite.

When we first arrived it was so hot at our campsite. We ended up going to Durfee Hot Springs in nearby Almo, Idaho to cool off.

On our way up to Idaho we stopped at ATK's Rocket Garden.

We also stopped at Golden Spike National Historic Park.

Seth had a number of softball games in July. We all went one Thursday night for their family night. They had hotdogs, chips and we took our shaved ice machine.

I took the kids and Carver out to the Natural Curiosity Museum at Thanksgiving Point. They had so much fun playing at the various exhibits.

Phin loved bringing his experiments home from his Mad Scientist Class. This was a little mini volcano that erupted when he put in an tablet.

Our next door neighbor, Betty invited Millie to go to a dance class with her in July. Millie loved having special time with her friend.

While Millie was at her dance class I had Phin and Betty's older brother, Clifford, build a little vehicle out of a wood kit. I also made one for Silas while they worked on theirs...these little kits were a serious pain...now I know why they only cost a dollar at the Target dollar spot.

One of our favorite restaurants had a grand opening in July. We took the kids over to play. They loved the laser tag, bounce house and big inflatable slides.

I also took the kids to the Days of '47 Float Preview Party. They were able to honk the horn in a UTA bus.

They also all got their faces painted...Phin with a claw mark, Silas as Spiderman and Millie the Princess.

They also each got a balloon.

On our way to the Float Preview Party we stopped at Waffle Love for a waffle. Phin loved the chicken and waffles.

The kids had a shaved ice shack in our front yard one Saturday. They spent most of the afternoon giving out free snow cones. They put out a "tip" jar and cleaned up.

Seth's work had some court time at the Vivint Smart Home arena one day. Phin had so much fun playing basketball where the Jazz play. Seth bought him a jersey and he has been wearing it non-stop.

I took the kids to a Summer Reading Program and they were given some building kits. We spent the afternoon one day putting them together.

We also went to the splash pad and were so happy when a few local police men showed up with a cooler full of popsicles.

At the summer reading program Drum Utah did a program... it was a lot of fun.

Phin has discovered that he likes the protein shakes that Seth and I make in the morning...here he is after a Green Shake.

We got quite a bit of rain in July. The kids loved playing outside in it.

Seth had taken Millie and Phin over to his softball game...and they had to ride home in the pouring rain.

One day the kids all dressed up for some pretend play. Millie was an Ice Queen, Phin was Captain Camouflage and Silas was the Green Machine.

I took the kids for a Slurpee a few days after July 11th. They were all out of lids for the small cups so the store manager ended up giving us these larger Slurpees for free.

We also went to the splash pad at City Creek one day.

Phin made big improvements at his Basketball class.

Silas was quite shy when he started his Tiny Tots class with Millie. He wanted to sit by me instead of participating...until he saw this parachute.

We took our shaved ice machine up to family dinner one Sunday. It was a big hit.

Seth and Phin went out to Lagoon one Saturday to spend the day with our Hatch cousins. Phin had so much fun riding rides with Gavin.

We visited the Seaquest Aquarium for the first time. Millie loved meeting the mermaid.

Before the aquarium we went to Pizza Pie Cafe...Phin was in heaven...his favorite thing...Oreo pizza.

We went to a plant cycle yoga class for a Summer Reading Program day.

We got our own shaved ice machine in August and it has been put to good use.

We spent a morning at Lagoon-A-Beach.

We also hit up a few rides before the water park opened. The kids each got the Safari Jeep that best describes their personalities.

Before our shaved ice machine arrived we went out for shaved ice one afternoon. Phin got a Cookies and Creme flavor and loved the giant cookie that came with his cone.

We spent another warm day at the splash pad...somehow the kids found a couple of buckets.

Silas is getting into dress-ups and came upstairs one day decked out as Captain America.

Nona hadn't seen the Disney movie Luca yet...so we went over and the kids snuggled while they watched it on Nona's iPad.

We had Nona over for her birthday and made a razzleberry pie...one of her favorites.

Our neighbors invited us over for fireworks. We got to see a few before it started to rain really hard and the firework show was delayed.

Seth bought some water balloons one Saturday for the kids. They came in three colors so he assigned each kid a color. It was fun to see their personalities come through in how long the balloons lasted...Silas was the last one to have a balloon.