July happenings

Nate took the 2 big boys to a Jazz Summer league game.  They have become huge Jazz fans!

4th of July was so much fun!  We started with a bike parade and breakfast with our ward. The kids had a lot of fun decorating their bikes.  After the breakfast we went to the Manilla pond and did some kayaking and playing in the sand.  Then we headed to my parents for a yummy BBQ and finished off the night watching fireworks with the Geddes'.  It was a great 4th of July!

 We found some patriotic accessories at Hobby Lobby and couldn't pass them up.

Lisa Gear painted Callie's nails during the breakfast and Callie loved getting pampered.

This fruit pizza from Mel's Kitchen cafe was delicious!  We had leftovers for a week after b/c it made so much.

We had our Curtis cousins come to town in July and it was one big party!  We had so much fun with them hanging out at Grandpa and Grandma's and going on some outings.  We went to Thanksgiving Point one day and these cute cousins had so much fun together.

We hiked Timp Cave with our cousins too and loved going through it a second time this summer!

I'm the Wolf den leader in our ward so I get to be over Brennan and his buddies (McKay and Briggs).  We hiked to Scout Falls one afternoon and it was a beautiful night for a hike!

The kids did a fun sports camp in Provo with Lucas while he was in town and they loved it!  They did lots of different sports.  One afternoon after their camp, we met them at the rec center to go swimming at the pool.  The Provo Rec center pool is amazing!  We played indoors and out and had a great time!

I don't have any reason I took this picture other than Graham is so dang cute!  He loves to wake up early and come cuddle with us in bed and stay up later than everyone (thanks to his naps he's usually not tired at 8pm).  We sure love that boy!

We got to go to the MOTAB Pioneer day concert and it was wonderful like usual!  These kids were so proud of their grandma.

We went to the Steel Days parade and the kids enjoyed getting lots of candy.  And Graham loved seeing the motorcycles and fire trucks.

We also went to the Picnic in the park and had a fun time eating at the food trucks and playing around until it started raining like crazy!  We were there with the Brewers so once it started raining we all headed to our house to hang out for a bit.

We had a Blackham dinner at my grandma's house and took the annual summer picture on my grandma's lawn :)

On Pioneer day we woke up early and went to Provo to do the temple to temple 5k run.  It ended up being kind of a mess because we planned on taking the shuttle to the start of the race but the line was SO long and there were only a few buses operating so we stood in line for an hour and missed the beginning of the race. Brennan and Callie ran almost the entire time with Nate and they did great! After the race we went to that fun park by the Orem library and hung out for a bit.

Later on I met my mom at the AF library for some pioneer day activities.

While Rayane and her kids were in town we took Frontrunner up to SLC and spent the day downtown.  We first went to the Church History museum which was so interesting.  Then we ate at the Lion House pantry during Becca's lunch break and went to see some of the new movie clips in the Joseph Smith building. It was such a fun outing!

These girls are best friends one minute and then fighting the next!  They have a complicated relationship but overall they love each other a ton and are very similar!

All summer long Nate was prepping for a bike ride to Cedar City.  We go down to Cedar City every year for the Shakespeare Festival and he came up with the idea to ride his bike down and meet us.  He trained all summer long and spent every Saturday going on really long rides.  He was doing this long ride by himself which we all thought was a little crazy but he didn't think twice about it :) The day finally came and he left at 4am and rode all the way to Delta (100 miles).  He made it easy and said it wasn't too bad.  That's the same day the kids and I drove down to Cedar.  The next morning Nate woke up at 4am and began his final leg to Cedar City.  Part way through he says he was done mentally and he ended up hitch-hiking for a few miles!  Luckily the guy that picked him up was very nice!  Then he continued on his way and eventually called me and said he was SO bored and was done riding his bike in the middle of no where with him and the road kill.  So I drove from Cedar City and met him in Minersville at the bottom of a big mountain pass.  So his long bike ride wasn't quite what he imagined but he still ended up going 170 or 180 miles which is pretty awesome.

It was fun to have him in Cedar City and show him the Greenshow and all.  I saw Big River when I was down there and it was amazing!  It's the story of Huck Finn and it was so well done.  The kids swam a lot and we did some shopping and eating out and it was a nice little getaway for a couple of days.

We bought the cutest matching dresses for Callie and Savannah and they could pass as twins!

Other happenings in July that I don't have documented in any pictures: swim lessons, double date bike ride with Aaron & Sam, ward BBQ, and lots of fun park days and play dates with friends.  

July was also a really hard and emotional month.  Our good friends Corey and Nicole Ernst were on vacation with their kids when their 2-year-old Ivy tragically drowned.  She was the same age as Graham and I watched her once a week while Nicole played tennis.  Our ward came together like I've never seen before.  It was very sobering seeing the anguish of their sweet family.  It reminded me how precious life is.  It also put my trials in perspective.  I love their sweet family and hope they can continue to heal from this tragedy.