The Month of July

J u L y

One of my very favorite months. There is always a lot of fun things going on. Plus it always starts with my birthday.

Happy Birthday to me. The night before my b-day I went out with some friends to celebrate some of the summer b-days. We went to P.F. Changs and to see Eclipse. It was a great time. It is always nice to have a night out with the girls.

On my birthday Ryan and the kids were great all day. Bailey made decorations, Ryan got some great gifts, including my new favorite BSU hat, Ellie told me Happy Birthday at least 100 times, and Loggy wanted in on the party action!

Not so much fun being pregnant on your birthday, or anytime really, but at least you can eat as much cake as you want and not even feel one bit bad when you eat the rest for breakfast. My sister Mel made the cake for me and it was delicious, we made homemade mint oreo ice cream to go with it. YUM!

For dinner we went to Flatbread Community Oven. It is one of favorite places, they have the best salads and pizza. Plus it is kid friendly. Win-Win.

The kids can make their own pizza and then go watch it cook in big oven, they loved it

There were also some fun fountains outside for the kids to play in

Jackson, Avery and Logan were in heaven

How cute are these 3?

It was fun having my sisters and their families celebrate with me.

It was a good birthday!

I am glad everyone could stay to enjoy the holiday weekend.

Red - White - Blue
How cute are you?

4th of July spread. Gotta go big.

So good: ribs, steak, shrimp, salads, watermelon

and of course Flag Cake

Logan is crying because he wants cake, he doesn't want to take a picture with the cake, he wants to EAT the cake. He LoVes cake - obsessed actually.

Hey cute girl you were awesome in our kick ball game

Love this picture of him, look at those eyes

My friend Natalie gave those earrings one year when we went to fireworks together. They use to glow in the dark. Bailey made me promise that I would save them for her, so she could wear them on 4th of July. This was the first year she could and she did not forget. She ran around looking for them. Good thing I saved them she looks cute in them .

El is sort of a scaredy cat so she stayed close to Grandma, Logan loved looking at everything but didn't want to stray to far away either.

Although he did like the snakes

The weekend wasn't the warmest, especially for 4th of July, but no one seemed to mind too much. We still managed to have a great time.

My sister Jenn put together a little party for all of the July birthdays. So after a trip to Baja Fresh we came back and had some birthday for festivities. Avery and Bailey also have July birthdays, and since Avery was turning 1 the next week the party was mostly for her.

There were wheel barrel races

3 legged races

A pinata

and of course lots of candy

It was a really fun weekend. Thanks everyone for coming to party.

Some of the other things we did in July......................

Swimming Lessons

This was a big deal for Ellie to jump off the diving board by herself, she was very scared but she did great. But she didn't really want to do it again.

She made great progress on her swimming this year

Bailey learned to dive this year and really started perfecting her strokes

The kids also all got hair cuts. Bailey chopped hers off and donated it to Locks of Love again. She was really excited about it and loves her new short hair.

They sent her a postcard thanking her, she thought it was awesome

Ellie got a trim. She was mad. She said it looked exactly the same. It really did look much better, and her hair is finally getting longer and thicker so I told her she couldn't chop it yet. She was mad!! But now she likes that she can have ponytails and Bay can't.

He may look happy now, but it is only because it is over. He screamed, thrashed, and screamed the entire time. He HATEs haircuts. He won't let me do it, won't let Ryan do it, or my poor friend, at least when she did it you could tell he got a haircut. Bless her for her patience with him. I hope it gets easier soon, his hair grows fast. Good thing he looks cute right?

We went to see Toy Story 3 afterwards. The kids loved it, thought it was hilarious!

We went to the zoo with Mel and Jackson one day. This year Logan really got into it, he loved looking at all of the animals, he tried to talk to them or wave, it was fun to watch him. The girls still love it too, which is nice. It made for a great way to spend an afternoon.

I love Logan's face, he is trying to see the giraffes, he wants nothing to do with me. Thanks for smiling girls, you can look at the giraffes now. Jackson wasn't about to turn around either.

Now we can see everyone. It was a really nice day to be at the zoo, not too hot. Which is great because all of the animals are out for you to see.

The penguins are always a fan favorite



We had to get a zoo water bottle at the end of the day, the trip wouldn't have been complete without it. They still use them so I guess all was not lost :)

One day Logan discovered all of Bailey's old soccer uniforms. He called them soccer suits and was very insistent that he had one on at all times and the girls had to wear them too. Since he stopped wearing bibs sometimes it worked in my favor, but when we had to go somewhere like church it wasn't such a fun new habit.

This one was working great as a bib. I love this picture.

He is so exhausted, they had all been playing outside all night. He was mad he had to come in but he is so tired he doesn't really know how to feel.

We also had our primary Pioneer Activity.

I love celebrating Pioneer Day and singing all of the fun Pioneer songs.

We had some fun water games the kids could play that related to the Pioneers.

Ellie is walking across the frozen river


We finished off the month by going to the Tim McGraw concert

It was really fun, we went to dinner with some friends before. We had good seats, it was a fun night out. It was really hot in there. I wanted to stick my head in the beer cart a few times, but I figured being pregnant and all it would send the wrong message. But it was really hot in there.

I think Tim was a little hot too.....ha

The next morning Ryan left and a golf trip with his dad and brothers They started in Boise and headed up McCall way. They golfed four different courses in 2 days. They are crazy, but they had a good time and can't wait to do it again.

One of the courses they played

Thanks July you didn't disappoint, see you next year!

Is July already half over????

The month started off great. I am officially IN my 30's and I feel okay about it. Ryan got off work early and we all went to lunch and shopping for shoes. Pretty much my idea of a fun afternoon. Ryan actually picked out the same shoes that I did, after 10 years we are on the same page! The kids love birthdays even when its not their own so that always makes the day more fun. Thanks to everyone for making it a great day.

Lovin those candles! Happy Birthday to me, I am blessed to have these cute kids.

p.s. 2 days later those cute kids broke all of the plates in the plate rack behind us, gotta love em!

The next day we headed to Logan for the 4th of July weekend. Aaron and Mindy were blessing baby Dax which made it the perfect reason to head to the old stomping grounds. I love that town, obviously seeing that we have a name sake, it will always just feel like home. So many great memories there. When we got to town we went to A&W, this is the best A&W in the country, I promise!! The root bear is on tap the fry sauce is home made.....yum-o. It is disgrace to this lovely establishment that in most places it now shares its glory with a KFC, not it Logan it stand as a one and only... and Ryan wasn't leaving town without visiting it. Afterward we headed up to campus to meet all of Ryan's family that get to live in Cache Valley....lucky (except in the winter). The fireworks did not disappoint it was a great show. The last time we went to them I was very pregnant with Bailey, so we were due to see them again.A fairly decent family photo

Lots of cute kids!!These 2 are 2 Peas in a Pod

Saturday the guys golfed and we took the kids to a fun park and had lunch at Firehouse, another favorite, and then headed back to Matt and Jill's for our own firework fun and eating lots of watermelon. The 4rth of July and eating watermelon go hand in hand!! The girls had so much fun with Allie and playing Hannah Montana. We did so many fun things that weekend but Bailey said her favorite was putting on a Hannah Montana show on Matt and Jill's deck. Crazy girls!

Ready for some fun at the park

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY !

The ending to the Hannah Show

Watermelon pictures are my FAVORITE

This is crazy Matt's West Indies firework, I must admit it was pretty cool

Sunday was baby Dax's special day, he is such a good baby and is going to have lots of people to love him and help him grow up. It was a great day. Trae started crying when we all left, he is such a cute kid!!

Why do I not have any pictures of this???

Later that day Ryan headed back home and my dad came and picked up me and the kids. I stayed down to help Jenn while she had her baby. Before the baby came we did manage to have some fun. We went out on the boat, all of the kids are really starting to love doing that. We also went to Hoggle Zoo. The kids loved seeing the elephants and riding on the merry go round and train. It was a good day....it was hot but lots of fun.

The elephants were definitely a favorite

The zoo is always a hit, even Jackson and Logan had a good time

LiTTlE ApEs

After the zoo we headed for Heber to get ready for the baby. The girls loved being at Drew's house and visiting all of his favorite parks.

The kids have really gotten into climbing trees this summer

Baby Avery was born on July 9th weighing in at 6 lbs 7 oz. She is tiny little thing and so so cute. Ryan came back to pick us up and take us home from wearing out our welcome. I am not sure helpful I am with my own 3 crazy kids, but I am happy to do it Jenn has helped me out on so many occasions I wanted to return the favor. What a blessing family is!

Drew had very excited for the arrival of his new baby sister

It was nice to come home and get busy planning for the rest of the month. While I was in Utah, Ryan scored us some great tickets to the Kenny Chesney concert. I was so very excited. It was so much fun. That was the 3rd time I had seen him and that show was probably my favorite, even better then standing next to the stage. He put on a great show that night, so glad we were there. Thanks Ry!!



The first of of July flew by and was filled with many great moments. The 2nd half doesn't disappoint......more to come!

I just had to finish this post with this picture because its cute. Logan has been lots of fun this summer and has LOVED the pool. He discovered dad's hat this day and looked just like him!