July

July is always my very favorite month, because the 4th of July is the best holiday all year!  I love my country, and I love celebrating America's Independence.  We always go out to Plain City for the night of the 3rd for dinner and treats and fireworks with my Dad's whole side of the family. I didn't get many pictures this year.

Noah wasn't really sure he like the fireworks once they started, but he liked them far more than my other two at this age.

Emma was in her element.  Staying up late, fireworks, candy, girl cousins, and more candy. 

Adam, Emma and cousin Beau.

The next morning we went back out to Plain City to the parade and breakfast at my parents with my Dad's whole family again, and I was terrible at pictures for the event also. Then we had Matt's family over to our house for a cookout and games.

Matt being his goofball self always pretending to spike the punch.

 

Nothing better than a good, fun game of croquette. 

The cheerleading section. 

When Matt and his brothers get together, they are a little goofy. But they keep us all laughing, so we'll keep them.

Noah was showing off his new-found up-on-his-knees-crawling. He had been army crawling everywhere for quite some time.  I was excited for him to do it correctly so his shirts wouldn't get so dirty!

Emma and a Chinese fan that she got at Cherry Days.

 

Mine and the kids favorite part of the day, fireworks!!

The rest of July was spent playing. A lot of playing!

 

I went on my very first airplane.  Yes, I am 29 and had never flown on a plane.  Matt has to travel for work quite often and has earned points and so I got to fly for free with him when he went to Las Vegas.  I felt slightly guilty as I hung out at the pool or where ever I wanted and read my books as he worked.  The food was delicious and the room at the Aria was amazing!

 

 Noah's first taste of spaghetti, which he loved as you can tell. First of my children to like spaghetti.  Which is a relief, since we have it often.

This cute girl turned 4 in July!  She is such a joy to us, she keeps us on our toes, and laughing constantly.  My favorite nickname for her is Crazy Cora.  (I didn't make it up!) But it fits her!

 All she wanted was a ladybug cake.

Adam had a well-child check in July, and while there, the Dr. had some concerns and so a 30 min check up turned into 3 hours.  Luckily I had the foresight and actually listened to it, and brought snacks for Emma and a bottle for Noah.  Adam had his blood drawn and he was THE BRAVEST little boy in the world, but of course that's his mom saying it.  He had some crocodile tears while it was being done, but he laid so still and didn't complain at all.  After that we went down to radiology, and he had an x-ray done.  He thought it was the coolest thing in the ever to see his skeleton, and was asking tons of questions about it.  The radiologist was so good to take time to answer every question.  It totally helped him forget about the blood draw, I so appreciate the people in pediatrics health care that take the time and energy to be amazing at their job! Matt and I were slightly crazy until we found out all is perfectly normal for our little man. Here is Adam showing off his dinosaur medical tape.

 

The last two weeks of July was like a party.  In Flaming Gorge and Bear Lake!

 

We went to Flaming Gorge with Matt's family for a whole week and it was amazing!!

It was a campsite that we had to boat into, so yes, that meant load EVERTHING into the boat and then unload it at the campsite.  But it was worth it!  Emma took a nap in her camp chairs every day.

 

We did some slack-lining over the water. Super awesome, but super hard.  I was trying to channel my brother Jed's amazing slack- line skills.  It didn't work.

This cute boy got sunburned before we even got to our island, but he was a trooper about it.

 

More slack.  It's so hard!

Emma was in heaven the whole time!  She cried when we were on our way home because she wasn't ready to leave.

I looked forward to the rope swing.  We haven't been there in 7 years and I was just hoping it was still there, and It. Was. Awesome. My father-in-law Fred and I were the first ones to go.  He made me go first, he said he was being a gentleman, but secretly I think he knew that I stayed behind alone, I wouldn't have the guts to do it.  It's THAT scary.

I seriously am willing to admit that as a 29 year old woman, I may have slightly wet my pants as a jumped.

One of those moments where you have a picture in your head of what you look like, then is totally different when you see the real thing.

This kid was totally go-with-the-flow kind of kid!

Had so much fun, I did the rope swing again with my brother-in-laws, Steve and Nate.

And then again, with my sister-in-laws, Ashley and Kate. 

Snoozing anywhere 

 

Lots of tubing.  My very favorite.  Although I really missed Melissa screaming in my ear as we tubed!

 

My poor sunburned baby snoozing again. I really did put sunscreen on him, I've just never had such a fair skined child and wasn't used to using so much sunscreen.

Swimming around while waiting for the water to calm down a little to wakeboard.

 

Emma napping again. 

Noah and I had our special early morning first-breakfast as everyone else was sleeping.  I got really awesome fast at lighting the camp chef and boiling water for oatmeal by myself.

We caught crawdads and tried them out.  Too bad we only caught the small ones, some of them were massive, and slightly creepy looking.

Such a happy kiddo!

We got some paddle boarding in, it was really fun to try it! 

 Our view every morning and evening!

Adam really, really just wanted to catch a fish.  Everyone around us were catching them, but somehow my little family couldn't get them to bite. 

Adam loves the kids' ski! 

 

Adam was super excited to go on several lizard hunts.  He actually caught some too, he was in little-boy heaven.

My super, awesome husband showing off his wakeboarding skills, grabbing the board.

 

I got to do some wake surfing too.

The whole fam getting ready to leave. 

 

Flaming Gorge was a huge hit this year.  I was a slightly crazy lady as I tried to keep my children safe from the all the elements, specifically the water. 

 

A couple days later we packed up and left for Bear Lake area with my family. We camped up the St. Charles Canyon, it ended up perfect for everyone. A shallow little river for the kids to play in, Minnetonka Cave, and going to the beach.

 

These two cousins are just months apart and the best of friends. They get along so well and are always happy to see each other.

 These guys were troopers the whole way through the cave.  Emma only got nervous going down the really steep stairs, I think they called it the stairway to Hell.

At the beach the next day, I couldn't keep this kid out of the water.  I 'd take him out and he'd crawl right back in.  He wouldn't care how deep it was, he just kept going deeper.

 

 

Bear Lake was a success.  The kids and adult all had a great time.