July

I hate doing really long catch-up posts, but we've had a super fun month and I haven't taken time along the way to post any of it.  We kicked off the month welcoming Emily and her kids to town for an extended visit (hence all the fun).  They arrived just in time for our favorite carnival on Saturday, the 2nd.

Matt, Michele, and the kids joined us too.

Can you tell how much fun the dads and babies were having?

Now can you tell how much fun Emily and I were having?  Like we were teenagers again!

We celebrated the Fourth of July at Matt and Michele's home.  The kids painted pictures of the flag and fireworks, we barbequed, and lit sparklers.

Emily and I took the kids to the new Book of Mormon children's exhibit at the Church History Museum
and loved it.

From the 9th through the 13th we were at the "cabin" in Midway.  Brad and I took the kids on a mini hike up the "beehive" in the middle of Midway to look out over the town.  Two minutes into our hike, Avery was sound asleep.  But the boys loved it and didn't start complaining about walking until the way down.

The next day Wesley and Jack had their first experience fishing with Grandpa and Uncle Reed, Uncle Chad was reading the whole time!

I'm sorry to say we saved the most fun activity until the day after Brad and Shanna left to go back to work.  My parents, Reed, and I took the kids into Park City to ride the Alpine Slide.  I hadn't done this since college and was a little aprehensive about taking the kids up the ski lift (I've gotten a bit afraid of heights since I've had kids, wierd right?), but with three adults supervising two kids I figured we'd be OK.  We had so much more fun than I would have imagined.  The kids loved the ride up the ski lift, especially looking down at all the groundhogs/prairie dogs/whatever.  And the ride itself was so great, I'm excited to go back again.  I was pretty sure Wesley would be a little iffy about it but he kept telling Unlce Reed to go faster and shouted "WooHoo" all the way down.  Jack didn't say much, but smiled the whole way and my Dad looked like a kid again. Sliding 3000 feet down a mountain, Awesome. 

Our mini vacation was perfect, topped off with one big scoop of ice cream!

We've spent most of the month playing with Emily, Claire, and Jake (and baby Evelyn too).  We've gone to the barn, the dinosaur museum, lots of fun pools, and had a water ballon fight in the backyard. 
Plus we've thrown in a few girls nights.

We celebrated Pioneer Day with more sparklers and fireworks at our house and a bike parade the next morning.

And we couldn't stop the celebrations there, it was Chris' 60th birthday July 22nd!  (Have you seen her? You'd never guess she was 60!)  Ben and Cammie were in town too, so we had one big party.

Just in case the kids hadn't had enough fun, we finished the month with a morning at the Tracey Aviary and an afternoon bowling with their cousins.

 Avery really wanted in on the action too.  She thinks she's so strong picking up 8 lb. bowling balls.

Oh, and, my baby girl's got pigtails!

It's been a great month, but crazy busy. 

I'd like to take a nap!