What happened to July?

We had such a busy, fun July so bear with me as I try to update.

For the 4th of July we attended the North Ogden parade. It was a painful couple of hours but the kids always seem to enjoy it. They got a LOT of taffy and tootsie rolls. Nate got pelted in the face with a very frozen otter pop which temporarily dampened his spirits. Luke was really excited about the fire truck until it blasted its horn five feet from us and sent Luke running in the other direction covering his ears. The weather was somewhat overcast which made for a perfect parade morning. That evening we went to a BBQ at a friend's house that was so much fun. We ate good food, drank homemade rootbeer, and attempted a few games of volleyball. Afterwards we sat outside Weber High for a pretty good fireworks show.





The following weekend we took our kids on the ward campout. I don't love sleeping in a tent but the kids always have fun so I sacrificed! I made the mistake of not taking the pack n play for Luke and he was just a little too excited. Combine that with about a half of bag of roasted marshmallows he ate and it made for a very long night!



We spent a day at Dinosaur Park. We packed a bunch of snacks and took our time exploring the park. The kids always love the play area the best and we ended up spending most of our time there. They also love the huge sand pit where you dig for dinosaur bones.





Ogden Clinic has an annual summer party for employees at Cherry Hill. We spent a lot more time at Cherry Hill when we lived in Centerville but since our move we hadn't been. Lauren and Nate have become great swimmers and pretty much dissappeared to ride the slides and play in the lazy river. Luke loved the small kiddie area and hung out with Jason and I there most of the time. He discovered the small slide and made several trips down on his own.




Even though my birthday was in June, the chairs I picked out didn't arrive until July. Even still, I love them. Red just makes me happy. I took this picture on a rare occasion when my kitchen was clean.



For the 24th of July some friends invited us to Bear Lake to picnic and let the kids play. The kids and I had never been to Bear Lake before so we jumped at the chance. We left about 10 and got to Bear Lake around noon. The kids loved playing in the sand and shallow water. Luke was especially entertained by the whole experience. We got set up, ate lunch and relaxed for a couple hours before the wind arrived. We kept waiting for it to blow over, but once our canopy uprooted itself from the sand we figured the wind was there to stay. So after only a few hours we packed back up to head home. Our friends offered an impromptu bbq at their house and since none of us had other plans we all headed over there and enjoyed good food and great weather!



These last pictures are really for my parents who are serving a mission. Earlier this summer we added a rather large sports court to our backyard. While it took me a while to get used to having this slab in our backyard, it has proved to be a lot of fun. And everyone seems to use it, including the neighbors! Eventually we will add to it but for now we love having somewhere to play basketball, ride bikes and scooters, and even sun tan! Hey, if you live close...come by and play!


(this picture was taken from our neighbors back yard who are in the process of laying sod. The rock wall that borders the sports court is just about the back of our property line give or take a foot).

A few more pictures of our front yard where we planted 22 trees this year. Someday we'll have our own forest!