July

 July was a month for playing. 

We love having the toys down in the basement. The kids spent a lot of their summer down their playing together. For the most part, they played pretty well together. Tyler and Lexi enjoyed dressing up.

 When we moved, we gifted the kids with the "Pass of All Passes". It gets us into the Seven Peaks Waterparks, some fun centers. sporting events, and more. I took the 4 kids to a Fun Center by myself, then we came back the next week with Marc and played Mini Golf as well. 

Here's the boys rock climbing:

 Isabel had lots of fun in the slides and play center:

 The kids went on the "Hopper" which goes up and then suddenly drops down. There was lots of screaming involved, but they all wanted to go again:

 The Roller Coaster was working which the kids loved, Lexi was brave enough to go all by herself (I had to stay with Isabel who isn't tall enough to ride)

 The first time we came, just the boys rode the Go Karts, the second time, Lexi brought proper footwear and nearly stood on tiptoes to make the height requirement:

 Selfies on the pirate ship ride:

 Isabel was terrified/thrilled with this ride. She wasn't quite sure what to think of it, but did ride it again so I guess that says something!

 Lexi enjoyed riding it by herself over and over again:

 The boys on the water boats:

They were absolutely dripping when they came off the ride. Lexi and I rode the boats together and we decided once was enough. I hated how wet and cold I got (mostly from the other punk kids that sat there and sprayed the heck out of you just because). 

 Isabel playing in the water while we waited:

When we came back the second time with Marc, Isabel was able to ride the "airplane" with the big kids and oh how she loved it! 

 Starting to enjoy coloring with crayons and can actually sit still for more than 10 seconds to color.

 Seven Peaks Water Park. We went to the Provo water park with our friends, The Eliason Family. The boys had a blast riding down all the slides with Matthew, and Lexi loved being with Ellie and Jaycie. I loved having Marc there to help me with Isabel! Here's Marc, Justin and some of the girls in the Lazy River. It was freezing!

 Marc and Isabel:

 The boys had a blast going on the water slides. Here's Bryce and Tyler coming off "The Vortex" or "Toilet Bowl" as we like to call it:

 We had fun taking Isabel down some of the slides, she rode on our laps. She especially loved the "Avalanche" slide (race down on mats 6-8 people at a time) and some of tube rides.

We look forward to "Cow Appreciation Day" every year. Here's our little pink cow Isabel, she was a hoot! She thought it was so much fun to dress up:

 The rest of the herd:

 Marc was able to join us there for dinner. We made him a shirt and ears to wear too:

 Moo!

The boys are in a Stake Children's Choir (Lexi wants to be too, but its for 8+). They performed at the "Draper Days Parade" and rode on a float while they sang. Our friends, Brett & Jolynn Greenwood invited us to come sit with them at their family's house to watch the parade. We were grateful to have somewhere to sit. 

 It didn't take long for Isabel to catch on to the fact that it was candy being tossed at her. She and Lexi loved running out and collecting the candy (most of it was Salt Water Taffy, yum!)

 Here's the boys' float. They were so hot and tired by the time they finally got to us!

That evening, we went for a family bike ride on the bike path in Draper that leads to the park. There was a huge event for Draper Days. The kids went to a Reptile show, there was a candy cannon being blasted (more salt water taffy!). lots of booths everywhere from local businesses. We waited in line for quite a while at "In and Out" to spin the wheel for free food. Each person in the family got to spin and we all won something so that was fun. We didn't stay too long, because we still had to ride our bikes back, but it was a fun family evening. 

 Here's one of the sunsets from out our backyard:

 Tyler lost about 6 teeth in like a week. He pulled out two in one day!

 And losing more! We call him "Toothless Tyler"

 And here's "Little Miss" just being her cute little self.

The end of July, the kids had "Cousin's Camp" with their Galloway Cousins. Codi wanted to take them camping this year. It would have been a lot easier for us if we hadn't moved, but I promised the kids that we would get them there. I drove to Boise a few days early so we would have a little more time. We spent half a day in Caldwell with Gina and her family. We went swimming at the YMCA then ate lunch at the park afterwards. It felt just like old times!

The kids left on Friday afternoon, which was the same day as my Mom's birthday. She wasn't feel very well, so my Dad and I weren't able to do much for her, but we took her out for dinner (she chose Zupa's, and then we rented "Alexander and the Horrible No Good Day" to watch that night. Low key, but that's ok. I left on Saturday evening to meet Scott & Codi in Mountain Home, we switched cars and kids and I drove them home to Utah. They had a good time. They camped, played night games, cliff jumped, went to a hot springs, and had non-stop fun.  July was a good month, busy, but fun-filled for sure!