July 2014

July starts off pretty awesome, of course. With my favorite holiday and birthday, its a tough first week to beat. Since I'm trying to recall all of this over a year later, I can't remember all the details really. I do remember going down to Denver for the 4th of July celebration, which is done on the 3rd. It was a great firework show. We got down there a little early and went to eat at Cheesecake Factory. Super Yummy. I don't remember much else! Ha! Of course I remember the food. Sad.

For the 4th of July, we went to Carter lake and spent some time in the great outdoors. It was a beautiful spot surrounded by mountains. A fun place to be to make it feel like a fun summer holiday. We came back later that day and put on our fun shirts we tie-dyed. I think they turned out pretty cute. Bella wanted to wear her fun dance costume, which was fine by me since you pay all that money and they wear it once. It was a perfect 4th of July outfit.  We had a traditional hamburger We met up with the Skinners at the Broomfield Commons area for their fun firework show.  Such a fun holiday.

A week later the Porter crew came out for our family reunion. It was nice to have everyone come to us for a visit. We had some great times. We went to Carter lake one day and a massive rain storm came through. Didn't stop us from having fun. However, those in the Liddiard car didn't make it up because their car broke down. Sadly, Bella was one of those and it was her bday. But sounds like they had a good time playing at McDonalds and getting ice cream, so there weren't any upset kids. Just bummed they missed it. We also went to Union Reservoir in Longmont for a day trip. Paul and Jill rented a water board, which was a lot of fun. Any time in the water is fun, in my opinion.

We also had a baseball game and Papa John helped teach a few of the kids how to bat, which was cute. I feel like we had a date night, but honestly, at this point, I can't remember. Haha. Before everyone left on their last day, we threw together a quick family picture. Got to capture all these beautiful people together.  It was great to have them all out for a visit and good fun family time!

 We took the kids up into the Rocky Mountain national park for a few days of camping. It'd been a while since we had gone, but we had a great time. The kids loved it and were really good sports. My favorite was finding them in the tent playing games together. Love that they are having fun together and hope they remember these wonderful times together. These are the relationships that matter and last! We did some hiking, playing games, roasting marshmallows and took a drive through the park where we came across a few herds of elk. It was pretty amazing. Some beautiful areas so close by. Such a beautiful place we live!

The older 3 kids were able to participate in a summer acting camp where they practiced all week and then put on Alice in Wonderland. They loved it and did fabulous. Liz played the rabbit, Caroline played a mouse and Tweedle Dum (or dee, I can't remember) and Cooper played the other tweedle. It was fun to see them enjoy performing and doing a great job at it.