July- part I

July is my favorite month. Always so much fun going on and fun things to celebrate. We have 3 July birthdays, the Fourth of July and just lots of other fun. My birthday was a good day. We went to see the movie Monsters University. We all really liked it and had a good time. Then later that night, after presents, brownies and ice cream (yes, I wanted brownies, not cake) we went down to Denver for their Fourth of July celebration. First, we stopped and ate at Noodles and Company for dinner and then walked over to the park where the party was. We ended up getting seats at the very back but it was ok because we could still hear the music. We had a while until the firework show so we pulled out some books and games to pass the time. It was lots of fun. All the kids were really good and the firework show was good and we had a fun time! I always love watching fireworks on my birthday.

 

The next day was of course the Fourth of July. This is my favorite holiday and it's been a little bit of a challenge as the mom of little kids and wife to a husband who doesn't like crowds or parades. I mean, that's what you get with the Fourth of July. The morning didn't start out pretty but I took a little break and went to the craft store to get some things for the kids to decorate. We ended up decorating hats and faces. I tried to get shirts but didn't realize that they had to be washed and cleaned the day before. Next year. The kids love having their faces painted and luckily they're ok with my "artistic" ability.

 Of course we had to have a good ol' summer lunch with hot dogs, chips, baked beans, corn on the cob and root beer. Nothing like a summer lunch to get in the Fourth of July mood.

We were told that our city (Broomfield)  had a great show so we thought we'd give it a try. We didn't want to go too early and just sit around, so we got there about 2 hours before dark and just played some games outside and hung around. The firework show was actually pretty good. Only bad thing was they didn't have any music along with it. Still a good show though.

On the 6th of July, no special day (aside from Suzanne's bday), but Brian planned a day for us and we went to this museum type place near Arvada. The kids had fun learning about blacksmiths and how people lived in the the 1800's. We went into a building that was the school house and she taught them about dunce caps. They seemed to enjoy that, and ringing the school bell.

 After that, we went to this lake in Arvada and had a blast! It was so much fun. About half way through all the sudden the sky got dark and this major wind kicked in. The kids were scared 'cause it was crazy. People's tents collapsed and blew over and this huge raft was blowing towards us. It was kind of fun but the little 2 were scared. It finally calmed down and we finished up pretty soon after that. It was pretty crazy!

A few months back Julia and I had talked about her coming out and surprising Brian for his birthday and we were able to pull it off! Brian had to work on his bday but I worked it out so he'd only have to do a half day. He didn't know that, I did it with Chuck and the ladies up front. So Julia got in at 8:00 in the morning and I picked her up, came and got the kids for a little bit, then told Brian we'd meet up for lunch. I got there a few minutes early so Julia could walk into his office and surprise him and boy did she! They both ended up in tears. It was a surprise well pulled off! I was so excited for him. We went out to get some lunch at a hamburger place and then went to a miniature golf/play place and stayed there for a couple hours. I think the rest of the night we just had ice cream cake and presents and played games. It was so fun to have Julia here. She was great to help around the house, clean some, play with the kids, do the slip n' slide with them and play games with Brian and I. We loved having her visit!

Julia stayed for Bella's bday. Bella wanted to go to the lake that we had gone to a few days ago and I thought that would be perfect fun with Julia, so we did and it was lots of fun. We came back around the time Brian got off work and had presents and watched the birthday video. I love doing those for them. They seem to really enjoy them.

July is such a fun month and the first half sure held up to the expectation!

June

It's fun to watch our kids be creative. I love it when they all go downstairs and just play and no one is screaming or fighting. One thing that they all enjoy doing together is making videos and one day I know they're going to love watching them. They do it a lot, but every now and then I'll snap a picture of them. This one was a little crazy. I don't even know what the story was, but the costumes were too funny.

 

This was one of my favorite shots of the video they made with Bella being a mean girl. Such a pretty little stinker! Hopefully she won't be this edgy when she's older!

 

There were creative times which resulted in an at home spa. Even Cooper was a participant.

 Some self make up application, which is totally common!

 Brian did some popcorn olympics for FHE one day. Of course the kids loved it. There were several "events" and it was a lot of fun. He always comes up with fun things.

Then of course there was Father's Day. I had to get a picture of Brian with the kiddos. IT was such a cute picture of them. Love all these peeps.

 Liz and Caroline started the track program through the community and it was a great way for them to use some energy and stay moving. It was 3 days a week for 2 hours! I think they enjoyed it for the most part, but there were some days it was just way too hot! I think they picked up the running from their cousins, so we'll see if they really like it when next year comes around.

Of course there were just some other crazy moments

Beautiful Moments

 

And moments that made us laugh

A moment to make us cry.... Bella got her Kindergarten shots. 5 of them! She wasn't too happy about it but was rewarded with an ice cream cone from DQ. That made it a little better.

 

 We had park time and swimming time, lots of swimming time....

  Brian had a scout camp out and came back super dirty of course

 We got to go to a Rockies game through Brian's work and we all had a lot of fun with that. They got a box seat and lots of treats. It was a perfect weather night too. Lots of fun!

They did have "peanuts and cracker jacks" and of course, what's a baseball game without a hot dog?! I said I'd go to any game if it was like this. Box seats are the way to go!

 

June proved to be a pretty fun month. Lots of fun going on and lots of time together.

Kiki's Dance

Caroline had a great dance recital this month. She really enjoys dancing and it's fun to see her excel at it. This go round she did a song with Brian and it was fun for them to do the dance together. Caroline really enjoyed the time with her Dad each week practicing. It was like a date for them and fun to see the results from all their efforts.

Girls Night

Brian took Cooper out to a movie so we girls had our own night. We did facial masks (Except Bella. She wasn't too excited about the looks of it) and I gave the girls little ghetto spa treatment on their feet and did their nails while we watched a movie. Pretty fun girl time.

More of May

May ended up being pretty busy. The weather was still hit and miss but getting warmer. I told the kids if they weeded out the garden bed that I'd buy a big slip 'n' slide for them to play on. I've never seen them move so fast to work together. I think it was worth it in the end. We were going to do it the night before for FHE but we had some major drama and had to put them all to bed early. They weren't happy, but after seeing them work so hard together, I think it worked out better that way anyway.

The weather was warming up a little bit and every day that we would go to the gym we'd pass this beautiful spot so I took the camera one time. So pretty.

We had play days with our friends (Skinners), new hair cuts, fashion statements and rainy days.

Our house in Logan had it's rental contract come to an end. We felt like it would be good to put it up for sale on the market, but it needed some work done first, so we headed over to Utah over Memorial day to get some work done. Luckily the kids were out of school, so we took off for an adventure. We took our air mattresses and a bunch of painting supplies and tools. We tried to get as much done as we could with yard work and ripping out carpet to replace with new carpet and re-doing the counter tops. Mom came up and got the kids and took them to play with cousins, which was a huge help. She dropped off Dad to help which was also a huge help. Unfortunately we got stuck with a toilet leak, which was not part of the plan, but with Dad and Brian's brains together, the figured it out. The counter top took a while, but it turned out really nice. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the new carpet put it. It was a lot of work, A LOT, and it stinks to do all of that on a house you planned on living in and never got to enjoy that new stuff. Brian and I were both a little sad that we weren't living there anymore. We felt a little home sick, which is kind of funny 'cause we've lived so many places in the last few years, but this one had sweat and tears put into it and just always felt so right to us.  I had put in a bunch of plants just a month or so before we moved to PA and they looked so nice and full.

This counter top turned out so nice! All of this hard work couldn't have been done so fast with out the hard work from Brian and Dad. We got a lot done!

 We weren't planning on going down to Sandy, but we had to get the kids and it was a welcomed break, so I got a few pictures with Evie since she was the hot commodity this trip. I thought these pictures of Brian and Charlotte were so cute too.

 Thought this was a cute moment with Papa John

 

It was a fun and quick trip out. The girls got to drop in on their old school (Hillcrest) and see some of their friends. They also got to play with some neighbor kids one of the days, so it was a successful trip. They all did pretty good in the car too, so not so bad.

Garden of the Gods

Brian's parents stayed for a few days after the whole baptism weekend so we decided to take a trip down to the Garden of the Gods for the day. It was a little trek down there, but it was worth the drive. Such a beautiful place and very unique. We spent several hours there walking around and seeing the beauty there.

After the garden, we grabbed lunch and then headed over to see the Red Rocks amphitheater. We heard it was supposed to be pretty cool, and it was. The kids had fun running up to the top of the stairs. I told them I'd give them all a quarter if they did. Come to think of it, I think I still owe them for it!

It had been a long day and Elizabeth had a piano recital, so after the amphitheater, Brian took his parents to go tour a little of Boulder and grab some dinner while I took the kids home to eat and get ready for the recital. Elizabeth did a great job on her song. All her practicing paid off for a nice recital piece.

Baptism Pictures

Even though we took some on her baptism day, I wanted to get some studio looking pictures of Caroline in her baptism dress. Pretty little girl!

A personality shot...