We've been busy this month working on our summer bucket list. The list is almost complete - which is a good thing since August is tomorrow!
We celebrated July 4th with Wade's family
We had lots of fun....
And lots of yummy food.
Poor Eli's had it this month...first an allergic reaction to something and his eye was swollen???
Then on the 24th he was playing in the smoke from some smoke bombs when something must have flown at him, and he got hit right in the eye (the other one). This poor guy, he's a trooper because this one was scary and we felt pretty blessed because it could have been so worse. He wasn't even close to the firework! Crazy.
Day one:
Day two:
(It got worse looking than this..and now a whole week later, it's starting to look normal again)
The older boys have been busy mowing lawns every week for their little business. They are saving money for vacation next month.
I've been able to run outside a lot this month and seen some amazing sun rises. I love the mountains and the sunrise! I'm pretty sure I post a picture like this every month, but it really does always look so amazing.
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We headed off camping...I blogged about.
We've been to the library programs every week. The kids earned their brag badges by completing the summer reading program.
Avery and Eli (in the striped and green shirt). Lucy loves story time but never leaves my side.
Noah passed his 6 month neurology appointment! 6 months off seizure medication and NO seizures! Too bad the Dr. couldn't ask my real question...When do I get to stop worrying?
I tried a gallon of water a day for 7 days challenge. This is a picture off pinterest, but it's the same thing I did. I did it and I've been doing pretty good at drinking more water since then....maybe not a gallon every single day, but I am trying to make an improvement.
The garden is growing like crazy! The tomatoes are as tall as Avery Ann...
And we have carrots, beets, onions, garlic, crook neck squash, zucchini, beans, berries (which are already gone), a few ears of corn are looking pretty promising and the tomatoes just need to turn red!
The office had it's one year anniversary! Wade did actually smile in a picture (if you saw the one posted on facebook) It's been a long year and one we wouldn't want to do again, but we've learned a lot and been blessed.
One Friday afternoon we went to the Bean Museum at BYU and then the Creamery for a treat after.
Last week we went to check out the Pioneer Day Floats for the Days of 47 at the Expo center. It's always a fun free activity that includes air conditioning. ha! My niece went with us.
We earned our free books at Barnes and Noble this month. The kids have been reading like crazy this summer! We also have been to Thanksgiving Point a few times this month too (thanks to our great pass!)
Eli and his swing. This kid cracks me up. I really want to freeze him in time.
A bitter-sweet day came this month. After 9 long years (this month) we sold our van and bought a new one. Buying this was one of the first things I blogged about when I started our blog 9 years ago! We bought this van before we had Noah, it's brought four of the five babies home. I couldn't imagine filling up every seat belt with babies when we bought it, but we did! It's been all over the country, Iowa, Tennessee, Minnesota, and made the trip from Washington to Utah more times than we can count. We bought it, paid it off under a year and made the plan to drive it until it died. We pretty much made that happen. We put well over 100,000 miles on it. Wade said he was praying it would make it to the dealership to trade it in. Noah shoved a penny in the CD player when he was 3, Eli shoved a penny in the DVD player when he was 3. The AC hasn't worked in two summers. Last summer the windows would randomly work. It had CHARACTER.
Most of the kids didn't really care. I was sad to see it go, but Wade said he was SO happy. Avery was the only kid sad that we were getting rid of it. She kept touching the side window and saying "I am going to miss this old van. It's stinky, but I love it."
(it really did stink after our camping trip too!)
Moving on...we visited some more splash pads this month too...
For Cub Scouts Pack Meeting (Wade is the Scout Master) the boys did water bottle rockets. Wad was smart and brought a rain jacket, but he was still pretty soaked. Everyone had a good time though. It's one of my favorite activities.
To earn a brag badge the kids had to learn about horses, so my friend took us to see her ponies and all the kids got to help brush them and ride them. I think most of the kids liked it (Noah was pretty bored).
We did some window-shopping at the Lego store this month. The boys are saving all their work money to use on vacation...on legos.
More reading....Noah was so sweet and asked Lucy if she wanted him to read it to her.
And more brag badges. We waited until we actually had AC in a vehicle to go around and pick a lot of them up. At this physical therapy office the kids had to do exercises. You can clearly tell some of us are more limber than others. haha
And one other item on our summer list was Basketball Camp. I'm not sure if it was just a bad day or what, but the secretary at the high school told me that basketball camp was full when I went in to pay my money back in May. I am almost positive she was just having a bad day and that the camp was not full...but whatever. My kids really wanted to play some basketball. So we headed to the church (today actually) to play some basketball.
We did some warming up:
And practiced some (kinda) free throws)
We did some drills and shot around. And then I played a game with Gage. In bare feet, a skirt and I know nothing much about basketball (except for some cheers I remember from cheerleading in high school) but Gage had a good time trying to steal the ball from me and we had a good time.
Then the kids ran around and randomly played too.
Maybe not as good as basketball camp, but I saved some money I guess. And they plan on playing with Wade this weekend too (and that will probably be way more productive than what I did).
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Other random items on our list we did in July:
finished the reading program at the literacy center
had a hobbit movie marathon week (one movie every night)
summer piano lessons,
summer sleep overs in the downstairs room every night (I can't remember the last time the 3 boys slept in their real beds)
built forts, played hide and seek in the backyard and a scavenger hunt (ending with lego people I got almost free online)
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We are super excited for August. It's busy with birthdays, family reunions, vacations, the bow hunt and school!
