July

I had good intentions of posting at the end of July but once again life happened.  So now that I have a spare, quiet moment I thought I'd take advantage of it. 

We started the month off with our annual camping trip out in the the backyard with our friends, the Cowans.  I opted to sleep inside with Dylan and their little one and still managed to not sleep in.  I actually think the older kids slept longer than any of us expected considering that the sun comes up so early.

 

The big highlight of July was Troy's family vacation to Bear Lake.  Bummed that we weren't able to see Jer & Kenz's family.  

We started the vacation off with a family birthday party.  We have about 5 birthdays in July so we decided to celebrate it all at once with a pinata.

 Dylan knew immediately what to do with a bat in hand.

 

 Poor Olaf didn't stand a chance with 7 kids attacking him with a whiffle bat.

The beach was awesome.  I had some anxiety with the thought of Dylan being so close to open water and showing no fear but thankfully Bear Lake was the perfect place for us.  No waves and the water was super shallow.  We rented a paddle boat, waverunners, and stand up paddle boards.  So much fun for all!

 

 

We also did some hiking and spelunking.  Although the weather wasn't super cooperative we still managed to find fun to do.

Including wrestling with the uncles.  It's a good thing we've got college age guys who don't mind rough housing.

 

The kids loved spending time with their cousins and got them even more excited for our trip at the end of the year to go see them.  (stay tuned...)

 

We also celebrated Brooke's big 7 birthday (complete with birthday waffles).  It's still hard to believe how fast time has gone.  She is a great big sister, fun, silly, smart, beautiful, kind, thoughtful, inquisitive, adventurous girl and we love her!