The Rest of July

July came and went pretty quickly.  After being invited in June to run the St. George Marathon, I decided I should probably start running!  I love running, but I don't love mornings.  In Clovis, that is a major conflict.  By 8AM, on most days, it is too hot to run more than I couple of miles.  So, with the help of my sister, I dragged myself out of bed a few times at some dark hour in the morning to get out and run.  I always love it once I get going.  Looking at my new shape these days, you wouldn't know that running is part of who I am, but it is.  It makes my heart happy.

I love watching the sunrise.

 I saw this hot air balloon one morning on a run.  That is something that I've never done, but is on my list of things to do before I die.  I'd have to go with Jason though because I also have a funny thing with heights.

 My mom had another birthday but I don't think I could tell you which one.  I'd have to figure out how old I am, then I'd know how old Jen is and my mom is 20 years older than that.  Age is just a number and birthday's are just a good excuse to get together with friends!  So, we did. Lunch with our friends (lots of them cross over these days) and then some of the group went out on Jen's boat for the afternoon.  I had to get back to the kiddos.

We decided one day we really needed to clean out our closet.  We figured the best way to do that is to take everything out and only put back in what we really thought we would wear.  I could not believe how much stuff we had in there!!!

Here is half of the empty closet.  I didn't think you would care enough to see both sides.  And of course I forgot to take an after picture, but it looked fabulous, I assure you.  We took three huge construction bags to Goodwill.

We had some good snuggle moments with Paige.  She is getting more snugly as she gets older.  Of course, I'm thrilled!

I went to dinner with my dear friend Talia from high school.  I haven't seen her in years and it was good to reconnect.

I found this ridiculous display of craziness in the kids bathroom.  Really?  Come on!  Really?  At least they were following the rule about not leaving dirty clothes on the floor.  I wonder how much longer they would have kept it up before they brought it all down to the laundry room.  I should have realized I wasn't really that on top of it when I finished all the laundry in the laundry room!

Our friends, the Lawrences, moved to Utah in June and came back for a visit in July.  Taia is in the center and is a good friend of Jessica's.  Austin and Jessica seem to always have something going on.  Fun to be teenagers with a social life.

I love regular life pictures.  Here are Paige and Ashlyn on a Costco trip with me and Jason.

Travis came for a visit and took the kids up to his dad's house.  They had cake to celebrate Jessica's birthday.  I can't remember right now what else they did, but I got this cute picture from Austin's Facebook page.  I love that the kids joke around with each other in between fighting and eye rolling.

Paige is a totally crib snob and really won't sleep anywhere but in her bed.  Jason had very little time off at his new job and between those two things, we decided not to make the trip to Whiskeytown this year.  The big kids went with my parents and the Bohn's and had a great time!  Next year, we will be there.  Here is a picture from Austin's Instagram on the way up there.  Yes, I stalk my children.  It's the only way to get pictures of them! 

The new thing, well getting old now, but still newish, is taking pictures of yourself in the mirror to post on Instagram.  Here is a cute picture of Austin, also from his Instagram, all ready for church.

And last picture from a  non "event" in July, is of Paige playing in the back yard with the neighborhood cat.  She loves that cat!  Good thing it is extremely patient!